Look Mum, we're floating! Continuing inaction regarding projected sea-levels on Australian east coast

Local government and residents in New South Wales coastal areas were promised data, fine resolution mapping and specific projections on rising sea levels last year by both the Federal and State governments.

The map will identify coastal roads, homes, businesses, transport and port facilities in danger of going under water if sea levels continue rising.

A report from one or other of the two higher governments should have been lobbing onto desks in draft form by now.
Instead many coastal residents are still waiting for news, as it seems are some councils.

Central Coast residents have seen one version of their projections.
Ballina knows its in the firing line, but residents apparently have no firm details yet except for one specific area.
Clarence Coast residents are aware that there will be coastline change and some saltwater inundation, but only have CSIRO basic data to refer to.

There isn't a soul on the coast by now who isn't aware that property values and insurance cover are going to be affected by climate change impact predictions, yet the Rudd and Iemma Governments are seemingly intent on keeping us all in the dark for as long as possible.

All we are hearing is talk, talk, talk. For heavens sake, Prime Minister and Premier, don't wait until the water is lapping our ankles before giving us a choice of how we respond to rising sea levels.


The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday.

THE prospects for waterfront properties in NSW are "stark", say experts addressing a local government conference today on sea-level rises due to global warming.
Governments are planning for rises of up to a metre by the end of this century. That would flood tens of thousands of properties along Australia's east coast.
Councils have asked the State Government to reveal its interim projections for rising sea levels until 2100 so they can assess development applications properly and plan measures for coastal areas and estuaries.
Governments at all levels, and the public, are yet to appreciate the scale of the threat, some at the conference believe.
"At the moment, we're in a state of paralysis," said Peter Cowell, a marine scientist at the University of Sydney. "It's very difficult to get people to think long-term on this."

Rudd, Iemma, Scipione and all make fools of themselves for art

Recently I've been tripping over the media reports on Bill Henson's art and the move to lock it away (presumably along with artist, models and gallery directors).
Yesterday the media told us that our elected wowsers and their police lackeys were now going after images of Henson's art on the Internet.
This sounded rather an interesting exercise so I decided to see what Rudd, Iemma and Scipione would be up against.
Stone the crows! There are tens of thousands of copies of Henson's photographic art on thousands of sites out there on the world wide web.
Pick a country, gallery, media or blog type and Henson's art is likely to turn up somewhere.
Google Images is chocka.
Hey fellas, perhaps you need to give Tony Abbott, Brendan Nelson and Hetty an atlas and a large box of matches if you want the job done.
If you think I'm laughing at you all, you'd be right. But then I'm old enough to remember the last dying gasps of the long controversy over Norman Lindsay's art.
Psssst, Scippie - wanna buy a postcard?

Thought police rule: Senate internet surfing spy blocks senators from reading gay newspaper website

The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration budget estimates hearing on Monday 26 May 2008 is throwing up some strange instances.

Apparently the desire to stop senators accessing inappropriate material on the internet, also known as research censorship, had resulted in a well-known gay newspaper being blocked from view.
It took Senator Nettles' staff a good week to get permission for, wait for it, "temporary access to the site".

Senator Nettles was also blocked when researching the ramifications of recently announced NSW Government policy on the agricultural production of industrial quality hemp. The site she was attempting to access was considered in the category of "illegal drugs".

It seems that the Senate IT filtering program is being supplied by Websense.

This is what Websense, with its head office in California and an office in North Sydney, has to say about itself.
Websense provides a unique combination of Web, content, and user intelligence to stop threats at their source, and accurately control the "who, what, where, and how" of network security.

The Senate appears to have opted for a filtering program which has the following features:
Websense Client Policy Manager (CPM) provides a comprehensive endpoint security solution for desktops, laptops, and servers that proactively protects organizations against known and unknown endpoint security threats. CPM prevents the installation and execution of unauthorized applications and enforces application use policies with its comprehensive database of categorized applications, which is updated daily. CPM is an easy-to-implement, low risk, and highly effective alternative to behavior-based Host Intrusion Prevention Systems (HIPS). The comprehensive coverage of both “whitelist” (good) and “blacklist” (bad) applications allows for granular, dynamic, and highly flexible application policies. This provides a critical layer of application awareness that complements desktop antivirus and personal firewalls while stopping today's fast-moving and blended security threats.

Websense Client Policy Manager benefits:
Addresses weaknesses in existing antivirus, anti-spyware, personal firewall, and patch management processes to render today’s attacks harmless.
Provides application awareness and usage policy enforcement on the endpoint for blocking malicious software while ensuring compliance and productivity.
Prevents malicious applications from changing registry settings and tracks suspicious registry activities.
Protects remote and mobile users operating outside of the network or without standard security updates or patches.
Includes protection from the threats and compliance risks around web access and URL content for remote and mobile users.
Works with Network Access Control (NAC) solutions to enforce policy on devices trying to enter the network, denying access to non-compliant endpoints.
Via integrations, enables network-level protection from inbound threats and creates dynamic and application-aware firewalling.
Provides multiple levels of control to prevent the launch or mitigate the propagation of security attacks.

What all this apparently means is that the Senate has blocked senators' PCs from seeing websites on a blacklist based on broad categories of 'bad' types (inclusion decided by Websense) and, that any use of a senator's PC can be tracked right down to the last millisecond of any search or email sent/received.

Although it is still rather strange that this supposed protection against security threats just happens to block the pet hates of Family First's only elected representative and self-appointed moral guardian of Australia, Senator Fielding.

A quick Google shows that Websense has a history of inappropriately blocking sites from Amnesty International, through to the Red Cross, Air America, service blogs and individual bloggers who make political comment. Last year it was blocking Yahoo mail.

As the problems with Websense seem to continue up to date, here is a website advising on how to bypass this filter.
Perhaps senators should consider using this information if the President of the Senate doesn't come to his senses, or alternatively switching to IE7 which Websense is said not to currently filter.

As it is unlikely that mere voters are going to get a straight answer from either Harry Evans or the Rudd Government on how much this gigantic invasion of privacy is costing or why it is even necessary, perhaps it's time to ask the source about blacklists, why it blocks certain content, why it takes so long to change instructions and costs associated with its security/filtering programs. Here is a Websense email contact.
Annoy the company as much as it is obviously annoying some senators.

Don't muck with the ducks

Five foot under the worst head cold of the season and I couldn't care less about politics.
So, in North Coast Voices just-for-fun tradition - a para from ANU's student mag Woroni on the wonderful world of Canberra ducks.

The ducks own the campus.
They own the creek. They own the ovals. They most definitely own the roads, defiantly taking way too long to waddle across the pedestrian crossings (yes, they use them) while cars are backed up into the distance. University regulations place harming a duck alongside killing a unicorn, and you must learn to respect their dominion.
You may wonder why I conclude with this observation. But by spring, you too, fresh first year, will understand the dominance of these creatures when you’re running for your life from a fiercely maternal duck going straight for your shins, after you dared to enjoy the sight of her ridiculously cute offspring.
Even as I write this, somewhere in the Chancellery, Professor Chubb is sitting at his desk, receiving orders from a militant duck barking over his shoulder.
Don’t muck with the ducks.