Responding directly to the person in the comic

I hear you when you say that as a woman, you feel societal expectations of you can be harsh and contradictory.

There isn’t a way for me to experience the same things that you experience, but I can try to empathise with your experiences by comparing them with my own, and noting times when I have felt the same way. This means that I have to compare my experiences with yours. It isn’t done from a place of contest, but from trying to relate.

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.

Cmon. It’s a straw man argument and the comic is intended to be polaeisiing.

Both sets of issues can coexist, and I strongly suspect that many issues have a common root.

The person you’re arguing with is called crocodile munted and the flag next to their name is Australian.

There is a slim chance they’re not able to vote in the us elections

I’m not sure if you’ve picked it up so to clearly spell it out: irritating other people for the simple pleasure of watching them becoming more irritated is a national sport in Australia.

Asking with curiosity and respect, for those in the “keeping my name” camp -

You were given your name by your parents, and most often the surname is the father’s surname.

Most of you adopt nicknames or pet names which change over time (what your family calls you vs your friends vs your colleagues)

Why is it a really big deal to you? Is it being asked / expected to change your name by a societal norm / being told what to do? Or the effort involved in changing it?

Source - male, changed my surname when I moved internationally, married, and wife’s family expected her to change her name to mine because we were starting a new family and that would be the family name.

I didn’t give a shit because my surname isn’t my family name, it’s one of my middle names, so it seemed arbitrary, and said so to both her and them.

Wife decided she would change her name and our kid has that name too. It was an absolute pain in the ass to do for her because she’s lived here for much longer than me so had more things to change, so I understand not wanting to deal with that. But years down the track - everyone seems happy - reading through these comments tho many of you view this as wrong??

Late Gen x and early gen y had an off-line childhood and digital adulthood. I think that explains a fair amount about computer literacy, because a lot of what they were exposed to is the base config so they had to learn their way up.

although I find that there are plenty of both that are absolutely clueless about tech

Another weird thing that changed in that generation was communication style. Sms and email bred their own language and abbreviations…

Other notables - digital wayfinding (online maps and Gps), music purchase and consumption, proliferation of social media, adoption of online persona, all changes that gen x / early y lived through.

2010 through 2020 was pretty golden financially. It’s why there were so many rorts.

Disagree on one point - independent research. Higher ed should be the venue where research that’s not directly attached to a commercial body can sit. I’m supportive of running a small surplus on fees as long as it’s directed to research, otherwise you’re stuck with governmental and commercial grants which frequently come with strings attached.

Yes. VC for ANU has done 10% voluntarily and asked senior leads to do similar or opt out of annual salary increase.

Melbourne, Monash, UniNSW who knows.

Edited to add - she was on about 1.2 million per year so doing a 10% reduction in salary is probably a role saved.

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

While I have empathy, the reason we’re in the state of recognising and intervening with neurodiversity is the work that educators, parents and researchers have done over the past sixty years. Pleae recognise this for the progress it represents.

People do the best with what they have and what they know. No it’s not your fault. Neither is it your parents or teachers when they don’t have the knowledge or tools to help them. There is a solid chance that they were as lost, frustrated and confused as you. Or they’re simply shitty people…

In 50 years time there will be another condition that we don’t know about now, for which we are not providing accommodation, which causes kids harm, that your kids will look back on and be absolutely shocked, like why the fuck was this ever tolerated and how could we not know. Obesity? Usage of social media? Assessment?

If memory serves me correctly it’s named for the sound it makes

Kiiiiii wiiiiiiii

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