Auspol: Not with a bang but with a whisper

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol: Not with a bang but with a whisper

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TheIllestVillain: Dec 27, 2011; Sal, Wyoming's not a country

hawaiian_robot posted:

Time to modify the Greens Party pamphlet hahaha.

sounds like my kinda party

# ? Oct 19, 2015 13:42

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 5, 2024 05:37

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

Majestic posted:

I've been lecturing at a Go8 university for the past three to four years, and I've never felt any pressure whatsoever to treat international students differently. I'm sure it exists (and I believe has been directly documented in some cases) but it's certainly not as widespread as some people are suggesting.

We are at times pressured to avoid having failure rates as high as they really should be, (which if we were going by the standards of 10-20 years ago, should be in excess of 50%), but this is not specific to domestic or international students.

If you're the kind of person who thinks that group work only exists to save the university money, then you're the exactly the sort of person who makes groupwork necessary for our accreditation. We're repeatedly told by industry bodies that they want to see us do more group work, not less. Almost any graduate position you might find yourself in will involve working in teams, frequently with people you don't like and with differing skill levels. Assessing in groups is obviously difficult to do fairly, but all assessment is imperfect by its nature.

I hate having to deal with groupwork as an academic, it's a massive increase of workload, because I have to deal with students complaining about each other, getting into arguments, complaining about the "unfair" nature of group assessment, and so on.

We don't do it because it reduces our workload, we do it because we're constantly told by employers and industry bodies that our graduates are terrible at working in teams. If we want to reduce workload, we'll just set you a 100% exam.

Anyway, that's my anecdote from the other side of the lectern.

At least as an Engineer university group work is totally inapplicable to industry group work. You'd be better off buying the whole class a keg and letting them get drunk and social to teach group skills rather than forcing group work on them.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 13:52

Milkfred E. Moore: Aug 27, 2006; 'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

group work doesn't map that well to, y'know, getting a degree

when you get up on that stage, it's one person getting presented with a piece of paper. at the end of the day, everyone is at uni for that singular achievement. all an increasing level of group work does is give everyone involved a headache because suddenly that piece of paper is threatened by the actions of people you can't control - and i say this as one of those group participants who'd do as little as possible in the assignment.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 13:55

Kegslayer: Jul 23, 2007

Les Affaires posted:

I think just about every exam we had in the masters program was open book. Memory be damned, if you can't remember the model, look it up. The book won't help beyond that.

Masters and CA was a piece of cake compared to the CFA. There are only three levels/subjects that can only be taken one after the other so you basically spend all your time studying for one exam a year/half year.

Even if you got say a score of 99/100, you might not even get past the subject despite knowing the material from front to back because the course has a pass rate of anywhere from 40 to 50% and if you aren't in the top 40% then you don't get in full stop. Work paid for mine but it's about $1k every time you try too.

So yeah, I'm never complaining about lovely uni courses again.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 14:01

Anidav: Feb 25, 2010; ahhh fuck its the rats again

# ? Oct 19, 2015 14:12

Negligent: Aug 20, 2013; Its just lovely here this time of year.

all flash and no substance, perfect for Labor

# ? Oct 19, 2015 14:24

Anidav: Feb 25, 2010; ahhh fuck its the rats again

I'm going to laugh when Turnbull beats them to the chase on marriage equality and stomps Shorten into the history books. Bill loving deserves it too.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 14:26

EvilElmo: May 10, 2009

Anidav posted:

I'm going to laugh when Turnbull beats them to the chase on marriage equality and stomps Shorten into the history books. Bill loving deserves it too.

When/if a plebiscite takes place.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 14:43

Majestic: Mar 19, 2004; Don't listen to us!

We're fuckwits!!

hooman posted:

At least as an Engineer university group work is totally inapplicable to industry group work. You'd be better off buying the whole class a keg and letting them get drunk and social to teach group skills rather than forcing group work on them.

I'm lecturing in Engineering. We're constantly told by engineers australia and various companies that the thing they want from us is more group work.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 15:17

hooman: Oct 11, 2007; This guy seems legit.; Fun Shoe

Majestic posted:

I'm lecturing in Engineering. We're constantly told by engineers australia and various companies that the thing they want from us is more group work.

Like I covered earlier, group work for Engineering at university was nothing at all like group work for Engineering as a job. I gained nothing of value from any group assignment I did. I got a lot more value from the parties I went to and the people skills I developed through that. Most engineers can't deal with tradies/non engineers very well. Group work doesn't help that at all.

EDIT: Hell a lot of engineers don't even deal with other engineers very well.

EDIT2: Wow.. somebody really doesn't like Engineers Australia. Jesus.

hooman fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Oct 19, 2015

# ? Oct 19, 2015 16:06

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I must be getting older and more selfish because all I give a poo poo about now is penalty rates.

Also isn't 4 Corners basically just the ABC's version of Today Tonight?

# ? Oct 19, 2015 16:07

Lid: Feb 18, 2005; And the mercy seat is awaiting,
And I think my head is burning,
And in a way I'm yearning,
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth,
And anyway I told the truth,
And I'm not afraid to die.

freebooter posted:

Also isn't 4 Corners basically just the ABC's version of Today Tonight?

# ? Oct 19, 2015 16:27

NTRabbit: Aug 15, 2012; i wear this armour to protect myself from the histrionics of hysterical women

bitches

hooman posted:

Like I covered earlier, group work for Engineering at university was nothing at all like group work for Engineering as a job. I gained nothing of value from any group assignment I did. I got a lot more value from the parties I went to and the people skills I developed through that. Most engineers can't deal with tradies/non engineers very well. Group work doesn't help that at all.

EDIT: Hell a lot of engineers don't even deal with other engineers very well.

I'm not an engineer, but I know many upon many engineers as friends and relatives and can attest to all of this. I knew the civil engineer who essentially became the warlord of Christchurch after the earthquake, or in charge of the recovery and rebuild, something like that, and she far and away spent more time in the Adelaide unibar and related establishments than anything else.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 18:56

MiniSune: Sep 16, 2003; Smart like Dodo!

Majestic posted:

I'm lecturing in Engineering. We're constantly told by engineers australia and various companies that the thing they want from us is more group work.

Which is hilarious because typically on a mine site the Engineers erect an Ivory tower to lord with a Berlin Wall combo, and as a result us "plebs" who clearly don't know a thing without our Uni degrees, could not give gently caress about them nor the retarded poo poo they come out with for the first ten years of their career, until they actually start listening and then they discover may 10% of their degree was worth a pinch of poo poo, the rest comes from the literal coal face.

What they need to be teaching engineers is loving social skills in a harsh environment so that they can get some wisdom into their skulls much sooner and stop making hilarious, expensive fuckups and enduring a poo poo load of ridicule. As a result more might actually survive in the industry.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 21:07

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

Nova Peris denied access to Christmas Island detention centre in her electorate

quote:

Australian Border Force officials denied Labor senator Nova Peris access to Christmas Island detention centre, despite the facility being in her electorate.

Peris, who represents the Northern Territory, sought access to the centre from Australian Border Force officials on 8 October, when she was already on the island, but was denied. She had applied via the centre’s management company, Serco, before arriving on the island, and had been given the green light from them.

“The Department of Immigration and Border Protection facilitates visits to detainees by their families, friends and other individuals for the purpose of providing social and familial contact,” the rejection letter, seen by Guardian Australia, said. “Visits by individuals for research, education and other purposes are not consistent with this principle.

“Given the scope of your request, we regret that we are unable to facilitate this visit,” it said.

Border Force officials apologise for botched visa crackdown in Melbourne
Peris stayed on the island for four days, speaking to locals and government officials, before leaving on 12 October.

The timing of the senator’s visit coincided with a visit to the centre by the immigration minister, Peter Dutton.

Peris told Guardian Australia she was disappointed that she could not visit the facility.

“It is a significant trip to get there and the Australian public have been denied the opportunity for an elected representative to observe a taxpayer-funded facility, and on a matter of national importance,” she said.

“I was aware that the immigration minister Dutton was on the island and visiting the centre at the same time, surely this would have made facilitating a visit even easier?

“I was shocked to learn in today’s estimates that no border officials were made aware of my request, despite immigration officials admitting that I am within my rights to visit,” she said. “This raises questions about whether minister Dutton has anything to hide. I have never been denied access to any other facility within my electorate.”

Michael Pezzullo, the secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, which takes in the Australian Border Force, said he was unaware of Peris’s application to visit the detention centre.

Asylum seekers say they are under attack as violence erupts in detention centres
“It’s not personally known to me,” Pezzullo told Senate estimates on Monday. “I probably would have expected to be advised if a senator asked, but I’m not aware [of her application].”

Border Force requires official visitors, including senators and MPs, to give a week’s notice of their arrival.

The rejection letter issued to Peris from department officials does make note of considerations relating to the timeframe of requests, but does not list this as the reason that access to the centre was denied.

The commissioner of the Australian Border Force, Roman Quaedvlieg, said official visits needed more time to process because they posed greater risks.

“Visitors with a higher profile bring a greater security risk in terms of managing that person through a centre,” he told Senate estimates. “We need to ensure they don’t create a public disorder event, or in fact aren’t vulnerable to any kind of assault themselves. So it does require a higher level of assessment.”

The deputy commissioner of Australian Border Force, Michael Outram, said there had been a small riot on the island two days before Dutton and Peris’s visit.

“A number of these detainees decided they were going to misbehave and they equipped themselves with makeshift weapons,” Outram said. “The Serco measured response team very quickly went in and got things under control.”

At least we have the good sense to try and hide our secret shame. No death cult, us.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 22:07

Vladimir Poutine: Aug 13, 2012

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...e1bf-1445288758
People are starting to call it Tablegate :geno:

That said, apparently this isn't satire.

quote:

Committee chair Cory Bernardi, who revealed he had studied geology during Year 12, examined the photos and said it was clear the marble had �structural weaknesses��.

quote:

SA Minister Jamie Briggs, who was at the party, turned up to work the next day in a wheelchair.

Bernardi's got high school geology under his belt, he'd know what he's on about.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 22:13

asio: Nov 29, 2008; "Also Sprach Arnold Jacobs: A Developmental Guide for Brass Wind Musicians" refers to the mullet as an important tool for professional cornet playing and box smashing black and blood

EvilElmo posted:

When/if a plebiscite takes place.

As opposed to the Alp, who

# ? Oct 19, 2015 22:17

Amoeba102: Jan 22, 2010

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-19/asylum-seeker-sets-himself-on-fire-on-phone-to-refugee-advocates/6867712

quote:

Asylum seeker sets himself on fire in Victoria while on video call to refugee advocates

An asylum seeker has died after setting fire to himself during a video call with refugee advocates on Sunday.

Key points:

Afghan asylum seeker, Khodayar Amini, dies after setting fire to himself
Man was on video call with Refugee Rights Action Network advocates at the time
Advocates said man feared being deported, taken back into immigration detention
Afghan man Khodayar Amini, 30, doused himself in petrol before setting himself alight in Dandenong, Victoria, shortly before midday.

Advocate Sarah Ross told the ABC she and fellow Refugee Rights Action Network member Michelle Bui were on a video call with Amini when he threatened to take his life.

Ms Ross said the pair tried to talk him down, but were unsuccessful.

"We called emergency services to try to find him," she said.

Police later told them they had found a body in burnt parkland, but could not confirm the identity.

Man feared being deported, refugee advocates say

Ms Ross said she had spoken to Amini previously while he was in Western Australia's Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, but his mental health had deteriorated once released into the community.

She said he had become desperate out of fear of being deported.

"He was living out of his car in the past few days," she said.

"His housemate had apparently told him that the police had come to his house looking for him.

"His fear and his belief was that as soon as they found him that they would take him back into the detention centre. So he was basically hiding out from them."

Immigration officials confirmed the man's death during Senate estimates.

An Australian Border Force spokesman said a coronial investigation would be carried out, and could not say whether he was due to be taken into custody.

"There has been a death of someone in the community, who was known to the department," he said.

In a statement, the Refugee Rights Action Network said that Amini feared being taken back into immigration detention where they claim his friends took their own lives.

The group stated that Hazara asylum seeker Nasim Najafi died from a "suspected suicide" in Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre in July.

"There have been two confirmed suicides in Perth alone and one suspicious death," the statement said.

"All of these deaths were Hazara asylum seekers, either detained or on bridging visas."

# ? Oct 19, 2015 22:49

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Anyone know the process for applying to the UN to get economic sanctions put on your own country?

# ? Oct 19, 2015 22:53

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

quote:

Senior federal bureaucrats have been accused of behaving like characters in the TV comedy Utopia for refusing to reveal what brands of wine and beer former prime minister Tony Abbott selected to supply whilst entertaining guests at personal functions.

This is like a Utopia episode all over again

During heated exchanges during a Senate estimates hearing, Labor's Penny Wong became exasperated with members of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, claiming it was "one of the worst standards I have ever seen" from public officials in her 10 years in Parliament.

Bureaucrats insisted they were simply trying to balance the public's right to know with "privacy" issues surrounding Mr Abbott's "beverage preferences".

The blow up over alcohol purchases came hours after it was revealed at the same committee that a marble coffee table in Mr Abbott's suite had been smashed � apparently as a result someone dancing on it during a wild party on the night he lost the leadership to Malcolm Turnbull.

The issue of alcohol purchases centred on a Freedom of Information request submitted by Senator Wong earlier in the year.

Despite a statutory duty to deal with FOI requests within 30 days, the department did not respond for six months and when it did, the receipts of Mr Abbott's alcohol purchases were all but blacked out after officials decided brands of beers and wine favoured by the then prime minister were part of his "personal information".

The receipts show that $7340 worth of alcohol was purchased in a less than two month period between February 9 and April, to supply Mr Abbott's personal functions in Sydney and Canberra.

Holding up one of the heavily redacted receipts, Senator Wong said: "It looks like an exhibit out of Utopia." In a recent episode of the ABC TV comedy, fictional bureaucrats debate all the ways not to release a publicly-accessible document.

"Seriously, you must have run out of toner," Senator Wong observed.

First assistant secretary Pip Spence, who adjudicated on the FOI request, said in her opinion it was not in the public interest to know which brand of riesling the prime minister might favour.

Senator Wong said: "How is that personal information where you choose to spend taxpayer's money? How is that personal information? This is like a Utopia episode all over again."

Wine receipts

She criticised officers for a "blatant and patent" refusal to answer questions from a senator. "Is that really what PM&C's standard now is? You won't even answer questions from the Senate about who you spoke to, is that right?"

"This is one of the worst standards I have ever seen," she said.

Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm agreed that officers seemed like they had "something to hide".

Earlier, deputy secretary Elizabeth Kelly said the FOI was a "novel application" and had therefore taken longer to process.

Senator Wong replied: "What sort of message does it send to the entire bureaucracy when the prime minister's own department treats an FOI request from a senator in such a cavalier manner?"

Ms Kelly said: "Senator I reject that it was treated in a cavalier manner, it was treated in a very sensitive manner and we reflected very deeply about the appropriate way to balance the competing factors here, which were the privacy and personal information about the prime minister's beverage preferences and the public interest in that detail being known."

$7300 worth of alcohol in 2 months? What a trooper.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 22:59

Knorth: Aug 19, 2014; Buglord

gay picnic defence posted:

Anyone know the process for applying to the UN to get economic sanctions put on your own country?

This

Holy crap, I can't read this thread anymore. Everything our government is doing to these people makes me physically ill

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:05

Solemn Sloth: Jul 11, 2015; Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.

That's a lot of shandies

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:07

Ahh Yes: Nov 16, 2004; >_>

But was it XXXX or Moet? I need to know!

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:08

Splode: Jun 18, 2013; put some clothes on you little freak

hooman posted:

Like I covered earlier, group work for Engineering at university was nothing at all like group work for Engineering as a job. I gained nothing of value from any group assignment I did. I got a lot more value from the parties I went to and the people skills I developed through that. Most engineers can't deal with tradies/non engineers very well. Group work doesn't help that at all.

EDIT: Hell a lot of engineers don't even deal with other engineers very well.

EDIT2: Wow.. somebody really doesn't like Engineers Australia. Jesus.

Exactly the same for me so far. Working in a team in industry was totally different. At uni you get a single mark for the whole group, and things like SPARK just don't work. In a job you're judged based on your personal work. My greatest success during my internship was on a project that overall was a bit of a disaster. However, the disaster was caused by other people so it didn't change how my work was viewed. At uni, in the exact same situation, I would have failed.

Engineers Australia ARE loving idiots who stick their oar in too often. Whenever we're doing a subject that's just completely worthless it always comes out that engineers Australia forced the uni to do it. I didn't buy that av though.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:10

Unimpressed: Feb 13, 2013

Ahh Yes posted:

But was it XXXX or Moet? I need to know!

lol if you think born to rule TA would stoop so low as to drink Moet like a commoner.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:35

SMILLENNIALSMILLEN: Jun 26, 2009

gay picnic defence posted:

Anyone know the process for applying to the UN to get economic sanctions put on your own country?

Similarly, advocates who had been in consistent communication with Abyan could not contact her for several hours before they discovered she’d been removed from the country without the chance to call them.

Newhouse wrote to the department by email on Friday requesting to meet with her and asking she not be removed from the country.

The email was received and read in the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

The email was sent at 11:58am. The charter plane carrying Abyan did not leave Sydney until 1:25pm

The email was sent at 11:58am. The charter plane carrying Abyan did not leave Sydney until 1:25pm

The email was sent at 11:58am. The charter plane carrying Abyan did not leave Sydney until 1:25pm

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:41

Zenithe: Feb 25, 2013; _{Ask not to whom the Anidavatar belongs; it belongs to thee.}

I thought Tony is on record as liking Coopers? I remember being shocked I shared an opinion with him.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:42

Ahh Yes: Nov 16, 2004; >_>

Does XXXX make champagne? Sorry I mean sparkling wine!

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:47

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Ahh Yes posted:

Does XXXX make champagne? Sorry I mean sparkling wine!

Lion Nathan, the company that owns XXXX certainly does.

# ? Oct 19, 2015 23:52

Tokamak: Dec 22, 2004

tithin posted:

http://www.nbnco.com.au/learn-about-the-nbn/three-year-construction-plan.html?cid=vanity%3A3yearplan

NBN rollout plans have been updated apparently. Looks like I'm getting "HFC" in 1st half of 2017.

Whatever HFC is.

What a mess. If they are putting in (using existing) HFC, I don't even know why they are bothering with the NBN at all. Lets all pretend to look forward to another 30 years putting up with garbage Internet.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 00:19

Laserface: Dec 24, 2004

Tokamak posted:

What a mess. If they are putting in (using existing) HFC, I don't even know why they are bothering with the NBN at all. Lets all pretend to look forward to another 30 years putting up with garbage Internet.

They are probably under the impression that most people wont want fast internet so the shared network of HFC wont be strained.

which is LOL because anywhere that has it currently is too far from an exchange to really use anything but HFC and still be considered broadband, and is heavily utilised.

Although When I had it in the inner west, there was zero issues, presumably because a lot of the houses were sharehouses/renters who just have DSL because its easier to move/get, but I wanted superfast internet.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 00:26

Solemn Sloth: Jul 11, 2015; Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.

Maybe if tony abbott didn't want his drinking habits on the public record he shouldn't have got boozed up, stripped off, and broke commonwealth property? Just a thought.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 00:31

Cartoon: Jun 20, 2008; poop

Somewhere in Canberra a liquored up Blaft Sharten is melancolically singing the Seeker's hit "I'll Never Find Another You."

Also when it was reported Hockey had quit I assumed it meant he wouldn't be standing again. Nope he's going to force a byelection. What a huge sookie sack of poo poo.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/joe-hockey-exits-stage-left-as-prechristmas-byelection-looms-20151019-gkcv7h.html

quote:

Joe Hockey exits stage left as pre-Christmas byelection looms October 20, 2015 - 7:50AM

Former treasurer Joe Hockey will formally quit Parliament this week ahead of an expected diplomatic posting to Washington, completing the baton-transfer to new Treasurer Scott Morrison and sparking a byelection in the blue-ribbon Liberal seat of North Sydney. The byelection is likely to be staged before the end of the year and would be conducted on the existing North Sydney boundaries despite a significant re-distribution underway in NSW by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Mr Hockey, the second-highest profile scalp in September's shattering leadership switch from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull, is set to make his final "valedictory" speech at 11am Wednesday . He confirmed his imminent departure to Fairfax Media on Monday. Mr Hockey's resignation ends a stellar parliamentary rise and reflects a determination on his part to make a clean break from politics now after the trauma of the leadership switch, and almost 20 years in the national Parliament. Mr Hockey stuck close to Mr Abbott as his leadership listed under the pressure of continually poor polling, and Mr Abbott repaid that loyalty despite pressure to replace his treasurer with Mr Morrison or even Mr Turnbull.

On Monday afternoon, Mr Abbott, Hockey loyalist Jamie Briggs and Mr Hockey enjoyed a coffee together in the parliamentary courtyard - their presence during business hours marking the extent to which the two senior men (at least) have been relieved of their previously crushing work loads. Mr Hockey is widely expected to take his wife and young family to the US to replace Kim Beazley as Australia's ambassador to Washington DC.
In another key diplomatic shift, Australia's ambassador to Beijing, Frances Adamson, will return to Australia as early as next month to take up a position as Mr Turnbull's foreign affairs adviser. Her appointment is a sign of the new Prime Minister's determination to become deeply engaged in China, and to avail himself of the most up-to-date advice. She is expected to be replaced by the accomplished trade negotiator, Jan Adams.

At one time regarded as a natural leader of the Liberal Party and a future prime minister, Mr Hockey now looks set to follow the former Labor leader Mr Beazley into the diplomatic corps, a man who himself had earned the title across politics as one of the best prime ministers Australia never had. Notification of Mr Hockey's retirement came as Mr Turnbull was pressured to name any material changes of policy from the government's previous positions since he replaced Mr Abbott. Shocked by the latest Fairfax-Ipsos poll which showed the Turnbull government streaking ahead the first time in 18 months, the opposition moved on Monday to tie Mr Turnbull to the unpopularity of the first Abbott-Hockey budget, suggesting the new leader is merely a better salesman wo is nonetheless selling the same bad policies.

"In terms of my own leadership as prime minister, a very obvious example is that the federal government is more than ready to finance urban infrastructure, road and rail, and does not discriminate between the two," Mr Turnbull said. The attack betrays a galloping fear within Labor that the next election has already been surrendered now that a popular prime minister is in place. Labor MPs insist "no one is panicking yet" after the poll put the two-party support for the government at 53-47 per cent - a result similar to the 2013 election. The proposed re-distribution of NSW seats, unveiled by the electoral commission on Friday, could see a slew of Labor MPs move to safer seats and the likely retirement of a Labor veteran as Australia's largest state loses a seat to Western Australia.

In the latest poll, Labor's primary vote fell six percentage points to just 30 per cent, while the Coalition's surged from 38 per cent since the last poll in August to 45 per cent. Before the publication of the poll, Labor MP Ed Husic conceded the opposition would have preferred Mr Abbott to remain prime minister, "but the fact of the matter is the country is better that he's not". Many Labor MPs contacted by Fairfax Media agreed with that assessment, but none would say so publicly. One MP said the poll result was "shithouse" and that "the battle field has shifted" since the switch to Mr Turnbull, with revivals for the Liberals under way in South Australia and Victoria and parts of Queensland and Western Australia, where Mr Abbott had been popular, now in play.

Meanwhile, in NSW, a series of proposed boundary changes including the abolition of the present seat of Hunter, as well as significant shifts in electoral boundaries in seats including Grayndler, Barton, Fowler, McMahon and Patterson has kicked off rampant speculation about Labor MPs moving to safer seats.

I want the Libs to get severely kicked at this byelection but they probably won't. But then I want us to stop murdering asylum seekers by proxy. Looks like I need a reality check.

Turdball is going to romp it in.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 00:57

Solemn Sloth: Jul 11, 2015; Baby you can shout at me,
But you can't need my eyes.

Cartoon posted:

Somewhere in Canberra a liquored up Blaft Sharten is melancolically singing the Seeker's hit "I'll Never Find Another You."

Also when it was reported Hockey had quit I assumed it meant he wouldn't be standing again. Nope he's going to force a byelection. What a huge sookie sack of poo poo.

Maybe he wants to guarantee his ambassadorship in case Labor win the next election.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 01:02

Majestic: Mar 19, 2004; Don't listen to us!

We're fuckwits!!

Well, it took me more than ten years to get someone to buy an avatar, but I suppose that's a milestone. I can't say I disagree with the sentiment. I'll just make sure I'm not browsing the forums during our next accreditation process.

I'd prefer to never have to teach a subject involving group work again, but I'm curious how people think we're supposed to "teach" social skills. The subjects we have that relate to professional practice and soft skills are almost universally regarded as a joke, and I would prefer to do away with them altogether. We don't have enough time to adequately cover the material we need to cover as it is, without trying to teach people how not to be asocial weirdos as well.

MiniSune, I don't find that hard to believe at all. Engineering students now are perhaps the most unjustifiably smug of all the degree programs; based on the difficulty of the degree program twenty years ago, they think they are part of some elite cohort. At least in terms of program difficulty there may have been some truth to that in the past, there certainly is not now. Physics students work much harder, on material that is much more complex. A good technician was always as valuable as a good engineer, now they are probably almost always more so. Engineering graduates are a dime a dozen, a skilled machinist or operator is much rarer (and much more important to the success of our projects).

# ? Oct 20, 2015 01:43

Unimpressed: Feb 13, 2013

Cartoon posted:

Also when it was reported Hockey had quit I assumed it meant he wouldn't be standing again. Nope he's going to force a byelection. What a huge sookie sack of poo poo.

It's all about "service" to these poo poo heads, service to themselves that is. I mean, being an MP for another whole year, how unbearable.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 01:53

Dude McAwesome: Sep 30, 2004; Still better than a Ponytar

Splode posted:

Engineers Australia ARE loving idiots who stick their oar in too often.

EA sounds like a complete racket. My brother in law was telling me about how he pays his dues and gets literally nothing in return. Except maybe the ability to work overseas? I can't really remember, I just walked away from the conversation thinking EA sounds like a bit of a rort.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 01:53

Unimpressed: Feb 13, 2013

Dude McAwesome posted:

EA sounds like a complete racket. My brother in law was telling me about how he pays his dues and gets literally nothing in return. Except maybe the ability to work overseas? I can't really remember, I just walked away from the conversation thinking EA sounds like a bit of a rort.

Yeah gently caress EA, they've ruined all the good games with their micro payments!

# ? Oct 20, 2015 01:54

gay picnic defence: Oct 5, 2009; I'M CONCERNED ABOUT A NUMBER OF THINGS

Majestic posted:

Well, it took me more than ten years to get someone to buy an avatar, but I suppose that's a milestone. I can't say I disagree with the sentiment. I'll just make sure I'm not browsing the forums during our next accreditation process.

I'd prefer to never have to teach a subject involving group work again, but I'm curious how people think we're supposed to "teach" social skills. The subjects we have that relate to professional practice and soft skills are almost universally regarded as a joke, and I would prefer to do away with them altogether. We don't have enough time to adequately cover the material we need to cover as it is, without trying to teach people how not to be asocial weirdos as well.

MiniSune, I don't find that hard to believe at all. Engineering students now are perhaps the most unjustifiably smug of all the degree programs; based on the difficulty of the degree program twenty years ago, they think they are part of some elite cohort. At least in terms of program difficulty there may have been some truth to that in the past, there certainly is not now. Physics students work much harder, on material that is much more complex. A good technician was always as valuable as a good engineer, now they are probably almost always more so. Engineering graduates are a dime a dozen, a skilled machinist or operator is much rarer (and much more important to the success of our projects).

I'm not sure group work teaches much by way of social skills though. If anything it's built up a bit of mistrust and skepticism of working in teams. The main issue in my opinion seems to be that the way group work is run at universities is a handful of students are just lumped together with no formal structures or authority, no accountability and often no common goal (i.e. some happy to scrape a pass, others wanting straight As). You're almost guaranteed a dysfunctional team in those circumstances, and that will just cause stress and frustration rather than teaching anything useful. The best group work assignments I've been a part of have had a lot of input from lecturers/tutors, there have been a lot of steps along the way where we had to submit progress reports, and demonstrably crap group members were removed and made to do it on their own.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 02:01

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# ? Jun 5, 2024 05:37

Pickled Tink: Apr 28, 2012; Have you heard about First Dog? It's a very good comic I just love.

Also, wear your bike helmets kids. I copped several blows to the head but my helmet left me totally unscathed.

Finally you should check out First Dog as it's a good comic I like it very much.; Fun Shoe

Lazydog:

Also, no picture of kitten due to unexpected death of another kitten.

# ? Oct 20, 2015 02:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Auspol: Not with a bang but with a whisper

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