macrocarpa

Orrrr…hear me out here

This is a news article about a set of social media posts and has absolutely no link or relevance to the voting register.

you know the cool thing about people voting? You know who has voted and in what age group they are. Then you can look at the age group and say things like hmmm wow thats weird there are like 34 million people in the US between 18 and 24, but only 7 million of them voted, I wonder if the other 27 million would have swayed the margin on an election decided by hundreds of thousands of votes

Young people aren’t participating yet they have the most skin in the game. It’s daft.

Imo Implement compulsory voting, introduce third parties that can act as a protest vote, watch what the fuck happens. Suddenly the major parties have to be accountable outside their base.

Aka inconsiderate people

Wore a maroon coloured hoodie

The dude who asked me this also stared fixedly at the crotch of my board shorts and asked me “where’s your package, man?” upon me exiting climbing out of a (cold) plunge pool

I clearly looked confused, so he says “where’s your piece?”

Dude clearly spent a fair amount of his time cataloguing the outlines of flaccid penises through boardshorts for whatever fucking reason.

I was offended, ish, till I heard the growers vs show-ers thing. Mine retracts while not in use, it’s quite convenient.

Oh one more. Contagion. Made years and years before covid - pretty spot on tho.

Simultaneously made me want to try, and to never ever try, drugs

Once were warriors

If you’re employed, there is a compulsory contribution of 10% of your pay which goes into superannuation (retirement savings)

You can also do voluntary contributions which you get a tax benefit on.

The compounded growth over time and the enforced nature of the savings means that every person who works contributes to their own retirement.

Some companies match voluntary contributions up to a threshold. And you get a tax benefit from it.

Because it’s compulsory, it isn’t really considered part of your remuneration. Companies will talk about total rem but most employees talk about base pay.

Only issue is massive superannuation providers with a huge amount of market clout. But you can be very prescriptive, or you can set up your own super fund.

Boring yes but easier to see, involved in proportionally fewer accidents, surface scratches are harder to see, remains cooler when parked outside, much easier to resell, always available, doesn’t attract attention, and the base white is normally cheaper…

I completely get it for a lease car. It’s a work vehicle, not a passion project.

Superannuation

Minimum 10% compulsory

Reminds me of that 20th century philosopher, C.G.L. Wallace, who quipped “mo money, mo problems”

Panic attack (I hope)

It’s awful

Back in the day, nostalgia was better

Sometimes the base level of aggression or the base level of inflection is way higher than what you’re locally tuned for.

Anecdotally I have found even business conversations with people from the US to be over the top. Especially through the sales cycle. There is a lot of hype that I need to adjust for in comparison to vendors in the UK, Europe and Asia.

It’s not a bad thing, it’s a social standard. I probably appear quiet reserved and shy by comparison.

I was young and naive, even a couple years later I would’ve done a bit of digging. You know, questions like what’s his name, how long you guys been going out for, shouldn’t he be here with you in your moment of need given your fucking dog is dead.

Mate I’ve had some cracker first dates that didn’t work out in the long run but were absolutely part of the tapestry which got me to here.

The number of good first dates far outweighs the weird and shitty ones.

Some of my most treasured experiences are those quiet intimate moments just between two of you. An experience that just the two of you share. It is profound.

We are our experiences.

Asked a girl out on a date. She invited me over to watch a movie with her at her parents house (we were in our late teens). I arrived; her recently deceased family dog and incredibly distressed mother were both in the kitchen. Dog was a really big golden retriever that had been euthanized, and the mom had bought him home? Not sure why? Maybe to bury in the back yard or something? Idk

Anyway I offered to leave but she was insistent that we watch the movie together, which we did, on the couch, with her mom crying in the next room. Halfway through the movie the mom screams he’s still alive, he’s still alive. Go into the kitchen, she’d gone to move the body and it had expelled air and made some noise. I had to explain, with my best year 12 biology, what had happened. Five minutes of this woman losing her shit with grief out of her beloved companion dying.

Girl insisted we watch the last 10 minutes of the movie, it finishes with us watching in silence, I get up to leave and said something stupid like hey I’d love to do this again sometime and she says “I have a boyfriend”

I’m like alright well that’s that then and didn’t put in any more effort. Stupid me, she was hot and I really liked her. Being a dipshit I wrote a song about it, using the three guitar chords I knew, which takes me to act ii…

…five years later, I’m at a party, exchanging worst first date stories with friends and fellow partygoers including a cute blonde. I wait my turn, tell the story, she laughs her arse off and then goads me into singing the song, accompanying myself poorly on the guitar. I absolutely fucking nail it, everyone is in stitches, sit down next to her and the night goes from there. We end up leaving the party for a walk down to the local beach, made out on the beach, things get frisky, jump in a cab back to my house, in bed together, have drunken sex…which results in a broken condom. She lives literally the other side of town so we have to wait till (a) I’m sober enough to drive and (b) pharmacy is open to get a plan b, then have the most awkward drive back to her house. Get there, offer to walk her to the door, she says no, kisses me goodbye in the car, then texts me…to say she has a boyfriend.

Tricky, theirs is a cover version, so the original would still exist.

There’s a movie about that scenario with the Beatles. Called yesterday.

Wooosh

*"Listen, happy endings is fine if they turn out happy,” said Granny, glaring at the sky. “But you can’t make ‘em for other people. Like the only way you could make a happy marriage is by cuttin’ their heads off as soon as they say ‘I do’, yes? You can’t make happiness…” Granny Weatherwax stared at the distant city.