shirro

I always used my retired PCs and parts but then my kids all wanted gaming rigs so spare PCs and parts do not exist in my world anymore and they tended to be too big, noisy and inefficient.

I would go for used ex-corporate desktop mini PCs from the likes of Dell, HP, Lenovo. Perhaps don't go for the smallest ones if you want to be able to get into them and add stuff. They tend to have reasonably good idle power and noise and its common to find ones supporting two nvme ssds. Intel cpu with quicksync for jellyfin video decode if you aren't adding discrete gpu - check supported codecs. Codec support varies across generations I think.

I would stay well away from laptops: bad thermals, power limits, limited expandability and SBCs like RPi which have poor io for servers.

I picked up an old HP Elitedesk off ebay a few years ago. I added a few TB of SSD and another stick of DDR4 when that stuff was cheap. It supports two nvme ssds as well as space for sata drives. Apart from media storage I can't see any compelling reason to want to upgrade it.

Pauline has been playing the racism card for 30 years. Nobody is going to compete with her on her own turf. Many of the people who support her think she is authentic in ways the rest of us cannot understand. To me she is an obvious opportunist career politician funded by big money to do their bidding. But to the sweet little old ladies in the local cafe who "aren't racist but..." she is "Our Pauline" and she "talks a lot of sense".

The Libs are fucking crazy. They have put themselves in a corner playing No True Scotsman on their members until they have gained the depth and competence of One Nation with none of the popular appeal. Its pretty clear right now that One Nation and the machine promoting them are setting the agenda. The Libs follow because they are a spent force.

The ALP can afford to stand apart because they have depth and policies and lots of supporters who want them in government as much as we want them to be more effective. While the ALP will lose many working class voters to One Nations simplistic populism they will also pick up Turnbull voters from the Libs. Meanwhile the Libs have positioned themselves to be unable to gain votes from anywhere.

History teaches us that at risk minorities probably should have an exit strategy when a country is on the path to totalitarianism.

Under the current circumstances nobody from the USA really qualifies for refugee status.

There are millions of people in more desperate circumstances with a far greater need who can't go home and vote in the "worlds greatest democracy" and achieve non-violent change. Just vote you stupid arseholes. You have power. Use it or lose it.

If we ever get to the point where whining on social media is more valued than voting then just fucking shoot us.

What amazing principles these Americans have. Running away from a fight for their values because they don't want to be judged. Well your being judged. We think you suck because you let this happen when you could have held your ground.

I support taxing these cunts but doing it when fuel prices are crazy is political suicide as these companies will blame prices on Labor's taxes and run a bunch of influencers, ai bots and advertising campaigns to kick them out. Or organise an internal coup again.

A solution might be to legislate tax reform but not have it take effect until the current global crisis is resolved. I would be ok with that.

I have been onboard with increased resource taxes for a very long time.

I have to admit the middle of a global supply crunch and impending global recession with several years of inflationary pressure is kind of a shit time to be wrenching on the control knobs. Especially when the government has been leveraging our fossil fuel capacity to obtain access to refined fuel required for farming and industry. These reforms should have happened under Rudd or Gillard.

There are some on the right whose handlers do not want these taxes who know the government is not in a good position to do anything currently but are happy to benefit from the rising discontent.

Meanwhile the left is crucifying the ALP and its driving people to ON and not to the Greens or Socialists. ON are thoroughly owned by the mining industry and people like Gina. Its a massive own goal. Much like all the idiots who campaigned against the admittedly shit Dems in the US and drove people to Trump. Stupid, spiteful and immature.

On the other hand Albo needs to get the message that he serves us and not elites. He is going to need to make concessions and start tackling tough issues or populists are going to come in on a wave of lies and wipe out the piddly incremental gains his government has made on top of decades of Labor reforms. We can't afford that bullshit in the current information environment.

The sad thing is they aren't really equipped to live in any world but the one being created for them. All the education indicators are trending down. They can't do much without an internet connection and apps

Last big one here in SA I didn't keep on top of them and just about everything stored in the shed got covered in mouse shit and piss or chewed up even if it was in drawers or cupboard or stored in plastic bags. Lots of damage to books and magazines I didn't have room to keep inside that had to be thrown out. They can make a hell of a mess.

Thanks for the warning. I will have to make sure the traps are set and check things are stored securely. Might be my project for the next week or so.

Yeah, my parents bought a fibro shitbox in the sticks on a public service income. Its basically uninhabitable by todays standards and while the land might have appreciated in value more than inflation it wouldn't beat any other investments. City property prices are what happens when you depopulate rural Australia and move all the good jobs. But fuck everyone else I got mine right?

The media wants to turf Labor out and replace them with a bunch of yes men and women for the big corporations, Gina and the Trump crime cartel. Labor is still at last nominally the party of working Australians, but they are are forced to do weak shit or get crucified in the court of public opinion, ironically by the people who would benefit most by supporting them.

I fucking hate what passes for debate and news these days.

I was around 50 years ago. Just about everyone lived in poverty compared to today.

Housing is the standout difference. Housing was much, much more affordable. But also most houses were small and simple. Didn't have much insulation, no air con, lucky to have more than one power point in a room, often built with dangerous materials like asbestos. Dangerous old wiring.

The billionaire owned media and foreign influence is heavily shaping public opinion for their own purposes. Oddly there is no dissatisfaction when a conservative government is engaging in massive wealth transfer to the rich and multinationals and closing all our industry. Then the sky is falling when we have a Labor government trying to get us through difficult times created by circumstances outside their control.

Meta management are evil but kind of clueless. I would guess the usual suspects including Palantir are whispering in their ears.

That would be the majority of US citizens. Pity the dumb fucks don't bother voting.