Rubenerd

With the Australian federal elections less than a week away, I decided to plot on a handy table the positions of the leading two parties and their leaders that matter to me. This way I can make a more informed decision, and ultimately help others.

By my definition, plan is shorthand for comprehensive plan. This means they’ve made them public, debated them and have a clear direction backed up with these trifling things called "facts". If they do have a good plan but it contradicts something else they stand for, I reduce it to a nah.

I’ll be voting for the Greens, but I must be frank and admit it’s mostly because the two biggest parties are such a joke now. I watched two of their debates. I’ve been watching the news. If I hear one more mention of so-called "boat people", I’ll scream.

Ideally I’d like Labor to get back in, but with a much reduced mandate to govern. Let them know we’re not happy with their performance, and we only kept them in because they scare us less than someone who’d like to set women’s causes and progress back 50 years.

Then again that’s just me. This whole mandatory internet filter talk made me come this close to voting for Liberal for the first time, no joke! Eh, I’m depressed, I’m off for a coffee. Wait, I’m already at a coffee shop. Time for another one then.

Don't read this post. I'm serious.

Over the last few days there has been a distinct lack of communiqués owing to the fact we're moving house (again) and don't have a stable source of The Internets yet. Still, I take what I can get, so in this post I'll be doing something worthwhile by addressing several things in one. Call it value for money.

The apology

This was originally going to be in a separate post, but I stuck it here instead. It should have gone in the bin.

Forgive the distinct lack of communiqués these last few days, we still haven't moved into our new house yet and where we're staying now has unreliable internet access and virtually no Telstra or Optus phone coverage, despite being an hour-long train ride from the Sydney CBD! That was a really long sentence.

As an addendum to this apology, I'd also like to apologise for the apology. For a post that was supposed to break the radio silence (as it were), it turned out to add nothing of value whatsoever. I might file this under nonsense, just because it's that pointless. Thank you.

The nerds in bed thing

I got a direct message on Twitter this morning from someone (who will remain anonymous) asking a very pointed question. I won't quote it here, but suffice to say it had something to do with what nerds want in bed.

I said sleep. Honestly, moving again these last couple of weeks has run me down like a Tangara. See, I'm getting used to the Sydney lingo and am even using it in examples. I get the feeling I didn't help much.

In related news, I also got some DMs from someone saying some nice things about me for a change. All of it of course completely untrue, but flattery is flattery ;).

This is a subtitle

And this is a sentence. I think. Do strings of words need adjectives, verbs and nouns to be considered a sentence and not just a fragment? Perhaps I need to ask the Diskeeper guys and gals.

The nice photo

The photo shown above was the Wikipedia photo of the day on Wikipedia, shown today because it was Wikipedia's photo of the day on Wikipedia. It's a photo because it was featured on the photo of the day on Wikipedia, which was on Wikipedia, taken by Muhammad Mahdi Karim.

A panoramic view of Moshi, the capital of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania situated on the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa (seen in background). Moshi is home to the Chaga and Maasai tribes and lies on the road connecting Arusha and Mombasa, Kenya.

Of course my old man has been to Africa on several different business trips, but I've never been. Would love to go to Tanzania.

Yesterday I posted my open letter to Wendy Francis, a Family First senator from Queensland who made some… shall we say BS remarks about same sex couples in Australia. After her comments made headlines, her site admins took her story down. Fortunately Google Cache had a copy of it.

I also took a screenshot which ironically is 661.6K. There's [almost] the sign of the devil, right there!

"Let’s end the gay marriage debate and protect children from abuse"

Queensland senate candidate Wendy Francis has called on both Labor and the Coalition to draw a line in the sand and put the gay marriage debate behind them, saying the continued debate is destructive to Australia’s future.

“The best thing we can do for our children and their children is to send the message that marriage will always remain between a man and a women,” she said. Francis said that Australia would never recover from legalising gay marriage and those who advocate this are not thinking of the dramatic consequences.

“We’ll have kids growing up with no mothers or no fathers, we’ll create a parent-less generation, social problems including depression and suicide will be uncontrollable and any sense of right and wrong will be gone. Is that the Australia we want?” She asked.

Francis told Channel 7’s Sunrise program last week during a live debate that she would defend the current interpretation of marriage. “The homosexual community represents a tiny percentage of Australia. They have the right to be homosexual but they don’t have the right to dictate to mainstream Australia or to change the laws to suit their narrow agenda,” she said.

According to Francis, the gay agenda is self-centred. “Homosexuals who are pushing for this don’t care about children; they care only about their selfish desires. Children in homosexual relationships are subject to emotional abuse and legitimising gay marriage is like legalising child abuse.”

Francis said she is the only person who will stand up for the values that Australians care about. “The major parties are too scared to speak up for what is right. They are too politically correct.”

“It’s time for the voices of the people to be heard in Canberra. While the senate is dominated by the two major parties and the radical Greens, we will continue to slide down the path of moral erosion and ignore the concerns of mainstream Australia”

Wendy Francis of the Orwellianly-titled Family First political party went online last night and blasted Australia's homosexual community, so I'm standing on my own online soapbox to respond, as well as sending it through her website feedback form.

Ruben Schade
http://rubenschade.com/

Wendy Francis
http://wendy4senate.com/contact/

Dear Wendy Francis,

A squandered opportunity

Like many voters in this upcoming election, I use the internet to help me stay informed of issues. I commend you for being one of the few to reach out to voters like me on Twitter.

However, I was dismayed to read your recent, groundless vitriol against Australian homosexuals and their fitness as parents. Your comments are insulting to the thousands of same sex families in Australia that have children, and to the children who have been real victims of abuse.

You claim homosexuals represent a minority of the Australian population and therefore should not impose their "narrow agendas" on the rest of us. Whatever happened to "Equity For Every Individual", "Protecting And Prospering Families" and "Putting People Above Politics" that you claim to stand for on your site?

As a member of a third party, you have the unique opportunity to provide a genuine alternative to the tired and apathetic Coalition and Labor parties that more Australians are feeling disillusioned with than in any other election in recent memory. It’s tragic you would squander such a chance for making a positive impact on Australia by espousing such intolerance.

Elections are as much about the ethical standings of candidates as their policies. May this be reflected in your results this election.

Peace, health and happiness,
Ruben Schade

Update, 15:41

It seems Wendy has clarified her position in a radio comment.

Dear Wendy Francis,

I just listened to your radio comment where you clarified your position. You think having same sex couples raising children is "emotional child abuse" despite the overwhelming evidence against such a position, and you compare such an environment to… the Stolen Generations?

Forget what I said before about you and your party having an opportunity to do good at all. You’re nothing more than a bunch of self deluded twits of the ilk we’ll be as horrified to read about in half a century as people now are horrified to read about proponents of segregation, slavery, indigenous rights and denying universal suffrage to women.

May you be treated better for such comments than you treat the people you bafflingly continue to slander. You deserve far less.

Ruben.

The internet is all abuzz with the resignation of Mark Hurd from HP Sauces. I don't want to dwell on the circumstances that led to his departure or the health risks posed by the products of a company that make electronic condiments, but rather what the next CEO should do with the company.

Forward (reverse, neutral, look out, a HERD!)

First, I suppose its worth mentioning that HP is in a better position than it was when he arrived. Before Fiorina became a scary politician, she steered HP towards purchasing Compaq and for some strange reason selling iPods with the HP logo on them.

I mean, iPods are the gateway drugs to other Apple products not ugly beige Windows boxes, and heavens we all know how terribly slow and crash prone iTunes is on non-Apple hardware! Hey, but at least she could stand on the stage with Gwen Stefani. I wouldn't have minded doing that. No scratch that, I'd rather stand on a stage with Marian Call and Lisa Ono. I'd be their manager, or some other meaningless position that pays well and means I get to talk to them all the time. That'd be awesome.

So what should HP do now? Lots. But in my professional opinion as a socially awkward student and developer who felt fantastic when he figured out how to use the clothes dryer this morning, these three should be given priority.

1. Get a new CEO

If something goes wrong, you always need a scapegoat. Fiorina was great for that. The problem was, despite Hurd's management skills he brought his own personal problems. CEOs should be tar and feather free so it's easier to throw corporate failure on them later.

2. Use Palm for… something!

Currently Apple and BlackBerry are the only competent, vertically integrated mobile phone makers. Average consumers don't want to have to deal with Windows Mobile Enterprise Home Premium Phone 7 Corporate Service Pack 3 Release Update 1, nor Android Super Chunky Bacon Fudgy Goodness (that's not available for your device yet despite it being released 9 decades ago), they just want something they can buy, that works perfectly on the hardware and is easy to sync.

They bought Palm, now where are the new WebOS phones and tablets? I wanted a Pre from the beginning for its OS, but couldn't justify buying something that was too slow for it to work. Give us something fast, sleek and a bit more open than Apple. I'd buy one!

Oh yeah, and don't bother with Windows 7 tablets. Nobody bought Windows tablets for a decade, other than those ones Microsoft Pharmaceuticals made for system admins who had to deal with various worm problems. Owies.

3. Re-release the HP 16C

I learned and got used to doing reverse polish notation, and I've always wanted an original HP 16C, but all HP make now are scientific and financial calculators for scientists and financial peoples. The 16C was a work of art, and as such I can't afford to buy one on eBay.

Don't modernise it, don't change the colour scheme, don't swap the metal for plastic, don't "synergise" it with new marketing paradigms or stuff it with WiFi and Bluetooth antennas, just make the original again!

4. Send me a new HP/Palm phone and an HP 16C

Or better still I can come by your Sydney offices and pick them up. I'm the guy with the Marvin Martian jumper and the K-On! badges on my bag.

5. Make David Packard and Bill Hewlett proud

I suspected they envisioned greater things for the company than selling crappy laptops. Bring back the old HP R&D powerhouse that used to crank our awesome stuff! Like the HP 16C. That calculator was great.

Poor AOL just can't catch a break. I attribute it to the fact they changed their logo when their old one was infinitely more cool… and for some other reasons.

This post could have had a better title

Yesterday I gave some business advice to HP, so I figured today I'd help out AOL in light of their disastrous quarter. See, people used to love AOL because they gave away free floppy disks they could wipe and use for other things. CDs can't be used like that, so why not resume the 30 day trial scheme, but use CD-RWs?

Jokes aside, AOL succeed because they provided easy access to the internet for millions of people, but squandered it by not making a push into broadband and open networks. Those ships have left now, so I'm not sure where they go from here. For or the sake of their remaining employees though, I hope they pick up their game soon.

The future

I'd like to think the walled garden internet model AOL pioneered is crumbling, but it's just been reincarnated in Facebook.

Oh yeah, and they need to change their logo back. Just saying.

In celebration of Singapore's birthday, I uploaded a couple more photos I took just before we left for the last time in July.

The last photo, I liked because of the contrast between old and new, and the first I liked for the colours and the contrast between the tropical looking trees and the buildings behind them. I described them in reverse order because I'm being all unconventional and edgy, you see.

My old teachers in high school would have wanted me to use the term "juxtaposed!" to describe pictures like this, but I resisted!

Happy birthday Singapore, have a kopi-o and kaya toast on me.

And if Optus had checked their records, they’d have seen I already did this and could have saved themselves the money of sending this message! Its funny sometimes to see companies ruled by indiscriminate computer systems that don’t have common sense programmed into them.

Time to celebrate this evening? Some on Twitter seem to be already.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has suggested changes could be made to the Federal Government’s proposed internet filter. “Stephen Conroy… has announced some changes to the filter – he’s talking to industry about those now,” he said.

I won't be. I'm with Greens Senator Ludlam on this, Labor hasn't said they're scrapping it, they've just made vague references to "changing" it, whatever that means. We don't want a reworking, we want a thorough repudiation. Keep the corks in the bottles, folks. :(

Today’s Wait, What Screenshot? (hey, that rhymes) comes to us from my installation of Mozilla Thunderbird, taken around lunchtime. According to Thunderbird, it downloaded 4,294,967,295 new messages during that session. There’s a bad pun about the sound a crazy bird makes in there somewhere.

Must be all my hate mail, or all my date rejection letters.