The totally off-topic thread

[cove]

Our friends at the ATO are now visiting Facebook and other social media sites to identify folks who live way beyond their stated taxable incomes.

 

[Flashback]

Wasnt the dogs. Our back yard is divided in two, with a fence and gate. Dogs are kept down the back so they dont bark at people walking past. Gate was open and they were wandering around the "top" yard, so someone definitely let them out....

We have a lot of fruit trees, including two feijoa trees in the front yard. Every year in May/June I spend weeks chasing random people out of my front yard who have turned up with bags and think its ok to collect all the feijoas. None of them speak English and its usually quite difficult to convey to them that they are trespassing and stealing...I make them hand over any fruit that they have collected

I've also had a whole crop of broccoli and cauliflower harvested from my veggie patch. And this is despite living in quite an "affluent" suburb....

First thing that popped into my head - 42 Below Feijoa vodka (NZ). Awesome stuff and very tasty. I do miss easy access to 42 Below.

Been fairly crazy IRL, so behind online...

Did I miss anything interesting?

Know the feeling there penegal! Any tips on how to survive it? serfty was witness to the recent madness.

I take it though you claimed each of those MacBooks one at a time, not that you bought 3 MacBooks at once and claimed on all of them (unless you happen to be a business that absolutely required 3 systems to be run at a time for some reason).

There are limits in place as to what people can claim on deductions, otherwise of course that could get out of control. And yes, of course, it doesn't really "matter" unless you are unluckily audited (any chance in 7 years), but then you need to have a good reason why you're depreciating two systems at the same time.

Come to think of it, if a system is fully depreciated and thus written off (e.g. after its nominated useful life), you could veritably buy another system and start claiming that, with no funny business.......

Ahh, D2. It's a very simple deduction especially as a teacher - no worries there. If you need any more reassurance than that you know where to find me

 

[JessicaTam]

I take it though you claimed each of those MacBooks one at a time, not that you bought 3 MacBooks at once and claimed on all of them (unless you happen to be a business that absolutely required 3 systems to be run at a time for some reason).

There are limits in place as to what people can claim on deductions, otherwise of course that could get out of control. And yes, of course, it doesn't really "matter" unless you are unluckily audited (any chance in 7 years), but then you need to have a good reason why you're depreciating two systems at the same time.

Come to think of it, if a system is fully depreciated and thus written off (e.g. after its nominated useful life), you could veritably buy another system and start claiming that, with no funny business.......

Yes, one at a time, about every two years.

 

[Mal]

With the redundancies coming thick and fast in Perth you would find an easier place to get a job in Sydney or Melbourne.
Now if you are not needing to work the Perth rental market has many empty houses and apartments and some rentals are $100 to $200 a week less than 3 years ago.
One of my retired friends rented a lovely apartment down at Cottesloe beach and he loved the relaxed lifestyle.

With the number if permies and contractors being shown the door at my company, I'll be lucky to find a chess partner shortly! Seriously toxic culture, and the payback they want from outsourcing to India grates on everyone.

 

[blackcat20]

First thing that popped into my head - 42 Below Feijoa vodka (NZ). Awesome stuff and very tasty. I do miss easy access to 42 Below.



Know the feeling there penegal! Any tips on how to survive it? serfty was witness to the recent madness.



Ahh, D2. It's a very simple deduction especially as a teacher - no worries there. If you need any more reassurance than that you know where to find me

I hate feijoas

 

[anat0l]

Our friends at the ATO are now visiting Facebook and other social media sites to identify folks who live way beyond their stated taxable incomes.

I suppose they are looking out for profiles which haven't locked up information against non-friends. Or, they are planting spies or honey-pot-pages to get into profiles which cannot be accessed publicly.

That could be a problem if I'm in this kind of circle. Most of us are good at the "champagne lifestyle on a beer budget" for flying... that doesn't mean I'm filthy rich! Just as apparently one time one of my dad's friends who is a cleaner in Australia went to the USA for a holiday. He apparently got given a hard time at the border because they could not believe that a person with an occupation as a "cleaner" would have anywhere near enough money to afford a holiday half-way across the world, let alone enough funds to sustain themselves for any decent length of time in the country. (Apparently cleaners get jack excrement in the USA)

 

[Pushka]

How bad is our weather bureau. Forecast today for a week and even as late as yesterday was hot, 34 and late thunderstorms. Spent all day yesterday watering.

Reality? Currently 23 and has been raining heavily for last three hours.

The more sophisticated their equipment the worse they get.

 

[anat0l]

How bad is our weather bureau. Forecast today for a week and even as late as yesterday was hot, 34 and late thunderstorms. Spent all day yesterday watering.

Reality? Currently 23 and has been raining heavily for last three hours.

The more sophisticated their equipment the worse they get.

Well we were told that Saturday was going to be an absolute stinker, really hot.

In reality, it was hot in the middle of the day, though probably around 32 degC, and moderately humid but not ridiculous. We even had a bit of breeze in the early afternoon. That all culminated to the late afternoon / early evening when we got whacked by a heavy storm (very minor inconsequential hail, but very large and hard drops).

I'm not sure what is involved in weather prediction so I wouldn't know how the difference is explained (and no, I don't mean any cynical explanations, I really mean I don't know how meteorology works). Let's not forget that weather prediction doesn't just frustrate the hell out of regular citizens going about their lives, but to tie it back to this forum, it can have a profound effect on aircraft operation and movement (who are nominally risk adverse, sometimes to the chagrin of paying customers).

 

[whatmeworry]

With the number if permies and contractors being shown the door at my company, I'll be lucky to find a chess partner shortly! Seriously toxic culture, and the payback they want from outsourcing to India grates on everyone.

A guy on reddit has an interesting take on 457 visas for IT and outsourcing.

I watched Woolworths replace local entry level IT positions with 457's from india/Tata Consulting Services. They are all great guys and work hard, but they are not actually any more qualified than locals. They are just out of uni themselves. Tata puts them on the Woolworths contract for a couple of years to build up their experience and then moves them onto other contracts once they have enough experience. Woolworths is trying to save money and thinks they got a bargain when they can get IT workers for less than $53k a year. Stupid short sighted thinking. Tata just smiles and says yes Mr Smart White guy every time he demands lower rates per person while laughing behind their backs. Tata supplies graduates, that Woolworths staff train (for free) then wait for Woolworths to shoot itself in the foot by getting rid of its permanent IP in the form of long term staff. Give it six to twelve months for the service levels to drop, then Tata adds more graduates to keep the service level the same due to unexpected extra issues or some bull****. Woolworths pay because they were too stupid to work out the head count versus service level in a way that could compare the cost of local permanents versus Tata offshore + 457. Besides, what else are they going to do? Let business customers down? Admit they are being outsmarted by Tata.
Meanwhile Tata sees the the low margin Woolworths contract as its graduate training program. Leaves them there for 18 months while they learn the technology and mature at business communication and deadlines and then moves them onto a real contract at a much higher rate with a US or European finance company where they would never put up with this and delivery is important.
Mean time Woolworths full time employees become 'team leaders' over Tata employees. Where they are stressed out simultaneously explaining to customers why everything takes longer and now they have to fill out stupid forms, to their boss that the Tata staff can't do the job yet, and to the Tata staff all the stuff that newbies need to learn. All while wondering how much longer they have a job for and how any of this makes sense when everything takes longer and needs more people.
It used to be that Woolworths was a great place for a someone to get into IT. You could start on the helpdesk and once you proved yourself they would give you an opportunity in a support role or something with colleagues who were happy to train you up having done the same. Woolworths got people at a decent rate who understood their business and IT intimately and wanted to have a long career there. Now there are no entry level jobs in IT there. Its all outsourced to India. I doubt they are even saving any money. I don't blame the guys from India or Tata. They work hard in a very different culture and do their best despite little experience and Tata is a business. If Woolworths is stupid and has money then its Tata's job to take it from them.
Little understood fact is that 457's are offshoring multipliers. If Tata can get Woolworths to replace a local with a 457 simply because they cost less, then Tata can get that guy, who does not know all that much, trained up by a local who will soon be moved on. They can then use the local 457 to run the offshore team. It has nothing to do with unavailable skill sets or whatever 457's are supposedly about. Its just straight wage cutting and offshoring.
But both parties are on board with it, and the Greens. Shorten gets his marching orders from the same place the Liberal's do. I even got the impression Woolworths has no say in it. The CEO of Woolworths goes off to New York more than once a year to update the major shareholders and they tell him this is how they want things done. He could argue keeping high quality local employees is better value but they will just replace him. Their other companies outsource IT and they want Woolworths to do the same. Its not in the control of anyone in Australia.

Proportion of Indian IT workers on 457 visas on rock bottom pay triples

 

[drron]

I suppose they are looking out for profiles which haven't locked up information against non-friends. Or, they are planting spies or honey-pot-pages to get into profiles which cannot be accessed publicly.

That could be a problem if I'm in this kind of circle. Most of us are good at the "champagne lifestyle on a beer budget" for flying... that doesn't mean I'm filthy rich! Just as apparently one time one of my dad's friends who is a cleaner in Australia went to the USA for a holiday. He apparently got given a hard time at the border because they could not believe that a person with an occupation as a "cleaner" would have anywhere near enough money to afford a holiday half-way across the world, let alone enough funds to sustain themselves for any decent length of time in the country. (Apparently cleaners get jack excrement in the USA)

At one hospital I worked at one of the cleaners was actually rich.He had inherited an old family fortune but preferred the simple life and knowing that people treated him as an ordinary person and not as a rich guy.He was genuinely happy.

 

[drron]

A guy on reddit has an interesting take on 457 visas for IT and outsourcing.



Proportion of Indian IT workers on 457 visas on rock bottom pay triples

The story sounded OK until this-

The CEO of Woolworths goes off to New York more than once a year to update the major shareholders and they tell him this is how they want things done. He could argue keeping high quality local employees is better value but they will just replace him. Their other companies outsource IT and they want Woolworths to do the same. Its not in the control of anyone in Australia.

The top 20 shareholders of WOW hold ~ 3.5% of the total shares.The 2 last on that list hold 0.05% of the shares.So the fact that the CEO of WOW travels to NYC to take orders from shareholders is absolute carp.
Now a CEO of WOW did and still does travel a lot to the USA but that is because Walmart thought he was good enough to become a director there.

 

[Bundy Bear]

I am wondering if any here participates in parkrun. Its a 5km run held on Saturday mornings at different venues around Australia and some overseas venues.

If I am not traveling or have flu or cold or having bits cut out of me I usually turn up to the event at Southbank where around 300 runners turn up most weeks.

Next Saturday I will be in Melbourne and planning to run the 5km circuit around Albert Park Lake, that as long as I don't get sick, drink to much, rain or get lost on the way to the starting point.

 

[GarrettM]

I am wondering if any here participates in parkrun. Its a 5km run held on Saturday mornings at different venues around Australia and some overseas venues.

If I am not traveling or have flu or cold or having bits cut out of me I usually turn up to the event at Southbank where around 300 runners turn up most weeks.

Next Saturday I will be in Melbourne and planning to run the 5km circuit around Albert Park Lake, that as long as I don't get sick, drink to much, rain or get lost on the way to the starting point.

My wife and I do the occasional parkrun Bundy. Our local is Carine in Perth. Have only done a couple, but looking to do more once I get some semi-proper running shoes. I need to improve my fitness substantially.
I was interested in the Albert Park event when we were last in Melbourne, but couldn't make it work.

 

[Pushka]

We both studied Meteorology at Uni. MrP was an avid surfer and later windsurfer. He can tell by cloud formation and wind direction what will most likely happen in the next 24 hours. Its quite handy at times. Good that he's useful on occasions.

As a curious quirk, one of his University Cricketing friends is head of Bureau of Met in Adelaide. They did not forecast the awful storm we had a couple of Fridays ago.

 

[JohnK]

A guy on reddit has an interesting take on 457 visas for IT and outsourcing

I am grateful for 457 visas and Tata Consulting for reducing my salary to firstly what it was in 1990 and now what it was 2000. And now salary reviews are not based on performance but rather a flat ~1.2% annum for everyone.

Very sad and hope the people that pushed the rush of 457 visas into Australia are happy with teir achievements.

 

[Flashback]

I am grateful for 457 visas and Tata Consulting for reducing my salary to firstly what it was in 1990 and now what it was 2000. And now salary reviews are not based on performance but rather a flat ~1.2% annum for everyone.

Very sad and hope the people that pushed the rush of 457 visas into Australia are happy with teir achievements.

At least you're getting increases. A large majority of people are still getting little to none - that's nothing to do with the above though, it's more so to do with interest rates and inflation. But this discussion has been done to death on another thread...

 

[JohnK]

At least you're getting increases. A large majority of people are still getting little to none - that's nothing to do with the above though, it's more so to do with interest rates and inflation. But this discussion has been done to death on another thread...

I'm getting increases but so are the people who are doing nothing. That's demoralising. No incentive for me to try harder or work harder as that's not reflected in performance reviews.

They should be rewarding employess who are achieving.

 

[Pushka]

I'm getting increases but so are the people who are doing nothing. That's demoralising. No incentive for me to try harder or work harder as that's not reflected in performance reviews.

They should be rewarding employess who are achieving.

But that's nothing to do with visas but poor performance management.

 

[penegal]

Know the feeling there penegal! Any tips on how to survive it?

What? Life?

Try to have a little bit of fun every day.

 

[Bindibuys]

TreeTop Adventure Park | TreeTops | Sydney, Central Coast, Newcastle | Eco-Tourism Family Attraction Just home from work Christmas Party..... I am going to pay for it tomorrow....and prob the rest of the week. I am getting too old for this s@@t, but I did have fun. Good to know I still have a reasonable sense of balance for some of those challengers.
Dinner at Crowne Plaza afterwards.