Apologies. It has been a very long time since I was in a te reo class, and I got my words for nice things mixed up. I guess should have used the dictionary :-)

If you are going to use Koha, I suggest going to the community based library that developed it, not the company that grabbed the source and grabbed trademarks all around the world. The 'original' developers are at http://koha-community.org/. LibLime (the other guys) have even tried to stop the Koha developers using the name Koha - the very name they came up with. Koha is Maori for 'treasure', and this free software is certainly a treasure for libraries that don't want to spend a fortune on software.

In Australia you do. :-( Permanent cabling requires a cabling licence recognised by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. No you can't just do the test and show that you know how to crimp cable, or what the spacing from AC wiring is. You have to do the courses, pass the tests and then do 6-12 months work under the supervision of a cabler. Having a degree in communications engineering doesn't exempt you. http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=IND_TECH_TEL_CABLE

Most technically inclined people do their own wiring, or if they are brutally scrupulous they use wireless, PLC, or leave the Cat5 draped around the walls.

Australia over regulates things. The Queensland Government puts out a brochure warning you of the dangers of DIY electrical work and has mandatory signs that have to go up in shops selling power sockets and light switches. The New Zealand Government puts out a booklet on how to do your own wiring safely. Queensland and New Zealand use the SAME electrical wiring rules (AS/NZS 3000).

My Dad had two power sockets that didn't work last week. He was able to clean the ants out of the wall, spend $10 on two new sockets and fit them himself. It would cost me about $150 to do the same here.

That would be the BPay system in Australia. Each BPay biller has a unique code and each bill has a customer reference number. We pay the bill through our bank (phone or internet) and the money goes to the merchant without them ever knowing our account details. Competing systems like BillPay operate similarly, but accept payment at Post Offices or via credit card from the internet.

I know it isn't the US, but the US could learn from the ways that other countries do things. Telstra (just as evil as Verizon) tried to charge people to pay bills in person with cash, but the backlash stopped that. Now they charge a premium for credit card payments, as do the water company, the council (rates), el-cheapo internet companies and airlines. Most surcharges are 0.5% to 1.0%.

By being 'in a sad state', I think the GP meant 'in the United States'.

APCO P25 supports encryption out of the box, and that's what 'backwards' forces like the Queensland Police Service have been using for YEARS. When word came out that the QPS were moving to digital many truckies and tow-truck operators went and bought P25 scanners from the USA. This turned out to be an expensive exercise, with encryption rendering them useless

The local media bitched and complained, but the biggest benefit is that you can have a car accident and not be swamped by tow-trucks vying for your business (and their 'gentle encouragements'). Oversight was achieved by having the clear-speech conversations all recorded at police HQ.

As for interoperability, New South Wales police were up in Brisbane following the floods helping with law and order and they had their radios too. I guess it is just a matter of authorities sharing keys, or having a common key established up front. When Australian police forces went to New Zealand to help following the Christchurch earthquake in February they could use their radios. Tait Electronics and others set up programming stations and as long as the frequency coverage was there, the radios could be used.

I use an 800MHz TETRA system with the State Emergency Service (like the US CERT, but state based) in Brisbane. This is not encypted (not all TETRA is), but there are very few scanners out there. Unfortunately this is incompatible with the 460MHz UHF system that the rest of the SES in Queensland use, so when we have teams from out of Brisbane we need to operate two networks. The text messaging feature of TETRA is very good for passing job information (flood evaculations, storm damage to houses, missing person details) that is not audible to people around you. Having an encrypted radio is not private if the volume on the speaker is very high and the media are within earshot.

It is probably the same reason there isn't native syncing of tasks. My US Robotics Pilot 1000 was a more capable PDA than my Dell X51v or my HTC Desire when used out of the box. Contact, Calendar and ToDo searching was so darned fast. I think makers of current smartphones have dropped the ball on the PDA side of things. Why don't my Exchange tasks sync? Why do I need an add on app for Google Calendar tasks to sync. Just stupid!

How is the RRN meant to be a unique number that only you know, if it is used at most websites? This sounds like the sillyness of the US SSN -- its "secret" but everyone asks for it. I can see why Australia made it illegal for anyone other than the Tax Office, Employers or Superannuation funds to ask for your tax file number.

Unique number identifiers are useful to ensure records don't get mixed up, but they are not a proof of identity. Using them as proof is moronic.

Sounds like MMP. The same thresholds apply in the New Zealand elections. The only exception is if you get an electorate seat (geographic) then you're into parliament and you get seats based on the percentage. Without the electorate seat you need to get over 5% to get list members into parliament. It is good as it stops complete fragmentation of the parliament.

I use this bag too and it is a good piece of gear. The laptop section handles a 17" laptop, and since I have a 13" laptop that leaves me some room at the top. The camera area is very spacious (more than I need now). The best feature was the price - around A$150. The Crumpler looked really nice but was over twice the price

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I travelled around Norway with the Tamrac, and I use it here in Australia. I really like the fact that it doesn't scream 'expensive laptop and camera inside' -- it just looks like a largish backpack. When I have the laptop (1.5kg), the camera and lenses, a charger or two, umbrella etc the weight gets up near 8kg which is pushing the friendship for air travel. the bag doesn't fit under a seat that has the entertainment system box down there, and the side compartments of an A330/A340 are too small. The centre overheads or 747 overhead lockers are fine with this bag.

In Australia the old CDMA band is being used for 850MHz UMTS, with very good coverage, in fact better than 2G, by Telstra. Optus & Vodafone use 900MHz UMTS in some of their GSM spectrum. This can be done because they have a spectrum licence. What they do with their chunk of spectrum is their business. All three carriers also operate 2100MHz UMTS, but Telstra is focusing its efforts on 850MHz. Voda & Optus are sticking to dual bands since 2100MHz gives more capacity (greater chunk of spectrum) for city use. Telstra's chunk of 850MHz is big enough for city use too. Europe is rolling out 900MHz UMTS and the US and Canada also have 850MHz UMTS.

Lower frequency UMTS can have better coverage than GSM for the same power level. GSM is a TDMA system and the normal timeslots limit subscribers to being within 35km of the base. This was a problem in Australia with the large wide open spaces with just enough hills for good cell sites. Telstra tweaked the standard to only use half the timeslots, letting subscribers be up to 70km away. The CDMA signalling used by UMTS doesn't have this problem, and just like CMDA2000 the limitation is based on signal strength.

I'm guessing that there would be very places in the UK that are more than 35km from a cell site. Are any carriers using 900MHz UMTS? I'd suspect too that the 2G signals giving better coverage are all 900MHz ones, as 1800MHz is quite similar in propagation to the standard 2100MHz frequency of 3G in Europe).

That sounds like the US & maybe Canadian approach. In Australia only the state of Queensland requires engineers not working under supervision of a registered engineer (RPEQ) to be registered. The minimum experience is 5 years and competence is measured against IEAust (non-mining) or AustIMM (mining) association guidelines. The IEAust (now Engineers Australia) competency standards need to be addressed in written form and evidence supplied. It is not a matter of taking tests -- it is about demonstrating competence. Once the Engineering Practice Report is accepted then the candidate takes part in a professional interview. This consists of a presentation of their key work and then a panel of three ask questions.

Many (most really) engineers don't bother with the CPEng (IEAust) or RPEQ (state) assessment/qualifications. Yes it is illegal, but prosecutions are very rare except where other people lay complaints. Government jobs are stricter and slowly the private consultancies are requiring CPEng/RPEQ, or at least an undertaking to get it very soon. I finally got around to it, so I'm probably the only engineering student at the university that is a registered engineer & senior member of the IEEE. It makes for interesting conversation at conferences.

A person with a PhD has shown that they can undertake original research and write it up. Their hand doesn't need to be held and they can work autonomously.

Master's degrees vary. I did mine by research and exam, so it was 18 months of research with 4 advanced level courses done in the first 6 months (concurrent with research). I went straight from my B.E. to the M.E. and I think it was the right thing to do. I knew the area I wanted to work in and I got stuck in. I then got a job in another country that used the exact skills I had picked up in the research, but for a different application.

After 12 years post M.E. working in industry it was time for a change in focus. That's why I've gone back to university and am doing a PhD. It opens up new opportunities, it allows me to do research (which I love) and I get to extend the state of the art in an area that I think matters. Will I get a better paying job? Probably not, as I was getting paid well in the job that I had beforehand, but it wasn't satisfying.

At HEL I needed to take my boots, belt and watch off. The boots are leather RM Williams boots (an Aussie icon), but not steel capped. Going through scanners in Australia in NZ I didn't need to take any of that off. After my welcome experience to Europe at HEL I took watch/boots/belt off each time, but still had some triggering of the metal detector at OSL (50% of the time) so the waved me through. Was it the rivets on my Levis? Taking the train between cities was so much easier!

The security staff at HEL are the most over zealous I have ever encountered (mind you, I've never been the USA). This is the only place that I've had to remove my handkerchief and some paper serviettes from my pockets during a pat-down and then have the snot-rag and paper x-rayed.

The security screeners seemed keen to touch-up anyone that set off the metal detector, and the queues were quite long with the backlog