by cameron | Dec 30, 2007 | Melbourne, Uncategorized
Over the last few months I’ve been wrestling with the notion that there should be some kind of framework for geeks to do something positive in their local community. Something that isn’t tied to any particular religious, political or social agenda. Something that plays on the strengths of geeks and doesn’t require a full-time commitment but also involves more than just writing a cheque or a blog.
After a chat with Father Bob Maguire (from TPN’s Father Bob Show and the guy who has been the inspiration for much of my thinking in this area), his co-host Michaela and Michael Leone from Gnoos a month or so ago, I realized that perhaps we should pull together a group of people together and workshop ideas on what we could do, together, to make a difference in our local communities. I don’t have the answers. Hell, I don’t even know most of the right questions to ask. But I do feel that I could be, should be, doing more. I just need to work out what kinds of things I, we, can do. And I think it might be easier if we were to try to accomplish it in a group.
So, with that in mind, I’m kicking off “Geeks Who Care” with a meeting at Bob’s place (Cnr Dorcas and Montague Sts, South Melbourne) on January 27th. I’m hoping we’ll get a small group of like-minded individuals to come together to workshop ideas. From there we can put together a framework, steps forward (kind of like how we started MODM early last year). I’m sure most of you will have more of an idea about what we should be doing that I do. I’m an idiot. I’ve already had a few great ideas given to me and I’m sure between now and Jan 27 I’ll get a lot more. There is a Facebook event set up for the meetup. Get to it here (link) and the main domain, GeeksWhoCare.com, currently re-directs to a Facebook group for general discussion. For those of you itching to tell me how much you hate Facebook – save it, I’m not interested.
Perhaps, if this one works out, we can set up similar groups around the country, around the world even… hell, let’s put one on Mars. Those poor little green guys needs our help too. Martians are humans too you know.
by cameron | Dec 11, 2007 | Melbourne, Uncategorized
Anyone else going to the White Party in Melbourne this week? I need someone to drink with. Otherwise I’ll have to… yknow… actually talk to people I don’t know. Ugh.
by cameron | Nov 23, 2007 | Melbourne, Podcast
Note: I just realized I introduce this show as #302 when it’s actually #303. Meh.
As you may know, I’ve recently become slightly obsessed about Ned Kelly. While I’ve been interested in the subject for several years, since I realized during a trip to Glenrowan in 2004 that I didn’t know much of the story, a recent trip to the Old Melbourne Gaol prompted me to investigate further.
Here’s the thing people: Ned Kelly was and is a true Australian hero. He wasn’t a “bushranger” – he was a freedom fighter, an Irish Catholic who stood up to the British Protestant authorities and threatened them with a rebellion. He was a political leader, whose life and career was brutally cut short by corrupt authorities. He is a hero who gave his life to make a stand and we should celebrate him as a hero.
My guest tonight, Paul O’Keefe, is a direct descendant of the Kelly Gang, who travels to schools around the country to set the story straight.
Links for further reading:
- Paul’s site: Kelly Gang Educational Services
- Ned Kelly: Iron Outlaw
- Wikipedia: Ned Kelly
- The Jerilderie Letter
The track on this episode is:
Ween
“Your Party” (mp3)
from “La Cucaracha”
(Rounder Records)
Buy at Rounder Store
More On This Album
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by cameron | Nov 15, 2007 | Melbourne
A couple of months ago I got a letter in the mail attached to a parking infringement notice claiming I had double parked out of the front of my kids’ school one morning and fining me $66.
Now I don’t remember ever double parking. So I sent them a letter asking for clarification. They sent me the above letter. Basically it says “well you did it so pay up or else”.
I just sent them a follow up email which states:
I am unfortunately unable to accept your assertion that I committed the said offense and respectfully request
evidence to support your claim before I consent to pay the fine. I believe in this country we are still considered innocent until proven guilty.
What do you think they will do? And do you think my position is fair? Should a council just be able to send you fines in the mail without providing evidence of your supposed crime? Or does this fit under the Federal Government’s new terror laws and I can be picked up by ASIO and held for questioning for ten days without even being informed of the charges?
by cameron | Nov 12, 2007 | Melbourne, Uncategorized
Although I’ve been impressed with Telstra’s NextG card (the 7.2 Mobile Card Sierra AirCard 880E), including spending my lunch in a cafe today watching Henry Rollins interview Michael Chiklis on YouTube, running it full screen, it doesn’t seem to always work that well.
The NextG service is called “7.2” which you might think (as I did) means that it runs at 7.2 mbps but apparently not for the BigPond site states:
BigPond Wireless Broadband now covers a massive 98% of the population, making it Australia’s largest wireless network. It’s also faster, with average speeds of 550kbps to 1.5Mbps, and a peak network downlink speed of 3.6Mbps.
Maybe 7.2 is the version number?
As I started to write this post, I decided to test it using a broadband speed test while I sit in the Powell Hotel in Footscray, Melbourne (here’s a link to a map to see how far I am from Melbourne’s CBD) in case you think I’m sitting near Uluru.
Here are the results of the first test:
Telstra Test One
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 05:39 PM
Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 600 KB
Test Time: 48.4 secs
Your line speed is 101 kbps (0.1 Mbps).
Your download speed is 13 KB/s (0.01 MB/s).
OUCH!
A quick look at the network monitor shows that the card’s signal isn’t great. See image below for a screenshot.
So I ran a second test and it just got worse:
Telstra Test Two
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 05:51 PM
Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 3 MB
Test Time: 339.42 secs
Your line speed is 72 kbps (0.07 Mbps).
Your download speed is 9 KB/s (0.01 MB/s).
Hmmm… getting worse. My third and final test for today was slightly better:
Telstra Test Three
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 06:00 PM
Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 3 MB
Test Time: 71.87 secs
Your line speed is 341 kbps (0.34 Mbps).
Your download speed is 43 KB/s (0.04 MB/s).
For a comparison, I plugged in my NetConnect card from Three and got these results:
Three Test One
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 06:05 PM
Mirror: OptusNet
Data: 600 KB
Test Time: 5.68 secs
Your line speed is 860 kbps (0.86 Mbps).
Your download speed is 107 KB/s (0.1 MB/s).
Three Test Two
Test run on 12/11/2007 @ 06:06 PM
Mirror: OptusNet
Data: 3 MB
Test Time: 14.96 secs
Your line speed is 1.64 Mbps (1637 kbps).
Your download speed is 205 KB/s (0.2 MB/s).
Whilst I’m not going to give up on the Telstra NextG card just yet, this afternoon’s tests haven’t been positive.
The NextG card is available for $349 plus $114.95 per month for 1Gb data (see all pricing plans here).
Three’s NetConnect card is free on a 24 month plan and costs $29 per month for 1Gb data (see full pricing plans here).
UPDATE:
I’m sitting this morning at 35 Collins Street, downstairs from the Telstra offices, and the speed is much more acceptable, although still only a third of the speed I was getting on Three last night:
Test run on 13/11/2007 @ 09:48 AM
Mirror: Telstra Bigpond
Data: 600 KB
Test Time: 7.2 secs
Your line speed is 679 kbps (0.68 Mbps).
Your download speed is 85 KB/s (0.08 MB/s).
by cameron | Nov 5, 2007 | Melbourne, Uncategorized
If you’re in Melbourne, why not come along to this screening of Blade Runner – The Final Cut with a few of us on Friday Nov 16?
Register here.
