Australia

Archive/non-paywall link.

Some real estate dickhead just rang my mobile (which is not advertised anywhere) saying they were "just in the area" and wanted to do an appraisal on a house we own in .

It's an agency we don't use for any purpose, have never used for any purpose, and have never approached for any reason.

Is there some sort of legal issue with some smarmy sales knob looking up property owner details and cold calling them?

Makes me feel all gross that their grubby mitts are pawing through my deets somewhere in the hope of being able to stick a tongue up my bum and get a taste of some back door cash.

"You know there's a camera up there?" he told his colleague.

CQUniversity’s U-BEACH project is a collaborative community-led team striving to improve beach accessibility and ensure people with disability enjoy their highest attainable standard of health and wellbeing.

The team at U-BEACH are committed to working with people and partners on projects that improve beach accessibility and inclusion in beach-based activities for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. We collaborate to conduct socially innovative research, provide real-world education and training, and host inclusive community beach events.

US and Canada have seen great decreases after big anti smoking campaigns in the 90s and laws in the 2000s. Apparently European countries have not. But I have no idea about Australia and New Zealand.

I'm sure this will go nowhere, but it would be nice if it did. It would surely flow on to other states given right?

I worked at Franklins way back in the day and their profit margins ran at about 5%. It would be interesting to know if the profit margin has increased significantly or not.

This is probably the most important part, IMO:

Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Growers association chief executive Rachel Chambers said farmers fear retribution if they make a complaint to supermarkets.

"Growers don't trust the system that is in place that they can escalate these behaviours to," Ms Chambers said.

"They are fearful of commercial retribution, which is their entire business, their life and livelihood, so the process is broken."

Key points:

• Xuan Su allegedly sent scam text messages pretending to be from different companies
• He was arrested by police at his Moorebank home following an investigation
• Mr Su has been granted bail and is expected to face court again in April

The messages also reveal a member of the group Lawyers for Israel calling Lattouf’s lawyer Josh Bornstein, who is Jewish, a “traiter”.

Dunno what happened with that other user’s post, but I figured I’d post the correct article for them. Not really the sort of article I’d usually post or even read.

Senior officer calls for help providing basic necessities to juvenile inmates, including food and toilet paper

Official article title: Is this an ad? Yes, and your taxes paid for it

I altered the title to more accurately represent the article's thesis statement.   Archive/non-paywall link

They had to know, right?

Key points:

• Ninety-nine demonstrators were listed at Newcastle Local Court today over the November Newcastle protest
• The action stopped exports of coal from the Port of Newcastle, the largest coal port in the world
• Magistrate Stephen Olischlager says protesters had acted out of genuine concern for the environment

I just donated to support Wangan and Jagalingou Cultural Custodians to continue the Waddananggu cultural ceremony on their lands near Adani's mine.

Waddananggu started because the protection of the land, air, animals and sacred springs are more important than Adani's destruction of the environment and cultural heritage for coal mining.

Harsh conditions, flooding rains, and fine dust mean they continuously need repairs for camping gear, vehicles, solar panels, and the communications tower. On top of that, they have ongoing costs for food, medical supplies, fuel, and transporting family to and from Waddananggu.

Our donations are needed and helps with the continuation of this important stand on Country. Will you join me?

Key points:

• NSW has recorded a significant rise in COVID infections
• Two variants are responsible for most cases in the state
• Those with the virus are urged to stay home or wear a mask outside

An example business I was looking up just now... In Google Maps and the first page of Google Search etc it shows then as having 4.5 star review average over 693 reviews.... But if you click and get the sidebar pop up, it shows reviews from the web which are far less flattering.

This seems to be super common. Google reviews are always glowing, but other sites are far less favourable. What's the most likely reason for this?

• Google results are more realistic because Google prompts for reviews more frequently and thus more people are likely to leave a review which gives a more realistic result? Whereas the only people going to TrueLocal and Product Review are the very unhappy customers?

• Or that Google is completely gamed by SEO "experts" who spam fake reviews for cents and thus make Google Reviews completely bollocks by overpowering any genuine reviews with paid glowing testimonials?

If its the latter, I feel Google needs to solve this cause at the moment I have zero faith in their review system.

(I've blanked the name just because that's not really the point of this post.)

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The cool-and-freeze method involves placing cane toads in a fridge for 24 hours, which puts them in a state of torpor, before transferring them to the freezer to finish them off.

She said this was more humane than other methods of killing cane toads, such as bashing them with cricket bats or crushing them under cars.

"Our learning and our knowledge have evolved since the days of cane toad golf," Ms Tomsett said.

"It's important to treat all animals humanely. Cane toads have to be removed, and it's not their fault they're here."

When the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) declared an El Niño event in September, there were warnings of a hot and dry summer.

But for thousands of Queenslanders especially — from the storm-ravaged south-east to the flooded Far North — that's not been the case at all.

As a Brisbanite, I can definitely vouch for this one. It's literally raining right this second, and our backyard is already a swamp...

tl;dr:

Over the past month, while Queensland faced record-breaking rainfall, South Australia and Western Queensland sweated through heatwave conditions as bushfires burned in the west.

Dr Brown attributed the variation of El Niño experiences across the country to an average of hot and dry conditions and not a totality.

"When we talk about dry conditions from an El Niño, it's not dry everywhere – it's dry on average," Dr Brown said.

I hope the comet becomes visible