trk

The Queensland government is in talks with Star which reportedly needs $300m in short-term funding to continue operating Queen’s Wharf precinct in Brisbane’s CBD.

Sucked in. I hate casinos. I hate gambling in general.

Having said that... How do they get in financial trouble?? You're literally stealing money from people on a grand scale. Some punters are losing their homes because of how much money they pour in. Crooks are laundering money by losing a huge percentage of their cash there. International visitors turn up and drop tens (hundreds?) of thousands in a night.

“The worst case scenario would be that they have to close their doors not long after opening them,” the premier, Steven Miles, said on Wednesday.

IMO the BEST case scenario is that they close their doors, and the space is used for something better than gambling.

Driving, gymnastics, break dancing (ESPECIALLY break dancing)... Anything that can't be timed or measured or otherwise objectively decided should be removed from competition.

How do you quantify "style"? How do you ensure there is not biase from judges based on their knowledge of the competitor, be it country they are representing, or personal connections, or racial / religious opinion? How do you fairly compensate for what your personal opinion considers "worth" more when it comes to a trick or routine compared to another?

Swimming, running, jumping, throwing things a distance are all things that can be measured and ruled against a standard that every competitor uses. It's fair and it's removed from any bias.

The Olympics are supposed to be about competition between athletes and shouldn't be affected by popularity or politics, which anything with an interpretive aspect to the result will suffer from.

So yeah, remove the feels sports and limit the Olympics to reals sports.

10 years / 250,000k just announced by MG in Australia - including electric vehicles (and thus batteries)... Not bad considering the anti-EV crowd are always declaring battery packs to have a 3 year lifespan!

MG has introduced the longest factory warranty ever offered by a new-car maker in Australia – 10 years or 250,000km, whichever comes first – five years after rolling out seven years of coverage across its line-up.

And unlike Mitsubishi – which in October 2020 became the first brand to market a 10-year warranty, but with only a 200,000km distance limit – there is no mention of a requirement for customers to have their car serviced within the MG dealer network to access the full decade of coverage.

While MG’s new 10-year warranty is longer in time – compared to its previous seven-year offer – it now has a distance cap of 250,000km, rather than unlimited.

In effect from today (1 August 2024) for all newly-registered petrol, hybrid and electric MG models, the new warranty applies to vehicles not deemed to be "commercial use" – such as Ubers, taxis, food delivery couriers and driving schools.

Remarkable video shows a driver's wild rampage from Brisbane to the Gold Coast.

A number of vehicles were smashed including an ambulance, with the accused live streaming himself hooning through South Bank.

The story said he dumped the ute and his dogs before stealing a truck... Anyone know if the puppies are ok? 😬

Callum feels the familiar vibration of his mobile phone. Another text from Sportsbet.

...

Callum hasn't placed a wager for more than a year. Sportsbet is still trying to lure him back into action with an almost daily stream of text messages.

...

I actually had the opposite experience to the complains in this article..

I'm not really a gambler, but I did fire up SportsBet for my first ever bet in my life during State of Origin. I put in $50 and lost $10 on Queensland. Then I found the horse bit and selected some random horses and apparently I'd won $100 so I took out my original $50, then threw away the rest on random horses and greyhounds, and Queensland at State of Origin again.

Outcome? Zero dollars lost, and a couple of games worth of funsies thinking I was going to become a tenionaire with my 1.xx odds win.

Sportsbet sent me one SMS, and I replied STOP.

Sportsbet sent me one email, and I hit unsubscribe.

I haven't received any communication since - no sms, no email, no push notifications, no anything.

Not sure I'm fully on board with people claiming its all SportsBets fault they're gambling and being preyed upon IN THIS SPECIFIC WAY.

I do say their constant spam during any sports match of any kind on free to air television is an absolute disgrace though.

What a pair of clowns (ALP and LNP)...

Also I really hate TikTok.

There are currently no rules at either the state or federal level to stop political parties and candidates from using AI-generated material in election campaigns.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-22/qld-premier-slams-opposition-for-ai-generated-tiktok/104126936

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-23/labor-questioned-over-ai-generated-tiktok-of-peter-dutton/104131228

Bit of an update to an earlier article --> https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-21/qld-daisy-hill-hit-and-run-appeal/104123370

A woman charged over the alleged hit-and-run murder of a young mother south of Brisbane has been remanded in custody after a brief court hearing.

Police allege 23-year-old Kiesha Thompson was deliberately struck by an SUV just before 9am on Friday in the Logan suburb of Daisy Hill, south of Brisbane.

The alleged driver — 24-year-old Larissa Rita Mae-Leigh Sant — has been charged with one count of murder.

Police said the women were known to each other but their relationship was unclear.

A teenager has admitted to being behind the wheel of a speeding stolen car and causing a crash which killed three people on the Fraser Coast last year.

The boy, who cannot be named, was due to appear in person in the Childrens Court of Queensland on Tuesday morning, but he refused to travel to Brisbane from the detention centre.

Instead, he appeared via video link, and Judge Deborah Richards told him the defiant behaviour was "a pretty stupid thing to do".

Seems a bit of an understatement...

Dunno how he managed to do that - fell asleep maybe? Made for an interesting commute to work today with that closed off.

Archive link: https://archive.md/4K3TZ

Original text:

A man was killed when he hit a barrier and rolled his ute on a Brisbane road.
The 32-year-old man, from Orange in NSW, was driving through the Granard Rd exit of the Ipswich Mwy in Rocklea about 3.20am on Thursday when he crashed.
Paramedics were called but the man was declared dead at the scene. No one else was in the car and no other cars are believed to have been involved in the crash.
A forensic crash investigation is underway.
The Granard Rd exit on the Ipswich Mwy was closed amid the investigation.

In short:

• Live sheep exports by sea will be phased out over the next four years, after laws banning the trade passed parliament on Monday.
• Earlier in the day, opponents met with the prime minister to request a Senate inquiry into the legislation.

What's next?

• WA Premier Roger Cook says he will continue to negotiate for additional support for farmers affected by the laws.

Sky News and other similar conservative whinge rags are already posting the anti-Labor and anti-Greens headline as a response.

Personally I think its great news. Keep the value add in Australia (processing), and remove the cruelty of long ship travel followed by questionable processing practices in other countries.

In short:

• Queensland's LNP opposition wants to increase the cap on poker machines that can operate at clubs with more than two premises.
• The gaming machine cap for a club licensee with three or more sites is 500, but the LNP wants to lift that to 700.

What's next?

• The LNP is taking the policy to the looming October state election, arguing that the proposal would benefit smaller clubs facing closure.

... Don't these statements contradict each other?

-> Applies only to businesses with more than two premises

-> benefits "smaller clubs"

???

Also I love the related stories:

You never see a song called "Northside Rocks", that's all I'm saying 😎