NBN Co has finally won the fight to erect a wireless tower for their network rollout in the tiny Victorian town of Dereel:
“A National Broadband Network wireless tower has been cleared for construction in Dereel, after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) quashed residents’ objections.”
“The ruling was handed down on May 17 after a hearing last month and means the area – a notorious mobile phone blackspot – will soon have access to high speed broadband.”
The battle has been raging for a long time, and has even been misrepresented in the local media.
Common sense wins through in the end.
Overnight, did Peter Dempsey – (running in the Indy Lights series) – just score the closest race victory in a motor racing event?
At 0.0026 seconds, he probably did.
It was closer than even the previously recognised closest finish – (0.014 seconds) – between Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell at the 1986 Spanish Grand Prix:
Damn impressive.
It is disappointing for all Australians that Ford Australia today announced they will cease all production in Australia from 2016, with the loss of 1200 direct jobs.
Disappointing too that The Age didn’t take a little more care in choosing the photo to go with the article on their front page?
Kinda looks like the Holden logo, right?
Fail.
Just stumbled onto this fascinating vision for the future of telecommunications – as that future was seen by AT&T in 1961.
Keep an eye out for your rocket delivery from France!
My regular readers will remember my involvement in a serious dog attack incident in my street on a quiet Sunday morning in August last year.
The follow up response to the incident was less than ideal, but the hands of the local council were tied by the existing laws on what they could and could not do.
The end result has proven to be bittersweet.
“A pitbull called Tiny had to be put down after her owner ignored repeated calls by authorities to have the dog seen by a vet, a court has heard.”
“Geelong Magistrates’ Court was told [the owner’s] cruelty in allowing the dog’s declining condition to continue untreated for three months left the veterinary surgeon with little option but to have her euthanased.”
While the neglect the dog suffered at the hands of her owner is horrifying to me as an animal lover, it is gratifying that this dog can no longer roam the streets, harming other animals, and potentially humans too.
I must admit, I don’t know quite how I’m feeling about it this morning.
Last week, Kurt Busch was given the opportunity to drive a prototype V8 Supercar at the Circuit of the Americas, as a promotional event for the upcoming Austin 400, the first V8 Supercars event held in North America.
Video of his drive has now emerged:
Apart from apparently being in the wrong gear a few times due to being unfamiliar with the car – (right hand drive, left hand sequential gear change) – and learning the circuit, Busch seemed to do a pretty good job handling the completely new environment.
Not bad.
Of course, Busch isn’t the only NASCAR driver to have a fling in a V8 Supercar, with Dale Earnhardt Jr having a go in a previous generation car some years ago at an off-season test session with Paul Morris Motorsport.
Of course, Marcos Ambrose came from the V8 Supercars series to NASCAR.
Will we see a NASCAR star have a race one day?
Given the intense racing schedule of the NASCAR season, it would be difficult to organise a weekend where NASCAR isn’t racing that matches a V8 Supercars event, but it would be an exciting prospect.
Just spotted an undisguised Chevrolet SS Performance version of the upcoming Holden Commodore VF, in North Geelong.
Clearly badged as a Chevrolet SS, and left-hand drive, the car was totally devoid of any disguises, aside from a section of the taillight assembly being blanked out with black tape – more likely to protect it from damage, than to hide anything.
I didn’t manage to get a photo of the front, but it looks even better in the flesh than even in the publicity photos.
Very nice.
And the sound it made pulling away from the lights was breathtakingly good.
Our V8 Supercars are heading for the Circuit of the Americas near Austin in May, and the promotions are underway. Here’s the commercial produced by COTA:
They won’t know what hit them!
There has been a lot questions raised lately, in regards to the regular appearances by representatives from the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) in news and current affairs programming on the the ABC – (in particular on “The Drum”) – and what their motivations are, given their apparent links to other media organisations.
My curiosity was piqued when I stumbed onto this tweet yesterday – (from @SpaceKidette who I follow and who follows me) – pointing to an investigation by Stuart Littlemore from 2001, into the IPA and its apparent vitriolic hatred of the ABC.
Does the IPA still hate the ABC? Why are they always on? Working on an inside job? Or have things changed?
It’s all very curious since their own list of policies the IPA wishes an incoming Liberal/National Party government to implement, spells out the breakup and sell-off of the ABC – (take note of Policy 50) – due to its belief in ensconced left-wing bias at the national broadcaster, and the threat that might pose to democracy – yet they still happily go onto the various ABC outlets to spout their message.
On the ‘biased’ ABC:
“Conservative governments have a very narrow idea of what the ‘culture wars’ consists of. The culture of government that threatens our liberty is not just ensconced in the ABC studios, or among a group of well-connected and publicly funded academics. ABC bias is not the only problem. It is the spiraling expansion of bureaucracies and regulators that is the real problem.”
Heady words.
It is all the more curiouser to observe the current wider opinion of the ABC – which many see as biased towards the political right, and many see as biased towards the political left.
Obviously it can’t be both, so it is probably neither.
Whatever the truth about the IPA’s goals, given the current political discourse in Australia, Littlemore’s report is an interesting 15 minutes of viewing.
Grab a cuppa and watch.
