iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 14h

Could tax the banks an additional amount equal to the credit card fees and give that back to merchants including the tax office...

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Yes! Exactly this! All the people saying “Well you’d better throw away your phone because it relies on data centres…”. If it relied on the new batch of planet-eating DCs - which aren’t yet built - then how the hell would be working now??

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

My favourite thing lately has been how they spent a few months whipping up a new road bridge in exactly the spot where the train station was meant to go, knowing full well it was to go there

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Reposted by Philip Roper

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Seriously, watch and share this.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

So... they'll pay the cost (which business like to call 'absorbing' the cost) of running their whole computer system that we must use to find out how much to pay them, and they'll process a cheque at no charge if we can send them one, but they won't pay their bank fees for credit card operations?

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Oh I just read your update about the clear coat! That's ace. These kits deliberately didn't include a clear coat a few years ago, but someone seems to have taken on the system...

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Those kits do work, but you need to apply a clear coat sealer over the top otherwise the damage happens again in a few months. I've got a can of clear coat to deploy after I do the polishing job again on mine but I'm scared to try it in case I mess it up. Just have to bite the bullet though.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I did that the other day too!

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I notice their 'ban' on residential areas is that DCs need to be more than 150 m from a residential area. That's not far enough. It should be a minimum of 1 km, judging by what we see in videos from overseas.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Lucky they’ve always been too expensive for me to go there

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"We take (xyz) extremely seriously..." means that we don't.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

They all took off from the air base about to be sold off by the government.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Those American aircraft aren't using their transponders either

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I saw four Ospreys and a bunch of Roulettes, but only two Roulettes (PC-21s) and a larger craft are on FlightRadar, and the larger one is anonymous

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Michael West @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The former chief executive of the National Disability Insurance Agency now runs Australia’s largest NDIS equipment retailer. michaelwest.com.au/inside-job-how-f…

Inside Job. How former insiders and corporateers are cashing in on the NDIS

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Michael West @michaelwestbiz.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Inside Job. How former insiders and corporateers are cashing in on the NDIS Claudia Weisenberger reports. Read it here: michaelwest.com.au/inside-job-how-f…

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Just drove my parents’ car for nearly 3000 km down the coast of the nation and the stop-start told me it saved over a half a litre of petrol, with very few chances to stop

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Yes it’s chalk and cheese, comparing the Euro trucks with the American ones. In Australia, you can get a good Scania or Volvo for less than a Kenworth, and it will be quieter and more user friendly. Freeway travel in a Volvo is quieter than a car.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I have a feeling every jurisdiction will carefully not reveal enough information to enable you to make the decision. It’s looking like you’ll need one for each jurisdiction!

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

For those of us who care to expend some more effort, the digital stream from a phone to a DAC can be recorded using audio software, and the results can be saved as files and/or written out again to CDs... Just like making a tape in the old days, but not mechanical!

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Reposted by Philip Roper

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 24/08/2026

As Canada is learning (the hard way), the "art" of all of Trump's deals can be summed up in a single word: "renege": pluralistic.net/2026/07/22/t... 1/

A Canadian flag, its elements replaced with circuit boards. In the foreground, a bent-double, exhausted Uncle Sam trudges over rocky terrain, shlepping a giant sack on his back. Centered in the maple leaf is the word SORRY.

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 24/08/2026

The best time to have made Canada digitally sovereign would have been *before* an American president announced his intention to annex Canada and began explicitly deploying America's tech companies to attack his geopolitical adversaries. The second-best time is *now*. 52/

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

A politician (or similar) literally said on the radio today that we 'need' to encourage data centres in Australia so they can be trained with an Australian flavour and 'have Australian values'

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I read right through that story and could not find the bit where they explain exactly how one 'dilutes' water.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

That reminds me of a trio of real wind turbines of that size that the City of Melbourne was sold for one of its buildings. Of course they didn’t work and they are secret ornaments now.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

OK this is good. I think it will even out very close to what you had before.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

And.... I thought speech-to-text was pretty much nailed 20 years ago with software like Dragon Naturally Speaking, which boomers (before they were called that) used to use because they couldn't type and didn't want to pay for a typist. And various text-to-speech was perfectly fine 10 years ago!

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

How’s the average going now?

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This is mind blowing isn’t it. They must think we’re all stupid and none of us have ever worked in serious jobs.

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Reposted by Philip Roper

Greg Jericho @grogsgamut.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Anyway, a reminder. Fuel Tax Credits over the next 4 years will cost the Govt $47bn. The savings from the cuts to the NDIS is $38bn. Gillard in 2010: "Budgets are about choices, and you show what you value through the choices you make" Indeed.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I reckon if you averaged 9 kWh a day over a billing period, you still will. We average about 10-15 a day, but have days when we use 65 kWh occasionally.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

My wife and I, and our second daughter, played in the winning bands at the Victorian State Band Championships (Open B grade - Whitehorse Brass, and Open C grade - Box Hill Academy Brass) this weekend, and we had an absolute blast!

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The sub-heading doesn't gel with the headline. I think they need to remove the word "Don't" from the headline.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I’ve started reporting posts as misleading when they refer to illegal motorbikes as ‘e-bikes’

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Jaycar’s meant to be fun. It’s a shame someone would sour the experience like this.

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Reposted by Philip Roper

Matt Golding @goldingcartoons.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Gambling reform negotiations continue… @theageaustralia.bsky.social

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

That’s infuriating. They’ll need more and more of it in the near future because so many people are retiring to the north-east. This is the kind of thing that means you need to increase council rates!

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Something that alarmed me the other day was a radio interviewer saying data centres needed to be close to populations for the ‘on-demand’ work but that the model training DCs can go in remote spots. As though internet speeds would differ between the two types of location.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

You develop the patience and skills once you buy some tools and try it!

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I like how they talk about its proximity to transmission lines, as if you just whack up a building and plug an extension lead into the bottom of the nearest tower.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Yes but Chadstone is south-east, and definitely the biggest and most ridiculous shopping centre we have. This insane thing will be six times a whole suburb in size, basically.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

I got one today that just said “you good?”

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I don't think many people will have deliberately not paid super to people. I think the issue is that normal people did not know this rule existed at all. Look at the ATO's sole trader page. It neglects to mention that organisations must pay superannuation to sole traders.

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Philip Roper @philiproper.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I bought a Nordace backpack because my friend had one. It is magnificent, and I see them everywhere now. Nordace is lucky I saw it on a friend before I saw their ads (which were dutifully served to me on social media after purchase), because I'd not have trusted a social media ad and bought it.

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