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Zagorath on the alien site.

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Real Time Strategy reddthat.com

14h ago

NSW Premier Greenlights Extra Holiday For Long Anzac Day Weekend
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Zagorath @aussie.zone 14h ago
Cmon Crisafulli, take the hint! It's an easy win for you!

16h ago

Circuits #854 2026-02-15

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 16h ago

https://puzzmo.com/play/circuits/bk84rl1dn5/share

I thought this one was really fun today!

16h ago

Crossherd #344 2026-02-15

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 16h ago

Crossherd #344⬛️🟩✅🟩🟩⬛️🟩✅🟩🟩🟩🟩✅🟩🟩🟩🟩✅🟩⬛️🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛️Time: 3:03crossherd.clevergoat.com 🐐

I really struggled with this. I still don't understand what was going on with 8 across, and I'm completely unfamiliar with 2 down.

20h ago

Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 20h ago

Whisky is a fantastic example of exactly what I'm talking about. Nobody has a regional claim preventing you making whisky wherever you want. Scotch whisky uses Scotch as an adjective telling you it's the type of whisky made in Scotland.

If the town of Parma didn't want people calling their cheese parmesan, they shouldn't have named it using their town name as the noun for the whole style of cheese.

1d ago

Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 1d ago

If they think their ingredients are so much superior than the same product made elsewhere, they should be fine with calling it "parmesan from Parma". As it is, in places that respect this form of intellectual property, they're essentially given a state-backed artificial monopoly that props them up more than their product can earn on its own merits.

1d ago

Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 1d ago

No, I'm pointing out that one particular style of cheese has been conflated by the region. But parmesan cheese is a style of cheese. You wouldn't start calling a smooth, creamy, yellow cheese "parmesan" just because it was made in Parma. No, that's still gouda. Likewise, a hard granular aged cheese doesn't become gouda when you make it in the town of Gouda. In fact, if that was true, I'd probably have more respect for the geographic indications. If any style of cheese was Parmesan when made in Parma, then the word "Parmesan" would be an accurate adjective worthy of protection, in the same way I'm saying "Belgian chocolate" should be protected for chocolate made in Belgium. But they insist on saying it's one specific style of cheese. But they want you to only call it by the name of the style of cheese that it is if it's also made there. No thanks.

The name belongs to the style, and the EU's protectionist policies don't change that fact.

1d ago

Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 1d ago

Why would you think I need to look anything up?

I think you're right that capitalism is involved. But the capitalists are the ones rigidly trying to enforce one of the most ludicrous types of intellectual property. If someone says "parmesan cheese" or "champagne", I don't care where it was made. I care about the qualities of the product itself. Which can be made anywhere. All that happens when they restrict it is they're artificially supporting businesses in one area by giving them a state-sponsored monopoly on an entire class of product.

It's not super different from trademarks. And while I'm not necessarily in favour of the total abolition of trademarks, I am in favour of legal genericisation being much, much easier. Velcro, frisbee, and bandaid, for example, are so obviously genericised now in practice, they should be legally. Words like parmesan and champagne are no different. Indeed, geographic indicators are always like this, because they by definition can't be limited in the way a true trademark is.

If the people of Parma believe their parmesan is superior, they should be able to survive by calling it "parmesan made in Parma". And if they didn't want their region's name to be part of the generic name for the product...they shouldn't have insisted on conflating their region with the type of cheese in the first place.

1d ago

Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 1d ago

It’s like calling a Lepatata from Botswana a Didgeridoo because they are both wind instruments

No, it's not. It's like calling a didgeridoo made in Botswana a didgeridoo. Which would be fair, because that's what it would be. A didgeridoo has a different shape to a lepatata. Saying that any two woodwind instruments are the same is absurd.

Australia already has plenty of parmesan cheese on the shelves. If parmesan from Parma is a superior product, it can succeed on its own merits. Government crony capitalism protecting it shouldn't be forced on us to make it succeed.

Take the chocolate example I made above. In addition to the countries I listed, you can also sell chocolate as being "made in America". And because of the reputation, I would avoid the American chocolate and buy the Swiss or Belgian chocolate. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to call their product what it is.

This is just yet another shitty example of the EU forcing its protectionism onto the rest of the world while claiming to be a bastion of free markets and capitalism. The hypocrisy is laughable. And even more laughable is the amount of people who back them up on it.

2d ago

Circuits #853 2026-02-14

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

https://puzzmo.com/play/circuits/rw8cl1x9c/share

2d ago

Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

But it’s not parmigiano reggiano

Yes, it is. Some dumb fuck ultra conservative European laws don't change that. Australian law doesn't currently protect the name, and I can go out right now and buy parmesan cheese that wasn't made in Italy.

The law changing would make it illegal to keep doing that, but it wouldn't change reality. Reality being that the type of cheese they sell today is the same as the type of cheese they're selling in the future.

edit:

Let me put it this way: parmesan is a type of cheese. Think of it like "milk chocolate". I could buy milk chocolate made in Switzerland, or in Belgium, or the UK, or here in Australia. Differences in ingredients and the sources of those ingredients would all affect the ultimate taste and texture of the chocolate. But they don't change the fact that it is chocolate. There's no good reason that cheese and wine should be any different, except for nationalism and conservatism. If you want to call it "parmesan made in northern Italy", be my guest. And that should be protected, because "made in X" is a clear descriptor, and you shouldn't be allowed to lie about things like that. But the name of the product itself should not allow some conservative fucks half a world away to have special privileges. And a so-called "free trade" agreement shouldn't be honouring those strict restrictions on the act of free trade.

2d ago

Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

The problem is when the region is the name of the product. That shouldn't be allowed. Using words like "made in" should absolutely be protected and required to be honest, because anything else is dishonest marketing. But parmesan is a type of cheese, and the fact that it's named after a region in Italy doesn't change the fact that you can make exactly the same type of cheese in Victoria.

2d ago

Crossherd #343 2026-02-14

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

Crossherd #343🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛️🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛️🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛️🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛️🟩🟩🟩🟩Time: 0:24🐐crossherd.clevergoat.com 🐐

2d ago

Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

I fucking detest geographic indicators. How is parmesan from northern Italy meaningfully different from parmesan made in Victoria? I hope that point doesn't get compromised on.

2d ago

Practical and Logical

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

I wear the same jumper every day because the office is too damn cold. I just leave it in the office and bring it home maybe once a month to wash.

2d ago

Circuits #852 2026-02-13

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

Not best order to solve in, just the order they're laid out. Top left is 1, then continue numbering like reading a book, left-to-right and then top-to-bottom.

If you’re on a PC, btw, you can press the number on your keyboard to immediately bring focus to that number.

2d ago

Circuits #852 2026-02-13

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

The numbers are just like in a crossword. The top-leftmost number is 1, numbering continues left to right, then top to bottom, like reading.

If you're on a PC, btw, you can press the number on your keyboard to immediately bring focus to that number.

2d ago

Britain’s High Court says government acted illegally in outlawing protest group Palestine Action

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

Holy shit. I had no idea about that!

2d ago

Britain’s High Court says government acted illegally in outlawing protest group Palestine Action

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Zagorath @aussie.zone 2d ago

Context for the rest of the world:

Chris Minns is the Premier of the state of NSW (Premier being the state equivalent of Prime Minister) in Australia. Earlier this week, on the invitation of the Prime Minister of the country, Israel's President Herzog was in Sydney, NSW to commemorate the victims of last December's Bondi mass shooting at a Hanukkah event. Never mind that he's an Israeli political leader, not a Jewish religious leader who would have any business being there. And never mind that the shooter's motivation had nothing to do with the state of Israel (it was an ISIS-inspired shooting, not a Palestinian one).

Anyway, the event saw huge protests all over the country, especially in Sydney. And in Sydney, the police used some of the most brutal tactics we've seen in this country. "Kettling", where one set of police give an order to disperse, while other police refuse to allow them to move that way, effectively forcing protestors into direct conflict with police. Three particularly bad videos emerged, showing (a) police assaulting Muslims who were down on their knees praying, (b) a bicycle officer who tried to attack a protestor in office clothing, but comically fell over his own bike and tripped, leading the protestor to at first try to reflexively catch the guy, before the officer started beating him up while the protestor raised his arms up in the sign of surrender. Then a bunch more officers came in with full on swinging punches. And (c) a protestor restrained on his belly, as the officer holding him repeatedly close-fist punched him in the neck and around the liver.

At first the police were staunchly standing by the line that they followed all the necessary procedures, public safety, yada yada. The police have since announced that they will be conducting a review, but Minns, the Premier, has still refused to apologise.