Not many tech posts today, getting up on my soap box. I arrived back in Adelaide just as the South Australian elections are starting to heat up. This post shows a letter response I sent to sent to sent to sent to sent to (sorry, got stuck in an infinite loop) Trevor Grace who sent me a leaflet in the mail for his AbortSA party.
I’ve briefly mentioned this particular issue in passing with regards to the Great Firewall of Australia and to a lesser extent the persecution of South Australian gamers, but now I’m going to rant and complain about it for an entire post. Two words: caramel macchiato. Wait, I got distracted. Two words: brain drain.
Jonathan Schwartz’s departure from Sun has inspired me to write my own departure note as it were. Hey I like that segue, I’m going to run with it. After a few [non-consecutive!] semesters in Adelaide I’ve decided to transfer to Canberra. For those who really care about the angst of a 20-something student (no, really), feel free to read.
AdelaideNow is reporting that at 10pm Central Australian Time, South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson has:
If we needed any [further] proof that Australian federal and state governments are losing the plot, this latest move by the South Australian government to restrict free speech online with regards to the next elections would be it, and in no way is it more succinctly represented than by Michael Atkinson. For someone with such a cool name, I would have expected more, I blame myself.
Sometimes it’s just so simple for people like Michael Atkinson to pass the legislation he wants. Other times though this dang thing called democracy gets in the way and ruins everything. What’s the point of being able to pass laws if the people the law will effect want to debate? Sheesh!
Our (albeit government sponsored) university fees at work (or lack thereof). Fortunately all my lecturers from this semester have continued to go above and beyond by answering my emails and returning assignments with detailed and friendly comments. I wonder if others have had less luck?
Some disturbing news about the state of tertiary education in South Australia being reported by Suzanne Tindal on ZDNet Australia. Flinders University and TAFE SA (similar to a polytechnic for my Singaporean and Malaysian readers) have adopted Microsoft Exchange based Live@Edu for a three year contract. While on the surface the features actually sound cool, the potential ramifications of adopting this expensive system are scary.
For those who don’t use Twitter and who aren’t following South Australian Legislative Council Greens member Mark Parnell, he had this to say earlier this afternoon:
Marine Policy 101: Kill seagrass with pollution = mobilised sand = eroded beaches = $$$ to pump more sand on shore to keep our beaches nice!
It’s funny (in a kind of tragic way) because it’s true. Welcome to the world of reactionary rather than preventative environmental politics, or as I see it, fixing the symptoms not the causes. It works so well for health, education and transport, might as well put it into practise for the environment too.
At BankSA Crime Stoppers, our advertising is as up to date as our technology! I kid, they do valuable work, but you’d think while they rearranged their advertising layout for widescreen HD television they would have updated the graphics and the pictured mobile phone handset too.
Though with all that said, ironically if its an analogue phone it probably has better sound quality than our current mobile phones! Wait hold on I’m typing this in Safari on my iTelephone and its complaining about a lost data connection.
I'm Ruben Schade, welcome to my labour of love mix of tech, anime, thoughts and nonsense from Singapore and Australia. Thanks for stopping by.
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