Rubénerd!

In what could be characterised as classic duopoly abuse, Woolworths supermarkets here in Australia have announced they will no longer honour Visa debit card requests. Ugh.

"A long time ago, we used to be friends..."

I have a Visa debit card with my credit union, it's been fantastic. I can pay for goods and services online and sign for things in shops but the money comes from my checking account instead of an expensive line of credit that I don't trust myself to be responsible with. Credit transactions are also free, unlike direct debit EFTPOS (the Aussie equivalent to Singapore's NETS) which incurs a small charge each time.

What this Woolworths decision means is that when I give them my card to pay for groceries, I won't be allowed to say credit anymore and I'll be forced to use EFTPOS. This way Woolworths pawns the cost of the transaction to me. Yeah, gee, thanks guys.

I actually like shopping there

I shop at Woolworths here at Mawson Lakes because they're walking distance from my house and they have a really good selection of stuff. A lot of the produce comes from here in South Australia which I argue has some of the best food in the country (despite being born a New South Welshman!).

While overall I prefer living in Singapore, supermarkets there are either extremely expensive (Cold Storage charges double digits for small blocks of cheese) or their selection is abysmal (NTUC Fairprice is in many ways a glorified 7-11). You also constantly have to check where food is made, because if it comes from the United States chances are it'll be laden with partially hydrated corn syrup... YUCKIES! Except for grains from Bob's Red Mill in Oregon, that stuff is so wholesome and tasty it should be illegal.

That said, this move by Woolworths is kick in the pants of their customers, and what's worse they know they can get away with it. With most Aussies only having a choice between Woolworths or Coles in shopping centres and whatnot, this kind of blatant exploitation is almost the norm rather than the exception.

Can they do this?

What I want to know is whether this kind of behaviour is legal. I know cash is the only form of legal tender, but if they have signs in their window advertising they take Visa, MasterCard, ChuckPeddle and the like, are they allowed to refuse it just because it's a debit card? Is it false advertising?

Might be time to send a letter to the Better Business Bureau, assuming they haven't been inundated with correspondence about this already.

Is there an IGA or Foodland within walking distance of Mawson Lakes?

ZDNet Australia is reporting on yet another bug caused by terminals running anti-virus software on a consumer level operating system instead of using a more efficient and secure embedded system that wouldn't need such code running in the first place.

Australian supermarket behemoth Coles was today hit by a McAfee bug that affected 10 per cent of its point of sales terminals and forced it to shut down stores in both WA and South Australia.

While this would have been terrible for business and a huge inconvenience for customers, somehow I feel better knowing they were software bugs and not some creepy crawlies that closed them down. Software bugs are much more hygienic, unless they're messing with QC I suppose.

That reminds me, I need to do my belated review of Windows Security Essentials at some point too. It's been so long since I've had something positive to say about a Microsoft product that it took me quite by surprise. This still doesn't mean that Windows should be used on sales terminals and other such devices though, what a terrible idea. It hurts my brain in an excruciating way.

Why is it that interesting things happen in Adelaide when I'm away? And can we say traditional news is dead yet?

According to latest sources a 3.something magnitude earthquake (to use the very technical seismic lingo) with an epicentre on the Adelaide Hills struck this evening. In the past this would have been talked about over breakfast with co-workers, friends and school mates the next day, but in Twitter instant news land I was reading about it within minutes of it happening.

As I discussed last year when it took the television news broadcasts in Adelaide an embarrassing half an hour to acknowledge earth tremors in Indonesia where a very close friend of mine lives with his family, Twitter was abuzz with the news and even had people selling shirts before the major news services reported on it.

Newsweek recently changed their focus from reporting news, to analysing it. I get the feeling that for outlets like television and newspapers to survive with the onslaught of almost instant internet news, a broader adoption of this approach may be needed.

While waiting for my flight, I decided to skim the Adelaide Advertiser for something to do. The landslides in Rio warranted two columns, the Medvedev Obama nuclear weapons treaty ‎warranted one. By comparison, a detailed analysis of the size of AFL footballs took up an entire page, complete with a gigantic colour photograph.

I know the 'tiser isn't exactly the most reputable paper out there, but perhaps newspapers should be whinging less about the internet stealing their eyeballs and instead look at the quality of their own journalism, both push and pull factors are going on here. And Murdoch wants me to pay for such "journalism"?

I bow to the awesomeness of Edible_Hat!

Contained within my [uncharacteristically] serious post about the South Aussie elections yesterday I hinted that I'd be discussing #octopusbattle today. Edible_hat beat me to it by creating an epic work of art and accompanying notes, so in the spirit of not reinventing the wheel I will simply refer you to his post on the matter!

Here's a sneak peak:

[...] and as Chairman Kaga was laughing a gigantic octopus launched itself at the politicians, sending them into a mad panic. Mike Rann was able to dodge the kerfuffle, leading many to believe he was worthy of a second term, but only just. I am Edible_Hat, hear me roar! Do Octopuses roar? I know raw means it's sushi. Monnie was supposed to make me cupcakes today, but she gave them all to her roommates and Ruben instead, grrrr. At least I can make better scarfs than Ruben, mua har har!

Labor is staying in power in the misleadingly-titled South Australia, but to my surprise when I woke up this morning I read Attorney General Michael Atkinson will be stepping down as... Attorney General. I could have phrased that better.

I'm hoping their reduced majority in the state parliament (are those words supposed to be capitalised... hey that was a pun!) will force the existing Labor folk to think long and hard about future appointments to key positions like this. It probably won't, but one can wish.

Atkinson's departure as AG isn't just a win for online civil liberties and computer gamers who now have a potential chance for being treated as adults in the R18AU debate, but for people who have had cancer painfully strike down someone so dear to them and didn't appreciate his cold and daft comparisons.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out sir.

Quite a big swing against Labor, but looks like they're back for another term in South Australia, the outcome is less clear for Tasmania. And to think just a few years ago even the Singapore news was awash of Labor's federal win, I wonder what the results would be if there were a national election tomorrow?

I was pleased with Labor's win over the Libs in the state and federal elections last time, but this internet filtering and Michael Atkinson nonsense leaves me somewhat disappointed. Then again, what would the alternative be? :(

Discussion about the #octopusbattle will be undertaken tomorrow as I have already blogged far too much this evening. Good night.

Voting for The Greens in the South Aussie state elections today, and you'd better too if you know what's good for you. That goes for you too Tasmania. I mean come on, Labor? Liberal? Family First?!

First some shameless, self serving quoting:

Tomorrow, South Australian voters have a genuine alternative to the old parties, and can join over million voters Australia wide who vote Green, says Greens MLC Mark Parnell.

This election the Greens have run on a positive platform of green jobs, water security and ensuring a better government.

“I urge all South Australians to consider a fresh, positive alternative to the old parties and vote for the fastest growing political force in the country – the Greens,” he said.

I still think it's ironic I've only been here a few years (cumulatively) but I have full voting rights because of my passport, and I lived in Singapore most of my life and I have no voice there at all. I could tell you more about GRCs than electorates. I know more about Goh Chok Tong than Rob Kerin. That's politics for you.

Some related thoughts, when I was in Adelaide back in 2006 I remember Nick Xenophon walking around wearing those sandwich boards in Rundle Mall. Are people angry that he went Federal? What ever happened to his state seat thingy?

As an extra fun tidbit, Mark Parnell is one of the few politicians who has ever replied to emails I've sent. Heck, he has his own dedicated tag here! Even when I was back in Singapore and technically outside of his jurisdiction (and cares) entirely he still took the time to answer my questions and have some lighthearted discussion. That counts for a lot in my book :).

It's so rare for me these days to have an excellent customer support experience that when it does happen I feel compelled to tell as many people about it as possible.

Last Friday I went to Dick Smith Electronics in the Myer Centre in Adelaide and bought an Ethernet PC Card. When I took it home to try out in my Libretto I realised it was unsupported (Librettos only take 16bit cards) so I took it back this afternoon and with the simplest of explanations got a complete refund.

I'm aware Dick Smith's has a 14 day "change your mind" policy, but to be given the refund with a smile and no lengthy forms or BS was amazing. Kudos.

Now just change your logo back to the old one :).

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.

Ruben Schade
Mawson Lakes, SA 5095
Australia, Earth

Dear Trevor Grace of AbortSA,

Regarding your 2010 South Australian state election leaflet

Despite a "No Junk Mail" sign on my mailbox, I recently received your leaflet for AbortSA. Suffice to say I could argue for women's rights including the right to an abortion if...

• she's been raped and/or subject to abuse
• pregnancy will endanger her life
• her birth control measures unintentionally failed
• or for any other reason a grown woman with full suffrage under the law who can make her own decisions deems necessary and who doesn't need to justify to you

...but we clearly have different views and such an exercise would get us nowhere. What I will say sir is that what a woman does with her own body -- or a man with his for that matter -- is none of the State's business.

I can tell you care deeply about this issue and I honestly and sincerely respect your convictions, but this debate belongs in the wider public discourse alongside discussions on education, safe sex and violence against women, not in a Parliament chamber. Legislating morality like this sir is a dangerous path to tread with grave ramifications. I need only point to elections with our brothers and sisters in America to demonstrate this, or Malaysia where I spent part of my life growing up.

I would also advise (nay, encourage) you to rethink your daft and questionable comparison between whaling and abortion. I don't see how belittling the intelligence of your voters will allow you to enter public office. A more apt comparison would be women's rights and the global emancipation movement, though I doubt that would gel with your party's stated objectives. Perhaps best to leave comparisons out entirely.

I will be publishing this letter along with your leaflet on my website at http://rubenerd.com/trevor-grace-leaflet/ in which you're free to post your own comments if you so desire.

Finally as a matter of disclosure, I am a 23 year old who has never got a women pregnant, though I'd love to be a dad one day if friendly and wickedly funny Ms. Right enters my life and we adopt. If the State permits of course.

Peace, health and happiness,
Ruben Schade

And here I was thinking Australia was above all this biased, scaremongering stuff in elections. Hah.