- Official political party policy. Everything about it. Doesn't matter which party, they're all terrible. Policy launches are the worst sort of pantomime. Policy documents read like they were written by grade four kids. It's all light on substance and heavily repetitive. No wonder no one wants to vote in this country!
- Hipsters and pinkos who love Apple products and totally buy into the whole Apple ecosystem, but refuse to buy a burger at McDonalds or a Dominos pizza because they don't like big corporates pushing out the 'little guy'. They don't see the contradiction in worshipping one of the world's 10 biggest companies whilst hating numbers 11-2500 just because they are big!
- Does the TAC see the heavy irony in their "Distractions lead to disaster" advertising campaign? Nothing is more distracting then a 12 foot high moronic billboard whilst you're doing 100km/h.
- Andrew Strauss. Imagine him, Tom Moody and Ian Chappel in commentary together, it could be the most exciting game of cricket ever and you'd still fall asleep they're so boring.
Thursday 8 August 2013
Let's get grumpy
Well pushing 12 months since the last time I shared some thoughts with a world that didn't want to listen. This week I'm going for the old fashioned angry man blog. Here's what's shitting me:
Thursday 13 September 2012
The joys of Melbourne's trains.
For the second time this week there were no trains on the Sydenham line. That's the one that ends at Watergardens station way out west.
Both outages occurred due to bozos being hit by trains. My outrage is directed squarely at Metro for having a wholly inadequate plan B for this scenario. Eventually a couple of crappy old buses turned up to ferry us poor sods to a place where the trains were running. The driver hardly seemed to know what he was doing. Lets couple that with the facts of heavy traffic and cold and that you need ten buses to cover the loss of one train. Hopeless.
Point two is that the hub and spoke train network means that alternatives are just not present. Maybe the first home builder's bonus could've been spent on some new railways. Nah you idiot voters love the bribes!
Rant ends.
Thursday 21 June 2012
Senator Conroy - wrecking ball in a suit
Let's face some facts about government in Australia:
Here's some recent articles from The Age where he is quoted or mentioned:
The Age search page
On top of being the guy responsible for what will be one of the great loss-making ventures of all time - the NBN, he may well be the one who curbs your right to have a ridiculous blog like this one or perhaps read a bit of insanity. He may control how much football or cricket gets shown on delay by channel seven; got the last say on video games and porn as well. Let's not forget that he blackmailed Telstra into selling the copper network to the NBN and agreeing to 'structural separation'.
Over the past couple of years Senator Conroy has been at the forefront of the proposed internet filter for the whole country, recently he's talking about media diversity. 'Media diversity' is used in the recent context of stopping people like Gina Rinehart and Rupert Murdoch from having the media outlets in which they have large shareholdings reflect their personal views since the ALP and greens do not agree with them. Former Senator Bob Brown thought along these lines too. He thought News Ltd was out to get him: turned out it was just some of the more radical Greens who wanted him gone!
In this day and age a pretty good argument can be mounted that media diversity laws are completely un-necessary. The digital age is seeing the rapid convergence of media types and a much greater overall choice in news services. Sure the big channels/mastheads/websites are owned by a few big companies, but that it basically the nature of the Australian economy as a whole. If you don't like those outlets there are plenty of blogs, foreign agencies and street corners wackos you can turn to.
Had you read just one of the articles in the link above you will have noticed that the reporting is in no way neutral. Mainstream media has been bereft of facts and plagued by over-editorialising for the past decade and a half at least, so no more complaining about Fox News. At least they don't pretend to be neutral.
During his tenure, Conroy has strengthened the minister's control of the ridiculous anti-siphoning list of big events that must be shown on free to air TV, started spending $40 billion without a cost-benefit analysis and is seeking to curb free speech and expression via an internet filter and limit the rights of directors to control their companies. Seriously consider your Senate vote at the next election people!!
- The Treasurer is a prize fool
- The Prime Minister can't buy a jacket that fits properly
- Wilkie is never getting his pokie reforms
Here's some recent articles from The Age where he is quoted or mentioned:
The Age search page
On top of being the guy responsible for what will be one of the great loss-making ventures of all time - the NBN, he may well be the one who curbs your right to have a ridiculous blog like this one or perhaps read a bit of insanity. He may control how much football or cricket gets shown on delay by channel seven; got the last say on video games and porn as well. Let's not forget that he blackmailed Telstra into selling the copper network to the NBN and agreeing to 'structural separation'.
Over the past couple of years Senator Conroy has been at the forefront of the proposed internet filter for the whole country, recently he's talking about media diversity. 'Media diversity' is used in the recent context of stopping people like Gina Rinehart and Rupert Murdoch from having the media outlets in which they have large shareholdings reflect their personal views since the ALP and greens do not agree with them. Former Senator Bob Brown thought along these lines too. He thought News Ltd was out to get him: turned out it was just some of the more radical Greens who wanted him gone!
In this day and age a pretty good argument can be mounted that media diversity laws are completely un-necessary. The digital age is seeing the rapid convergence of media types and a much greater overall choice in news services. Sure the big channels/mastheads/websites are owned by a few big companies, but that it basically the nature of the Australian economy as a whole. If you don't like those outlets there are plenty of blogs, foreign agencies and street corners wackos you can turn to.
Had you read just one of the articles in the link above you will have noticed that the reporting is in no way neutral. Mainstream media has been bereft of facts and plagued by over-editorialising for the past decade and a half at least, so no more complaining about Fox News. At least they don't pretend to be neutral.
During his tenure, Conroy has strengthened the minister's control of the ridiculous anti-siphoning list of big events that must be shown on free to air TV, started spending $40 billion without a cost-benefit analysis and is seeking to curb free speech and expression via an internet filter and limit the rights of directors to control their companies. Seriously consider your Senate vote at the next election people!!
Thursday 10 May 2012
The Australian Football League - integrity not needed
Congratulations must go to that bastion of sportsmanship and fairness - the AFL. Today they announced that they had changed the rules without actually changing the rules. Here's the press release:
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/135397/default.aspx
and the letter to clubs.
So umpires have been 'instructed' to jerk their knees in reaction to another media storm. Much like the 'head is sacrosanct' edict, this will no doubt create more confusion and lead to a rash of free kicks not paid in similar circumstances in earlier rounds of the season. For the players it must be like trying to get sense out of a professional on Friday afternoon after a wet lunch - you know the answer will be different Monday morning.
Free kicks decide games and no doubt this knee jerk reaction will have an impact this weekend. Nevermind fans, your hopes of seeing your team play in September might just get sunk this weekend. As opposed to last week when the rules were different!
If it wasn't bad enough that there is no integrity in the fixture or the player draft which both have ridiculous compromises for the sake of money, we can now add changing the rules mid-season.
I can't decide if the change itself is worse than the reactionary nature of administration that brought it about. Actually I can. The change is minor and will be a harsh enforcement of existing laws, but the fact of the change is a sign of weakness. It's a shame the press can't get the AFL to act the same way on Grand Final ticket prices or having the roof open at Etihad Stadium. This week we have seen the press baying for change, players and coaches really just seemed to want consistency. Fans? Well who cares so long as the keep paying. Can't say I enjoyed seeing David Swallow on a bad ankle or Gary Rohan's leg fracture, but if the AFL in its infinite wisdom, maintains a Laws of the Game committee that can't sort these things out during the six month off season, then too bad. Wait till the next season. Try not talking to the press about the subject.
Perhaps if the Laws of the Game committee worried about the things that most rules are for in any sport, we wouldn't have this problem. Most rules in any sport, especially contact sports, are for player safety. In the AFL, rules are for fiddling with. Quick kick-ins have resulted in the now never enforced deliberate rushed behind rule. Time-on for throw ins resulted in two new ruck rules. The list goes on over the past 20 years. Now we fiddle mid-season with the rules, so that players have to adapt again. Since players are contracted on a season-by-season basis, could a suspension for an infraction as a result of this sort of rule change be grounds for claiming lost earnings through the courts? Or the loss of a finals berth by a club?
Integrity - the AFL craps on about it, but ignores it as often as possible. The AFL worries about it image so much almost that one image seems to have caused this rule change, but the bigger picture is rotten. Un-explained team changes, a highly compromised fixture that leaves some teams as perennial also-rans or poor or both, officials and associates that bet on games, tanking for draft picks and now mid-season rule changes. If you're so worried about your image as compared to competitors, how about running a league where the goals don't move during competition?
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/135397/default.aspx
and the letter to clubs.
So umpires have been 'instructed' to jerk their knees in reaction to another media storm. Much like the 'head is sacrosanct' edict, this will no doubt create more confusion and lead to a rash of free kicks not paid in similar circumstances in earlier rounds of the season. For the players it must be like trying to get sense out of a professional on Friday afternoon after a wet lunch - you know the answer will be different Monday morning.
Free kicks decide games and no doubt this knee jerk reaction will have an impact this weekend. Nevermind fans, your hopes of seeing your team play in September might just get sunk this weekend. As opposed to last week when the rules were different!
If it wasn't bad enough that there is no integrity in the fixture or the player draft which both have ridiculous compromises for the sake of money, we can now add changing the rules mid-season.
I can't decide if the change itself is worse than the reactionary nature of administration that brought it about. Actually I can. The change is minor and will be a harsh enforcement of existing laws, but the fact of the change is a sign of weakness. It's a shame the press can't get the AFL to act the same way on Grand Final ticket prices or having the roof open at Etihad Stadium. This week we have seen the press baying for change, players and coaches really just seemed to want consistency. Fans? Well who cares so long as the keep paying. Can't say I enjoyed seeing David Swallow on a bad ankle or Gary Rohan's leg fracture, but if the AFL in its infinite wisdom, maintains a Laws of the Game committee that can't sort these things out during the six month off season, then too bad. Wait till the next season. Try not talking to the press about the subject.
Perhaps if the Laws of the Game committee worried about the things that most rules are for in any sport, we wouldn't have this problem. Most rules in any sport, especially contact sports, are for player safety. In the AFL, rules are for fiddling with. Quick kick-ins have resulted in the now never enforced deliberate rushed behind rule. Time-on for throw ins resulted in two new ruck rules. The list goes on over the past 20 years. Now we fiddle mid-season with the rules, so that players have to adapt again. Since players are contracted on a season-by-season basis, could a suspension for an infraction as a result of this sort of rule change be grounds for claiming lost earnings through the courts? Or the loss of a finals berth by a club?
Integrity - the AFL craps on about it, but ignores it as often as possible. The AFL worries about it image so much almost that one image seems to have caused this rule change, but the bigger picture is rotten. Un-explained team changes, a highly compromised fixture that leaves some teams as perennial also-rans or poor or both, officials and associates that bet on games, tanking for draft picks and now mid-season rule changes. If you're so worried about your image as compared to competitors, how about running a league where the goals don't move during competition?
Monday 30 April 2012
Excellent Article
Once again I'd like to point you at an opinion piece I've found in one of the papers. I think it casts light on both manufacturing and politics and their inter-connectedness in Australia.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/manufactured-crisis-20120428-1xro9.html
I know that some of the opinions in the article are counter to postings I've made previously on this blog. Especially in relation to the car industry. However if you're unwilling to accept a different point of view and/or perhaps change your own view, will you ever grow as a person?
This opinion is even more poignant given the diabolical nature of Australia's current parliament and the ruling party's head-in-the-sand attitudes to "workers". Marxism is dead people.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/manufactured-crisis-20120428-1xro9.html
I know that some of the opinions in the article are counter to postings I've made previously on this blog. Especially in relation to the car industry. However if you're unwilling to accept a different point of view and/or perhaps change your own view, will you ever grow as a person?
This opinion is even more poignant given the diabolical nature of Australia's current parliament and the ruling party's head-in-the-sand attitudes to "workers". Marxism is dead people.
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