A YouTuber built a PC out of a working toilet, creating what might be the first toilet capable of both handling your waste and playing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. What a world we live in!
As spotted by Eurogamer, YouTuber Basically Homeless cut a deal with the electronics store Microcenter to create a gaming PC inside of an actual toilet, complete with all the plumbing and water that entails. It’s a wild thing, but not surprising. You see, for as long as we have had toilets and video games, many have tried to combine them. Even I have heard that siren’s call and attempted to poop and game at the same time. Countless others do so while playing games on their phones.
But Basically Homeless didn’t want to simply bring a Switch or phone or even a Steam Deck into the bathroom. Instead, he wanted to create a setup that would let him play 120hz FPS shooters with a mouse and keyboard while sitting on a toilet. And in his video documenting the entire processI was shocked both by the end results and the lack of planning.
Basically Homeless
The way this thing works is one half of the tank contains all the toilet bits and bobs along with the water. Then he built a “Water Wall” out of plexiglass and glue. On the other side of the wall are all the computer parts. The idea was to keep them separate, letting you flush the working toilet while playing games. Also, built into the lid is a fan to help keep the PC cool.
It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the first time he connected the toilet to the water supply his hacked-together “Water Wall” failed and he ended up having to use a whole can of Flexseal inside the tank to protect the valuable PC electronics. However, now that he’s gotten everything working (including the RGB lighting), the finished PC/toilet hybrid is oddly impressive. Thanks to a large cutout in the front, you can see both the functioning toilet and the running PC.
According to Basically Homeless, he had to learn basic plumbing and how to cut porcelain to create this bizarre PC. The end result is both a conversation starter and a man who can now fix his own toilet. Truly a win, win situation.
Darren Lockyer was already bewildered when the match review committee opted against charging Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
And after watching the MRC’s video explanation of why the Storm prop wasn’t charged for his ugly move on Warriors hooker Wayde Egan, Lockyer is feeling dizzy.
Asofa-Solomona was widely slammed for appearing to drive his left forearm into the head of Egan as he and two Melbourne teammates tackled him in Auckland on Friday night, resulting in the back of Egan’s head thumping into the turf.
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MRC explains Asofa-Solomona non-sanction
But the MRC again triggered calls of inconsistency when it decided not to punish Asofa-Solomona.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley shook up his weekly football briefing on Monday, playing a pre-recorded video of MRC manager Luke Patten explaining the non-sanction.
“It was a forceful tackle which unfortunately resulted in Egan’s head going into the ground,” Patten said.
“There might be possibly minor contact at the end of the tackle… but that minor contact.”
Patten supposedly has a strong knowledge of the game, having played 282 NRL matches with the Steelers, Dragons and Bulldogs between 1998 and 2010.
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The match review committee’s video explanation of the Nelson Asofa-Solomona non-sanction staggered Darren Lockyer. (Fiona Goodall/NRL Imagery)
Rather than question the ability of Patten in his role, Lockyer took exception to the officiating system.
“I saw Luke Patten. We saw the words, but if you see him deliver that with his face and voice, your head’s spinning. How are we ever going to understand how the game is officiated?” Lockyer said on Nine’s 100% Footy.
“They’re reading off a textbook.
“We need to get the terminology with the on-field decisions very similar to what they’re doing when they’re reviewing this. The decisions that are being handed down by the match review committee are going into a lot more detail than what the people on the ground are doing, so we’re getting these mixed messages.We need to streamline that, and I think you’ll get a lot more understanding.
“I think where one of the real challenges is, and (where) we get the confusion, is that when you listen to the MRC penalize an incident there’s so much detail in there: separation, elbows. And then for a referee to adjudicate that on the field, whether it’s the Bunker of the on-field referee — they can’t go into that level of detail. So you get one thing, and then you get another thing.”
Gould seethes at length of Cleary ban
Another jarring example of inconsistent officiating was the suspension dealt to Dale Finucane for the Sharks lock’s tackle on Stephen Crichton in round 19.
Finucane didn’t receive an on-field penalty for the contact that left the Panthers center with a badly lacerated ear, but the MRC offered him a two-game ban. He was then slapped with a three-match ban when he fought the charge at the judiciary and failed.
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“Everything’s refereed differently off the field than it is on the field, including the Bunker, including the match review committee and then including the judiciary,” Phil Gould said on 100% Footy.
“They’re all different and they all have different powers and they all have different motivations in what they’ve trying to do.
“The system is flawed and the people are flawed… you’ve got to look at so many different things. It shouldn’t be like that.
Storm’s late-season loan swoop irks Lockyer
“(It’s the) same as when we’re looking at tries and balls that are up in the air and bobbling around.
“We look at too much detail. It’s all about intent, it’s all about unnecessary risk, it’s all about carelessness or recklessness.”
Gould says he doesn’t know how players and coaches “put up with” this era of the game.
“The difficulty of playing this game now because of the rules and the interpretation and the obsession of the referee and the Bunker and the judiciary… (it’s a) minefield,” Gould said.
“I would hate to be playing in this era, I would really hate to be playing in this era, I would hate to be coaching in this era.”
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Commonwealth Games in pictures: Shayna Jack becomes emotional after winning first solo international swimming medal
There is an irony in the circumstances surrounding Lynn Arnold’s discovery that he was under ASIO surveillance throughout several decades of his life.
Key points:
Former SA premier Lynn Arnold recently applied for and received his partial ASIO file
The document has prompted mixed feelings, admitting he is shocked by some of the contents
He’s unsure when the surveillance stopped
It was only when the former South Australian premier found himself detained — by chance rather than by force — that he decided to investigate the investigations that he had been subjected to.
While SA’s COVID lockdowns were hardly house arrest, they provided Dr Arnold with the opportunity to apply for his ASIO file.
Dr Arnold reacted to the contents with a mix of amusement, bemusement and shock.(ABC Radio Adelaide: Daniel Keane)
“It took about 15 months but I finally got it,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide’s Simon Royal.
“I certainly knew I was under surveillance during the anti-Vietnam War movement.
“[But] I hadn’t actually guessed I was going to be under surveillance while I was a member of parliament.”
As a Labor MP, Dr Arnold was premier for about 15 months from mid-1992 until late-1993, but his commitment to left-wing causes dated back to the 1960s.
An Anglican priest today, Dr Arnold was an “ardent pacifist” in his student years and heavily involved in “the Vietnam moratorium, which I was the chair of in 1970”.
His ASIO file is an eclectic compilation of summaries of meetings, newspaper clippings, and photographs of anti-war rallies.
Certain details, including names, were redacted.
Dr Arnold’s file includes heavily redacted sections, such as this one.(ABC Radio Adelaide: Daniel Keane)
“They indicate that there were six folders of information. I’ve got 150 pages out of it,” Dr Arnold said.
“A lot of information they haven’t released for various reasons and other information’s been destroyed, and I don’t know the balance between the destroyed and the not-yet-released.
“Their main concern with me was to find out whether I was a communist or not, and at some point in the files it actually makes the conclusion that, ‘No, he’s not’.”
Mixed feelings about file’s contents
The revelation that Dr Arnold was not a red did not determine the intelligence service.
As one of the papers, from 1981, states:
“[T]here is no evidence at this stage to suggest that Arnold is being used to promote pro-Soviet attitudes in Australia. However, his position as a World Peace Councilor makes him worthy of future study.
The document contains several mugshot-style portraits.(ABC Radio Adelaide: Daniel Keane)
While much of the material relates to Dr Arnold’s anti-war activism there are also later references to activities after his 1979 election to SA parliament, including meetings he held in a ministerial capacity with the East German consul.
Dr Arnold’s feelings about his file are mixed.
On the one hand, he accepts the necessity of a strong national intelligence agency.
“I don’t have a problem with Australia having a security service. I think it’s essential that we have, and I felt so then,” he said.
“The issue is how it was administered in terms of the national interest.
“I accept the fact that in the period of the Cold War there really was a specter of communist infiltration that did have to be monitored, did have to be watched.”
Resorting to code names
But some of the episodes reflected in the file disturbed him, such as one involving a trusted ally who was later revealed to be an infiltrator.
The file summarizes Dr Arnold’s student activism and opposition to the Vietnam War.(ABC Radio Adelaide: Daniel Keane)
Dr Arnold was surprised to discover details about a meeting that occurred in the lead-up to the September 1970 Moratorium where anti-Vietnam War groups stopped work and turned out in their tens of thousands.
“The room wasn’t bugged, it turns out that one of the 15 people in the room — one of our own committee — was reporting back to ASIO and had written these copious notes,” he said.
“I’ve been quite shocked by that. To know that one of these people, whom I knew, shared a drink with and shared a cause with, was actually reporting.
“That I found a violation.”
When Dr Arnold first came to ASIO’s attention, opposition to the Vietnam War was increasing globally.(Supplied: Richard Hogg, National Library of Australia)
Dr Arnold does not know for certain, but presumes his activities were monitored even after he became premier.
But that assumption is not a new one — he suspected it even at the time and responded accordingly.
“When I had conversations with family members or colleagues we sometimes resorted to coding about what we said on the presumption that we might have been tapped,” he said.
“You’d have replacement names for key figures and you’d also have code names for topics.”
ASIO’s headquarters is today located in Canberra.(ABC News: Adam Kennedy)
How much further material relating to his past is still locked away in archives remains unclear to Dr Arnold.
“What you don’t know is what was destroyed,” he said.
“It does beg the question as to how much more there is, and I don’t know how one gets to find that out.”
But the thought that ASIO might still have stuff up its sleeve is one that prompted a moment of mirth.
“I don’t keep a file on them, so I don’t know,” he joked.
It was days before the 2016 election and Steve Bannon was in a “panic.”
Chris Christie was about to get on a plane with then-candidate Donald Trump and was thought to be positioning himself to be chief of staff, and Bannon wanted to derail that possibility as quickly as he could, according to excerpts of Jared Kushner’s new book reviewed by The Daily Beast.
So, I called in Donald Trump’s son-in-law to help.
“We’ve got to keep him off [the plane],” Kushner recalled Bannon telling him.
The conversation continued, with Bannon calling Trump’s White House transition efforts—at that time led by the former New Jersey governor—a “train wreck,” while decrying his appetite for “anti-Trump establishment types.”
“Chris is politically radioactive,” Bannon declared, citing the infamous 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal in New Jersey. I added that Trump “shouldn’t have to carry his baggage from him.”
Responding to The Daily Beast’s request for comment, Christie said, through a spokesperson, “I’m looking forward to seeing Jared’s book where it belongs—in the fiction section at Barnes and Noble.” Bannon had not responded to The Daily Beast’s request for comment as of Monday afternoon.
The stormy history between Christie and Kushner dates back to 2004 when the former, a New Jersey prosecutor, convicted Kushner’s father, Charles, of tax evasion, which the ex-governor deemed “loathsome” crimes.
Despite speculation, in the end, Kushner maintained that it wasn’t him that had Christie booted from Trump’s transition team roster shortly after the 2016 election.
As CNN first reported last week, Kushner would go on in the book to blast Bannon over his “toxic” qualities and allege that the latter played a part in “undermining” Trump’s early days in Washington.
Kushner’s book, scheduled to be released at the end of August, is just one facet of his attempt to rebrand since leaving the White House.
He has also sought to cash in with his own private equity firm, Affinity Partners, which raised a mammoth $2 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2021. The deal raised eyebrows, considering that Kushner had worked with the Saudis while Trump was in office , and in light of the country’s abysmal human rights record.
Further adding to the intrigue: the Saudi fund’s own advisory panel had reportedly expressed concern about Affinity’s “inexperience” and its fee structure, and determined that its operations were apparently “unsatisfactory in all aspects.” The wealth fund’s board moved forward anyway.
An Affinity spokesperson told New York Timesin April that it was “proud” to have the fund and “other leading organizations that have careful screening criteria, as investors.”
Prior to joining the political family business in the Oval Office, Kushner had primarily worked in real estate, where he posted a very mixed track record.
Elsewhere in Kushner’s new memoir, Breaking History: A White House Memoirhe recounts another dramatic scene that unfolded during the (very brief) tenure of White House communications head Anthony Scaramucci.
Dan Scavino, Hope Hicks, Ivanka Trump, Kushner, Bannon, Scaramucci, and the former president gathered to speak with CIA director Mike Pompeo in the Oval Office, at which point Kushner suggests in his memoir that Trump considered Bannon dead weight.
“I have [Trump] paused for dramatic effect, looked across the room at Bannon, and then continued,” Trump’s son-in-law wrote. “’We also have some real losers and leakers as well, but that will change.’”
Shortly after that, things did change, as Bannon was unceremoniously fired.
“Particularly in Victoria, it’s largely unregulated,” he said.
Munro said caps would encourage owners to seek greater financial security in the long-term rental market.
In NSW, 180-day caps over the course of a year have been introduced across many coastal and regional centers and much of Sydney.
However, Byron Shire Council this year moved to introduce a 90-day maximum on non-hosted short-stay accommodation over a year.
The Accommodation Association, which represents caravan parks, regional motels and hotel chains, is also pushing for the short-stay sector to meet similar safety standards to commercial operators, including large hotels.
This would include hardwired smoke detection systems, fire hose reels every 20 meters and fire rated doors.
The Byron Shire Council has limited the number of days properties can be listed on Airbnb to increase long-term housing. Credit:stock
Munro said some councils, including Brisbane, were also seeking to introduce higher rates for short-stay providers in recognition of their commercial purpose. I have encouraged the Victorian government to consider similar measures.
Victorian Tourism Industry Council chief executive Felicia Mariani said the state government needed to assert greater control over the short-stay sector, which included imposing caps.
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“The lack of regulation in this space has led to this crisis we’ve now seen with a proliferation of short-stay across regional Victoria,” she said.
Mariani said the shortage of affordable rental properties was damaging the social fabric of regional areas because many people working in hospitality, education and health were unable to live in their communities because rental homes were unavailable or too expensive.
Rents have soared by up to 20 per cent in some regional towns over the past year, Domain data revealed.
A spokeswoman for the state government said it had already brought in laws regulating the short-stay sector and cracking down on unruly behaviour.
She said a review of existing laws would investigate whether further adjustments were needed.
This year Noosa Council introduced registration fees and tougher new local laws to regulate short-stay letting that would require owners to gain approval before renting out their homes.
Queensland University human geography associate professor Thomas Sigler said Airbnb-style arrangements may be reducing the number of long-term rental properties in tourism towns such as Lorne and Portsea.
He said there were just over 60,500 short-stay listings in Victoria in 2021, compared to about 85,500 in 2019.
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However, Sigler said the number of nights offered had increased despite the drop in properties listed for short-stay accommodation. “Fewer properties are getting used more often,” he said.
Sigler said there was limited evidence to suggest short-stay platforms were eroding housing affordability more broadly across Victoria.
“There are many reasons that housing affordability has diminished, but it’s mainly to do with demand exceeding supply.”
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Devil Immortal‘spay to win mechanics have been controversial since the game launched back in June. Now they’ve also apparently broken the game for at least one YouTuber who reportedly spent over $100,000 on beefing up his Barbarian character. The player’s win rate is seemingly so good the game won’t even match him against other players, torpedoing his prospects of competing in the latest Rite of Exile end game event.
over the weekend, Devil Immortal YouTuber jtisallbusiness asked viewers if he should try to refund his $100,000 account as a result of the issue. He claimed that he spent so much money immediately following the game’s release that he was able to easily overpower almost every opponent in the game’s PVP Battlegrounds mode. As a result, he had hundreds of wins and only a few losses, pumping up his MMR (match-making rank) so high it became impossible to queue with anyone else.
“I would say it’s probably around, somewhere around 48 to 72 hours somewhere in between that of only trying to queue for a Battleground and never being able to get one,” he said.
Jtisallbusiness contacted Blizzard about the issue almost a month ago, and said he was eventually told the problem would be addressed in a couple weeks. Now, however, his clan of him OneTimes is competing in the Rite of Exile to defend its Immortals title against other players as part of Devil Immortals elaborate end game. The only problem is Jtisallbusiness can’t join them. Part of the questline requires participating in a standard Battlegrounds PVP match, but because of his matchmaking limbo he was unable to qualify.
“So basically I’m stuck as the clan leader in the Immortals clan not being able to queue us up for Rite of Exile at all,” he said. “I can’t do anything about it.” Adding to his frustration from him is the fact that he’s trying to make money off Devil Immortal as a streamer and content maker, an effort now seemingly stymied by his early spending spree (other videos are devoted to showing off his collection).
For many other players in the community, however, it’s a chef’s kiss moment for everything they hate about the game’s monetization. “Congratulations, you just ‘won’ in a p2w game,” reads one of the top comments on his YouTube video discussing the issue. “Can’t complain about that, you got what you paid for.” Others shared similar sentiments, and the video itself was downvoted thousands of times.
Players on Reddit, where links to it were being passed around, were equally unmoved. “I know it’s his money from him and people can do whatever they want with theirs but come the fuck on man. 100k?! On Devil Immortal?!” wrote one person. “When someone’s Devil character is worth close to my entire mortgage,” wrote another.
Blizzard and jtisallbusiness didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s also not yet clear how the situation will affect the rest of his clan, which includes players he said have each poured thousands of dollars of their own into the game. Once the Rite of Exile is completed, the top 30 challengers are pitted against a single Immortal who is transformed into a raid boss. One thing seems certain: It will not be Jtisallbusiness.
Oliver Gildart, who will finish the season at the Roosters, was handed a big challenge — playing in the halves for the first time in his career after a 20-minute crash-course — and remarkably he didn’t look out of place at all .
Meanwhile, a gun fullback could help solve some of the Storm’s injury woes and there’s a 194cm, 95kg beast with footwork to boot that is yet to be picked up by an NRL club.
Read on for the latest Reserve Grade Wrap.
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ALL EYES WERE ON…
Oliver Gildart lined up at five-eighth for the Magpies on Saturday and although they were defeated 36-24 by Mounties, he proved his worth as a versatile backline player, before sealing a loan move to the Roosters this week.
Gildart is primarily a center but has had a taste of fullback in the New South Wales Cup and now the halves.
The 25-year-old proved to be one of the Magpies’ most important players and his willingness to take on the line saw him set up two tries, get a linebreak, a linebreak assist, four tackle busts and 158 running meters.
Gildart told Fox League the last time he played in the halves was when he was 11-years old so he got a quick refresher in Friday’s captain’s run.
”I got a 20-minute session yesterday at captain’s run so I was a bit clunky but you get your hands a lot more on the ball so I enjoyed that side of the game… I’ve got a lot to learn in this position that’s for sure,” he said.
Parramatta’s Nathan Brown continues to put pressure on coach Brad Arthur with another standout performance in reserve grade. The 29-year-old NRL veteran set up a try, got a linebreak assist, two tackle busts and ran for 206 metres. He also made 32 tackles with two misses in the Eels’ one-point loss to the Panthers.
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STANDOUTS
Dane Aukafolau’s performance would have caught the attention of NRL clubs in Mounties’ win over the Magpies.
At 194cm and 95kg, he cuts an imposing figure while playing in the second row but after a history in the centres, Aukafolau has the footwork to catch his opposition off guard.
Aukafolau stunned with a try, a try assist, a linebreak, two linebreak assists and seven tackle busts as well as 17 tackles with two misses.
Mounties are made up of majority part-time players like Aukafolau and he couldn’t be proud of their efforts this season.
“Being one of the senior players I needed to step up so I just try and do what I can,” he told Fox League.
“These boys, day-in, day-out, their efforts are unreal. It’s good to see part-time footballers bringing that contest up to the level of these (full time) guys. It shows a lot.”
Dane Aukafolau was a standout for Mounties. Credit: Knock on Effect NSW Cup Instagram.Source: Instagram
Still on Mountains, Tim Simona wound back the clock to show he still has what it takes to play first grade.
Simona scored a double, got four linebreaks, three tackle busts and 169 running meters in the centres.
Penrith escaped with a one-point win in which the craftiness of hooker Soni Luke was on show. The 26-year-old, who got an NRL debut earlier this season, scored a try, set up two more, got a linebreak, four linebreak assists, six tackle busts and 112 running meters.
A couple of Panthers forwards were equally impressive and dominated on both sides of the ball.
The soon-to-be Eel J’maine Hopgood showed his future club what they can look forward to, with a try, two linebreaks, nine tackle busts, four offloads and 214 running meters, while also making 41 tackles with just two misses.
Meanwhile, the highly-regarded Lindsay Smith finished with 227 running meters, five tackle busts and 38 tackles with two misses.
There wasn’t a lot to smile about for Dragons fans over the weekend, but their reserve grade side bagged an important 30-18 win over the Raiders to keep their final hopes alive.
Michael Molo starred in the win, notching up a try assist, a linebreak assist, three tackle busts and 167 meters while also making 34 tackles with just one miss. Meanwhile, jackson ford finished with 141 running meters and a season-high 10 tackle busts.
Competition leaders, Newtown, seem to be getting better and better each week and with a fairly simple run home they are the favorites to claim the minor premiership.
half-back Braydon Trindall starred in their 42-18 win over the Rabbitohs on Saturday, having a hand in FIVE tries (one try and four assists). He also got four linebreak assists, three tackle busts and ran for 82 metres. Trindall also had a perfect day on the boot, slotting seven goals from seven attempts but on the flip side, he did miss five tackles.
Mawene Hiroti had a day out in the centres, scoring a try, setting up two more and getting two linebreaks, a linebreak assist and five tackle busts to go with his 185 running metres.
There were some good performers for the Bunnies though with five-eighth Jack Campagnolo, who guided Wynnum Manly to the Queensland Cup grand final last year, setting up two tries, as well as getting a linebreak assist and five tackle busts. And workhorse lock james hasson notched up 128 running meters and made 23 tackles with zero misses — he was the only Rabbitoh to not miss a tackle.
Clearly accepts five game ban | 00:45
UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
The Storm’s Nick Meaney has been cleared of a serious shoulder injury but has to pass concussion protocols to play in Friday’s Titans clash.
Craig Bellamy has already conceded his backline stocks are running very low, but a fullback at one of the Storm’s Queensland Cup feeder sides has put his hand up over recent weeks to come into consideration.
Brisbane Tigers’ Tony Pellow stunned in their 32-18 win over Ipswich with two try assists, two linebreak assists and 221 running metres.
It was only two weeks ago that 25-year-old Pellow came up with a clutch play in the final four minutes to steal his side a four-point win over Souths Logan. Pellow received the ball from a scrum 10 meters out from his own line, found a gap, palmed off a Magpie, ran 70 meters and then put a cross-field grubber in for Jayden Nikorima to score.
Pellow, a St Johns Dubbo junior, joined the Tigers this season from the Dragons and spent eight weeks training with the Storm during pre-season.
Tony Pellow has been in red-hot form for the Brisbane Tigers. Credit: Margie_13InstagramSource: Instagram
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SPOTTED
Out-of-favor Wests Tigers hooker JJacob Liddle played lock for the Magpies over the weekend. Coach Wayne Lambkin had limited options and had to pick a couple of players out of position to fill gaps. Liddle, who is reportedly set to sign with the Dragons, finished with 93 running meters, two tackle busts and 35 tackles, but had six misses.
rising star Kade Dykes didn’t feature in Newtown’s big win because he was 18th man for NRL. With Will Kennedy out for the next six weeks, it’s assumed Locky Miller will step into the No.1 jersey but don’t be surprised to see Dykes get his NRL debut at fullback. Coach Craig Fitzgibbon will have a headache of the good kind when deciding who fills in for Kennedy.
An Australian Aboriginal language only spoken by a handful of people in the Northern Territory has become the inspiration for a new artificial intelligence system, potentially helping people better communicate with machines.
Key points:
The AI system aims to help humans and robots to better communicate
Researchers developed it drawing on some features of the Aboriginal language, Jingulu
It’s considered an endangered language, with only several elderly speakers remaining
Jingulu is considered an endangered language that’s traditionally spoken in the Northern Territory’s Barkly region.
A study, recently published in the academic journal Frontiers in Physics, suggests it has special characteristics that can easily be translated into commands for artificial Intelligence (AI) swarm systems.
“Maybe one of the most powerful things with Jingulu [is] that it gives us the simplicity and flexibility which we can apply in lots of different applications,” lead researcher at University of New South Wales Canberra, Hussein Abbass, said.
AI swarm systems are used in machines to help them to collaborate with humans and undertake complex tasks than humans command them to do.
Experts say Australian law is not up-to-date to sufficiently regulate the rising use of artificial intelligence. (Chris Yang: Unsplash)
Dr Abbass said he stumbled on the Jingulu language by accident, while developing a new communication system.
“When I started looking at the abstract, it didn’t take much time to click in my mind about how suitable it is, for the work I do on artificial intelligence and human AI teaming,” he said.
Language easily translatable into AI commands
Dr Abbass said it was normal for AI researchers to draw on different forms of communication for their work, including other human languages, body language and even music.
However, he said the Jingulu language was especially well-suited to AI because it had only three verbs — ‘go’, come’ and ‘do’ — which meant it could be easily translated into commands.
“The specific AI model that we are working on relies on the very simple concepts of attraction and repulsion, in physics …. and underneath this very simple concept fits the mathematics of our AI,” he said.
“We can apply the ‘go’ and ‘come’ to the attraction and repulsion concepts, in the mathematical model that we have, and the ‘do’, to when there’s no movement in a space.
“The structure of Jingulu matches extremely nicely to the mathematics, and that’s what made it really fascinating, for what we do.”
“I have not encountered another language that has all of these advantages simultaneously, and in alignment with AI.”
Jingulu is a language traditionally spoken in the Northern Territory’s Barkly region.
‘Unique’ elements of language beneficial for AI
Study co-author and University of Canberra professor in linguistics Eleni Petraki said Jingulu’s flexible sentence structure was also an advantage.
“[In most languages] words appear in a specific order …. in Jingulu however you can split those elements,” she said.
With only several, elderly fluent speakers remaining, Jingulu is considered an endangered language, according to Rachel Nordlinger, a linguistics professor at the University of Melbourne and director of the Research Unit for Indigenous Language.
She said while there were related Aboriginal languages with similar features, Jingulu had some unique characteristics.
“What’s different about Jingulu is that other languages might have small numbers of verbs, but there might be 20 of them or 30 of them, whereas Jingulu has only three,” she said.
“The structure’s similar, but it’s different in having such a small number of verbs, that combine with other words.”
AI system has ‘almost infinite’ applications
The new artificial intelligence system created with Jingulu in mind, JSwarm, was initially developed to help farmers herd sheep, as a language which would allow an app used by farmers to communicate with unmanned aerial vehicles performing the task.
It has not yet been implemented, with its developers still working to secure funding.
However Dr Abbass said the system could potentially be used beyond agriculture in the future, including in areas such as medicine to defence.
“[There are] almost an infinite number of applications,” he said.
Like most Australian Indigenous languages, Jingulu is considered endangered.
Sign of growing interest in Indigenous languages
Dr Abbass said the AI system was the first instance he was aware of in which an Australian Indigenous language had been used “at the interface of human and AI communication”.
“You never know where good ideas will come from, and without keeping our minds open, we won’t be able to innovate,” he said.
Dr Nordlinger said researchers’ use of Jingulu to develop the system was an example of the growing level of interest in Indigenous languages in Australia, both from Indigenous communities themselves and the wider Australian public.
“People are becoming more aware of how fascinating these languages are, but also how endangered they are, and therefore how precious they are,” she said.
“I think [this study] is a sign of the growing interest for sure, and it can be a real positive.
“It can only be a good thing to have more attention and more appreciation of these languages.”
The winning lottery ticket in the recent Mega Millions jackpot is worth $1.337 billion, but because of an Illinois law, the identity of who bought it might never be revealed. In most states, anonymity isn’t an option.
Steve Helber/AP
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Steve Helber/AP
The winning lottery ticket in the recent Mega Millions jackpot is worth $1.337 billion, but because of an Illinois law, the identity of who bought it might never be revealed. In most states, anonymity isn’t an option.
Steve Helber/AP
Whoever recently won the $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot won’t ever have to reveal their identity. The Illinois Lottery says that winners of prizes over $250,000 can request that their name and hometown be kept confidential.
That isn’t the case in many states, but a growing number of state legislators have sought to grant anonymity to lottery winners and offer them a sense of privacy and security.
“It’s actually been a little trend in the industry over the past, every four or five years, to look at doing anonymity — for legislatures to go in and change the way the lotteries operate and put in the anonymity clauses,” Gregg Edgar, executive director of the Arizona Lottery, told NPR.
In Arizona, lottery winners used to have just 90 days of secured anonymity before that person’s information became public record. Now, the organization’s website says “winners of $100,000 or greater may elect to keep their name permanently confidential.”
Why do few states grant anonymity?
The North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, a nonprofit trade association, says players cannot remain anonymous in most jurisdictions.
“State and provincial lawmakers want the public to know that the lottery is honestly run and so require that at a minimum the name of the winner and their city of residence be made,” its website reads. “This way the public can be reassured that the prize really was paid out to a real person.”
Edgar said he has a fiduciary responsibility to Arizona’s budget to be transparent about how the organization earns and spends the money.
“For a lot of us, we look at it as — this is public funds, this is public [money]we need to make sure that we’re transparent and that people can see that there are winners that come through,” he said. But, he added, that transparency has to be balanced against protecting the safety of winners.
Edgar expects that pushes to protect the anonymity of lottery winners will continue in other states across the country as jackpots continue to grow.
States have their own public records laws
Vermont is among the majority of states that don’t grant anonymity.
“While the Lottery does routinely honor requests from winners not to post their personal information on social media, any person can still request to obtain a copy of, or to inspect, records produced or acquired by the Lottery in the course of its business under the Vermont Public Records Act,” said Wendy Knight, commissioner of the state’s liquor and lottery department, in a statement to NPR.
“Any player who is concerned about privacy and security issues related to claiming a prize may want to obtain professional services through an accountant, attorney, tax adviser and/or other consultant to assess and strategize about their available options and decide what makes the most sense for them,” Knight added.
Lawmakers who have pushed for the anonymity of lottery winners have cited privacy and safety concerns. A 2021 law in Missouri now makes it a crime to reveal a lottery winner’s identity.
Supporters of the legislation wanted to protect winners from threats or harassment when others found out about their prize, according to an earlier report from the Associated Press.
For information on anonymity where you live, check your state lottery’s website.
Property prices may be dropping but that doesn’t mean that wannabe home owners are suddenly celebrating.
Key points:
The Reserve Bank is set to hike the cash rate again today
Banks are already winding back mortgage limits as interest rates and inflation rise
Mortgage brokers say a ‘feedback loop’ is emerging in the property market
Lenders are simultaneously winding back how many people can borrow for mortgages as they factor in higher interest rate repayments and cost of living pressures.
Corey Chamberlain and his partner were just told by their mortgage broker that their borrowing capacity with a smaller lender has dropped by more than 20 per cent.
That’s compared with a national property price drop of just 2 per cent in the last three months.
The couple with a young child were first approved for a mortgage of around $975,000 in late 2021, and then again when they went back for pre-approval earlier this year.
That’s when Australia’s official cash rate was still at 0.1 per cent.
Since May, the Reserve Bank has been raising the cash rate to tackle emerging inflation that’s hitting the Australian economy.
Today, the RBA is expected to hike the cash rate again to take it to 1.85 per cent.
Banks are passing the higher cash rate onto borrowers in the form of lending rates, which is impacting the head repayments on people’s loans.
In October, the regulator APRA also told the banks to raise the minimum interest rate buffer on loans from 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent.
Despite the new lending environment, the Chamberlains weren’t expecting their estimated loan amount to drop down from $975,000 to below $750,000 when they went back to their broker last month.
The couple’s deposit hasn’t changed since late 2021 and Mr Chamberlain actually received a slight pay raise recently.
“(Our broker) was pretty open with us about saying it was all down to interest rates,” Mr Chamberlain said.
“One hundred per cent, it’s down to the interest rates.”
The couple sold their house in the New South Wales regional city Newcastle at the end of last year, after Mr Chamberlain’s job was transferred three hours drive south to Wollongong.
They’ve been renting there all year as they’ve struggled to buy a new house on their original approved limit of $975,000.
“It’s just the constant battle of everything’s overpriced and everything that’s in the price bracket needs work done,” Mr Chamberlain said.
The couple were hoping to buy a house with enough bedrooms so that they can expand their young family further. Now their loan amount is reduced, they feel even more dismayed.
“There’s just nothing in our area that we can afford now,” Mr Chamberlain said.
“Maybe a little shack.”
They’re now considering going to a different lender to see if they can get more money, or they’ll consider holding off buying a bit longer to see if property prices in their area go down.
Corey Chamberlain and his partner are trying to buy a new property in Wollongong. (Supplied: Corey Chamberlain)
Rising interest rates are the main factor being credited for the property market’s recent downturn.
CoreLogic’s latest housing price data this week showed that property values nationally have gone down 2 per cent in three months.
That’s the fastest rate of decline since the 2008 global financial crisis.
“Clearly, higher interest rates are eroding borrowing capacity,” CoreLogic’s Tim Lawless told ABC News.
Prices nationally would need to drop by 28 per cent to take the market back to where it was before the pre-pandemic boom.
Currently, CoreLogic is forecasting a drop of 12 to 15 per cent at a maximum by sometime next year.
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Australian house prices dropping at ‘fastest rate’ since 2008(Emilia Terzon)
Mortgage broker Bruce Carr describes the current property market situation as a “feedback loop” where it is not necessarily easier for people to buy a home as their borrowing capacity diminishes.
“You get the feedback loop on the way up, and you get the feedback loop on the way down,” mortgage broker Bruce Carr told ABC News.
“And that’s where the clashing boom and bust cycles come from.”
He hasn’t had any clients have their borrowing capacity wound back yet but he’s expecting this to start happening soon.
Using borrowing calculators, Mr Carr estimates that his clients are now able to borrow 11 per cent less today than they could one year ago.
He believes this is not just because banks are factoring in higher interest rates, but also because a rising cost of living is being factored into people’s household budgets and therefore their ability to repay mortgages.
Annual inflation is currently at a 21-year high of 6.1 per cent in Australia.
“We all know that inflation is feeding into this,” Mr Carr said.
In a statement, APRA acknowledged that borrowing capacity is dropping.
“The recent reduction in borrowing capacity has largely been driven by the increase in official interest rates,” a spokesperson told ABC News.
“All else constant, an increase in interest rates will mean that the maximum amount that households can borrow against their income will decline.
In a statement, the Australian Banking Association said many factors were being taken into account by lenders.
“Every new borrower is assessed on a case-by-case basis due to a wide range of factors including total amount of loan, total amount of deposit, the loan to value ratio or LVR, whether a borrower is an owner-occupier or investor , and an assessment of a borrower’s revenue and expenditure,” an ABA spokesperson said.
“Banks make their own commercial decisions but ultimately competition is strong between banks, and borrowers should regularly review their arrangements and shop around for the best deal.”
