AFP media raids: Federal Police boss Neil Gaughan on ABC and News Corp searches: he didn't explain why a serious matter of national security saw raids conducted two years after the ABC reports ran and more than a year after Smethurst's story was published. ... Mr Gaughan defended the actions of the seven officers who spent seven hours inside Smethurst’s home, rifling through her underwear drawer, bathroom cabinet and kitchen cupboards. ... He didn’t explain why then officers flicked through every page of her recipe books, as Smethurst detailed in The Australian today.
Christopher Pyne and the revolving door of MPs turned lobbyists | Australia news | The Guardian: The former defence minister Christopher Pyne ignited fresh criticism this week when he took a job with consulting giant EY to help expand its defence business.
Pyne's acceptance of the job has again put Australia's revolving door between politics and business into stark relief.
Rules governing post-ministerial employment are weak and unenforced.
Wet Plate Photography Makes Tattoos Disappear: Here's something you may not have known about the 1800s wet plate collodion photography process: it can make certain tattoos disappear in photos. ... [Photographer Michael Bradley] decided to focus his camera on the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand, whose traditional tā moko tattoos have been making a resurgence. ... Bradley realized that when photographs of traditional tā moko were captured back in the 1800s, the tattoos themselves barely showed up at all and where therefore lost to history.
Murdoch media and the myth about Tesla EVs causing blackouts | RenewEconomy: The claim is laughable because most Tesla EVs are powered at home by a 7kW charger, which is about the same as many electric ovens and air conditioning units. And nearly all houses have these, and in the summer heat turn them on at the same time. Also the grid operators confirmed they haven't had any problems.
I spent a week with a doomsday prepper deep in the outback. This is how it changed me - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): As I performed my important role of "torch holder" in the Wolf Creek-esque carpark, I suddenly got it: preppers exist because the rest of us are critically underprepared.
My survival skills extended to holding a torch. I couldn't reboot their car, let alone scavenge bush tucker for dinner. Back in the city, I'd somehow managed to kill a plant specially chosen because it only needed watering every three months.
As my prepper friend worked away, silhouetted in the torchlight, I realised preppers are just a variation on the "Aussie bushman" — perhaps a dying trope in our urban era, where the "unkillable" fern is my nursery's fastest-selling plant.
Inside Scott Morrison's Donald Trump-like election victory - Australia Votes - Federal Election 2019 - Politics - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): Electorates that swung hardest to the Liberal and National parties on a two-party preferred basis had a higher share of voters on low incomes, with low educational attainment, and higher levels of unemployment. ... One explanation is that Labor's agenda of fighting climate change and limiting tax concessions for the wealthy and high-income earners was a turn off for "aspirational voters" on lower incomes in marginal electorates.
...
Another explanation is that swinging voters in electorates characterised by low incomes and low educational attainment succumbed to a scare campaign.
Driverless Metro: trains and doors get stuck after Berejiklian unveils $7.3bn project | Australia news | The Guardian: users took to Twitter to report large crowds at Chatswood station, trains stuck at Macquarie University and Macquarie Park stations, as well as service gaps at numerous stations. The network experienced a hiccup when, at about 1pm, one of the trains overshot the platform at Macquarie Park station. It was realigned but the automatic doors failed to open. They were eventually manually opened by workers. Commuters were taken off the train, which was taken out of service Broke down on day one. Another great moment in Berejiklian transport. Goes well with the time they spent $2b on trains that don't fit through the tunnels.
How did it come to this? Kearah Ronan was locked up for being sick | The West Australian: Ms Ronan said she had offered to provide a medical certificate but was told it wasn't needed and that the next court date would be in October. Unbeknownst to Ms Ronan, the Magistrate ordered an arrest warrant against her for failing to appear in court after it was requested by the police prosecutor.
US demands social media details from visa applicants - BBC News: Nearly all applicants for US visas will have to submit their social media details under newly adopted rules. The State Department regulations say people will have to submit social media names and five years' worth of email addresses and phone numbers.
Volkswagen's Trying to Solve the Problem of Motion Sickness in Autonomous Cars: Volkswagen said in the announcement that car sickness is caused by a confusion in the motion the eyes see and body feels, which drivers can more easily avoid due to knowing what they plan to do next and how to adapt their body to it.