Author Archives: Michael Wyres

Conroy: Australia’s Ted Stevens?

In the shadow of Stephen Conroy’s latest at least semi-gaffe in which the generous licence fee rebate he granted to Australia’s major commercial television networks in February appears to have not had its intended consequence, I keep thinking about former US Senator for Alaska, Ted Stevens. In particular, I am reminded of his famous series […]

The Little Engine That Could Not

Yesterday’s massive rail debacle in Melbourne affected almost every running train service in the entire state of Victoria. Hundreds of thousands of commuters were delayed, some for extended periods of time. I have no doubt that most people in the calm light of day appreciate that in any system, things do go wrong from time […]

Twitter SSL Certificate Expires!

Looks like someone at Twitter headquarters hasn’t been paying attention to basic infrastructure while they’ve been looking at major infrastructure issues. I keep calendar reminders for whenever SSL certificates I handle are about to expire, to make sure I renew them. How about it Twitter?

Nutball Witch from Another Planet?

Straight out of the freaky, nutball, stay away from the dangerous substances file, comes this one: Geelong Cop-Dragging ‘Witch’ Says She’s Not From Here “When asked to produce her driver’s licence, De Avalon replied that she did not have one,” Sen-Constable Lamb said. “When asked why not, she said, ‘I’m a being from another world […]

(Yet) Another Reason the Internet Filter is Useless

Anyone who has been following the internet filtering debate with an objective eye, will understand how completely pointless it will be to spend $44.5M – (in the first year alone) – of taxpayer money on this politically motivated and farcical plan. Despite an admission by the department that it won’t be illegal to bypass the […]

Age Versus Fitness in Motor Racing

I have often heard it argued that motor racing is not a sport, that it can’t be difficult to sit in a car and just drive. Of course, just about any form of motor sport is hard work – anyone who thinks otherwise should take the chance to have a go at their local go-kart […]

NBN: More Election Spin!

I read with interest that ALP have today announced that should they win the upcoming federal election, that they will extend the footprint of the National Broadband Network (NBN) to cover 93% of the Australian population, up from the previous promise of 90% coverage. NBN Coverage Increased to 93pc It is interesting that at an […]

If Politicians Are Serious About Climate Change

We are nearly a week into the 2010 Federal Election campaign, and as expected, the various climate change policies of the major parties are being announced and/or promoted and/or due to be announced. We will hear each of them spout about how their plans for the environment – particular in the realm of climate change, […]

@David_Speers – Hello and Congratulations!

David – congratulations to yourself and to Sky News Australia for landing the role of moderator and convener of the upcoming first leaders debate for the 2010 Australian Federal Election. Top Notch. On behalf of the many thousands of law-abiding internet users who believe in democracy in this country, please raise the issue of Federal […]

Our Censorship Future?

When Turkey decided that it was a good idea to censor what it considered “questionable or objectionable material” on the internet, many were outraged – just as many people in Australia are currently outraged over similar plans for Australia. The following AlJazeera story demonstrates just how – and how quickly – their filter became wildly […]