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Don't worry about it. This is the Australian Government. They say it is going to cost $2B and take x years to come to fruition, what they mean is that it'll cost $20B and you'll never see it.

I mean here in Melbourne we are STILL waiting for myki

This was in The Australian newspaper on Nov 2, about a bootable CD (think Knoppix)
being developed in conjunction with Edith Cowan University:

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,24597325-5013040,00.html

FTA: "Known as Simple Image Preview Live Environment (SImPLE), the tool is heralded as the new frontier fighting cybercrime."
SImPLE? Sounds right ...

Who'da thunk it? Aussie cops ahead of the UK cops?
Or did I just discover a bit of plagiarism? Guess I'd better read both articles ... tomorrow, it's after 3 a.m.

Maybe they read this story 'A Linux-Based "Breath Test" For Porn On PCs' (http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/04/1746220) which links to this article http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24597325-15306,00.html about a linux live CD which scans the computer to help decide if it needs to be taken for forensic analysis and decided it could be applied to all situations.

Where is it? Come on Rudd, where the hell is the broadband infrastructure promised during the campaign?

Well it's been in the news recently: the tender deadline just closed. Telstra were holding out because they didn't like the conditions - probably that the Government would even consider any other provider in the first place! They eventually submitted a tender that was supposedly 12 pages long (compared to the hundreds of pages for the others).

Here's a place to go to for some recent news stories.

Mate, get yourself straightened out. Yes Howard was right wing, but the vast expansion of welfare under Howard was socialist policy. Left wing. Many in the media made this criticism.

The conservative or right wing approach to this problem would be to offer up the censorship service to those who want it (Howards policy). Note here individual freedom and responsibility is emphasised.

Here, I'll quote Jack the Insider on this very topic for you:

mandatory filtering is straight out of the leftist handbook on public policy: impose a blanket ban, clap your hands together and pronounce the problem fixed.

Note: Stalin ran a left wing government, the Chinese run a left wing government. The only thing wrong here is that you (and a bloody lot of others) seem to equate opression and control with 'right wing' and freedom, happiness and bunny rabbits with 'left wing'. This is what is completely wrong! Left and right wing government can each be opressive or liberal, that is not the point of left and right wing.

Please read up on it, left and right wing are economic positions, not social ones. Left wing means the state favours state run institutions over the private sector, a right wing government favours free markets and private enterprise. Forcing regulation like this on private enterprise is left wing policy.

There has been a recent court decision in New South Wales (a state in Australia), where images of Bart and Lisa Simpson engaged in sex acts are considered child porn and a citizen has been fined for having such images on computer he owned. If the national filter is to prevent child porn the scale of filtering is just mind boggling. (There are various references to the court decision... here is one example http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24771973-16947,00.html )

It already has..

appropriately today this story http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24744138-12377,00.html Guns have been slowly outlawed in australia started with automatic rifle then other types were included over the years however the stats in the story show (a) criminals will always have guns (b) another weapon will replace the gun what they don't say is guns usually used at a distance is as likely to miss as hit while the perpetrator then runs, while with a knife the perp is enraged and gets further enraged till death is assured or recovery is unlikely I rather see older people have something to defend themselves

The better question would be: How long did this AU$84MILLION filter take a 16 year old to bypass?

Hopefully after this debacle the public will finally realise that Labour and Liberal are both equally shit, and then promptly vote in the Sex Party

Bullshit. The current government has only been in power for 12 months and the previous government spent $100M trying to do exactly the same thing. I'm curious, which of the two major parties are you going to vote for to turn this thing around ??
Apart from a vote being 2-3 years away...this simply isn't going to be an election issue come voting time. Outside of people who actually understand what it means (a very, very small number), this is not an issue - and with the global financial crisis dominating the news - it can't become one either.

Thats kinda scary really if it got through an inspection process.
Just think it could be a bit of JavaScript sending bank and user details to someone. I would think that banks would be pretty strict on the code being written since their customers rely on it.
Especially when things like a major bank like Commonwealth Bank of Australia takes out a withdrawal twice, and keep the second withdrawal themselves. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,24703544-2,00.html

Sorry, I missed the part in the article you linked to where PETA claimed responsibility for flour being thrown on that person's fur coat. Just because somebody did something mean in connection with animal rights doesn't mean PETA did it.

Oh, sorry for not connecting all the dots for you. I guess I made the mistake in thinking you could properly interperate what is written.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,24663580-7485,00.html

Also, ALF is not an organization, it's a banner or concept. Sort of like "open source". It's not possible for PETA or anyone else to fund the ALF, because there's no institution to give the money to.

Its a concept endourced and funded by PETA. Perhaps you need to do some research of your own.

I hoped you would take the time to learn about those you disagree with before leveling criticisms...the way you're doing it makes you look just as rabid and ideological as PETA.

This is a really odd statement to make, given that I mostly agree with them, although I have no problem using animials for food. I really think you should stop and examine PETA more closely, because you clearly don't know what you're talking about. Their goals are mostly admirable, the way they go about them are horrid and in some cases illegal.

By the looks of it the filter may fail before it even begins. The Greens (the Australian Green Party) is talking about pulling its support for the filter. Seeing as the Green vote primarily comes from Hippies other open minded individuals (liberal as in liberalism) the Greens are thinking about their chances of re-election by going against this unpopular move.

They claim iiNet authorised copyright infringement by failing to prevent its users from downloading pirated movies and TV shows.

So I guess this means that the Jews (and the Catholic Church and the Masons) really were responsible for 9/11 - after all, they failed to prevent it.

Actually the Australian Federation Against Copywrong Theft (our new MPIAA equivalent) is claiming that iiNet knew about the infringement but still did nothing to prevent it. Whilst this is a little more solid and less outrageous then your version but its still a tenuous link at best. I have faith in the Australian court system, the chances of the case getting an ignorant judge is not good, which means that the MPIAA equivalent will need to provide actual evidence against iiNet and iiNet is in a good position to simply release the lawyers. There's a good reason this hasn't been tried in AU before.

Also It's good that MSM in AU has made no secret about who is really behind the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, three out of the big four movie studio's were mentioned in the article before the name of their shell organisation.

Have the pirates been killing anyone? Not to my knowledge ....

Sadly, this is incorrect:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21842522-1702,00.html
http://article.wn.com/view/2008/10/23/Pirates_to_kill_crew_on_arms_ship_if_NATO_ships_attack/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1572236/Somali-pirates-threaten-to-kill-tanker-crew.html

They can and do kill people. And if this is allowed to continue, more and more people are going to die. On both sides.

I'm merely saddened your plan doesn't involve fixing any of Somalia's real problems. Just killing offenders.

My plan only addresses the short term issue: The piracy. That has to be dealt with immediately. Unchecked piracy will only result in the loss of more lives and cause economic problems on a world-wide scale.

Dealing with the political issues in Somalia is a more complex issue that lacks an immediate solution. I wish I could venture a good plan, but I do not understand the dynamics of the situation well enough to produce one. It's not like Somalia hasn't been receiving foreign aid:

By some
reckonings, no other country save Israel has
received such high levels of military and
economic aid per capita; certainly no country
has less to show for it. Even before its collapse
into protracted civil war and anarchy in 1990,
Somalia had earned a reputation as a graveyard
of foreign aid, a land where aid projects were
notoriously unsuccessful, and where high levels
of foreign assistance helped to create an
entirely unsustainable, corrupt and repressive
state.

What do they do with our foreign aid workers? Why, they kidnap and kill them:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/world/africa/06briefs-6FOREIGNAIDW_BRF.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081105/wl_afp/somaliaunrestreliefkidnap_081105183945
http://www.patronusanalytical.com/files/Somali%20Aid%20Worker%20Murdered.php
http://www.pr-inside.com/somali-aid-worker-killed-witnesses-say-r904499.htm

What would you have us do? I'm all for finding a peaceful solution if one can be arrived at. But as of this moment, there is an immediate problem people are dying or being threatened with death.

Food for thought: Isn't it interesting how the pirates can't afford food, but can always afford assault rifles? Perhaps there is more to their Robin Hood image than meets the eye.

I sure hope you're being ironic.

I think the "vast majority" of Australians you refer to is a bit of an overreaction. You're making sweeping generalisations based off of nothing. It's true that there are a lot of conservatives over here, but there are also a lot of die-hard civil rights groups.

In fact, just yesterday, a "Sex Party" has announced that they are running for parliament. I am not kidding. They are focusing on freedoms such as net neutrality, no censorship on the net, more liberal attitudes towards sex and sexuality (including gay marriage) and those sorts of things.

Of course, your assertions about people not caring about censorship are going to be very well tested, now that Senator Fielding has decided he wants all pornography banned by the filter.

They may be able to ban child porn and pro-terrorist sites without much of a fight. Maybe even racial hatred websites. However... things change when you get between millions of men and their (non-child) porn.

I hope Fielding's move proves the decisive error in this campaign and results in the long-overdue nail in the coffin of this festering turd of a bill.

Sounds like super awesome fun.
Wonder why no-one has thought of that before?

Strangely enough there are court cases about that.

As an Australian that values civil rights, including privacy and freedom of speech, I hope that those of us that don't agree with this level of moral panic can make a difference to this proposal.

Our press is so well educated, technically competent that they could print this one.

The poor woman has things flashing up all the time and can't leave the machine without supervision to check the stove. FFS.

I don't know if one radio station in Australia will be endorsing continued use of Facebook during working hours - a presenter recently forgot to read the news because they were too busy looking at Facebook.

I don't know what it is about Australia and our communications ministers, we seem to get the members that have the least technical knowledge for this portfolio. First it was Alston (http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/24/148225) and now Conroy. Can we please get someone who knows about the tubes?

BTW the strip club was in New York (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22268123-2,00.html)

All the searches (yes ALL of them) should be videotaped and the videos held for a duration significantly long enough to permit any traveler to file a claim against any loss. This should be codified into law and rigorously enforced by independent oversight.

This has already happened in Australia. A baggage handler a few years ago stole a camel suit from a suitcase and paraded up and down the bowels of the airport. He was seen by the owner who reported it to security. The guy got sacked and from then on everything is now recorded.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,12850308-2702,00.html

A global alert was issued in 2005 after a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en-route to Kuala Lumpur from Perth experienced similar problems.

Investigators found a software glitch in a unit made by the same US manufacturer as the one in the Qantas plane combined with a mechanical problem.

Source

"I've read that Qantas outsourced the maintenance of their planes to a Malaysian subsidiary of Malaysian Airlines, so chances are both planes were serviced by the same group of people"

Not necessarily:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24152399-5017323,00.html

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/15/nation/20080815171659&sec=nation

As for the 777, the Malaysian pilots were lucky or did a better job of handling the incident - no injuries:

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2005/AAIR/aair200503722.aspx

This isn't an isolated incident. Although I think the string of technical incidents suffered by Qantas isn't a coincidence either. "A global alert was issued in 2005 after a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en-route to Kuala Lumpur from Perth experienced similar problems. Investigators found a software glitch in a unit made by the same US manufacturer as the one in the Qantas plane combined with a mechanical problem." http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24499849-15306,00.html

The strange thing is that Qantas has had at least one minor accident each week the last month or two. First it was exploding oxygen cylinders then a few emergency landings and now passengers stuck to the roof!!!!

What ever happened to wearing seat belts!!!

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24463183-661,00.html

http://www.aviation.com/travel/ap-081008-quantas-altitude-drop.html

Notice how these two stories have contradicting points.

Every American flight I've ever been on requests that you keep your seat belt fastened when you're in your seat, and I've been on plenty. They say that specifically to prevent these kinds of accidents. I've also been in some severe turbulence where you'd want to be buckled up because of the way it tosses around hundreds of tons of perfectly functioning airplane. The question for me isn't whether there was electrical interference from consumer products (highly unlikely), but why did so many people have their seatbelt off mid-flight.

It's also quite possible that she abused her power to try and get her former brother-in-law fired.

Don't forget to gloss over the fact that HE TASERed his 10 y.o. stepson ...

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24325497-401,00.html

I just wanted to make it clear that I'm neither unaware of, nor afraid to criticize, the failings of a system that could allow a decision like that to be generated

You could not be so unafraid to criticize a judge in Australia. Just check this response on one of the Brisbane Times blogs http://blogs.brisbanetimes.com.au/bluntinstrument/archives/2008/07/post_1.html JB: Actually yr right about me forgetting to unload on the majesty of the Law. I should have. Although, without a First Amendment we are much more constrained in the criticism we can make of the bench. Contempt of Court applies swiftly and mercilessly.

You can also be given jail time here for refusing to answer questions from the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner
If you refuse to attend an ABCC interview, or if you refuse to answer questions, you face six months' jail.

There is no right to silence.

Nor right to bear arms. I do wonder about my fellow Australians, most of whom seem not to notice these things.

There is no scheme, legislation or proposal in Australia or any of its states for a national ID card.

We possibly got close with the "Access Card" though. This is, i think, what the summary was refering to. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,19450464-15441,00.html

Excuse me I think we have won Iraq

Only if by "won" you mean set the stage for Iraq to become a mirror image of Iran, and in the meantime embolden and enrich Iran beyond their wildest dreams, then I would agree -- mission accomplished.

You DO know that Iran & Iraq are now each others' #1 trading partners, so that a large chunk of the $10 billion per month we're pouring in there is flowing right into Iranian coffers, right? Perhaps removing the only check on Iranian power in the region (and yes, I'm purposely discounting Israel) wasn't such a hot idea after all. "Won" indeed.

We aren't losing this war. How can you say we are?

Your allies backing out, opinions of your own people, the escalation of violence, expanding battlegrounds in Pakistan, etc, etc..

Al Queda is defeated there; again even if they arrived after we did, doesn't matter, they are defeated there now

Doesn't matter? Yes it matters, you brought them there, you brought them to Pakistan. Your country is sociopathic.

And yes there is a comparison whether you like it or not. Bush Jr has brought more distruction to the world than Saddamn ever could have if he was trying to.

I like the idea of a "whitelist", but it's at least worth noting that something like 40% of women are abused by people that they know (particularly family members), who would presumably make the cut.

Well, it worked for this dude.

YouTube is required by law to take down content when someone files a DMCA takedown notice, and put it back up after 14 days if the person who uploaded it files an uncontested counter notice. I believe that is what happened when the IOC mistakenly filed a notice against some video footage titled "Olympic Opening Ceremony" or something, which turned out to be footage of people protesting outside the Chinese embassy in New York.

While that may be the case, you do realize that this is the same YouTube who pulled videos in response to a 15 year old Australian Boy, right? I mean, if some kid in Australia can gin up a convincing DMCA takedown, how difficult will it be for a proper lawyer associated with Discovery or one of the CC companies to find a provision that conceivably supports their case and fire a barrage of takedown notices?

I believe that people who want (truely want) to be artists would find a way of doing it without needing the shackle the planet. The people who can't do it are those that don't really want to do it - drive and passion are what matter.

And those who want something for free are freeloaders.

copyright does harm me, I have to be careful about what code I see, I can't work on certain projects because of other projects I have worked on. Because it can establish liability without any evidence for a copyright infringement suit. Fundamentally my thoughts are impinged on by copyright, and if you can't see that that is an appalling violation of a person then it's tough for me to convince you.

That has nothing to do with copyright, that's about legal maneuvering. So long as something is not copied word for word, or line for line it is not infringement. With software, copying a program would be infringement however if a program does the same thing as another but is programmed differently I don't consider that infringement. If ReactOS is able to create a Windows clone without using MS code I don't consider that infringement. All that is is copying functionality, which should not be able to be copyrighted. At least to me copyright infringement is word for word, byte for byte, or for music note for note copying. Maybe that's where our differences are, I believe as long as you create something with such copying but you deliver the same functionality it's not infringement. I also believe in fair use however at least here in the US some businesses are trying to stop that even. Witness what the RIAA did to some mother. I don't recall any names or the case but this mother put a video of her baby dancing to some music on YouTube, or another file sharing website. Here it is, Mother takes on Universal over baby video.

That harm occurs is a given

It is not given.

"But I can't see how a 14 year term, or 7 years today, harms anyone." - Ok, so what you're saying is that copyright of 70 years hurts people and copyright of 14 years doesn't?

Let's put it this way, once an artist creates a blockbuster having a copyright term longer than they will live gives them no incentive to create more. It also makes it hard for others to create derivative work. Barring copying harms no one but barring fair use and derivative work could lead to harm.

Copyright causes harm no matter how short or long - copyright causes benefits no matter how short or long.

I agree copyright cause benefits but disagree it causes harm.

Since I don't believe it would be entirely fair to remove all copyright, I would happily accept a copyright of 14 years (It's still a massively long time) but it lessens the harm. It balances it.

And as I said earlier, I'd be willing to reduce copyright terms to 7 years. From when whatever it is is published or available to the general public. For instance Tolstoy or Trotsky, I don't recall which but both were good writers, spent 7 years to write a book. I'd start the 7 year term from when the book was published.

Unfortunately I've always been discussing the situation as it is now. Copyrights are going as far as life + 95 years... I mean seriously? Life is long enough, too long in fact, but more than the average human lifespan after your death?

Agreed!!! In the UK copyright is life +95? That's worse than it is in the US, and I thought the US was bad.

"What reasons have you given? I don;t recall any." - just go back and read the comments, there are plenty in there. I know you may not or do not agree with them, but they are there.

You're right I don't agree there's any harm from copyrights. The only harm is on how the laws are written, such as making copyright terms too long.

"Without a market little would be created." - Circular again, it kinda hints that you can't see a way to create without imme

Not only is the weather being controlled but so are the people. For the first time ever the Olympic road cycling course was deserted. The silence freaked out quite a few of the riders, who are used to Tour de France conditions, where the spectators go berserk.

When the basis of the refute is that you can't test a belief yet you can't verify the non existant evidence either, then you have come full circle and said nothing but an opinion. In fact, 90% or better of the atheist who attempt to claim science is better or a substitute for religion, make the same leaps of faith. They haven't reviewed or verified any of the science they claim to be true, yet they believe that the people telling them it is true were truthful and accurate. They use the same defense, "well, if it wasn't accurate, someone would have said something by now".

Look at the global warming problem, lots of people are saying something and they are being dismissed because they aren't the right people or because some non-believers has praised their work or because their work counters the accepted norm. In recent days, you had Dr. Roy Spencer testifying to congress that global warming was overstated and that claimed results of studies were manipulated, he provided proof and then Barbra Boxer pointed out "Rush Limbaugh referred to you as the official climatologist of the Rush Limbaugh Excellence in Broadcasting Network". And then of course, there is the David Evens Who is claiming that Co2 plays a minor role at best in global warming and gives his reasons. Of course you can look around and find the hit pieces on him. Most attempt to use the bible of the global warming crown (real Climate.org) and use refuted information in order to refute them. I remember a while back being pointed to an article on real climate that attempted to refute a statement about certain claims not being valid and it used those invalid claims to do so.

In all, there is no difference between any of them, theist or atheist, Scientific or other. People believe things for various reasons and defend those beliefs. I could say your foundations are a fucking hoax too but it add nothing informative nor constructive to the conversation. In fact, you have really presented no evidence that anything is wrong with the beliefs in question other then someone doesn't want to waste the time studying the root of it. And as I pointed out, that is common with almost everything.

From what I have been reading, it looks to me like the situation may be even worse in the UK and Australia than in the USA. Although I don't know if the UK and Australia have anything like the USA work visa scam.

These are all recent articles:

Barclays to cut 1,800 U.K. IT staffers in offshoring move
> "London-based Barclays PLC today disclosed plans to offshore 1,800 of the 2,800 IT jobs at its U.K. operations to locations in Singapore, Hungary and India over the next three years."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=outsourcing&articleId=9110183&taxonomyId=60

Oz bank to offshore 400 IT jobs to India
> "National Australia Bank is expected to send another 400 information technology jobs to India by the end of the year."
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=41867

Aviva sells offshoring operations to WNS for 115 mln pounds
> "LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Aviva Plc. said it has sold its offshoring operations to India-based outsourcing services provider WNS Holdings Ltd. for 115 million pounds in cash."
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=41867

More bank jobs move to India
> "THE National Australia Bank could more than halve its local technology workforce over the next five years, as it sends jobs offshore as part of its massive technology transformation program, codenamed Neos."
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,24020156-15306,00.html

Make the most of IT
> "US versus UK"
> "Bank of America or Citigroup have done a significant amount of offshoring. But three insurance companies, including Aviva in the UK, have offshored 15 per cent each or more of their work."
> "In the US, no company has offshored over 7 per cent of their work. Headcount-wise, US companies may have a lead, but in terms of the quantum of work, the UK companies have demonstrated far greater amount of offshoring."
http://sify.com/finance/it-bpo/fullstory.php?id=14715010

Seems that the UK and Australia also get the same BS hype:

Offshoring to India creates jobs in U.K.
> "Outsourcing work by British companies to India does not cause job losses but boosts employment, according to a research by economists at the University of Nottingham."
http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/11/stories/2008071156181700.htm

Not to mention Miley Cyrus, Vanessa Hudgens and Jamie Lynn Spears. Interesting that no one has been charged with child porn or molestation in these cases.

Last time I read about the iPhone, it was only Optus and Vodaphone who will have it. That makes some sense, as the Optus 3G network (as distinct from the 2G/GSM network) is shared between Optus and Vodaphone.

Telstra were a little late to join in, but they did announce it recently.

If Telstra are offering the iPhone, then it is also available on the "3" network, since Telstra's 3G network (not their 2G network) is shared with 3. (I am a Telstra customer, and I can tell you that my 3G Sony Ericsson, which is "locked to Telstra", will quite happily function with a SIM from 3....

You are incorrect about the Telstra and 3 networks.

3 maintain their own 3G networks in most urban areas, and share the Telstra GSM network for when you're outside 3's coverage.

For this reason, a 3 sim will validate with a Telstra lock, which is what you have experienced.

I am a 3 customer, and while in roaming mode (outside 3's coverage, and using Telstra's GSM network) I do not have access to 3G services. This occurs in areas I know Telstras 'NextG' network exists.
I hesitate to call the Telstra network 3G because they intentionally used a different frequency range to try and stop people using non-telstra supplied 3G hardware on their network. (I understand it's the same tactic that was used by an american telco as well, though I can't remember the name of them)

So while there is sharing on the GSM network, Telstra and 3 do NOT share and 3G coverage or services, and I believe that they would actually be unable to unless you have a Telstra modified handset (which you do).

Sounds like your 3 sim in the Telstra phone simply passes the validation (as it would have to since they share the GSM network) then connects to the 3 network.

You could take an iPhone from any network and use it on 3 though, as it's a standard 3G network. Though support do whinge if you call up asking questions and you're not using an 'approved' model.

Actually, RMIT (a tertiary institution here in Australia) recently announced that one of their new buildings will be solar-powered thanks to the glass on the buildings. From the article: blah blah blah "with an outer skin of 16,000 sand blasted glass cells, some of which will be photovoltaic solar power collectors to help shade and power the building."

You are right in that doctors still screw up, and some are more likely to screw up than others. However the licensing is still important so that when they do screw up consistently they can no longer be doctors. I hope you reported each case you mentioned to the relevant professional body.

You have way way way too much faith in the licensing process. Complaining or making a fuss will get you labelled a malingerer on your records, or get you labelled a psych patient. In order for anything to actually happen there have to be years of complaints against a doctor. For example take a look at the "Butcher of Bega"

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23277079-2,00.html

Years of abuse. Mutilating and castrating women left right and center. Officially stricken off. Yet still allowed to practice.

If I had any faith whatsoever in the complaints process I'd complain in a heartbeat. As it stands all complaining will do is get you is sicker, in a psych ward, or dead. If family complain, they end up with "Do not interview with" family member on their records, claiming you may be abusive.

In every case above, other doctors have been aware of what has happened and kept their mouth shut. It seems the establishment can turn against them too. I'm aware of one case (not mine) where a local GP complained to a hospital in writing about an overdose of medication being given to a patient. I only have the doctor's word on that case and no specifics, but that doctor says that letter was ignored. No response whatsoever. Probably hospital policy to avoid being sued. Speaking of which, I was shocked to find out I couldn't video tape my wife's upcoming c-section. It's a private hospital. They don't allow surgery to be video taped as it can be used in evidence if something goes wrong with the procedure. I'm told all hospitals take that approach now, but I haven't checked around myself. One thing is for sure. The medical establishment is steeped in a culture of pseudo-scientific ineptitude, arrogance and corruption.

All girls with tails

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/gallery/0,23816,5032672-17382,00.html
Some video here
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23925458-3102,00.html

All girls with tails

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/gallery/0,23816,5032672-17382,00.html
Some video here
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23925458-3102,00.html

They live in areas around which, according to the article, have plenty of ice...

Recent events prove wikipedia incorrect.

Ugh, it's already started. Search "asparagus on mars"

First up for public stupidity: The Australian, with the headline 'We may be able to grow asparagus on Mars'
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23930470-12377,00.html

Keep in mind all of the bids are essentially "fake" though according to this article:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23913016-5014108,00.html

The quote from the eBay representative states "The real estate category on eBay is a non-binding section because of the real estate laws in Australia. You need a special license to sell real estate,"

It was put in the real estate section because his house is the main asset in the sale.