REverberations - Law

Cash - Gone

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:59:38 -0500

Have a quick look at the image to the right. It's from a Liverpool Champion story about Liverpool Council heavy-handedly enforcing a 10m from an intersection parking rule, violation of which results in a $197 fine. Here, two cars would be fined for not being greater than 10m from the intersection.
Do you, as a member of society, think 10m is warranted? Look at the silver car in the picture - that's the approximate position I parked my car within Liverpool Council's boundaries, from where I cycle to Parramatta on occasion. I don't have a photo or proof, but I believe I would actually have been further from the corner, but I'm not claiming to have been more than 10m.
For the same amount of financial penalty, I could have driven between 10 and 20km/h over the speed limit, an action which statistically impacts the safety of others. Unlike, say, parking 6m from an intersection.
Sure, I'll pay - it's the law after all - however I won't bother to pick small parking spaces anymore for my biodiesel-powered tiny 5L/100km car (last tank 5.3L/100km, including towing 750kg mower/trailer combo at times and driving "with spirit" at others) to fit now so that others can have the larger ones for their land yacht fuel-guzzlers. There were plenty of huge open spaces away from an intersection I could have parked in.
Bugger the rest of you people looking for parking spots, it seems.

We're at war, remember?

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:13:20 -0600

Received in an email from GetUp:

We're sending you this urgent, one-time email because right now is a time when we can change Australia's direction by speaking up about what's important to us.

Last week, we saw the Prime Minister launch his campaign - and the most astonishing thing happened. As the leader of a nation at war, setting out his vision for the future, Mr Howard failed to even mention the war which he has supported - not a single word.

We are not experts. But we are two young Australian women who know something about the real cost of this war in Iraq. I, Louise (right), survived the 2005 London bombings. I underwent six operations and spent three months in traction. And I, Sam (left), was married to Jacob McMillan - an American soldier, my 25 year old love, who was killed in action in Iraq last December.

Please. Join over 60,000 of us calling for an end to the mess in Iraq by putting your name to the petition below:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/OurOwnPlanForIraq

How can this man live with himself? I honestly feel for people like this - Liz is so dear to me and, she keeps telling me, I to her. I can only imagine the pain Sam and Louise must be suffering, and to think it was for a war over ~~WMDs~~ ~~global security~~ oil that our country's leader has taken us to against the majority of the population's will, well, I'll let you end this sentence by voting appropriately on the weekend.

Can't wait to see the back of him.

It's time to gooo

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:55:51 -0600

Found via Miss Politics.

Party Politics

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:13:21 -0500

A pet hate of mine is the facade of democracy we have here. Either the ALP or the Liberals will be put in charge of the country. Sure, it looks like Howard is on the way out, but does it really matter?

Take your pick of comments I've heard recently:

Why don't we just merge the ALP and the Liberals and stop spending billions on elections pretending that they are any different?
Which half of the party are you going to vote for?

ALP policies one-up the Liberals. The Liberals one-up the ALP. Rinse. Repeat.

Oh, and it's not like the party members get an individual voice any more, it's all about the party line - read this extreme, un-reported example and be shocked at what goes on.

Some people join politics to make a difference. I just don't see that difference if you are towing the party line. Why bother?

With your vote, think about picking an independent, or perhaps a party that gives a stuff about more than being re-elected in three years. Maybe one that isn't going to bribe us with $billions of tax cuts while hospital waiting times reach record levels and public transport serves only a lucky few, and badly at that.

(I don't care if different levels of government have responsibilities for different things - we're all Australians, and if the states don't have money for something the Commonwealth should give it to them).

If you at all care about climate change, see what your local candidates' stances are. You might be surprised.

Of horses

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:58:19 -0500

Does anyone else think that the large pile of taxpayer's money being sent to the horse-racing industry (which exists purely to suck money from the gullible into the pockets of the already rich and slightly clever) is just a little bit completely unfair?

Couldn't they support their poor starving selves with some of the countless billions they've raked in over the years, without having to resort to government handouts from the rest of us that work hard to pay taxes? I know not everyone agrees with me, but my view is that gambling is a tax on those who suck at maths, and as such it's already a scam.

Oh, and the government should stop running TAB while they're at it - that just encourages people to think it's all normal.

There's nothing like a Monday morning rant.

Home Sick

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Mon, 14 May 2007 11:36:40 -0500

Thanks for all the well-wishes we've received, it's great to hear from everyone. I'm sick at home today unfortunately, but the flow of emails and SMSs makes life better!

Being sick and lazy in bed, I've just finished watching the following video which is being blocked pretty heavily in the US, and no wonder. It documents the private companies making obscene profits from the Iraq war. Worth watching if you have the time.

Electoral Roll Changes

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 10:28:54 -0500

Thanks to Dad for the heads-up:

We used to have seven days after the election date was announced to actually enrol to vote, time for a young person who's never voted before to get on board.

But, did you know this time the polls will close to new voters at 8pm - the very night the election is officially called?

In the last election, 83,000 first-time voters enrolled in the first week after the election was called. Hundreds of thousands more registered at their new address. But this time it's a measly three days to change your address, and just one day if you're trying to register for the first time. If youre too busy or dont hear about the election in time, and aren't already correctly enrolled, you can't vote.

This will be an incredibly important election for our country, with major issues like global warming and nuclear power to consider. Everyone should be able to participate. But on April 16, new ID and registration red tape comes into effect, so if you're in a rural area or overseas especially, you need to get on the roll now.

Just link below to join the call to overturn this anti-democratic legislation, and you can also make sure you're correctly enrolled to vote before the polls close in record time.

http://www.getup.org.au/

It's up to us to make sure we get a voice on Election Day.

States

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 08:22:16 -0600

Who needs 'em? Not 61% of the voters over at SMH polls.
While I admit I haven't thought every single consequence through, I tend to agree. I work for an arm of state government and watch us spend huge amounts of money and effort building systems to work only for people on this side of an artificial line in the dirt a few hundred kilometres away.
Those on the other side need the same services, but we won't share any of our efforts with them. Let them work it out for themselves! We had to spend our money, why shouldn't they spend their own to achieve exactly the same goals?!

Strange thinking from where I stand, since we all carry the same passports, sing the same anthem, wave the same flag and claim to be Aussies when we travel overseas.

I understand the theory of a State government, but the practice these days is far away from that theory.

Does anyone really feel good voting for any of the candidates in a couple of week's time? Do you feel that any of them strongly represents your feelings, regardless of whether you are left-leaning, right-leaning, or as apolitical as they come?

When I would have to vote for the most Right major party (Liberals) to get the best environmental water plan (recycling), because the sightly more Left party (Labour) wants to rape the environment with a desalination plan, and the only major alternative is the Democrats who are in a complete shambles, what am I to do with my vote?

Laws for the companies, not the people

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 07:43:19 -0600

According to the SMH, Apple had this to say, amongst others, about what the proposed Copyright reform currently going through parliament would mean to ordinary Australians:

"Apple submits that the current provisions of the bill will leave the [Australian Copyright] Act still outdated and overly restrictive given today's technology and the legitimate expectations of consumers," Apple's submission said.

"Many common everyday acts of copying to ... devices, such as an iPod, computers and even to VCRs ... would still constitute an infringement under the bill's current form."

Given the silence of most of the mainstream press, it's good to see SMH finally picking up on this nasty piece of work, and that as I write it's the number two viewed story today.
A law which would punish you and I for copying CDs that we paid for and own onto iPods (or computers, or anything else really) that we paid for and own, so that we could have them in a more convenient form is a very stupid law in today's society. We already have that law, and here is the opportunity to revise it and make it relevant, but instead they are making it even more of an attack on consumers.
Record companies really don't seem to understand that they are battling against free - that's the price of a download off Bittorrent or similar, and if you want to make it worth my effort to buy a CD and own it, drop the prices and let me do what I want with the thing that I bought and I own.

Don't even get me started on paid-for digital downloads - that's not an option. The stupid Digital Restrictions Management that these things come with mean that if you bought (yes, there's that word again) a song off any existing music store, and then decided (why I don't know) that the Zune looks like a good thing to buy for Christmas to listen to music on, then you can't listen to any of your previously purchased songs!
Microsoft want you to "buy" all your music again, and rinse and repeat in few years when the same thing happens. No thanks, give me a CD that means I have the physical media as a real backup, and I can turn into any form I want. All purely for my use, or at the worst to pass a couple of songs onto a friend to recommend a new artist I've heard.

Record companies, and the idiot governments that listen to them when creating laws to govern the people, should actually listen to consumers/voters now and them.

Update 30/11/2006: Wow, that's a quick backdown, even by government standards! Maybe more of them read my blog than I thought ;)

Running drugs is bad, mmmkay?

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 08:33:26 -0600

From the Sydney Morning Herald (and plenty of other media outlets, for months now), talking about the upcoming hanging of Nguyen Tuong Van for drug trafficing in Singapore:

"Mr Howard has said he does not want to give false hope to the family, but that is clouding the issue. Australia, as an opponent of capital punishment, has a responsibility to take a stand."

I don't generally get too political here, but Australian media, and a reasonable slice of the population seems to be missing a couple of facts:

The man was moving drugs, which we all condem as bad, over international borders. Apparently he was doing it to get a family member out of trouble. I'm sorry, but if you ever even approach that level of nastiness in your life, bail out real fast, go talk to the police, do whatever you need to do. Deciding that running drugs will solve whatever problems you have in your or your family's life is not an intelligent way of doing things.
The laws of Singapore include the death penalty as one possible outcome for people who choose to do such a thing. You may or may not agree with the death penalty. Personally I think it valid in some cases, although not necessarily this one. That doesn't change the fact that in Singapore that's the way things work. Australians would be most unimpressed if people came here, committed a crime and then claimed that in their country the penalties were more lenient, so could they have those penalties instead please?

Get a clue. He did stupid bad things and now has to face the consequences. Australia doesn't need to spend any money whatsoever trying to save him. That money should go into rehab programs rather than saving a drug runner's life.

No Coles in Oatley

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 23:26:21 -0500

Played with the Georges River Concert Band at the No Coles in Oatley protest on Sunday. There's a picture of us here.
Was quite a good gig, I don't play in concert bands very often now so enjoy it when I get the chance. Liz was still sleeping due to nightwork so missed out.
As for the reason we played, well check the protest site for details, but suffice to say that Oatley is a pretty unique little suburb, has a supermarket already, and doesn't fit well at all with lots of semi-trailers delivering food to a supermarket that the vast majority of residents don't want.
The reasonably impressive (strong words from me) Hurstville Council is siding with the residents, but the Land and Environment court continues to overrule and allow the developers free reign.

Poor banks

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 12:12:49 -0500

It would be nice if calls to give first-home buyers a break had been made before Liz and I had spent multiple thousands of dollars on insurance against the poor, defenceless banks loosing out on one mortgage. How sad that would be for them, as they're obviously not making any money now.
It's like how each bank charges customers of other banks for using their ATMs, forgetting that it all works the other way too. Just drop the bloody fees in one fell swoop and the customers won't have to bear the brunt of these ridiculous charges yet again.
Oh to be a government-protected financial institution.

The FTA starts to rear its ugly head

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 14:43:00 -0600

An article over at Australian IT is not the first bad sign about the FTA, but I believe is a warning about lots of really nasty things to come.
It specifically references last-minute rushed through changes which will affect ISPs and in turn all of us who rely on them for internet connections. Wonderful.

How To Kill A Country

webmaster@reverb.com.au (reverb) — Fri, 26 Nov 2004 10:54:00 -0600

This article in the Sydney Morning Herald explains rather well the problems we are going to face early next year when Australia's "Free-Trade Agreement" (FTA) with the USA comes into force.
As a software developer, I am mainly concerned with the intellectual property rights - the DMCA spreading to another country on our planet is definitely not a good thing.
The linked article is interviewing the authors of a book who's title I have borrowed for this post - Elizabeth Thurbon, Linda Weiss and John Mathews. They raise the main points rather eloquently.
It is interesting to see the views of such respected people aligning with the views of Richard Stallman when I heard him speak a month or so ago - founder of the Free Software Foundation and someone typically regarded as being as close to anarchical as you can get without actually being there.
I intend to find as many ways as possible to separate myself from persons and companies who intend to use these new freedom-trampling laws to sue their own customers, as is happening in the States.