How the wheel turns

A few years ago it was Tony Abbott looking smug whilst the Labor Party tore itself apart swapping Prime Ministers mid term.  However it appears his chickens have come home to roost and it is Tony Abbott in the firing line.

So why is it that we have this problem with being unable to keep a Prime Minister in office for the term for which he/she may have been elected? Before Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, we had 10 years of John Howard? It all stems from the fact that the Prime Minister is not chosen by the people of Australia (directly elected), they are chosen by the parliamentary party that has a majority in the House of Representatives.   This means that, as with all political parties, the leader must not only make sure they keep the public happy, but they also have to keep their elected Members happy.  Because of the ability for social media and news services to disseminate news efficiently, perceptions almost need to be managed 24/7.  If any sense of insecurity or uncertainty creeps in regarding the Leader's ability to manage expectations, then others in the party will see their chance.  As was once said, " every officer carries a field  marshall's baton and every politician wants to see their name on the Prime Minister's office. "

Now that the precedent has been set (Kevin Rudd/ Julia Gillard) it is easier for members of a party to contemplate a switch of leader whilst in power, when in the past causing a spill was unthinkable. Spills whilst in opposition are expected (who can forget that Malcolm Turnbull was dumped because he actually believed in the Carbon Tax) .

 The ability of pollsters to get a guide based on Twitter hashtags ( and let's face it we all have an opinion) to the public mood means that every comment and announcement by government can be followed shortly thereafter by a poll giving the public opinion.  In effect, the Internet and it's ability to give everyone a platform for their opinions has resulted in the ability to run polls on anything in the public sphere. Previously where opinion polls were done personally (who can remember answering the front door to a Morgan pollster, to be asked about any and all matters political?)  it was not possible to have an opinion poll published after every utterance of the Prime Minister or one of his ministers.

What does this mean for politicians?  It means that they need to be on their game 24/7 and I would not be surprised if we start seeing more of them subscribing to online monitoring services to give themselves a heads up when there is something starting to peak.  The Internet savvy politicians will be the ones leading the charge in the future and this is where we will start seeing millenials shoving their elders out of the way.  This may be the real reason why Tony and Co shot the National Broadband Network down, to give themselves more time to deal with the consequences of an educated and opinionated public.

I can see that the coming election is going to be fought more fiercely online than ever before.  I fully expect it to get dirty as well, with any smut or mud being dragged out and paraded on various social media services as "found" material.
 "May you live in interesting times" is often thought to be a Chinese curse ( although according to Wikipedia and Phrases.co.uk it is not Chinese) and I think this is coming true.

Post Script:
It appears that the media eventually pushed the Libs into toppling "One Term Tony" and installing Malcolm Turnbull.  Tony is content to believe that the positive polls prior to the Canning by-election were to blame, claiming that the Libs believed that a win here would be a win for the Party and they could change leader with impunity.  Reality is that they ran a very strong candidate that appealed to the demographics of the Canning electorate, resulting in a reasonable win.

Malcolm may have the PM job but there is still no guarantee that he will keep it past the next election. Unless he can keep the more lunatic Right elements of the NLP in line then their ravings will lose the next election, as Labour still have not redeemed themselves in the eyes of many electors (although there have not been any moves to tumble Bill Shorten that I have seen).   By winding back some of the more radical changes that were mooted in the budget last year, Malcolm can appear to be responsive to some of the legitimate complaints about last year's budget and appeal to some of the electorate that are on the fence.

Licensing of Movie and TV content

As an observer of the "Copyright Wars" and the "download generation", I find it amazing that the studios have not bent to the inevitable and looked at ways to profit from the many methods that people like to consume their content.  Many consumers pirate the content because it is easier and faster than trying to get it through legal means.

Too many of the studios are invested in maintaining the complex web of agreements that tie content in specific geographic zones to specific distributors.  This may have been valid in the days when content was distributed on physical media (Movies on film, DVDs, VCR, etc) but the Internet has now made this method of distribution irrelevant.

This applies to the whole range of content from books, movies, games, TV and music.  iTunes (and its competitors) showed that it is possible for music and media to be distributed easily and at a profit from a web site. Distributors should be looking at ways of acting as a web interface for content makers.  For many bands, getting their content out there is more important in getting themselves recognised than making a profit in their early days, so having a distributor handle the marketing and distribution side of things makes it easier for them to concentrate on the hard part of making their content desirable.

Unfortunately too many of our media companies are run by old men who think an ipod is one of those funny illegal music machines and that video streaming is what happens when you play a movie at the cinema. Once these dinosaurs get out of the way we may see some changes. 

Update****
Since this article was published, Netflix, Stan and various other streaming services have taken off. 
These are great for those of us who prefer to binge watch episodes rather than allocating a specific time each week for the next episode.  It also makes it easier for those of us that prefer our home theatre when viewing movies. 

Tony the clown is taking the attention from his other failings.

Tony has finally managed to exceed the laughter limit.

Mr Abbott, with his recent unilateral decision to knight Prince Phillip, has managed to make it impossible for anyone to take him or his government seriously.  Unfortunately we still have ~ 18 months of this lunacy before we can finally get rid of the doddery old fools in the Liberal Party.

However for all his faults as a leader, you cannot deny that Tony Abbott is very skilled at the political game and knows how to tweak the public image to look as though he is actually doing something.  Pity that all his posturing is leading to many defeats for his policy changes. It is also a shame that Libs persist in thinking that financial prosperity comes from the top down.  The reality is that it gets tied up at the top end of town and the average person sees little of it.  Better to give a small amount to a wider range of people, resulting in more people being able to spread the wealth.  A good place to start is by looking at charging tax rates on family trusts that match with personal income rates. Also to look at some of the superannuation benefits.  The problem is that the Libs have this image of the "Dole Bludger", a guy who does not work, has a house full of kids and spends more time dealing drugs and committing burglaries than looking for work.  Reality is that there is no such thing as a generic person on the unemployment benefit and the majority would prefer to be working if they could.

 Mind you the reason Labor haven't been in the news is because they are keeping their heads low and madly currying favour with the independents. The moment that Tony announces the election, I foresee much jockeying within the Labor ranks to ensure that the appropriate people are sitting on the appropriate seats in the new government. Until the Labor party can convince everyone that they are not just a front for the Trade Unions, then they will continue their slide into irrelevance.

I'm thinking that the next election will be fought on the principles of local issues first and there will be a number of independents that make up the next government.  Whilst this may sound like wishful thinking, with today's technology it is much easier to run a successful campaign without having to have the large budget.


Addendum:  This post was written before Malcolm Turnbull's successful spill, and many of the issues have been overrun by recent events.  I suspect that the Section 44 Dual citizenship issue may have a bearing, but more than that, will be the low wage growth and increasing pressure on those that form the engine room of the economy, the middle income wage-earner.

The recent siege at lindt cafe

Let me first say that this was a terrible incident and that I am in full sympathy with the victims and their families.  I hope that they receive the support and care that they require to get over this horrible incident, and can get back to their lives.  I particularly feel for the young family of Katrina Dawson who was simply buying a coffee when she was caught up in this. The young manager of the store did what any young male brought up in our society would feel was his duty and tried to disarm the offender, dying in the process.

However, and here is the point where I probably will get slammed, the media in this case has been deplorable, particularly some of the tabloids, by implying that the actions of 1 crazed nutter is representative of all members of his religion.  To draw an analogy, this is the same as implying all male Catholics are paedophiles simply because some Catholic priests could not control their urges.

Whilst I understand that in today's 24 hour news cycle that any news is fodder for the media, I feel that the unnecessary focus on religion causes conflict where there doesn't need to be.  Most members of all the world's religions believe in getting on with their neighbours in the interests of a harmonious society.  The extremists though, make for better news and therefore get much more coverage.

Because we, as a society, tend to be more interested if there is conflict, the news organisations are going to pursue that angle every time.  Maybe we all need to start saying to the media,"We don't need to you to find a particular "slant" to this story as we will make our own conclusions.  Treat us as adults and give us facts, not your opinions"

Apologies for this but I am about to get political

I don't claim to be a died in the wool Labour voter but at the moment I see nothing about our current Liberal government that I like or would want to be a part of.  I hate their attitude to asylum seekers and their belief that anyone on a social security service is a liar and a cheat, and that everyone that uses Medicare is scamming the system.  I am intensely negative about their assumption that everyone that is out of work is only there because they are lazy and they just need to get out of bed and start applying for jobs (which in many cases do not exist).  It seems that unless you are the owner of a multimillion dollar business, you have no right to complain about the way the government behaves.  But most of all I hate the way they have gutted the NBN and set it up for failure.  

The Labour party had a vision for us all to take part in the 21st century and improve our telecoms infrastructure to one that was upgradeable with simple endpoint changes. Now this stupid government has walked in with their negative view on everything that Labour had done and assumed that it was Labour, therefore it is too expensive and technically faulty. When in fact it was technically the cheapest and simplest solution with the greatest return on Investment.
Despite every technical person in Australia pointing out that the copper network is well overdue for scrapping and that fibre is the technically superior solution, this government has buried its head in the sand and bought the reviews they wanted (first rule of government, never commission a review without defining the outcomes first).
As for cost, long term the copper network will cost more in maintenance than would be spent on installing Fibre to the Premise (FTTP). Given how often power poles and street lights get knocked over, it doesn’t take much imagination to see Fibre to the Node (FTTN) terminal boxes becoming victims to driver stupidity.
I have likened the NBN to the Snowy River Scheme in its scope as it is a project that may cost a lot up front, but was always going to deliver much more than fast Internet. It delivers new ways of learning, working and consuming that are far outside the scope of current Internet services. Given that Australia is fast turning into a service economy, with no manufacturing to speak of, surely the means of communication is of vital importance in keeping us at the forefront of technology and knowledge.
In short, the NLP are a bunch of Luddite fucks who are happy to drop shit loads of money on military toys and expeditions but are short changing the people who elected them.  Because of their negative politics, they assume that simply destroying anything that Labour put in place before the election is guaranteed to be better, instead of examining each item on its merits and evaluating it from there.  Cost Benefit analysis is an important tool in business, and while it can be useful in government, it is important to remember that the government is there to provide the infrastructure to all Australians, not just the privileged few in Melbourne and Sydney's eastern suburbs.   Expecting Companies to provide infrastructure in areas that are marginal or cost prohibitive is ignoring the principles of capitalism (that supply will try to match demand)

For more reading below are some articles expanding on why we should have a single wholesale supplier for our Infrastructure
https://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/11/20/technology/why-fibre-premises-nbn-still-matters
About to be archived but still relevant
http://boombroadband.com.au/nbn-explained/
http://www.afr.com/p/national/speed_copper_and_telstra_nbn_policy_zrrudTYeuYkcd4UVAHKN3I
Great article on the ABC
A very technical article about upgrade costs for the FTTN network

Ku Klux Klan p0wnd by Anonymous

In case you didn't see it, the Ku Klux Klan were stirring up trouble in Ferguson (where the recent riots occurred ) by taunting people via their twitter account.  As the self appointed guardians of decency, Anonymous have taken over the KKKUS twitter account leaving the KKK voiceless :)

Couldn't happen to more deserving A*holes

Further reading at 

The Guardian

IT helpdesks

Being an IT person can sometimes be very stressful.  Not because computer systems go down, but because they are used by people, who tend to get annoyed when they break.  As I have said many times, my IT systems are perfect, it is usually the users that break them.  :) Without users my world would be great



As an "IT Guy" the most annoying problems for IT are the "It will only take a minute" type ones, as they end up consuming days of your time and without being logged in the helpdesk system, are impossible to track.  Whilst I appreciate that most people don't like logging calls because they feel that they are ignored, the problem is that IT, like every other part of the business, has to provide metrics on how they are going and where they are improving for management. Our means of doing this is through the Helpdesk.

 If we provide a means for you to log calls, take advantage of it and provide all the information you can to ensure that your fix is 1. permanent, 2. appropriate, 3. as speedy as possible.  

If we have to log the call for you, it will take longer for us to help you as we will drag our feet as a form of negative reinforcement.   If you log a call that says only "it's broken, fix it" we will ignore it (or at least bump it down the queue), the same as you would ignore a sales call from someone that wants your services for nothing. 

If you provide us with sufficient information to speedily look at the issue, we will attempt to fix it as soon as possible as this improves our metrics (and provides those "feel good" references ).

I appreciate that as an Information worker (or ship driver, or stockbroker, or fire fighter) your computer being broken is an inconvenience and can stop you working. However screaming at the IT guy to "Fix it now, because I can't get my ...." is not going to motivate us to go above and beyond to get you working again.  IT are doing our part for workplace harmony by encouraging polite requests.  Feel free to ring us if your issue is urgent (I need to get this report out in the next 10 minutes and the printer is not printing) but make sure you have logged the job first.  It gives us a reference point particularly if you have noted that you have an urgent report to print.  Please understand though, that if the reason you cannot print is because the server has had a catastrophic failure, we may be a little pre-occupied.

In short, IT is a service area and like all service areas, a little courtesy can go a long way to making our task more pleasant and in turn, make us want to assist you.   Being rude or nasty is just going to guarantee that we are going to use the only means at our disposal to get back at you, because, after all, we are people too. 

And for some humour

Things IT people would never say

Cheers

Hazmoid