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A bit pasty, a bit zaftig, yes, but you have to admit, Naomi is pretty hot for a feminist.

Australia has always had a tradition of repressive, authoritarian government and arbitrary authority. After all, it was a penal colony, and a military outpost of the British Empire, holding the line, and standards had to be enforced. Up until the 1960s or 1970s, a lot of things which would be OK in London or New York were strictly beyond the pale in the big cities of Australia. Australian puritanism (or "wowserism") doesn't have the evangelical, light-on-a-hill idealism of the American variety, but tends to be more of a what-will-the-neighbours-think conservatism.

Mind you, Australia also has an equally old opposite tradition of borderline contempt for authority and propriety; commonly called "larrikinism". This is a country where an armed robber is a national hero, an unofficial (and by far more popular) national anthem is about a sheep thief, and more recently, there were (unofficial) national moments of silence and memorials held for an Australian executed in Singapore for smuggling a huge quantity of heroin. The larrikin streak has made an impression on Australian culture in a number of areas, from an old an ongoing tradition of political mischief to highly-developed scenes for activities such as stencil graffiti and urban exploration.

The downside of the larrikin-wowser dynamic is that there is not much of a centre, and not much of a tradition of liberalism and civil society. Since the 1970s, Australia has become more liberal and cosmopolitan, though that was never enshrined into anything like a bill of rights. Consequently, as soon as a hard-right government got into power, all the de facto institutions of liberalism are being swept away like so many sandcastles on a beach, and the old authoritarianism is showing through.

While the incident in the article is lamentable, this is hardly the first time Wikipedia has got it badly wrong. Check out this link for another example. Not to mention all the vanity entries of public figures writing their own biased biographies. About time they did something about it if Wiki is going to remain relevant.

Not sure where this domain is, now that there is officially no limbo.

That's right, according to the Vatican, there is no Catholic basis for limbo. No limbo? Turns out it had the theological sophistication of Kryten asking "Then where do all the calculators go?"

it hasn't yet been legally tested whether or not he can blast loud noises into the neighborhood.

Here's to another 200 years of "well enough."

this article mentions something similar

Market research companies, pollsters, charities and religious organisations are likely to be exempted.

JOHN HOWARD (phone message): Hello, I'm John Howard. I've taken the unusual step of contacting you with this recorded message to let you know we have recently announced what our first seven tasks will be if re-elected to office. So on Saturday, I ask you vote for your local Liberal member Peter Lindsay. This is John Howard. Thank you for your time.

Market research companies, pollsters, charities and religious organisations are likely to be exempted.

JOHN HOWARD (phone message): Hello, I'm John Howard. I've taken the unusual step of contacting you with this recorded message to let you know we have recently announced what our first seven tasks will be if re-elected to office. So on Saturday, I ask you vote for your local Liberal member Peter Lindsay. This is John Howard. Thank you for your time.

Legend holds that Shakespeare *never* rewrote any of his plays or poems.

That's because he never wrote them in the first place.

Its not "the rest of the world" is is certain rather scary member states of the UN.
Its not driven by jealousy, but by, you guessed it! Money and power.
Here is an Australian opinion that is probably what most people in Aust IT and pobably most sensible folk think.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaking/the-net-is- anarchy-keep-it-that-way/2005/10/23/1130006004185. html

The car type was a Datsun 120Y, clocked at 158 kph -- some details. The owner of the car stuck to her guns; she basically went to ridiculous lengths to try to hit that speed in her car (even hiring a professional race driver), without succeeding.

This triggered a massive review of all the Victorian fixed speed cameras, and the refund of a large number of speeding tickets.

If navies start using these toys, then it wrecks the sea creatures' hearing, making survival (hunting, avoiding predators) impossible. In the worst case, the damage done can kill them outright. And not just in the immediate area, but for hundreds of miles around. Never mind Japanese whalers, the US navy could wipe out whole speices of whales overnight with this stuff if they decided to us it on a big scale.

This problem has been around for some time now: 1 2 3 4 5.

My question, though, is - WHY does the US need this shit ? I mean, how much does the US really rely on its navy these days for national security. Its not like Al Quaeda or even the Iranians/Syrians/North Koreans/[insert-this-weeks-axis-of-evil-member-her e] could do any conceivable damage to a US warship (unless maybe a suicide bomber managed to sneak onboard). Maybe the Chinese or Russians, but really, does the US really NEED this new level of naval capability with the technological lead it already has ?

Other than that, hopefully this will continue complementing the work of Airbus.

Putting panties on head is torture? A naked pyramid is torture? (I've known people who have paid for more) Where are the American rape rooms? How many hands of "dissidents" has GWB cut off.

Or beating him a uniformed officer for days, then smothering him to death: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/08/02/AR2005080201941_pf.html

Or the stuff listed in Maj. Gen. Taguba's report:

• Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees;
• Threatening detainees with a charged 9mm pistol;
• Beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair;
• Threatening male detainees with rape;
• Allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell;
• Sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick.
• Using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee.

All under the supervision of unamed government agencies and "private" contractors. What kind of lunatic Army outsources military intelligence? Answer -- they don't. It's all just a dodge to get the dirty deeds out from under the military code, or CIA rules.

Dammit! Smug bastards like you drive me mad. You're so tough, signing off on the rough things that need to be done, without ever facing up to reality. Just google 'US' and 'torture' -- unless you believe the entire world and internet is involved in a conspiracy to smear the good name of Uncle Sam. http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050925/w092528.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/26/10934 56748705.html http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-ophar234437 651sep23,0,6341987.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headli nes http://www.nwherald.com/MainSection/other/29837079 9741982.php We don't even need to go into the torture training in Paraguay, Uraguay, and at the School of the Americas.

How comforting that must be, knowing that hurricane Katrina recently caused several oil rigs to drift and another one to crash into a bridge I'm sure you have all seen videos of what the sea can to do anything that doesn't belong there. At this point, I'd be more concerned with finding a suitable platform to restrain the muscle of the sea, rather than work with the altitudes.

And here's an artist rendering of how they might have looked.

Well kinda

Perhaps the employee traveled to Indonesia.

There's a measles outbreak there.

So far, five people have died.

One to provide Wholesale Telecoms and the other to provide Retail Telecoms services.

This is so horribly over due!

We may be on the verge, finally, of seeing some real competition in the Australian teleco market place.

Telstra naturally are not very happy about what is now an approved [by cabinet] package, which will force them [Telstra] to create seperage network and retail divisions, with separate premises and management but under the same company structure.

If all goes to plan, the government (coalition) could steamroll ahead and sell its majority share holding ( 51.8 per cent stake ) in Telstra before the end of next year. Something which has been high on the governments agenda for some time now.

Sure that's going to make them a truck load of money, it's (the sale of 51.8% of Telstra is a lot of share value) going to do that no matter how you look at it.

What does all this mean for Australia?

Well we could perhaps look just accross the Tasman to the windy city of Wellington, in New Zealand, for an example of just what a completely deregulated teleco marketplace can do if you allow it.

Businesses and individual end users in Wellington, can gain access to Data and Voice services that the rest of the world ( except perhaps for Singapore with their Interent Corridor ) dreams of.

With 10 megabit and 100 megabit, and even gigabit connections for tens or hundreds of dollars a month, zero data usage charges, and peering for one and all if you want it, Wellington has shown that a completely deregulated telecommunications industry can work, and will work, if you allow it to.

We won't in the near future, say the next five years even, see the likes of what NZ has been able to achieve here in Australia, well not from what I can see gazing into my crystal ball anyway, as there's a legacy culture to be left behind before we can see Australia make major leaps forward.

I'm hoping that with Telstra now having to form a legitimate Wholesale arm, freed up and allowed to sell outside of it's previous one and only customer, being Telstra itself ( oh and the occasional carrier and ISP when they had time of course ), Telstra Wholesale may be allowed to sell core services at prices that would allow 3rd party providers, in particular the DSL providers, or the Broadband market at least, provide now ADSL 2+ services of 22 megabit speeds, throughout the country at prices equal to what we now pay for 1.5 megabit links.

What does the general media have to report? Here's a few links for further homework on the topic:

• Whirlpool News
• ABC Online
• The Australian
• News.com.au
• Australian IT
• The Age

Let's hope that with new management, and a sense of responsibility to the nation, the new Telstra's can both give back a little of what they have so easily come by, and finally deliver on the government's Digital Nation promise.

More to come on the temp home of Dez's Blog at http://mosman.no-ip.com

Millions of lost revenue from faulty speed cameras
Bertrand Meyer
Sat, 01 May 2004 14:44:42 +0200

Given the attention this story has been commanding in Australia, I was surprised to find no record in RISKS. The country is proud of its strictness in enforcing speed rules, sometimes fining motorists for driving one kilometer above the posted limit (however absurd that sounds). The state of Victoria has numerous speed cameras. Last year their accuracy was questioned after reports that a truck with a maximum speed of 140 km/h was caught traveling at 164 km/h, and other similar incidents. After the first such report the Assistant Commissioner said (Melbourne Age, 11 Nov 2003):

"There's no evidence to support that any of the other cameras are malfunctioning [...] in any other way,"

"It's embarrassing for everybody... Technology is technology and I think we have had indications where it doesn't say the right thing."

almost six months after the State Government suspended the issuing of fines from Victoria's fixed speed cameras, problems with the cameras are still unresolved [...] A State Government spokesman confirmed yesterday that the 47 fixed cameras were still under review. He was unable to say when the issue would be resolved.

For details:

http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/29/108322451 6563.html (30 Apr 2004)

http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/28/108310355 1024.html (29 Apr 2004)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/10/10683 29487082.html?from=storyrhs (11 Nov 2003)

Bertrand Meyer
ETH Zurich / Eiffel Software
http://www.se.inf.ethz.ch/ -- http://www.eiffel.com/

Millions of lost revenue from faulty speed cameras
Bertrand Meyer
Sat, 01 May 2004 14:44:42 +0200

Given the attention this story has been commanding in Australia, I was surprised to find no record in RISKS. The country is proud of its strictness in enforcing speed rules, sometimes fining motorists for driving one kilometer above the posted limit (however absurd that sounds). The state of Victoria has numerous speed cameras. Last year their accuracy was questioned after reports that a truck with a maximum speed of 140 km/h was caught traveling at 164 km/h, and other similar incidents. After the first such report the Assistant Commissioner said (Melbourne Age, 11 Nov 2003):

"There's no evidence to support that any of the other cameras are malfunctioning [...] in any other way,"

"It's embarrassing for everybody... Technology is technology and I think we have had indications where it doesn't say the right thing."

almost six months after the State Government suspended the issuing of fines from Victoria's fixed speed cameras, problems with the cameras are still unresolved [...] A State Government spokesman confirmed yesterday that the 47 fixed cameras were still under review. He was unable to say when the issue would be resolved.

For details:

http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/29/108322451 6563.html (30 Apr 2004)

http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/28/108310355 1024.html (29 Apr 2004)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/10/10683 29487082.html?from=storyrhs (11 Nov 2003)

Bertrand Meyer
ETH Zurich / Eiffel Software
http://www.se.inf.ethz.ch/ -- http://www.eiffel.com/

Millions of lost revenue from faulty speed cameras
Bertrand Meyer
Sat, 01 May 2004 14:44:42 +0200

Given the attention this story has been commanding in Australia, I was surprised to find no record in RISKS. The country is proud of its strictness in enforcing speed rules, sometimes fining motorists for driving one kilometer above the posted limit (however absurd that sounds). The state of Victoria has numerous speed cameras. Last year their accuracy was questioned after reports that a truck with a maximum speed of 140 km/h was caught traveling at 164 km/h, and other similar incidents. After the first such report the Assistant Commissioner said (Melbourne Age, 11 Nov 2003):

"There's no evidence to support that any of the other cameras are malfunctioning [...] in any other way,"

"It's embarrassing for everybody... Technology is technology and I think we have had indications where it doesn't say the right thing."

almost six months after the State Government suspended the issuing of fines from Victoria's fixed speed cameras, problems with the cameras are still unresolved [...] A State Government spokesman confirmed yesterday that the 47 fixed cameras were still under review. He was unable to say when the issue would be resolved.

For details:

http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/29/108322451 6563.html (30 Apr 2004)

http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/28/108310355 1024.html (29 Apr 2004)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/10/10683 29487082.html?from=storyrhs (11 Nov 2003)

Bertrand Meyer
ETH Zurich / Eiffel Software
http://www.se.inf.ethz.ch/ -- http://www.eiffel.com/

In Victoria (where Melbourne is), they are even more tough. As soon as I cross the border to Vic, I don't speed at all. So the answer is "yes", they are very very trigger happy and in a lot of cases, there was no trigger, just an automated photo.

'Tis well known (he said in a broad aussie accent) that Victorian police are the most trigger-happy police force in Australia. Read more about Victorian Police shooting people at the Age.

"Two incidents of friendly fire in the ongoing war against Iraq have raised concerns about potentially serious glitches in the targeting software of the US Patriot missile." http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/31/10489 62679741.html?oneclick=true

This is absolute crap. Get your facts straight.
http://theage.com.au/news/Breaking/Court-rejects-I BMs-Nazi-associations/2005/05/04/1115092535520.htm l?from=moreStories

http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaking/popular-gam e-may-be-pulled-from-sale/2005/07/21/1121539079996 .html

"Popular computer game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas may be withdrawn from sale in Australia over hidden sex scenes."

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Pornography-In-Gran d-Theft-Auto-A-Public-Secret-4635.shtml

"If they are confirmed, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas could be banned in Australia."

http://www.thuglifearmy.com/news/?id=1672

"The "Grand Theft Auto III" video has been banned in Japan for sale or rental to minors due to violent and or sexual content."

It may also be that they've gotten used to it. After all they are at war, and as terrible as this attack is, it's after all "only" 50 people or so, and in Iraq this happens on a regular basis

As far as I'm concerned, I wonder if the term "terrorist act" is even correct. They are at war, they have their troops in Iraq, they have killed, aided in killing, or created situations that assisted in killing, ca. 23,000 people. Now the war has come to their own soil.
Tragedy? Sure. Atrocity? Hell, yeah. Terrorism? I don't think so

There is a similar case in Victoria, Australia. You can find more details here or here.

I think you will find that they do.

In the US, Intel is such a hero to the US govt that DOJ will not make it easy for AMD to hurt Intel. But in Japan, Intel was plain and simple guilty according to many stories such as this and Intel finally admitted as much in their settlement with the Japanese. AMD should bring suit in Japan perhaps?

I remembered how that charge against Intel played out because I submitted that story to /. back on March 8 but it wasn't interesting then I guess.

a CEO taking the additional role of chairman creates the potential for conflict, a muddying of the distinction between the board and the company whose operations it is employed to monitor. The dual role removes a safeguard to ensure the business is being run in a good corporate fashion. Corporate governance is in the spotlight after the spectacular collapses of WorldCom and Enron in the United States, and almost daily revelations there of company directors apparently breaching ethical standards and being involved in dubious business practices, sometimes outright fraud.

What we are seeing here is a government that has chosen to make its drug policy as harsh and intolerant as possible, for whatever reasons they have chosen to do that (to impress the US?) Zero tolerance in this situation, basically requires the summary execution of anyone who, "guilty" or not, makes contact with the world of illegal drugs that the government wishes to eliminate wholesale.

I try to block as many advertisers as possible, and I wasn't happy to see that slip through...

This is indeed old news. An announcement was sent at the time to the mailing lists. A day or so ago, someone's broken email system remailed the message to the lists (check the wicked delay in the Received: headers). How it made to the front page of /. is another question...

This is definately a dupe. From:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/28/10961 37217294.html?oneclick=true

You can read:

"Miller joined the project in October 1999, just a month or so after it began [...]"

from the second paragraph.

PS: Hooray for democracy (as it exists on slashdot) they finally removed that freakin IMAGE-TO-TEXT app after too many people complained about it :)

Erik

Consider some of the examples of Australian responses to problems with petrol sniffing or chroming. These seem to be directly related to your examples of spray paint and gasoline. Yes, people are considering restrictions on gasoline and spray paint as a way of dealing with the problems of substance abuse.

Governments may not be good nannies but they are a damn side better than most people at taking care of themselves.

All I know is that everyone who asks me for computer advice gets to hear about Firefox, Thunderbird and OO. I still meet people who have never heard of any of them, but firefox is a nice easy term for them to google for. I also have a combined mailing list and forum headcount of perhaps 800 people, and they get to hear about these progs too. I don't beat them over the head with it, people can use whatever they like as far as I'm concerned. I just like to point out alternatives, especially decent alternatives.

And I just spotted this in another browser tab: Microsoft share of browser market slips

Sure, the guide horses are miniature horses, but I've had to take a full-grown horse through a house, and it's no big deal.

I walked in through the front door at my mothers (it was my sister's mare), and they couldn't turn it around, and were getting kind of freaked out. So I just took the reins and, instead of trying to turn it around, just led it straight through and out the back door.

But a horse in the house is nothing compared to these people - they have a 1650-pound buffalo who watches TV with them in their den:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/12/10765 48159516.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true
and
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/02/13/buffalo_house 040213

article

Fittingly, at a space elevator conference last month [September 2003] in New Mexico, the keynote speaker was Clarke, 86, who spoke via satellite. "I do think it may be the way to space. The economics are fantastic . . . I think it'll be built 10 years after everybody stops laughing . . . and I think they have stopped laughing."

1. Why would a judge be swayed by public opinion? Isn't that the fear here, that public opinion will be bad against the current government?

It has not about the judge, it's about the jurors. The judge doesn't want the pool of potential jurors being contaminated by hearsay.

Probably as soon as the court either dismisses the case or determines that there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial. Sometimes, if sensitive information is involved, a judge may choose to seal the records. I don't believe that is very common and most of the time only portions of the record are sealed ( eq.

It's a condition of the press being admitted to the courtroom. Just as a jury is not to allowed discuss a case they are currently hearing or deliberating. This raises the question of whether bloggers are members of the press, whether blogging is "publishing", etc.

You're assuming the transcript is accurate and is presented in context without the addition of the reporter's opinions. Courtroom transcripts can amount to hundreds of pages of text. The judge can direct the jury to disregard unsubstantiated testimony or evidence that is improperly acquired. That's much harder to do if that information has already become public knowledge.

Alleged corruption. Notice how the media does always use that word? They might have video footage of the crime, but the perp is always the alleged whatever. "Innocent until proven guilty." (At least I don't believe Canada haa a Napoleonic justice system.)

She is just mind-bogglingly insightful.

check here.

Let's not forget about these guys. Absolutely my favorite robo-evolution story ever. Ever. How many other robots can say they've "forced its way out of the small make-shift paddock it was being kept in"?

You missed the memo, here's a copy for ya: giga ain't 1024 no more

US has a monthly trade deficit of 66 billion. US citizens only have more to spend because other countries lend the money. The problem starts of course at the moment that the other countries stop seeing the point of lending ever more money to US citizens.

As time goes backwards, from Feb '05 to May '04, Firefox usage is increasing. So if you like Firefox, keep winding your clocks and calendars backwards.

Firefox should have 100% installed base by the time the PC is invented, if not sooner (no, wait, later. no, sooner....?)

Or maybe the legend of the chart is messed up?

They had this interview with Theo de Raadt last October.

Theo de Raadt Interview

De Raadt is one open source developer who owns his own home. The DARPA grant gave him the finance to pay up the mortgage. I didn't start the rumour, I was merely repeating it.

Ah, I wouldn't have stopped either except I had to move house internationally a few times; part of the price was the need to put all my more fragile hobbies away in my parents' attic.

Full agreement that neonazis are and look like nutcases. Having said that, Hitler was a short Austrian guy with a ridiculous moustache, undeniably dumb hairstyle, accent/way of speech that to present-day German ears sounds entirely laughable, and to top all that, a predilection for wearing woollen knee socks and shorts. And yet the little bugger got enough support to take over Germany. Maybe it was the name change; Schickelgruber? Ha.

Either way, large swathes of human society do seem to have a weakness for personalities that leave many of us going, "You what?": Shoko Asahara; Bin Laden (whose name, entirely incidentally, means 'am shop' in German); Le Pen; Tony Blair (ye gods); George W Bush (would you buy a used car from that man?); not to mention all those TV personalities, stars and ideals that always get the older generation saying, "I don't know what she sees in him".

So I'm not sure I entirely believe that people, when faced with what seems to my eyes to be clearly ridiculous buffoonery, will see it that way at all. It's not a matter of intelligence, though of course it'd be nice to believe that the better one's education, the more likely one is to see through these things (not in my experience the case at all. Oxbridge people can be amazingly gullible). In fact it beats me where peoples' capacity for taking almost anything seriously enough to want kill other people for it actually comes from, but there's a rather snobby statement you pretty often hear in French, usually with those little quotation marks people make with their fingers; "Nous n'avons pas les memes valeurs" - "we don't have the same values", which can be applied anywhere and is probably a reasonable basis for resigning oneself to a troubled acceptance of human nature.

Of course I don't have a right to assume people won't see through neonazism, but the German government probably feel that they had that right conferred by historical precedent.