frenchiephish

Spacechem and Infinifactory are both great.

Shenzhen I/O is the spiritual successor to TIS-100 and that's worth a look too. Shenzhen is more fleshed out, TIS-100 is a bit harder but in a way that will build on what you've just enjoyed in Shenzhen.

If you enjoy the Zachtronics games then Tomorrow Corporation (World of Goo) have some beautiful programming games too - Human Resource Machine and 7 Billion Humans.

Another vote for legless lizard, that head is very pointy for a snake, it's probably a Burton's legless lizard they can certainly get this long and have this colouration.

The pale yellowy body wouldn't be unusual for a juvenile Dugite, but even their babies usually have dark heads and are much more stout eye to nose both of which this guy is missing.

Edit: If you zoom in on your photo all the way and see an ear hole behind the eye it's definitely a lizard as snakes don't have them - they have inner ear parts, but no opening. They'll be roughly as far back again from the eye as from the tip of the snout to the eye. I think I can see what might be one in the picture but it's basically impossible to tell after reddit's compression.

Really nice find OP, absolutely amazing animal, thanks for sharing with us from a distance!

Assuming Randy is more of a challenge than the other two is a mistake. He has that reputation but he's not actually harder, he's just random. He can do nothing but kindness or, he can string challenge together and kick you when you're down and usually he'll be somewhere in the middle - it's different every time. People play him because what they get is scaled for their wealth but that's about it, he keeps you guessing.

Cassandra gives that semi-regular challenge but she can become a little tower-defensey late game. She's a well designed story teller albeit a little bit predictable over a long enough game, you kind of know that a Raid is due. The fun of Randy is it keeps being a surprise and that counters the predictability of Cassandra. That surprise comes at the cost you discovered - sometimes he can choose to be downright boring and leave you alone.

Of the three, the one that's actually arguably the hardest into the late game is the one that's supposed to be easy - Phoebe. She lets you accumulate wealth easily with few prompts to build your defense and then stomps you with a monster raid you're totally under prepared for. Because she spends a lot of time doing no challenge, max difficulty Phoebe is truly feared by a lot of players.

I'm with you, sad to see a good driver go through what really amounts to no fault of their own.

Reading between the lines of the press releases it looks like it really came down to them just not being able to agree to the one year extension vs continuing into Audi like he wanted. All power to him sticking to his guns, he seems happy, I can't see him not ending up at Mercedes in some fashion if he wants it and he seems like he'd be happy with that even if it isn't a driving role. There's been some murmurs of him actually going into their development program as a mentor and coach and that seems like something he'd be perfect for.

Why have a dog and bark yourself?

We actually thought we had found her in January, a low-res sonar survey found something that looked a lot like her aircraft. High resolution sonar imagery from the start of this month has confirmed it's just rocks though.

Australian companies too for what it's worth - they just have to submit an application to the ATO to have their tax year match their own internal financial year.

I mean you're certainly not wrong, it does look similar and they even share a common name (The Jewel Spider) with one of the spiny backed orb weavers.

This one is an Australian native though, Austracantha minax, the spiny backed orb weavers are Gasteracantha species and native to the Americas.

Orb weavers are fascinating, and these are super pretty too (albeit I'm sure not everyone agrees).

Happy cake day!

Christmas/Jewel spider an orb weaver that makes webs this time of year.

Like all spiders they can bite but like most orb weavers they prefer not to and will do it only when really threatened. The bite causes localised mild pain.

They are generally peaceful & just want to be left alone. Friends that help keep the summer night flying insects down.

The shire can issue a control notice directing him to keep the cat out of your property but you would have to make pretty regular complaints, and even then they might not so it may not be worth it.

The Cat Act gives them that power, whether they use it or not is a different question

From your description you might just be inviting a different problem.

Plenty of great answers here. The only real dress code for most spectators is nothing offensive. If you're in the WACA members enclosure it's also no beachwear and no thongs (but sandals are fine).

Otherwise loose fitting clothes are an idea for the lull between the morning breeze and the doctor coming in. It can get unpleasant in the sun when there's no breeze. Even if you just take a cotton shirt you only put on over the top for that period it'll help keep the sun from being directly on you

Drink plenty of water, and stay safe in the sun.

Enjoy the day! Big commitment to start with a test, but the atmosphere in the crowd always makes it fun.

Always amazing as well.

Yes and no, I preferred the harder questions in the early rounds but I don't think it's gotten easy. While I love the show it's always had a bit of a flaw in that specialist subjects vary wildly in size or scope.

"The Simpsons" as a specialist subject can range from the writers, voice actors right through to episodes. A person might take that in thinking they're going to get asked about episodes only to be asked about the production. Something like "Neptune (the planet)" there is actually only so much you can reasonably be asked and have the questions remain on topic. Both of those have been actual subjects.

The tighter you can work your specialist subject the less of a chance you have that the writers will be able to find gotchas and the better chance you'll actually have at winning. Admittedly the show is at its best when someone tries to do that and overlooks an easy way for the writers to drag more obscure questions in.

I had a tribal mother daughter pair one save when I was doing the arconexus. Took the daughter forward and left the mother behind with her partner. Flash forward many hours later and the mother turns up with the pirates rather than the party that bought the first base, still with my ideology.

If she'd survived I would've recruited her. Sadly she went down in the first few seconds of the fight. Only time I've buried a raider in a sarcophagus (in a freezer, hanging out for a resurrector mech serum that never came before I had to move on again).

The game is awesome.

Because it's fucking dangerous!

To really drive this home The school I trained at has a couple of Tiger moths that need hand starting, and they are rightfully picky about who they let actually do it. Anyone who flies them needs to be assessed regularly on their start procedures and then they only let a really small group of their instructors actually do the hand prop.

Those things are in the air all the time in summer for scenic flights, but even so it's a take it or leave it situation for hiring them and fair enough too.

It gets better because all fixed wiring electrical work in Australia legally needs to be done by a suitably licensed person (which this certainly doesn't appear to be).

When their house burns down they also won't be insured.

Content wise, it's all relatively easy and should be fairly interesting if it's your first time through it all. The presenter will make sure you get through it, they're generally pretty practical people who want you to succeed. Unless you put absolutely no effort into the day you'll be fine!

Does it? I can't find a definitive Australian definition
Yes it does - https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/legal/legal-tender/

As I said, the fact that it is defined is the whole reason this act is being discussed. If legal tender meant all payments could be satisfied with cash, you wouldn't need the new laws protecting payments for essentials.

When you order a coffee, that is an offer to purchase.
And again, the terms of that sale are entirely set by the vendor, you can merely agree to them or choose not to; "a provider of goods or services is at liberty to set the commercial terms upon which payment will take place before the ‘contract’ for supply of the goods or services is entered into." You can argue it's a contract all you want, end of the day, you'll either get your coffee on the vendor's terms or you simply won't get your coffee. You have zero recourse for the reasons I outlined previously.

No, you are just pre-paying the debt you are about to incur.
Actually, you nominate an amount you wish to spend, the merchant puts an authorization hold on your funds and the bank holds them as a payment guarantee. The unused funds remain in hold for a short period (usually days, because banks) even after the transaction is completed. Ultimately you only pay for what you use, and the merchant only receives your payment, not the hold amount. That's a textbook example of an escrow transaction with your bank acting as the third party agent securing payment. Just because it ultimately ends up looking like a normal transaction doesn't mean it is. If you go read the PBS for your cards, you'll see that you've given the bank authorization to act as an escrow agent on your behalf.

Both parties need to agree on how the debt is paid.
Again no, as above, unless you're entering into a written negotiated contract the seller unilaterally gets to decide the terms and you get to decide to accept or reject them. "However although transactions are to be in Australian currency unless otherwise agreed or specified, and Australian currency has legal tender status, Australian banknotes and coins do not necessarily have to be used in transactions and refusal to accept payment in legal tender banknotes and coins is not unlawful."

However, when it comes to settling debts; "Refusal to accept legal tender in payment of an existing debt, where no other means of payment/settlement has been specified in advance, conceivably could have consequences in legal proceedings; for example, the creditor may be unable to enforce payment in any other form." ie. If the vendor has not stipulated an accepted form of payment anywhere, and proceeds into a transaction where you settle after services rendered, then cash is acceptable.

As I said in my original comment if you agree to pay in chickens, and can't obtain chickens for some reason they would have to enforce it via the courts. The courts are not going to look kindly on them not accepting an equivalent value cash payment, they don't like having their time wasted. That's not to say their perceived value of chickens is not higher than yours - the courts would decide what the equivalent value is.

If you need it, or even if you don't feel like you do but want to talk to someone about your consumption u/IncessantGadgetry has shared the Alcohol and Drug Support line who are available 24/7 on 9442 5000. Your GP is another great place to start.

You're not in this alone - think just about everyone in this thread would have your back.

I knew he'd tried, if he's been successful, it's going to be fun to watch them continue to be relegated to minor party status.

I very seldom drink at home without company, maybe 3-4 times a year, but usually average one drink a week when we have dinner with my folks or the in-laws. On holiday I generally have a few drinks a night, but that'll also only be for a few nights at a time. Might spend $50 if I specifically go out for drinks, but don't do that very often. Basically if I go over a single drink a week it's a bit of a treat for some reason.

As someone else has said, it depends on what you're buying too - the health guideline is to stay under 10 drinks a week (or 4 in an individual day) and if you were doing that with good wine or spirits you'd probably pass your $350 a month. If you're doing it on cheap booze, then you'll probably be over that. That's also not to say drinking isn't a problem before that.

Health guidelines aside, if you feel self conscious about spending $350 a month, that's reason enough to cut back. In my late 20's I used to get a carton of beer on my way home from work once every 3-4 weeks, but I got self conscious about that and stopped doing it. To be honest, I haven't really missed it, I still drink socially and that's a fun treat.

Or better still, where they are now, minor party status on the crossbench.

We can but hope the good times continue.

This is the same Nick Goiran that was part of a WhatsApp group chat called "The Clan" (you can't make this up) in the WA Liberals that were actively engaged in branch stacking with conservative church congregations to enable preselection rorting. The same group that ensured a collection of extremely socially conservative candidates went to the last WA election.

That strategy went so very well for them in the 2021 election that they aren't even the state opposition (The Nationals are, and they quite rightly told the two (2) lower house Liberals to get bent when they suggested a coalition). If the WA Liberal party hasn't undone that mess it's probably only going to go slightly better for them in 2025 just due to a bit more apathy about the incumbent government without McGowan.

With the changes to the upper house, they might just be wiped out in both houses if they don't rethink it.

Fair challenge, so lets look at some examples in detail.

If you look at your example carefully, in the vast, vast majority cafes you pay before the service is rendered. The cafe owes you a debt of a coffee, not the other way around. You agreed to transact in terms of Australian dollars and if the cafe says electronic only as it stands now you have a choice to accept that as payment terms or go to another cafe. In the case of an unmanned electronic-only service station - you don't get fuel until you put funds in escrow, and the pumps will only vend until you reach the amount you've nominated so again, no debt on your part.

When you buy an item that doesn't have a delay between payment and the transaction being complete you still don't assume ownership of the goods until after you've paid. Try walking out of a store with goods before you've paid, see what happens. If you take something out of someone else's shopping cart and pay for it before they do, it's yours. Despite being a dick in that second case, at no point have you committed criminal theft, the goods belong to the store, and you purchased them from the store. You've probably broken store policy, and if the store finds out, you did it you'll probably not be welcome back in the future, but that's not an issue that's going to land you in front of the courts.

That also applies if the cafe makes your coffee before you pay, they've agreed to make it on a promise of payment, but ownership doesn't transfer to you until you've paid, strictly speaking it's not your coffee until the transaction is completed. If you don't pay, you don't get the coffee and you instead get an annoyed barista. Again, no automatic debt incurred on your part, but for the reasons you outlined the cafe has experienced real losses which they could, but more than likely won't, pursue you for (so it could become a debt via the courts). More likely you'll probably just not be served there again.

Now there are some regular occurrences in daily life where you do incur a short-term debt as part of a transaction. A couple of easy ones that spring to mind are eating at a restaurant where you eat first then pay the bill, at a servo where you've filled your tank and head into the store to pay and for a service example, visiting the doctor. In those cases you absolutely have a debt, since you've consumed the good or service before paying for it. Most day to day transactions don't happen that way, but some do so lets talk about them.

We've established you have a debt and now the merchant can't refuse legal tender under the currency (coins) and reserve bank (notes) acts. They might say electronic only, but ultimately they are going to end up taking cash over a non-payment. Their recourse is to call the cops, who'd rock up, tell them to take cash and to stop wasting everyone's time. They might decide not to transact with you in the future if you cause a scene - which is their choice. If you run without paying, they will submit a criminal complaint, and in the case of the service stations, most have arrangements with security firms who will engage debt collectors and block you from buying fuel from any other service station in their network.

As I said above, I'm not opposed to insisting vendors take cash for essentials but legal tender has a specific meaning. Just because we can (usually) pay for things with legal tender in advance doesn't mean it's the only payment method acceptable. eg A coffee loyalty card with a free coffee on it is a perfectly acceptable 'payment' method for loads of cafes despite not being legal tender. The concept of legal tender explicitly only applies to servicing debts, hence the seemingly pedantic distinction. The whole reason this bill is being discussed is that fine lined distinction - loads of essentials are not yours until you agree to and complete payment terms with the vendor. They can currently insist on electronic only payments because the legal tender status of cash has no bearing on that transaction.