Comment All Australians? (Score 1) 148
It is a bit disingenuous to state that "web monitoring of all Australians appears to be inevitable". I, for one, am tunneling my web traffic via SSH to a server overseas, so they won't be monitoring my URLs
Comment Re:As an Australian and a geek, I have to say. (Score 1) 300
I agree that there are probably higher priorities, but I think it's fair to say that this is necessary infrastructure for the 21st century.
Think of what it might enable for example - want to cut greenhouse gas emissions? How about installing the infrastructure that will make it much much easier for a significant proportion of the population to "telecommute" and work from home. And once people no-longer have to live near their workplaces, and with high-speed internet access being ubiquitous, they might move to regional centers, improving rural economies and taking pressure off the resources in our cities.
Okay, that might be a bit of wishful thinking, but it's certainly the direction we need to be heading in.
As for what you have...luxury. I live in a suburb of Hobart - 15 minutes drive from the CBD. I have no cable in the area, no ADSL since I'm too far from the exchange - my bloody dial-up modem would only connect at 28.8k because of the shitty phoneline - the ONLY solution for "broadband" (in the loosest possible sense of the word) is wireless 3G, which I pay Virgin $50 a month for 5GB, which sometimes gets whopping download speeds of 400kbps, but is usually closer to 120kbps. I could have paid much more to go with Telstra's NextG, but I generally don't like being raped by them.
Some places in Australia do have usable broadband. A lot of places still don't. And I measure "usable broadband" by the criteria of being able to watch a video on YouTube without having to press pause first and let the whole thing buffer...
Comment Re:mod parent retarded (Score 1) 336
He's right, you know. Wii is for kids.
Comment Re:cough cough (Score 2, Insightful) 594
Section 319, Public incitement of hatred:
(2) Every one who, by communicating statements, other than in private conversation, wilfully promotes hatred against any identifiable group is guilty of
(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; or
(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.
I actually logged in to post that, that's how completely stupid your post was. It was stupid enough for me to break a year of no slashdot commenting to prove to others you're just plain friggin' wrong. Your advice can lead people to spend time in jail, it is that wrong.
In Canada it is illegal to:
- Say "I hate all $GROUP" in public, for example, on a webforum that doesn't require a login to access, or a webforum that will give anyone a login. (s319)
- Say "I want to kill $GROUP" (s318)
In Canada it is NOT illegal to:
- Have a group of Nazis meet privately at their whites-only compound to discuss how the holocaust did not happen
- Have a pair of Nazis work out a scheme to convince new recruits how they are "correct"
So, of course, these laws work really well to prevent hate groups from expanding and hating. Really, really, really well! And they never, ever punish the people who want to publicize their views so that people can comment on them and perhaps even educate them and others on how stupid said people are! Never, ever, ever! Why would any of us ever want to know what racists are thinking? There's absolutely no benefit in being able to recognize a racist on a dime! We wouldn't ever need to know words like "A reserved hotel" are, in fact, pointing to a set of racist owners. Better to keep that crap where it belongs! DEEP DEEP DEEP underground. That way people who don't hate can keep patronizing his business and ensure he's not shunned and broke!
ARGH!
Journal Journal: I'm giving up... 2
Since slashdot has banned me for one or two downmods again, I'll be turning this account over to the trolls. I'm now registered at www.anti-slash.org, and I'll see what I can do to help the GNAA.
Malda, if this is how you treat your 4k+ users, I will be so happy to see slashdot crash and burn. All I can say is: go to hell.
Journal Journal: Nicolas Gill, Flag Bearer and Separatist 2
Someone took a deeper look into the history of Canada's flag bearer for the 2004 Athens Olympic games. It seems that while all is well for his selection for flag bearer in the physical department, the patriotistic department is, well, lacking. The article has a certain... "Je Me Souviens" attitude to it.
Seems Canada's flag bearer doesn't like Canada. How sad.
Journal Journal: Gmail Invites Available 9
Email me and you shall receive. Free to the first 6 people to prod me. After that you get put on the waiting list.
Enjoy!
Journal Journal: Telefraud "Merchant Retail Supplies" back in business
Well, guess what sort of call I got yesterday at work?
The old "Hello, we have an item we are shipping you that includes an invoice for (insert item and price with 10x markup here) because you've ordered it" scam.
Yes, everybody, Merchant Retail Supplies is back in business after a long respite! As usual, they'll use a fake company name on the phone, but unusually, they're too dumb to hide their caller ID.
Journal Journal: IBM P70 Monitor For RS/6000 Server
Just a note:
If you're using an IBM P70 Monitor from an RS/6000 Server, it's multisync, and you can use IBM PowerPC 13W3 pinouts if you want to convert it to VGA (there's a hidden VGA knockout under the steel backplate). The monitor defaults to multisync, separate sync.
I spent a good long time *NOT* finding good answers as to how that monitor was pinned out (There's many 13W3 "standards"). Just thought I'd let you all know how to do it yourselves!
Journal Journal: Stupid Ontario Retail Facts! 2
As many of you may happen to have figured out, I now run a retail business in Ontario, Canada.
Well, as all the christmas hype, etc, have passed, I find myself bored and reading the Retail Business Holidays Act; the law that governs when a shop can and can't open in Ontario.
Did you know that most retail businesses in Ontario must:
Journal Journal: Chilling Censorship
The other day my ad was censored in the newspaper. I'll let you know what led to this with a minute by minute count of that day:
December 3, 2003
Journal Journal: Rogers Cable Investigating Satellite Stores? 3
A most unusual thing happened today. My business partner tells me today we received a visit from someone who purports to represent Rogers Cable of Canada.
Rogers Cable is one of Ontario's (if not Canada's) largest cable television services.
For a laugh, you can see a satisfied Rogers customer's site right here.
Journal Journal: Should I sue? Should I DMCA? Your opinions please. 20
Hello. You'll see a heated, and particularly useless discussion (from both sides, I think), starting somewhere around here.
Unfortunately, the other party has decided to "get me in trouble" with, in my opinion, a bogus epithet.
Journal Journal: Subliminal Advertising? 1
Did I just see "dugg.ca" on the TV in the latest Canadian McDonald's commercial for some sweepstakes?
Or am I just losing it? It's certainly been a long day...
Journal Journal: Bryan Dennison is an ebay scammer 2
Bryan Dennison (aka Fern Dennison) is an ebay scammer.
Early today (August 18, 2003) I won two ebay auctions with no reserve for Playstation 2s.
