- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
¿
May 16, 2024 19:06
|
|
- 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
|
There's nothing plain or regular about shooting a police employee in the head and then dying in a shootout with cops outside a police station, and pretending otherwise is part of the reason you're full of poo poo.
"Just attacking the state"? Get hosed.
If he wanted to commit an "act of terrorism" that resonated strongly, he could have gone virtually anywhere else there. There are literally tens of thousands of potential victims there at any given time during the day. He could have walked into the food court at the Parramatta Westfield and had his choice of random stationary targets to plug. Instead he went to the police and shot a police worker.
I'm not sure why I'm bothering to go to such lengths to respond to you since you have been so intellectually dishonest here, but what the hell. Let's pick apart a random article on it I found on the SMH (Basically the first one I found. I'm lazy and need to piss off to a barbeque shortly).
Parramatta shooting: Gunman identified as Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar
quote:The 15-year-old boy who shot dead a NSW police employee outside the force's headquarters had not come to the attention of counter terrorism police before he carried out the "politically motivated" attack.
quote:High school student Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar shot dead police accountant Curtis Cheng, 58, from behind and at close range outside police headquarters at Parramatta at 4.30pm on Friday.
The teenager, who went to school at Arthur Phillip High just 300 metres away from where the attack took place, then continued to fire his handgun outside the police building until he was killed in a shoot out with three special constables.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said it was believed the teenager was acting alone and that police had no prior information that he posed "this type of threat".
"We are exploring every avenue with regard to why he did what he did," Mr Scipione said.
"We have no information that this individual posed this type of threat but ... we believe his actions were politically motivated and therefore linked to terrorism."
quote:Police said they had not yet uncovered any messages, religious writings or notes left by Farhad.
His social media accounts appear mostly untouched since about 2013, when he sent tweets about the reality talent show The Voice.
He did, however, visit nearby Parramatta mosque on Friday afternoon before carrying out the attack. It is understood he changed into the flowing black shirt and black trousers there. Detectives were seen visiting the mosque on Saturday.
quote:Mr Scipione said police were a "long way from establishing a full picture of the boy" but said he was of Iraqi-Kurdish background and born in Iran and had been living in North Parramatta with family.
quote:Premier Mike Baird said the shock that a 15-year-old could carry out such an act would be felt not just in Sydney but around the world.
"How can someone so young undertake such a chilling act?" Mr Baird said.
"It doesn't make sense. It should never have happened. Obviously we are all lost for words."
So at this stage there is literally no evidence whatsoever to support the claim that this was a specific act of terrorism, rather than a kid shooting at his local cops for whatever angry reason he had in his 15 year old brain. It certainly wouldn't be the first time someone has attacked the police (That is, sadly, all too common) but one of the relatively few times they actually killed one. The fact that it is just assumed and taken for granted is what I am angry about, as I already said. If a white christian had done this, it would not have been declared terrorism so quickly and with no evidence. I can say that at least with a great deal of certainty based on how reporting of shootings and violence by white people is virtually never described as such.
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2015 00:45
|
|
- 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
|
It fits both definitions that Cartoon posted earlier. Maybe you should go down to the cop shop and demand the kid's long-form ISIL membership certificate you cretin.
I don't get it. What's your angle? Why are you trying so hard to argue that this isn't terrorism? Is it so hard to believe that certain members of our society - Australian Defence League members, sovereign citizens, Muslim kids encouraged by ISIL to attack a cop or a soldier - can go so far off the rails that they'd try to do something like this? Admitting that a single Muslim kid was radicalised doesn't magically sign you up to the Stop the Bendigo Mosque facebook page.
Your reaction to that observation was to compare me to Andrew Bolt and Miranda Devine, so I suspect you just like getting argumentative for the sake of hurling abuse.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2015 13:19
|
|
- 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
|
Cats provide companionship, comfort, entertainment, and are a valuable source of cuteonium. You shouldn't let them outside though, unless you have built up an enclosed area that can actually contain them where they can't harm wildlife, and you should definitely spay or neuter them.
Should bike helmets be compulsory? Lessons from Seattle and Amsterdam
quote:Every day, Elizabeth Kiker cycles to her work through the streets of Seattle. As the executive director of a big bicycle club, she wants to show people that you don’t need fancy gear to ride a bike – so she rides in her skirt and office shoes. But she does wear a helmet. If she didn’t, she would risk a $102 (£67) fine.
Seattle is one of the few big cities in the world where cyclists of all ages are legally required to wear a helmet. “There’s an interesting conversation going on about this, because it could dissuade people from cycling,” says Kiker. “And yet, it is safer if you fall. I once slipped with my bike and fell on my helmet and I was glad I was wearing it.”
Five thousand miles to the east, Marco te Brömmelstroet cycles to his job as director of the Urban Cycling Institute of the University of Amsterdam. The wind is blowing freely through his hair. “Cycling without a helmet is something I take for granted, I never give it any thought,” he says. “But it does amplify the feeling of ultimate freedom.”
In Amsterdam, adults don’t wear helmets while riding city bikes – they don’t even consider it an option. Helmets are mainly worn by tourists and expats, whom the Dutch regard with bemusement, even ridicule. They know their country is a very safe place to ride a bike: in the Netherlands, the number of cyclists killed per travelled mile is the lowest in the world.
Should cyclists in cities wear helmets? And should there be such a thing as a helmet law? Only last week, Britain’s transport minister Robert Goodwill was criticised because he urged cyclists to wear helmets – while admitting he rides bareheaded through London himself. The helmet question has stirred up a heated debate for a long time and it’s not likely to end very soon. Both critics and advocates seem to have a point.
“Helmets are very effective in preventing head injuries and there are many studies to prove it,” maintains Randy Swart of the American Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute. “These are medical studies, some of them based on emergency room data, some of them based on crash data from accident scenes. Just as important is the information that comes from bicycle clubs and organisations. From their experience, they confirm what the medical studies show: that helmets are effective. There’s a lot of argument about the precentage of injuries that can be prevented by wearing a helmet, but I estimate it to be somewhere around two thirds.”
Te Brömmelstroet does not agree. “The problem is precisely that there are not so many studies and that most of the existing studies are methodologically not very sound,” he says. According to him, there only are a limited amount of scenarios in which helmets provide protection. “That is when the cyclist falls without being involved in a crash. But when you collide with a car that drives faster than 20 miles an hour, a helmet does nothing to save you.”
In the US, where rules on helmets vary from state to state, Seattle made them mandatory 12 years ago. The helmet law came about mainly due to pressure from people who worked in local health care. “It didn’t come about because Seattle would be more dangerous for cyclists than other cities,” Kiker says. “There has been some debate lately, because it was feared the helmet law would hurt our new bike share programme, but it hasn’t. They have been very innovative about how to incorporate the helmet law into the programme. You can now check out a helmet when you check out a bike.”
The answer to the helmet question is not as simple as it seems, says Te Brömmelstroet. “It is important to realise that wearing a helmet can have negative effects. It does not always make cycling safer. Cyclists with helmets are liable to take more risks because they consider themselves safe. And an English study has shown that motorists give considerably less space whilst overtaking cyclists with helmets than when they overtake cyclists that go bareheaded. If you look at it this way, wearing a helmet could lead to more injuries than not wearing one.’’
That wearing a helmet can lead to more aggression from motorists, at least in the Netherlands, is something Te Brömmelstroet knows from experience. “I cycle to work on a city bike without a helmet, but at the weekends, I wear one while riding my racing bicycle. In the last case, I encounter more aggression. I suddenly seem to belong to a group that triggers a lot of anger.’’
Although they disagree on the safety that helmets provide, Swart, Kiker and Te Brömmelstroet all agree on one thing: it’s not helmets that make cycling truly safe, but the amount of cyclists on the road. “In all American cities where bike riding has gone up, crashes have come down,” says Kiker.
The big question here, of course, is: do cycle helmets increase or decrease the number of cyclists in a city? “If you want to encourage cycling, helmet laws are certainly not a good idea,” says Te Brömmelstroet. “When you make helmets mandatory, people will think that cycling is impractical and even dangerous. For example, in Australia the number of cyclists went down drastically after helmets became mandatory.”
“If a helmet law were going to reduce cycling significantly, I would say you’d have to think very seriously before passing it. It is a valid consideration,” Swart agrees. “But Australia is half a world away. Compulsory helmets might start a revolution in one place but can be just fine in another. A lot of what we are talking about is simply cultural. In the US, we do not have any documented situations where passing a helmet law reduced cycling.”
“In Seattle, the amount of cyclists has definitely gone up,” says Kiker. “Of course, there are fewer bikes on the road than in Dutch cities. But I do feel safe while riding through the city. And I ride everywhere. My bike is how I get around.”
When the numbers of cyclist go up, there is a clear impact on how drivers treats cyclists. Swart explains: “In most cities in the United States, drivers are not expecting bicycles. So they aren’t looking in the right direction when they overtake one. In some places, drivers don’t even know how to react to a cyclist. When more people cycle in a city, drivers become accustomed to them, they accept them and they learn how to safely deal with them. More cyclists means greater safety, so we should do all we can to encourage cycling.
“In cities where there is a lot of cycling, the majority of the motorists also often ride a bicycle. So they are much more aware of the impact of their driving style on cyclists,” says Te Brömmelstroet. “Car speeds come down in cities where cycling is important, and this opens opportunities to mix traffic in such a way that motorists behave as guests. In the Netherlands, you can see this in so-called fietsstraten, or bicycle-streets, where cyclists are the dominant mode of transport.”
The problem is not only that helmet laws would reduce cycling, he says. “When governments make helmets compulsory, they leave the responsibility for safety in the hands of the cyclists. They are blaming the victim. Whereas in the Netherlands, we believe in the responsibility of the motorist. That’s why our government has introduced strict liability.”
This means that in Amsterdam, in case of a crash, the motorist is liable for financial damage, unless he can prove that the cyclist was at fault – but then he still will be liable for half of the damage.
Swart is not totally convinced whether this is a good measure: “There are two considerations here. One is: it will make the motorist more careful. And that is very good. But secondly, I can also imagine that the motorist will consider it unfair when the cyclist didn’t wear a helmet and is then subject to an injury that would not have happened if he were wearing one.”
“As a scientist and as a father, I am not against helmets,” says Te Brömmelstroet. “But I am certainly against helmet laws. If you want to make cycling safer, start with good infrastructure: build segregated cyclepaths. I am against the false idea of security that helmets offer. They may have some protective value, but not as much as people tend to think. And why all this focus on protecting the head?’’ he adds jokingly. “If you want to be really safe, you should also consider elbow, knee and back protection. And why all this emphasis on the need to wear helmets on bikes? The majority of head injuries occur in cars, but motorist wouldn’t dream of wearing a helmet!”
|
|
#
¿
Oct 13, 2015 08:25
|
|
- 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
|
Senate votes in favour of cashless welfare card trials with Labor backing
quote:The Senate has cleared the way for the Turnbull government to proceed with the trial of its cashless welfare card designed to restrict access to alcohol and gambling.
The bill passed the upper house without amendments on Wednesday evening, prompting the government to hail the “watershed moment in how we deliver welfare”.
The final vote – 37 in favour to 10 against – reflected the Labor opposition’s decision to support the legislation after it said it had gained assurances about the details. The government also persuaded most crossbenchers to back the plan, despite some of them expressing reservations about the adequacy of community consultation.
The legislation will allow the government to trial the card in three sites, including Ceduna in South Australia from early next year.
Welfare recipients will have access to only 20% of their funds through their normal bank account, including cash withdrawals.
The remaining 80% of payments will be available only via the special Visa Debit card. People will be unable to spend the restricted portions of their payments on alcohol products or gambling services or withdraw those amounts as cash.
Alan Tudge, the assistant minister to the prime minister, praised the Senate for passing the legislation.
Tudge said the trials aimed to “reduce the welfare-fuelled alcohol, drug and gambling abuse that unfortunately occurs in some of our communities”.
All working-age income support recipients within a trial site would be part of the trial and receive the card, he said. Aged pensioners and workers were not required to participate, but could volunteer to opt in.
“A local authority will be established in a trial region which will have the power, on application, to adjust the amount that is placed onto an individual’s debit card,” Tudge said.
“The individual would need to satisfy the authority that basic obligations are being met, such as regularly sending children to school.
“The trial will be accompanied by additional investments in drug and alcohol and financial management support in each location, to assist people reduce or eliminate their dependence on alcohol, drugs or problem gambling.”
Labor, which had raised concerns about “the lack of detail” about the trial, supported the legislation but vowed to hold the government to account.
Labor’s payments spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, and its Indigenous affairs spokesman, Shayne Neumann, said the opposition had gained assurances “that there will be a robust evaluation framework agreed, made public and in place ahead of the trial commencing”.
But the Greens senator Rachel Siewert said welfare management did not work, and there should be a greater focus on support services.
“The legislation is an evidence free zone; we have no evidence that this top-down measure will reduce disadvantage in the trial zones,” Siewert said.
“There is a huge loss of dignity with this measure, and people having control of their own lives. We know finding employment and overcoming the causes of disadvantage is aided by people having control over their lives.”
The card was first proposed by the mining magnate Andrew Forrest in a report on Indigenous employment.
Also, a secret conspiracy meeting by Les Affaires' most hated creature:
Those monsters!
|
|
#
¿
Oct 14, 2015 11:19
|
|
- 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
|
Ka-Ching: pokies documentary reveals what makes the machines so addictive
quote:...
Fixing the spotlight on machines such as Aristocrat’s is the next frontier for anti-pokies campaigners in Australia – beginning with Ka-Ching, an ABC documentary that screens on Tuesday at 9.30pm.
Building a better mousetrap
In the 1930s, not long after the first rudimentary slot machines began appearing in the United States, the behavioural psychologist BF Skinner was conducting experiments with rats. He would put them inside specially designed boxes with a tube and button. The rats soon discerned the pattern: each time they pressed the button, a pellet of food would drop.
Then Skinner changed the rules. Sometimes pressing the button would deliver food; others times it wouldn’t. The animal had no way of knowing when. It would stand at the button entranced – sometimes neglecting to eat or drink – pressing it over, and over again.
Skinner believed this peculiar behaviour could be induced in humans, too. Ever caught yourself scrolling endlessly through Twitter or Instagram, barely registering what flicks by? Or been overcome by a sharp urge to check Facebook?
Since social media was still about 65 years away, Skinner instead likened his experiments to slot machines. Random payouts – what Skinner called “variable reinforcement schedules” – kept punters fixated, straining to detect the machine’s pattern, a jackpot always potentially one push away
...
|
|
#
¿
Oct 17, 2015 14:59
|
|
- 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
|
Today in Queensland is poo poo: Queensland police filmed aiming Taser at tourist who was stopped 'because of his tattoos'
quote:The footage purportedly shows how the couple, who had just driven out of Gold Coast airport, were pulled over by police, strip searched on the side of a major freeway and then threatened with a taser.
A tourist has posted a video online showing a Gold Coast police officer aiming a Taser at her boyfriend.
The clip was posted on Facebook on Monday and appears to show the moment a female officer prepares to discharge her Taser at a heavily tattooed man.
“We have legislation down here, if we identify a potential member of a criminal motorcycle gang we have the power to stop, detain and search you,” the officer says in the footage.
When the man asks if his neck tattoos were the sole reason for being pulled over, she replies: “Yep, absolutely.”
Matters escalate when the man, from Victoria, then refuses to hand over his mobile phone and the officer aims her Taser at him.
According to the post on his partner Hayley Van Hostauyen’s Facebook page, the pair had just touched down in Queensland for a holiday.
“I have no club gear on at all they simply seen me and my partner Hayley at a red light, noticed a 13 tattooed on my neck and pulled us over,” the man wrote.
“Pfft what a joke welcome to QLD.”
He claims in the post that the officers later deleted the footage but he was able to recover it.
“This is fkd up what a good start to our holiday str8 from airport,” he said.
The clip had been watched 1.3m times by Tuesday morning.
The Courier-Mail quoted police inspector Shane Holmes on the incident. “He wasn’t just a random Victorian tourist. He and his girlfriend were intercepted by two slightly built female officers who know from experience that bikies carry weapons.
“When this gentleman unexpectedly reached into the car, the officers immediately feared for their safety and drew the Taser as a precaution.
“The incident has been investigated and the officers were deemed to have acted lawfully and reasonably.”
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2015 02:47
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
¿
May 16, 2024 19:06
|
|
#
¿
Oct 1, 2015 10:53
