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Widow "cranky" after Qantas denied late husband's points claim

A widowed grandmother has been left frustrated after Qantas refused to let her claim the 6,800 frequent flyer points in her late husband's account. 72-year-old Rhonda told Yahoo that she reached out to the airline after Brian - her husband of 52 years - passed away in May. Rhonda hoped to claim his frequent flyer points, but was met with a brutal rejection letter instead. While they offered their "sincere condolences", it also stated Qantas' "terms and conditions" didn't allow such a transfer, and Rhonda was asked to send through a copy of Brian's death certificate so they could close his account. "I know it's not a lot of points but it's the principle of it because, damn, you get hardly anything out of it anyway," she told Yahoo. "I just thought it would naturally come to me so, once I told them he passed away, I could've easily gone in and transferred them to myself without telling them but I wanted to do the right thing." Four months later, Qantas announced that from October they would change their policy to allow next of kin to claim frequent flyer points. When Rhonda heard about this, she reached out to the airline again. "I immediately wrote back and said that, 'After hearing the news item, I was under the impression you were now looking at this'," she said. "I haven't heard a word back since. I don't know if they're just ignoring me. "I've just had enough," she added. The grandmother-of-five added that she was "cranky" with the airline. "Everywhere I turn there's a barrier, and what's 6,800 points to them? "They are trying to keep their reputation intact and until I heard that announcement I was done with it. Now I still haven't heard and I am cranky about it," she concluded. Fortunately, after Rhonda shared her complaints with the media, Qantas eventually credited her the points, although she remains unimpressed with the "ridiculous" process. A Qantas spokesperson has also offered their sincere apologies to Rhonda. "Our customer team have been in contact with her to advise that her husbands' points have now been transferred to her frequent flyer account," they said. Rhonda said that she hopes to use the points for a holiday and explore the outback in the iconic The Ghan train next year. Image: Daily Mail/ Getty

Travel Trouble

Sam Newman grilled point-blank: "Are you a racist?"

Sam Newman has been left struggling to come up with an answer after being asked if he is a racist. The former AFL player spoke with Tony Jones on 3AW radio on Thursday, as he doubled down on recent comments that encouraged Australians to boo during Welcome to Country acknowledgements. While defending his opinions, Newman was asked point-blank by Jones, "Are you a racist?" Newman stuttered in response, "Now... what a... No, no, please..." Jones clarified his question, "I think there would be people listening to this at the moment with an open mind that would want me to ask that question." Newman became immediately defensive, asking in retaliation, "Please... now you tell me what you think a racist is besides saying me ... Who have I vilified? I don't think you know what racism is. "Racism is about hate primarily and it's if you defile, decry or degrade someone, think you're superior than them or try to dominate them." "It's the most overworked word in the English lexicon at the minute... you tell me why anything I've said and what I've done is anything to do with racism." Newman then went on to highlight the past controversy surrounding Indigenous AFL legend Adam Goodes, saying he was relentlessly booed while playing because of an incident on the field, and not because of his race. "[In 2015] Adam Goodes was booed because he pretended to throw a spear at the Carlton cheer squad after the Swans were beating them by 10 goals at half-time and wondered why people... people get booed on the football field, not because of their skin colour, but because of things they do," Newman said. "I know that, everyone knows that. Then the AFL waded into this... and said 'please don't boo Adam Goodes'. That's like red rag to a bull." Contrary to Newman's comments, Goodes had been booed for weeks prior to tha incident by the crowd every time he neared the ball, with the crowd escalating their behaviour, which resulted in fans being kicked out of the stadium. Newman also insisted he was not attempting to incite violence against First Nations Australians after he urged people to boo the Welcome to Country at the AFL Grand Final. "We like to go to the football and watch the game without being told to vote for the gay marriage proposal, which is fine, without being told to vote for the Voice - I know (the AFL) has retracted their direction to vote Yes for the Voice. Why do they get involved?" he said. "I'll tell you. It's an absolute hoax. It's a rort. Welcome to Country. Why do we have to be welcomed to the country we live in? Why is that? It is just a mark of division. The people who welcome you to country get a nice stipend out of it. Why do they charge to have it? It is just a rort." Just prior to his radio appearance, senator Lidia Thorpe once again blasted his comments on the Today Show. "Sam Newman, I'm not sure why he's even in the news. He's irrelevant to any debate of the time," she said on Thursday morning. "It's about peace. The whole message behind it is respect." "Sam Newman is not a respectful man at the best of times. He needs to educate himself." Image credits: Getty Images

News

“Insensitive to the point of ghoulish”: ABC slammed over ‘intrusive’ interview with bus crash saviours

An ABC interview with two bystanders who rushed to help injured children trapped in a horrifying Melbourne bus crash has been blasted by viewers as “insensitive” and “ghoulish”. On May 17, a school bus full of 45 children was hit from behind by a truck, leading it to overturn, and <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/several-children-to-undergo-amputations-after-melbourne-school-bus-crash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trapping several children</a> inside at the Eynesbury intersection in Melbourne’s west. Victorian tradesmen Cameron Chalmers and Dean Eastway were heading home from work when they witnessed the accident, they shared their heartbreaking experience with reported Sarah Ferguson on an episode of 7.30. The interview came after Royal Children’s Hospital chief executive Bernadette McDonald gave a chilling update to the media the following day, revealing a number of children had “partial” amputations of arms and one underwent a “complete amputation” due to the severity of their injuries. “We ripped the sunroofs off and found all these kids in the bus. That was horrible,” Mr Chalmers told 7.30. “The kids were screaming and there was smoke and dust. And we just started pulling out as many kids as we could out of those sunroofs.” Eastway noted the children were “obviously terrified, they were trapped and yelling out, ‘I don’t want to be in a bus again. Where’s Mum?’ All sorts of stuff, and there were all sorts of injuries. It was just terrible.” Mr Chalmers estimated he and Mr Eastwood had rescued around 30 children from the wreckage and began helping those who remained trapped inside the bus. “We just kept talking to them and held their hands and just looked after them,” he said. “We sat there and we asked them their names … and just tried to keep them calm, just talking to them and reassuring them,” Mr Eastway added. Both men stayed on the scene until all children were freed, and said the reality of the traumatic incident was hard to process. However, social media users were quick to slam the interview, accusing the ABC of acting insensitively by airing the interview and Ferguson for her rapid-fire questioning and “seeming lack of empathy”, including her asking for details about individual children, like their names and state of their condition. “The bus crash looked horrific and I’m sad for all involved. I’m also disturbed by this interview with Sarah Ferguson and the men who assisted … How is this OK?” one person wrote on Twitter. Another added, “The two rescuers from the Victorian bus crash are so dignified and respectful in responding to the insensitive and highly intrusive questioning by Sarah Ferguson … even asking them to describe the individual children they rescued. It’s unethical and wrong.” “The men who helped at the bus crash scene are heroes. They deserve more respect than to be asked ongoing inconsiderate, unfeeling questions about the kids, only to relive their trauma for Sarah Ferguson,” one wrote. Another chimed in, “I have great respect for Sarah Ferguson – and also, given the gravity of the bus crash incident, it was in poor taste to seek details so intrusive and sensitive of the children’s trauma. “The rescuers, indeed heroes, are likely traumatised themselves. Dismayed, ABC.” One more wrote, “The two men did a great job. Your interview of them was belaboured and insensitive to the point of ghoulish.” While another said, “#abc730 trying to get victims names in the bus crash is unforgivable Sarah Ferguson!” Image credit: ABC 7.30

Caring

"What am I going to do?”: Centrelink mother points out crucial flaw in new budget policy for parents

An unemployed mother who relies on Centrelink benefits has broken down while noting a fatal flaw in Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ Federal Budget promises to parents. Jessica Blowers told ABC’s Q&A program that she will be forced off the Single Parent Payment when her daughter turns eight in August, leaving her unable to afford the rent increases. Currently, single parents can claim the Parenting Payment of $949.30 a fortnight until their youngest child turns eight. By September 2023, the age limit for the pay rise to when the youngest child is 14, as part of Chalmers’ budget. Ms Blowers is one of many copping the brunt of it as her daughter’s 8th birthday is four weeks before the new rules begin. She will also see a rent increase during that period from $900 a fortnight to $960. “What am I going to do? What is my choice, other than I am doing my best to get a job so that I can keep a house over my daughter's head,” she stressed to the treasurer. “When I'm applying for the jobs, I am faced with being told that more than 100 other candidates have applied for the same jobs - I'm not sure how I am supposed to compete against 100 other people for one job.” Ms Blowers added she “would like to know what measures the government has in place to bridge the gap that I and other parents in similar situations will find ourselves in”. “I don't have anywhere to go because I am paying my entire pension in rent. Everywhere else in Sydney is comparable to that.” Although sympathetic to her situation, Chalmers said those suffering like Ms Blowers were “the reason why we are lifting the age from eight to 14”. “This is something we were really keen to do in the Budget because we recognise the pressure that you are under as a single mum,” he explained. However, Chalmers was adamant that the new system could not be introduced any earlier than September 20, 2023. “We've tried to do is bring that change in as soon as possible. We think September is the soonest that we can do it,” he said. “I understand that that means a few weeks for you going from the current payment onto JobSeeker and (then) back onto the single parenting payment. “I would love to avoid that if we could, but what we're trying to do is provide this extra assistance ... that you need and deserve. If we could avoid those couple of weeks, we would, but September is the best we can do.” In total, some 57,000 single parents, 90 per cent of whom are women, will benefit from the new scheme. Previously they would have been moved onto the lower JobSeeker rate when their youngest child turned eight. “By age 14, children have typically settled into high school and need less parental supervision, and single parents are in a much stronger position to take on paid work," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said when the policy was announced. Historically, the single parent payment was eligible for singles with children aged up to 16. But former prime minister John Howard, later supported by Julia Gillard, cut the age to eight in an attempt to encourage parents back into the workforce. Two advisory bodies have called for the government to extend the payment and the eligibility criteria. It is understood mutual obligation requirements will remain in order to continue encouraging parents to go back to work. Speaking to Nova radio in Perth, Mr Albanese explained he knew “firsthand what it's like to grow up with a single mum doing it tough”. “We want to look after single parents because we know that the role that they play in raising their children is such a priority for them and they’re deserving of more support,” he said. Image credit: ABC Q&A

Money & Banking

Slowing down in old age may point to a more sinister concern

It’s widely accepted that we tend to lose muscle strength and general mobility as we get older, which tends to make completing general tasks, and simply moving through the world, more difficult. While these aches and pains are a common symptom of getting older, new <a href="https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/medical-and-health-sciences/our-staff/profiles/post-doctoral-research-fellows/dr-marc-sim">research</a> conducted by the Edith Cowan University (ECU) indicates this could also be a signal for another sinister health concern of ageing: late-life dementia. Research teams from ECU’s Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute and Centre for Precision Health have investigated the link between muscle function and dementia, examining more than 1000 women with an average age of 75. In collaboration with the University of Western Australia, the team measured the women’s grip strength and the time it took for them to rise from a chair, walk three metres, turn around and sit back down — known as a timed-up-and-go (TUG) test. These tests were repeated after five years to monitor any loss of physical performance. Over the next 15 years, almost 17 per cent of women involved in the study were found to have had a dementia event, categorised as a dementia-related hospitalisation or death. The team found lower grip strength and slower TUG were significant risk factors for presenting with dementia, independent of genetic risk and lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol intake and physical activity levels. The women with the weakest grip strength were found to be more than twice as likely to have a late-life dementia event than the strongest individuals. A similar relationship emerged between TUG performance and dementia, with the slowest in their TUG test more than twice as likely to experience dementia than the quickest. Senior researcher Dr Marc Sim said grip strength may be a measure of brain health due to the overlapping nature of cognitive and motor decline. “Possibly due to a range of underlying similarities, grip strength may also present as a surrogate measure of cardiovascular disease, inflammation and frailty, which are known risk factors for dementia,” Dr Sim said. Dr Sim went on to say that the findings could help healthcare professionals to identify dementia risk in patients earlier. “Incorporating muscle function tests as part of dementia screening could be useful to identify high-risk individuals, who might then benefit from primary prevention programs aimed at preventing the onset of the condition such as a healthy diet and a physically active lifestyle.” “The exciting findings were that decline in these measures was associated with substantially higher risk, suggesting that if we can halt this decline, we may be able to prevent late-life dementias.” Image credits: Getty Images

Caring

“Welcome to reality”: Dad fined for daughter's seatbelt mistake receives little sympathy

A Queensland father has posted a plea for help on social media, after he received two hefty fines adding up to $2,156 for his daughter’s simple seatbelt mistake. The father claimed that he was completely unaware of what his daughter was doing, after cameras caught her wearing her seatbelt incorrectly twice as a passenger. "Just received two x $1078 fines plus total 8 demerit points, only 2 weeks apart for my 13yo daughter not wearing her seatbelt correctly. Had no idea that she was wearing it that way as can’t see from the driver's point of view," he wrote on Facebook. The frustrated dad revealed that his daughter had made the same mistake twice within two weeks and asked whether it was worth taking it to court. He also asked if "any chance of somehow reducing the penalty". According to the <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules/road/seatbelt-rules#:~:text=Everyone%207%20years%20or%20older,are%20not%20frayed%20or%20loose." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Queensland Government</a> fines and demerit points apply for not wearing a seatbelt or wearing it incorrectly, and that drivers “may be fined for each unrestrained or incorrectly restrained passenger in the vehicle”. Dozens of people have responded, but many didn’t sympathise with the dad saying that they both should’ve known better. "You as a driver are responsible for everyone in the car. Perhaps you need to be firm with your daughter. Welcome to reality," commented one person. "She's old enough to know how to wear a seat belt, just give her the fines to pay and she will wear it properly from then on," wrote another. Others have said that they should learn from this mistake and be more aware of the dangers of wearing a seatbelt incorrectly. "Both learn from this and fix the problem for next time before your daughter flies out of the car in a crash," said one person. "I’d suggest you forget about the law and just think of the damage done to your daughter in an accident with the seatbelt worn like this," wrote another. A few others did sympathise and acknowledge that kids can make mistakes despite the adults knowing better. "I feel for you, I caught my 13-year-old doing this and yelled at her," commented one user. "These fines are crippling people. I understand to a certain degree but mistakes are made," wrote another. Image: Facebook

Travel Trouble

What’s the ‘weight set point’, and why does it make it so hard to keep weight off?

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight but found the kilos return almost as quickly as they left, you’re not alone. In fact, the challenge of maintaining weight loss is confirmed by research, including an analysis of 29 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764193/">long-term weight loss studies</a> that found more than half of the weight lost by participants was regained within two years, and more than 80% of lost weight was regained within five years. When we regain weight, we tend to blame it on a lack of willpower. But there’s a scientific reason many people return to their previous weight after dieting, and understanding the science – known as the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2990627/">weight set point theory</a> – is key to achieving long-term weight loss. <h2>What is the weight set point?</h2> We each have a predetermined weight – a set point – which our body protects. It’s the weight you’ll remember being at for a long period of time in your adult years (over 20 years of age) and it’s the weight you’ll remember bouncing back to after any bout of dieting. It’s programmed in the early years of life – particularly during the first 2,000 days of life – from conception to five years of age. Our <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6538464/">genes</a> play a role in programming our weight set point. Just as DNA prescribes whether we’re shorter or taller than others, we’re <a href="https://fn.bmj.com/content/86/1/F2.2">born</a> with a tendency to be slim or overweight. But our genetic make-up is just a predisposition, not an inevitable fate. Weight set point is also influenced by the environmental factors genes may be exposed to during pregnancy and the first years of life. It explains why some children who are fed a poor diet are more susceptible to unhealthy weight gain (due to their genetic make-up) while others are not. Research shows unhealthy weight gain during the early years of life is likely to persist throughout <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26696565/">adolescence and adulthood</a>. Lastly, our body weight is influenced by the environment itself. For example, an unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle and poor sleep will result in an increase in your weight set point over time and at a rate of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151731/">0.5 kilograms per year</a>. Our bodies work hard to keep our weight around our set point by adjusting our biological systems, regulating how much we eat, how we store fat and expend energy. This stems from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, whose bodies developed this survival response to adapt to periods of deprivation when food was scarce to protect against starvation. Unfortunately, this means our body is very good at protecting against weight loss but not weight gain. <h2>How our bodies work to protect our set point when we diet</h2> When we change our diet to lose weight, we take our body out of its comfort zone and trigger its survival response. It then counteracts weight loss, triggering <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25896063/">several physiological responses</a> to defend our body weight and “survive” starvation. Our body’s survival mechanisms want us to regain lost weight to ensure we survive the next period of famine (dieting), which is why many people who regain weight after dieting end up weighing more than when they started. Our bodies achieve this result in several ways. 1. Our metabolism slows and our thyroid gland misfires Our metabolic rate – how much energy we burn at rest – is determined by how much muscle and fat we have. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat, meaning it burns more calories. Typically, when we diet to lose weight, we lose both fat and muscle, and the decrease in our calorie-burning muscle mass slows our metabolism, slowing the rate at which we lose weight. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7632212/">Research</a> also shows that for every diet attempt, the rate at which we burn off food <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22535969/">slows by 15%</a> and that even after we regain lost weight, our metabolism <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27136388/">doesn’t recover</a>. But exercise can help restore and speed up our <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10956341/">metabolism</a> as it improves our muscle to fat ratio. Dieting also affects our thyroid gland – the gatekeeper to our metabolism. When our thyroid functions correctly, it produces vital hormones that control our energy levels and metabolism, but when we restrict our food intake, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16322796/">fewer hormones are secreted</a>, reducing the energy we burn at rest 2. our energy sources are used differently Our bodies predominantly burn fat stores at rest, but when we diet and start losing weight, our body adapts for protection. It <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7572701/">switches</a> from using fat as its energy source to carbohydrates and holds onto its fat, resulting in less energy being burned at rest 3. our appetite hormones adjust Appetite hormones play a large part in weight management. When we’re hungry, the stomach releases a hormone called ghrelin to let our brain know it’s time to eat. Our gut and fat tissue also release hormones to signal fullness and tell us it’s time to stop eating. However, when we diet and deprive our bodies of food, these hormones work differently to defend our set point weight, suppressing feelings of fullness and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22029981/">telling us to eat more</a>. Like our metabolism, appetite hormones don’t return to the same levels before dieting, meaning feelings of hunger can prevail, even after weight is regained 4. our adrenal gland functions differently Our adrenal gland manages the hormone cortisol, which it releases when a stressor – <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10918539/">like dieting</a> – is imposed. Excess cortisol production and its presence in our blood leads to weight gain because it plays a vital role in how our bodies process, store and burn fat 5. our brain works differently Typically, diets tell us to restrict certain foods or food groups to reduce our calorie intake. However, this heightens activity in our mesocorticolimbic circuit (the reward system in our brain) resulting in us <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18568078/">overeating</a> the foods we’ve been told to avoid. This is because foods that give us pleasure release feel-good chemicals called endorphins and a learning chemical called dopamine, which enable us to remember – and give in to – that feel-good response when we see that food. When we diet, activity in our hypothalamus – the clever part of the brain that regulates emotions and food intake – also reduces, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18568078/">decreasing our control and judgement</a>. It often triggers a psychological response dubbed the “what-the-hell effect” – the vicious cycle we enter when we indulge in something we feel we shouldn’t, feel guilty about it, and then go back for even more. <h2>The take-home message</h2> We are biologically wired to protect our weight set point. Conventional diets, including the latest hype surrounding “intermittent fasting” and “keto”, fail to promote healthy eating and fail to address the weight set point. You’ll eventually regain the weight you lost. Just as the problem is evolutionary, the solution is evolutionary too. Successfully losing weight long-term comes down to: <ol> <li> following evidence-based care from health-care professionals that have studied the science of obesity, not celebrities </li> <li> losing weight in small manageable chunks you can sustain, specifically periods of weight loss, followed by periods of weight maintenance, and so on, until your goal weight is achieved </li> <li> making gradual changes to your lifestyle to ensure you form habits that last a lifetime. </li> </ol> Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-weight-set-point-and-why-does-it-make-it-so-hard-to-keep-weight-off-195724" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Body

New book points to Queen Elizabeth's true cause of death

When Queen Elizabeth died, her <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/health/caring/queen-s-official-death-certificate-released" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official death certificate</a> read that she had died of “old age”. But now a biographer has claimed that the late monarch was battling a form of myeloma, bone marrow cancer, before her death. In British author Gyles Brandreth's new book, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, he claims that he “heard” the Queen had cancer in the lead-up to her death, and that she kept it to herself after Prince Philip died. “I had heard that the Queen had a form of myeloma — bone marrow cancer — which would explain her tiredness and weight loss and those ‘mobility issues’ we were often told about during the last year or so of her life,” an extract from the book published in The Daily Mail reads. “The most common symptom of myeloma is bone pain, especially in the pelvis and lower back, and multiple myeloma is a disease that often affects the elderly. “Currently, there is no known cure, but treatment — including medicines to help regulate the immune system and drugs that help prevent the weakening of the bones — can reduce the severity of its symptoms and extend the patient’s survival by months or two to three years.” Brandreth was a friend of the late Prince Philip and a former politician, and explained that the Queen wanted to be by her husband’s side in his final moments. She, however, considered it her duty to continue despite her “intense personal grief” after Prince Philip’s death. Sunrise royal editor Rob Jobson said that the bone cancer rumours were upsetting but the truth of the matter is that they were going around for quite some time as the Queen’s health deteriorated. “She was clearly suffering in that build-up.” “I think even Brandreth himself wrote that [cancer] was what he heard, he’s not actually saying it was definite. “But the details were swirling around for a very long time and that was one of the main things that was reoccurring.” The rumours continue just months after royal biographer <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/health/caring/royal-biographer-hints-at-queen-s-cause-of-death" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lady Colin Campbell</a>, who is most well-known for her books about Princess Diana and the Queen Mother, also claimed that the Queen was suffering from a serious bone condition. Lady Campbell, however, wouldn’t reveal “the word that accurately conveys her diagnosis” out of respect for her “dignity and privacy”. “If she wants to reveal that word, or her advisors wish to reveal it, that is up to them. I don’t think one needs to use the word to get across the point that I think most people will be able to pick up, that this is a really serious situation,” Lady Campbell said in a video just prior to announcing the monarch’s passing. “The condition has been induced, in part, according to people who know her well, has been created by the tremendous stress to which she has been subjected over the last three years. “Can you imagine an older woman, as her life is winding down, and she is hoping to enjoy the last few years of her life in good health, being bombarded by the tremendous abuse to which she and the monarchy have been subjected?" She went on to say she had tried to warn people that the Queen was “far more ill than they thought she was” over the few months prior to Her Majesty’s death. “I have on several occasions in the last few weeks, if not months, made the point that she had been affected to her bones. I used that repeatedly to get across the point that what she was suffering from was a malady of the bones,” she continued. “There are two maladies of the bones, one is more painful than the other. Fortunately the Queen’s malady, although it falls in the same category and condition of the more painful one, has been the less painful one. “It has been restrictive, and I will not go into the medical treatments she has been receiving. I have previously indicated that her bruising was due to cannulas and I have left it at that.” Image: Getty

Caring

When’s the best time to use frequent flyer miles to book flights? Two economists crunched the numbers on maximizing their dollar value

Traveling during major holidays like Thanksgiving can be expensive, since so many people want to see their friends and families, wherever they might be. It’s especially hard this year with <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL">inflation soaring</a> at the fastest pace since the early 1980s. Airline fares <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUSR0000SETG01#0">were up 43% in October</a> from a year earlier – only a <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm">handful of categories increased by more</a>. One way to ease the blow to your wallet or purse is by using frequent flyer miles. While there’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/2733384">quite a bit</a> of research on when is the <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/215872">best time to use cash</a> to buy flights, <a href="https://www.bu.edu/questrom/profile/huseyin-karaca/">we wondered</a> – as travel lovers – if there’s an optimal time to use miles. So with the help of <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HikpvLqt_M8OfXrCXta4rm76Z_JreLJt/view">our research assistant</a>, we investigated this question, with a focus on flights over the Thanksgiving holiday. <h2>Americans return to the skies</h2> The day before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest days to travel in the U.S. Before the COVID-19 pandemic upended travel, the Transportation Security Administration <a href="https://www.tsa.gov/coronavirus/passenger-throughput">screened 2.6 million people</a> on Thanksgiving eve of 2019, just shy of the 2.9 million record. While the number plunged in 2020 as demand dropped, it picked up to 2.3 million last year and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-thanksgiving-is-expected-to-be-one-of-the-busiest-for-travel-in-decades-11668532148">is expected to return</a> to pre-COVID-19 levels this year. The surge in demand, along with significantly higher jet fuel costs, are key factors in leading to more expensive air fares. To offset these higher costs, <a href="https://newsroom.wf.com/English/news-releases/news-release-details/2022/New-Study-Americans-Lean-Into-Credit-Card-Rewards-to-Offset-Rising-Costs--Including-Travel/default.aspx">many consumers</a> may turn to frequent flyer miles – whether accumulated from other travel or from credit cards – to avoid forking over so much cash. <h2>Frequent flying 101</h2> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2015.1096095">Frequent flyer mile programs started</a> in the late 1970s after the <a href="https://www.faa.gov/about/history/brief_history">federal government stopped regulating</a> airfares. Before the change, fares, routes and schedules for all domestic flights were set by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board. Besides slashing fares, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/airline-frequent-flyer-miles-30-years/story?id=13616082">airlines reacted by creating frequent flyer programs</a>. Texas International Airlines, which ultimately merged with United, and Western Airlines, which later joined Delta, were among the first to institute frequent flyer programs. In a particular airline’s frequent flyer program, you earn miles when you fly with that airline. Many people get miles by using their credit cards as well. These accumulated miles can then be redeemed for free air travel. Frequent flyer programs were designed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/02634509810199535">build customer loyalty</a>, as they provide a rebate to regular passengers. They are also <a href="https://hbr.org/1995/05/do-rewards-really-create-loyalty">meant to lock travelers</a> into a particular airline – since they have a strong incentive to only fly with that carrier. One downside is that many business flyers go out of their way to use their preferred airline, <a href="https://www.informs.org/About-INFORMS/News-Room/Press-Releases/Study-Finds-that-Frequent-Flyer-Programs-Increase-Cost-of-Business-Travel">which boosts their company’s travel costs</a>. And although airlines use frequent flyer programs to increase customer goodwill, they frequently <a href="https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/united-airlines-loyalty-program-status-update">change the rules and rewards</a>, which often <a href="https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/delta-just-announced-a-change-that-will-make-people-very-mad-its-actually-a-brilliant-move.html">frustrates customers</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/2733384">Researchers have looked</a> at the <a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/215872">optimal time to buy</a> airplane <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41272-019-00193-7">tickets</a> with cash. In general, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2022/08/31/best-time-to-book-a-cheap-flight/?sh=23fdd1e72ebc">they have found prices</a> tend to dip anywhere from two months to three weeks before the travel dates. Prices are highest for those who want to book their flights very early, to lock it in, and last-minute travelers booking just before their departure dates. <h2>How frequent flyer miles compare</h2> To see when’s the best time to book with miles, we looked at <a href="https://www.oag.com/busiest-routes-right-now">one of the busiest routes in the U.S.</a> – New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX). Each month, airlines have over a quarter of a million seats flying direct on that route. There are about 30 nonstop flights a day, run by <a href="https://www.aa.com/en-us/flights-from-new-york-to-los-angeles">three</a> <a href="https://www.delta.com/us/en/flight-deals/united-states-flights/flights-to-los-angeles">different</a> <a href="https://www.jetblue.com/destinations/los-angeles-california-flights">airlines</a>. Starting about three months before Thanksgiving, we collected weekly data from the online booking sites of these three airlines. We tracked the frequent flyer miles needed as well as the price for every coach flight scheduled to take place within one week of Thanksgiving. As miles are not interchangeable between airlines in general, we needed an alternative measure for more direct comparison between different airlines. So we calculated how much a frequent flyer mile is worth by dividing the number of frequent flyer miles needed by the ticket price. We then compared the dollar worth of 1,000 miles, depending on the airline, when the booking was made and the flight date. <a href="http://businessmacroeconomics.com/">Economic theory</a> tells us that when there is lots of competition and the product is almost identical, competition should result in all businesses charging roughly the same price. That wasn’t what we found. In mid-October, Delta was asking 69,000 miles to fly the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. American Airlines was only asking 33,000 miles for roughly the same flight. This means if you have a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/select/best-travel-credit-cards/">general travel rewards credit card</a> that lets you use miles on different airlines, it pays to shop around. Just because an airline has a high price in miles doesn’t mean the price will not come down. At the start of November, Delta wanted 69,000 miles to fly at dinnertime on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. A week later the airline cut the price to 53,000 miles. A week after that, it was down to 36,500 miles, a price drop of almost 50% in two weeks. While in general the earlier you book, the better, booking too early can cost you. We found the best time to spend your frequent flyer miles for Thanksgiving travel was to book during the first week of October, which was about eight weeks out. In early October, 1,000 frequent flyer miles were worth over $14 in airfare. The last week of October, about four weeks before Thanksgiving, those same miles were only worth shy of $12. <h2>The best day to fly</h2> As for what is the best day on which to travel to get the most from your miles, there are two answers. On the Monday before Thanksgiving, your miles are typically worth the most, on average $15 per 1,000 miles. This is in sharp contrast to $11 for the day before Thanksgiving. However, flying Thanksgiving Day itself had required the lowest average number of miles, about 27,000 miles. If you haven’t booked flights yet, you may be too late to find the best value in frequent flyer miles. However, while we are still gathering and analyzing data, these tips look like they will hold up for future holidays. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/whens-the-best-time-to-use-frequent-flyer-miles-to-book-flights-two-economists-crunched-the-numbers-on-maximizing-their-dollar-value-194893" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Travel Tips

#Jacketgate 2 point whatever

Is it #Jacketgate 2.0? Or have we lost count? Viewers of The Today Show were delighted when co-host Allison Langdon, reporters Lara Vella and Fiona Willan, and Senator Jacqui Lambie all appeared dressed in blue. An image of all four was shared to the show’s Instagram page captioned “Da ba dee da ba di” in reference to Eiffel 65's iconic track. “Oh yeah … go sisters! What colour should we rock tomorrow??” Ally commented with a laughing emoji. Others however joked to hide the photo from Channel Nine newsreader Amber Sherlock who caused a stir in 2017 when she and journalist Julie Snook were both dressed in white, along with the guest. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CgswbJtPxR2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CgswbJtPxR2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by thetodayshow (@thetodayshow)</a> </div> </blockquote> In the leaked footage, Amber tells her producer: “I need Julie to put a jacket on because we're all in white. I asked her before we came on … Julie you need to put a jacket on.” Julie tried to explain to Amber that she didn’t have enough time to change to which Julie did not accept saying she “asked two hours ago”. When the trio went on air, Julie was seen wearing a black jacket and was receiving a lot of sympathy from the public for the way she was treated. But five years later, it seems that Amber manages to have a laugh about it when people commented about the incident. “Amber Sherlock won’t like you all in the same colour,” someone wrote. Amber responded: “I quite like the blue actually.. I only have ownership over white”. “Amber Sherlock would’ve had a fit,” another commented to which she responded, “Well it wasn’t white..but..”. Images: Channel Nine

Yes, your dog can understand what you’re saying — to a point

Humans are unique in their ability to develop sophisticated language abilities. Language allows us to communicate with each other and live in complex societies. It is key to our advanced cognitive abilities and technological prowess. As a developmental psychologist, I have extensively studied the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-06810-003">role of language in children’s cognitive development</a>, especially their <a href="https://genetic.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Exec-Function-e-book.pdf">executive functions</a> – the cognitive skills that allow them to control their behaviour, plan for the future, solve difficult problems and resist temptation. <h2>Executive functions</h2> The <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1002/9780470880166.hlsd001013">development of executive functions</a> occurs slowly over the course of childhood. As they get older, children get better at organizing their thoughts and controlling their behaviours and emotions. In fact, humans are the only known species to develop advanced executive functions, although other species like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1504">birds, primates</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1323533111">dogs</a> have rudimentary executive functions similar to young children. In humans, our ability to develop <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1017/CBO9780511581533.005">executive functions has been linked to our language development</a>. Language permits us to form and hold representations of our goals and plans in mind, allowing us to govern our behaviour over the long term. What is not clear is whether language actually causes the emergence of executive functions, and whether the relation between language and executive functions exists only in humans. <h2>Canine behaviour</h2> For humans, studying dogs offers the perfect opportunity to consider these questions. First, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-018-01234-1">dogs possess rudimentary executive functions</a>. These can be measured in a variety of ways, including <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7pb1j56q">asking owners</a> about their dogs’ ability to control their behaviours, as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118469">behavioural tests</a> designed to assess dogs’ control abilities. Second, not only do we expose dogs regularly to human language, but research also indicates that dogs can <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00737">perceive different words</a> and can learn to respond to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/089279305785594108">specific words</a>. For example, three dogs — two border collies named <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2010.11.007">Chaser</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1097859">Rico</a>, and a Yorkshire terrier named <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0030182">Bailey</a> — learned to respond to over 1,000, 200 and 100 words, respectively. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440929/original/file-20220114-13-11cnb18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440929/original/file-20220114-13-11cnb18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="a woman talks to her dog while they're sitting beside a lake" /></a> Dogs are regularly exposed to human language. (Shutterstock) However, many dog language studies have been limited in scope, either examining the word-based responses of only one or a small sample of dogs, or the responses of multiple dogs but only to select words. One exception was a study in which <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.563.5569&rep=rep1&type=pdf">37 dog owners were asked to list words they believed their dogs responded to consistently</a>. Owners reported that their dogs responded to an average of 29 words, although this likely is an underestimation. Indeed, research using a similar free-recall approach with parents shows that they are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1166093">prone to forget many words when asked to generate lists of words to which their babies respond consistently</a>. <h2>Communicating with dogs</h2> Research with human infants does provide a solution for systematically and reliably assessing word-based responding in large samples of dogs. Arguably the best and most widely used measure of early language abilities of infants is the <a href="https://products.brookespublishing.com/The-MacArthur-Bates-Communicative-Development-Inventories-Users-Guide-and-Technical-Manual-Second-Edition-P78.aspx">MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories</a>, a parent-report checklist of words responded to consistently. Remarkably, the number of words selected on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory predicts children’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2019.101379">language development years later</a>. In 2015, I began a collaboration with psychologist Catherine Reeve, at the time a graduate student working on dogs’ scent detection abilities. Our goal was to develop a similar measure of vocabulary for use with dog owners that we could then use to examine links between language and executive functions. We developed a list of 172 words organized in different categories (for example, toys, food, commands, outdoor places) and gave it to an online sample of 165 owners of family and professional dogs. We asked them to select words that their dogs responded to consistently. We found that, on average, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105513">service dogs respond to about 120 words, whereas family pets respond to about 80 words, ranging between 15 to 215 words across all dogs</a>. We also found that certain breed groups, such as herding dogs like border collies and toy dogs like chihuahuas, respond to more words and phrases than other breed types like terriers, retrievers and mixed breeds. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440930/original/file-20220114-25-t28c2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="A woman talks to a group of dogs in a field" /> Understanding how dogs process language can help train service dogs. (Shutterstock) What we don’t yet know is whether dogs who respond to more words also have better executive functions. We recently assessed 100 dogs on a behavioural measure of executive functions and had their owners identify words on our vocabulary checklist. We are now analysing the results. I first became interested in studying dogs to see what they might tell us about child development. That said, this research might also provide important practical information about dogs. For example, it is very expensive to train puppies for service work and many do not make the final cut. However, if early word-based responding abilities predict later behavioural and cognitive abilities, our measure could become an early and simple tool to help predict which dogs are likely to become good service animals.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173953/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sophie-jacques-1299844">Sophie Jacques</a>, Associate Professor, Psychology and Neuroscience, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/dalhousie-university-1329">Dalhousie University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-your-dog-can-understand-what-youre-saying-to-a-point-173953">original article</a>. Image: Fabian Gieske/Unsplash

Family & Pets

Death and rape threats": Sam Armytage opens up on career low point

Image: Channel 7 Sam Armytage has opened up about one of her most memorable moments as a co-host of Sunrise: the widely panned Sexy and the City skit featuring Kristin Davis that left viewers cringing in 2016. Reflecting on the moment she was pushed by producers to a don a Carrie Bradshaw wig on live television, Sam said the swift fallout included “rape and death threats” that left her terrified in her own home. At the time, Davis, who plays Charlotte in SATC, was in Sydney as an ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and looked visibly taken aback when Sam tossed her a script to re-enact a scene with Edwina Bartholomew as Samantha and Nat Barr as Miranda. Muttering, “I don’t know if this is a great idea, frankly”, Davis later tweeted in response to a Sydney Morning Herald opinion piece which called the segment “gender-cringe TV at its worst”. As a result, Sam was dropped as the MC for a UNCHR event. Speaking on Chris Walker’s Brains Trust podcast this week, Sam opened up about the fallout of the failed comedy segment, revealing that she didn’t want to do the skit to begin with. She began discussing her life in the spotlight as a Sunrise host, which she hosted opposite David Koch for eight years, before leaving the role in March. In the interview, she said many days she’d find herself worrying about the day ahead from the moment she woke up. "There were quite a few days in there where you’d wake up, and that split second when your eyes open and you think, ‘What giant sh*t storm is going to hit today?’” Using Kristin Davis situation as an example, she went on to describe her confusion over being the one to bear the brunt of the backlash, despite the skit also involving Nat Barr and Edwina Bartholomew. Calling the skit “dumb” she said, “Guess who got blamed for it? Me. I just sort of sat there and thought, why is all this stuff only happening to me?” she said, going on to explain how hesitant she was to go ahead in the first place. “The day before that upstairs in the office when the producers were like ‘We’re gonna do this tomorrow,’ I just thought, ‘Really? That’s so lame.’" “I’d have days where I was like….I’ve got a journalism degree, do I really have to do this stuff?’ But you do it because it's your job." “It’s not the 7:30 report, I wasn’t under the illusion we had to be totally serious all the time. It but was the reaction to it that got me … it was very wearing, I had many moments where I was deeply upset and I had many, many times where I would call my mum in tears,” she explained. When pressed for details on the extent of the backlash, Sam admitted it was “stuff you couldn’t even write”, including “death and rape threats”. “It actually shocks me and saddens me that I became immune to that. Other people would be horrified whereas I had to go … ‘This is part of my life’. “There were many times we had to have police outside my house, my house in the country was vandalised six times. “You get to a point where you don’t feel safe (in your own home) which is part of the reason why I sold it in the end. “(I was) living on my own with the dog and it was very, very unsafe at times. I’m not a Kardashian, I didn’t go into this to be famous … I’m a journalist by trade, so I just decided to step back and reset my life,” she concluded as the reason she resigned. The 44-year-old left her role on the Channel 7 breakfast program in March after eight years at the helm, with Nat Barr taking on her role.

Strong police presence deters threatened COVID lockdown protest

Police officers set up an exclusion zone around the city from 9 am to 3 pm with thousands of police officers on the streets of the CBD area, including three Public Order & Riot Squad teams. Taxi and rideshare companies were banned from entering the area and faced $500,000 fines if they took passengers into the CBD. Cars were stopped by police at key check points entering the CBD area and people were asked where they were going. As a result, there were very few citizens in the CBD area and there was no repeat of last Saturday’s protest where thousands marched in protest in the city centre. The police still made eight arrests and more than 250 Penalty Infringement Notices were issued, the majority for breaching stay-at-home directions. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.1696658097687px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842776/police-um-2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/dbf3612c4aa34891a36dcde11bb1edf9" /> Image: Pamela Connellan Taxi and rideshare companies faced fines of up to $500,000 dollars if they took passengers into the CBD. Seven taxi and rideshare services received a prohibition notice banning them from taking passengers to the CBD over the six-hour period. A notice in the Uber app said the orders prohibited transit through the large area, as well as any pick-ups and drop-offs. “This is likely to cause significant disruption and we advise you to consider alternatives for any essential travel to and from these areas during this period,” the notice read. The show of force coincided with news a man in his 60s died that same evening from COVID at his southwestern Sydney home, taking the death toll from the state’s current outbreak to 14. Images: Pamela Connellan

News

How long does it take to get demerit points back in New South Wales?

The demerit point scheme in New South Wales is regulated by <a href="https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2013-018#ch.3-pt.3.2">Part 3.2 of the Road Transport Act 2013</a>, and its related regulations. How many demerit points do I have to accrue before I am suspended from driving? The law states that a driver will have their licence suspended if he or she accrues a specific number of demerit points within a three year period. The number of points relating to each licence type are as follows: <ul> <li>Unrestricted licence: 13 points</li> <li>Professional driver: 14 points</li> <li>Provisional P2 licence: 7 points</li> <li>Provisional P1 licence: 4 points</li> <li>Learner licence: 4 points</li> </ul> How long will I be suspended if I accrue these points? <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/rta2013187/s33.html">Section 33 of the Act</a> prescribes the following periods of suspension in the event demerit points are accrued or exceeded: <table border="0" width="814"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="359"> Number of demerit points incurred within previous 3 years </td> <td width="177"> Period of licence suspension </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="359"> 13 (or 14 in the case of a professional driver) to 15 </td> <td width="177"> 3 months </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="359"> 16 to 19 </td> <td width="177"> 4 months </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="359"> 20 or more </td> <td width="177"> 5 months </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Can I elect to have a good behaviour licence? <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/rta2013187/:~:text=36%20Driver%20may%20elect%20to%20be%20of%20good%20behaviour%20as%20alternative,-(cf%20DL%20Act&text=(3)%20If%20a%20pers">Section 36 of the Act</a> provides that a full licence holder who has accrued or exceeded his or her demerit point limit may apply for a <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/what-is-a-good-behaviour-licence-in-new-south-wales/">good behaviour licence</a>, instead of being suspended from driving. This licence lasts for a period of 12 months. If a driver accrues two or more demerit points while on a good behaviour licence, he or she will be suspended from driving in accordance with the following table: <table border="0" width="814"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="200"> Demerit Points </td> <td width="200"> Original Suspension </td> <td width="200"> Suspension for a breach on a good behaviour licence </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="200"> 13 to 15 </td> <td width="200"> 3 months </td> <td width="200"> 6 months </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="200"> 16 to 19 </td> <td width="200"> 4 months </td> <td width="200"> 8 months </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="200"> 20 or more </td> <td width="200"> 5 months </td> <td width="200"> 10 months </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> How long does it take to get my demerit points back? According to the Act, demerit points are subject to deletion 3 years after the date of the offence for which the points are accrued. So, for example, if 3 demerit points are accrued for an offence of speeding by more than 10km/h but not more than 20km/h on 5 April 2021, those demerit points are subject to deletion 3 years after 5 April 2021; although, for administrative reasons, the RMS may exercise discretion to add a reasonable period, to allow for payments and potential appeals. According to the <a href="https://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/demerits-offences/demerit-points/how-it-works.html">RMS website</a>, this period may be an additional 4 months. <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/rta2013187/s41a.html">The Act also states that</a> all demerit points are deleted upon the commencement of any driver licence suspension. Going to court for a traffic offence? If you are going to court over a traffic offence, call Sydney Criminal Lawyers anytime on (02) 9261 8881 for expert advice and formidable representation by one of our <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/videos/appeals-against-driver-licence-suspensions-by-the-rms/">experienced traffic lawyers</a>. Republished with permission from <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-demerit-points-back-in-new-south-wales/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</a>

Legal

Coles set to give away MasterChef cookware

They may be some of the most-used items in the kitchen, but pots and pans are often the last to be replaced. But from March 24, Coles customers will have the chance to score points when they shop that can later be redeemed for new cookware. Shoppers who use FlyBuys will have the opportunity to earn "cookware credits" that can be redeemed for seven different MasterChef cookware items when they spend $20 or more. When shoppers earn 40 credits, they can choose between 20cm, 26cm and 28cm non-stick fry pans, a 24cm casserole dish, 24cm steamer, 24cm stock pot and 18cm saucepan. There is also an option where customers can purchase half the pan with credits and pay the remaining retail price. Coles chief marketing officer Lisa Ronson said the supermarket had decided to run the promotion after the success of its MasterChef knives FlyBuys deal last year. “A lot of pots and pans got a good work out over the past year and there’s plenty of Aussie families who are now much in need of a few replacements,” she said. “Our recent MasterChef knives program was our most popular loyalty program to date with the highest participation rate across Australian households.” Coles ambassador and celebrity chef Luke Mangan gave the MasterChef cookware the tick of approval. “The cookware is made from high quality stainless steel and suitable for all cooktops including induction, and the pans feature a three-layer ceramic coating guaranteed to help customers get the best out of their cooking,” he said.

Money & Banking

A little ray of sunshine as 2021 economic survey points to brighter times ahead

Suddenly, economic forecasters are optimistic. Six months ago the forecasting team assembled by The Conversation was expecting Australia’s recession to continue into 2021, sending the economy backwards a further 4.6% throughout the year. This morning, in the survey prepared ahead of the Reserve Bank board’s first meeting for the year and an address by the Reserve Bank governor to the National Press Club on Wednesday, the same forecasting team is upbeat. It expects the recovery that began in the September quarter of last year to continue, propelling the economy forward by a larger than normal 3.2% throughout 2021, with growth slowing to more sedate 2.1% per year by the middle of the decade, still well above than dismal 1.7% per year expected six months ago. The unemployment rate is now expected to remain near its present 6.6% throughout 2021, instead of soaring to almost 10% as expected six months ago. But improvement in the unemployment rate is expected to be slow, and as house prices and share market prices climb, most of the panel expect the Reserve Bank to lose its patience and begin to lift interest rates from their emergency lows before the end of next year, ahead of its published schedule. The 21-person forecasting panel includes university-based macroeconomists, economic modellers, former Treasury, IMF, OECD, Reserve Bank and financial market economists, and a former member of the Reserve Bank board. Economic growth Only two of the panel expect the economy to shrink further in 2021. The rest expect the economy to grow, two of the panel by at least 5%, something that isn’t out of the question given that the economy shrank by 7% during the worst three months of the 2020 coronavirus restrictions and clawed back only <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-isnt-right-to-say-we-are-out-of-recession-as-these-six-graphs-demonstrate-151210">3.3%</a> in the three months that followed. <hr /> <iframe id="bH5sm" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/bH5sm/3/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> Panellist Saul Eslake who forecast growth of 3.5% in 2021 six months ago is now forecasting growth of 5.25%, saying the transition away from JobKeeper and other supports has been going more smoothly and the property market and residential building market have holding up much better than he had expected. Growth will be constrained by unusually slow population growth, a gradual tightening of government purse strings and anticipation of higher interest rates. <hr /> <iframe id="WPE9k" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/WPE9k/2/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> China’s 2021 growth, expected to be 4% six months ago, is now expected to be 6.3% as it reaps the fruits of having recovered early from its coronavirus crisis with its production systems intact. Panellist Warren Hogan cautions that longer term China is likely to place less importance on economic growth and more on military adventurism. The continuing COVID crisis in the United States is expected to push its recovery out into the second half of the year as vaccination programs and President Biden’s stimulus measures take hold. Unemployment Although few on the panel expect unemployment to get much worse, most believe it will be many years before the unemployment rate shrinks to the 4.5% to 5% the Reserve Bank has adopted as a target. Panellist Julie Toth says the end of JobKeeper in March will reduce the ability of struggling businesses to keep their employees. Closed boarders mean skill mismatches and shortages will grow alongside persistent unemployment and underemployment. Other panellists warn of a “jobless recovery” as large organisations that held onto labour during the crisis start to shed staff as part of digitisation programs. <hr /> <iframe id="qaVR7" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qaVR7/3/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> Living standards Annual wage growth, at present a minuscule 1.4% – the lowest in the 23 year history of the index – is not expected to improve at all in the year ahead, ending 2021 at 1.4%. At the same time annual inflation is expected to climb from last year’s unusually low 0.9% to 1.6%, putting it above wage growth for the first calendar year on record, sending the buying power of wages backwards. <hr /> <iframe id="NSbFV" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NSbFV/4/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> A broader measure of living standards, real net national disposable income per capita, which takes account of the hours worked in each job and other sources of income, is expected to continue to climb in 2021, continuing the recovery begun in last year’s September quarter after the precipitous slide of 8% during the first half of last year. Household spending is expected to climb a further 3.4% in real terms, continuing the recovery begun in the September quarter after a slide of 13.8% in the first half of last year. <hr /> <iframe id="GqSAx" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GqSAx/2/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> Interest rates The panel expects the Reserve Bank to lift its cash rate from the present all-time low of 0.10% well ahead of the “<a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2020/mr-20-32.html">at least three years</a>” timeframe set out by the bank. The bank had promised not increase the cash rate until actual inflation was “<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-the-reserve-bank-is-going-to-bat-for-australia-like-never-before-149311">sustainably within</a>” its 2% to 3% target range. And it had moved the <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-the-reserve-bank-is-going-to-bat-for-australia-like-never-before-149311">three-year bond rate</a> to 0.10% as a sign that it expected the cash rate to stay at 0.10% for at least three years. Although few on the panel expect inflation to climb back to the Reserve Bank’s target range by the end of next year, most expect the bank to begin to lift its cash rate by then. <hr /> <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/381256/original/file-20210129-13-1ifkzho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" />The Conversation, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" class="license">CC BY-ND</a> Panellist Mark Crosby says rising home and other asset prices will put the bank under pressure to backtrack on its commitment in the knowledge that the economy is in a position to withstand more normal rates. Long-term interest rates are already higher than they were at the start of this year. The panel expects the ten-year benchmark used to set the rates at which the government can borrow to gradually climb from last year’s all-time lows. <hr /> <iframe id="hWglQ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/hWglQ/2/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> Asset prices Sydney home prices are expected to climb 4.9% after climbing <a href="https://www.corelogic.com.au/sites/default/files/2021-01/CoreLogic%20home%20value%20index%20Jan%202021%20FINAL.pdf">2.7%</a> in COVID-hit 2020. Melbourne prices are expected to climb a lesser 4.4% after slipping 1.3%. Saul Eslake says Melbourne’s economy has been far more reliant on interstate and international migration than any other part of Australia and has damaged its image as a desirable destination by its handling of the pandemic. Other panellists draw a distinction between apartment price growth, which should be weak because of lower demand for international student rentals, and freestanding home prices which should be supported by an implicit Reserve Bank guarantee of three years of ultra-low interest rates. The panel expects housing investment to climb 3.8% after falling 5% during the first nine months of 2020. <hr /> <iframe id="Q1Dwo" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Q1Dwo/3/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> The Australian share market collapsed 37% in just over a month in the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis and spent the rest of 2020 recovering. Although opinion is split about 2021, the panel’s average forecast is for growth of 3.5% Panellist Mala Raghavan says low interest rates are forcing long term investors to take positions in companies with strong fundamentals. Craig Emerson says he expects the equities bubble to burst at some point, but probably not while low interest rates continue. At US$160 a tonne, the iron ore price has almost doubled since the start of 2020. On balance the panel expects it to ease to US$133 throughout 2O21, noting that at some point Brazil is going to return to full production after a series of dam collapses and pandemic-related problems. China is thought to prefer to buy from Brazil. <hr /> <iframe id="7qg2U" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/7qg2U/3/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> <hr /> Business The panel expects Australian businesses to find any lift in the share market and consumer spending uninspiring. After collapsing 24% in the first nine months of 2020 the panel expects non-mining business investment to climb by only 2% in 2021 and 3.1% in 2022. It cites low immigration and uncertainty over COVID and the shape of new business practices as more important in determining investment decisions than the government’s generous tax incentives. <hr /> <iframe id="9GSTa" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9GSTa/2/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> Government The panel’s central budget deficit forecasts are not too far from the latest government forecasts <a href="https://theconversation.com/so-far-so-good-myefo-budget-update-shows-recovery-gathering-pace-152227">released in December</a> at A$192 billion in 2020-21 and $114 billion in 2021-22. Panellists note that the government will have little opportunity to restrain spending in the lead up to the election and will be under pressure to boost the JobSeeker unemployment benefit which is due to sink back to its pre-COVID level on <a href="https://theconversation.com/top-economists-want-jobseeker-boosted-by-100-per-week-and-tied-to-wages-150364">April 1</a>. <hr /> <iframe id="ZzfIZ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ZzfIZ/2/" height="400px" width="100%" frameborder="0"></iframe> Written by Peter Martin. This article first appeared on The Conversation.

Retirement Income

Australia's "worst driver" accused of losing more than 500 demerit points

Kevin Jones could well hold Australia's worst driving record as an alleged repeat disqualifier who has racked up more than 500 demerit points. A Current Affair confronted him as Jones attended Parramatta court this week. "Can you explain how you could possibly have lost more than 500 demerit points?" he was asked. "And $70,000 in fines?" Jones wore a face mask, sunglasses, a baseball hat and a hoodie to conceal his identity. "Mr Jones, haven't you got any sort of explanation at all?" Simon Bouda persisted. "You're going to be pleading not guilty ... is that the case?" His lawyer spoke for him. "We wish not to comment," his lawyer replied. "As I indicated the matter is before the courts." Despite Jones going home in a taxi, A Current Affair was waiting at his house to bombard him with questions. "Mr Jones, you didn't drive home? Wise choice – getting a cab," Mr Bouda said. Retired New South Wales Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander Mick Corboy had a lot to say about Jones' flouting of the rules. "To see these people that constantly flout the laws and get up points and even keep driving after they've been to court a number of times ... very frustrating for the police and it's something the police take very seriously. "There's recent research that actually says that people who flout the law, people who have points or are disqualified are often involved in more serious crashes because they're risk takers and they take that chance." Mr Jones will face court again in April next year. Photo credits: <a rel="noopener" href="https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/australias-worst-driver-alleged-repeat-disqualified-driver-loses-over-500-demerit-points/1d8e0e45-6c3b-44d6-89a7-55b29a1a727f" target="_blank">9now</a>

Legal

“Enough, I’m sick of it”: Erin Molan reaches breaking point

Channel 9 presenter Erin Molan has had enough of the internet bullies and is putting her foot down once and for all by issuing an emotional plea. The star says vicious social media trolls need to be punished after showing some of the horrifying messages she receives on a daily basis. Speaking on WSFM 101.7’s Jonesy and Amanda, the NRL host spoke about shocking personal rumours that were spreading online about Broncos coach Anthony Seibold. From there, Molan went on a passionate spiel about about the need to hold people accountable for their actions. Molan is no stranger to vicious online tirades, saying she has been sent messages including “your daughter will die”, “you should die” and “I will ensure you and your daughter die”. Unfortunately when she’s taken the horrifying messages and comments to the eSafety Commission, she’s been told there’s nothing the authorities can do. Molan blasted the despicable trolling of Seibold, who has hired lawyers and European cybersecurity experts to trace the origin of the smear campaign against him. She went on to praise the coach for taking action into his own hands. <img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7837456/new-project-14.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/e3ac43980dec4a479efe291e86535c97" /> Broncos coach Anthony Seibold “Some of these rumours that have been circulating and some of the trolling that he has received has been some of the vilest that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some pretty vile stuff and I’ve been the recipient of some pretty vile stuff,” Molan said. “I am so glad that he is taking action, I’m so glad that he has got lawyers. I’m so glad that he has got cyber experts from overseas. “Trolling is not someone not liking you. Trolling is not someone going online and saying, ‘Erin I don’t like your dress’ or ‘Erin I don’t like you’. That’s not trolling. “Trolling is vile, repeated harassment. It is threatening, it is so serious … Things need to change.” Molan went on to say that she wants perpetrators to receive demanding threats of jail or huge fines to warn them of the serious repercussions they should face. “The whole conversation around trolling at the moment is for the victim. Block them, ignore them, report them, got off social media,” Molan said. “No! I’m sorry, that’s not good enough. “Social media is really important for a lot of people. You should not have to get offline because you are being trolled. We need to change the conversation, we need to be saying to perpetrators, ‘You can go to jail, you can be fined, you can be sued for defamation for hundreds of thousands of dollars’. “This conversation needs to change. “I’m sick of people telling victims to get off social media or to ignore them. We need to have campaigns out there that say to people, ‘You can go to jail if you make things up that ruin people’s reputations. You can go to jail if you threaten someone’s life’. “I know I’m fired up about this, I get very passionate about it, because this has to be a line in the sand moment. “Trolling and bullying and the abuse of people online will never stop unless people think they will be accountable for their actions.” Molan also called on the NRL to take a stand against social media trolling and bullying. “The NRL should put its massive weight behind some kind of campaign and movement that changes the conversation around this so we’re no longer looking at victims and saying, ‘Just block them, just get offline’,” Molan said. “No! Go away, that’s not right. “Let’s look at perpetrators. Let’s scare the ‘bleep’ out of perpetrators because they need to know there are consequences to their actions. “So let’s make there be consequences to their actions and then let’s tell people about the consequences.”

News

What’s the point of grief?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-internet-is-changing-the-way-we-grieve-100134">Grieving</a> is an experience almost <a href="https://theconversation.com/bowie-diana-and-why-we-mourn-in-public-53396">everyone will go through</a> at some point in their life. And is something we often have no control over. <a href="https://animalstudiesrepository.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1133&context=animsent">It isn’t just humans either</a>. There is plenty of evidence, albeit anecdotal, that <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-grieving-mother-orca-tells-us-about-how-animals-experience-death-101230">other mammals</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAafj--lRW0">particularly primates</a>, stay close to their dead relatives or babies – even carrying them around for a time before descending into a period of depression. In terms of evolution, <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-mummification-to-sky-burials-why-we-need-death-rituals-60386">if grief were not helpful</a>, it would long have been bred out of our species. The real question then is not why do we grieve, more what purpose does it serve? Stages of grief People often talk of the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-five-stages-of-grief-dont-come-in-fixed-steps-everyone-feels-differently-96111">stages of grief</a>”. The “five stages” model is the best known, with the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13576275.2012.758629">stages</a> being denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – though these were actually written to describe coming to terms with dying rather than bereavement. For many working in the area of bereavement of counselling, the stages of grief are little more than of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0030222817691870">historical interest</a> now, as the stages are seen as too rigid and not individualised enough – grief don’t come in fixed stages and everyone feels things differently. In fact, most of what we understand about grief today, is down to psychologist, John Bowlby’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-everyone-should-know-their-attachment-style-105321">attachment theory</a>. Essentially, attachment theory focuses on the “psychological connectedness between human beings”. The theory looks at the quality of the intimate bonds we make during the course of our lives, with a specific focus on parent-child relations. And it seems that grief is the flipside to these very close attachments we, as humans, are able to form. Every parent knows the ear-splitting protest when their infant is left alone. If they return quickly, peace is restored. Bowlby concluded that this behaviour evolved to keep the infant close to parents and safe from predators. If, for whatever reason, the parent is unable to return, Bowlby noticed that after a prolonged protest, the child became withdrawn and despairing. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00332747.1970.11023644?journalCode=upsy20">Colin Murray Parkes</a>, guru of bereavement theory and research, and a colleague of Bowlby’s, noticed the similarity between this behaviour and grief. Science of grief As a <a href="http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17661/">bereavement counsellor and researcher</a> this is something I see in my clients. Initially they cry out in protest, but as time passes, they begin to despair, realising their loved one has gone forever. Grief isn’t just a mental experience either. It also has a physiological effect as it can raise the levels of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.08.009">stress hormone cortisol</a>. This may explain why many of my clients experience stress reactions in the form of panic attacks, particularly if they attempt to bottle up their emotions. Modern techniques in neuroscience allow us to see grief in real time. In MRI scans, a brain region called the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2553561/">nucleus accumbens</a>, which lights up when we talk fondly of our love ones, also glows at our grief at losing them. These reward centres in our brain that make us happy together, keep us bonded by making us sad when we are apart. In this sense, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-18149-011">evolutionary biologists</a> have suggested the protest phase of grief lasts long enough for us to search for our loved one, yet is short enough to detach when hope is lost. The despair phase, a form of depression, follows – and may serve to detach us from the one we have lost. It saves us from an energy-draining and fruitless search for them. And in time, emotional detachment allows us to seek a new breeding partner. It has also been suggested that both protest and despair may function to foster family and tribal cohesion and a sense of shared identity through the act of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4889573">shared grief</a>. A changed world Most people associate grief with losing someone they love, but in reality people can <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-really-can-die-of-a-broken-heart-heres-the-science-57442">grieve for all sorts of reasons</a>. In essence, knowing what to expect and feeling secure and stable is important for our survival - so when a loss occurs in our lives, our world shifts and is turned upside down. In grief and trauma work, this is knows this as “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1972-21034-001">assumptive world theory</a>”. In the face of death and trauma, these beliefs are shattered and disorientation and even panic can enter the lives of those affected. Life is split into two halves – before the loss and after the loss. We grieve for the loss of the safe and familiar and it feels as though things will never be the same again. The loss of a loved one triggers both the grief of separation and the loss of our assumptive world in which they were a part. But over time, we adapt to our new world. We <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/10397-002">relearn the world changed by our loss</a>. Indeed, one of the privileges of working with grief is watching how so many clients learn and grow from the experience and emerge from their grief better equipped to deal with future losses.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137665/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/john-frederick-wilson-1037315">John Frederick Wilson</a>, Honorary Research Fellow, Director of Bereavement Services Counselling & Mental Health Clinic, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/york-st-john-university-833">York St John University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-grief-137665">original article</a>.

Mind

Feelings: what’s the point of rational thought if emotions always take over?

“I have long sought to make radical changes to my life, such as leaving a toxic workplace and losing weight. Yet I never get around to it. I am scared to leave work and sad about being overweight – and I eat when I feel that way. To what extent are humans driven by fear and emotion? What’s the point of rational thought if it keeps getting overridden by emotions? - Ed, 42, London.” One of the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/phineas-gage-neurosciences-most-famous-patient-11390067/">most famous brain injuries</a> recorded in history was that suffered by Phineas Gage. Having had a large iron rod driven through his head, Gage lost a major part of his prefrontal cortex, which among other things facilitates interaction between reasoning and emotions. Gage survived his injury and maintained most of his cognitive functions. He could do maths, but he failed to make almost any decisions – especially those involving social interactions. That’s because decision making is a complex matter involving both reasoning and emotions. Even the most emotional person uses rational thought when deciding, and even the most rational person is affected by emotions when making decisions. Yet we often, as you do here, tend to highlight the negative role of emotions in decision making. It may seem like life would be easier if we could be entirely rational. But evolution has supported the development of feeling and thinking exactly because we need them both. Feelings take care of our desires and needs now, while rationality is defending our interests and wellbeing in the future. I <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23112741-feeling-smart">call these two entities</a> that live in us Tod (today) and Tom (tomorrow). If Tom didn’t exist, we would definitely be in a bad shape. Just imagine a world without reasoning – we would lose interest in anything that doesn’t provide us with instant pleasure. We would avoid learning, producing and protecting ourselves. We would simply sink into a life of addiction that would kill us even before we managed to breed. But without Tod we wouldn’t survive either. Tod is providing us with immediate decisions when danger is imminent. If we spot a car coming towards us while crossing the street, Tod will stop us. Tom might be able to calculate velocities and distances to tell whether or not we are in danger, but by the time he’d come up with the answer, it would be too late. Tod is also facilitating our social interactions, not only with his positive habits, such as love and empathy, but also with nasty ones. Studies show that people who can evoke a certain degree of anger and insult during bargaining and debate <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21639649">do better</a> than measured people. A world without feelings But beyond all this, there is one crucial reason why we should never be sorry for Tod being part of us. My friend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naftali_Tishby">Tali Tishbi</a>, an eminent artificial intelligence (AI) researcher, believes that, in a few decades, AI will manage to do away with death and grant us all eternal life – albeit digitally. Here is how it is going to work: during our regular life – phase 1 – a database will store all the decisions, views, comments and ideas we have ever made, together with the circumstances in which they were made. Machine learning (a type of AI) techniques will then <a href="https://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.1429198">analyse this data and generate software</a> that can produce decisions in hypothetical circumstances based on those we took in our life. When our phase 1 life eventually terminates, we will enter phase 2 of eternal life, through this software. Our bodies will be dead at this stage, and this data from our minds will instead be located in a computer. We would feel or experience nothing, but for all other purposes, we’d be there. This version of ourselves can resume our job as a chief executive because the machine would make exactly the same decisions that we would have done had we been in phase 1 of our life. It would also still be able to offer advice to our children when they are in their 90s, and be able to comment on our grand-grand-grandchild’s new girlfriend in 2144. But let’s now go back to Tod and Tom. Life without Tod would look pretty much like what my friend calls phase 2 of life – and what I call death with an advanced photo album. Had our decisions been ruled solely by Tom, we wouldn’t be humans – we would be algorithms. For you, it sounds like Tod is ruling the day in your life, leaving little space for Tom. After all, you can always start a diet or quit your job tomorrow – right now, though, you’d rather relax. People may differ in how much they rely on rational thought, but everybody ultimately uses both – even you. You have, after all, identified a goal that you want to achieve. So how can we have a better balance between the Tod and Tom? Several psychology studies show that our patience with Tom <a href="https://faculty.washington.edu/jdb/345/345%20Articles/Baumeister%20et%20al.%20(1998).pdf">is depleted rather quickly</a>. This is not surprising, since he is the one who tells us to do those unpleasant things, such as staying away from croissants. When we were kids it was the role of our parents to help us to invite Tom in. But even when we are independent, we need help in a similar way from time to time. One way of doing this is to ask our partner or friends to support us in achieving our goals. Another is inviting Tom to comment on someone else who is in a similar situation to us. We don’t like Tom to tell us what to do, but we are curious to hear what he has to say. So with a little bit of self-deception we might be able to take the perspective of an “impartial spectator”, which will make it harder to ignore him. Tod and Tom are better friends than we tend to believe. They feed and reinforce one another. The best rational decisions take feelings into account. If you want to go on a diet, the best option is not always picking the one with the smallest calorie intake, but the one that you like the most and can stick with. For some people, it will be eating only boiled potatoes, while for others it will be a low-carb diet. So don’t be scared to let Tod have a say. And get some help with inviting Tom in. It is ultimately together that they work best. Written by Eyal Winter. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/feelings-whats-the-point-of-rational-thought-if-emotions-always-take-over-128592">The Conversation.</a>

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