political lies and the NBN again

So Australia has a new Prime Minister, I have to admit Julia Gillard has something special, twice now we have had a leader in Julia that Australia did not choose outright, rather some one forced upon us by others  The Labor party's major project the NBN is the different between the two major parties that the experts and most importantly the independents have identified.

Well not everyone agrees as these great articles one from the CNET Australia and the other from the Melbourne Age show why.

The NBN may now have gotten the go-ahead, but it's probably going to be years until fibre-optic cabling passes your house. In the meantime, the only way you're going to see NBN-like speeds in the 100Mbps range will be over cable infrastructure — if you can get it. But whether it's delivered over fibre or cable, what does the increased speed rating really mean in everyday usage? We set out to find out. 

read the whole story here but the answer is not the speed in Australia but the international links and the faster it is here the slower the world seems. So point one the NBN is not the Snowy Mountain Scheme.

Fast broadband: hands on at 100Mbps   

The other story details the myth that regional Australia is missing out 

So, we're back to worrying about RARA - rural and regional Australia. Thanks to the newly acquired political leverage of the two country independents, we're now being told the regions haven't been given their fair share and, in future, ''equity principles'' should prevail.

There's a lot of righteous indignation on the part of many country people and, I suspect, quite a bit of sympathy on the part of city folk. But there are also a lot of misconceptions.

Many people have the impression there has been a continuous flow of people leaving the country for the big city. It's not that simple. The capital cities' share of Australia's population hasn't been increasing.

read the whole article here but point two it is nothing but a myth that country Australia is missing out and that the NBN will do nothing to alter this as since it's a falsehood the silly and untrue claims will continue. 

Our highly taxed and deprived country folk, and other myths

the solution is irony

Frustration-free packaging' slow to catch on

From Yahoo News

Just the other day, I got bitten by one of those hard plastic clamshell cases that retailers still seem to love. Even with a pair of heavy-duty scissors, it took me several minutes to pry the stubborn thing open, and as I sawed away, a jagged piece of plastic tore at my finger and gave me a good scratch. At least I didn’t bleed on my newly purchased USB hard drive (this time).

Oh, how I hate thee, army of plastic clamshells — and judging from this gallery of "wrap rage" injuries over at Amazon, which has led the charge in recent years for hand-friendly, "frustration-free" packaging," I’m not the only one.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100909/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc3585

Conroy's net filter still alive and kicking

Asher Moses

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, is ploughing ahead with his internet filter policy despite there being virtually no chance any enabling legislation will pass either house of Parliament.

Independent MP Rob Oakeshott, the Opposition and the Greens have all come out against the policy, leaving it effectively dead in the water.

The Greens communications spokesman, Scott Ludlam, has called on the government to end the facade and drop the internet censorship scheme once and for all, as it was wasting time and taxpayers' money.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/conroys-net-filter-still-alive-and-kicking-20100910-1540s.html

Senator Quixote deserves to be told off

by Colin Jacobs

The Labor government's plan to censor the Australian internet has entered the realm of farce. Despite scraping back into government by the barest of possible margins, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has returned without delay to trumpeting his doomed scheme to anybody that will listen.

As we have said (for years, now) the filter will not help parents, nor will it help police crack down on illegal material. It's a worst-of-all-worlds approach that is a case study on the fundamental incompatibility of a classification-based system with the internet. Fortunately, most people are able to see this - not just nerds and civil libertarians think the plan is crazy, but industry, academia, the media, all the other major political parties and the vast majority of internet users do as well. With even children's rights groups criticising the scheme, you'd think any government would love an excuse to tow this old scow of a policy out to sea and scuttle it.

http://www.efa.org.au/2010/09/10/tell-conroy-off/

Police out in force for weekend booze blitz

Thomas Hunter

Police have used the launch of a two-day booze blitz to remind revellers they can be fined $478 if they are found to be excessively drunk or behaving badly on Melbourne's streets.

Hundreds of extra police officers will hit the CBD as well as Moonee Valley, Hawthorn, Prahran and St Kilda this weekend as part of Operation Unite.

Commander Trevor Carter said the operation was running simultaneously across Australia and New Zealand and would target "alcohol misuse, violence and anti-social behaviour tonight and Saturday evening".

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/police-out-in-force-for-weekend-booze-blitz-20100910-1549d.html