In defense of .... torture?

Article in the SMH which appears to be a defense of torture techniques used by the CIA. He seems to be tiptoeing around explicitly defending it, but makes his point by attacking those who have done an about face, after giving support to the program under the old administration. Interesting reading.

RPM's by Pinky and the Brain

Pinky: So do you want to do tonight Brain?
The Brain: The same thing we do every night Pinky. Try to build RPM's.
Pinky: Narf. But I though we tried to take over the world?
The Brain: That was before our show was canceled. Now pay attention.


Ever wanted to learn how to make Linux RPM's, but man pages keep putting you into a coma? Well... its Pinky and the Brain to the rescue!!

Part 1
Part 2


From the specs file....
%description
Zonk. You can let the computer make the butterscotch pudding for you and leave
you to just put your head right in it.

Here we go again

Ok, so we've had another people-smuggling boat turn up in Australian waters again. A big fire onboard has meant a many were badly injured, and are being taken to Darwin and Perth hospitals for treatment.

The Opposition has wasted no time in claiming that the Government caused this tragedy. Apparently, relaxing the Temporary Protection Visa's has "given the green light" to people smugglers. Turnbull, was interviewed on the ABC AM this morning, and claims that TPV's were an effective deterrent to people smugglers (whom he characterised as evil, greedy, businesspeople). Now, not withstanding the documented rise in population displacement due to oversea's conflicts (in this case, Afghanistan), causing increases in refugee numbers all over the world - if people smugglers were really greedy businesspeople who had no regard for peoples lives -do you really think that they are particularly concerned what happens to their human cargo when they reach land? They've already received their fees, so I highly doubt they are concerned about how and under which Visa scheme, their cargo is processed. And, although right-wingers like to dehumanize refugees as "illegal immigrants" who are possibly terrorists - the fact is, in nearly ever case, they have a genuine claim under the UN refugee convention. Its no easy thing staking your life on a leaky vessel to try and escape, so why would you risk life and limb unless you were really really desperate. Hardliners liners seem to think these people would what... blow themselves up to force Australia to take them in? Yeah, makes perfect sense.

Bob Debus (Home Affairs Minster) was also interviewed this morning, and I was really, really impressed. He point blank refused to make any comments or give any opinions on this, until an investigation had completed. Repeatedly, he stated that he would not politicise this proccess and not only did not raise any xenophobic opinions, but resisted the temptation also, to attack the opposition.

When asked if he was being particularly careful due to past experiences with the Tampa issue, his response was: "Absolutely."

Good on him.

Fijian sense of humour

When they censor you... you make your own "news"

Newsflash: Man gets on a Bus!!

Soccer World Cup

Well... not quite;

The Kshatriya Society of NSW is hosting a bi-annual tournament, where community members from Fiji, New Zealand, Brisbane and Melbourne will come together in Sydney for a four-day soccer tournament.

Details here:
Official Website

Gen Y ... contributors the GFC ?

This is an interesting pot-shot at Gen Y I think this is a glib characterisation, perhaps? But maybe he has a point. Crudely made, but maybe this is what the "Me" generation really needs?

"Irritating and Dark stories"

Commodore Bainimarama has claimed that the massive media suppression he has enacted in the last few days is to stop the media publishing stories which are "stories which are irritating and dark about our service".

Bit too late for that now, mate.

But what can you expect from someone's who's rank was named after a rustbucket hunk of junk ?

Climate Change Scepticism

This article, from a columnist I generally respect... is a fairly articulate argument for the 'climate change skeptics' camp. It does challenge some of the general 'truths' I find myself automatically accepting, coming from a left-leaning perspective.

There is probably something to be said for taking a longer term view of climate events - and that the Earth is constantly evolving and changing. Throughout its history, many different species have come and gone, each changing the composition of the atmosphere and indirectly, likely to have changed the climate.

Actually, I don't believe human activity can destroy the earth (unless you count some major Nuclear disaster that changes to mass of the earth, thus destabilising its orbit). Nor will we wipe out life. Life will evolve. Humans have probably stopped evolving - and therein lies the problem. We want to preserve the environment as we know and perceive it. If our actions hasten the change to our environment, then we owe it to ourselves to try and reduce our impact. Perhaps 'dramatic' climate change, as we perceive it through our relatively insignificant timescale, is inevitable. But if we want to enjoy life as we know it, we need to look after our own environment.

I think the skeptics camp is advancing an argument that is analogous to "My house will eventually crumble and fall down. Therefore, I shouldn't worry about keeping it clean". Its a matter of making our surrounds as pleasant as possible for as long as possible.

Fiji - the saga continues

For the last 20 years, it seems, Fiji has been on a gradually increasing spiral of political instability, with several coups. Fortunately, in Fiji, being the laid-back place that it is, these have been largely bloodless. In fact, I would suggest that outside Suva, most people would not have noticed anything going on.

However, this weekend, the aging figurehead President Iloilo fronted the cameras do dismiss the entire judiciary and suspend the constitution. This was apparently in response to the legal system declaring the last coupe of Commodore Frank Bainimarama to be illegal. Iloilo could barely read the words he spoke - making it embarrassingly clear that the speech had been written by him.

Steven Smith (Foreign Minister) has been quick to come out and label this a military dictatorship. DFAT has announced travel warnings for the country. And they is talk of political and economic sanctions being enacted shortly.

Whilst I do not agree with the actions of Bainimarama - particularly in dismissing the judiciary - there is one fact that is often forgotten in this mess. Bainimarama overthrew the government which was installed after the George Speight coup several years ago. This Government was a Fiji Nationalistic government, corrupt to the core and stacked with tribal interests. That Government actively persecuted Indo-Fijians, resulting in many farmers who had been on the land for generations - being forcibly evicted and losing their livelihood. Again, I'm not saying the new coup is necessarily just, but Australia and New Zealand would do better to look beyond the immediate scope of this crisis, and not view this as a power grab in isolation.

Fiji is in a bad state politically. And it saddens me that this country with such great natural riches, could be laid waste as such. Fiji has some of the most fertile land on earth... it already exports its water (which is regularly replenished due to its high rainfall). Mahogany, pine, sugar and root crops also have great export potential. And of course, the tourist industry, which caters for budget travellers right through to ultra-exclusive islands has great potential. With the right government in place, this country could be hugely successful.

Unfortunately, at this time, that government is nowhere to be seen.

RNSH Chapel - de-deified?

A NSW Health Department public servant has decided that the Chapel at Royal North Shore Hospital, should be stripped of any Christian iconography to avoid offending people of different religions. Whilst this is (and always has been) a multi-faith room of prayer, it has always been 'decorated' as per a Christian church.

Now, I'm not Christian, and personally get a little uncomfortable in churches. But this is a bit much. This building was obviously built as a Christian chapel originally, when Australia was a predominantly Christian nation. There is heritage here, i'm sure and its just political correctness taken too far, to modify it.

Although Western religions don't seem to practice this, mature religions should be able to accept and work with other religions - and NOT be 'offended' by iconography. A mature religion believes in an all accepting God - and would not seek conflicts between different beliefs in this way.

Let the chapel be.

You've been voted off...

Reality show hands staff fire power

All class. But seriously - this isn't a social experiment. This is a popularity contest.

Back from the dead + broadband

Well, two and bit years on, i've decided to resurrect this blog. Not sure why... or how often I'll update... but sometimes you just need a place to unload.

So, since Jan 07 we've had a change of government, new US president... and a whole host of stuff.

Yesterday, the Government announced a fibre-to-the-premises broadband rollout. Fantastic I say. For too long, governments have not taken the big long term decisions, and the economy is paying for it. Naturally, the opposition opposed it, but these are the same people who would have opposed telephone infrastructure being rolled out.

We're already behind the rest of the world in terms of capacity, and this will help bring us up to speed. Literally. I still can't believe the short-sightedness of people who say we don't need this huge speed increase. Thats the same mentality of those who said you'd never need more than 8MB of RAM. With technology moving so fast, we can't even imaging the possibilities that will arise. And i'm not talking about the obvious streaming media transition. Cloud computing, hi-def video, etc... and other stuff we can't even comprehend yet. Remember, this isn't infrastructure for the next 10 years. It will be there for possibly 100's of years. 100 years ago - did people comprehend the computer?

There is potentially an argument for wireless being a cheaper alternative. However, a couple of issues; inherent medium limitations and instability is one major concern. I also suggest that there will come a point when all these signals and waves flying around will be proven to have health and/or other environmental impacts we haven't yet seen.

Well, its good to back. If anyone is out there .... :)