I just got into Civ V recently and got the monkey on my back too. To make it worse, Civ 4 complete was the humble bundle last week so I picked it up for cheap expecting to play it when Civ V lost its luster but now I'm engrossed in that game as well...
Civ V was terrible compared to Civ IV.
Civ V is the first Civ game I have played that made me go back to the previous Civ game. Sure the graphics are good but they ruined the gameplay, the AI is completely neutered.
With any luck, Firaxis is scrapping the whole Civ V and going back to Civ IV for inspiration on Civ VI... but I'm not counting on it.
They sent all the petty criminals and Irish to Australia (back in those days, displaying the Irish flag was considered sedition) meanwhile all the rapist and murderers were kept in merry old England.
Re:UI Designers Suck
on
A New Car UI
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Physical buttons and knobs are controls you can use without looking at them. You only need to memorise their locations (should only take 5 or so minutes) and once you've done that you never need to look at them again.
I'm also a big proponent of physical buttons, but this guy's idea might actually be better - you don't even need to know where the buttons are. The specifics need a little refinement IMO, but this is the first car touchscreen interface idea I've seen that is acceptable to me.
OK, I just read the guy's website and he's got no clue.
Multi-touch gestures to replace dials and buttons, context sensitive, requiring the driver to memorise the gestures. What is this guy thinking?
This is a huge leap backwards for car stereo interfaces. The submitter and author clearly doesn't drive a car because making accurate gestures in the console from behind a wheel is not easy. In order to make any changes the driver will need to stop the car or the gestures will be all over the place as well as taking the drivers focus off of driving.
What we need to do is get rid of the touchscren fad in cars, not to make it worse. The articles author complains about other touch screen interfaces whilst completely ignoring that his own has the same fundamental problems plus some that existing interfaces don't have.
Also, psychologists will frown upon any research where the subjects do not know they are part of a research project.
Note, the subjects do not need to know (and shouldn't know) the actual research being done, just that they're part of a research project. Usually they're told that the researchers are testing one thing, while it's something entirely different that's really being tested.
WANTED:
Subjects for experiment who cant tell the difference between market research and an organ harvesting operation.
Healthy type-o adults only.
Re:UI Designers Suck
on
A New Car UI
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Seriously, any time a "UI designer" sits down to re-invent something, the result is inevitably terrible. They focus on whatever new-age idea they have is, and often completely miss the core problem while coming up with some genius solution to a minor one.
This, if you want to make driving a car less complex, make them simpler. Take away the toys that only serve as distractions.
My uneducated and rather simple view of how to do it:
- Physical buttons for the stuff you might/can safely touch while driving (basic stereo controls, temperature controls, wiper settings, etc)
- Knobs with fixed ranges for things like temperature (so you can set them without looking). Stuff like volume can be infinite as adjustments are immediately noticeable while adjusting.
- Displays that you can quickly glance at, preferably without having to look down too much (I’m a huge fan of the multi-level dash Honda put in their civic).
- Stuff you will be adjusting while stopped or maybe at a red light can be whatever you want.. fancy touchscreen, display in a weird spot, who cares.
Physical buttons and knobs are controls you can use without looking at them. You only need to memorise their locations (should only take 5 or so minutes) and once you've done that you never need to look at them again.
A big problem today are the sheer number of "drivers aids" that add beeps, buzzers, warbles and lights that only serve to distract the driver. I took a new VW Golf out for a test drive, for almost the entire time I was beeing beeped at by something. The blindspot check when I'm not changing lanes, the lane assist on a single lane divided road (it didn't work) and others. I know how to drive, I know how to keep a safe distance, how to check my mirrors and blind spots before turning/changing lanes and I know how to stay in my lane. For someone who doesn't know how to do these things, a buzzer wont help them as they'll just ignore it (as they ignore everything else on the road) and keep driving dangerously.
Needless to say, I bought an old Honda rather than buying a new Golf, better performance out of a K20, less likely to break.
How do one set up rules to block Steam from accessing firefox profiles? (Linux obviously, though guide for Windows is fine too. Also Chrome.)
The only real way to be 100% sure is to use a browser on a different box.
Other methods I can think of is putting Steam on a separate user to the one you use the firefox/chrome on (but still may not be effective as steam will have admin rights) or using the browsers incognito/private modes (but I'm not 100% sure if this clears DNS info).
Also, I'd be very surprised if other anti-cheat measures like PunkBuster didn't do the same thing.
I meant in the more general case. I'm guessing that within 6 years, tapping communication lines will be considered an act of war by someone. It'll be the moment after someone realizes that there's no way to secure any network.
As did I.
For the most part, getting caught tapping communications is a minor transgression that ends up getting used to licit political/territorial concessions rather than an excuse for war. Its the political equivalent of getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar.
If it isn't yet considered an act of war, it's soon going to be. Wait for it. Shit's about to get interesting.
These kind of things are rarely considered acts of war.
If an Australian navy warship entering Indonesian waters without the knowledge or permission of the Indonesian government wont start a shooting war, this definitely wont.
Besides the Indonesians wont risk a war with Oz, they'll talk tough but they need the US more than the US needs them. Also any military action would only end in stalemate, Australia doesn't have the forces to invade Indonesia and Indonesia doesn't have the ships to go toe to toe with the Royal Australian Navy (our 6 vacuum cleaner based Submarines and 18 odd frigates).
Thats not what a lot of the others here have been saying.
Have you actually eaten any modern MREs?
So you'd eat MRE's over other kinds of food?
I'm guessing you're a life long smoker. Sense of taste is deader than disco.
And yes, I have eaten an MRE, well actually it was a HDR (Humanitarian Daily Ration, MRE's without a US flag on the pack). The tinned spag was worse than standard tinned spag, bread was hard and had a very odd taste (should have really stuck with biscuits) and the only good thing in the bag was the packet of lollies (skittles).
BTW, I'm yet to actually read a comment saying they'd eat an MRE over a different kind of food. I've heard a lot of people talking about what parts of an MRE to eat and which parts to trade, but no-one eating one out of choice.
So it looks like his device is a braille paper printer (Which is pretty darn cool), but I wonder if something like a smaller version of Legos could be used to make "eraseable" braille type.
Pasta sauce?
I can tell you from the experience of getting Legos on a white shirt, that shit is not erasable.
Jail is excessive but you need a disincentive to prevent people from breaking rental contracts
it's not the taxpayer's responsibility to help enforce a specific business model's agreements, they can pursue breach of contract the same way anyone else does.
BTW, enforcing the law is the job of the police and the courts. This includes civil matters when they've gone past a certain point. I.E. if someone owes me money or is in possession of my property and refuses to talk to me, I can take it to court and they can have other charges bought against them.
Only a little time ago, there was lots of "OMG Android is becoming fragmented" stories. Now the stories are essentially the opposite: that device makers are closely tied into what Google does.
Is there someone behind this? Or am I seeing consipiracies where there are none?
ArsTechnica.
They love posting anti-Android scare peices. Not sure if they're doing it because they want page views, are getting paid for it or of their own account because just love Apple a little bit too much.
The problem is, the anti-Android crowd is so desperate for any ammunition they latch onto the tiniest hint of anything remotely possibly becoming wrong in the next 20 years and blow it completely out of proportion.
Arresting someone for theft under $10 ("Monster-In-Law" on DVD retails for about $5) seems to be a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. A more efficient punishment would be to seize wages/tax refunds/etc. in the amount of the theft + some additional punitive amount.
Jail is excessive but you need a disincentive to prevent people from breaking rental contracts (even though it was only a crappy DVD, it's still a rental contract), normally its just some additional amount as you've said.
In Australia they just send the debt to collectors and it goes on your credit history as a default that can make it hard to get credit or loans in the future.
Of the top 10 box office hits of 2013, nine are sci fi (only the Fast and the Furious 6 is not)...
Erm, most of those films are not Sci-Fi by even the loosest definition of the word.
1. Hunger Games - Children/Fantasy
2. Iron Man - Superhero/Fantasy (I'll give you this one on a technicality that the Iron Man suit is technological)
3. Frozen - Children/Fantasy
4. Despicable Me 2 - Children/Comedy
5. Man of Steel - Superhero/Fantasy
6. Monsters University - Children/Fantasy
7. Gravity - Sci-Fi
8. The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug - Fantasy
9. The Fast and the Furious 6 - Action
10. Oz The Great and Powerful - Fantasy
Fantasy and sci-fi are not the same thing. Neither are most Superhero movies sci-fi, they fall under the fantasy category. So out of that list, only one was sci-fi with a second being given as a technicality and I'm using the loosest definition of sci-fi I can, realistically neither Iron Man 3 or Gravity were proper sci-fi films, Gravity was more a drama (and a crap drama at that) and Iron Man 3 is more an action film.
European cars all show fuel economy in liters/100km. I don't know why. Seemed odd to me at first, too.
Since everything does it that way, it's an easy lower-is-better comparison.
I'd be curious if anyone knows why it caught on to measure it that way. Maybe it's easier at the pump? If I put in 5L, then I can go 100km... ?
If you do the same test that the EU uses to determine fuel economy.
L per 100 KM good because it's an aggregate score, it gives you an idea of the vehicles fuel efficiency under real world conditions. However because fuel deficiency depends on the driver and the route.
I also turn OFF my cellphone and refuse to even look at email after 5pm. Those that deserve the badge of honour are the ones that have the balls to stand up for themselves and force their employer to not be assholes.
Why 39.2? because I go home 10 minutes early every day but get paid for it anyways. IF they can stand around smoking outside the office 6 times a day on the clock, then I can take a 10 minute "smoke break" at the end of the day.
In Australia the standard work week is 37.5 hours. It used to be 40 but businesses complained about paying for lunch breaks, so it became 37.5. Seeing as few people in Australia actually get paid by the hour (most are salaried, so they negotiate a per annum sum) it didn't make much of a difference. Realistically it was a pyrrhic victory for angry businessmen.
As for leaving 10 mins early, hell as long as all your work is done it doesn't matter. Same with staying back an extra hour or 2 on occasion because something needs to get done, OTOH on occasion I'll say "Boss, I need to leave a few hours early to go to the doctor/mechanic/accountant". It should all equal out in the end.
Why SHOULD there be legally mandated vacation time? I do not understand why the government should interfere in my being shafted with my employer over things such as vacation time.
Fixed that for you
Because it gives you a minimum that a dodgy employer cant take away.
Its cute that you think employers are fair instead of trying to rip you off in every way possible.
You can negotiate extra leave, but your employer cannot take away leave that is mandated. If you dont want to take that leave (because you're a boring person on their way to burnout) you can opt to get paid out for it.
I'm from Eastern Europe, and I can't believe that 40-hours a week jobs in America can't feed and house you. I guess it really depends on your expectations about the house and the food.
But since everyone around you has a nice house and car, it would be shameful if you don't - especially if you're married, because then it would be shameful for your wife and children, too. So you're overworking yourself for status in society, so that people don't look down upon you and your family.
In western nations, things are a bit more expensive. So people on minimum wage jobs can easily find themselves unable to cope with the cost of bills and food.
Australia got around this by having a minimum wage that you can actually live off. But Australia is an extreme example, because costs here are so high we've got a high minimum wage. Another way to stop employers demanding 20 extra hours per week are penalty rates (time and a half for overtime).
Admittedly I haven't followed the money, but I'll put A$100 on the fact that this goes back to Murdoch and possibly Fairfax (now Fairfax is pretty much controlled by Gina the Hutt).
He wont get knifed.
Libs are a Tall Poppy Party, they want their leader to get all the heat so none of it lands on them. If there leader gets burnt by the public and they find themselves in charge they know they can get away with anything and the party will back them.
ALP are driven by the caucus, the leader cant just do what (s)he wants like in the Libs, the team comes first. That why the leader an ALP leader is more likely to get kniffed (which sounds wrong). But now the ALP leader is voted in by members the leader will have more power over caucus.
I agree that Abbott wont get knifed by his own party. But not for the reason you've stated.
The reason Abbott wont get knifed is because he's a toady. A spineless, brainless, gutless marionette. He's just a face and a voice for the power brokers of the Liberal party (AKA the faceless men). So as long as he remains a good little toady, he's safe.
Abbott and the Libs may get knifed by the independents and minor parties in the senate though. If the same bill fails to pass the senate twice (the Libs control the house but not the senate) then it's double dissolution time. It will only take 2 independents to object, however I wont count on this happening.
Slashdot Mirror
I just got into Civ V recently and got the monkey on my back too. To make it worse, Civ 4 complete was the humble bundle last week so I picked it up for cheap expecting to play it when Civ V lost its luster but now I'm engrossed in that game as well...
Civ V was terrible compared to Civ IV.
Civ V is the first Civ game I have played that made me go back to the previous Civ game. Sure the graphics are good but they ruined the gameplay, the AI is completely neutered.
With any luck, Firaxis is scrapping the whole Civ V and going back to Civ IV for inspiration on Civ VI... but I'm not counting on it.
Creepy and rude nerds are their target market. How's that going to work?
Clearly I'm not the only one thinking "too late".
I don't know about official EU officials but I have it on good authority that royalmomma69@compuserve.net is the queen of england's email addrress.
Actually that would be the address of the late Queen Mother, rest her soul.
Her Majesty, queen Elizabeth the second, has an @aol.com address.
Don't mention this to the Aussies.
Definitely not to the Brits.
They sent all the petty criminals and Irish to Australia (back in those days, displaying the Irish flag was considered sedition) meanwhile all the rapist and murderers were kept in merry old England.
Physical buttons and knobs are controls you can use without looking at them. You only need to memorise their locations (should only take 5 or so minutes) and once you've done that you never need to look at them again.
I'm also a big proponent of physical buttons, but this guy's idea might actually be better - you don't even need to know where the buttons are. The specifics need a little refinement IMO, but this is the first car touchscreen interface idea I've seen that is acceptable to me.
OK, I just read the guy's website and he's got no clue.
Multi-touch gestures to replace dials and buttons, context sensitive, requiring the driver to memorise the gestures. What is this guy thinking?
This is a huge leap backwards for car stereo interfaces. The submitter and author clearly doesn't drive a car because making accurate gestures in the console from behind a wheel is not easy. In order to make any changes the driver will need to stop the car or the gestures will be all over the place as well as taking the drivers focus off of driving.
What we need to do is get rid of the touchscren fad in cars, not to make it worse. The articles author complains about other touch screen interfaces whilst completely ignoring that his own has the same fundamental problems plus some that existing interfaces don't have.
Also, psychologists will frown upon any research where the subjects do not know they are part of a research project.
Note, the subjects do not need to know (and shouldn't know) the actual research being done, just that they're part of a research project. Usually they're told that the researchers are testing one thing, while it's something entirely different that's really being tested.
WANTED:
Subjects for experiment who cant tell the difference between market research and an organ harvesting operation.
Healthy type-o adults only.
Seriously, any time a "UI designer" sits down to re-invent something, the result is inevitably terrible. They focus on whatever new-age idea they have is, and often completely miss the core problem while coming up with some genius solution to a minor one.
This, if you want to make driving a car less complex, make them simpler. Take away the toys that only serve as distractions.
My uneducated and rather simple view of how to do it:
- Physical buttons for the stuff you might/can safely touch while driving (basic stereo controls, temperature controls, wiper settings, etc)
- Knobs with fixed ranges for things like temperature (so you can set them without looking). Stuff like volume can be infinite as adjustments are immediately noticeable while adjusting.
- Displays that you can quickly glance at, preferably without having to look down too much (I’m a huge fan of the multi-level dash Honda put in their civic).
- Stuff you will be adjusting while stopped or maybe at a red light can be whatever you want.. fancy touchscreen, display in a weird spot, who cares.
Physical buttons and knobs are controls you can use without looking at them. You only need to memorise their locations (should only take 5 or so minutes) and once you've done that you never need to look at them again.
A big problem today are the sheer number of "drivers aids" that add beeps, buzzers, warbles and lights that only serve to distract the driver. I took a new VW Golf out for a test drive, for almost the entire time I was beeing beeped at by something. The blindspot check when I'm not changing lanes, the lane assist on a single lane divided road (it didn't work) and others. I know how to drive, I know how to keep a safe distance, how to check my mirrors and blind spots before turning/changing lanes and I know how to stay in my lane. For someone who doesn't know how to do these things, a buzzer wont help them as they'll just ignore it (as they ignore everything else on the road) and keep driving dangerously.
Needless to say, I bought an old Honda rather than buying a new Golf, better performance out of a K20, less likely to break.
This is not a car UI. It is a UI for the car's entertainment system.
The car's UI is still a steering wheel and throttle/brake pedals.
And clutch, indicator stalk, light stalk/knob, wiper knob, mirrors, instrument cluster...
Driving a car is never as simple as people think, this is why we have such shocking drivers.
So security researchers who also game are pretty much screwed then?
Any security researcher that goes to hacking sites on their gaming box is screwed.
IIRC, most security researchers use VM's these days to avoid contaminating systems that they use for production.
How do one set up rules to block Steam from accessing firefox profiles? (Linux obviously, though guide for Windows is fine too. Also Chrome.)
The only real way to be 100% sure is to use a browser on a different box.
Other methods I can think of is putting Steam on a separate user to the one you use the firefox/chrome on (but still may not be effective as steam will have admin rights) or using the browsers incognito/private modes (but I'm not 100% sure if this clears DNS info).
Also, I'd be very surprised if other anti-cheat measures like PunkBuster didn't do the same thing.
I meant in the more general case. I'm guessing that within 6 years, tapping communication lines will be considered an act of war by someone. It'll be the moment after someone realizes that there's no way to secure any network.
As did I.
For the most part, getting caught tapping communications is a minor transgression that ends up getting used to licit political/territorial concessions rather than an excuse for war. Its the political equivalent of getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar.
If it isn't yet considered an act of war, it's soon going to be. Wait for it. Shit's about to get interesting.
These kind of things are rarely considered acts of war.
If an Australian navy warship entering Indonesian waters without the knowledge or permission of the Indonesian government wont start a shooting war, this definitely wont.
Besides the Indonesians wont risk a war with Oz, they'll talk tough but they need the US more than the US needs them. Also any military action would only end in stalemate, Australia doesn't have the forces to invade Indonesia and Indonesia doesn't have the ships to go toe to toe with the Royal Australian Navy (our 6 vacuum cleaner based Submarines and 18 odd frigates).
Thats not what a lot of the others here have been saying.
Have you actually eaten any modern MREs?
So you'd eat MRE's over other kinds of food?
I'm guessing you're a life long smoker. Sense of taste is deader than disco.
And yes, I have eaten an MRE, well actually it was a HDR (Humanitarian Daily Ration, MRE's without a US flag on the pack). The tinned spag was worse than standard tinned spag, bread was hard and had a very odd taste (should have really stuck with biscuits) and the only good thing in the bag was the packet of lollies (skittles).
BTW, I'm yet to actually read a comment saying they'd eat an MRE over a different kind of food. I've heard a lot of people talking about what parts of an MRE to eat and which parts to trade, but no-one eating one out of choice.
This problem has been solved for decades.
Check out the Wiki page on how many different menus there are for MREs.
As for injuring the soldiers' teeth these are combat rations, MREs, stuff you eat when bullets are flying, and therefore the least of your worries.
If you have a choice between MRE's and any other type of food, how many would pick the MRE.
Making military rations palatable has been a goal since 5 minutes after they made military rations last.
So it looks like his device is a braille paper printer (Which is pretty darn cool), but I wonder if something like a smaller version of Legos could be used to make "eraseable" braille type.
Pasta sauce?
I can tell you from the experience of getting Legos on a white shirt, that shit is not erasable.
Jail is excessive but you need a disincentive to prevent people from breaking rental contracts
it's not the taxpayer's responsibility to help enforce a specific business model's agreements, they can pursue breach of contract the same way anyone else does.
Going by this post, they probably did.
BTW, enforcing the law is the job of the police and the courts. This includes civil matters when they've gone past a certain point. I.E. if someone owes me money or is in possession of my property and refuses to talk to me, I can take it to court and they can have other charges bought against them.
Only a little time ago, there was lots of "OMG Android is becoming fragmented" stories. Now the stories are essentially the opposite: that device makers are closely tied into what Google does.
Is there someone behind this? Or am I seeing consipiracies where there are none?
ArsTechnica.
They love posting anti-Android scare peices. Not sure if they're doing it because they want page views, are getting paid for it or of their own account because just love Apple a little bit too much.
The problem is, the anti-Android crowd is so desperate for any ammunition they latch onto the tiniest hint of anything remotely possibly becoming wrong in the next 20 years and blow it completely out of proportion.
Arresting someone for theft under $10 ("Monster-In-Law" on DVD retails for about $5) seems to be a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. A more efficient punishment would be to seize wages/tax refunds/etc. in the amount of the theft + some additional punitive amount.
Jail is excessive but you need a disincentive to prevent people from breaking rental contracts (even though it was only a crappy DVD, it's still a rental contract), normally its just some additional amount as you've said.
In Australia they just send the debt to collectors and it goes on your credit history as a default that can make it hard to get credit or loans in the future.
Of the top 10 box office hits of 2013, nine are sci fi (only the Fast and the Furious 6 is not)...
Erm, most of those films are not Sci-Fi by even the loosest definition of the word.
1. Hunger Games - Children/Fantasy
2. Iron Man - Superhero/Fantasy (I'll give you this one on a technicality that the Iron Man suit is technological)
3. Frozen - Children/Fantasy
4. Despicable Me 2 - Children/Comedy
5. Man of Steel - Superhero/Fantasy
6. Monsters University - Children/Fantasy
7. Gravity - Sci-Fi
8. The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug - Fantasy
9. The Fast and the Furious 6 - Action
10. Oz The Great and Powerful - Fantasy
Fantasy and sci-fi are not the same thing. Neither are most Superhero movies sci-fi, they fall under the fantasy category. So out of that list, only one was sci-fi with a second being given as a technicality and I'm using the loosest definition of sci-fi I can, realistically neither Iron Man 3 or Gravity were proper sci-fi films, Gravity was more a drama (and a crap drama at that) and Iron Man 3 is more an action film.
European cars all show fuel economy in liters/100km. I don't know why. Seemed odd to me at first, too.
Since everything does it that way, it's an easy lower-is-better comparison.
I'd be curious if anyone knows why it caught on to measure it that way. Maybe it's easier at the pump? If I put in 5L, then I can go 100km... ?
If you do the same test that the EU uses to determine fuel economy.
L per 100 KM good because it's an aggregate score, it gives you an idea of the vehicles fuel efficiency under real world conditions. However because fuel deficiency depends on the driver and the route.
I also turn OFF my cellphone and refuse to even look at email after 5pm. Those that deserve the badge of honour are the ones that have the balls to stand up for themselves and force their employer to not be assholes.
Why 39.2? because I go home 10 minutes early every day but get paid for it anyways. IF they can stand around smoking outside the office 6 times a day on the clock, then I can take a 10 minute "smoke break" at the end of the day.
In Australia the standard work week is 37.5 hours. It used to be 40 but businesses complained about paying for lunch breaks, so it became 37.5. Seeing as few people in Australia actually get paid by the hour (most are salaried, so they negotiate a per annum sum) it didn't make much of a difference. Realistically it was a pyrrhic victory for angry businessmen.
As for leaving 10 mins early, hell as long as all your work is done it doesn't matter. Same with staying back an extra hour or 2 on occasion because something needs to get done, OTOH on occasion I'll say "Boss, I need to leave a few hours early to go to the doctor/mechanic/accountant". It should all equal out in the end.
Why SHOULD there be legally mandated vacation time? I do not understand why the government should interfere in my being shafted with my employer over things such as vacation time.
Fixed that for you
Because it gives you a minimum that a dodgy employer cant take away.
Its cute that you think employers are fair instead of trying to rip you off in every way possible.
You can negotiate extra leave, but your employer cannot take away leave that is mandated. If you dont want to take that leave (because you're a boring person on their way to burnout) you can opt to get paid out for it.
I'm from Eastern Europe, and I can't believe that 40-hours a week jobs in America can't feed and house you. I guess it really depends on your expectations about the house and the food.
But since everyone around you has a nice house and car, it would be shameful if you don't - especially if you're married, because then it would be shameful for your wife and children, too. So you're overworking yourself for status in society, so that people don't look down upon you and your family.
In western nations, things are a bit more expensive. So people on minimum wage jobs can easily find themselves unable to cope with the cost of bills and food.
Australia got around this by having a minimum wage that you can actually live off. But Australia is an extreme example, because costs here are so high we've got a high minimum wage. Another way to stop employers demanding 20 extra hours per week are penalty rates (time and a half for overtime).
Admittedly I haven't followed the money, but I'll put A$100 on the fact that this goes back to Murdoch and possibly Fairfax (now Fairfax is pretty much controlled by Gina the Hutt).
He wont get knifed.
Libs are a Tall Poppy Party, they want their leader to get all the heat so none of it lands on them. If there leader gets burnt by the public and they find themselves in charge they know they can get away with anything and the party will back them.
ALP are driven by the caucus, the leader cant just do what (s)he wants like in the Libs, the team comes first. That why the leader an ALP leader is more likely to get kniffed (which sounds wrong). But now the ALP leader is voted in by members the leader will have more power over caucus.
I agree that Abbott wont get knifed by his own party. But not for the reason you've stated.
The reason Abbott wont get knifed is because he's a toady. A spineless, brainless, gutless marionette. He's just a face and a voice for the power brokers of the Liberal party (AKA the faceless men). So as long as he remains a good little toady, he's safe.
Abbott and the Libs may get knifed by the independents and minor parties in the senate though. If the same bill fails to pass the senate twice (the Libs control the house but not the senate) then it's double dissolution time. It will only take 2 independents to object, however I wont count on this happening.