Moved

Well, I have not removed these posts, but my blog site is now on a friends server.

Legally defining language

I remember my Austrlaian friends gleefully telling me how English is better than say German, becuase in German you need a act in parliament to change the spelling. But it seems that English is not as felxible as they would want to believe.

After all, same-sex couples still have all the rights included in the "marriage bag" and so the actual effect of reserving the term marriage to heterosexual couples is not significant enough to warrant a more extensive constitutional approval process.

Though of course you can change something by common usage. So we should all call marriage between gay people marriage and the law and other things, being the stodgy followers that they are will eventually catch up.

Sex, porn, other things, oh, and the internet

Today a friend posted a link to a humours piece on some of the trends in google trends. However, he missed one important point. As we all know from the song, The internet is for Porn! So here are some more trends.

1. Sex and Porn

Well, where else to start than the deep end? While sex is king, porn is the rapidly rising star. The top three countries for sex are India, Egypt and Indonesia. Delhi, Chennai and Cairo the top cities. I mean, where are the Americans, not to mention the French? Even Romania is leaving them for dead.




2. hentai and anime

Clearly hentai is the winner here in search, but Anime has it won in the news stakes.



but they both are still loosers when it comes to sex.



3. Sex drugs and rock and roll

Clearly Sex is better than drugs and rock and roll combined, according to the pundits. But according to the media, drugs are more significant than sex.



4. Sex and the Zeitgeist

The Google Zeitgeist lists the most popular search terms. For example, year end 2008, the top two popular search terms in Australia were Games followed by Sydney. Clearly Sex has never been up there in the search terms in Australia. Strangely Craigieburn and Cranbourne beat every capital city in Australia when it comes to searching for sex, and it would seem games.



So maybe the internet is not only about sex and porn. It's a bit disappointing really. If you read the press or listened to the politicians, you would think otherwise.

due process

One of the important keystones in a modern society is proper and due legal process. These things have been put in place with slow development over a thousand years as a result of painful lessons learned. So I wonder why we then have politicians and lawmakers, not to mention a whole host of hangers on, like religious groups, saying, we know what is best for you. Don't question us and that legal processes is just an annoying hindrance. It seems to me that there have been groups that have said that in the past, people have believed them, and then terrible things have happened, all in the name of what is good and proper.

Web watchdog changes tack after blacklist leak

THE communications regulator has been forced to change its internal processes after the address of a prohibited anti-abortion web page in its top-secret blacklist was widely distributed on the internet.

Perhaps our politicians should show their metal, let there be public debate and put in place a proper legal process and frame work.

lest we forget

While it is important to remember the lessons of war, there are many others who have fought in Australia's past for their way of life and what they believed in that also need to be remember.

• Lest we forget the aborigines who sometimes fought the white invaders who came and took their land, and sometimes their people.
• Lest we forget the aborigines who fought for the white invaders even when the whites did not give them the vote or consider them to be real people in the constitution.
  
• Lest we forget the children who were stolen from their parents because they were deemed to be unworthy.
• Lest we forget those who were sent to live in reservations because they were not white, because they were aborigines, Chinese, islanders and others.
  
• Lest we forget children held in detention for no good reason for years of their lives.

I'm sure there are many others, but these are what I wanted to write for now. Fell free to add your own.

crowd control and terrorists

Seems that their fancy crowd control system for when there is a terrorist attack had the minor problem of being reliant on the electricity grid. So any terrorist who blew up the power supply would have disabled it.



I expect that these units will end up looking like those coastal forts to keep out the Russians. It seems Australians are easily spooked and resort as a result to bizarre solutions to provide a bit of comfort. It is like Charlie Brown's blanket. Look we have speakers, we must be safe. Of course if the terrorists attacked outside the CBD there are no speakers. Maybe a mobile phone notification system would make more sense.

competitive advantage

I think it is interesting to read,with all these arguments against changing the rules, such as the carbon tax, becuase they will make our industry uncompetitve comapered to others that the same arguments were put forward by those who wanted to stop the laws preventing slavery over 100 years ago. They argued that a nation without slaves would not be able to compete with one that did have slaves. But still they (the brits) took the gutsy step of banning slavery.

managers who hide

A manager in music store in Alexandria several months ago berated his staff member when the staff member did the right thing. He had mucked up a series of credit card transactions for a customer. In the end he thought he had corrected the problem. The manager, instead of looking over his work and confirming that he had indeed corrected the problem told him that he did not want to know. The manager wanted to live in a world where ignorance is bliss and avoidance of responisibiltiy is the name of the game. If the staff memebr stuffed up then he could blame the member of staff. What he should have done was make sure that the lesson was learned and the mistake not repeated. The fact that it happened int he first place may be an indication of a lack of good management.

user names

When I first started using the internet many years ago, I quickly discovered that there were too many people out there with the same name as me. Of course the problem was that when I went to create a user name, say on the times in new york, I would find that byap and brianyap and various combinations were already in use. I did not want to have to create a new user name for each site as then I had to write them all down. This particularly applied to sites I rarely use. At the time I was trying to learn Mandarin Chinese so I chose my name in mandarin as my user name - yewenyi. This is different to my name in hakka (yap) which is on my birth certificate. BTW yap is still spelled incorrectly, it should be yup. For many years this worked. I had my user name to myself. It worked until the chinese started using the internet in large numbers. But still I rarely encounter them and often I will go in and make a user ID if I am considering a site to stop someone else from taking it.

One advantage is that I can search on this name and see how the search engines rank my sites. This morning I thought to look some where else and the result was quite surprising. As far as I can see most of this stuff is virus and other malicious software. Certainly none of it was ever created by myself.

We need something like this in Australia:

Police incidents database is launched

The National Union of Journalists and the British Press Photographers Association have partnered to launch a website where photographers who feel they have been obstructed by the police can log a report of the incident.

http://www.londonfreelance.org/policing/

law makers

It seems that the world is full of stupid law makers who should have sense to make balanced and sensible laws that target the bad people and not the good. Also police who spend their time chasing the wrong targets.

According to these recent interpretations of the law, a curious teenage girl who embarks on an "Our Bodies, Ourselves" journey of vaginal self-discovery, and simply replaces a hand mirror with a digital camera, is a kiddie pornographer. The same goes for the boy who memorializes his raging boner or the post-pubescent girl who takes test shots of herself practicing the porn star poses she has studied online. Theoretically, this is true regardless of whether they share the pictures with anyone, and if they do share them, they could be additionally charged with peddling child porn.

strange email differences.

When I send emails from my mobile phone they all work normally except for one set. The first one here is from a normal email.

    From:     yewenyi@athree.com.au
Subject:     syd
Date:     14 February 2009 12:24:04 PM
To:     mail@yewenyi.net
Reply-To:     yewenyi@athree.com.au
X-Apparently-To:     mail@yewenyi.net via 74.6.114.45; Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:24:14 -0800
X-Yahoofilteredbulk:     202.124.68.57
X-Originating-Ip:     [202.124.68.57]
Authentication-Results:     mta105.biz.mail.re3.yahoo.com  from=three.com.au; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received:     from 202.124.68.57  (EHLO auummr1om04.three.com.au) (202.124.68.57) by mta105.biz.mail.re3.yahoo.com with SMTP; Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:24:14 -0800
Received:     from auumvs2fe03.three.com.au (auummr1vp02.three.com.au [10.176.58.185]) by auummr1om04.three.com.au (MOS 3.8.3-GA) with ESMTP id DRA64433; Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:24:09 +1000 (EST)
Received:     from auumeb0fe02.three.com.au ([10.176.58.143]) by auumvs2fe03.three.com.au  with ESMTP id n1E1O9B4009199 for ; Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:24:09 +1000
Received:     from [10.225.223.250] ([10.225.223.250]) by auumeb0fe02.three.com.au (MOS 3.5.5-GR) with ESMTP id ADU21044; Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:24:08 +1000 (EST)
Message-Id:     
X-Mailer:     EPOC Email Version 2.10
Mime-Version:     1.0
Content-Language:     i-default
Content-Type:     text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding:     quoted-printable

and the second is from the strange ones. These one have the header in the body, the email addresses themselves are wrong and the title of the email is misplaced and hence my email client cannot find it.

 From:  yewenyi@athree.com.au
Date:  21 February 2009 9:45:04 AM
To:  mail@yewenyi.net, Spoin@three.com.au
Reply-To:  yewenyi@athree.com.au
X-Apparently-To:  mail@yewenyi.net via 74.6.114.34; Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:45:08 -0800
X-Originating-Ip:  [202.124.68.60]
Authentication-Results:  mta108.biz.mail.mud.yahoo.com  from=three.com.au; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received:  from 202.124.68.60  (EHLO auummr1om02.three.com.au) (202.124.68.60) by mta108.biz.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:45:08 -0800
Received:  from auumvs2fe02.three.com.au (auummr1vp02.three.com.au [10.176.58.185]) by auummr1om02.three.com.au (MOS 3.8.3-GA) with ESMTP id AUY28575; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:45:06 +1000 (EST)
Received:  from auumeb0fe02.three.com.au ([10.176.58.143]) by auumvs2fe02.three.com.au  with ESMTP id n1KMj6wD031615; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:45:06 +1000
Received:  from [10.227.46.11] ([10.227.46.11]) by auumeb0fe02.three.com.au (MOS 3.5.5-GR) with ESMTP id ADU51188; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 08:45:04 +1000 (EST)
Message-Id:  <200902202245.adu51188@auumeb0fe02.three.com.au>

k Blog 
Subject: prostitutes
Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:45:01 +1100
Message-ID: 
X-Mailer: EPOC Email Version 2.10
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Language: i-default
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Edit: added (2009.02.24)

Here is another trace from when my yahoo mail bounced the email. For a while, my yahoo mail disappeared from the network.

Return-Path: 
Return-Path: 
X-RocketTIP: 202.124.68.57: NO_TIP_HEADER_ALLOWED
X-RocketSRV: s_ip=202.124.68.57;d_t=1235258193;url=spoink.com,mailto:blog@spoink.com,three.net.au,mailto:0kqkzrrdtk1f.tzyygp14@smtp.three.net.au;Retro=Y;
X-Rocket-Track: cat=UK; info=ip:NN;ipsh:UK;mcusg:UK;sv:UK;sg:UK;subj:UK;url2db:UK
X-Originating-IP: [202.124.68.57]
Authentication-Results: mta101.biz.mail.mud.yahoo.com  from=athree.com.au; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 202.124.68.57  (EHLO auummr1om04.athree.com.au) (202.124.68.57)
by mta101.biz.mail.mud.yahoo.com with SMTP; Sat, 21 Feb 2009 15:16:33 -0800
Received: from auumvs2fe03.athree.com.au (auummr1vp02.athree.com.au [10.176.58.185])
 by auummr1om04.athree.com.au (MOS 3.8.3-GA)
 with ESMTP id DRW93014;
 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:16:31 +1000 (EST)
Received: from auumeb0fe02.athree.com.au ([10.176.58.143])
 by auumvs2fe03.athree.com.au  with ESMTP id n1LNGVMC008846;
 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:16:31 +1000
Received: from [10.224.148.234] ([10.224.148.234])
 by auumeb0fe02.athree.com.au (MOS 3.5.5-GR)
 with ESMTP id ADU54540;
 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:16:29 +1000 (EST)
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 09:16:29 +1000 (EST)
Message-Id: <200902212316.adu54540@auumeb0fe02.athree.com.au>
From: "yewenyi" 
Reply-to: "yewenyi" 
To: Brian Yap , Brian Yap (AOL) ,
      Spoin@athree.com.au

k Blog 
Subject: unisex
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:16:25 +1100
Message-ID: <0kqkzrrdtk1f.tzyygp14@smtp.three.net.au>
X-Mailer: EPOC Email Version 2.10
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Language: i-default
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Greed and Fear, file sharing and drugs

A little rambling philosophy about this case: Pirate Bay joy at charge change

Pirate Bay co-founder Frederik Neik said it showed prosecutors had misunderstood the technology.

The music industry played down the changes as "simplifying the charges".

In our society we let people do things but stop others. For instance you are free to kill yourself using cigarettes but not free to do so with other inhaled drugs in a system that is stymied by powerful interested and large amounts of money, the difference between those with power and money (tobacco) and those that don't (marijuana). One thing that has always surprised me is that you are allowed to buy bongs. Perhaps they could also be used for smoking.

Similarly, you can drive your car, but no one holds the car manufacturers responsible because you used the car to make a car bomb, do a kidnapping or transport some of those illegal drugs. But you are not allowed to do the same with your own personal tank. The benefit of the car is seen to outweigh the detriment. Also we probably do not have any need for tanks in day-to-day life.

So what we see here is a battle. A battle between powerful men with lots of money against those who provide a service. But is the service like a car or like a tank? I ask? I actually do not know enough about it to know the answer. But this is the question. If it is like a car, then the powerful men should be told to piss off. It is the criminals they are chasing, not the makers. If it is like a tank then you should put in place a regulation limiting the use to those with a licence.

Anyway I am impressed by the sheer gutsiness of the defendants. Bravo.

god speed

I was watching a shuttle launch live a month or two back. One of the controllers said, god speed. I wondered how fast god speed might be: 888 kmh perhaps? (I was really really tempted to say 666 kmh) The boorish Americans on line did not get the joke. Really there is no place for such terminology in a space craft launch.

China Development

I often speak of how impressed I am with how well the Chinese have done in their post-communist, capitalist era. However, I have discovered something disturbing about people in Sydney that is an extension of what I already knew, but I did not realise the depth of it.

These people are monopolar. They cannot think that two things are good at once. So you must be one or the other. I think it is a problem of monotheists suffer from. So if I say that I think China is good. They think that I am also saying Australia is bad. Of course this is not true. It is just a stupid assumption. Their slice of sides is totoally incorrect and tragic. But that is probably for another post.

coloured police cars

One of my photos taken during the stupidity of the last APEC summit created quite a stream of comments. Here are some of them, with my crazy suggestion at the end.

c.j.b says:

The 'Purple Cops' are the State Protection Group? ...you're lucky they didn't shoot you in the face for just looking at them funny -

yeppoon_super says:

c.j.b the coloured cars are simply coloured Highway Patrol cars. Nothing fancy or special. Been around various parts of the State for years, simply put they get better resale than white cars.

ozczecho says:

hehehe...you got one as well...purple cop cars...someone help us :-)

adam.ramage says:

lol these cars were introduced to blend into traffic more reds blues and other colours are used . highway patrols use them heaps in NSW.

But at the end of the day, I think that they should be colour coded. This way you can know how the police will react.

White - for good police
Black - for bad police
Red - for police who really want you to drive off really fast so they can have a car chase.
Purple - for police who like having sex with suspects or people they have taken home.

Fell free to add the colour of your choice.

Terrorism

The terrorists have won a significant victory. The Americans have inflicted more damage on themselves and other than the Terrorists could ever have hoped to do.

The House overwhelmingly adopted legislation this week mandating the creation of a new kind of terrorist watchlist: a database of people who aren't terrorists, but are routinely flagged at airports anyway.

An american view of Australian Road signs

I picked up an American Hitch-hiker yesterday. He disliked the signs by Australian roads that provide advice like, micro sleeps kill. Do people just drop dead on the spot from micro sleeps? It's insidious, he said. What will then happen? Will they put up a sign like "We know you slept with a dog last night!". (Little does he realise that I have a very literal mind.) But I liked him. He was a good fellow. He wanted to know why there were no signs saying obesity kills.

This got me to thinking. Clearly these sign writers have limited themselves too much there. Here are some suggestions for the NSW government on better and improved signage.

1. All junk food, such as fast foods, and soft drinks should have warning signs like Obesity Kills or sugar rots.
   
2. All religious organisations should have signs like Holy Wars are Killers, or Not taking medicines results in shorter life, and suicide bomings are murder!.

I have not spent too much time thinking up new topics. Fell free to add any of your own in the comments below.

a jolly good riddance to the leader of the free world

Well, I think that many of us have been very unhappy with the election of said george bush as the self appointed leader of the free world. I mean, if he was the leader of the free world and if we live in the free world, but of which there must be some question to and we live in democracies, how come we don't get to vote for our leader? Though here in Australia, where we seem to be happy with someone else leader as our head of state, why not another interloper? So we bid you good riddance george bush and say welcome to the man called barak.

redneck

courtesy of wiktionary. Pretty straight forward and obvious. Why is knowing this a problem?

Noun

Singular redneck

Plural rednecks

redneck (plural rednecks)

1. (slang) An uneducated, unsophisticated, or poor white person, typically used to describe residents of the rural Southern US.

expensive and unfair?

The Weekend Australian is running a photo competition. Bit the terms and conditions can only be considered to be unreasonable and unfair. It in effect gives them access to an image, that in Australia would not cost less than $150 for nothing. This is a very expensive price to pay for entry into a photo competition. It seems that many papers and organisers are trying this stunt as more people get a mobile phone. My recommendation, do not enter these competitions until the terms are changed back to something more reasonable. I wonder if the competition and lottery organisations are onto this?

T&C
Each entrant assigns to the Promoter all copyright and other intellectual property rights in each photo and description sent in as part of an entry in this competition. Each entrant acknowledges that the Promoter, as owner of the copyright in the photographs and descriptions, may reproduce the photographs and descriptions in any media or marketing for any purpose without permission or payment. The entrants agree to waive all their rights, including moral rights, in the photographs entered by the entrants in this competition.