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Comment Re:Lovely (Score 5, Interesting) 172

It might actually be illegal. In a nutshell, the Privacy Act requires that all personal information must be kept appropriately secure. If a company sends personal information to a third party, it requires the company to ensure that they keep the information secure too (e.g. by having a clause in the contract requiring them to meet the requirements of the Privacy Act). It is not possible to provide personal information to a USA company and still meet the requirements of the Privacy Act, because the USA's Patriot Act allows the US government to gain access to that information (without even informing the information owner).

Comment Information doesn't want to be free (Score 2) 87

Does it count as a release if it is uploaded to Letitbit.net, which proceeds to try and trick me into downloading an .exe file, then presents me with about 20 unreadable captchas in a row, then fails because it uses javascript on some IP address which got blocked by noscript, then after making an exception for that IP address it says I have reached my free limit of one download per day?

Comment Re:AU $2600 to repair... (Score 1) 504

Mine was a Mybook. I went to Seagate after that, but I have vowed never to purchase a Seagate drive again after my most recent experience. I plugged the drive in, and it kept trying to install software. Lucky my virus scanner blocked it. It was linked to an autorun.inf file that would try and install every time I even clicked it. They had managed to lock the file down so tightly that I could not remove it, copy it, or even view its contents. I had to reboot my computer into safe mode, log in as an administrator, and run CLI commands against the file just to get rid of it! That is so arrogant, and blatantly misleading given that they advertise the drive as "no software required".

Comment Re:Boomerangs. It's Australia. (Score 1) 113

what do Australians call a boomerang that doesn't come back? A stick!

Technically a boomerang is any of a class of bent throwing sticks. They are not all designed to return to the thrower - the ones used as hunting weapons are thicker and heavier. The kink in the middle gives the stick an axis on which to turn, stabilising it and allowing it to be thrown further and with more accuracy.
The returnable boomerangs are curved on one side and flat on the other like an aeroplane wing.

Comment Re:Just turn off the car? (Score 1) 911

The thing that everyone forgets is that while you are in a rational state of mind, it is very easy to think through the safest options. But in a state of panic, rationality is literally impossible. The brain shuts down into a panic mode, and you no longer have control. So the design of the vehicle must be such that in a panic mode it responds to the driver's instinctive actions (most likely to slam on the brakes) accordingly.
For example, I know exactly what I would do if my cars brakes failed: downshift the gears, horn on when/if I can, and gently apply the handbrake to bring myself to a stop. But in reality, if my brakes did fail, I would probably panic and just keep pressing the pedal until I had an accident (unless it happened on a long straight stretch of road where I'd have time to overcome the panic.

Comment Re:Dur (Score 1) 244

The risk in having customers pick and choose the channels they want is that over time, all of the channels will start trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and you'll wind up with a bunch of clones. Having a bunch of specialty channels means that there is (theoretically) more variety to choose from at any given time.

Comment Re:mistake #1 (Score 1) 227

In Australia you must get consent before applying first aid, unless they are unconscious and cannot provide consent. This leads to an interesting potential situation where a bleeding person could refuse consent, and you have to wait until they pass out before attempting to apply first aid. If you apply first aid against consent, you can be charged with assault, so in the training they teach you to always ask first.

The Australian first aid law also talks about "duty of care" - if you are trained in first aid you have a duty of care in basically any situation in which you have a relationship with the person requiring aid. For example, if a friend, family member, or work colleague required first aid and I refused, I could be charged with negligence. If I was walking down the street and saw someone have a heart attack, or saw a horrific car crash, I would be under no legal obligation to help (moral obligation notwithstanding). However, if I were to talk to the victim, e.g. ask if they are ok or need help, then a relationship has been established and I would be legally obligated to apply first aid until a trained responder arrived.

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