#ungrouped independents

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review XIX (NSW 2023): Ungrouped Independents

Phew! I was worried I had started my reviews too late to cover all the Legislative Council candidates before election day. Life might have got in the way, but here we go: the final review!

At the far right of your large Legislative Council ballot paper, you will find a column of 11 ungrouped independents below the line. These are people running solo campaigns without a running mate, so they do not get a separate column below the line nor a square above the line. The only way to vote for any of these candidates is to vote below the line. This means none of the 11 has a chance of winning a seat, but they’re always interesting to look at anyway.

I covered one of the ungrouped candidates, Colleen Fuller, when reviewing the Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia. She’s second in the list of ungrouped indies. Let’s run through the other 10 in ballot order.

Stefan Prasad (Facebook profile)

Recommendation: weak or no preference

Prasad has done a politics degree but he does not seem to have learnt much about how to campaign effectively. He has a limited web presence and an even more spare policy platform. A Facebook post urges people that “if you don't know who to for Vote for, Vote for me!!” This is not a very compelling pitch. In response to a reply asking for his policies, he says that “since the needs of the NSW constituents are ever changing, I didnt think it was necessary to provide a set of fixed policies, policies need to change in accordance to the needs of the people”. Yep, this is a policy-free space from a guy who does not seem to stand for anything.

Warren Grzic (Facebook)

Recommendation: decent preference

Grzic is a bit of a serial candidate—he has stood in state and federal elections before, both as an independent and for Sustainable Australia. I haven’t reviewed him previously but here’s last year’s b_auspol review. He’s a big fan of greater investment in railways—to quote from a page he made for the 2022 federal election, “Expand railway networks across Australia to fight traffic and pollution and climate change”. This is pretty much the quickest way to get me onside and he pushes railways and public transport more than anything else. Indeed, he’s not just focused on one aspect of the system but makes comments on urban commuter networks, freight rail, and long-needed regional upgrades alike.

But let’s consider his other priorities. He supports striking nurses and better investment in staffing throughout the healthcare sector. He wants better management of water infrastructure. I’m a little unsure about his attitude on development and housing—his prior SusAus involvement makes me wonder if there’s a bit of NIMBYism, but if there is, it’s not prominent. I’m also not clear exactly what he wants when he calls for the tax system to be simplified: is this an inane demand for flat taxes, or untangling arcane parts of the tax code? All in all I’m favourably disposed towards him but with some queries.

Van Huynh (website)

Recommendation: middling to decent preference

Van George Huynh—his website is votegeorge dot org but the name on the ballot will be Van Huynh—offers an ambitious and eccentric plan for NSW. The first thing you see when opening his website is that “we will win this war on inflation” but oh boy his ambitions go well beyond beating inflation. He wants to “Convert Chatswood into the new world financial capital”, create a new Silicon Valley stretching from the North Shore to the Central Coast, establish major new business centres in Sydney suburbs and the Illawarra, build more universities, found a “cinema of Australia” in Newcastle and “one of the world largest entertainment centre in the state's outback near Griffith”, and much more. He would add two new public holidays: Multicultural Day in February and “Christ Day” on 31 July (mate you are aware of Christmas, right?).

Some of his ideas are good, some are complete pie-in-the-sky, some are best left unrealised. I suggest a middling to decent preference if you’re voting below the line because he is far better than a lot of the racists and cookers clogging the ballot.

Archie Lea

Recommendation: weak or no preference

Lea stood at the 2021 Upper Hunter by-election as an independent and came last in a crowded field of 13. He had previously run for Fred Nile’s now defunct Christian Democratic Party in 2016 and 2019, a big red flag. In his entry in the NSWEC’s register of candidates, he describes himself as an “Independent Christian conservative for member of Legislative Council. Independent Candidate.” It’s hard to find much more on him. At the 2021 by-election his HTV was openly pro-coal and pro-mining. Naturally I think poorly of a conservative anti-environmental candidate.

Michelle Martin (how-to-vote card)

Recommendation: weak or no preference

Martin has not made much information available online. She was listed fourth on the UAP’s Senate ticket for NSW at last year’s federal election, so that’s a bad sign. Her HTV is in milder language than many cookers, but “ensure your health choices are YOURS” leans very much towards anti-vaxxer and anti-fluoride suspicion of effective public health measures. Her open rejection of digital IDs and “cashless society” refers to two tropes currently prevalent in Australia’s conspiracist circles. She is best avoided.

Lee Howe (website)

Recommendation: decent to good preference

Howe is running on a platform of “vote 1 homes first”. She wants a fairer and more equitable society achieved through “access to safe, suitable and affordable housing”. She highlights that only 9% of rentals in NSW are affordable for those with very low incomes and that rental stress is widespread. Expanding public housing stock is a major priority for her, alongside repairing existing public housing to modern standards. She wants new developments to contain at least 15% social and affordable housing, with specific targets for houses for elderly and Indigenous people. She would abolish “no grounds” evictions, place caps on annual rent increases, and otherwise pursue positive reforms to protect tenants’ rights. Her approach is neither urbanist nor NIMBY, but focused on addressing poverty, homelessness, and insecure housing. She’s a little bit of a single-issue candidate, which always makes me hesitant, but in this case her core issue speaks to a range of policy areas.

Mick Allen (website)

Recommendation: middling to decent preference

Well this fella is entertaining. His campaign page is “Mad Mick for a Better World”. It has links to some specific policy pages… and then just a bunch of photos of his sustainable garden and the wildlife in it. It’s wonderfully eccentric. What do his policies cover? He is concerned with climate change and wants to act on UN IPCC reports—or at least “tak[e] their recommendations into consideration”. It’s no more specific than that. He’s justly angry that women still earn on average less than men: “it is bloody stupid they haven’t got it [equal pay] yet”. He suggests “We should be learning more about Aboriginal culture”, without specifying how this might occur other than that Indigenous knowledge should inform more environmental planning. He wants to stop public housing being demolished or sold, and he has very nebulous concerns about redevelopment in Blacktown that has some possible NIMBY vibes. Finally, he wants to limit vaping to reduce how many children vape—by making it subscription-only! These are all pretty simple thought bubbles, but on the other hand there’s more here than some parties and much of it trends in the right direction. Seems harmless enough.

R Cheetham

Recommendation: weak or no preference

I can find virtually no information about the candidate R Cheetham, whose registration details with the NSWEC indicate this is short for Ruth Cheetham. I cannot find a social media profile or website for a Ruth Cheetham that is definitively this candidate. She is, however, aligned with Lee Howe: one of Howe’s HTVs is authorised for both her and Cheetham, with Howe 1 and Cheetham 2. It’s strange that Howe and Cheetham didn’t run as grouped independents to get their own column on the ballot. This alliance implies Cheetham is also concerned with the social and affordable housing issues that underpin Howe’s campaign, but it's certainly not a given. The joint Howe and Cheetham HTV indicates that they feel they both have the most in common with Labor, Greens, Animal Justice, and the Public Education Party. That’s promising but again tells the prospective voter nothing about Cheetham. In the absence of any substantive information, if you’re voting below the line and preferencing fully, I’d suggest Cheetham get a weak preference but one above the cookers, fundies, and similar crackpots. If she wanted better preferences, she should have campaigned more effectively.

Guitang Lu (website)

Recommendation: weak to middling preference

Guitang Lu, a migration lawyer who in some documents also goes by the name Luke, is running on a platform of anti-racism and anti-bullying. It is based on his own experiences, which he describes here. It is the most detailed part of his site. His policies on anti-racism focus largely on remedies relevant to his complaints, but they are beneficial more broadly and extend to gender discrimination as well as racial discrimination. A bit of a single-issue candidate, but an important issue and my initial impressions were positive.

I was, however, concerned by his how-to-vote card and his instructions to potential voters. He tells voters to “Just give me ONE – 1”, or to vote below the line 1–15. The crucial word here is “or”. There is no square above the line to just vote 1 for Lu. Any voter who interprets his advice in such a way they only vote 1 for him will not cast a valid vote, as you can only vote for him below the line, in which case you must distribute 15 preferences. Worse, his HTV’s suggestion for preferences is bizarre: he suggests preferencing the top 7 candidates from the Public Education Party, which is fine, then… the top 7 candidates from the anti-vax lunatics at Informed Medical Options. This gives me serious cause for pause. I was going to suggest a decent preference for Lu but this advice to voters is misleading and implies sympathy with cookers.

George Potkonyak (website)

Recommendation: weak or no preference

Potkonyak is standing as an independent on behalf of Capellia Children Inc. It’s hard not to view him as a bit paranoid when you read “the NSW Liberal government has sold your children into the hands of the so called ‘charities’ (private subcontractors)”, as in child protection agencies. It gets worse: he has been struck off as a lawyer on the basis of professional misconduct. He is described as misinterpreting relevant legislation, behaving offensively in court, misleading the court, and “consistently engaged” in conduct “falling short of the standard of competence and diligence expected of a reasonably competent legal practitioner”. Oooof.

I think we can safely ignore anything this guy has to say. He also has a quixotic account on academia dot edu, a for-profit site which obtained its dot edu domain before this address was restricted to educational institutions. I can’t say I’m in a hurry to read his piece about whether Jesus was born of a virgin. (h/t to the author of the aforementioned b­_auspol blog, who hasn’t had time to do reviews this election but confirmed my bad vibes here)

[passerkirbius]

If you want, please tell us more about the ranking voting system in Australia

Have a good day :)

*cracks knuckles*

The exact workings of our voting system changes somewhat from state to state, but let's talk about the Federal Australian voting system first.

So, we have different voting systems for our two houses of parliament. We'll start with the Lower House since it's the simplest:

Lower House Voting

So, let's start with the House of Representatives (aka the Lower House). This part of our vote is a mandatory preferential vote - You must number every preference on your ballot, 1 to X, for it to be valid, where 1 is your highest preference. Here's a sample Lower house ballots all filled out:

When the ballots get counted, we use a system called "Instant Runoff", which basically means that all the votes get allocated according to first preference, then we eliminate the candidate with the least votes, and their vote gets redistributed according to the next valid preference, and this continues until one candidate gets the majority of votes.

It's important to stress here that this doesn't mean we distribute preferences until we're down to two candidates and then choose the winner, we knock candidates out until one party has more than 50% of the vote, even if distributing them further might change the allocation.

Upper House Voting

So, what about the Senate, AKA the Upper House? We also use preferential voting for Senate Voting, but it's significantly more complicated, because we're actually voting or multiple candidates (in a standard election 6 for each state and 12 in a "double-dissolution" election, for territories, it's always 2). Here's the basics of how it works:

Senate ballots are huge, and are divided into "above the line" (ATL) and "below the line" (BTL), and you get to pick one or the other. ATL is for parties, BTL is for candidates. You must number at least 6 boxes above the line, or at least 12 boxes below the line, and you can only choose one or the other (no jumping across the line!). Here's a sample ballot, the first filled above the line, the second below the line:

You'll note that there's an "Ungrouped" section that doesn't get a box above the line, and that's because the Senate voting system is almost entirely built around parties, not single Independents, so if you don't have a registered party, you're at a strong disadvantage in the Senate.

Before counting starts, ATL votes get converted to BTL votes via each Party's Group Ticket, that says how ATL votes should be translated. Your overall preferences get preserved though - a party's Group Ticket only affect party candidates.

Once the number of votes is known, the AEC establishes the "quota" of votes required to get elected (typically 1/6 of the state's total votes rounded down + 1 for half-senate elections, 1/12 for double-dissolution elections, and 1/2 for territories). Basically, any candidate that gets a number of "1" votes equal to the quota is elected.

Now, usually a candidate gets elected with *more* than a quota. Those votes aren't wasted, and they can go on to elect other candidates. But how do they know *which* votes didn't count towards the quota? How could they decide that fairly?

Well, they don't! Instead, they basically let *all* the votes through, but at a discount equal to the percentage of overflow votes over the quota. So, if I got 2 quotas worth of votes, I'm elected, and all those votes get redistributed to other candidates at 1/2 value. Then, if anyone else now *also* gets a quota, we repeat the process.

After everyone with a quota of votes is elected, the process works like the House vote, with the lowest candidates being excluded and their votes being distributed in full to the next preference. If there *isn't* a next preference on a ballot (because the voter didn't number every box ATL or BTL), it stops counting from there - it "exhausts" and has no further effect on the counting process.

Once someone else reaches quota, they're elected, and *their* overflow votes get redistributed at a discount. This keep going until either 6 candidates get elected, or the candidates remaining equal the number of seats remaining (basically they get elected by default).

How does this change from State to State?

The Federal process doesn't change state-to-state - we all vote using the same process there. But elections for State Governments aren't run federally - they're instead run by State Electoral Commissions, and each state is free to run their elections how they see fit. For the most part, states run their elections pretty similarly to the Federal Model (with each state splitting themselves into Upper House Regions, rather than there being little sub-states), with the following major exceptions:

Queensland doesn't have an Upper House, having abolished theirs in 1922.

Tasmania does things very weirdly - their Lower House voting system is very similar to the Federal Upper House system, and their Upper House voting system is much more akin to the Federal Lower House system

Victoria's Upper House system still uses the "Group Ticket" voting system, which still has an Above the Line and Below the Line distinction, but you only mark 1 box above the line, and that above-the-line vote gets converted into a full below the line vote based on what that party submits to the electoral commission. In short, voting Above the Line in Victorian State Elections means that you let that party decide your vote for you. This used to be how our Federal Elections worked too until about a decade or so ago.

How are your candidates chosen?

In Australia, each political party gets to choose how they choose their candidates. Microparties tend to choose by fiat (ie, the guy in charge decides who's on the ballot for which electorate), whereas major parties and larger minor parties tend to engage in "preselection", which is where members of the local electorate chapter of a political party vote on which candidate will represent their party for that electorate.

This might sound similar to an American Primary, but it's really important to stress that most Australians are not members of a political party, nor is there such thing as registering with a party. To put some numbers to it, in 2020 The Australian Labor Party (one of the two major parties) had 60,000 members, and the population of Australia was 25.65 million, so a very small number of people choose the candidates that Australia at large gets to vote for.

How long do your elections run for, and how often?

Federally, elections don't have a fixed date - a government can, in theory, call for an election at any time. In practice, there's some practical restrictions on election timings that tend to limit the exact window, but ultimately until an election is called, no one know for sure the date of the next Federal Election. In general, the time between the official writ to hold the election and the actual election date needs to be more than 33 days, and typically tends to be around 6-8 weeks all up.

This means that Election campaigns tend to be short and extremely concentrated - 6-8 weeks of election ads, policy announcements, controversies and meet-and-greets.

The frequency of Federal Elections tends to be roughly every three years, but as noted, that's very rough.

State Elections are completely different. I believe that with the exception of Tasmania, every State and Territory in Australia has moved to fixed election dates every four years (and Tasmania's Elections are still tightly fixed to a four-year cycle), and every State and Territory has a different fixed date.

What this means is that Federal and State (and Local!) Elections are entirely decoupled from each other - you never go to the ballot for more than one election.

Who runs our Elections?

Since 1984, our Federal elections have been run by the Australian Electoral Commission, which is a independent statutory agency. The AEC is funded by and ultimately answers to the Federal Parliament (not, it is worth noting, the Prime Minister, or any particular Government Department), but is operationally independent from the government of the day. The AEC decided Electoral Boundaries, manages electoral rolls, and is the body that managed party registration (ie the registration of political parties for inclusion on ballots). During Elections, generally an army of volunteers is engaged to do the work of manning election booths and count votes, and between Elections, the AEC mostly maintains the electoral roll and provides papers to the Parliament about ways to improve the electoral process. The AEC is really serious about this and does a lot of work advocating for accessibility in voting.

Among the various ways the AEC works to improve voting accessibility (because remember, not showing up to vote incurs a fine here) are:

Multilingual and Easy Read voting instructions so that everyone can learn for themselves how to vote.

Mobile Polling Stations that travel to remote towns and communities to ensure that even people thousands of kilometres away for the next town get a chance to vote. There are also Mobile Polling teams that go to Residential care facilities and hospitals to record the votes of those who can't get to election booths on the day.

Prison Polling teams, who go into Prisons to ensure those in Prison get a vote (and in case you were wondering: your electorate is the electorate of the place you lived in before going to prison not the electorate of your prison)

Early Voting, where people who know they won't be able to get to an booth on the day can go in and vote (some even still have sausage sizzles!)

Postal Voting, which is likely very similar to postal voting that you might have in the US

Phone Voting, a recent service introduced in 2013 originally designed to cater to blind voters. Blind voters had an issue in that all our votes are paper-based - not great if you can't see the ballot. They generally had to have someone come to the voting booth with them to help them fill out their ballot, which unfortunately breaks the secret ballot somewhat for these voters. So, a phone system was developed whereby a voter puts in a voter id and pin, then talks with an AEC assistant on the phone, who then records their vote onto a paper ballot and lodges it into a ballot box. Still not perfect, but the system ensures that blind voters can vote without anyone being able to know how they, specifically, voted. It ended up being used last election for people who'd caught COVID-19 and were under quarantine, so bonus there!

As mentioned above, each State has their own Electoral Commission, based broadly on the Federal Model, who generally run State and Local Elections within their State.

[shushayla]

Shortcuts and learning how to use a Mac

Ai Shortcuts: Hold [Space] = Pan around Press Z = Zoom - Hold click and drag, left to zoom in, right to zoom Out V = Selection tool A = Direct selection [Command] + Y = show outline P = Pen tool [Command] + U = Guide Off [Command] + Click = Drop Shift + C = Anchor tool [Command] + J = Join A + +/- = Add/Remove Shift + X = Swap between fill and stroke [Command] + G = Group Shift + [Command] + G = Ungroup O = Reflect tool R = Rotate command + 2 = lock option + [command] + 2 = unlock Shift + [command] + option + v = paste in place Object + expand = change pattern to editable object Type + create outline = change text to editable object

PhotoShop Shortcuts: B = Brush E = Eraser [ ] = Size Reduce/Large (current tool) [Number keys 1-0] = Change opacity Option + Delete = Fill Selection M = Rectangular Marquee V = Move tool [Command] + D = Deselect [Command] + T = Transform X = Swap Foreground and Background [Command] + I = Invert Image Shift + [Command] + I = Invert selection I = Eyedropper S = Clone Stamp (option to select source, then paint)

Adobe Indesign Shift + Option + drag = move/duplicate Shift + command + option + v = paste in place Shift + x = swap fill and stroke

All Mac Shortcuts/Tips: Only save to Data drive Folders: PRJ = Project IMG = Image DOC = Documents OUT = Output [Command] + Shift + S =Save As [Command] + Shift + 4 = Screenshot [Command + N = New Window [Command] + [Space] = Search

Pen tool notes: Option = when dragging handles will break points and give independent handles [Command] = When dragging handles hold to reposition point, also go back to point/ handles made earlier on the path

Thoughts: Still prefer windows but glad many commands translates over, however, its the keyboard and mouse that have become my issues. Update: I keep hitting alt at home instead of ctrl Update week 5: im very tired

How to import images from illustrator to indesign 1) file > export > export as 2) (IMG) "name" > choose file format (jpeg) > use artboards > export 3) quality = 10 > resolution 300 ppi

[christowill]

Australian 2022 Election -Senate Parties Described in 10 Words or Less

Sometimes party names are not a true reflection of what a political party represents. To try to help navigate, I have put together a simple, and hopefully bias free, guide to all on the senate tickets across the states (except the ungrouped)

Source: ABC Election Guide and Candidate Websites

Animal Justice Party: More regulation protecting animals & reducing conditions that cause pandemics (ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

Australian Christians: Promoting linkages of laws to Judeo-Christian beliefs and personal freedom (WA)

Australian Democrats: Evidence based governance, integrity in government, and sustainable planet platform (NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Australian Federation Party: Protecting individual freedoms. Promoting small government and government accountability (QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

Australian Labor Party: Bolstering services like health, childcare, national broadcasting. Alternative to Liberals (ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

Australian Progressives: Seeking to abolish poverty, end climate emergency, and dismantle corruption (ACT, VIC)

Australian Values Party: Individual freedoms, rule of law, Equality of opportunity. Leadership integrity (NSW, QLD, VIC, WA)

Citizens Party: Banking reform focussed on community needs instead of market speculation (NSW, NT, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

David Pocock: Community led government and ACT Rights focussed (ACT)

Derryn Hinch's Justice Party: Victims' rights. Justice that is more reflective of communality views (VIC)

Drew Pavlou Democratic Alliance: Human rights (esp. in China), anti-corruption, climate, end poverty (QLD, SA)

Federal ICAC Now: Establish a federal independent commission against corruption (NSW, QLD, WA)

FUSION: Science, Pirate, Secular, Climate Emergency: Climate action, anti-corruption commission, investment in technologies (NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Indigenous - Aboriginal Party of Australia: Indigenous rights, ecology, significantly reduce indigenous incarceration, better indigenous housing (NSW, QLD)

Informed Medical Options Party: Remove all restrictions based on vaccination. Investigate vaccination damage impact (ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

Jacqui Lambie Network: Veterans' rights, anti-corruption, Australian jobs and Australian sovereignty (TAS)

Kim for Canberra: Political accountability, Climate Action, women's safety, ACT Rights (ACT)

Legalise Cannabis Australia: No cannabis arrests and expunging personal use convictions, legalise growing (ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

Liberal or Liberal / National or LNP: Facilitation of wealth, strong families, rule of law. Small government (ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

Liberal Democrats: Individual freedom, personal responsibility, private property rights, and voluntary association (NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

National Party: Investment in regional communities. Strong forestry and mining industries (SA)

NT Country Liberal: Strength in mining, forestry. Surveillance, policing to reduce youth crime (NT)

Pauline Hanson's One Nation: Less refugees, increase Australian ownership, climate change scepticism (NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

Reason Australia: Rights of indigenous, refugees, LGTBIQ, prisoners. Secular politics, climate action (NSW, QLD, VIC)

Rex Patrick Team: SA regional issues. Save the Murray-Darling River (SA)

Seniors United Party of Australia: Aged and retiree issues. Servant leadership -leader there to serve (NSW)

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party: Responsible firearm use. Expand local fishing. Expand farmland (NSW, TAS, VIC)

Socialist Alliance: Revolutionary change away from ruling elite. 100% renewables. Tax billionaires (NSW, QLD, VIC, WA)

Sustainable Australia Party - Stop Overdevelopment / Corruption: Reduce rate of population growth. Cap immigration. Citizen initiated referenda (ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

The Great Australian Party: Abolish income tax and super. Anti-globalisation. Zero immigration (NSW, NT, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

The Greens: Treaty, 100% renewables, expand Medicare, affordable housing, free education (ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA)

The Local Party: Reconciliation, climate action & corruption. Issue and scientific based voting (TAS)

TNL: Incentive based economic development, climate action, anti-corruption commission (NSW, QLD)

United Australia Party: 15% Export Licence. 3% interest rate cap, remove Covid restrictions (ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, TAS, WA)

Victorian Socialists: Democratic control of the economy, equality, social justice. Wealth Tax (VIC)

WESTERN AUSTRALIA PARTY: WA regional issues. Greater share of federal tax revenue (WA)

Unregistered F NSW: Max Boddy lead candidate: ‘Socialist Equality Party'. Overturn capitalism. Anti-militarism/ war (NSW)

Unregistered A QLD: Len Harris lead candidate: Wants to revert to paper deeds, not electronic ones (QLD)

Unregistered H QLD: Steve Dickson lead candidate: Local issues. 'Putting the people’s interests ahead of all else' (QLD)

Unregistered I QLD: Mike Head lead candidate: ‘Socialist Equality Party'. Overturn capitalism. Anti-militarism/ war (QLD)

Unregistered E SA: Bob Day lead candidate: 'Australian Family Party'. Ban on gaming ads, pornography, abortion, euthanasia (SA)

Unregistered M SA: Harmeet Haur lead candidate: SA based independent. No available detail (SA)

Unregistered O SA: Nick Xenophon lead candidate: Greater regulation on gambling. Funding for health, aged care (SA)

Unregistered B VIC: Damien Richardson lead candidate: Government, media, big pharma are not truthful. Likes cash economy (VIC)

Unregistered R VIC: Morgan C Jonas lead candidate: Ban Jab mandates, less government, direct democracy (VIC)

Unregistered T VIC: Susan Benedyka lead candidate: Climate action, better disaster response, better CSIRO funding (VIC)

Unregistered Y VIC: Peter Byrne lead candidate: ‘Socialist Equality Party'. Overturn capitalism. Anti-militarism/ war (VIC)

Unregistered K WA: Gerry Georgatos lead candidate: Social justice, prison reform, homeless rights, suicide prevention (WA)

Unregistered P WA -Cam Tinley lead candidate:

'No Mandatory Vaccination Party'. Remove vaccination laws in WA (WA)

[this-lioness]

I’ve been using Illustrator for probably ten years, and I just realized that I could move and edit grouped objects independently without having to ungroup and then regroup them.

Holy shit.

[harshitaltd-blog]

Wholesale Appliqués Supplier – How They Can Help You

To make a unique custom applique quilt, all you need is a straightforward design and a wholesale appliqués supplier.

In the event that the conventional appliques simply don't energize you, make your very own custom applique design. It's as simple as flipping through a kid's shading book or looking through clip art. Custom appliqué quilts provided by wholesale appliqués supplier are ideal presents for praising the introduction of a child. At the point when the mother to-be picks a less prevalent nursery topic, it tends to be elusive a planning blessing. That will make your custom appliqué quilt additional unique!

How wholesale appliqués supplier can help you?

One lady picked a "Feline in the Hat" topic for her infant's room. She needed something else and realized she'd need to custom sew and decorate pretty much everything in the room.

She went to an old shading book for motivation. The lines in kids' shading books are commonly basic, particularly in shading books for more youthful matured youngsters.

For the den quilt, she amplified a shading book page of the feline's cap. Utilizing the amplification for an example, she appliquéd red stripes onto the cap which she had cut from white texture.

Utilizing iron-on glue, she put the huge, brilliant red and white striped cap in the focal point of her pale greenish blue hued bunk quilt top and sewed around it utilizing a tight glossy silk join. She included planning prints around the sides for the fringe and absent much exertion by any stretch of the imagination, had a custom appliqué quilt. She utilized similar procedures to include characters from the celebrated Dr. Seuss story to guard cushions and to make a tapestry for the nursery, as well.

It's anything but difficult to utilize a similar strategy for making a custom appliqué from clip art and send them to wholesale appliqués supplier. Select your subject, at that point start your art search. The significant thing is to search for basic lines.

Remember that you can control some clip art. When you open a clip art record, check whether you can choose the picture at that point pick "ungroup" from the alter command. In the event that it will enable you to ungroup, you can roll out basic improvements.

For instance, in the event that you need a custom applique of Santa riding a reindeer, yet the one you've found has decorations swinging from the reindeer's horns, ungrouping will most likely give you a chance to erase those trimmings from the design. Remember to spare your art once you've finished your altering!

Numerous individuals like to collect the custom appliqué independently offered by wholesale appliqués supplier, at that point wrap up by sewing it to their quilt top or quilt block. Others, be that as it may, as to amass piece by piece onto the quilt top or block by seasoning, at that point completing the fastens with either an appliqué line, crisscross or glossy silk join.

Last words on wholesale appliqués supplier

Textual styles may likewise be utilized for custom applique designs. It's extremely simple to make a custom appliqué quilt with a name or most loved leisure activity ("Cheer!" and "Take care of business!" are two that ring a bell). Essentially type the words and make the letters the size you need. You may need to print the letters separately as opposed to on one sheet on the off chance that you need them to be generously enormous.

You can even make custom appliqués for your preferred society or sorority part by utilizing a text style like Symbols for the custom applique design.

[bondtrust]

Vitual room arranger

#Vitual room arranger free#

#Vitual room arranger windows#

#Vitual room arranger windows#

Added: Own dark theme implemented on Windows.

Improved: Correct dark mode support on MacOS.

Improved: Ctrl+U to ungroup grouped objects.

Improved: Ctrl+Enter to confirm the label text properties.

Note: Although Finder indicates that this is version 9.0, the developer states that this is version 9.6.

#Vitual room arranger free#

Note:You are free to evaluate the application for 30 days, then you are required to register. The program can also be used in the variety of other areas – garden architecture, housing development (houses as objects), Webdesign… Some contributed to our On-line object library and shared their work. But you can quickly and easily design all your special objects on your own in it. We are not able to put everything into Room Arranger. So you can put an interactive 3D scene on your web.Įverybody needs something different. Room Arranger can show your project in 3D. While having a wide library of objects, you can easily create your own piece of furniture. Once you get the basics, you can draw whatever you imagine. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.Room Arranger is 3D room, apartment, floor planner with simple user interface. HiddenCity is a STYLECASTER sponsor, however, all products in this article were independently selected by our editors. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. There’s no limit to the amount of fun you can have when the clock is ticking and you’ve got clues to find. Call up your friends and plan a Zoom game night where you all work on an escape room together. Some cost a fee, while others are totally free. Below, you’ll find 10 different virtual escape rooms to try right now. However you choose to play, these virtual escape rooms are sure to be a fun distraction from reality. Or, if you’re stuck at home with a roommate or partner, you can work together on these online escape rooms and have some bonding time that isn’t binging every show on Netflix. Plus, many of these games can be played both alone and with others-so you can meet up your with friends online and solve mysteries together all night long. Even if you’re not into escape rooms that have a creepy or ominous theme, you’ll find a challenging puzzle game that’s right for you. So go ahead and immerse yourself in a fun online escape room for an hour or so-you’ve probably got the time, anyway.įrom murder mysteries to bank heists, there’s no shortage of exciting virtual escape rooms you can play while at home. While you may not be able to physically pick up objects or walk around, you can still solve puzzles and find hidden clues without ever leaving your couch. Virtual escape rooms may seem like somewhat of an oxymoron, but they can be just as complex and fun as the real thing. Of course, no virus or pandemic is a match for technology-and people all over the world have found ways to bring escape rooms online. Of course, with social-distancing top of mind these days, it’s not as easy to group-chat your friends and plan fun in-person activity. Typically, escape rooms are held in a building set up in a way that requires you and your friends to work together to solve clues to escape a murderer, break out of prison, solve a mystery, etc.

[apekshacharan]

Adobe InDesign...

WK - 2 - Parent pages and column grids.

Parent pages - 

Parent or master pages allows you to add things such as page numbers, or specific elements that you would like to repeat on each specific page in your book. This can be done in the ‘pages’ panel. To edit, double click on the specific page either left or right, or you can shift+click to select both. There is a + plus button on the bottom of the pages panel that allows you to add more pages and you can also shift around pages if needed in the Layout>pages>move pages, insert pages etc...

Here we added page numbers, by creating a text box, going to ‘type’ then ‘insert special character’ and then ‘markers’ and finally ‘current page number’ to add in page numbers and then you can specify when you want the numbers to start end etc etc. 

Documenting margins and columns - 

Here we were applying page margins and columns by using the ‘layout’ window and selecting ‘margins and columns’ and setting the columns to 4 to use as a guide/grid system for mapping out our content across the pages/spreads. To edit the margins independently, click the chain to ungroup all 4 different margins. 

Another example of using the technique of “text around images”. 

[karama9]

Excel 2016 rant

I know I'm screaming into the void but Excel 2016 is driving me nuts.

1. Every workbook opens in its own Excel instance. That means they have their own menu (ribbon whatever). Oh, you like being able to see the menu properly when you stack workbooks vertically? Too bad, so sad. They're squished now. And having the menu not minimized when stacking more than two workbooks horizontally is not a practical option anymore because the fact the nice thick ribbon repeats for everyone of them means it takes up a lot of your screen? Why that's a shame.

2. Fun new quirk! Sometimes, Excel will randomly think you're actually working in a different workbook than the one you just clicked in and that's at the front of your screen. How is that happening now that they're supposed to be more independent from each other and never happened before? Who knows!! Enjoy nothing working anymore until you save so you can restart, only to see the workbook that saves is a different one than the one that you're looking at!

3. Hey, when you do a pivot table and include dates, you definitely want three fields to automatically appear, right? Year, quarters and months? And you want to have to right-click on the months to ungroup and get the actual dates you asked for, right? EVERY. SINGLE. TIME? Once you googled and figured out that was how to do it that is. Oh, and you definitely don't want to be able to change that default, that'd just be too convenient.

4. And hey, random lagging! It's to help you take breaks. When everything stops working for a few seconds, that's your cue to relax. Whether it actually says it's auto saving or not. And then correct whatever mess your key strokes do when Excel decides to acknowledge them belatedly. Or not. Really depends on how Excel is feeling that day. Your fault for not having a better PC. At least that one is not unique to Excel 2016, software updates just do that, but in this case one can't help but wonder if having the default excel stuff running in several instances instead of just one might be part of the problem here...

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review XXIII (Victoria 2022): Independent candidates in the Legislative Council

There are independent candidates standing all around the state, in both the lower house (the Legislative Assembly, where government is formed) and the upper house (the Legislative Council, the house of review). My last review discussed the Legislative Assembly; this one looks at the Legislative Council. There are two grouped independent columns in Western Metropolitan and a few ungrouped indies elsewhere.

Grouped and ungrouped independents? Huh?

There are two types of independent candidate for the Legislative Council. An independent running a solo campaign is known as an “ungrouped independent”. All ungrouped independents for a region appear below the line in the furthest right-hand column on the ballot paper. The only way to vote for an ungrouped independent is to vote below the line (which you should be doing anyway); there is no square above the line for these candidates.

Two (or more) independents running together get a shared column on the ballot and are known as “grouped independents”. Their names are printed beside the boxes below the line in their column, and there is a blank box above the line so that you can vote 1 for that group above the line. If you vote 1 above the line, for this group or any other, you will receive the preferences on that group’s ticket lodged with the VEC—you cannot control your preferences and any preferences above the line other than the number 1 will be ignored.

All columns are identified by a letter, whether the candidates are grouped independents or affiliated with a party, so grouped independents are often known by the letter they received in the randomised ballot draw, e.g. Group A. This often confuses voters. Many people think the lack of any name above the line is a typo or another error and struggle to find an independent even if they want to vote for them. This partly accounts for Nick Xenophon’s dismal vote when he attempted a comeback in SA at this year’s federal election.

Western Metropolitan—Group E (Fred Ackerman and Mark Barrow)

There are grouped independents in just one region this election, Western Metropolitan, and it manages to score two such groups! The lead candidate in Group E is Fred Ackerman, with Mark Barrow as his running mate. It is very difficult to find any information on this group. Pretty much the only thing Ackerman has put out there for this campaign is a How To Vote card that identifies him as “a real Liberal Independent”.

It turns out Ackerman is a longstanding member of the Liberal Party, having stood as their candidate in Essendon in 2014. He lost preselection for Western Metropolitan this year to Moira Deeming, whose anti-abortion and anti-trans views are particularly extreme, and this appears to have motivated Ackerman to stand as an alternative for more moderate Liberal voters. He’s been speaking to the media about the increasing influence of the Christian far-right within the party.

But, frankly, I think he's running more out of personal pique that he missed out on preselection than out of principled opposition to Deeming's politics. The reason I say this is because of his group ticket (available here on page 5). Sure, he puts Labor splitters New Democrats second, but then he moves directly to “don’t call us anti-vax” anti-vaxxers Health Australia, ex-Lib Bernie Finn and the DLP, and then the Liberals but with Deeming reordered to be the last of the five. Anyone who votes above the line for Ackerman s most likely to help Finn be re-elected, or if not then Deeming. It is strange that Ackerman, who considers Deeming too extreme, is sending his preferences to Finn, who is well known for holding similarly fringe views.

My recommendation: give Group E (Fred Ackerman and Mark Barrow) a weak or no preference.

Western Metropolitan—Group U (Walter Villagonzalo and Sam Alcordo)

The other grouped independents in Western Metropolitan will be found in Group U: Walter Villagonzalo and his running mate Sam Alcordo. Villagonzalo is a former deputy mayor of the City of Wyndham and he has been active in providing migrant services within the community—he is pitching himself particularly strongly towards Filipino voters.

On his website, Villagonzalo speaks of a “progressive agenda” and lists his priorities as local jobs, more affordable housing, more trees, and support for the volunteering sector. At face value it seems very much like centre-left “elect a local to parliament” stuff.

His group ticket, however, suggests very different politics indeed. Everyone who votes 1 above the line for Group U will receive his ticket (see page 21 here) as their preferences no matter what their real preferences are. Villagonzalo’s preferences go directly to fringe extremist Bernie Finn (DLP), then work through the lead candidates of cooker, racist, and religious-right parties. It’s strange that he places we-need-less-migration Sustainable Australia in 4th and even stranger that notorious racists One Nation are 7th. Why on earth is a migrant community worker giving these preferences? Pulling up the ladder for the next generation of migrants?

My recommendation: Give Group U (Walter Villagonzalo and Sam Alcordo) a weak or no preference.

Ungrouped independents

Alright, let’s run through the handful of ungrouped independents. These people always get the fewest votes, and frankly I don’t know why anyone bothers standing ungrouped. If you want to run independently, at least find a friend so you get a square above the line. But I digress. Here they are in alphabetical order by electoral region:

(Please note this entry was updated one day after it was posted. It now contains links to entries on two candidates for whom new info came to light. These are clearly marked below.)

John O’Brien (Eastern Victoria): This guy really hates both Daniel Andrews and Matthew Guy. His website rants about schools needing to teach “the basics” and say “no to woke ideology”, he promotes the “clean coal” furphy, moans about “red tape”, and asserts that governments are “spending ‘our’ money wastefully”… but just as you think this is hard-right small-government stuff, he wants to nationalise all public utilities! Honestly his website is all over the show. Give him a weak or no preference.

Colin John Mancell (North Metropolitan): standing for the Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia, who do not have registration at state level. My review is here.

Mehdi Sayed (South-Eastern Metropolitan): he appears to be running on refugee rights but his preferences are very dodgy—read more here. [Original text: I cannot find any information on this candidate. You have to pay a $350 deposit to stand for state election and only get it back if you poll a primary vote of at least 4%. Why is this bloke throwing away his money? Why is he not bothering to let anyone know what he stands for? There is at least one candidate like this every election and it baffles me. Give him a weak or no preference.]

Esther Demian (Western Metropolitan): cooker who peddles conspiracy theories. Avoid! Read more here. [Original text: I cannot find any information on this candidate either. Ridiculous. Give her a weak or no preference.]

Storm Hellmuth (Western Victoria): also standing for the Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia. My review is here.

[guidedpapers]

Explain the identification of types of data.

Explain the identification of types of data.

Solve problems relating to dependent and independent variables, grouped and ungrouped data, locating data on a chart, and creating tables and graphs in SPSS. Introduction Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence. In this assessment, you will complete problems to apply correct order of operations in solving equations,…

[axvoter]

Update on Esther Demian (Western Metropolitan) and Mehdi Sayed (South-Eastern Metropolitan)

Two readers have been able to shed light on mystery candidates Esther Demian and Mehdi Sayed. I couldn't find anything about them when I wrote my entry on independents standing for the Legislative Council, nor had a couple of other election reviewers. But here we go!

Both Demian and Sayed are standing as ungrouped independents—i.e. they will appear in the furthest right-hand column on the ballot in their respective regions and you can only vote for them if you vote below the line. I will review them in turn.

Esther Demian (ungrouped independent, Western Metropolitan)

I'd like to extend a big thank you to the reader who messaged to let me know Esther Demian has been campaigning on Facebook. She has been campaigning through her personal profile and, in brief, this is some really cooked stuff. In fact, it's not immediately clear to me why she is not running for one of the cooker parties as she is espousing their rhetoric and even reposts a UAP video approvingly.

Your initial impression, based on the video currently at the top of the page, might be that she is mainly focused on small business, lower land taxes, and some sort of fear that property owners are losing their rights and lands. Right-wing small government stuff yeah? But keep scrolling and it's clear how extreme her views are.

Demian is clearly trying to hook into the organisational networks of cookers that exist on Facebook. She peddles a range of conspiracy theories, some of which are more subtle than others. She urges voters to vote in pen—this refers to a conspiracist paranoia about votes in pencil being secretively changed (the VEC explains that they use pencils because they are more reliable). She shares material with disinformation about vaccines. She shares material about the "Great Reset" conspiracy theory. So on and so forth. Keep clear of this one!

My recommendation: Give Esther Demian a weak or no preference.

Mehdi Sayed (ungrouped independent, South Eastern Metropolitan)

Another big thank you to a second reader, who was leafletted by Mehdi Sayed and sent me a photo of his How To Vote card (see bottom of the entry). It's very enlightening. He also has a Facebook profile.

Now, Sayed is interesting, because the impression you would gain from the Facebook profile is that he's a social activist interested in refugee rights. His HTV likewise lists support for refugees as a priority, as well as acting on climate change, acting on cost of living issues, and helping low-income families and small businesses. It seems like harmless stuff. I might have given him a lukewarm favourable review...

But! There's a crucial detail on the HTV.

Mehdi Sayed recommends his voters send their preferences to, in order, Lyndon Samuel (4th candidate, Liberals); Morgan Jonas (lead candidate, Freedom Party); Manju Hanumantharayappa (2nd candidate, Liberals); Matt Babet (UAP). Oh dear. Oh. Dear.

Some serious red flags, those. Morgan Jonas is one of the most prominent covid cookers, notorious for leading anti-lockdown, anti-mandate, and anti-vax protests and being chummy with people who espouse other extreme ideologies. Matt Babet is the twin brother of federal senator Ralph Babet and they've been at the forefront of the UAP being a grievance machine for angry people without any coherent policy to speak of. So, in light of this, my politest interpretation is that Sayed has seriously flawed judgement. You can probably infer my less polite interpretations.

My recommendation: Give Mehdi Sayed a weak or no preference.

Lastly, here's Sayed's HTV: