Oats Express? No – Oats Explodes!

Spotted these in the local Coles while doing the weekly shop this afternoon:

I handed them into the service desk – (because who knows *what* caused this) – but clearly not “Oats Express”, but “Oats Expands” or “Oats Explodes”.

Bit of a worry.

Serco Employee Superannuation Fail

It seems that Serco is not just capable of ”faults in due diligence” with respect to prison transport contracts, and security flaws at detention centres, but has also been guilty of lax procedures with respect to compulsory employee superannuation contributions.

Review Of Superannuation Guarantee Contributions – Outcome

“Serco has been carrying out a review to make sure that Superannuation Guarantee Contributions were paid correctly. The review has found that in your case, there was a shortfall in the amounts paid to your superannuation fund. We have now taken action to correct this, in accordance with the requirements set down by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).”

And this:

“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. We have now improved procedures in relation to Superannuation Guarantee Contributions.”

A tacit admission that previously, their procedures were not up to scratch. What other procedures need “improving”?

How can we trust a company like Serco to operate detention centres to “correct” procedures – (regardless of the human rights implications) – when they can’t even get basic employee entitlement procedures correct, and are found wanting in respect to basic security principles?

Dodgy.

Transcript Of ABC Asylum Seeker Tow-Back Video

Following up from my earlier post on the apparent censoring of an asylum seeker tow-back video by the ABC, a translation of what was said on the uncensored version has emerged.

Not being able to speak Farsi myself, I can’t personally verify the translation is correct, but it does match up with a small section that was included – (with audio) – in the stock ABC news report on the video. I obtained the translation via this tweet.

Transcript Of Asylum Seeker Tow-Back Video

“We are 36 people including a pregnant woman and a one year old baby.”

“It is one week since Australian Navy took us and put us in this small boat.”

“From this side you can see a warship – its number is IMO 4906551 Triton Darwin.”

“They don’t care about the baby and pregnant woman.”

“They are animals, animals.”

“Today is Wednesday in the first week of February. We don’t know what the exact date is!”

“They didn’t allow us to even wash our face or go to the toilet.”

“Last time, two weeks ago, they had taken us and abandoned us in the jungle. For four days we wandered in the jungle and one of us sank (drowned?) in the river!”

“This time we asked them please don’t do this to us! And they said OK! But it seems they do this crime again to us!”

“This is one of the blue bracelets from one of them that was left behind in this boat. The number of this boat was 879 and it seems there were 34-35 people.”

“This is an army ship which escorts us.”

“This is a warship and this is a fucking boat that they [Australian government] want to kill us with!”

“And they are fucking soldiers.”

I make no assertions as to whether or not the claims made by the people in the video are factual – I simply present this for the record.

ABC Asylum Seeker Tow-Back Video Censored?

Earlier today, I tweeted a video link to an ABC posting of a video, evidently of a lifeboat full of asylum seekers being towed back to Indonesia.

A couple of hours later, a few people pointed out to me that the video link no longer worked. Curious, I investigated.

The video is – (or more accurately, WAS) – to be found here. Notice that it is now private and therefore unable to be viewed?

I followed up with another tweet, and then another, wondering what value there was in taking down what seemed like a fairly significant piece of material for a journalistic organisation to run with, given the current asylum seeker debate in this country.

Almost immediately, people were pointing out that the video was still up and available. Yet, no matter what I did, YouTube continued to report the video as “private”.

It was then I realised the video really HAD been taken down, but reposted as another YouTube video:

The difference between the two?

The original one had the audio, the second one does not.

Other news organisations – (such as Al Jazeera) – reported the video as well, but not the full piece with audio that the ABC pulled down.

Others clearly heard the audio when I first posted.

So the question is, what was on the audio – (where the people on the boat were freely speaking their native tongue(s)) – that we are no longer allowed to hear?

Why ABC? Censorship?

UPDATE: (18:33) – the original version with audio was saved by geeksrulz:

Go for it internet – translate!

Toilet Etiquette?

Recently I got a giggle from these differing signs on the toilets at a local shopping centre:

Obviously, it’s not a good idea for anyone to smoke in the toilets – (except perhaps staff, apparently?) – but it seems the boys get asked not to smoke a lot less nicely than the girls!

Avalon Rail Link: Priorities Out Of Order?

The question of whether or not Victoria’s rail network should be extended into Geelong’s Avalon Airport has been a point of debate for a number of years.

With news today that the proposed heavy rail link be submitted for environmental assessment, proponents of the plan are hailing a ‘milestone’ in the project.

Avalon Rail Link Milestone

“The aim of the Coalition Government’s Avalon Airport rail link is both to improve options for people travelling from Geelong and Melbourne and to secure the airport’s future as our second international airport.”

Future second international airport? Despite AirAsiaX almost signing up for international flights into Avalon some years ago, Avalon Airport has never managed to attract an international carrier to the site.

This may be partly due to several failed attempts to gain international status from the relevant authorities scaring off potential tenants, but “securing the airport’s future as our second international airport” is a pretty bold statement.

While this has long been the plan, without a carrier choosing the airport, there is no future as an international airport. Not yet, at the very least.

More concerning are the domestic airlines not seeing Avalon as a viable location.

Tiger Air no longer flies to Avalon, and Jetstar is reconsidering its presence there:

Jetstar’s Future At Avalon Airport In Doubt

“The Geelong Advertiser revealed this morning that the discount carrier – [b]Avalon’s only passenger carrier[b] – was reviewing its tenure at the airport, where it has been losing millions of dollars. In Geelong for other announcements this morning, Dr Napthine said it was “disturbing news.””

Even Jetstar’s parent Qantas will soon cease heavy maintenance activities there.

Why is the state government pushing forward with the process – (which undoubtedly costs money) – when Avalon is not even assured of retaining the one and only domestic airline currently making use of the airport?

Yes, the current activity is designed only to confirm and then secure the land for the future rail corridor – but really? Surely the time, money and effort needs to be spent to ensure there are passenger airline services left to make use of the rail link?

Shouldn’t we be looking to secure its future as a domestic airport, before we try and secure its future as an international airport, and put in a rail link?

At this stage, I think the priorities are completely out of order.

2013: Posts Of The Year

In this the 2013 edition of my ‘posts of the year’, as was the case in the 2012, my website has been dominated by NBN discussion.

Yes I do write about the NBN quite a bit, but that these articles are so popular on my site shows just how important the NBN has become in the national debate. People want information on it, and I try to give it as clearly and as accurately as I can.

Here now, the most popular monthly articles…enjoy!

  • January: Turnbull Must Now Accept NBN Has Not Completely Failed

    After constant attacks about NBN Co missing its construction targets, Malcolm Turnbull was found to have been wrong in those attacks. NBN construction targets are still a contentious issue, particularly since the change of government in September, so the real numbers are still a matter of debate.

    “With news today that NBN Co actually exceeded this target, surely Turnbull must accept that based on his own words that the NBN has not “completely failed”. He should. But he won’t.”

  • February: Google Fiber Lighting The Way For Our NBN

    The launch of Google Fiber in the United States began demonstrating the value of optical-fibre based broadband networks, yet still the then Federal Opposition refused to take their heads out of the sand.

    “The evidence continues to mount in favour of the NBN, yet for some, evidence is simply not enough. These people cannot see that people are demanding the NBN as soon as possible.”

  • March: Turnbull Suggests Eighteen Billion Dollars Is Not Material

    Still on the NBN, in March Turnbull tried to suggest that the difference in maintenance costs between a copper-based broadband network and a fibre-based one was “not enough to be material”. With research actually showing the difference is quite significant, Malcolm was left with egg on his face again.

    “Given a reputable firm like BIS Shrapnel has made the projection of between a $600 and $700 million saving each year in network maintenance costs, simply by having the fibre network instead of the copper network, is Turnbull saying this kind of money is “immaterial”?”

  • April: Coalition Gaffe: Turnbull And Abbott Wrong On Geelong NBN Claim

    Tony and Malcolm lied. It’s that simple.

    “Time to explain yourself chaps – you were wrong. You either lied / tried to mislead people, or you were too lazy to check your facts. Either way, it’s very poor form. Politics needs to be about trust – and you clearly can’t be trusted on this issue.”

  • May: News Limited Seeks Excess Access To Your Social Media Accounts

    As was shown later in the year by Edward Snowden and his revelation of NSA spying, online privacy was again shown to be a major issue for the world, with a seemingly high-handed approach by News Limited for access to the social media accounts of the unwitting.

    “Unless I trust News Limited completely – (both to be good citizens, and to protect their data) – I wouldn’t be authorising them – (or anyone who steals their data) – to basically become me on my social media accounts. I don’t, and neither should you.”

  • June: The Telstra Copper Ship Of Theseus

    Back on to the NBN and maintenance of the existing copper network, and Telstra CEO David Thodey saying the copper network would last for many years to come, despite mounting evidence of the poor condition of the network. Of course it can last – even for thousands of years – but that depends how you look at it, doesn’t it?

    “Just like your grandfather’s 80-year-old axe – (it’s only had three new handles, and four new heads in that time) – of course the network could last 100 years. Or 200 years. Or 300 years.”

  • July: Another Coalition Member Caught Lying Over NBN

    More false NBN statements from the Coalition in July, with Sussan Ley saying that telephone exchanges outside of the 93% fibre footprint could not be upgraded at a later date, unless their alternate plan is implemented. Why not? Well, there’s no reason why not actually.

    “Given that the small towns that Ley is worried about will have exactly the same result from the NBN under either plan, her assertion that small towns with an exchange can only be upgraded to fibre under the Coalition plan is patently false.”

  • August: Malcolm Turnbull Invents Time Travel

    A truly weird one from Turnbull in August, when he proclaimed that we should not be building an NBN for tomorrow with the technology of today – when clearly we should use what hasn’t been invented yet, right?

    “We can’t provision for future demands with tomorrow’s technology, because tomorrow’s technology doesn’t exist yet!”

  • September: Funny Smell Over NBN Co Board Resignations

    September saw the Coalition take power at the federal election, and Turnbull become the new Communications Minister. That’s when he started playing games – asking himself for the NBN Co board to resign, and then refusing to accept those resignations.

    “Who insists on someone resigning, and then refuses to accept the resignation?”

  • October: Unsubstantiated Claims Of Stopped Tasmanian NBN Rollout

    A month into office, and with all the facts presumably at his fingertips, Turnbull continued to make false statements on NBN rollout progress.

    “This is typical Malcolm Turnbull. Rather than directly respond to the fact that he knows he misled Tasmanians he reaches for a distraction with a false claim about current roll-out.”

  • November: Dodo And The Extinct Password Protection

    Getting away from the NBN for a moment, I discovered some curious password handling issues by my ISP, Dodo – who were able to send me my portal password in the clear, via SMS. I’ve still had no response from them.

    “They really should implement a challenge response mechanism to reset the password online, instead of just storing them in the clear and spitting them out on request, without seeking proof of who is requesting the password.”

  • December: What Turing Gave To The World

    With Alan Turing finally receiving a pardon from the UK government for his conviction for then-illegal homosexual acts, I thought it was a good time to remind the world exactly what he did for the world. I’m sure that he himself would rather see everyone else convicted in this way pardoned as well. Maybe the UK government can work on that.

    “Never forget Alan Turing.”

Browser State Of Play 2013

Over the last couple of years, I have looked at statistics relating to which browsers people are using to visit my site a couple of times, in a somewhat adhoc fashion – here and here.

Boring? Maybe.

It is however ‘interesting’ and ‘useful’ in a couple of ways.

While theoretically all web browsers should show the same page in the same way as each other, in reality this just doesn’t happen. How a page looks in Internet Explorer, might differ slightly from how it looks in Google Chrome.

The difference may be enough to “break” a page.

For a web developer, this can be frustrating as sometimes you have to code your pages to adjust themselves to suit the browser being used by a visitor. While I would not strictly call myself a web developer, I’ve had a presence on the web since 1994, and do enjoy tinkering with new ways to do things – so it is useful to know what people are using.

Browser statistics are also interesting in a broadly intellectual way – exactly what browsers are people using? Which is the most popular?

From this year, I’ve decided to post the browser statistics for all visits to my site over a 12 month period – so early each January, I have decided to do this, and perhaps we’ll see trends over time.

For 2013, Google Chrome was the winner with 28.9% of all hits made to this website in 2013 coming from users with that browser:

Even if we add the 5.6% of hits where the browser was not able to be determined to the next placed browser – (Mozilla Firefox on 21.3%) – it still doesn’t beat Google Chrome.

Given my site posts are mainly technology related, that Chrome and Firefox account for nearly half of all visits is not a surprise, as these are widely recognised as the favourite browsers of the technology-inclined.

The non-technically minded tend to stick with Internet Explorer, as that’s what is on their computers – (for the most part) – when they get them, and they don’t tend to change to another browser.

Given Internet Explorer has seen numbers as high as a 65% share of hits on this site as ‘recently’ as 2009, it is remarkable the inroads that Chrome and Firefox have made in the last five years, with Internet Explorer now trailing out with only 16.3% of the total hits recorded.

Of course, given the technology-based theme of my site, the stats are likely to skew away from Internet Explorer – but the comparisons year-to-year are still interesting.

I’ll see you in 2014 to see how the coming 12 months pan out.

What Turing Gave To The World

In the wake of his long called for pardon, I think it is important to remind ourselves just what Alan Turing gave to the world.

Never forget Alan Turing.

John Smith Outlines His Plans

Voting in mayoral elections for Geelong continues, following the resignation of previous Mayor, Keith Fagg, due to health concerns.

For the last couple of Geelong mayoral votes, the mysterious “John Smith” has nominated for the job. Nobody knows who he is, and he has never shown up at any functions relating to the process.

Included with the voting materials is a short blurb from each candidate on why you should vote for them. Here is Mr Smith’s:

“Hello again from John Smith. Please don’t be annoyed that you are required to vote again – use this opportunity to re-write history. Sometimes the most popular of choices isn’t the best option. For example – I put all my eggs in the one basket (bad idea) and now I am, unemployed, homeless and living out of my car. So if I don’t respond promptly to requests and communications, its [sic] because I have very limited access to resources. I am sure knowing this you will understand. Yet still I believe I have plenty to offer this “Great City and Region”. Please vote 1 John Smith. Truly Independent.”

Whoever this guy is, he perhaps shouldn’t be wasting our time – but he sure has a sense of humour.