SecretOfSteel posted:

Omg, I laughed so hard!

Far from complaining, but does this word cloud generation deliberately try to find the best fit for Tasmania first, and then sorts out the rest of the country?

Urcher posted:

I adjust the settings until Tasmania is funny, or at least coherent. Some months there aren't enough funny words

Testekill posted:

POST THE WORD CLOUD COWARDS

Recoome posted:

Wow have some loving empathy for Queen Elizabeth II will you????!

hbag posted:

hbag posted:

Anidav posted:

I believe that is done.

Does anyone else want into the piss realm?

Anidav posted:

https://discord.gg/kpUV9sb

A one use link just for you pal.

Anidav posted:

https://discord.gg/JWXyXtU Take 2.

BrigadierSensible posted:

Also, re: the cost of getting back to Aus./being stranded overseas. I came back from Seoul in May 2020. And even back then it was a hassle trying to find a flight, and the flight cost me 2 or 3 times what it would have in normal times, and my Incheon-Sydney flight was pretty full. Even so, I don't have as much sympathy as I should for those stuck overseas, because to my mind you've had time. I lost my old job because the school shut down coz of COVID, so it has been around a while, and you have known that it would be difficult to arrange flights etc. So to my overly judgmental FYGM mind, these people are either lazy and entitled, or possibly missed the window I was lucky enough to slip through.

Sorry if this hasn't been relevant.

birdstrike posted:

you keep 100% of the shits you don’t give

quote:

Accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith has been caught on secretly recorded audio lauding his media mogul boss, Kerry Stokes, for financing his fight to “destroy” those in politics, the media and the SAS who have accused him of war crimes.

In the recordings, which were lawfully made, Mr Roberts-Smith, a senior executive of the Stokes-chaired Seven West Media, reveals his disdain for the business he helps run, his dislike of his fellow Seven executives and his incredulity that he is still running the company’s Queensland operations despite being at the centre of a war crimes scandal.

“It’s bizarre. Other businesses would have just gone, ‘Mate, it’s not tenable’. I offered to resign at the start [of the war crimes scandal] and they said, ‘Nah’,” Mr Roberts-Smith says to an associate in one conversation.

The recordings capture multiple conversations between Mr Roberts-Smith and three other people. The conversations occurred at the time the inquiry of the military Inspector-General, Paul Brereton, was uncovering evidence from SAS whistleblowers that Mr Roberts-Smith was implicated in multiple unlawful executions while serving as an SAS soldier in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. That evidence prompted the Australian Federal Police to launch two ongoing taskforces in June 2018 targeting Mr Roberts-Smith.

The tapes cast fresh light on the extraordinary relationship Mr Stokes has maintained with Mr Roberts-Smith, while revealing the embattled war hero’s view that the billionaire is happy to run sections of his media empire at a loss in return for political power. Mr Roberts-Smith says the media is such “a powerful tool” that its owners say, “I’ll take that [financial] loss if it means I have political influence ... Politicians are scared of guys that own media networks.”

Mr Roberts-Smith describes how the influence of Mr Stokes, who is also the chairman of the Australian War Memorial, has forced those who supported scrutiny of the accused war criminal to back down.

“They seemed to have smelled blood in the water and thought, ‘Oh, Roberts-Smith is going down, we’ll f---ing chime in.’ I’m talking politicians and all kinds of people,” he says.

But after it became known Mr Stokes supported him, these same critics “are like, ‘Oh, thanks Kerry, glad you can help Ben out’. What the f--- is that? You wanted me to go down, you piece of poo poo.”

Mr Roberts-Smith also reveals how he talks to Mr Stokes on “encrypted” phone applications and “intelligence agencies cannot recover it”.

“So if I am talking to KMS for example – Kerry – we only talk on Telegram and then delete the messages after ... People use them so it can’t be intercepted,” he says.

There is no suggestion that Mr Stokes uses the applications to avoid interception by Australian authorities, but multiple sources told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that Mr Roberts-Smith has used such applications to avoid interception by the ongoing AFP inquiries.

‘I’m indebted to Kerry’
In the recordings, Mr Roberts-Smith makes multiple references to Mr Stokes’ support of his fight to contest war crimes allegations and those airing them.

“There’s no f---ing way I’d be able to keep paying what I’m paying for until Kerry got into it. That’s why now they’re making GBS threads themselves because they realise he’s prepared to run his bank down to do it,” Mr Roberts-Smith is recorded saying.

”I probably won’t leave the fold now ... I think I’m indebted a little bit now to Kerry. Bottom line, I’d be f---ed without him ... we’ve certainly had those conversations already.”

Mr Stokes’ financial support allowed Mr Roberts-Smith to form an expensive legal and public relations team in 2018 to combat the allegations investigated by the military Inspector-General and detailed in media reporting in The Age and Herald. Mr Roberts-Smith is running a defamation case against the mastheads.

He said of Mr Stokes’ camp: “They are privy to everything that’s gone on in the courts, they know what is going on ... Put it this way, mate, Stokes isn’t an idiot. He’s not going to back someone …who’s a loser.”

Mr Roberts-Smith is scathing on the recordings about those he considers his enemies: “Now it is personal. Now I’m going to do everything I can to f---ing destroy them mate. Like everyone – and I’ll keep going – all those journalists. And that’s my sole f---ing mission in life.”

TheLastRoboKy posted:

Not gonna lie, the part where they make sure to clarify that he didn't say he used the communication stuff to avoid authorities intercepting information relating to his crimes but that other people have said that's totally what it's for did make me laugh a bit. Followed by him talking about how he's gonna make it his mission in life to destroy everyone who brought this up like dude I don't know how to tell you this but you can throw a shitload of money at something and get nothing back, especially when it comes to suing for defamation.

Solemn Sloth posted:

If he was familiar with concepts like consequences and the law and not being a brain rotted murderbot he probably wouldn’t be in this whole thing to begin with

perepelki posted:

australia's most notorious war hero

TheLastRoboKy posted:

Not gonna lie, the part where they make sure to clarify that he didn't say he used the communication stuff to avoid authorities intercepting information relating to his crimes but that other people have said that's totally what it's for did make me laugh a bit. Followed by him talking about how he's gonna make it his mission in life to destroy everyone who brought this up like dude I don't know how to tell you this but you can throw a shitload of money at something and get nothing back, especially when it comes to suing for defamation.