Slashdot Mirror

Feminism / Political correctness has now swung so far in women's favor, that many women are now drunk on this newly found power.
Here's what a retiring Australian Family Court judge said last week:

Allegations of child sexual abuse are being increasingly invented by mothers to stop fathers from seeing their children, says a retiring Family Court judge.

False abuse claims are the new court weapon, retiring judge says

He was pinned to the ground and was having his head bashed into the pavement - that's attempted murder. Even in your most anti-gun area, that's still full grounds for using deadly force to protect yourself.

Not in Australia; you'd get prison even if you killed someone attacking you. If you momentarily get the upper hand in an attack you'd be expected to use minimal force and then to escape.

The only people that get away with killing someone are women that use the "battered wife" argument to kill their husbands. Even though these women also have opportunities to run away, this defence has been turned into law Australia's powerful women's lobby and successfully used in many cases.

Example case where a woman used it successfully

However, when abused husbands have tried to use this defence it has been rejected. In this case, the abused man presented a good case but still got sentenced to 14 years jail

He was pinned to the ground and was having his head bashed into the pavement - that's attempted murder. Even in your most anti-gun area, that's still full grounds for using deadly force to protect yourself.

Not in Australia; you'd get prison even if you killed someone attacking you. If you momentarily get the upper hand in an attack you'd be expected to use minimal force and then to escape.

The only people that get away with killing someone are women that use the "battered wife" argument to kill their husbands. Even though these women also have opportunities to run away, this defence has been turned into law Australia's powerful women's lobby and successfully used in many cases.

Example case where a woman used it successfully

However, when abused husbands have tried to use this defence it has been rejected. In this case, the abused man presented a good case but still got sentenced to 14 years jail

The AG dept would rubber stamp the violation of taxpayers rights: http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/06/05/the-greatest-threat-to-our-rights-is-the-attorney-generals-department/?wpmp_switcher=mobile then steal from the taxpayer on the way out the door http://www.smh.com.au/national/highsecurity-public-servants-caught-rorting-their-overtime-20110925-1krto.html

That is a great post, very informative.

For anyone that's interested, here are a few links about medical advances linked to armed conflict.

Medical legacy forged by war
Medical Advances Save Lives in Combat
Medical Treatment Advances Help Injured Soldiers

Hey now, if they only inflicted their crazy on themselves, I would agree with you.

Unfortunately, they also seem to like raping Western female reporters. How many does this make in the past year? I can NAME three, and seem to recall a couple more. From "We want democracy, let's rape journalists!" to "yay, we won, let's rape journalists!", and now to "we don't like the self-imposed perversion of democracy we got, send more journalists for us to rape!"

But of course, they don't limit themselves to just reporters, oh goodness no! With an average of 23 rapes a fucking day (not sure if I meant that as a pun or not), in the middle of a crowded public place, well now - They'd soon run out of female reporters crazy enough to visit their little hellhole.

Rabid dogs don't deserve democracy, they deserve to have someone put them down for the good of us all.

Perhaps if they found some to hire, this slashdot story might never have appeared? http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/desperate-search-for-geniuses-goes-to-ends-of-the-earth-20130317-2g8rp.html/

Cold you have to understand Australia.
They love MS, MS giving them code to look over at after generational buy in is just a trinket.
What was Australia going to do if it finds a project related hole? File it with MS and hope its fixed in weeks? Months? Many months?
Australia was just feeling bad over its lack of sufficient software source code and IP to allow its airforce to understand some aircraft systems.
Source code became a political and defence issue with huge political efforts to try and get the US gov to be nice over the issue.
So for the US and MS to be seen to be offering Australia something was cute, but with todays insights, MS at a VOIP, server, cloud, code, consumer or filesystem level seems a tame tool of US gov interests.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/trade-war-up-in-the-clouds-20120529-1zhpg.html
Comments like this from the US:
‘‘...governments should not prevent service suppliers of other countries, or customers of those suppliers, from electronically transferring information internally or across borders ... or accessing their own information stored in other countries’’...
seem a bit of a LOL given the other line about 'a careful set of constraints to protect individual privacy"

So you feel that Julia Gillard was singled-out because of her gender?

Look at this article, which appeared in today's Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/masterchef/masterchef-the-spill-20130627-2oyej.html

Opening line:

It's horrible when your time is cut Shorten by a pair of crusty, dry balls.

It's saying that Gillard's time was cut short because Bill Shorten changed his support. Indirectly, it refers to Minister Bill Shorten as "a pair of crusty, dry balls". (Referring to his testicles.)
Now, this appeared in a mainstream newspaper. Was there any outrage? Did it even rate a mention?

Nope. Nothing.

Male politicians have been copping abuse for ever. What the Gillard situation reveals is that society is far more sensitive to abuse directed at women.
In fact abuse is incurred by ALL public figurees, and it pisses me off when feminists wear their goggle-filters and only see 50% of abuse.

At least the median income in Australia is still A$66,820*

Were you implying that $66k is high?
If so, what good is a high median income when life is ridiculously expensive? Australia is one of the most expensive friggin countries in which to live.

Have you not read any of the many articles on this subject? Here are 2:

The Economist
SMH

"The Australian Attorney-General Department's pig-headed push for Internet data retention were rejected by an Intelligence Oversight Committee for being vague and violating civil liberties. Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said the government needs to get the message and drop the scheme, and warned data retention could be used by PRISM. Head Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says data retention is off the agenda for now, though when the last AG made a similar promise they caught everyone off guard and passed new laws 12 days later"

http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/06/24/national-security-inquiry-declines-to-endorse-data-retention
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/06/24/keane-a-debate-we-had-to-have-on-security-measures
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/465679/data_retention_needs_oversight_inquiry/
http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/465152/australia_suspected_prism_data_ludlam/
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/roxon-puts-web-surveillance-plans-on-ice-20120809-23x9l.html
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/312771,senate-passes-lite-data-retention-laws.aspx

The government is expected to lose office
Yes they are, but the opposition hasn't ruled out doing the same thing.

ar matey in australia they can take you without a warrant and they don't have to tell family or let you speak to a lawyer. police even have shoot to kill rights when they pick you up. all legit & no shit. how often has it happened? no one knows because the law say newspapers and tv cant report it when it does. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/action-on-inept-antiterror-laws-must-get-priority-20130520-2jwuk.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Terrorism_Act_2005 http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4691190.html

``A customer who uses the toolbar and never flies with Qantas would take 35 years to earn the 64,000 points required to fly from Sydney to London's Heathrow Airport."

And they *STILL* have to pay a COUGH COUGH $1000 fuel surcharge. Qantas is partnering with Emirates anyway. In 35 years QANTAS probably won't exist. http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/frequent-fly-in-qantas-ointment/2008/02/03/1201973735201.html

No, your web surfing history has nothing to do with airline policy.

It's simple: if you are male, the airline will not seat you next a minor.

Despite this being widely reported in the Australian media Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner Liz Broderick hasn't done ANYTHING.

Wonder why?

""TomTom Australia says it is planning to sell GPS data collected about its customers' journeys to road authorities and private companies even after it was forced to apologise when that same data was used by Dutch authorities to set speed traps. The revelations, revealed in The Australian Financial Review today, have caused outrage among privacy campaigners and lobby groups who believe it is now necessary for electronic devices to come with special stickers saying whether they are going to track your location and be sold to marketers. I'm starting to think that we're going to need to label every electronic item with a special sticker saying whether it's going to track your location and sell it to marketers or not. But TomTom Australia's vice-president of marketing, Chris Kearney, in a phone interview, rejected the privacy concerns and claims that TomTom was "tracking" users. He conceded TomTom was collecting real-time "timestamped GPS data" of users' journeys but said there were no privacy risks because the data was decoupled from the individual users."" http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/cartech/outrage-over-tomtom-speed-traps-for-motorists-20110506-1ebc2.html

The CIA chose Amazon's cloud services over the cheaper tender from IBM. Maybe IBM couldn't demonstrate the experience in IT delivery that Amazon can - or, maybe it's because Amazon plans to deliver everything to consumers (and IBM already has many CIA contracts). Would that mean I should take the Amazon's claims with a big fucking bucket of salt??

Just joking! Only a paranoid would think the CIA has an agenda.

Lucky thing.

The right to silence was recently weakened in NSW, Australia.

Thank you, Premier Barry O'Farrell.

Coal, coal, and coal.

Only that the whale species which are now hunted (in very limited quantities) are not threathened by extinction.

The Japanese whalers are planning to hunt humpback whales http://www.smh.com.au/national/hunt-threatens-300m-whalewatching-industry-20111223-1p7rz.html and these are classified as threatened.

No dichotomy; when the police do it like this:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/vic-police-order-motorist-roadblock-claim-20120515-1yo55.html

citation please.
You are completely full of shit.
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/windows-versus-mac-which-is-more-secure-20120510-1ye85.html

The price of software in Australia is ridiculous and they can't justify it.

"Microsoft Office Professional 2013 costs $599 in Australia and $US399.99 ($A383.54) in the US"
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/evasive-microsoft-adobe-fail-to-justify-prices-20130322-2gjkr.html

Maybe the answer is to say "stop carrying out cyber attacks on western nations, stop stealing western intellectual property etc or we will enforce sanctions against Chinese products" Plenty of other countries with low cost base for manufacturers to move to (countries that aren't stealing western IP and government/military secrets)

Maybe the correct answer would be "Let's secure our shit". Highly likely to be a lot cheaper.

Let's put the things in perspective:
- the cost of ASIO's new building between 2007-2012: $631 mils (after 37% budget blow-out - and it's not completed yet).
- the Australia-China bilateral trade value for a single FY (2011-2012): $121.1 billion, Australia's exports to China of over $60 billion.

If you think this is about karma, then you fundamentally misunderstand the problem.

The Future of Terrorism: What al-Qaida Really Wants

By the way, ever hear of David Hicks, or Bali? Shayden Thorne? Maybe one or two other things?

Threat from enemy within makes anti-terrorism laws indispensable

Decisions have consequences, even if decision makers sometimes go into denial. In the weekend edition of the Herald, Debra Jopson provided case studies of the 21 men who have been convicted of terrorism-related charges following Operation Pendennis in Sydney and Melbourne and Operation Neath in Melbourne. A large number are of Lebanese Muslim descent.

In his address to the Sydney Institute on January 24, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, David Irvine, pointed out that ''of the 38 people prosecuted for terrorism-related offences in Australia, 37 were Australian citizens and 34 were either born here or lived here since childhood''. Clearly home-grown terrorism is a threat in Australia.

The breakdown of the jihadist-related terrorism prosecutions is revealing. In a paper titled Explaining Australia-Lebanon Jihadist Connections, Monash University academic Andrew Zammit broke down the statistics as at September last year. He pointed out that 20 out of 33 men prosecuted ''have been of Lebanese descent''. Moreover, ''while Lebanese-Australian Muslims make up 60 per cent of those charged over alleged jihadist activity, they constitute only 20 per cent of all Australian Muslims''

Australia a target for 'ideological terrorist attacks'

There is more to find if one cares to dig.

Curious ... I notice that you say:

The software runs locally it's just licensed in the cloud.

which implies it's essentially the same software.
However in my local newspaper the Managing Director of Adobe Australia and New Zealand says:

We didn't want our research and development teams to be maintaining two different tech platforms – one in the cloud and the one purchased every two years.

which implies Adobe would be burdened by having to maintain a cloud & off-line version of the software.

I believe you, and suspect the software is the same, and that Adobe is just full of shit.
However unlike you, for me this reinforces my distrust of Adobe.

The white hat, grey hat and black hat experts will be all over this.
Identify the product sold to the police, how its injected into a users OS.
How to protect, what it phone homes too....
This was tried in Australia in the past:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/hackers-break-into-police-computer-as-sting-backfires-20090818-eohc.html
i.e. just a "phone home" computer in suburbia.
But will some consumer OS be enough the Dutch? Or will they need to link to Big Iron?
or 100's of empty rented homes with a few desktops running day and night?

Some sheet home blame to CSIRO's former chief executive Geoff Garrett. Before his appointment in 2000, each division of the organisation directed its own science, and its leaders enjoyed utter autonomy. Garrett bombshelled these silos, introducing a corporate hierarchy that funnelled to him and to his entourage control over funds. With the money went control of the direction of the organisation.

And that would make you another Labor revisionist?
Fuck no. I haven't voted Labor since Keating. Since they've become nothing more than Liberals Lite, I wouldn't touch them with a ten-foot pole. My political position is soft-left, and Labor hasn't been anywhere left of centre for a decade.

2009 - Labor was in power...
The rot started nearly ten years earlier.
"Some sheet home blame to CSIRO's former chief executive Geoff Garrett. Before his appointment in 2000, each division of the organisation directed its own science, and its leaders enjoyed utter autonomy. Garrett bombshelled these silos, introducing a corporate hierarchy that funnelled to him and to his entourage control over funds. With the money went control of the direction of the organisation."

Both the Liberals and New Labor follow the same neo-liberal economic/authoritarian social playbook that's been destroying western civilisation in the name of corporate greed for nearly three decades now. They are practically indistinguishable in their economic policies, though Labor at least having the minor preference of a) being responsible for nearly every positive economic and social improvement in Australian history and b) paying at least lip service to fulfilling the social contract of Government. The Liberals don't even try to pretend, anymore, that they're for anything except greater concentration of wealth amongst few, the gutting of public services and the socialisation of "big capital's" losses.

A code of silence surrounds graft accusations in Canberra, writes Linton Besser. The Australian Federal Police, which concentrates on drug trafficking and counter-terrorism, is reluctant to deal with Commonwealth fraud matters.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service-keeps-fraud-cases-private-20110923-1kpdr.html

That is right. Mineral Rights are assigned separately by the government, over lunch in 'corrupt' deals to your political mates.

Coal licences: ‘corrupt’ deal worth $100m
http://www.afr.com/p/national/coal_licences_corrupt_deal_worth_5N2rJf47NdL2yQJuDxmmkJ

Obeid family and friends reap millions from lucrative coal licenses
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/obeid-family-and-friends-reap-millions-from-lucrative-coal-licences-20120520-1yz31.html

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/underweb-anger-as-silk-road-seller-does-a-runner-20130226-2f36q.html

This guy might argue its not irrational fear: http://www.smh.com.au/national/i-went-to-sleep-friday-as-a-rich-man-i-woke-up-a-poor-man-20130328-2gxab.html

So the people living in low coastal areas will have a few hundred years to mull over things before thinking about moving.

You're absolutely positive about that?

Why not ask this guy? Seemed to work out well for him.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/secret-money-abc-virtual-currency-racket-probe-20110623-1ggp6.html

On a serious note. If it were viable, the practice would be wide spread. The serious miners have moved onto purpose built hardware.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/12/05/2242233/race-to-mine-bitcoins-drives-enthusiasts-into-the-chip-making-business

Also, they give you cancer.

A tie is a symbol of submission.
I might start wearing suits when I'm old, but I will never wear a noose around my neck.

Unfortunately ...

Nice trick there, telling us the cost based on your "wage" - which to us is an arbitrary number.

For me, it's very concrete, believe me, but you don't expect to make public my payslip on /., do you? (all I can say, I'm not paid to the top of the industry, I enjoy a quiet life now).

How many monthly electricity payments did it cost you? How long before it pays for itself?

My estimations for the time to total RoI: between 5 and 6 years at the current rates on energy. But they do have a nasty habit to increase year after year in Australia so it may be shorter.
(they say that's because of network maintenance: I reckon their insurance premiums went up)

citation please. Since you are doing *exactly* what you accuse others of doing...

I did a google search for Microsoft has hired the CEO of Burton-Marsteller and the fourth link was a wikipedia page about him, with citations such as http://www.holmesreport.com/news-info/12157/Mark-Penn-Exits-BursonMarsteller-For-Strategy-Role-At-Microsoft.aspx and http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/facebook-admits-to-antigoogle-smear-campaign-20110513-1el5t.html#content

Perhaps you did not log in because you didn't want us all to know who you are only because you are a big idiot who can't use google. You're also lazy and stupid. Go away.

Oh, right, because faceless bureaucrats deciding what is best for your children is sooo much more effective than ensuring information is true and available and letting their parents decide.

Sometimes yes yes or even yes.

Figures. Typical statist response: "Here's some examples of isolated idiots making poor decisions, that of course justifies my use of tyranny to control and punish the entire populace."

No mention of what happens when idiots make poor decisions for millions of people. How do you justify that?

Oh, right, because faceless bureaucrats deciding what is best for your children is sooo much more effective than ensuring information is true and available and letting their parents decide.

Sometimes yes yes or even yes.

He's also got some engineering chops. He'[s widely credited with developing a new method of rain-making:
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/thai-rain-making-comes-to-qld-20100808-11q5f.html

Indeed it was the NZ authorities. But they were acting in a way that was decidedly more strong armed than NZ authorities would typically use. No doubt due to the US involvement. Back in January, NZ Judge Helen Winkelmann ruled that the search warrant used against Dotcom was illegal. Here is an article --> http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/dotcom-search-warrants-ruled-illegal-20120628-214ps.html

We've just updated our temperature maps with new colors to indicate the higher temperatures

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/temperatures-off-the-charts-as-australia-turns-deep-purple-20130108-2ce33.html

Live from Sydney, sweating through 39 degree Celsius heat (Still not the 43 degree heat they promised us, but it's 4:30 in the afternoon so we still have a few hours for it to heat up).

You're thinking of Apple:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mp3s/apples-future-wont-be-brought-to-you-by-the-letter-i-20100312-q27r.html

Hey have you ever seen a "leaf"? Apple just trademarked it:
http://www.webpronews.com/apples-trademark-applications-are-getting-kind-of-ridiculous-2012-12

I would have never thought of that. Guess that's why Apple's #1

I agree completely, and the Scandinavian model is one I wish the rest of the world would hurry up and get to.

When companies have complained about Australia having 'Scandinavian labour costs' I've always found that to be a positive indication that even if we're not doing it perfectly, we're doing it a whole lot better than a lot of other places! :)

What I love even more, is when US companies make such complaints, then after cleaning up their act a bit for their Australian operations find that they are actually *even more profitable*.

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/franchising/dominos-defies-scandinavian-labour-costs-20110810-1ilog.html

Minimum wages are a sham, we can pay people good money for their time, to do the jobs we don't want to do. :p

and all you'll be left with is your conspiracy theories.

You mean Information Week's conspiracy theories. I just copy/pasted.

Here's SMH's conspiracy theory:

Windows 8 sales in Australia and overseas are below expectations, with one US expert describing its user interface as "a monster that terrorises poor office workers and strangles their productivity".

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/computers/windows-8-sales-flounder-as-critics-pan-clumsy-interface-20121126-2a2d0.html#ixzz2Drq6iNt7/

The Register's conspiracy theory:

Reports that Windows 8 hasn't been moving as briskly as the industry had hoped continue to emerge, with major retailers reporting slow sales and Microsoft insiders allegedly describing the initial numbers as "disappointing."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/19/retailers_report_slow_win8_sales/

Reuters conspiracy theory:

Consumer sales of Windows-powered personal computers fell 21 percent overall last month, figures released by a leading retail research firm showed on Thursday, indicating a lackluster debut for Microsoft Corp's Windows 8 operating system.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/29/us-microsoft-windows-idUSBRE8AS12Y20121129

ComputerWorld's conspiracy theory:

Microsoft has been touting its claim of 40 million Windows 8 licenses sold as evidence of a booming launch. But analysts and Asian PC makers beg to disagree, and say sales of the new operating system have been sluggish.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/windows/21410/windows-8-sales-are-sluggish-not-booming-say-analysts-and-asian-pc-makers

Looks like the whole damn world's in on it!

This happened weeks ago. http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/google-hit-with-200000-damages-bill-over-mokbel-shots-20121112-297gk.html

Perhaps it was just a floating pumice island.. http://blogs.smh.com.au/science/archives/2006/12/post_3.html

Apparently it is a "one-match-and-you're-guilty" system. Here's two cases in which the only possible evidence was the DNA match (since the two people were in fact innocent) and it was enough to get a conviction: http://www.lvrj.com/news/dna-related-error-led-to-wrongful-conviction-in-2001-case-125160484.html or http://www.smh.com.au/national/dna-lab-error-led-to-false-conviction-20091002-ggj6.html. Of course sometimes you get lucky and only get to spend a few months of your life in custody before they notice they screwed up: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17324912, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19412819.

And yes your "qualified expert"s are great. You know aside from minor issues like putting the wrong name on samples and contaminating samples.