HFN
Human Filtered News
Cast Off Knitting Club For Boys And Girls: "The Knitted Wedding"
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Slashdot | Microsoft Competes In Supercomputer Market
When 4 out of 5 super computers in the world run on Linux. Why both Bill?
When 4 out of 5 super computers in the world run on Linux. Why both Bill?
Like I predicted
With the privatization of Telstra of course this is going to happen...
*Telstra to axe 10,000 jobs*
Australia's dominant telecommunications company, Telstra, has announced plans to shed 10,000 workers over the next five years.
Chief executive officer Sol Trujillo is outlining Telstra's strategy at an investors' briefing in Sydney, where he has renewed his commitment to the carrier's customers.
"The first point that I'd like make sure that you're going to hear a lot about is - the customer. And in case you didn't hear what I said - the customer. And in case it's not clear at the end of the meeting, it is going to be about the customer," he said.
"We're going to focus on all of our customers, not just some, but all.
"We're going to focus in many ways on how we change the game here in Australia.
"The game today is primarily around price-based competition, which I think is a destructive way of competing ultimately for all the businesses if you're an investor, if you're a shareholder or somebody contemplating investing in most companies."
[abc.net.au]
*Govt accused of refusing leave for IR rallies*
The Federal Government has been accused of instructing agencies to refuse staff leave to attend tomorrow's rallies against its industrial relations (IR) changes.
The Federal Member for the Tasmanian seat of Denison, Duncan Kerr, says the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has told agencies, including Centrelink, to deny staff access to personal and flexi-leave if it is suspected they will attend one of the rallies.
Mr Kerr says a Centrelink memo also shows that leave already granted may be cancelled.
"I think it just shows that the Government is very concerned about the level of community opposition," he said.
"It wants to shut down legitimate debate. It shut it down in Parliament, now it's trying to shut it down in the community and of course it shows how it regards the entitlements of its own employees to take part in general community organisation about laws that will affect them directly."
[From abc.net.au]
*Bid under way to rebrand roo meat*
A competition is under way to rename kangaroo meat to boost sales in restaurants and supermarkets.
Three hundred entries have been received from the food industry in a bid to rebrand roo, to make it more palatable for Australian and overseas consumers.
The kangaroo industry is worth $200 million a year but believes there is great potential to increase the market.
Competition organiser Mel Nathan says she wants entrants to take it seriously and try not to be silly.
"As I tell people, they're not allowed to come up with names like cyril, skippy, yummy or road-kill. I quite like marsu, I like marla, and I quite like wallagang," she said.
"Marsu was an interesting one, which came in from a person who thought that it reminded her of a marsupial, which a kangaroo is and at the same time it sounds a little exotic."
[From abc.net.au]
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Bill O'Reilly (a complete wanker) would like terrorists to blow up San Francisco's Coit Tower: "Mark Frauenfelder: On November 8, Bill O'Reilly -- one of the least-appealing lifeforms to have ever slithered across the surface of the earth -- thinks it would be swell to punish San Francisco by calling on terrorists to attack the city and blow up Coit Tower. Transcript and audio clip here.
O'REILLY: Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I'm not going to give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I'm the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say, 'Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead.'
And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.
[boingboing.net]
O'REILLY: Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I'm not going to give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I'm the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say, 'Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead.'
And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.
[boingboing.net]
Spyware Maker Sues Detection Firm: "Luigi30 writes 'ZDnet reports that RetroCoder, makers of the SpyMon remote monitoring program, are suing Sunbelt Software, makers of ConterSpy, a spyware detector program, for detecting the SpyMon as spyware. According to the EULA, SpyMon can not be used in 'anti-spyware research,' and detecting it is therefore a violation of it. 'In order to add our product to their list, they must have downloaded it and then examined it. These actions are forbidden by the notice,' a RetroCoder spokesperson said.'"
[from /.]
[from /.]