For anyone considering moving to Australia, and Queensland specifically, there are a few key points you should be aware of when it comes to driving in Australia.
1. They drive on the left in Australia. Think England: This surprisingly doesn't take too much getting used to, however it was a few weeks before I was comfortable looking up and left to find the rear-view mirror. Up until that point I found myself instinctively relying on my driver-side mirror. Confusing the signal lever an wiper levers (also reversed) was resolved in about a week.
2. Terminology: There are a number of different terms you should be prepared to substitute or risk getting a few confused looks from people.
American/Canadian English => Australian English
Gas => Petrol
Traffic Circle => Roundabout
Yield (sign) => Give-way
Parkade => Car Park
Pickup (truck) => Ute
Trunk => Boot
Hood => Bonnet
3. Road rules: There are a few subtle differences in road rules, aside from the obvious disorientation of driving on the oposite side of the road.
a) No left turns on red lights. In Canada you can turn into traffic on a red light, it is an illegal maneuver in Australia.
b) Merging traffic does *not* have right of way. This is a pretty dumb one and I think explains why people don't seem to "get" how to merge here. More on this later.
c) No Stopping does not equal No Parking. This is a subtle one that got me here. No Stopping means no stopping, literally. In No Parking zones you would be able to stop the car for short periods provided the driver did not get out of the car and the car was running.
4. Requirements to get a license: Australia has a somewhat xenophobic culture, and getting a driving license here demonstrates this. For example, if you come from Canada or the U.S. where you're raised driving on the opposite side of the road, you can get an Australian license simply by getting a passing grade on the written exam. However, if you come from a country like Malaysia where they have similar road rules and drive on the same side of the road, irregardless of how long you've held a license, you need to write the exam and take an in-car driving test. I found this mildly amusing. However, I did come across a plausable explanation for this difference. That Australian driving authorities may base the requirement on country of origin depending on how difficult it would be to obtain a convincing fake driver's license.
5. Weather & day of week: Back in Canada, aside from the first couple weeks after the snow starts, and the occassional significant bad weather day in the winter; When the speed limit is 100km/h you can pretty much assure people are trying their best to be motoring along at between 105-110km/h rain, shine, day, night, etc. every day. My first experience in "the wet" was a real eye opener. I'm driving along the highway to the Sunshine Coast at around 100km/h and I was approaching some wet weather. Then I notice everyone slowing down to around 80km/h and I'm passing people thinking I'd missed a construction sign. So I slow down. No construction, no radars, nothing, just a really light drizzle. So I speed up again and start passing people, until "it" hits. It wasn't particularly hard rain, nothing more than I'd experienced in Edmonton, but I don't know if it's the humidity, or the combination of road and tyre materials, but when it starts raining it creates a haze roughly 2m high on the road that cuts visibility dramatically. You also need to be cautious in the city after a dry spell when it first starts raining. The road materials don't have to go through as wide of a temperature range here, so they contain a lot more rock, and when the oils from day-to-day wear start getting pulled up by the rain over this harder surface, it gets really slippery for a while. Combined with relatively hilly terrain it makes for some dangerous driving. Lastly, the day of week seems to really affect people's brains. Sunday is the most frustrating time to drive as there seems to be an unwritten rule that people drive 10km/h below the speed limit on Sunday. I've found no explanation for this.
6. Warning signs: Beware of "L" and especially "P" plates displayed in windows and stuck to the backs of cars driving around town. These are "L"earner drivers, and "P"rovisional drivers. There are special regulations applied when under the "P"-plate designation, but from what I've observed these are rarely enforced, meaning effectively that these are some of the most dangerous drivers you will encounter. There are constantly fatal accidents reported involving one or more "P"-platers, and my only sympathy is when one of these idiots is responsible for damaging/hurting others, or worse, taking them out with them. Frankly, the "P"-plate problem could be minimized and effectively solved with one simple measure: If you are provisional, you are limitted to driving a vehicle with no larger than a 1.6L, 4-cylinder engine solo, or must be under the direct supervision when driving a larger vehicle. Exceptions may be granted for tradies who might need to be able to drive a commercial van or Ute, but the vehicle would need to be inspected before aproval. Basically, restrict P-Platers from owning/driving "hoon"-ish vehicles until they get some real-world driving experience instead of video-games, and maybe they'll realize that those daft cars can and will kill them, the price for a quick thrill.
7. Merging: As I mentioned earlier, merging right of way is opposite here. Still, there is nothing more frustrating than driving along a highway and virtually coming to a stop when approaching merging traffic. Merging is quite a simple technique, think of a zipper. The key is that the faster cars are travelling, the more space people leave between vehicles which means to merge you need to accellerate up to the speed of traffic, pull up just behind a car, indicate, and pull in behind it, gradually easing back to a comfortable distance. Unfortunately this concept is completely lost here. Traffic instictively slows down which tightens the gaps between cars, cutting off the opportunity to merge in without forcing cars behind you to slow down even further. People start then merging from the left lanes to right lanes, slowing down those lanes, until the whole expressway has ground to a complete halt. When I first experienced this I driving down towards the Gold Coast. I was convinced there was an accident. 4 lanes of traffic were virtually stopped, but the cause was no accident, it was a merge between the Pacific Motorway and the Gateway. (2 lanes merging into 4)
8. Incompetent Drivers: Queensland in particular has a very, very high ratio of incompetent drivers. Just walk through a car park and see the amount of scrapes, dents, and other general damage these people inflict on their cars. In Canada I'd never been involved in an accident in over 14 years of driving. I'd had close calls, backed into a truck that was parked on an odd angle, and run off the road a couple of times, I had to dodge a couch in the middle of the highway once, and had a dumb cyclist throw himself into my windscreen in the dark (while the car was parked and unoccupied!)... But within 3 years in Australia, I have been hit from behind twice, side-swiped once, and had some ass in a 4WD scrape the entire side of my car while parked in a car park. The only parts of my car that haven't been re-painted are the bonnet and the roof. The number of accidents and fatalities reported in this country is mind-boggling.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Victorian Police take a page from Hollywood.
A thing of rather macabre beauty. Victoria has long had a stain along it's borders in the form of organized crime. They set about some years ago to crack down on it and the corruption around it, jailing some really bad men. One of which, Carl Williams who was accused of arranging the murders of dozens of people. Up until today he was sitting in prison, a taxpayer funded embarrasment, and landmine for Victorian police and politicians who have been desperately trying to re-write themselves out of a history of corruption and collusion. Still, what are they to do with him?
Let's pay to send his daughter to a private school! $8000/year of tax payers funds; and start rumors about paying some $750,000 of debt currently owed by his father. I dunno about you, but where I come from that is is called making a deal, or more sinisterly, mean't to look like he had made a deal. A deal with authorities for some pertinent, embarrassing information about other underworld figures either in custody, or with observant figures in custody watching out for their best interests.
(Smells of a Deal)
Not 14 hours after the story was leaked and published, (and I suspect a phone call to an illegally smuggled mobile phone) Carl Williams is dead. Beaten to death in a maximum security prison. (Hook, line, sinker, and copy of Angling Times)
Now if I could just place my finger on the movie I saw this happen on...
Let's pay to send his daughter to a private school! $8000/year of tax payers funds; and start rumors about paying some $750,000 of debt currently owed by his father. I dunno about you, but where I come from that is is called making a deal, or more sinisterly, mean't to look like he had made a deal. A deal with authorities for some pertinent, embarrassing information about other underworld figures either in custody, or with observant figures in custody watching out for their best interests.
(Smells of a Deal)
Not 14 hours after the story was leaked and published, (and I suspect a phone call to an illegally smuggled mobile phone) Carl Williams is dead. Beaten to death in a maximum security prison. (Hook, line, sinker, and copy of Angling Times)
Now if I could just place my finger on the movie I saw this happen on...
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Fish.
I enjoy fishing. A lot. Ironic though, to anyone who knows me, is that I cannot eat fish. Fortunately my wife, and daughter both LOVE fish, and I'm pretty good at catching fish so in that sense it's a really favourable match. The only trouble is that while I enjoy going fishing, my wife does not enjoy my going out to enjoy fishing. The reason for this is that we live in the Western suburbs of Brisbane which is about a 45 minute drive from the nearest decent coastal jetty. Going there during the day is pointless with so many people around, nowhere to park, and screaming kids running up and down the jetty. So it's typically evening trips anywhere after 19:00 staying out there until as late as 03:00 in the morning some nights when the tide is right and the fish are biting. But there are typically quite a few like-minded people around the jetty at all hours, chasing those elusive fish. Most don't seem to have a clue what they're doing, but that is a completely different topic. The main thing is its not as dangerous as she fears it to be, but my reassurances are little comfort.
The reason I like fishing so much isn't really the man vs. fish aspect as much as it's an excuse to get out of the house, into the nice, cool fresh air, and think about stuff. In another sense of irony, the thing I end up thinking about most often is what it'd be like to be a fish. I imagine a number of kids, and probably some adults have watched movies like Finding Nemo and Shark's Tale and thought it'd be pretty neat to be a fish. Actually, I'd think it would have to be one of the closest things to hell on Earth. I'm not a religious person but I do have an interest in the likelihood of reincarnation and I'd think if you were ever to be meant to suffer for past sins, you'd probably come back as a fish, or something that gets eaten by spiders, which, ironic point #3, includes fish.
The life of a fish must be a constant state of stress. I mean they sleep with their eyes open, not that they can blink anyways, and their days and nights consist of running around hoping to run into something to eat while at the same time hoping not to run into somthing wanting and able to eat them. Often I feel that my life is in a constant state of stress since getting married, but then I go out and cast a line, think about the fish, and realize I ain't got nothing to worry about compared to them.
Still, another thing I get wondering about while I'm fishing is just how stupid fish must be, or perhaps they have to be born with a completely different perspective and understanding of the world. For instance, sometimes you cast down under the jetty and you get repeatedly pounced on by a group of Bream. It'd be interesting to actually be able to watch what's actually going on down there, but fishing alone on the jetty I find my imagination is free to stab a guess. One fish will grab the bait and pull it to find out "hey there's a pointy thing in this food and it's trying to pull me out away from safety!" so it pulls back and typically spits the pointy bit out. Meanwhile the group of Bream can surely see/smell/feel all of this going on. So you cast under again and in a couple moments another Bream has gone on to do pretty much the exact same thing. The strategy from my point of view is to set up the scenario to give me the best chance that one of the Bream makes a mistake and finds that pointy bit firmly lodged in its mouth, and pulling it hard up and out of the safe spot he'd set up to haunt that time of the evening. But maybe this is as much a game of wits for the Bream as it is for me. Maybe they know exactly what's going on with the free food and are daring each other in turn to try and not only get the food, but show their stuff by pulling the dangerous, pointy-filled food as far as they can without getting pulled out themselves. Surely there are bonus points to the Bream strong and quick enough to be able to cut the line attached to the pointy thing while it's firmy lodged in their mouth. That's got to be one kind of piercing that says "I am tha Shiz!". Sure the young ones or timid ones might go up and nibble at the food or try and fool the pointy bit into pulling before they've grabbed it all the way, but that isn't going to impress their friends. Fish wouldn't know what a chicken was or why it would be associated with a coward, but I'd guess they would have their own association... Maybe a Yabbie or something like that. I mean, some of these fish will have probably played the game a few times and got pulled out as wee little rats to the disappointment of an honest angler, had the pointy bit removed for them, and thrown back into the water. They're probably not banking that it might be a one-way trip, but that's part of the thrill when as they get bigger and hang out with bigger buddies, those buddies that do get pulled out often don't come back. Talk about a rush.
That really doesn't come down to intelligence or perception. Maybe fish are really just dumb and can't put two & two together, much like watching Magpie Larks repeatedly challenge their reflection in a window. Preceptionally fish may not even be self-aware, or perhaps they are more aware of the way of things than we give them credit, or are comfortable realizing or accepting ourselves. Why else would a living thing like a fish or insect want to bother existing unless they instictively knew that dismemberment, suffering, and death were merely a transitory point in a continuous cycle where the goal was to try again and be better, smarter, and stronger: given at least a hint of recollection of past mistakes. Wouldn't this possibly explain concepts behind evolution and instinct? Humans may be "unique" not because we're any more self aware than fish or bugs, but because we've become so pre-occupied with who and what we are in the here-and-know that we've lost perspective of the big picture. We fear death, invent beliefs to reassure ourselves of the unknown. Ironically (arg #4 for this post) the concept we've created for "lives" within popular video games may be closer to the truth than anything. Failure, regrets, reset to square one with a nudge of fore-knowledge (instinct, gut feelings.) to make new types of decisions all over again. Personally I believe genes can explain the colour of your eyes and hair, how tall you are, or how many toes you'll end up with; But I'm not convinced that they can determine how you will respond to stimulae, or explain what it means to be "self aware". There's got to be something more that defines *why* molecules continue to organize themselves into insects and fish and people with its own set of rules governing just how much information can be relayed from one generation to the next.
I guess this is part of the danger of going out late at night to go fishing alone and doing a considerable amount of thinking. I end up filling my head with whimsical "heavy" nonsense like this.
The reason I like fishing so much isn't really the man vs. fish aspect as much as it's an excuse to get out of the house, into the nice, cool fresh air, and think about stuff. In another sense of irony, the thing I end up thinking about most often is what it'd be like to be a fish. I imagine a number of kids, and probably some adults have watched movies like Finding Nemo and Shark's Tale and thought it'd be pretty neat to be a fish. Actually, I'd think it would have to be one of the closest things to hell on Earth. I'm not a religious person but I do have an interest in the likelihood of reincarnation and I'd think if you were ever to be meant to suffer for past sins, you'd probably come back as a fish, or something that gets eaten by spiders, which, ironic point #3, includes fish.
The life of a fish must be a constant state of stress. I mean they sleep with their eyes open, not that they can blink anyways, and their days and nights consist of running around hoping to run into something to eat while at the same time hoping not to run into somthing wanting and able to eat them. Often I feel that my life is in a constant state of stress since getting married, but then I go out and cast a line, think about the fish, and realize I ain't got nothing to worry about compared to them.
Still, another thing I get wondering about while I'm fishing is just how stupid fish must be, or perhaps they have to be born with a completely different perspective and understanding of the world. For instance, sometimes you cast down under the jetty and you get repeatedly pounced on by a group of Bream. It'd be interesting to actually be able to watch what's actually going on down there, but fishing alone on the jetty I find my imagination is free to stab a guess. One fish will grab the bait and pull it to find out "hey there's a pointy thing in this food and it's trying to pull me out away from safety!" so it pulls back and typically spits the pointy bit out. Meanwhile the group of Bream can surely see/smell/feel all of this going on. So you cast under again and in a couple moments another Bream has gone on to do pretty much the exact same thing. The strategy from my point of view is to set up the scenario to give me the best chance that one of the Bream makes a mistake and finds that pointy bit firmly lodged in its mouth, and pulling it hard up and out of the safe spot he'd set up to haunt that time of the evening. But maybe this is as much a game of wits for the Bream as it is for me. Maybe they know exactly what's going on with the free food and are daring each other in turn to try and not only get the food, but show their stuff by pulling the dangerous, pointy-filled food as far as they can without getting pulled out themselves. Surely there are bonus points to the Bream strong and quick enough to be able to cut the line attached to the pointy thing while it's firmy lodged in their mouth. That's got to be one kind of piercing that says "I am tha Shiz!". Sure the young ones or timid ones might go up and nibble at the food or try and fool the pointy bit into pulling before they've grabbed it all the way, but that isn't going to impress their friends. Fish wouldn't know what a chicken was or why it would be associated with a coward, but I'd guess they would have their own association... Maybe a Yabbie or something like that. I mean, some of these fish will have probably played the game a few times and got pulled out as wee little rats to the disappointment of an honest angler, had the pointy bit removed for them, and thrown back into the water. They're probably not banking that it might be a one-way trip, but that's part of the thrill when as they get bigger and hang out with bigger buddies, those buddies that do get pulled out often don't come back. Talk about a rush.
That really doesn't come down to intelligence or perception. Maybe fish are really just dumb and can't put two & two together, much like watching Magpie Larks repeatedly challenge their reflection in a window. Preceptionally fish may not even be self-aware, or perhaps they are more aware of the way of things than we give them credit, or are comfortable realizing or accepting ourselves. Why else would a living thing like a fish or insect want to bother existing unless they instictively knew that dismemberment, suffering, and death were merely a transitory point in a continuous cycle where the goal was to try again and be better, smarter, and stronger: given at least a hint of recollection of past mistakes. Wouldn't this possibly explain concepts behind evolution and instinct? Humans may be "unique" not because we're any more self aware than fish or bugs, but because we've become so pre-occupied with who and what we are in the here-and-know that we've lost perspective of the big picture. We fear death, invent beliefs to reassure ourselves of the unknown. Ironically (arg #4 for this post) the concept we've created for "lives" within popular video games may be closer to the truth than anything. Failure, regrets, reset to square one with a nudge of fore-knowledge (instinct, gut feelings.) to make new types of decisions all over again. Personally I believe genes can explain the colour of your eyes and hair, how tall you are, or how many toes you'll end up with; But I'm not convinced that they can determine how you will respond to stimulae, or explain what it means to be "self aware". There's got to be something more that defines *why* molecules continue to organize themselves into insects and fish and people with its own set of rules governing just how much information can be relayed from one generation to the next.
I guess this is part of the danger of going out late at night to go fishing alone and doing a considerable amount of thinking. I end up filling my head with whimsical "heavy" nonsense like this.
The state of Internet access in Australia.
If anyone is seriously considering moving to Australia and regularly uses the Internet to stay connected, be prepared for some serious head-scratching. As I eluded to in my last post, Internet in Australia is ludicrously expensive for what you get, and with the average Aussie consumer as complacent as they are, extremely confusing to sort out how to effectively not get ripped off any more than you have to. Trust me, if you're coming from Canada, you're going to get seriously hosed here.
The first thing to know is all you need to know about Internet in Australia is on Whirlpool. No, not the white-goods appliance company, Whirlpool Forums. Here you will find reviews, discussions, statictics, and most importantly offered plan comparisons. But even with this information, choosing an Internet provider and plan can be a daunting task. Do they split the bandwidth between peak and off-peak hours? What are those hours? Do they count uploads? Do you have to commit to a contract? What happens if you exceed bandwidth limits? Do they support churning? (Basically a fast, cheap/free way to switch between supporting ISPs) What are the setup costs? (If no churn option.) Do you/should you consider bundling with telephone and/or mobile? Should you consider a naked connection? (No land-line rental) Those last two and the counting uploads are serious gotchas to watch out for. Counting uploads effectively halves your limit if you plan to use stuff like MSN Messenger/Skype or VOIP, or play games online where uploads pretty closely match downloads. Bundling can often be an attractive option, but don't let it distract you because it often comes with some of the more vile excess usage charges/conditions. Naked connections are more expensive but save you from having to pay for a land-line if you're content to use mobiles. (Also damned expensive here though.) Personally though, I think this does limit your options to change because I don't know if/how churning works if you're on a Naked connection, (Setup charges when you change ISPs without Churn will easily eat any savings unless you commit to long-term contracts which add penalties for changing as well.) and sitting on hold with ISP support alone when your connection goes dead will eat your mobile allowance real fast.
Believe me, there are some doosies of a bear-trap out there that ISPs set out to snare you; I have difficulty believing they can possibly be legal.
For example, most respectable ISPs will have a policy that if you have a limit of (n)GB per month and exceed that limit, your connection will be "shaped" down to effectively dialup speed until the next billing period starts. Often they'll give you the option to buy additional blocks of bandwidth by the GB, usually between $5-10/GB. And then there are others, such as Optus, one of the major Telco's in Australia, which will give you a limit, then charge you $150/GB should you exceed that limit. (That's no typo. One Hundred and Fifty dollars per GB) Their policies are changing all of the time, but at one point I believe they would charge you automatically for up to 2GB excess usage, then shape you down to dialup speed. That's an extra $300 "Surprise!" on your monthly ISP bill if your kid figures out how to torrent a movie one day.
One ISP bases their whole business model around this kind of rip-off. Dodo Internet. They advertise the bargain-basement of Internet. $20 a month, in which they give you a gracious 500MB (with the recent additon of 3GB of off-peak allowance if used between the hours of 1am-1pm.) 500MB a month is effectively enough to do little more than check e-mails. Exceed that limit and you're hit with a whopping $180/GB excess usage charge! Not all in one go, this is supposed to be a subtle rip-off. You're charged $0.18 per MB until you reach a cap of $70, at which point you're effectively cut off unless you purchase and additional 2-25GB block effective *only* until the remainder of the current billing period for $10-30.
So doing the math, you pay $20 for 500MB, then are forced to pay $0.18/MB until you hit $70. ($50 / $0.18 =~275MB) at which point you can buy 2GB for $10 (half a cent a MB) So, paying $70/mo with Dodo, you don't even get 1GB of useful bandwidth, where $70/mo with TPG will give you 100GB peak, plus 100GB off-peak, and shaped with no extra cost should you exceed that. That is, if you're silly enough to get conned into the cheapest option without realizing that 500MB on ADSL2+ can be eaten in a couple weeks of browsing, forget about downloading movies or playing games online. (Measure it in Days then.)
Yet the twisted thing is that PEOPLE HERE BUY THIS CRAP!
Expect to spend a good few days sifting through the data on Whirlpool before selecting an ISP. Don't trust the advice of Aussies about plans, especially the older generations because they have been thoroughly fleeced and mused into accepting this nonsense, with matching blinders to keep from being distracted by that annoying competition thing.
But in choosing an ISP, also be wary of anything too good to be true, especially with new entries into the ISP market. Many offer great deals and get you hooked into a contract, then try and use their member list as bait for a buy-out or sell-off down the road. You end up getting reeled into a bigger ISP with far less favorable conditions, and a hassle to find a new ISP. (Fool me once...)
My personal recommendation right now? TPG. They offer some of the best bandwidth limits per $, and no nasty hidden surprises. They also (currently) do not count uploads. (a trend soon disappearing I fear.) Probably the only significant downside is that like most ISPs now, they don't accept BPay. Essentially this means they auto-bill your credit card, which means another headache and series of long phone calls when they inevitably cock things up. Internode was also pretty good, but more expensive for what you get, especially if you're not looking for the flashest of speed and bandwidth quotas.
The ones not even worth considering? Dodo obviously, but also the major telcos. (Optus/Telstra) Surprisingly these have probably the largest number of subscribers, but average at least twice as expensive as quality competitors. Ironic, coming from Canada where the Telcos offer some of the best value for money as an ISP, but when I talked to Telstra upon ariving in Australia, my reaction to what they considered a "competitive" plan was "You can't be serious." I didn't need Whirlpool to smell that con.
The first thing to know is all you need to know about Internet in Australia is on Whirlpool. No, not the white-goods appliance company, Whirlpool Forums. Here you will find reviews, discussions, statictics, and most importantly offered plan comparisons. But even with this information, choosing an Internet provider and plan can be a daunting task. Do they split the bandwidth between peak and off-peak hours? What are those hours? Do they count uploads? Do you have to commit to a contract? What happens if you exceed bandwidth limits? Do they support churning? (Basically a fast, cheap/free way to switch between supporting ISPs) What are the setup costs? (If no churn option.) Do you/should you consider bundling with telephone and/or mobile? Should you consider a naked connection? (No land-line rental) Those last two and the counting uploads are serious gotchas to watch out for. Counting uploads effectively halves your limit if you plan to use stuff like MSN Messenger/Skype or VOIP, or play games online where uploads pretty closely match downloads. Bundling can often be an attractive option, but don't let it distract you because it often comes with some of the more vile excess usage charges/conditions. Naked connections are more expensive but save you from having to pay for a land-line if you're content to use mobiles. (Also damned expensive here though.) Personally though, I think this does limit your options to change because I don't know if/how churning works if you're on a Naked connection, (Setup charges when you change ISPs without Churn will easily eat any savings unless you commit to long-term contracts which add penalties for changing as well.) and sitting on hold with ISP support alone when your connection goes dead will eat your mobile allowance real fast.
Believe me, there are some doosies of a bear-trap out there that ISPs set out to snare you; I have difficulty believing they can possibly be legal.
For example, most respectable ISPs will have a policy that if you have a limit of (n)GB per month and exceed that limit, your connection will be "shaped" down to effectively dialup speed until the next billing period starts. Often they'll give you the option to buy additional blocks of bandwidth by the GB, usually between $5-10/GB. And then there are others, such as Optus, one of the major Telco's in Australia, which will give you a limit, then charge you $150/GB should you exceed that limit. (That's no typo. One Hundred and Fifty dollars per GB) Their policies are changing all of the time, but at one point I believe they would charge you automatically for up to 2GB excess usage, then shape you down to dialup speed. That's an extra $300 "Surprise!" on your monthly ISP bill if your kid figures out how to torrent a movie one day.
One ISP bases their whole business model around this kind of rip-off. Dodo Internet. They advertise the bargain-basement of Internet. $20 a month, in which they give you a gracious 500MB (with the recent additon of 3GB of off-peak allowance if used between the hours of 1am-1pm.) 500MB a month is effectively enough to do little more than check e-mails. Exceed that limit and you're hit with a whopping $180/GB excess usage charge! Not all in one go, this is supposed to be a subtle rip-off. You're charged $0.18 per MB until you reach a cap of $70, at which point you're effectively cut off unless you purchase and additional 2-25GB block effective *only* until the remainder of the current billing period for $10-30.
So doing the math, you pay $20 for 500MB, then are forced to pay $0.18/MB until you hit $70. ($50 / $0.18 =~275MB) at which point you can buy 2GB for $10 (half a cent a MB) So, paying $70/mo with Dodo, you don't even get 1GB of useful bandwidth, where $70/mo with TPG will give you 100GB peak, plus 100GB off-peak, and shaped with no extra cost should you exceed that. That is, if you're silly enough to get conned into the cheapest option without realizing that 500MB on ADSL2+ can be eaten in a couple weeks of browsing, forget about downloading movies or playing games online. (Measure it in Days then.)
Yet the twisted thing is that PEOPLE HERE BUY THIS CRAP!
Expect to spend a good few days sifting through the data on Whirlpool before selecting an ISP. Don't trust the advice of Aussies about plans, especially the older generations because they have been thoroughly fleeced and mused into accepting this nonsense, with matching blinders to keep from being distracted by that annoying competition thing.
But in choosing an ISP, also be wary of anything too good to be true, especially with new entries into the ISP market. Many offer great deals and get you hooked into a contract, then try and use their member list as bait for a buy-out or sell-off down the road. You end up getting reeled into a bigger ISP with far less favorable conditions, and a hassle to find a new ISP. (Fool me once...)
My personal recommendation right now? TPG. They offer some of the best bandwidth limits per $, and no nasty hidden surprises. They also (currently) do not count uploads. (a trend soon disappearing I fear.) Probably the only significant downside is that like most ISPs now, they don't accept BPay. Essentially this means they auto-bill your credit card, which means another headache and series of long phone calls when they inevitably cock things up. Internode was also pretty good, but more expensive for what you get, especially if you're not looking for the flashest of speed and bandwidth quotas.
The ones not even worth considering? Dodo obviously, but also the major telcos. (Optus/Telstra) Surprisingly these have probably the largest number of subscribers, but average at least twice as expensive as quality competitors. Ironic, coming from Canada where the Telcos offer some of the best value for money as an ISP, but when I talked to Telstra upon ariving in Australia, my reaction to what they considered a "competitive" plan was "You can't be serious." I didn't need Whirlpool to smell that con.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Beware the long, wibbley-wobbley arm of the Law.
Whether you plan to come to Australia to visit or stay, one thing to be cautious of is the very odd interpretation of "Laws" that they use in this country. If you're famous, or otherwise deemed to be "important" than there are a completely different set of options available to you.
Case in point, Brisbane Bronco's assistant coach and ex-Player Allan Langer gets caught Drink-Driving at 3x the legal limit after losing a game. $1000 fine and 8mo. suspension of his license. Now normal people would also have a conviction recorded against them, but jumping to his defence his lawyer utters, "But think of my client's career." Apparently having a conviction recorded would have a negative impact on his career. Sorry? The last time I checked, doing something wrong, and illegal results in a conviction, and I don't care who you are but that generally results in a negative impact on your career. But I'm thinking if it works for Langer, then it should become an interesting argument for overturning convictions in the future. (Still, not as bone-headed as the Facebook Alibi that a NY judge conceeded. Talk about leaving a door WIDE open. Facebook Alibi) I mean the guy was probably innocent but what's to stop this kind of nonsense: "Joe: Yo! Tim, sit at my desk and send some Tweets about my Girl & Pancakes & stuff while I go find Sam and pop a cap in his ass!"
But if the courts here are one thing, they are flexible. You can get just about any case admitted into court, such as the legal pitbulls representing the motion picture industry taking an Australian ISP to court claiming that it was responsible for the potentially illegal download activities of its clients... Pretty much on the grounds that in advertising for a recent increase in bandwidth limits (which in Australia are already ridiculously expensive and puny) they mentioned downloading more MP3s and movies, and finished off with a cheery "Happy Downloading!". The BASTARDS! Oh wait, you can download "legal" MP3s and movies, you know, the stuff that you purchase online. It takes precious bandwidth to download that, and it's not like the film or music industries are compensating our additional bandwidth costs when we purchase them... Mind you, these are the people that torment those of us content to do the *right* thing and BUY DVDs just to get stuck watching several minutes of (often unskippable) propoganda about how it's wrong to steal movies.... Which I would think is one pretty appealing reason to pirate a copy of the damned movie just so you don't need to waste time ignoring that dribble. I hear the Blueray fans get even more annoying propoganda, to the point that someone demonstrated on Youtube that he could start downloading and watching a streamed, illegal version of the same movie faster than it took his Blueray copy of the movie to start playing. Still, back to the case at hand, I was amazed that it wasn't thrown out on day one; The Aussie courts/lawyers must be pretty hard up for money. This would be like trying to sue a gunshop for advertising a sale with the phrase "Happy Shooting!" on the basis that they could be incouraging folks to go out and murder someone. In the end, iiNet won the case... Hoorah! Now the movie industry has one more excuse to justify raising ticket and DVD prices, and the broadband enabled have one more excuse to start downloading instead of purchasing them. "Happy Downloading!"
Case in point, Brisbane Bronco's assistant coach and ex-Player Allan Langer gets caught Drink-Driving at 3x the legal limit after losing a game. $1000 fine and 8mo. suspension of his license. Now normal people would also have a conviction recorded against them, but jumping to his defence his lawyer utters, "But think of my client's career." Apparently having a conviction recorded would have a negative impact on his career. Sorry? The last time I checked, doing something wrong, and illegal results in a conviction, and I don't care who you are but that generally results in a negative impact on your career. But I'm thinking if it works for Langer, then it should become an interesting argument for overturning convictions in the future. (Still, not as bone-headed as the Facebook Alibi that a NY judge conceeded. Talk about leaving a door WIDE open. Facebook Alibi) I mean the guy was probably innocent but what's to stop this kind of nonsense: "Joe: Yo! Tim, sit at my desk and send some Tweets about my Girl & Pancakes & stuff while I go find Sam and pop a cap in his ass!"
But if the courts here are one thing, they are flexible. You can get just about any case admitted into court, such as the legal pitbulls representing the motion picture industry taking an Australian ISP to court claiming that it was responsible for the potentially illegal download activities of its clients... Pretty much on the grounds that in advertising for a recent increase in bandwidth limits (which in Australia are already ridiculously expensive and puny) they mentioned downloading more MP3s and movies, and finished off with a cheery "Happy Downloading!". The BASTARDS! Oh wait, you can download "legal" MP3s and movies, you know, the stuff that you purchase online. It takes precious bandwidth to download that, and it's not like the film or music industries are compensating our additional bandwidth costs when we purchase them... Mind you, these are the people that torment those of us content to do the *right* thing and BUY DVDs just to get stuck watching several minutes of (often unskippable) propoganda about how it's wrong to steal movies.... Which I would think is one pretty appealing reason to pirate a copy of the damned movie just so you don't need to waste time ignoring that dribble. I hear the Blueray fans get even more annoying propoganda, to the point that someone demonstrated on Youtube that he could start downloading and watching a streamed, illegal version of the same movie faster than it took his Blueray copy of the movie to start playing. Still, back to the case at hand, I was amazed that it wasn't thrown out on day one; The Aussie courts/lawyers must be pretty hard up for money. This would be like trying to sue a gunshop for advertising a sale with the phrase "Happy Shooting!" on the basis that they could be incouraging folks to go out and murder someone. In the end, iiNet won the case... Hoorah! Now the movie industry has one more excuse to justify raising ticket and DVD prices, and the broadband enabled have one more excuse to start downloading instead of purchasing them. "Happy Downloading!"
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Costco!
I love Australians. Only here can people be so blind-sided by change that they can somehow be quoted saying the most ridiculous things.
"THE nation's most powerful shopping centre owners are trying to stop the expansion of US discount warehouse chain Costco, claiming a planned multi-million dollar development is illegal.
In a raft of objections, the group - which includes Westfield, AMP and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia – says the proposed store is in breach of existing state planning laws, is 'inappropriate' and that to create any special exemptions would be 'anti-competitive' for other retailers."
Costco anti-competitive
"Anti-competitive"? Introducing competition is anti-competitive. Really, the beef they're trying to skewer is that the development site Costco found in Sydney isn't zoned in a manner that a shopping centre or grocery store chain couldn't be located there. Though Costco is neither a shopping centre or a grocery store. It seems that their protest was in vain, NSW is allowing Costco to go in as planned provided they provide infrastructure to deal with added traffic.
In a nutshell, local vendors are getting in a stink about new competition. I can't fault them on this, but they really should think about what they say before they open their mouths. :)
The simple fact is that if Australia wants to be taken seriously in the world market for more than just being a source of raw materials, it's going to have to swallow its pride and open its doors to that world market. Australian businesses are spoiled by teet-to-grave protection from foreign competition which is dangerously self-destructive. A good case of this was ABC Learning centres which was doing fantastic business here in Australia where it was founded... Until it did so well it decided to branch off into the U.S. where it had NO FREAKING perspective on the child-care funding practices in the U.S. NOTHING like the reliable, punctual hand-outs by the Australian gov't. In the end they lost control, garbled their auditing, and ended up sinking leaving the taxpayer to clean up the mess.
So, my thoughts about Costco? BRING IT ON! I can't wait until one shows up in Brisbane.
"THE nation's most powerful shopping centre owners are trying to stop the expansion of US discount warehouse chain Costco, claiming a planned multi-million dollar development is illegal.
In a raft of objections, the group - which includes Westfield, AMP and the Shopping Centre Council of Australia – says the proposed store is in breach of existing state planning laws, is 'inappropriate' and that to create any special exemptions would be 'anti-competitive' for other retailers."
Costco anti-competitive
"Anti-competitive"? Introducing competition is anti-competitive. Really, the beef they're trying to skewer is that the development site Costco found in Sydney isn't zoned in a manner that a shopping centre or grocery store chain couldn't be located there. Though Costco is neither a shopping centre or a grocery store. It seems that their protest was in vain, NSW is allowing Costco to go in as planned provided they provide infrastructure to deal with added traffic.
In a nutshell, local vendors are getting in a stink about new competition. I can't fault them on this, but they really should think about what they say before they open their mouths. :)
The simple fact is that if Australia wants to be taken seriously in the world market for more than just being a source of raw materials, it's going to have to swallow its pride and open its doors to that world market. Australian businesses are spoiled by teet-to-grave protection from foreign competition which is dangerously self-destructive. A good case of this was ABC Learning centres which was doing fantastic business here in Australia where it was founded... Until it did so well it decided to branch off into the U.S. where it had NO FREAKING perspective on the child-care funding practices in the U.S. NOTHING like the reliable, punctual hand-outs by the Australian gov't. In the end they lost control, garbled their auditing, and ended up sinking leaving the taxpayer to clean up the mess.
So, my thoughts about Costco? BRING IT ON! I can't wait until one shows up in Brisbane.
Apples
A rather curious recent development. Australia banned apple and pear imports from New Zealand nearly 90 years ago after a disease outbreak in NZ in the 1920. This ban has been finally successfully appealed to the WTO by NZ growers. Australian growers will now lose much of the protection they had, and will have to compete with imports. Good news for consumers, crunch time for growers that have become complacent without competition.
Still, one quote from Australian growers left me smiling:
"Apple and Pear Australia Limited general manager Tony Russell said there were still persuasive arguments about the pest and disease risk posed by Kiwi apples.
'Rather than erring on the side of conservatism they have decided to take a more pro-trade stance and I think that's a rather dangerous precedent,' he said.
'This would be a slap in the face to Biosecurity Australia in terms of their ability to conduct impact risk assessments.'
Mr Russell also rejected claims Australian shoppers would get more choice, as New Zealand had 'nothing particularly flash' to offer.
Pink Ladies were Australia's favourite apples, and the best were home grown, he said."
That last statement is like saying Trebants were East German's favorite cars. A favorite amongst seriously limited options, come on now!
Not that Pink Ladies aren't a good apple, but damn, bring in some B.C. McIntosh's if you want a flash apple!
Still, one quote from Australian growers left me smiling:
"Apple and Pear Australia Limited general manager Tony Russell said there were still persuasive arguments about the pest and disease risk posed by Kiwi apples.
'Rather than erring on the side of conservatism they have decided to take a more pro-trade stance and I think that's a rather dangerous precedent,' he said.
'This would be a slap in the face to Biosecurity Australia in terms of their ability to conduct impact risk assessments.'
Mr Russell also rejected claims Australian shoppers would get more choice, as New Zealand had 'nothing particularly flash' to offer.
Pink Ladies were Australia's favourite apples, and the best were home grown, he said."
That last statement is like saying Trebants were East German's favorite cars. A favorite amongst seriously limited options, come on now!
Not that Pink Ladies aren't a good apple, but damn, bring in some B.C. McIntosh's if you want a flash apple!
Not in Kansas anymore.
In 2004 I moved from Edmonton to Brisbane. If you put your fingers on a globe that's pretty close to the precise opposite ends of the world. Quite a few people asked why I moved to Brisbane. Simply put, "Weather". Edmonton is lovely in the summer. The sun's up nice and early, and it stays light out until quite late in the evening. Where else can you play 18 holes of golf after work? But winter on the other hand is a dreary, depressing affair. You wake up and it's dark & cold, drive to work, sit indoors through the day, and by the time your shift is done, it's a dark & cold drive home, usually with a pause to shovel the fresh snow off the driveway before you can pull into the garage. You must shovel it or those tire ruts it will quickly compress down into caked speedbumps which will make future shovelling attempts an absolute hell.
So their next question is "why Brisbane?" Well, that one is a little more interesting. I'd considered going down to the U.S. I'd spent some time around Seattle and it was pretty much like Edmonton, except not so cold, not quite so dark, but a whole lot more wet. My criteria for a new home was that it had to be warm enough to be able to play Golf year round, and free of serious natural or man-made disasters. South-Central California and the South-East seaboard were out. I didn't feel like experiencing Earthquakes and Huricanes first-hand. Man-made disasters basically boiled down to C.C.W. (Carry Concealed Weapons) This knocked out most States warm enough to play Golf that had a reasonable software development presence. The only other requirement was that it had to be English speaking. I spent a week in Dresden, Germany. absolutely lovely place but it was a good taste of how stressful a place can be when you don't speak the language. I spent a month in Malaysia, and the company I worked with at the time was prepared to offer me a position in their offices down there when I told them I was going to move to Australia. Malaysia is an awesome place, and English is common enough to get by without too much trouble, but it is one heck of a hot and muggy climate you need to deal with there. The most uncomfortable experience is trying to have a shower. You feel exactly the same going in, during, and coming out. You hang your wash out for at least 2 days before it's dry. Australia was about as good as I could think of. Warm, not too wet, tough gun control, and not prone to many natural disasters. (I wasn't going to be living up in the tropics.) But why Brisbane? I come from a small city. I like cities, but not really large cities. They're busy, crowded, expensive, bleah. Sydney and Melbourne were out. Perth was too isolated, Canberra was too central. (I always wanted to live near the ocean) That really left Adelaide and Brisbane. A quick search of the job market showed Brisbane having nearly as many I.T. job vacancies as Melbourne. Brisbane it was, and still is.
So their next question is "why Brisbane?" Well, that one is a little more interesting. I'd considered going down to the U.S. I'd spent some time around Seattle and it was pretty much like Edmonton, except not so cold, not quite so dark, but a whole lot more wet. My criteria for a new home was that it had to be warm enough to be able to play Golf year round, and free of serious natural or man-made disasters. South-Central California and the South-East seaboard were out. I didn't feel like experiencing Earthquakes and Huricanes first-hand. Man-made disasters basically boiled down to C.C.W. (Carry Concealed Weapons) This knocked out most States warm enough to play Golf that had a reasonable software development presence. The only other requirement was that it had to be English speaking. I spent a week in Dresden, Germany. absolutely lovely place but it was a good taste of how stressful a place can be when you don't speak the language. I spent a month in Malaysia, and the company I worked with at the time was prepared to offer me a position in their offices down there when I told them I was going to move to Australia. Malaysia is an awesome place, and English is common enough to get by without too much trouble, but it is one heck of a hot and muggy climate you need to deal with there. The most uncomfortable experience is trying to have a shower. You feel exactly the same going in, during, and coming out. You hang your wash out for at least 2 days before it's dry. Australia was about as good as I could think of. Warm, not too wet, tough gun control, and not prone to many natural disasters. (I wasn't going to be living up in the tropics.) But why Brisbane? I come from a small city. I like cities, but not really large cities. They're busy, crowded, expensive, bleah. Sydney and Melbourne were out. Perth was too isolated, Canberra was too central. (I always wanted to live near the ocean) That really left Adelaide and Brisbane. A quick search of the job market showed Brisbane having nearly as many I.T. job vacancies as Melbourne. Brisbane it was, and still is.
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