We’re way ahead of you mate, all tobacco advertising was banned in Australia 30 years ago. Plain packaging is just the latest in a long line of moves designed to de-normalise smoking, and the tobacco companies have fought against it every step of the way.

I literally just googled “cigarette plain packaging effectiveness” and there’s tons of articles analysing it and they all conclude that it has made a difference 🤷🏼‍♂️

It’s more subtle than that. Obviously no one who already smokes is going to say “Oh, the packet isn’t as pretty as it used to be, guess I’ll quit smoking now.”

It’s about the big, long-term picture. Companies spend money on branding and advertising because it works. You create the perception that your product is for a certain type of person, which makes them more inclined to buy it. By making cigarettes boring, you make them less appealing, and on average less people will smoke.

The proof is in the pudding. Social attitudes to smoking in Australia have totally flipped within a generation or two. It used to be something that everyone did. It’s now mostly seen as a gross habit.

Great comment. We have the same thing here in Australia with tobacco laws. The most recent change was to ban almost all branding on cigarette packaging. They’re not allowed to use fonts, slogans, logos, or colours, just the brand name in plain text on a standard brown-green box.

The logic being that branding makes a product more attractive to a consumer. Make it duller and less people will buy it.

Tobacco companies fought it tooth and nail. Kept arguing it wouldn’t stop people from smoking. Well then why are you lobbying so hard against it? Obviously the only reason they will ever fight anything is because they think it will hurt their revenue. So whatever they oppose, I support.

What you said is often true but not always. Some communities prefer person-first language, some prefer identity first language.

For example, generally speaking, “autistic people” is preferred over “people with autism”. The reasoning being “this is just part of who I am, it’s not an affliction that I have.”

I’m not autistic but I have lots of friends who are, and they all prefer to say “I’m autistic” rather than “I have autism”.

Like you said, it’s best to ask, or just copy the language that the person uses for themself.

Definitely, I don’t really like Ubuntu that much even though it’s my go-to. What I like is Xfce. Whether I get it via xubuntu or something else I don’t really care.

I’m not sure about that. Even wealthy countries can have water problems in times of drought. I grew up during the Millennium Drought in Australia, we had major water restrictions and major campaigns to try to get people to do things like take shorter showers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s_Australian_drought

And that’s in a wealthy nation with well-developed infrastructure. Countless places around the world have neither of those, and I’m sure lots of people in those places would love the luxury of a long shower without wasting water.

It’s ragebait. Ignore it. Even if it’s not, attention is what they want. Engagement feeds the algorithm. Ignore it.

My understanding was that most road rules are state-based, not federal.

I’m any case, I’m 100% certain that in Victoria, you can ways chuck a uey unless a sign prohibits it. Doesn’t matter if there are traffic lights or not.

It’s definitely something we have to be mindful of when driving interstate! I think a lot of Vic drivers on holidays get done for illegal U turns.

I’m pretty sure you don’t have to signal when exiting a roundabout in Victoria. We might be the outlier though. In Vic it’s also legal to U turn anywhere, unless a sign specifically prohibits it.

Mmmm nah a rissole is way different from meatloaf!

As soon as I saw “rissoles” and “meat tray” I knew this post was gonna confuse the non-Aussies hahahaha

It can be hard. Honestly I got pretty lucky in that I was able to find lots of good people through work. There are good and bad parts to the industry I work in, I got hired by a company with a really strong culture that matched what I was looking for. So I was surrounded by a ton of people with similar values and overlapping interests.

Without that, I think mostly it’s about trial and error. If you’re struggling to find the right people, you need to be brave enough to keep putting yourself out there, and to walk away from groups that just aren’t a good match. Like I said, not easy!

Lol yep I’m 34 and also just recently diagnosed with inattentive ADHD. Hence being very aware of different communication styles.

Bit of a left field suggestion but one thing that really helps is finding your people.

In my younger years I sometimes really struggled with casual conversation, I often felt like I was the weird guy who had nothing to say.

It turned out that was only really true when I was spending a lot of time with people with whom I had very little in common. As I got older I eventually found “my people”. Friends who I click with, who I share values and interests with, who communicate similarly to me.

It’s not about finding people who are just copies of you, that would be pretty boring and make for a real social echo chamber. You want a range of friends with different interests, from different walks of life. But you want them to be, for lack of a better term “compatible” with you.

If you happen to be neurodivergent then that adds a whooooole extra layer of complexity to conversational compatibility. There’s a stereotype that autistic people are awkward or socially inept, which is complete rubbish. They just communicate differently to neurotypicals. Put a bunch of similar autistic people in a room together and watch them have no trouble at all making conversation with each other, in their own style.

Anyway, maybe this isn’t relevant to you, and you’re already happy with the people in your life. But it’s worth taking the time to examine whether the reason you struggle to make conversation is because you’re trying to make it with the wrong people.

It’s a different word. To have a whinge. Whinging. The G is pronounced like a J.

Google says it’s more common in British English. I’m Aussie and we use it too. Mostly to hang shit on the English lol. I.e. whinging poms.

I think they’re just trying to say how iconic they are as a brand because they’ve featured in so many bits of pop culture. It’s just a “we’re so cool, buy our stuff” campaign.

Magneto. If someone is trying to genocide you, you don’t just ask nicely and hope that they change their mind. You fight them.

Hung over shower (cleansing)