On Fri Jul 15 08:55:00 2022, Nightfox wrote to ACMEBBS <=-
any time. The law also allows this in many places (at-will
employement).
Been many times that in good times...this is great...but when the economyWow.. That's pretty bad.
goes south...not so much. For instance...had a manager who slammed me into
a wall & threatened me. Too bad I couldn't find a new job at the time. Add
to that...if I had called the police to report the assault...they would've
screwed me over when possible employers called to check on my job performance there. Life isn't fair & if a scumbag idiot you worked for wanted to screw you...they will and will be happy to do so.
Could go further on this...but it's almost my bedtime. Have seen way tooYeah, I've heard some countries in Europe have pretty good worker's rights, and
many things over the past 40 years. Just wish I could move to another country with better work rights. If I would've did this when I was young
enough to do so...my life would've been VERY different.
it sounds like they generally have better work-life balance than people in the
US do. More vacation time, more parental leave, and recently I've heard some
European countries have enacted laws where companies cannot call or email their
employees after working hours.
On Fri Jul 15 08:12:00 2022, Gamgee wrote to ACMEBBS <=-
ACMEBBS wrote to Margaerynne <=-Good jobs never last...but bad jobs never end.
I must say that my experiences have been different than the above. Have
I just been lucky, or was it something else? I'm nearing retirement,
and have only had two jobs my entire life (not counting
teenage/highschool type jobs as a youngster). The first I stayed with
for 28 years (US Navy) and loved every minute of it. The second one for
16 years and love it also. It's a technical/engineering job (I maintain linear particle accelerators in medical facilities) and I will be here until I do retire. Great pay, great boss, zero chance of getting layed off, great colleagues, expense account, occasional travel, company
vehicle, and more. What's not to like? So... as to the above "Good
jobs never last..." - that is simply not true. :-)
ACMEBBS wrote to Gamgee <=-
Good jobs never last...but bad jobs never end.
I must say that my experiences have been different than the above. Have
I just been lucky, or was it something else? I'm nearing retirement,
and have only had two jobs my entire life (not counting
teenage/highschool type jobs as a youngster). The first I stayed with
for 28 years (US Navy) and loved every minute of it. The second one for
16 years and love it also. It's a technical/engineering job (I maintain linear particle accelerators in medical facilities) and I will be here
until I do retire. Great pay, great boss, zero chance of getting layed
off, great colleagues, expense account, occasional travel, company
vehicle, and more. What's not to like? So... as to the above "Good
jobs never last..." - that is simply not true. :-)
For others...would agree with you. Myself and others like myself
who were grown up in the 80's/90's...your experience is something
I've only experienced recently and rarely before this. Those of
us followed the "rules" and still ended up with the short end of
the stick for life. Wished I had your experience...but haven't.
Makes me sad.
Weatherman wrote to Gamgee <=-
Back in the late 90s, some of my work friends decided to take jobs in
the .com (stock options with no pay) mess. They kept telling me I
should do the same thing. I saw the writing on the wall it would never last and would much rather stay with a lower paying, but very safe job with extremely high job security.
Weatherman wrote to Arelor <=-
There is a legal work-around for that issue. You eliminate the job.
Not quite that cut and dried, but in todays market, I would think that landlords are a significant issue. It is an all to common occurrence for someone attending an auction, wanting to buy a house to live in, to be outbid by an investor who then rents it out (and gets negative gearing to boot).
Landlords do provide a service, but when they out-compete someone wanting to buy, forcing that person to rent, then they become a problem. They create the very problem they claim they deserve tax concessions to fix.
On Mon Jul 18 00:00:00 2022, SPECTRE(21:3/101) wrote to boraxman <=-The big company is BlackRock people think they are a big threat to our society.
Its not quite that cut and dried though. You have a large proportion of the population that rely on rental properties for housing with little prospect of
buying their own. If you clamp down on landlords a large proportion of these
would become homeless. The speculators are a different subject, but you'll find its them that pushes the pricing. Unless you're going to liberate all those properties and turn them into public housing, nothing much will change,
and of course the cost of doing that would be so exorbitant it'll never happen.
The big company is BlackRock people think they are a big threat to our society.
This is what goes through my mind whenever I hear anyone moving here.
Want to read some scary stuff about labor here in the US...do some
reading about "Right to Work" laws.
In my particular situation...at my age (60)...I am on Medicaid here in Oregon & have been for several years in order to get the health care I need. Means I keep my hours around 20 a week to be able to keep my
medical insurance. Don't like it...but have been on company health insurance policies & almost lost everything I would ever have/had to
just see the doctor. The reason is that I would need to pay several thousands before the insurance would cover anything at all. Previously...you would pay a co-pay and the insurance would cover 80% until you spend a large amoung of money.
Had a co-worker from Australia who got married here to a woman with
kids. Wants to move back there...but he doesn't have custody of her kids...so he's stuck here. Even asked him in a joking manner if he had a chest big enough to fit me. ;)
I think you're looking at two seperate groups... the "investors" and the "landlords". Traditionally the landlords have been in it for the long haul and may slowly acquire a few properties over time as they pay for themselves, generally they're looking to retain and rent said properties for the long haul.
As opposed to the more recent "investor" type which because property has already been booming have gone out there to buy everything in sight they can afford with the idea of flipping it as soon as the value to debt
ratio is high enough. Its this latter group that are really doing the damage.
If you wacked this lot into a venn diagram these days, they'd no doubt overlap some of the "landlord" group will have been sucked into the investor group by cheap profits.
Spec
The big company is BlackRock people think they are a big threat to our society.
Buying property to become a landlord is an investment. You are differing between short term and long term investors. Some landlords are developers, but for those purchasing existing stock to rent out, they don't qualify as developers. Even those who do buy existing stock to tear down and build townhouses, that is primarily profiteering to take advantage of government sponsored demand by means of high immigration and
Considering that the USA is falling apart, I would agree with this critique of BlackRock. The American economic "ideals" stink to high heaven, and no other nation in their right mind would copy American developments, either socially or economically or politically.
As much as there is not to like about China, they are smart enough to see how private companies in the USA are undermining the national character and the strength of the people and choosing not to repeat that mistake there and allow these shenanigans to fester. No sane leader would tolerate this rubbish.
4 Weeks holiday per year is standard in Australia. Two weeks per year standard seems way to short. No wonder they are all mad there!
Well duh, of course I am..about 2 generations ago now, we had a group of "new australians" that went out and bought themselves a house, then
worked on a second one nominally for the kids, and yet another one or
two after that to keep the home fires burning. These guys did three things, they didn't renovate and flip, they didn't just wait on the LVR
to advantageous to sell, they hung onto the extras as a long term source of income. These are the guys that helped keep the status quo some 30,
40, 50 years ago no..
Its the more recent I need to buy and sell for all the money I can scrounge that have really killed things.. heavily assisting pushing pricing ever higher. Not to mention your extra immigration...
population is the other half of the equation. You also need to remember that building in general keeps a large proportion of our economy afloat
by employing people.
I see it now.... you're the idealist socialist... China is just as dumb
as rocks as the US institutions are.... They're all lining up to go
under the bus now..
4 weeks annual leave, plus 2 weeks sick leave even :-)
The 3 (?) weeks mentioned for the US, was that including sick leave, or
is sick leave provided for in addition to the 3 weeks?
Back then, housing was affordable. My parents didn't have the education or skills or career that I have, but were able to better secure property.
i don't think it is idealistic, it is pragmatic.
Spectre wrote to boraxman <=-
Its the more recent I need to buy and sell for all the money I can scrounge that have really killed things.. heavily assisting pushing pricing ever higher.
On Mon Jul 18 08:25:00 2022, Gamgee wrote to ACMEBBS <=-
Good jobs never last...but bad jobs never end.
For others...would agree with you. Myself and others like myself
who were grown up in the 80's/90's...your experience is something
I've only experienced recently and rarely before this. Those of
us followed the "rules" and still ended up with the short end of
the stick for life. Wished I had your experience...but haven't.
Makes me sad.
Yes, there is some truth in what you said there. Nice guys don't always finish first. I understand that, and agree. Maybe your current
employment will end up being the exception for you!
I've seen you mention in previous posts somewhere that you are college-educated... Were you not able to put that degree to good use
for some reason? Usually that alone will help your odds of success
quite a bit; just asking out of curiosity.
On Tue Jul 19 23:54:00 2022, boraxman wrote to ACMEBBS <=-
Previously...you would pay a co-pay and the insurance would cover 80% until you spend a large amoung of money.
Had a co-worker from Australia who got married here to a woman with kids. Wants to move back there...but he doesn't have custody of her kids...so he's stuck here. Even asked him in a joking manner if he had a
chest big enough to fit me. ;)
Americans seems to have been conditioned by means of fear, to be skeptical of
any economic change which might benefit them.
Mostly the Conservative Right.
There exists a similar train of thought in the Australian Right here like that,
that if we do something which makes life better for the average guy, something
more than a small tax cut, the world will collapse. As if you're supposed to
live a hard life and if we give people a better deal, the world will fall apart.
Sounds like you had a fairly adventurous trail, and were able to foresee things well. Much more interesting than my own path, certainly, but sometimes "interesting" is not what one wants... ;-) Glad you were
able to navigate well and get good results. I feel fortunate to be
where I am, and suspect you do too.
ACMEBBS wrote to Gamgee <=-
For others...would agree with you. Myself and others like myself
who were grown up in the 80's/90's...your experience is something
I've only experienced recently and rarely before this. Those of
us followed the "rules" and still ended up with the short end of
the stick for life. Wished I had your experience...but haven't.
Makes me sad.
Yes, there is some truth in what you said there. Nice guys don't always finish first. I understand that, and agree. Maybe your current
employment will end up being the exception for you!
At least one good thing...don't dread going in like I did before.
Being in retail...have a VERY low threshhold for "Karens". This
is why I ended up in receiving & enjoy being there. Now...I can
actually deal with people & not feel dread.
I've seen you mention in previous posts somewhere that you are college-educated... Were you not able to put that degree to good use
for some reason? Usually that alone will help your odds of success
quite a bit; just asking out of curiosity.
Actually...I did in the past. Have two BA degrees...one if
communications from 1986 & the first one from 1984 in drama. In
the former...ended up having my employment being taken over by
technology from satellites/computers. The first degree was never
able to afford living in an area where it would be useful.
Add to that...ended up going into education as a substitute
teacher & a teacher's aide. With Covid...either of these are dead
ends with possible shut downs when things go south. Loved being
the teacher's aide at one time.
The company ended up doing that slow burn thing - just enough revenues to keep above water, but never breaking out. They ended up getting bought by the company that the founders came from - they'd gotten rich on their
stock deals 15 years earlier.
It's all about the timing, I suppose.
MY first house, set me back, $97k chuckle, that would've been earlyish
90's wasn't to long after this prices really went haywire. This was in Oakleigh South.
MY first house, set me back, $97k chuckle, that would've been earlyish 90's wasn't to long after this prices really went haywire. This was in Oakleigh South.
Spec
I'll stick with the idealist... most of what you wish for is pie in the sky kind of stuff. Won't happen unless something seriously catastrophic happens to society...
Spec
Welcome to the American way of life. ;) Some would consider me to be a Socialist...but having formerly been a talk show producer at a local
radio station...had on Bernie Sanders and agree with him on many things.
Hope things are better for you there than here. With roughly 30-40% of
the population here ready for a civil war...things are going to get
worse here before they get better. From your version of "60 Minutes" (which I enjoy on You Tube)...Australia has many of the same issues as they have in the US with organized religion and political leadership
being intertwined.
Thank you for telling me more about Australia. Never been there...but it makes me excited to learn about other cultures and dream of what could be/been.
My 1st house (which was a townhouse) was $70k back in the early 90s. Naturally the cost of living was far less, people made far less, etc.
My parents bought the house I grew up in for just $20k in the late 60s. People only made $5k per year, so that was still a good bit of money for the time.
My parents purchased for less than that is a fairly good area in the 80s. 5 years ago or so a house, smallish one, across the street sold for
a million. Sold to an investor, of course.
Australia follows the US culturally, so the troubles you have get imported here. We even had "BLM" rallies. Would you believe, there was a rally in my home city, Melbourne, about the Roe vs Wade decision? Australians copied the MAGA movement here too. Companies here copy Silicon Valley culture. Schools are copying CRT, etc.
Buying property to become a landlord is an investment. You are differing between s
buy existing stock to tear down and build townhouses, that is primarily profiteeri
My salary is above average (and the average salary is well above median), and there are simply NO houses which are 4x my salary, or even 5 times
which are reasonably commutable from work. If I go 6x, I start to get into the dregs. The MEDIAN house price is close to 8 - 10 x, and remember, that is my salary, which is well above median.
boraxman wrote to Spectre <=-
My parents purchased for less than that is a fairly good area in the
80s. 5 years ago or so a house, smallish one, across the street sold
for a million. Sold to an investor, of course.
boraxman wrote to Spectre <=-
We used to a be a people who would be willing to change, challenge,
secure a future. Now were just all "meh" and don't really care about anything anymore.
The problem is that we're stuck with a specific hierarchy of values,
and we can't change them anymore. We're OLD, tired, way too
conservative and lack imagination.
You are right, but not because you are RIGHT, but because we're an apathetic lot who really don't care about future generations.
I don't know if it's apathy, it feels like a lack of empathy. I'm going to get mine, I don't care what it takes or who it hurts.
Not sure what on earth BLM and Roe vs Wade hope to accomplish here... I prefer the AutoExpert version of MAGA, MALS... Make Australia Less Shit.. you'll find him on Youtube if you're mildly interested :) What has CRT become since it was Cathode Ray Tube?
I don't think our politics are generally as tied to religion as the US appears to be. By and large religion is noisy by nature, and also organised, but actually practicing any religion seems to be a dieing thing.
I have yet to see a used property for sale that didn't need repairs and rehabilitation
to a degree. If it was suitable for renting right away the seller would have been
renting the property more often than not.
Last properties I have bought or seen bought required more money in repairs and conditioning than they costed. I am not buying the argument that professional landlords do nothing but sitting on their lazy asses
all day getting free money.
large stacks of
new or almost new property. Those could go for sale or rent with no meaningful repairs
done.
Naturally this depends on what is considered average income. Around
here in the states, it isn't that difficult to find a single family home for 4-5x your income - even today. Now much of it depends on the particular state you live in, but it is not difficult to do here at all.
My parents bought a house for $23K in 1970. Sold it for $1.3 million in 2016. Zillow says it's now worth $2.35 million.
Crazy.
It is most definetively apathy.
People takes the path of least resistence most often than not. That is why
Vaguely interested. Have a link? I did a quick search on Youtube for "Make Australia Less Shit" and came up blank.
We used to a be a people who would be willing to change, challenge, secure a future. Now were just all "meh" and don't really care about anything anymore.
We're too busy looking for approval on social networks and consuming content - there's no time for THOUGHT.
The problem is that we're stuck with a specific hierarchy of values, and we can't change them anymore. We're OLD, tired, way too conservative and lack imagination.
I don't know if that's truly the case, but the old tired conservatives have stacked the system of laws in their favor.
You are right, but not because you are RIGHT, but because we're an apathetic lot who really don't care about future generations.
I don't know if it's apathy, it feels like a lack of empathy. I'm going
to get mine, I don't care what it takes or who it hurts.
Not sure the path of least resistance, one I'm personally quite fond of, is symptom of apathy, the easy way isn't always the wrong way.. There must be something to installing all the junk on everything, otherwise they wouldn't bother... not sure also it equates well to the property market.
I just looked up, average house price in my city is 1 million.
project with any other material.Or, a more recent example: if the
power infrastructure of your country is designed in such a way that
the easiest way is to deploy solar without backup batteries,
it will be harder to get solar with batteries to back them up. Power supply contracts, handouts and supplies just won't contemplate.
There is something to installing crapware: that way they get the user to provide their data to them so they can sell it.
Maybe I'm the odd man out, but the only things I use a phone for are phone calls duh, and SMS messages. Other than that its next best use is a boat anchor or tyre chock. I couldn't even guess what half the schnitzengruben installed on the thing is, it doesn't fulfil any meaningful purpose.
Those prices will be inflated by the Toorak and Sth Yarra McMansions though an area you'd expect to be paying more for so you can la de da
down the st reet sippin' on your chai mocha latte...
If you took the, I was going to say most expensive 2 or 3, but probably
4 or 5 these days, that average would fall pretty significantly... There are houses local here that are back under $500k... but as you say
they're almost the dumpster fire end of town.
Spec
project with any other material.Or, a more recent example: if the
power infrastructure of your country is designed in such a way that
the easiest way is to deploy solar without backup batteries,
it will be harder to get solar with batteries to back them up. Power supply contracts, handouts and supplies just won't contemplate.
One of the problems noted here with that setup is they don't want everyones solar setup feeding power back into the system if they need to turn it off o if there's some catastrophy that starts blowing fuses. You make it dangerou for the linesmen. If you wanted batteries you had to be removed from the gri
Spec
I just looked up, average house price in my city is 1 million.
Those prices will be inflated by the Toorak and Sth Yarra McMansions though
an area you'd expect to be paying more for so you can la de da down the st reet sippin' on your chai mocha latte...
One of the problems noted here with that setup is they don't want everyones
solar setup feeding power back into the system if they need to turn it off or if there's some catastrophy that starts blowing fuses. You make it dangerous for the linesmen. If you wanted batteries you had to be removed from the grid.
I rarely talk on the phone anymore, and most phone calls I get these
days
are spam and telemarketing. I rarely get actual phone calls from friends or family, or anyone else for a real conversation.
I would have expected the solution to that problem to be the same as for systems without batteries - ie, the inverter detects the lack of mains supply and shuts off? That's assuming your system is setup to export battery stored energy to the grid in the first place, which my first thought says would be an undesirable configuration anyway.
Still, even a solar system with no batteries would be dangerous for linesmen if the linesmen grabbed the live wire in sun hours.
In any case, the kits I see deployed in Spain don't pour battery energy into the grid. The whole point of batteries is to keep the power
for yourself, not to dump it into the grid. Dumping battery power
into the grid is moronic.
Indeed they do skew the average, but they would have also skewed the average figures in the decades prior too.
People do say that suburbs improve and gentrify (partly true), but the issue is that the 'cheapest' are further and further out, and that is an absolute disadvantage, not a relative one.
But thats always been true.. Oakleigh was all market garden once... it
was the far flung borders of town.. Keysborough was farm country, still
in my living memory... in these days of more decentralised business, its probably less of an issue than it historically was. Cranbourne North
was selling house and land I guess thats about 15 years ago now at ~2-300k.
There's to much I don't really understand... how an inverter is going
to detect mains is online or not, especially you're going to be
feeding into it.
There was a school of thought that home systems with batteries could
help offset load demand at times solar for whatever reason couldn't.
There was also something about battery systems likely to continue
feeding if the power is required to be turned off for line works for arguments sake.
I would have expected the solution to that problem to be the same as fo systems without batteries - ie, the inverter detects the lack of mains supply and shuts off? That's assuming your system is setup to export battery stored energy to the grid in the first place, which my first thought says would be an undesirable configuration anyway.
There's to much I don't really understand... how an inverter is going to detect mains is online or not, especially you're going to be feeding into it There was a school of thought that home systems with batteries could help offset load demand at times solar for whatever reason couldn't. There was also something about battery systems likely to continue feeding if the power is required to be turned off for line works for arguments sake.
Spec
In any case, the kits I see deployed in Spain don't pour battery energy into the grid. The whole point of batteries is to keep the power
for yourself, not to dump it into the grid. Dumping battery power
into the grid is moronic.
Maybe, maybe not... there was talk about increasing feed in tarrifs when the renewables are renewing... night time, still days... so you'd get more for supply during expected peak, and low power generation crossover points. So i you have spare capacity it would make sense. Renewables at this point reall are a crock of shot...there is no way you could replace fossil power with 100% renewable, you still need some kind of baseline power.
If they're using compliant grid-tie inverters then that shouldn't be able to
I /think/ there are storage systems that can continue supplying power to you
Any sparkies in here with knowledge of solar and embedded storage? :-)
My parents bought a house for $23K in 1970. Sold it for $1.3 million in 2016. Zillow says it's now worth $2.35 million.
I guess that is one advantage to the states. Such houses are hard to find
in Australia. Maybe in the boondocks, where there is little good work. But even some of the country towns are pricey.
I just looked up, average house price in my city is 1 million.
So at 4-5x income, I would expect companies to be paying wages for typical desk jobs of $200,000 - $250,000 per annum.
boraxman wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
There is definitely that. People also don't know why things matter, or don't take responsibility. One of the things that gets me about the discussion on housing prices, is just how disconnected people are from
the flow on effects. There is a huge social shift
impact our children and grandchildren, and people kind of just are
happy to be victims of change. Actually, if you think about it,
whenever we talk of the future, of AI, surveillance, the new Internet,
the Great Reset, we kind of act, to paraphrase someone, as if the
future is something that happens to us, rather than something we
create.
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* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)
I don't doubt there are use cases where embedded storage such as batteries can help support the grid, but if I were an embedded storage owner I'd be unlikely to participate in such a scheme - at least while feed-in tariffs are as low as they are.
It is trivial to detect if the main has power and cut off via relays/switches whatever. You can do that with off-the-shelf
hardware purchased in the electrotechnics supply store.
I guess that is one advantage to the states. Such houses are hard to fi in Australia. Maybe in the boondocks, where there is little good work. even some of the country towns are pricey.
I just looked up, average house price in my city is 1 million.
So at 4-5x income, I would expect companies to be paying wages for typi desk jobs of $200,000 - $250,000 per annum.
When I look for places to live, it boils down to the cost of living.
The only way to figure out the true best places to live when it comes to value is by looking at the overall cost of living (average salary vs
cost of goods/housing).
Having a high salary alone means nothing if you are paying 10 times what someone else is paying, even if they make half the above salary.
There are many states here that offer a really decent cost of living. There are also localized spots in states that offer good cost of living, as well. It just takes research and planning to figure it all out and what works best.
I've seen that firsthand. I went to school in San Francisco in the '80s, and lived there through the '90s at the ramp-up of the first dot-com boom. San Francisco changed, subtly at first and now materially. SF
used to be a melting pot of cultures, demographics and income levels. Lots of people who'd lived there multiple generations. Now:
1. Working class people have a hard time affording to move there or
raise kids there.
2. Multi-generational families are ending as elderly parents choose to sell to fund a retirement instead of passing the house along to the
next generation.
3. Income inflation from the tech sector has caused house prices and discretionary spending (dining out, especially) to soar.
You used to be able to run into people who'd lived there all their
lives, who grew up there, went to high school there, and so on. They're getting fewer and farther between. Sit at a bar, coffee shop or a restaurant and strike up a conversation with a plumber, roofer, or a fireman. There was also a tolerance that seems to have gone away, too. It's a shame.
The thing that struck me was talking a walk through the SOMA
neighborhood, hotbed of tech companies. I shot lots of photos of an
urban sprawl from 2000-2002 - lots of warehouses, grafitti, gritty live-work lofts, and so on.
In 2018, the warehouses had given way to high-rise condos. Restaurants
I'd loved looked empty on a weeknight. But, there was a line of waiters on wheels and doordash drivers leading into the parking lot of a condo.
What's the point of living in one of the most eclectic cities in the
world if you're going to eat overpriced takeout in your living room?
Backup power systems that are worth anything must have a transwer
switch to cut you off the grid while the backup power is enabled.
This is also to protect your premises. If your backup power is working
at a given phase, it is not isolated from the grid, and the grid
suddenly comes back, chances are the electric wave won't be in sync.
There was also something about battery systems likely to continue feeding if the power is required to be turned off for line wor
for arguments sake.
If they're using compliant grid-tie inverters then that shouldn't be
able to happen.
I /think/ there are storage systems that can continue supplying power
to your premises while the mains is out - like an oversized UPS - but
I'd expect they would have an isolation contactor or similar to stop
that power going back to the grid.
Any sparkies in here with knowledge of solar and embedded storage? :-)
It is trivial to detect if the main has power and cut off via relays/switches whatever. You can do that with off-the-shelf
hardware purchased in the electrotechnics supply store.
I find it hard to wrap my head around that... how is it going to detect an outtage if you're feeding the same stuff back in there? You could figure it out on startup easily enough but once you're connected it'd be a positive feedback cycle... <boggle>
*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: There is no cloud, just someone elses computer! (21:3/101)
Duckduckgo or Startpage your way to UPS diagrams for a basic understanding
Say you have a Hospital which takes its power from the grid, and which has
Australia is highly urbanised. If you want to live where there are decent jobs, schools and cultural opportunities, you have a few choices. Unlike
the US which has large cities scattered, in Australia you have a few large capital cities, and then regional areas.
Also, buying the cheapest area means bad schools, fewer opportunities for your children. I think this is a much bigger social problem than people realise.
Weatherman wrote to Poindexter Fortran <=-
If the average salary in that area is $575k per year, then cost of
living wise that isn't too bad. However, I'm thinking the average
salary isn't $575k per year in that area.
Then again, actual critical installations are more complex than that. A diesel generator takes a good bunch of seconds to kick in so generally you want a set of inline batteries somewhere to provide power while the generator is warming up, for example.
It's manageable if you have two people working in tech. That's the
problem with the bay area; the middle class is being priced out.
When my parents bought their house, they were a 1-income household with 2 kids. Dad was white collar, worked in finance - nothing that lucrative.
Say you have a Hospital which takes its power from the grid, and which
has a diesel generator for emergencies. The basic state is for the
switch to stay in position A so power passes from the grid to the radiodiagnostics equipment. THe switch stays in position A as long as
the main grid is providing tension.
Then again, actual critical installations are more complex than that.
A diesel generator takes a good bunch of seconds to kick in so
generally you want a set of inline batteries somewhere to provide
power while the generator is warming up, for example.
Much of this is changing due to remote working being way more accepted these days. It is far more common now to work for a company in a different state and never having to go to a corporate office at all.
While my role is permanant remote work, however we still have to go in from time to time if anything physical needs to be done or investigate. That doesn't happen often, so I average going on-site once every 2-3 months.
Around here that isn't the case. The best cost of living options are in the rural areas, still within an hour of most large businesses and the schools in these areas are FAR better than the near the city options. Most people that choose to live near the city in the high cost of living areas will pay to put their kids in private schools.
It is very normal in the states to drive around an hour to work and an hour back. That has changed drastically over the past few years now
that many jobs have gone permanent remote work. Companies have finally realized this is a reality that can work and also save them money at the same time.
An hour each way is a long time. This is the problem with the "car"
culture of America. One hour each way comes to about 1 month per year in a car. That is an entire month of the year just to get to and from work. Not really accessible or functional.
I used to do that 1 hour+ commute each way, and its awful, especially when you have traffic. It's costly too.
In Australia, the city fringes don't really have the same quality schools. You really do need to get closer to the CBD, but then, we don't quite have the same reputation of inner city troubles as many US cities seem to have. They aren't crime ridden, not when you go close in.
It is all in what you get used to. That is the norm and a small price
to pay to be away from the crime ridden big city locations. You
couldn't pay me to live close to any of them. It is a good time to
listen to some music, enjoy the drive or ride.
Typically the school systems around here are a reflection of the general neighborhoods. The areas where the family/parents are involved in the school/education and have decent family values, those are the areas with the best schools. If the community is broken, the school is typically
the same.
Weatherman wrote to Boraxman <=-
An hour each way is a long time. This is the problem with the "car"
culture of America. One hour each way comes to about 1 month per year in a car. That is an entire month of the year just to get to and from work. Not really accessible or functional.
I used to do that 1 hour+ commute each way, and its awful, especially when you have traffic. It's costly too.
It is all in what you get used to. That is the norm and a small price
to pay to be away from the crime ridden big city locations. You
couldn't pay me to live close to any of them. It is a good time to
listen to some music, enjoy the drive or ride.
I figured that to live where I worked would have cost twice as much as living with an hour commute. I also got living in a beach community with
a low-key, low-stress lifestyle as part of the bargain.
Everyone would live where they work, if real estate was affordable.
Yep, I used to listen to podcasts on the way to work, and ran a team meeting out of my car for a while.
boraxman wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
Oh, you live near a beach? I did choose to remain an hours drive for work, because my home was near the bay. I could walk or bike down
there after work and spend some time on the grass overlooking the water reading a book. That made the extra time driving worth it.
I should probably start doing that, though I'd have to get some new hardware to be able to do that. Have a older car, not bluetooth or anything like that.
Yes, I'm about 10 minutes south of Santa Cruz, California. Appreciated
the change of pace down here - we joked that it can take some time to drive cross-town because of all of the 4-way stops - everyone wants to wave the other person on through the intersection. "No, you go on ahead..."
If you're anywhere near handy, there are some cheap Android head units that look interesting. If your older car doesn't have steering wheel controls, it's even easier - 2 wires per speaker, power and ground. Antennas usually have the same coax socket. Might even get Bluetooth handsfree out of it, too.
Although, for a good part of my commute I used one of those cassette adapters that play through the headphone port and a bluetooth headset
with noise cancelling - people couldn't tell I was in a car most of the time.
I used to do that 1 hour+ commute each way, and its awful, especially when you have traffic. It's costly too.
It is all in what you get used to. That is the norm and a small price
to pay to be away from the crime ridden big city locations. You
couldn't pay me to live close to any of them. It is a good time to
listen to some music, enjoy the drive or ride.
Denver, the city is mellow - crime is mostly low during the work day -I used to take the bus to school 2 hours each way. The funny thing was they implemented the express bus right after I graduated. hahhahaa
and
the public transportation is fun! I take light rail from the suburb I
live into LoDo, and walk to the office from there.
Denver, the city is mellow - crime is mostly low during the work day - andI used to take the bus to school 2 hours each way. The funny thing was they implemented the express bus right after I graduated. hahhahaa
the public transportation is fun! I take light rail from the suburb I live into LoDo, and walk to the office from there.
--- WWIV 5.5.1.3261
* Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)
boraxman wrote to Utopian Galt <=-
I preferred driving to uni than taking 3 buses, but a good rail system beats cars.
the public transportation is fun! I take light rail from the suburb I
live into LoDo, and walk to the office from there.
I usBed to take the bus to school 2 hours each way. The funny thing was they implemented the express bus right after I graduated. hahhahaa
I preferred driving to uni than taking 3 buses, but a good rail syste beats cars.
When I commuted into San Francisco, I had a couple of options.
There is an elevated electric train called BART that runs underneath the bay. Skips the traffic, but frequent brealdowns and packed cars.
I did a casual commute from across the bay. Drivers would pick up 2 passengers, then get to use the free commute lane. Everyone wins. They'd drop off at the SF Transbay Terminal, a bus hub that was conveniently 1 block from my office. I took a bus back home from that terminal that dropped me off a block from home. Cheap, effective, and they started offering wifi.
Driving could be a nightmare - stop and go traffic in the morning going through the toll booth, and sometimes 45 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic to get onto the bridge.
The holy grail was the ferry service. Service was limited but ran
hourly. I drove to the ferry terminal, then took a bus transfer; they'd let you take one bus ride per ticket to get into San Francisco.
Mornings they had coffee, bagels, and donuts. The evening commute had
beer and wine. Sitting on the upper deck in the summertime with a drink watching the sun go down under the SF skyline was a highlight.
You had enough room that you could hunker down and get 40 minutes worth
of work done - I arranged with my boss to get out of work an hour early based on working on the ferry.
boraxman wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
Sounds pretty sweet, and a pretty good idea here. Making the commute actually part of your working day. We "work from home", so why now
have "Work while you commute". So even if you are commuting an hour
each way, that hour could part of your working day if you are actually able to get work done. Then when you're there, you can have your
physical face to face meetings.
Designing cities so that we are forced to sink literal months and years of our leaves moving back and forth was one of the colossally stupid mistakes
Sounds pretty sweet, and a pretty good idea here. Making the commute actually part of your working day. We "work from home", so why now have "Work while you commute". So even if you are commuting an hour each way, that hour could part of your working day if you are actuall able to get work done. Then when you're there, you can have your physical face to face meetings.
A friend of mine justifies his self-driving Tesla that way - he owns a company and drives 1 1/2 hours each way occasionally to the office.
He was pulled over using a cell phone while the car was driving and cautioned that he needed to have the phone mounted on the dash, even if the car was driving. :)
You could look at it as saving your hourly rate's worth of salary, or
the opportunity cost of being able to make dinner with your kids, spend time outdoors with your partner, etc.
My current gig is going all remote, I don't know how I'll feel when this gig runs its course and I have to drive in again.
Designing cities so that we are forced to sink literal months and yea our leaves moving back and forth was one of the colossally stupid mis
I don't think that was done with either design or intent. Its called urban sprawl. Until very recently we've (Australia) haven't been good
at higher density living. Every man and dog wanted his own home on a quarter acre block, that and ongoing land releases at the fringes by the peanuts in charge have gotten us to where we are now.
Spec
It nevertheless did happen. Houses are built with roads, but lack public transport. Somewhere in the planning is the assumption that the car will be the first, the primary mode of transport and anything else a bonus.
poindexter FORTRAN wrote to boraxman <=-
He was pulled over using a cell phone while the car was driving and cautioned that he needed to have the phone mounted on the dash, even if the car was driving. :)
Even with the self-driving cars, you do have to pay attention just in
case you need to overide a decision it has made?
Even with the self-driving cars, you do have to pay attention just in
case you need to overide a decision it has made?
On 08-08-22 22:36, boraxman wrote to Spectre <=-
Then you have many European towns which were designed around a
pedestrian life, more human friendly.
I did was the suburban dream when I was younger, but it is in reality a nightmare.
On 08-08-22 22:56, Spectre wrote to boraxman <=-
It nevertheless did happen. Houses are built with roads, but lack public transport. Somewhere in the planning is the assumption that the car will be the first, the primary mode of transport and anything else a bonus.
Sure but its still sprawl and poor or no planning. Developers are only expected to provide roads. The Chief Peanut has to provide public transport its beyong the legal remit of any developer.
There was complaints recently about a development somewhere west of the city, that the railway line on the plan and the primary school never arrived. But the developer can't influence when the government will
ever get a round-tuit or if they ever will at all.
On 08-08-22 10:25, Blue White wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
I thought there had been some accidents recently because people mistook the self-driving cars as being completely autonomous so they didn't
react when the car also didn't react.
On 08-08-22 12:07, esc wrote to Blue White <=-
Even with the self-driving cars, you do have to pay attention just in
case you need to overide a decision it has made?
In the industry these are called "disengagements". In an ideal world,
each of these events are studied and understood, and findings are used
to refine the autonomy stack. I can't speak to how well every company
does this, however.
The interesting thing about autonomy is that industry knows it's a foregone conclusion that we're headed that way, but consumers actually fear the tech so there is no consumer driven market push to get this
tech developed. So in a sense it is in a very weird spot. Additionally, every company goes about autonomy in a different way...for example,
Tesla /only/ uses cameras, which seems to be working pretty well for
them, however I don't think I would feel comfortable with actual "autonomy" unless there were additional on-vehicle sensors like LIDAR.
The truly odd thing about the industry and autonomy is that companies
are competing to have the best autonomous platform, however I'm of the opinion that proper autonomy should be a universal endeavor since safe on-road experience means everyone wins. I don't think we would ever go
the collective development route without government interference,
though.
Sure but its still sprawl and poor or no planning. Developers are only expected to provide roads. The Chief Peanut has to provide public transport its beyong the legal remit of any developer.
There was complaints recently about a development somewhere west of the city, that the railway line on the plan and the primary school never arrived. But the developer can't influence when the government will ever get a round-tuit or if they ever will at all.
Spec
Then you have many European towns which were designed around a pedestrian life, more human friendly.
I think human friendly designs that work for pedestrians and cyclists would be more liveable, with good public transport (bicycle friendly!)
for longer trips.
I did was the suburban dream when I was younger, but it is in reality nightmare.
Being ina smaller regional city, we can (for now) get asway with it, and I'm hoping to be able to use an ebike for most of my trips around town. Out here, cars are very useful for longer trips out of town - with a lot of rural destinations around, can't avoid the car, but within most of
the urban limits, I'd like to be able to use an ebike.
We've gotten so used to cars and roads, we don't realise
how much they have taken away from us. Right in front of
our house, are rivers of black which are too dangerous for
children to be near or on [...]
Walking some European cities, like the centre of Amsterdam is a delight [...]
I've been tempted to make the move to a smaller town, but
alas it is difficult in my profession. I cannot really
work from home, and the places I can work are in the big
smoke.
boraxman wrote to Spectre <=-
The suburban ideal was a manufactured want, a Post War design, a
promise of escape from what was then dysfunctional urban areas. Things are changing where some younger people are eschewing the surburban
"dream" for a more urban lifestyle, close to cafes and bars and culture and entertainment.
esc wrote to Blue White <=-
The truly odd thing about the industry and autonomy is that companies
are competing to have the best autonomous platform, however I'm of the opinion that proper autonomy should be a universal endeavor since safe on-road experience means everyone wins. I don't think we would ever go
the collective development route without government interference,
though.
Vk3jed wrote to Blue White <=-
On 08-08-22 10:25, Blue White wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
I thought there had been some accidents recently because people mistook the self-driving cars as being completely autonomous so they didn't
react when the car also didn't react.
Hmm, I think I'd rather remain in control - the autopilot of my subconscious is far more integrated than any car based system could be.
:)
I think human friendly designs that work for pedestrians and cyclists would more liveable, with good public transport (bicycle friendly!) for longer tri
I agree. Having two machines that are not using compatable autonomy systems that are heading for each other does not sound too safe. It would be good if they could communicate with each other to mutually prevent the issue, rather than having each one making decisions that the other would not be aware of.
On 08-09-22 23:47, boraxman wrote to Vk3jed <=-
We've gotten so used to cars and roads, we don't realise how much they have taken away from us. Right in front of our house, are rivers of
black which are too dangerous for children to be near or on, and we are stuck to walking the edges, having to carefully navigate our way across them to access our neighbours. The cars drone day and night, and in
some cases, the rivers are so large and wide that those across as are barely accessible.
Walking some European cities, like the centre of Amsterdam is a
delight. People can walk freely, mingle, socialise and meander at will.
The car in these spaces, if it is there, is a second class citizen.
These areas are for US, people, humans. Car based cities by comparison seem hostile, inhuman, we are guests there, barely belonging.
I've been tempted to make the move to a smaller town, but alas it is difficult in my profession. I cannot really work from home, and the places I can work are in the big smoke.
On 08-09-22 16:01, Blue White wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I don't see one in my future, either, until that is the only thing available. :)
On 08-09-22 18:44, Arelor wrote to Vk3jed <=-
There is a big problem that Urban Administrators don't understand, and that is that when you take something away from the population, you need
to provide them with an alternative. If you remove cars from a neighbourhood because you want it to be for pedestrians only, you need
to supply them with new means to move. Otherwise you get aberrant behaviors, such as car traffic being banned in certain areas, and
people having to walk from a faraway parking to their jobs through
crime ridden areas.
The war on cars is irrelevant, anyway. Soon, affordable energy will be
a thing of the past and we will be back at using bulls and charts for moving from a village to the next XD
I am very happy of being a rural redneck.
Denver, the city is mellow - crime is mostly low during the work day andI used to take the bus to school 2 hours each way. The funny thing was they implemented the express bus right after I graduated. hahhahaa
the public transportation is fun! I take light rail from the suburb live into LoDo, and walk to the office from there.
--- WWIV 5.5.1.3261
* Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)
You really need the town to be designed around public transport and rail for to work really well. Sadly they are designed around cars.
I preferred driving to uni than taking 3 buses, but a good rail system beats cars.
We've gotten so used to cars and roads, we don't realise
how much they have taken away from us. Right in front of
our house, are rivers of black which are too dangerous for
children to be near or on [...]
Walking some European cities, like the centre of Amsterdam is a deligh [...]
I've been tempted to make the move to a smaller town, but
alas it is difficult in my profession. I cannot really
work from home, and the places I can work are in the big
smoke.
Ironically, should you settle in a smaller town, you WILL need
to rely on a decent mode of transportation for anything
remotely important - like shopping, hospital, etc.
The suburban ideal was a manufactured want, a Post War design, a promise of escape from what was then dysfunctional urban areas. Thin are changing where some younger people are eschewing the surburban "dream" for a more urban lifestyle, close to cafes and bars and cultu and entertainment.
Or, in California, they're moving out to previously unavailable areas farther from urban areas - because they're working remotely now.
Bakersfield, once a town that people scoffed at, is apparently now becoming a thing. You could get a house with a nice lot for the price
of a San Francisco condo, and still commute in 1 day a week if you
needed to.
I think the trick is finding those little towns that have decent
internet.
We've gotten so used to cars and roads, we don't realise how much the have taken away from us. Right in front of our house, are rivers of black which are too dangerous for children to be near or on, and we a stuck to walking the edges, having to carefully navigate our way acro them to access our neighbours. The cars drone day and night, and in some cases, the rivers are so large and wide that those across as are barely accessible.
It's particularly obvious in major shopping centres. Ever notice how hostile many are to pedestrians, leaving them to run the gauntlet in car parks or at entrances?
Walking some European cities, like the centre of Amsterdam is a delight. People can walk freely, mingle, socialise and meander at wil
The car in these spaces, if it is there, is a second class citizen. These areas are for US, people, humans. Car based cities by comparis seem hostile, inhuman, we are guests there, barely belonging.
Those European cities sound totally delightful places. :)
I've been tempted to make the move to a smaller town, but alas it is difficult in my profession. I cannot really work from home, and the places I can work are in the big smoke.
When we moved, I was working remotely anyway, so no big deal.
Vk3jed wrote to Spectre <=-
That sucks. And of course, Melbourne Airport has been waiting 50 years for a train and counting...
Vk3jed wrote to boraxman <=-
It's particularly obvious in major shopping centres. Ever notice how hostile many are to pedestrians, leaving them to run the gauntlet in
car parks or at entrances?
Vk3jed wrote to Arelor <=-
I think the issue is that car dependence is embedded at all levels -
not just local streets, but also in terms of long commutes and a host
of other things. For many shorter trips, bicycles are useful, ebikes
even more so (even with the silly restrictions we have here). In
short, there's no easy solutions, it's got to the point that it will involve massive social change, along with massive infrastructure
changes.
Or an ebike :D I'm already planning on reducing my car dependence.
Out here it's impractical to elimate that, but I can dramatically
reduce car use from the current 150km/week or so to a much lower
figure, without having to cut out any activities.
Capt Kirk wrote to boraxman <=-
the U.S. is designed around the automobile, where Europe is designed around public transport.. if the transit system was at least 200%
better here, and easier to take i'd opt for that..
They're too busy walking while looking down at their phones. I worked for
On 08-11-22 23:31, boraxman wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Indeed I have. A new centre near where I live has a large carpark out
the front of the entrance, which you have to walk along the carpark to
get it. There really isn't any good way to get into it from the road.
It looks like a massive box in the middle of the carpark. There really isn't anywhere for people to congregate which isn't by cars.
I compare this to the old Moonee Ponds Market, which fronted a street,
and the carpark was on the other side of the main road. There were
more accessways to it. The place wasn't an island in the middle of a
car park and it was integrated with the surrounding urban area. The
new one near my place is in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing across the road, nothing nearby, detached from everything else.
When we moved, I was working remotely anyway, so no big deal.
One design I liked, was having a town square which was pedestrian only.
Shops and restaurants would front the square, and the roads may be
behind the shops. This created an enclosed space free of cars.
On 08-09-22 12:09, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Vk3jed wrote to Spectre <=-
That sucks. And of course, Melbourne Airport has been waiting 50 years for a train and counting...
I was so impressed that the London underground wraps right in and out
of Heathrow airport. It makes getting in and out of the town easy.
Oakland missed out on the opportunity to run BART, a multi-county
elevated electric train system, into their airport. When they finally built a shuttle system to get people from the nearest BART station to
the airport, they freaked out when they realized that people would park
at a BART station and leave their cars overnight for free.
Not well thought out.
On 08-11-22 07:36, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Vk3jed <=-
They're too busy walking while looking down at their phones. I worked
for a large internet company, and their parking lot didn't have
dedicated pedestrian areas. You had to walk behind the cars in the
lanes to get to work.
More times than I could count, someone was walking in traffic, not
paying attention, not hearing my car on electric and almost walked into
my car.
I'm glad I'd never had that happen, because I'm sure they'd claim I'd
hit them, although I was at a dead stop. I would have appreciated a
dash cam then.
On 08-11-22 07:50, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Vk3jed <=-
The number of transit systems and plans torn out in the 60s to make way for the auto boom is depressing. In the bay area, there was a rail
system that ran from San Francisco across the bay to Oakland and the
east bay that was torn out partly through the influence of big oil and
the automakers.
They ended up building a similar system years later.
I want a moped to relive my high-school years, but I'd need to lose
about a hundred pounds. :)
On 08-11-22 23:17, boraxman wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-
In Australia, or at least the part I live in, this kind of move seems
less popular. Some people are moving to regional areas but we don't
move as much as people in the USA do. Some nearby towns have become "trendy" but those near Melbourne don't seem all that appealing.
On 08-11-22 07:54, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Capt Kirk <=-
I went to school and spent the next 10 years in San Francisco, and I
could have done it very nicely without a car. In SF you could get
anywhere you needed to go 24/7, they have a nice prime-time
metro/trolley system, a region-wide elevated train system, and a traditional train route that runs down the peninsula into Silicon
Valley.
Drinking with friends usually involved picking one of the trolley lines and visiting a couple of bars along the route. I, fortuitously, lived
at the end of one of the lines, right along the beach.
The number of transit systems and plans torn out in the 60s to make way for the auto boom is depressing. In the bay area, there was a rail
system that ran from San Francisco across the bay to Oakland and the
east bay that was torn out partly through the influence of big oil and the automakers.
Yep, that seems to be the norm for major shopping malls.
I compare this to the old Moonee Ponds Market, which fronted a street and the carpark was on the other side of the main road. There were more accessways to it. The place wasn't an island in the middle of a car park and it was integrated with the surrounding urban area. The new one near my place is in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing across the road, nothing nearby, detached from everything else.
Strip centres in general are better, some parking in the street, and the major car parks tend to be behind the shops with either rear access or walk along the street. Pedestrians simply walk along the street (maybe after getting off public transport) and into the shop of their choice.
I have seen places like that, or if there is a road, it's only for emergency and essential service vehicles, not general traffic.
Come out here to Bendigo then. COVID accelerated a pre-existing trend
of tree changers moving out here (guilty as charged, we arrived in
2010). But these days, try getting a rental or buying a house. The market is tight. At one stage, houses literally sold within hours of being listed, if not before, and when we bought our land, we just had to jump on the first block we could, because any hesitation and they sold.
BORAXMAN(21:1/101) wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-And its going to cost SOOOO much money to correct the mistakes.
The 1950's and 1960's was really a bad period in terms of urban design
and planning. A lot of things in that era were done wrong, mistakes we are living with today.
Is the All You Can Eat Pizza Hut still there?
On 08-13-22 00:05, boraxman wrote to Vk3jed <=-
Strip centres in general are better, some parking in the street, and the major car parks tend to be behind the shops with either rear access or walk along the street. Pedestrians simply walk along the street (maybe after getting off public transport) and into the shop of their choice.
They do work better, as do "malls" between two roads or streets, though neither of these are really places for people to linger. Ballarat has
a nice mall, I can't remember the name, but its near Bakery Hill.
Wide, no cars, quiet, parking nearby.
I used to live on a block where the middle of the block (it was a large block) was a relatively large piece of grassland with a kids park in
the middle. A few blocks in this suburb was like this. I always
though that instead of having the houses face the streets, they should face the interior of the block, the grassland, with the street being at the "back" of the house. That way, everyones front yard opens on to
this grassland. Every house then faces a courtyard of sorts, but the streets you use to access them aren't a pointless cul-de-sac. It was a nice idea, to have these open areas, but having at the back of the
houses, and not having them well maintained meant it was a lost opportunity.
On 08-13-22 00:09, boraxman wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I don't mind Bendigo, though with a tight housing market, the incentive isn't there. My wife and I have discussed moving, but for the price of housing here in Australia, we may as well look overseas.
Is the All You Can Eat Pizza Hut still there?
Is the All You Can Eat Pizza Hut still there?
Are there any Pizza Huts anywhere? I thought they had joined the dodo. :)
Spec
They do work better, as do "malls" between two roads or streets, thou neither of these are really places for people to linger. Ballarat ha a nice mall, I can't remember the name, but its near Bakery Hill. Wide, no cars, quiet, parking nearby.
I'm not familiar with that mall.
I used to live on a block where the middle of the block (it was a lar block) was a relatively large piece of grassland with a kids park in the middle. A few blocks in this suburb was like this. I always though that instead of having the houses face the streets, they shoul face the interior of the block, the grassland, with the street being the "back" of the house. That way, everyones front yard opens on to this grassland. Every house then faces a courtyard of sorts, but th streets you use to access them aren't a pointless cul-de-sac. It was nice idea, to have these open areas, but having at the back of the houses, and not having them well maintained meant it was a lost opportunity.
It's a shame that it wasn't utilised as well as it could have been, because those enclosed courtyards encourage residents, especially those with kids, to mingle in a safe space.
Ballarat has a nice mall, I can't remember the name, but its near
Bakery Hill. Wide, no cars, quiet, parking nearby.
Are there any Pizza Huts anywhere? I thought they had joined the dodo. :)
There are a lot of them in my area.. I didn't think they had gone anywhere.
Yeah, I think we still have Pizza Huts around too. Dont use them that much, but now that I think about it, the last time I was in Target they have a little Pizza Hut counter in there. I dont usually get the pizza
but I always have time for a few of their Bread Sticks.. Cant beat em'!
ironically both pizza hut and dominos are way above average nowadays
Re: Re: 3.5 weeks to being la
By: Spectre to boraxman on Sat Aug 13 2022 08:06 am
Are there any Pizza Huts anywhere? I thought they had joined the dodo.
There are a lot of them in my area.. I didn't think they had gone anywhere.
Nightfox
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
* Origin: Digital Distortion: digdist.synchro.net (21:1/137)
Are there any Pizza Huts anywhere? I thought they had joined the dodo.
There are a lot of them in my area.. I didn't think they had gone anywhere.
On 08-13-22 21:16, boraxman wrote to Vk3jed <=-
I don't know the name of it, but I know its near a Woolworths on the
Baker Hill side of the town centre.
The person who came up with the idea probably had grand ideas of how it would be used, but when it came to be built, they just built larger blocks, and left the bit between the houses (which behind my old place
was large, enough to fit another 10-20 houses in) just empty grassland.
There were also larger nature strips, I'm not sure why.
It could have been an opportunity for novel design, for something different, but in the end it just became the standard surburban design
but with empty spaces.
Are there any Pizza Huts anywhere? I thought they had joined the
dodo.
There are a lot of them in my area.. I didn't think they had gone
anywhere.
Woah, wonder where you are, I don't think I've seen one in 30 years....
ironically both pizza hut and dominos are way above average nowadays
On 08-15-22 08:45, Nightfox wrote to fusion <=-
I don't know about that.. Neither of them are among my favorite pizza places, but last time I had Pizza Hut, I thought it wasn't bad.
We've got lots of Italians who can make a great pizza. Pizza Hut and Dominoes are OK, but I prefer the independent family owned shops.
On 08-17-22 21:54, Spectre wrote to Vk3jed <=-
While I'm also inclined to back the family store, the local one to my mother's old place, was run by, I'm guessing some kind of eastern europeans. By the time Pizza was a big thing, I'm not so sure to many italians were still in that kind of market.
Going back further, there used to be plenty of Italian fish and chipperies, but they gradually turned Greek and eventually asian. You
can still find the odd Italian but they're much fewer and further
between. Not sure now, its been a bit, but there used to be a good one still in Huntingdale. Most of the old local fish and chip/arcade
setups are completely gone now.
I've seen a mix of Italian and Middle Eastern pizza shop owners.
Never had Italian fish and chip shops. They were majority Greek when I was a kid, but the Asians are probably more prolific now. And yes, the fish
The idea of a middle eastern pizza shop is interesting. And in my area,
I know of at least one Indian restaurant that also serves pizza.
like the tandoori pizza.
Been stuck on Indian food lately. I didnt know they made a tandoori
pizza. Will be something I am looking out for now!
Been stuck on Indian food lately. I didnt know they made a tandoori
pizza. Will be something I am looking out for now!
Same on all counts. Indian food has become an obsession.
Nightfox wrote to esc <=-
Been stuck on Indian food lately. I didnt know they made a tandoori
pizza. Will be something I am looking out for now!
Same on all counts. Indian food has become an obsession.
I really like Indian food, but I've found that it can be hit or
miss, depending on who made it or where I got it from. There are
some Indian restaurants in my area I really like, and some I
don't like so much. Some places make it very spicy, and/or use
spices and flavors that I think leave a weird aftertaste. And I
generally prefer to taste the flavors of the food rather than
have it be really spicy hot.
On 08-18-22 09:03, Nightfox wrote to Vk3jed <=-
The idea of a middle eastern pizza shop is interesting. And in my
area, I know of at least one Indian restaurant that also serves pizza.
Interesting. I haven't seen a Greek restaurant here serve fish & chips. Most of the time, when I've seen fish & chips here, the restaurant is usually an American restaurant (i.e. Red Robin) or a bar/pub, and some fast food restaurants here have fish & chips too.
On 08-19-22 06:57, Irish_Monk wrote to StormTrooper <=-
like the tandoori pizza.
Been stuck on Indian food lately. I didnt know they made a tandoori
pizza. Will be something I am looking out for now!
esc wrote to Irish_Monk <=-
Same on all counts. Indian food has become an obsession.
I found some seasoning called "balti seasoning" that's a mixture of
curry, cumin, paprika and some other spices that I've been tossing into it, and love the combination of stewed veggies and curry.
I've been making vegetable stews for lunches during the week; I'll
usually take a half an onion, carrots and corn, sautee it in the bottom of a pot with olive oil. When the onion starts to sweat, add garlic, frozen vegetables (kale or spinach), garbanzo or black beans, and vegetable broth to cover it all. Bring to a boil then simmer until it thickens.
I found some seasoning called "balti seasoning" that's a mixture of
curry, cumin, paprika and some other spices that I've been tossing into it, and love the combination of stewed veggies and curry.
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