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The Ballad of Brave Sir Abbott

Abbott and Pyne running from the Chamber.

The Ballad of Brave Sir Abbott

Bravely bold Sir Abbott rode forth from Canberra.
He was not afraid to request a suspension of standing orders, O brave Sir Abbott!
He was not at all afraid to loose votes in nasty ways,
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Abbott!

Brave Sir Abbott ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When Thomson’s vote reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Abbott turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Sir Abbott!

He is packing it in and packing it up
And sneaking away and buggering up
And chickening out and pissing off to his office,
Yes, bravely he is throwing in the sponge…

(With apologies to Monty Python )

Seriously, this man thinks he is the alternative PM. He tried (and failed) to run out of Parliament like a coward, to prove some point. Sure Australia, vote for this if you want the rest of the world to think we are a joke. Or stop and think if he runs away from this, what else would he run away from. Abbott is a coward, nothing more. Only looking for the next media stunt, the next time to wear an orange vest and the next time to tell Clive or Gina what else can I do for you.

Tags: Annoyances by Wolf
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“The mystery hooker” for the 60k interview.

Just when you thought the whole Thomson saga couldn’t get any stranger, there are reports ( The Age with annoying autoplay video I won’t link to ) that ACA has paid up to 60k to interview a sex worker who claims to have slept with Thomson. (Although the CC slips say Thompson! ) 60k for the interview happens to be 10x the amount that the mysterious “Thompson” put on the card for brothel visits.

I can’t remember all of my girl friends, or even what I had for dinner last week. What chance does a sex worker have of remembering a client from 7 years ago. Even presuming 1 client per night with 4 weeks annual leave.. that is a lot of faces to remember.

Unless he insisted she dressed as a map of Soviet Russia and he as a Stuka dive bomber credibility is being stretched here that anyone, even someone with an eidetic memory would remember him.

It makes as much sense as this guy being the person that ACA interview… look at those stockings.

P.S Today Tonight… if you are willing to get me a D800 with a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens I am sure I can sign something about the affair Timson, or was it Tamson, or Thomson and I had 7 years ago.

[ update… oh everything is o.k, ACA haven’t paid someone YET, so it is not gutter journalism. Not that ACA have denied the 60k figure, just that they haven’t paid YET, so in their eyes everything is just fine and dandy.]

[ update 2: “Quit for your own good, Abbott tells Thomson” seriously Abbott, do you want this country to be one that just does what the bully says”. ]

Tags: Annoyances, General by Wolf
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Taking time to smell roses ( modern tech is kind of cool )

Every now and then, we all need to stop, take a breath, and realise what an amazing time we live in. Sure all those reading this blog have their fair share of #firstworldproblems but how often do we stop and realise just how cool things are.

Yesterday was one of those days for me. Heading home from work I saw a tweet from a friend saying that it was t-5min to the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launch of this rocket is 100 kinds of transformational in itself, with NASA handing over supply missions to the ISS to the private sector. But unlike even a few years ago I didn’t miss it.

Waiting for the bus, where I saw the tweet, I clicked on the link to the NASA site, fired up my browser and hit play. As the bus pulled in, I paid for my ticket with an electronic pass and watched the count down in 720HD video. As the bus moved slowly into the traffic, Falcon 9 took off. So there I was watching HD video of a space launch whilst on a moving vehicle.

The launch itself had multiple camera angles in real time HD showing me all the stage separations as well. Once the launch was complete I could then share in real-time with my friends and followers on Twitter my excitement about the event I had just watched. Had I been at home, I would have the video on one monitor and Twitter on the second monitor.

Now, I can write a blog post and share it to the world, including a copy of the video.

I remember the first Shuttle launch, where I watched a rare live cross on TV. After the event I looked forward to catching up with a friend an hour later to discuss it. Then we waited 10 hours before the evening news to watch the footage again. We didn’t even have a VCR in our house in those days so I couldn’t even tape it.

So stop and smell the tech roses, the world is an amazing place.

Tags: General, Mobile by Wolf
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Apple… where facts becomes just a bug to fix.

I have lots of friends, yes shock I know, who are either scientists or “that way” inclined.

Most of which would agree with the quote “You can have your opinions but not your own facts” ( those that don’t agree, we will have to renegotiate the friendship agreement ).

But it turns out, not if you’re an Apple iPhone user, facts are actually not facts.

Via Fairfax: “Apple has leapt to repair an embarrassing bug that last week caused the personal assistant app Siri to declare that the Nokia Lumia 900 was the best smartphone ever.

The article says that Siri pulls “Facts” from Wolfram|Alpha ( The article actually states WolphramAlpha, but we know that Fairfax outsourced sub-editing anyway ).

However if you were to ask Siri what is the best phone is, fact is not something that would be returned. What is returned is opinion.

Are Fact verse Opinion clearly delineated when you get a result? Of course they aren’t.

Most people would think this is a small issue. What does it matter that that Apple would “fix” their software to support themselves.

Shades of the future via the Simpsons comes to mind

“Troy: Now turn to the next problem. If you have three Pepsis and drink one, how much more refreshed are you? You,the redhead in the Chicago school system?
Girl: Pepsi?
Troy: partial credit!”

We let companies get away with this, after all facts are such trivial things.

My question immediately is what other facts simply became collateral damage.

Where does the line get drawn. Perhaps we are already so far passed it, there is no turning back.

Tags: Annoyances, apple, nokia by Wolf
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