nyquil.org

Internet in Australia

nospam@example.com (nyquil.org) — 2008-12-21T02:04:19Z

I just caught the end of a “town hall” sort of program on telly, on which the topic of discussion was illegal downloading of music in Australia. The main focus of the discussion was whether Australian ISPs ought be involved in the prevention and discouragement of illegally downloading, and if them doing so would count as punitive enforcement or not. Much like in America, the music industry here wants ISPs to sort of “play nanny,” giving up information about their customers and enforce a sort of “three strikes” program after which a customer will be permanently disconnected.

The thing that I found most interesting is that, currently, the ISPs seem to be holding back the attacks of the music industry in ways that simply didn’t happen in the US. They are currently saying “no way,” that it isn’t their job to be policing the Internet or held liable for what is done via it anymore than the post should be for materials sent through it. In The US, this sort of step was pretty much skipped over via legislation; it was simply made law that content owners can force ISPs to do their bidding for them, and thusly they’ve all had to do so. I have no doubt that it will eventually be the same here in Australia, but I’m really encouraged by the rational arguments against doing so that have been made so vocally.

The thing that discourages me, however, is that the debate seems to have been sold to many Australian musicians as if the Internet is some sort of music dispersal medium like radio or television. They seem to think that, like as with the radio, the ISPs are selling customers the ability listen to music, and thus ought pay royalties for the ability to do so. It’s discouraging to me because it does make a sick sort of sense; they ARE after all charging their customers, and they ARE (sort of) providing them a mechanism through which to listen to music. If providing Internet access is eventually designated as the same sort of service as radio and television, all sorts of scary doors will eventually be opened, so I’m hoping that this line of thinking is put out to pasture.

The one thing that all parties involved in the debate keep bringing up, however, actually strikes me as the sort of system I’d like to see. Everyone — save for the music industry, natch — is advocating a low-cost flat fee for music usage, kind of like the television license fees to which people outside America are already accustomed. The figure that keeps being brought up is $10AU a month, after which you are free to listen to as much music as you’d like, however you’d like to do so. Enforcement of this plan would obviously be problematic; it’s not as if the illegal file-sharing networks are going to put in place some sort of authentication system to ensure that only licensed individuals can access them. People will clearly still be able to access music without paying the fee. Why then, would anyone bother to pay the fee?

What I would like to see, however, is for some enterprising ISPs to bundle this “all-access” music license into the cost of their service. If the fee is $10 a month, they could subsidize it down to something like $5 or $6 extra a month — or even cheaper as an introductory perk. This could also be bundled with higher data caps (oh yes, if you’re not currently operating under a data cap, you soon will be) to create another sort of revenue stream for the ISPs. After all, if they’re now going to be legally downloading tons of music, they’re going to need to buy extra monthly bandwidth as well.

According to the program I saw, studies done in Australia show that just $10AU a month would be enough to fully remunerate all entitled parties with compensation. I suspect this figure would need to be re-factored for use in the US, but I suspect most people would be willing to pay at least double or triple that for unfettered access. Some people already pay this much on top of their Internet access fees to facilitate the ILLICIT transfer of music and video, and NONE of that money gets to any entitled individuals. Surely a workable scheme can be devised.

Thoughts?

[Source: nyquil.org]

A Few Words on Chrismas: I think Australia might have the right idea

nospam@example.com (nyquil.org) — 2008-12-18T00:49:31Z

I joked earlier about how the “war on Christmas” drove us to flee to another country, but that’s only the tiniest bit true. Granted, I get really upset every time I’m accosted by a Salvation Army bell-ringer, but I’m mostly just amused at how people get so worked up about someone wishing them a happy incorrect holiday.

Here in Australia, all the ads on telly that I’ve seen say ‘Christmas.’ There’s nary a mention of generic “holidays,” nor any mention of specific non-Christmas ones. I’m not sure whether this is due to the fact that Australia is considerably more secular a society than the states, or some other factor of which I’m unaware, but people are clearly laid back about the whole thing. Even the non-religious folk seem to have no qualms with wishing each other ‘Happy Christmas,” which is something I think the US could learn a few things from.

This laid-backness regarding ‘uptight about Christmas’ is why I was so utterly shocked to see this poster at the cinema yesterday:

From oz 08

I’m guessing that the title change is due to a generic “foreign” marketing campaign, wherein they just make one set of marketing images for all the english-speaking non-US countries, allowing for other countries who aren’t nearly as laid back about the whole thing. Still, it’s jarring. If they had done this in the states, there’d be boycotts and outrage. “How dare they take ‘Christmas’ out of the title of that sucky movie??!” Bill O’Reilly would have to have Reese and Vince on in order to berate them. Geez.

While at the cinema, I also spied this poster:

From oz 08

A Rob Scneider movie that hasn’t been released in The States?!? We have to go see that.

Maybe on Christmas.

[Source: nyquil.org]

Wednesday Morning, Dec 17th in Australia

nospam@example.com (nyquil.org) — 2008-12-17T01:50:22Z

While D took the train to work this morning, I decided to go grab a pastry and a flat white — and, more importantly, take advantage of the free wifi offered by the coffee place. I had a thick slice of toasted pear-raspberry bread (think banana bread, but pearier and raspberrier), which was delicious, and an hour or so of really, really slow wifi. Gloria Jean’s Coffees is not the place to go in Cronulla for good wifi — or even good coffee, really. Gloria Jean’s is sort of the Starbucks of Australia, apparently, and while having an excellent range of pastries, I’ve not found thier coffee to be that great.

After that I headed to the grocery to get some photos of something that this American found particularly amusing. Next to all the steaks and pork chops and chicken and what-not in the meat case was a section for animals:

From oz 08

I don’t know whether refrigerated meats for animals is a response to the tainted pet food epidemic from a couple years back, or if Aussies just love their pets more than Americans, but I’m reasonably certain that this doesn’t happen in America. I’m not going to tell my cats about this when I get back, and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t either.

After picking up another variety of Lemon-lime & Bitters at the grocery (thus far my favorite is still Schweppes’s, but Bundaberg’s is a really close second) and taking a codeine-infused paracetemol (that’s Australian for acetemenaphine) to help soothe my severely sunburnt skin, I headed out for an hour-long jaunt down the road that runs between Cronulla and Sutherland. On the way I saw a few interesting things, but nothing nearly as exciting as this:

From oz 08

I didn’t know what we were going to do for Christmas before, but I sure do now.

After my walk I was extremely hot and tired, so I headed back to the hotel for some lunch. What does this American tourist seem to favor for lunch in this exotic land? Weet-bix and a flat white.

From oz 08

Seriously, if ever you find yourself in a locale that has Weet-bix, I implore you to try some. It’s a really fantastic cereal.

[Source: nyquil.org]

links for 2008-09-06

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-09-06T18:33:36Z

Where is Walter Reed Army Medical Center

(tags: politics funny mccain gaff)

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links for 2008-09-03

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-09-03T19:38:04Z

Tigh / Roslin 2008!

(tags: funny battlestargalactica tv humor)

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links for 2008-08-30

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-08-30T14:04:22Z

HODG*CON 08 - a set on Flickr

Dang, I wish I could have gone...

(tags: convention johnhodgman funny)
Opentape

I was kicking around the idea of making an "open" clone of muxtape anyone could install on their server, but these awesome folks beat me to it. Very Awesome.

(tags: music mp3 muxtape mixtapes)

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links for 2008-05-31

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-31T23:34:59Z

TED | Talks | Joshua Klein: The amazing intelligence of crows (video)

A great talk on the intelligence of crows, and some background on the "crow vending machine."

(tags: animals crows videos)
YouTube - did he...did he say, niggas?

An incredibly awkward spelling bee for this young man.

(tags: funny videos)
StillAliveDS: Portable 2D Portal for DS [update] - DS Fanboy

(tags: games ds nintendo homebrew)

[Source: ]

links for 2008-05-29

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-29T23:40:11Z

Revision3 suffers a denial of service attack at the hands of MediaDefender. Great read.

(tags: Internet,jerks)

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links for 2008-05-25

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-25T23:32:24Z

Installation - IEs4Linux

handly little util that magically installs IE 5, 5.5, 6, and a beta install of 7 in linux so you can test your sites.

(tags: ie linux)
YouTube - Piranha-bite test

new organic pruning shears...

(tags: pirhana video)

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links for 2008-05-19

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-19T23:43:13Z

Porn for the Blind

this is a fantastic non-profit. I'm thinking about helping out with their... ahem... vision.

(tags: blind nonprofit porn screenreader)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lots of interesting information about everyone's favorite time travel movie

(tags: billandted movies)
Back to the Future - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

lots of information about everyone's favorite time travel film

(tags: backtothefuture movies)

[Source: ]

links for 2008-05-16

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-16T23:39:57Z

W. H. Auden - Wikiquote
SomethingStore.com: Surprise Yourself at The Something Store

A store that sends you a surprise something for $10. I need one of these that does it 6 months after you tell it to so you forget about it.

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links for 2008-05-12

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-12T23:45:26Z

really awesome Nightmare on Elm Street- themed Nikes. I want

(tags: freddykrueger Nike shoes)
JOSHUA HOFFINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Pretty sweet photographs

(tags: art photos spooky)

[Source: ]

links for 2008-05-11

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-11T23:39:45Z

Toaster - Shirts - Glarkware

Awesome t-shirt

(tags: battlestargalactica funny t-shirts)

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links for 2008-05-09

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-09T23:51:35Z

Draft Zach Feinstein

A college student with no basketball experience enters the NBA draft.

(tags: funny nba stunts)

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links for 2008-05-08

nospam@example.com (delicious link robot) — 2008-05-08T23:46:35Z

TypeNow.net Themed Fonts Download Free Movie and Music Fonts

free TV and movie fonts. Very handy.

(tags: fonts movies tv)
OLPC News - XO Accessories Store - XO Laptop Accessories

acessories for OLPC

(tags: olpc)
Temporal Anomalies in Popular Time Travel Movies

A really excellent site discussing movie time travel

(tags: movies timetravel)

[Source: ]