Are we there yet? (general chat with Bobi)

By Bobi

There are some good things to come out of this lockdown. 

Firstly, I’m not going to pretend that I am not going a little bit crazy. I don’t think I’m crazy for talking to my home appliances, but I might just be a little bit crazy for expecting them to laugh at all my jokes? Or maybe not. As I we have established before, I am, after all, hilarious. 

Look. It’s tough to talk to the fridge – she tends to give me the cold shoulder – but the toaster sees both sides of every argument and the dryer can put a happy spin on the every situation. Yes, as I told you, I am absolutely hilarious. 

No, wait, don’t go. As promised, here are just a couple of the good things. 

I found a saucepan. I know. I KNOW. I really wanted to share the news. 

Seriously, look at this thing. 

How could I have possibly lost this monster in the back of my cupboard …. for five years? It is HUGE! Finding this gave me so much joy. And I used to laugh at all those people who swore by Marie Kondo. Fftt to me in my past life. 

I am also loving Jamie Oliver going back to basics. As you read this, on my telly, he is cooking a pizza in a fry pan. I am so hungry. No more pretending I can cook dishes with ingredients sourced from the speciality aisle: just bread dough, sausage mince, bacon and onions. It looks like the best of my world and I could eat it all. 

I am loving the stuff that is now available on the internet: tours of art galleries, live feeds from zoos, and slow TV through factories, down rivers and the hillside. I realise that a lot of this is directed at children being home schooled but my attention span is short and I respond to these simple messages. 

Just on this, here is a picture of a baby Morpork. 

They are rare. There are fewer than 50 left in the world, and scientists have found two babies on Norfolk Island. I love scientists. 

Having a great day. Wishing the same to you all. 

Love Bobi. Mwah. 



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116 Comments

  1. Mr Juz and I are trying out a new
    British crime drama on Netflix. Well, old new. Paranoid. Promising start but that actress (the detective) always irks me for some reason.
    And I am on season 2 of Bloodline. I think perhaps they should have stopped after season 1.

    • Can’t wait for HYBPA.

      I found a brand new manual pasta machine in our garage. Not sure how it got there because I hardly eat pasta nor am I interested to make pasta.

      But now I want to try to make some fettuccine. Have to make do with plain flour. Can’t find 00 flour.

      Next project could be making wonton wrappers ( but it’s so easy to just buy them from the Chinese shop)

      Of course the most challenging project will be trying to make Italian Sfogliatelle. Since I have the pasta machine I may give it a go.

    • Ah, the episode where things explode.

      I’m not sure how I feel about this one. My parents, watching the show, even turned to me and said, “What a waste of time, if they spend 10 hours building, and just destroy it at the end.” And I’ve heard some members of the AFOL (adult fan of Lego) fandom have very mixed feelings about this episode.

      (I explained the point of the “blow up the model” episode to one guy, who hadn’t watched an episode, and he was outraged, even telling me that he wouldn’t want to know me if I enjoyed such a monstrous act. He was kind of a dick, though)

      Having said that, I didn’t much like the episode at the end, because honestly, the best explosion was the fairy palace (where the walls blew out, and the central roof dome actually lifted into the air) and the rest was just clouds of dust. The falling-shark moment aside, I thought the actual winning team’s entry was pretty weak. But I remember, last year, we had the young teenage boys who everyone ended up loving … and I feel like the show is trying to manufacture the same thing, with the two girls?

      The two long-haired guys — the taller one (Jackson, I think), I’m sure I know him. His face is so familiar, I’m almost positive I’ve seen him somewhere or met him at something, I don’t know, but I’m sure I know him from something.

      As it stands, I’m a member of QLUG (Queensland Lego User Group), and I do know some of the contestants. Not personally, but I have chatted to them and we have crossed paths occasionally.

      (that dude, with $100K worth of toys in his house, from the 80s and 90s? I’ve never simultaneously hated and loved someone as much as him)

  2. I’m indulging in as many Escapes to the Country as I can. There have been some beautiful homes and gorgeous gardens lately.

  3. Just casually, and with nothing to do with politics, here’s an issue that has distilled one of my concerns.
    If you worked on an office and stole $40 from the petty cash tin, you would be fired, no references and likely the police would be called in.
    Yet, you can steal an ebook, be the middle man by encouraging your friends to steal the same ebook, cost the publisher thousands of dollars, and possibly the editor their job, and ….. nothing.
    Apparently an apology is sufficient.
    This pisses me off. We really don’t take intellectual property theft seriously enough.
    I know. Random thoughts.

  4. Back to LEGO. These people are seriously clever.
    Fairy tales.
    When they first started, I thought this was going to be a bit boring but some of these builds were amazing.
    It makes me want to take up a new hobby.

    • Something that many people don’t realise about Lego is that, at the more advanced stages, there’s a lot of technical engineering and hard-core physics in how those bloody bricks all fit together. Particularly when you add the Technic beams and gears, and the Power Functions type stuff. I’m terrible with that kind of stuff (I don’t even build with Technic), which is why I wouldn’t make it very far on this show, but when I see the sheer complexity of some of these designs, it really does amaze me.

      I think Jackson and Alex are the early favourites. They have this nice balance between story-telling and having the technical skills to use the bricks exactly how they want them to, but I really like Damian (and his partner who’s name I can’t remember). I really loved their scene of the cyclops climbing down the bean-stalk. That was so cool.

      I figure it was a given, that the scientist and tea-leaf-reader were going home, tonight. It was there in the turtle they built, on the first night, the dragon, from last night, and visible in their little mermaid. They had the imagination but really lacked the technical skills, and their builds just looked like formless shapes of random bricks and plates stacked together.

      But sometimes Brickman says or does something, and it makes me go, “huh?” He wanted iconic story-telling, but didn’t go for Cinderella running down the stairs while leaving a glass slipper? How could that be *more* iconic, as a fairy-tale moment? I don’t know, I thought his criticism of that was needlessly harsh.

      • I get what your saying but I think, in the end, the sheer size of the castle overwhelmed the “people” in the story. Too much house/wall building.
        Whereas the Hansel and Gretel story had both. I thought it was simply just clever in both imagination and build.
        The beanstalk, of course, had Drahma.
        It’s hard not to see these two pairs in the finale. They are head and shoulders above the rest.

        • That’s the feeling I had, about the size. If they had made the prince and Cinderella (therefore larger) then the slipper wouldn’t have been so weird, and the story would be clearer.

  5. I’m tired of various television personalities telling me to wash my hands. While the necessity for physical distancing still eludes a lot of people, the hand washing bit has registered. When I absolutely have to use a public toilet (cringing all the while, using paper towels to turn the lock and press the flush), every single person is standing at the sink wash wash washing for more than 20 seconds.

    And, we’re all in this together. Well, sort of. I haven’t seen a lot of effort to keep homeless people safe, even though the WA government has done a bloody good job on other things. I have a roof over my head, have enough to eat, even if I can’t get exactly what I want, and can wash my hands and clothes any time I want. People who rely on pubs or coffee shops to use a toilet or wash up don’t even have those options now. We’re all in this together, but not all of us have the same level of risk.

    • Hahaha. My sister and my daughter both said the same thing about TV personalities telling us to wash our hands.

      Me…. I still haven’t recovered from, “Stop it! I can’t be clearer than that. Just stop it!!!”

    • We’re all in on the joke together.

      Firstly, the hideous “We’re all in this together” dirge morale boosting sap from big business super funds.

      Then the d listers trying to sell pious garbage. Everybody needs good neighbours.

      • Oh MG That crappy, sappy as that some people want for our Australian anthem. I noticed it was less politically correct than usual.

        • If you are referring to the same song that I think you are, I am so pleased to find another person in this nation who doesn’t want this for an anthem. It is a pleasant-enough ditty, but seriously twee when played over and over, and makes me cringe when imbued with political agendas.

    • Part of me agrees with you but, sadly, the statistics say that men (sorry guys) rarely wash their hands at the best of times.
      I remember a male friend of mine (who was a nurse, as a point of no particular interest) saying that he washed his hands before he went to the toilet because everything that came out afterwards was sterile. Eeeew. Just eeeew. There was no arguing with him. One of those cases of misapplying science.
      No wonder they say to never touch the free peanuts in a bar. Seems like they have a highest concentration of urine and faeces of any of the surfaces in the places tested.
      I hope you are not eating breakfast as you read this, but I can tolerate any amount of annoying behaviour if it fixes this. Here’s a change of behaviour that I hope becomes permanent.

      • Woolif has to be told to wash his hands but ads on TV won’t do it. Me going nuts when he walks in and starts making a sandwich, handling food we both eat, has more effect. Naming and shaming might work. 😆

      • I’ve heard that, and I can’t fathom that at all. I’ve washed my hands, occasionally, from just walking past the bathroom, let alone actually using it.

        Oh sure, if you’re out somewhere and you have to use the native facilities (ie, behind a tree), you don’t have a choice. And a lot of public bathrooms don’t have soap handily available, so you wash up as soon as you’re indoors again. It’s not that hard a habit to get into.

        • I don’t wash my hands in public toilets. Germs live water and what’s the first thing everyone touches after a poo, those taps. Then add the sludge of soap, a germ party. I would rather takes my own hand sanitizer.

    • I tell you what, it’s starting to do my head in, the amount of conspiracy theories and insane internet whackjob nonsense that’s getting around. I keep running into these types, just accidentally (I’m certainly not seeking them out). But I keep running into them, grown adults (including an actor from one of my favourite TV shows) who should darn well know better than to spruik this nonsense.

      I have some experience with surviving a serious medical episode, and it makes me angry listening to them. If doctors just want to sell vaccines, then how come they’ve made $0.00 profit in the last thirty years selling the smallpox vaccine? For smart people, eradicating a disease that you want to keep around so you can profit from curing it, I mean, that’s just a terrible idea.

      On that front, I found this article recently, printed on Forbes’ website, and I found it very topical.

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/rainerzitelmann/2020/03/23/the-corona-crisis-the-rothschilds-bill-gates-the-search-for-a-scapegoat-has-begun/#3f4dca492283

  6. Have been watching the excellent iris drama series on SBS on demand called BLOOD. Two seasons and I highly recommend it.

    Waiting for the fourth season of The last Kingdom and the second season of Afterlife on Netflix which will be coming the end of the week on Netflix.

    Also hate commercial TV with all the TV people telling me we are all in this together and to stay safe. Go away. They just want their mugs on the TV so we don’t forget them. If we stop fawning over celebrities when lockdown is over, then that will be a good outcome. Also if people wash their hands more that will be fabulous. Think I will continue with being 2 metres from people in the general public. I like my personal space.

    • I loved After Life. Excellent show and can highly recommend to those who missed S1.
      I’m watching Kim’s Convenience (Netflix). I just had it mindlessly on in the background, because it seemed to meander, and then it crept up on me. Surprisingly enjoyable.
      That’s one of the lovely by products of this lockdown: giving shows a second go,

    • Yes, Lola. That’s the ad that I don’t like. I would prefer an ad that didn’t try and fool us into thinking this is great and Zoom is so fun.
      I would prefer an ad that says CV and people dying is horrible and lockdown sucks, but buckle up, we’ll get through it….some of us. I hate soppy stuff, and I hate dishonest propaganda.

      Maybe Scott Morrison could say, “Wash your hands!!! I can’t be any clearer. Just wash your hands”.

      Thanks for the viewing suggestions. I loved Last Kingdom. I watched Mrs Wilson last night. I’d give it a 7.

  7. Meanwhile, I had to go to a drive-through Covid-19 testing station today. Not sure what you guys are doing in other states now but here in SA if you have even just cold symptoms they want you to get tested – no longer just if you have had contact with overseas travellers. I reckon I just have a head cold but no idea how I got it as have been carefully hand washing and social distancing etc. Geez the nasal swab was an eye waterer

    • Doubtless it will be a difficult time waiting for your results, Juz, but odds are it is a head cold. Everything I can think of to say that might give you some comfort sounds flippant – *fingers crossed, haha smiley face*. See? Dumb.

      Our testing clinics here are in hospitals. I wouldn’t be happy to go to a hospital and hang around a clinic with other possibly infectious people, but if there is no choice… I think we’re supposed to call our PCP first to describe symptoms and get advice.

      I’ve seen a graphic showing where the nasal swab has to reach to get a sample. Ow.

      • Yeah it is a very long cotton bud. The tongue swab was nearly as bad – they go in until you gag. Staff were lovely though despite being overworked and, the security guard told me, they had been abused by some impatient people. Urgh. People who are dicks to healthcare workers are the worst.
        It was good to have the drive-through option as I did not fancy queuing at a hospital clinic

        • Have you had results yet Juz?
          I am pleased that we are able to offer wide range testing in australia – surely our quickest route back to a non iso life.
          My niece was sharing a room (returning traveller) with a friend who was positive. She had to have repeat tests over an 11 day period (well done Queensland health) but remained negative. The nurse was amazed as she fully expected the whole house to be positive, but only 1 out of 4 had it. Weird.

          It certainly sounds an unpleasant test – I gag when they just try to look down your throat. I reckon I’d be a shocker at the tests.

          Please keep us posted here and fingers crossed for you – even though I realise that sounds completely trite!

  8. I see that one of the conditions Scotty has for easing current restrictions is that enough people sign on to the government’s tracking app.

    Nope. Not even for the common good. No.

    • I have family that used be public servants when the term “service to the public” meant something. My Health records are available to all. I merrily tick those Ts and Cs like you would believe.
      But there is something deeply untrustworthy about this current government. I’m not sure how far back I go on this. I think I might have said the same about John Howard’s day (seriously, how can you trust a guy who refuses to come to Canberra – you know, the place where his actual job was, where parliament sits, and all his advisers live etc).
      And I hear what everyone is saying about how the data will be kept, etc, but there no getting around the fact that you just can’t trust some people. No matter the reassurances given. Liar, liars, pants on firers.

      • And that’s the shame. You know people are going to take advantage of this. For every jerk who claims that JobKeeper bonus and doesn’t pass it on to his or her staff, there’s gonna be a politician somewhere in the world who likes it much better when we’re all locked in our houses.

        I don’t trust Facebook beyond telling it my name and birthday. I don’t really trust politicians beyond that, either.

        • It is a requirement of the JobKeeper that the full amount has to be paid to the employee. Whether bad employers try to break that law is another matter.

          I won’t be getting the app, but then I won’t go near FB either, and I am sure that it is more dangerous.

  9. Dr Phil said yesterday to listen only to the scientists and not politicians.

    Sorry about the tracking app, $cotty. The tracker needs to be on you and your slimy mates Dutton and et al

    • I saw that. Except for the medical experts at WHO, the scientists have made to most sense from weeks ago, even before the time when doctors sent a petition to Ski Mo requesting the Australian borders be closed. Norman Swan was on The Drum with a some sensible experts all saying shut down, shut hard and immediately and you might then only need a short term lock down. I was listening. That was early March.
      Slo Mo didn’t. Actually I was yelling, “Shut the border to China” (weren’t we all), as soon as Wuhan broke out, but he didn’t listen to that either.

      Now he’s being Bossy Mo.

      But on listening to the scientists, I did a double take on the tracker ap when Norman Swan recommended it as long as checks were put in place. I am thinking now that if it helps get the country back on track, I might let Morrison sit in his lounge room with his spy camera and watch me go from Dr Phil to the shops, to scrubbing the grout in my tiles and back to my lounge chair.
      I wonder if, when I go down to the bay, the police will move in. 😆

      • Interesting comparision in the SMH today comparing NZ’s hard shutdown compared to our staged one. Summary was that it made no difference to the infection rates. Of course, so much easier for NZ, which is like a local council area here.

        • Australia is doing better with the pandemic than NZ. Even though we are in semi shutdown later we are doing better so far. Less cases person million of population.

          In NZ with the Stage 4 lockdown, no cafe or restaurants are open. No online deliveries for non essentials like clothes, books or zigzaw puzzles!
          Midnight tonight NZ is going to Stage 3 lockdown. But you must order through an app or website for your coffee or meal and than pick it up from a place outside the premise. He he,I was telling Mr LP can walk pass and just grab the package! Just joking.

  10. Once you use mobile phone, you are being track. In South Korea they use the mobile phone and CCTV to track down people that are exposed to the virus.

    The only way if you don’t want to be tracked is don’t use a smart phone. Just use the old fashioned one where you can only make or receive calls

  11. So the news today is that data from the tracking app will be held in the cloud by Amazon.
    And that the data can be access by the US government in accordance with their legislation.
    And our Government won’t answer any questions on the contract because … well, who knows, but this Government declines to answer any questions on any subject, so situation normal.
    The only thing they didn’t do was conclude the interview with “Trust me”. Even they know that that would be a step too far.

    • I don’t think the plan is going to be much of a starter, given the level of outrage and distrust that’s already quite deep.

    • Woh! Deal-breaker. Did anyone see the fb post in Amazon. Bad news. Don’t.ever get an Alexa thingamabob.

    • And given that he’s the sole owner and manager of that company … oh, that is good news. Hehehe. That’s awesome!

      With luck, losing $25K might shut him up for a little while. The TGA is far stricter on this sort of nonsense than the American equivalent. I say, good luck to them.

        • Just when I start to think Trump can’t be more stupid than he has already demonstrated, he disseminates dangerous mis-information that he probably picked up from some other idiot on Facebook or Twitter. Un-fucking-believable. Yet there he is.

          • It’s staggering. And yet, slightly less than half that country still believes in him, and thinks he’s brilliant.

            Look at all those morons who showed up to protest a virus, while armed with AK-47s. What is wrong with these people, that they’ve all convinced themselves this is normal and rational behaviour?

            I just don’t believe the world we’re living in, some days.

          • This will be the new “Go, play in traffic”. “Go, inject yourself with Clorox!”.

            What is the worst thing though, he again said when the cameras were rolling. And his MAGAts are now saying, we misinterpreted Agolf Twittler. He didn’t mean it, he only talked about UV lights.
            Yeah, that is why that lady on the chair looked totally shocked and could barely hide her disbelief.
            I would have loved that Fauci was there right with him, that would have been one powerful facepalm.

  12. Has someone started a rumour that the pandemic is over and we can go back to “normal”?

    I went to the shops today for fruit and vegetables. Neither Woolies nor Coles were limiting numbers of people in their stores. Only Woolies had someone disinfecting trolley handles. Neither store had security guys standing out front. People were, as usual, not physically distancing except at the checkouts, aside from about four of us. There were still family groups, most of whom were letting their germ-bag kids run around and touch everything. What does it take? This is not over, it may go on for months yet. We have a couple of days without a lot of new cases, but not none, and many seem to think everything is cool. God help us, because quite a few of us appear reluctant to help ourselves by following fairly simple rules for as long as it takes.

      • C’mon. The Titanic was “unsinkable”, right? I fear the complacent types are just seeing the tip of the iceberg of infection.

    • I am with you Von. One moment the media is saying we are about to eradicate the virus! People start to relax! Then another media will say we wont get back to normal for another 2 years.

      I just read from various overseas sites and make my own decision as how we are plodding along.

      3 of our beaches opened and have to close again. People just don’t follow physical distancing. One idiot said it is his right to swim. No one should stop him.

      • I saw pics if NSW beaches, Little Petal. Bloody idiots shot themselves in the foot.
        We’re being good on the beach here.

        • I would say Woolif was being cruel, but Harry is our circus dog who can ride a bike; two and three wheelers.

          • Bobi, the whole way that tender for the tracking was done in secret, so Aussie companies didn’t get a look in. Done. Before any of us know a thing; done deal. And we’re supposed to trust the govt? Anyhow, the fact that it’s Amazon after I saw that 4 Corners programme on how they have taken over the world almost and how they already get all our info. No chance. I take my hat off to Marie.

          • Are you referring to Marie Antoinette?
            Yes, the more and more I hear, the shiftier and shiftier it looks.
            And, for all we know, it may very well all be above board. In which case, answer the questions and make the process transparent.
            You can’t have your cake and eat it. Oh wait …

          • They will be issuing the source code. That will help to know how it works, but whether that will be any more comforting is unlikely for me.

  13. Shout out to the poor old ANZACS today.

    I did my candle vigil at the end of my drive for them, like I used to march with Legacy as a kid. It was nice waving the candle down the street at Jessica and Graham. On acres, people are far away.

  14. I just had an argument with DD. Small one.
    She is so pleased that schools are reopening next week.
    I said, what about the teachers. She said, if they are in the target group, they should stay home. I said, …. (yes, yes, I know. I should have kept my mouth shut at this point but I didn’t), … it’s not just people in target groups that are getting sick and dying. Look at America and the UK and Italy … and she said, what would you know. You are not even watching the news. And I said …. no,no, I didn’t say anymore. I am not that much of an idiot. I knew when it was a good plan to back out the door slowly.
    But I think that explains things.
    Well, maybe it doesn’t but here’s my take. I’m guessing that she still thinks of this like you would think of the flu. She’s not thinking along the lines of this being more infectious than wearing black at a business meeting. Catching lice at a sleepover? Easily caught.

    • I agree with your sentiments, Bobi. They are playing Russian roulette with teachers’ lives. Scary stuff. While politicians keeps themselves safe. My friends in the US, and Italy have been screaming for weeks that we need to shut schoolsI think some premature complacency has crept in.

    • There are differing views that need to be respected. The scientists (you know, the ones who have all the answers that we have to follow) have done the work studying school transmission and they believe it is okay. Their report is available to read. If they are wrong (possible) that is why the process is being done slowly and in a staged way, so that it can be easily reversed if necessary.

      The outcry to close schools altogether is knee-jerk panic, without looking at first, the evidence, and secondly the possibility of worse consequences.

      What is happening overseas is horrific, but we do have to acknowledge our huge luck in being able to close our borders so easily compared to the more populated areas of the world. We are constantly learning from the overseas experience and we are being cautious. That is enough for me.

      • That report is only true for Australia.
        So first a disclaimer, there is not a lot of stats on this virus because it’s so new.
        Having said that, the stats from most o/s countries (including the Germans who I tend to trust on transparency grounds), say that going to school increase the infection rate by 10% and an increase of 10% infection rate increases the death rate by 2%. That’s still someone’s mother/father/sister/brother dying because DD is bored teaching her kids at home.
        And then, from a survey of 10,000 teachers, more than half said they had concerns. More than half of teachers are over 45 (and generally in their late 50s- looming problem here to be discussed on a different day). And apparently no PPE available because it would frighten the kids. I would roll my eyes here but I am trying to keep sarcasm to a minimum (I have said somewhere that I am cranky-pants today).
        But according to DD, you only die if you are over 70 or you have an illness, which as we all know from the o/s stats is patently untrue.
        And another disclaimer – if DD lived in America she would vote for Trump. She wouldn’t like him but she would vote for him. So this is not the person that I want making decisions that may affect my health, or the health of anyone in my friendship/family group.
        I think that it’s as Daisy said. Because we are lucky enough to be an island, complacency has crept in. Let’s hope winter treats us kindly.
        Sorry for the rant. When I said cranky, I meant really, really cranky.

        • And one additional point on New Zealand (Lord, save me from myself), they did have a cluster outbreak which they traced back directly to a school.

        • You have a different perspective because you are talking about overseas. Fair enough, and it sounds like that is where your DD is? Our leaders need to make decisions based on our circumstances, while learning from o/s but adapting to our conditions.

          I fully understand the grumpy pants. Having PMS with a household of young adults put me in that place over the weekend too. I think I just get affected by the very negative view on these general threads about our leaders, and the almost impossible decisions they are having to make. Regardless of the colour of their party, I am in awe of those who are trying to do the right thing for our country, and satisfy all the voices that are yelling at them. Like stressed parents homeschooling, people trying to negotiate centrelink, business owners trying to find their paths forward, I want to cut them all some slack and believe that everyone is trying as best they can. They need our support and cooperation.

          • You won’t find me saying very much negative about the state leaders. I think they have done an amazing job.
            Not so much Federal. They had to be dragged to the table kicking and screaming, and they continue to try and undermine the state leaders.
            It would be nice if they could just support the others who are closer to the action rather than try and make political mileage.

          • … mostly agreed, depending on how much responsibility the NSW state government has for the whole Ruby Princess thing.

            Gosh, the fall-out from that is going to be interesting to watch.

  15. “Lego Masters” is rather brilliant, tonight. I loved that first challenge. No contrived challenges to please Brickman’s rather fickle needs, no storytelling and no C4 explosives. It’s just pure engineering, to build the tallest tower (without any outside aid like stools or step-ladders). And, honestly, watching some of the towers wobble and fall over was *immensely* satisfying.

    And I remember from last year what a great host Hamish is, like, he’s really entertaining without being obnoxious.

    • Loving it too, WS. And I think Hamish is even funnier this season as he makes fun of how second seasons are meant to be bigger an brighter. I love his to-camera bits – I can’t remember if he did them last year.

      I liked both challenges, and it was certainly refreshing to have the one that all seven-year-olds do, building the biggest one possible. The ending was a little sad, but Iona was so gracious in stating the only fair way for the challenge to be judged was what they did. To be honest, I doubt that their original plan would have stood up to the others anyway, and they only got through before with the shark-dive immunity, which was really just luck.

  16. So, Lego Master.
    That was such a fun challenge. Just simply build a tall tower.
    My favourite bit was listening to one of the pairs chant, Do Over, in unison after a crash. I love nerds.

    • Actually, I take it back. The episode’s second challenge — build something from the inside-out, suspended on a single hanging Technic beam? So very cool. Not only is that really technically-difficult, but how good are the builds going to look when they’re finished?

  17. That was just a fantastic episode of “Lego Masters”, tonight. Those floating builds, at the end, were jaw-dropping. My favourite was absolutely the city, but the alien abduction and the angler fish (even with the missing fin) were all just beautiful. I want to own those, you know? I would absolutely pay money for them.

    I’m not sure the bird-cage was the best in show, but I feel like Brickman awarded them, just for the sheer “what the…?”-ness of how they salvaged it, and built a second cat in an hour.

    • Yup. Yup. Yup.
      Enjoyed it immensely.
      The elimination was absolutely fair.
      I think even with a second person, they still would have been the pair to go home.
      Hamish was at his best tonight. Just a reminder that good hosting doesn’t have to be scripted or dominate the whole show. Mind you, they had over eight hours of television to whittle down, so it was probably not hard to find the gems.
      Such a lovely show.

  18. Great episode of LEGO Masters tonight. It is such a family friendly feel good show.
    I loved the cats dangling off the birdcage and the fact they had to re-think how they were going to construct the cage halfway through the build.
    The angler fish was great but I find the married couple excruciating to watch. If they had stopped congratulating themselves so much 10 minutes before the end of the build , I think they would have kept the fin on. The fish was magnificent though.
    This is a good second season.

    • There is something about that couple that niggles at me, I don’t feel that their relationship is as respectful as it could be.

      • Remember last year’s teams, and we had the newly-weds who were sickeningly, sweetly in love with each other?

        Yeah, this pair isn’t the same as that pair. They seem to be a little more antagonistic to each other, like, they don’t seem to work very well in a stressful, high-pressure situation. Which is fine. The builds they complete are very good (that angler fish was amazing!) but I think it’ll be a lack of team-work that brings them undone, to be honest.

  19. Please help me remember; a couple of years ago we all filled out forms, on paper and on line. I think it was the census. The govt swore up and down it would be secure but it was hacked within days. The govt had egg on their faces. Anyone recall the incident?

    • It wasn’t hacked, as I remember, it just collapsed under the weight of volume. They misjudged how everyone would try to log on at exactly the same time.

    • Sorry, replied before seeing this next post. So essentially, there were threats of hacking so they had to shutdown four times to prevent the success of the hacking.

  20. I have downloaded the app. They can know where I have been, I don’t care. As long as I didn’t rob the bank. Nothing is private once you use google or some of the other apps.

    • But it’s not necessarily you they are tracking. It’s everyone around you. I am going to have to leave my phone at home now, every time I go out.
      And maybe I wouldn’t be so paranoid if they hadn’t given the contact to Amazon. There is absolutely nothing, including letting people (and children) die, that the Americans won’t do for money. They call it Capitalism.
      Amazon and this Government. It’s a double whammy for me.
      I live in a suburb where a lot of people work for ASIO and they are not downloading the app. That should tell everybody something.
      I know. I’m cranky today. It’s only 7.00 am and I am right royally pissed off.

      • Yeah, it’s the Amazon thing that really gets me, especially as US dusclose laws trump any promises made by Morrison.
        On the other hand, Mark McGowan has been doing such a great job and I would like to support him. But it’s Amazon.

  21. If you have fb, Google 4 Corners and scroll down to the story on Amazon.

    It’s about 22 posts down.

    I can’t post a link.

    • Did I overhear correctly that Google and Apple are each busy working on CV tracking aps that should be ready in May? 🥺

    • I know, Bobi, it’s a shock. Don’t forget Barnaby feels the same.

      However, the fact that two numbskulls have the same opinion as I, on this one subject, is not a reason to make me download the app. I don’t believe that, at some time, my info will not be given to someone who has no reason to have it, if the government decides that is necessary. Them blithely promising that all will be deleted when I ask just makes me laugh. They say it’s okay to use a false name. Again, snorting laughter – if they have my phone number, it doesn’t matter what name I use. Why ask my age range or postcode? Those are things the Bureau of Stats likes to know…but they can’t have the info from this app, right?

      Any site can be hacked.

      It’s assumed that everyone has their phone on them at all times. I don’t. Aside from four trips to the grocery store, I have been isolated for four weeks at least. I can with confidence state who I’ve been close to for more than 15 minutes in that time. And, it doesn’t take 15 minutes to get infected if the person 3 rows behind you on the bus sneezes corona virus all over the bus.. The whole setup, while well-intentioned maybe, is ripe for being a big cockup. I’m not signing up under any circumstances.

  22. Some minor sharing, although you’ve probably already guessed.
    We are back to Lego Master. I love this show. It just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

      • Why I have some issues with the C4 episode is the focus is on the destruction, but here, the destruction was only a by-product of the actual engineering aspect of the challenge. That was really clever, I enjoyed that immensely (and didn’t Hamish look like he was having a ball, today?). I can’t believe three teams beat the shaking machine. I loved how the hairy guys, with their solid brick of a build, were overjoyed that they did it. And honestly, my favourite build was the wizard’s castle. The way they used colour was outstanding.

  23. We’ve been heading to Koombana Bay with our coffee for the last few weeks and it has been lovely but today was a little bit crowded. Not crowded but normal which made social distancing tricky when sharing a footpath.

    Ooo. China is threatening to not buy Aussie goods. We had better get cracking on our own industries.

  24. Can you all just stop and rub your eyes for a minute and go, “Hey, we are actually agreeing to being tracked”. Say whaaat???

    There is something so basically wrong with that. I am thinking the next step will be forcing us through deprivation of some facilities.

  25. The app don’t track where you have been. Just alert if you have been in contact with someone who has been tested positive. They don’t even know at what location you have contracted the virus.

    If you use Google and didn’t turn off the setting, Google tracked all your movement. Like you just arrive at a restaurant, it asked you to rate the restaurant.
    They also know the contents of your emails.

    • It’s not really the app I have a problem with, per se.
      But it’s absolutely Amazon and their pretence at privacy. We all know that it’s not possible or true (just read about the legislation that Australia is not allowed to opt out of).
      And the stupidity of our Federal government giving the contract to Amazon and not even allowing an Australian company to tender.
      I don’t know whether I would have signed up in different circumstances (hard to judge except in hindsight and, of course, because I’m emotionally invested) but there might have been more of a chance if it had all been more transparent. I may have been open to persuasion.
      But I can’t trust Amazon, and by deduction, a government who says, “Nothing to see over here and we will tell you about it some time in the far flung future, assuming nothing goes wrong, in which case … squirrel!”.
      On the issue of data in general (and not this app), I know that everyone says I have nothing to hide and I’m an open book. In which case, why do all these companies value this info so highly? Mostly, I don’t know btw.
      And give me all your passwords.
      Being sensible for a moment, I have to be guided by my IT friends and they say no because we don’t know enough about it all.

      • Funny you should mention that. I have a friend in IT, and he did download the app, and he was saying that he trusts it and thinks that it’s fine. He’s a cluey guy, and I would trust him.

        It’s all a moot point, for me. I don’t have a smart phone. I could download the app and put it on my laptop, but I don’t think that’s going to be terribly useful.

        I don’t believe in wild government conspiracies. You know Watergate, with Nixon? That was a conspiracy involving very few people, and it was all undone by a single disgruntled employee (who contacted the media and told them everything). What I do believe in is greed and incompetence. Given what happened to the census, given what happened that government health record thing … I say “no” on this.

        And it kind of baffles me when people put their whole entire lives on social media, including their phone numbers, their contacts, their day-to-day itineraries, even their bank details. That seems crazy to me. Nobody can steal your information if you don’t hand it over. Facebook knows that I like Lego and the month of my birthday, and that’s all I’ve ever really told it … and I’ve never had any problems.

      • Years ago I worked with a girl (in her twenties) who was OTT about never giving away information unless absolutely necessary. This was way ahead of the internet (but probably not intranet systems). I used to think the same when she would go on about it – “if you have nothing to hide, then why does it matter”, and “who would care to know about my mundane life”.

        I am a lot more suspicious now, and I often think of that work colleague and hear myself in my head saying, no, sorry, you can’t have that unless I can see a good reason for it. And I don’t like being blackmailed, which is what every app does, because unless you agree you can’t have the app you want. My current bugbear, having just upgraded systems, is the MS account which tries to grab you at every turn.

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