Bend in the Weather

Ever wondered why PulseAudio sucks so bad?

Sick of the multiple Audio stacks in Linux? (OSS/ALSA/PulseAudio).
Ever wanted to make sense of items like JACK,ESD,aRts and NAS or just confused with either GStreamer or xine?

Here is a clever overview of the sound systems that is Linux. (click the image for a larger view)/

Linux audio like it or not is a mess. Multiple layers providing the same functionality. It's a house of cards that often falls down.
Things have been hidden well in OSS/ALSA and it's not until demanding audio like HD codecs have started to make their way across that some of these issues are starting to be uncovered (the infamous 'popping' sounds).

PulseAudio has been poking and pushing ALSA in recent times, and as a result unearthed a number of issues.

I'm hopefully eventually we'll get to a single, simple but powerful audio stack. I'm not holding my breath though.

The Australian Federal government announced the $12.2 billion Household Stimulus Package in the wake of the Worldwide Financial Downturn.

Payments are to have commenced during March, and the Tax Bonus for Working Australians in April. As yet I don't know anyone who has received them?

These payments are made up of:

• A Tax Bonus for Working Australians of up to $900 for eligible taxpayers, depending on income thresholds.
• A Single-Income Family Bonus of $900 to provide additional assistance for families that have one main income earner and may otherwise receive less assistance from the package than dual income families with similar household income.
• A Farmer's Hardship Bonus of $950 which will be paid to farmers and others receiving Exceptional Circumstances related income support.
• A Training and Learning Bonus of $950 to assist students, those returning to study or training, and some income support recipients.
• A Back to School Bonus of $950 per child to assist low- and middle-income families eligible for Family Tax Benefit A with school-age children.

Whether you are for or against them... they are coming.

Has anyone out there received their 'Bonus'?
From all reports they are to be staggered out... yet I don't know an individual yet that has received them.

Would be happy to hear from someone that has got that 'cheque in the mail' so to speak.

I find it disturbing that many who claim to be tolerant to minorities often are often bigots in other areas. They are often the first to dismiss or call out others who are intolerant in a particular area, yet unwilling to remove the log that is their eye.

In particular, the majority of people are tolerant to same-sex partnerships and fight for equal rights for these couples. They stand and shout for equality for different races or skin colour (and rightly so).

Yet I find it's become 'hip' in modern times to mock those holding religious beliefs, particularly those of Christian beliefs. This has been drummed into me more in recently time as I read more blog posts of people whining about Easter.

I find it alarming that many of those that stand on their soap-boxes and shout for basic human rights seem to misunderstand the universal declaration of human rights.

One can not claim they stand for human rights if they are not tolerant for all the human rights... this includes: "....race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status... "

Personally, I don't hold an opinion, in the religious affairs of others. They are free to express their beliefs (or not).
I do however get annoyed when so called 'tolerant' people decide to complain about those following their religious beliefs.

Fair enough, if you personally aren't a believer. That's your personal choice. However, it's rich to mock those that do. Don't also claim to be tolerant if you do mock those who hold different beliefs to your own.

Certainly Christian beliefs and holidays aren't everyone's cup of tea. However, like respecting those of other faiths such as Muslim, Buddhism, Hinduism or Judaism; those of the Christian faith should be respected and tolerated.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, some 68% of the population professed to be of Christian faith. Yes, this number is falling, however it is still the majority in this country.

Whilst audiences may not state openly their objections to your public ridicule; any such mocking of any faith is likely to alienate many readers.
So consider what you write, open bigotry of any form is not something that should be tolerated.

It would appear one posting that the powers-to-be don't agree with gets you banished from a planet

Even after removing the offending post weeks ago... it seems I'm still blacklisted on PLA.
I've Emailed those involved, who have promised I'll be restored, but that time has come and gone. I'm not seeing any other answer to correspondence.

Update: 10/4/2009
I've since received some correspondence to say that I'll likely be reinstated over Easter.

Excellent Free Paid Parental leave!

Thanks Kevin!!!



You can find out more about it at : http://www.free-mp-babycare.com.au/

The whole idea of the Conroy sponsored 'Internet blacklist' has blown up over the past few months.

It's moved originally as an 'opt-in/opt-out' blacklist to now a mandatory list. That's right, Australia will join the ranks of countries like Iran, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen who block gambling and porn sites. Australia is headed to have the most restrictive Internet blocks in place of any Western country.

It makes a mockery of our soldiers going to fight against the Taliban to 'free the people', when our own ministers are doing exactly that to their own people.

I'm not someone who watches porn (never really titillated me), nor am I a gambler. (I work all day in front of a computer screen, I dont see the fun in then paying money to another screen). Failing that cards and dice seem too mathematical and statistical for me to gamble on!.

However, I can't stand by and watch an individual in a position of government authority mandate to all citizens what they can and can't view/do on the Internet.

Let me spell this out however, I am totally against child pornography. Unfortunately the zealous mode that Sen. Conroy attacks anyone who is against his proposed blacklist is that they condone such acts (child pornography). It really is a case of the pollie sticking his fingers in his ears and shouting 'la-la-la'.

The current list in trial at several ISPs has been leaked on the Internet, and the response from Conroy is to threaten $11,000 dollar per day fines for anyone linking to it.

I guess we now have rules on the Internet Blacklist as such:

#1 - The first rule of Conroy's Blacklist is, you do not talk about Conroy's Blacklist.
#2 - The second rule of Conroy's Blacklist is, you DO NOT talk about Conroy's Blacklist.

They might be more believable if Conroy hires a topless Brad Pitt to utter them.

So much for democracy in this country. Even discussing the issue of the blacklist appears to have the Federal government now reading blogs and popular technical websites. Big brother is now watching, and ready to drop his heel and crush anyone will to stand up against them.

What is appalling with this policy of becoming a mandatory blacklist, is that this is NOT what voters brought Labour into power for. Labour were looking at implementing an opt-out blacklist. A classic case of bait and switch.

To add further insult to injury, Conroy has also gone about raising large carrots in front of the very organisations that would speak out about filtering. The actual ISPs, with many involved in tenders for the National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout. None of these organisations are going to step on too many toes for fear that this would jeopardise their bids for the quite lucrative $4.5B AUD on offer from the government.

What is most alarming with such a system is not so much that it is there to block 'illegal' content, but more so the fact the list is not open for public scrutiny.
Once in place, what check points are in place to ensure that political dissent, religious, or drug/health related material is not also blocked?

I'm sorry, the guise of 'protecting the children' doesn't wash. If the government where more interested in protecting children, then work into curbing the increasing rate of cyber-bullying, identify theft, malware and phishing attacks. Are these covered? Absolutely not.

The current policy on the Internet blacklist appears to be anything that a devout Catholic would object to. Whilst morally this is fine Mr. Conroy, it's not the middle ages, and this is not the Christian Crusades. Much of the content on the blacklist to date is not illegal. There is no judicial process in place to ensure legitimate illegal websites are only placed on this list. An independent and legal authority (ie: A panel of high court judges) needs to review each Internet resource from a legal standpoint. The current regime of relying on an underpaid, overworked government employee with a minister breathing down their neck wanting results is not a system that will produce credible results.

Stand up Australia, It may only be a few porn sites and gambling sites on the list at present. What happens if your companies legitimate URL 'accidentally' makes it on the list? You have no grounds of appeal, and it's likely to kill your Australian business. Never mind your ability to know what's on the list (the blacklist isn't even allowed to be obtained under the Freedom of Information Act! -- thanks to modifications to the Act). Who's to say that the list isn't able to be influenced by fringe groups with axes to grind. We'll never know.

(Content removed)

Those after the blacklist may find it at either Wikileaks or google for the list.

It would appear from the Email I have received that Yahoo Briefcase is closing their doors.




Whilst I haven't used it for many years, it was a useful service for transferring files around when I did use it (2000-2001 by the file stamps on the files I had in there).

There has been no indication given in the Email as to the reasons behind the closing of the service, however the Briefcase FAQ does give some indications:



It's a shame, and I suspect quite a number of people will be affected by the decision. Strange, for items like Office files (Documents, Spreadsheets, etc.) Briefcase was indeed a great site. Ditto for archives or backups. I wouldn't classify a webmail solution (as suggested) is a replacement. I never have been one to believe that Email is a file storage system.

Having said that, there are much better systems available that provide a lot more storage space these days. A quick search on free online storage, will give you a heap of storage solutions.

It does make sense from a Yahoo! business decision to start dropping off some of the services they do have on offer, and focus on their core business (apparently someone out there still use Yahoo! for searching!)

I'm a premium Flickr user, and use it pretty heavily to store photos. I would really hate to see this site go way of the dodo (like what will happen to Yahoo Briefcase come March 30). It does raise the issue -- what happens when a paid service 'disappears'. Just the thought of having to move all my Flickr collections and sets, with all the metadata attached is enough to add an additional dozen grey hairs.

With the ongoing strife that Yahoo is in financially - I'm not wanting to be caught out if they do go under. (I'm hoping not, but would rather err on the side of caution).

So lazy web, do you know of a solution to backup all your data from your Flickr account?

Yesterday saw Sol Trujillo the CEO of Telstra resign to go and join his former exec mates (Greg Winn and Phil Burgess) back in the US of A. So come June 30, all of the 3 amigos will have left the country and resigned from their positions.

It will have been 4 years to the date when his last day at Telstra occurs. Let's take a look at what he's achieved in that time:

• Taken a company that had a shareprice above $5.06, to hover now around the $3.68 mark. (Shaving of over 25%)


• Earnt $13.4 AUD million dollars last financial year, and likely walk away with a golden handshake of $20AUD million dollars.
  


• Managed to be pig-headed over the NBN, and ultimately ensured the joke of a proposal Telstra submitted was thrown out. Sol by his own admissions, claims it probably cost the company around $2 AUD billion dollars.
  


• Consistently fought with the ACCC and both Liberal and Labour governments on regulation issues. The management style used in the states of bullying governments into submission didn't rub well with Australian federal politicians, and worked against Telstra in the end.
  


• Used their monopoly against competitors at the detriment of Australian consumers; with lock outs of Telephone exchanges (so they could install their own equipment), delayed the rollout of ADSL2+ (left equipment sitting there for at least 18 months), anti-competitive pricing of back-haul charges across the country, and over inflated prices at both wholesale and retail levels.
  


• Clashed relentlessly with the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union on his way to sacking 10,143 employees (he's still got 3 months to go, expect more heads to roll before then. He stated 12,000 to go in 5 years, and he's been pretty much on target there, not ideal in the current economic climate. Industrial action since Sol came on board has been ongoing. The majority of call centre staff and IT staff are now outsourced from cheap labour countries like India.
  


• Over simplified the business transformation process which will grossly exceed budget and stretch out for at least another 3 years. With the departure of the 3 amigos, the job they commenced will not be finished, and some poor bunny will be left with egg on their face when the true details of the projects emerge some years later.
  


• Disregarded a vote by shareholders at an AGM not to raise company execs salaries. They rose them anyway.

Surely we can find someone as dreadful in Australia to run this country and don't need to import another 'know-it-all' yank who thinks he knows what's best for us.

I wonder what Jodee Rich is doing these days?!
(Answer: Working on PeopleBrowsr)

Saturday February 7 2009 will be etched into the minds of many Australians for generations to come.
"Black Saturday" saw fires rage over Victoria.

The International Reaction to the fires has been unprecedented.
To date, the final numbers aren't known, but 209 to date have been confirmed to be killed by the fires.

Today (Sunday 22/02/2009) saw an official day of mourning. Events were held around the country, and televised throughout the nation for the 90 minute service.

To say these fires were immense doesn't describe it. In Australia, we use the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) to rate speed and spread of fire in Australian forests and grasslands. 'Black Friday', the 1939 fires was rated at 100. It's estimated that Black Saturday saw that index range between 120 - 190.

From the CSIRO website -- they best describe the Index:

An index of 1 means that a fire will not burn, or will burn so slowly that control presents little difficulty. An index of 100 means that fires will burn so fast and hot that control is virtually impossible.

The Premier of Victoria has announced a Royal commission into the fires and what can be learned from it. I hope much of the former research that has been undertaken by the CSIRO over the years is called upon, and where necessary additional funding provided so they can continue work in this field.

Many have heard about the couple that had to pay $100,000 in fines and legal costs after being sued by their council for clearing trees on their large property so they were not within 100m of the house. Interestingly they followed the exact advice from the CSIRO.

The easiest way to increase the probability of your house surviving a bushfire is to reduce the amount of fine fuel within 100 metres.

Remember this is a family that felled 247 on a property that contains thousands of trees. I hope it goes back through the courts and they are reimbursed for every cent they have had to pay. The Sheahan's house was saved, sadly their neighbours were not so fortunate.

It's time that the so called Greenies where put in their place. These latte sipping inner-city dimwits are lucky to even venture out of their high rise apartments. Most that live in the country, earn their living off the land. They understand the vital role that the soil, wildlife and foliage play in that. The days of indiscriminate land clearing of thousands of hectares are over a century old. I'm yet to find a Greenie who actually makes a living off the land.

Fire prevention practises need to change. Hopefully the Royal Commission probes deep into such events, to ensure a disaster of this scale never occurs again. May those lost not be forgotten and covered up in bureaucratic red-tape.

Certainly the weather played a big part in these fires, and there was going to fires on that day. (Temperatures in the high 40's and wind gusts up to 100km/hr are never a good combination). However, the carnage created had a lot to do with the amount of fuel left to burn. Many of these areas hadn't had a fire since the '39 fires... some 70 years earlier. Having been into many of these areas within the last year, I distinctly remember seeing undergrowth so thick it was humanly impossible to walk through (It would of been 1.5 to 1.8 metres tall!).

However, these questions will be answered in the course of time.

Today was a day of remembrance and thanks.

Thankyou to the countless firefighters, emergency personnel, volunteers, medical emergency staff, police and army personnel who have helped (and are still helping).
May we remember those that perished, the families torn-apart and those still waiting to hear about missing loved ones.

Watching the ceremony, it was one of the most moving events I've ever witnessed.

Whilst there was plenty of tears, it was an event of healing.... as everyone from all walks of life came together. Whether you were a farmer, a housewife, a dignitary, a religious leader or part of the emergency response; they all came together as one.

The main theme from the event was one of hope, mateship and the sense of rebuilding.

It will take months, years and even decades for parts to be restored. However due to the assistance provided by all levels of government, the massive fundraising through the Red Cross (via public donations) and the steely determination of those effected -- the task will be undertaken and completed.

These fires now rank in the top 15 disasters in this nation and are the worst bushfires on record. February 7 will also be commemorated nationally each year, with memorial services and the nations flags at half-mast.

For those directly affected by this horrific event, the nation mourns with you, we will assist you in the recovery, and your losses will not be forgotten.