Stephen Conroy nominated for UK Internet Villain Award

Image from LOLConroy

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The UK Internet Industry Awards sponsored by ISPA will be announced at a gala black-tie event on 9 July 2009 in London.

The Australian Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Stephen Conroy has been nominated, but not for an Internet Hero award.
The award category he is included in is Internet Villain.

Internet Villain
The Internet Villain category recognises individuals or organisations that have upset the Internet industry and hampered its development - those who the industry loves to hate. The ISPA Council will select the shortlist and eventual winner of the Internet Villain award.

2009 Nominees
European Parliament - "For supporting an amendment to the Telecom Package on cookies which could yet bring the internet to a standstill"
President Nicolas Sarkozy - "For his continued commitment to the HADOPI law, which advocates a system of graduated response, despite repeated arguments suggesting the law is disproportionate from a number of important groups including the European Parliament"
Baroness Vadera - "For excluding a number of ISPs and Rights Holders in agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding that was exclusive and ineffective in progressing relations between the two industries"
Stephen Conroy and the Australian Government - "For continuing to promote network-level blocking despite significant national and international opposition"

A cooking tip that amuses...

Seen in a local book store:

I always cook with wine. Sometimes I even put a little in the food.

Michael Jackson: an urban myth in the making?

I happened to have had ABC News Radio on all of last Thursday night and most of Friday morning, so I heard the developing news on American singer Michael Jackson's death.
I was also connected to the Web for much of that time and there was no noticeable problems.
Therefore this headline has the distinct smell of an urban myth developing.
Web grinds to a halt after Michael Jackson dies.

GroceryChoice website yet to carry news of its own demise

The Rudd Government's GroceryChoice web site is to be axed.

A good idea which was doomed to fail because it lacked the enthusiastic participation of the big supermarket chains and so could only ever supply the bare bones of a compartitive shopping guide.

Even the tranfer of management to Choice could do little to change public perception that the site was a lemon, for the lead-in time was far too long for the promised upgrade which would allow consumers more information.

Maintaining its irrelevance to the last, the GroceryChoice website still hadn't posted a notice of its own death thirty-six hours later.

Annual Whale Census Day, Sunday 28 June 2009

If you are out and about on NSW beaches tomorrow or taking a boat out ocean fishing, keep watch for whales and note how many you see.

From ORRCA:

We are gearing up for another whale migration season and ORRCA will, of course, be conducting our annual Whale Census Day on Sunday June 28th. Many of you will be familiar with this activity and we really hope you’ll participate again this year. For those of you new to the game here’s what we do.
Groups of people gather at certain spots and headlands along the coast and spend the day counting the passing whales. All sorts of observations are recorded e.g. numbers, species, behaviour with all recorded on a form (which we supply).
The statistics are correlated and available to anyone with an interest in cetacean research; the state and federal authorities add our figures to their data on marine mammals and it all goes towards managing our ocean in a manner conducive to the well-being of marine life.
Apart from providing useful data it’s a terrific way to spend a winter Sunday. No special equipment is required, just a comfy seat, food + drink, warm clothing and, of course, a pen and observation sheet. A pair of binoculars is a great help as is a camera.
There are particular places that are used every year but if you would like to participate at your own favourite spot, that’s just fine. Just let us know where that might be. The count goes from 7:00am until 4:30pm but not everyone can manage a whole day; no matter – even a couple of hours will help.
Unfortunately due to this now being a national event, we can't list the all the viewing points on the website. If you are interested in taking part and would like to know of some great observation points near you, please contact us on (02) 9415 3333 or email orrca@orrca.org.au .

A bad case of the blues

Peter FitzSimons apologises to Alan Jones

Writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, Peter FitzSimons
admitted he did broadcaster Alan Jones wrong recently and apologised.

Apology

Last week, TFF had an intemperate rant at the successful radio broadcaster Alan Jones, asserting that he was wrong to misuse his position to constantly defend misbehaving sportspeople and others within his tight coterie, entirely irrespective of what the truth of any given matter was.

I even went further and named what I sincerely thought at the time was a comprehensive list of examples of those who had enjoyed his largesse: Darrell "Tricky" Trindall, Jacin Sinclair, Dean Capobianco, the Poo, Scott Miller, Julian O'Neill, Damien Martyn and myriad others …"

This was wrong, and I do sincerely apologise.

For, as so many readers reminded me, no such list could be complete without adding the names of Robbie Waterhouse and Andrew Kalajzich.

Kalajzich, seeing as you ask, was the most classic example of Jones misusing his power in this manner, barking that the Manly hotelier, who had his wife, Megan, murdered, was innocent - to the point that the State Government caved in and had his appeal heard, at enormous cost to taxpayers. This was only for the judge to decide that if there was a verdict beyond just "guilty" - as in, So Astonishingly Guilty It is Amazing That Anyone Could Doubt It - then he would have qualified for that, too.

For shame, Alan, for shame.

pic sourced from SMH