internet kaspersky security: Elemeno P vs Opensouls in the Red Bull Soundclash

Elemeno P vs Opensouls in the Red Bull Soundclash
Elemeno P is preparing to battle Opensouls at the upcoming Red Bull Soundclash.

Get your tickets from Ticketmaster or Real Groovy and head down to Shed 2, 135 Halsey Street in the Viaduct Harbour, Auckland on the 15th of August 2008 and make your support for Elemeno P heard

There are a series of quirky promo videos @ www.elemenop.co.nz

And Just How Is Junior, Mrs G?
Fine thanks. So far we have survived... Now, where did we get up to last time I 'visited' with you? Lets see, last Tuesday, I think it was.

Well, after a few more days truanting and then forging signatures ('Er, Dad believed it all, Mum.' 'Of course he did, he's never seen your teachers' signatures. And neither have I but I can spot a bad forgery anywhere... Something to do with trying to go over it twice with a shaky hand...')

But I digress. Badly. But who cares? It's my blog! Yes, and Junior not being at school at all on Friday, or Monday...

Anyway, I took Junior into school yesterday, being Tuesday. Reception wasn't too happy! Do you have an interview Mrs George? No, but Mr Mac will see me because he is expecting Junior so he can sign his Principal's report...

I honestly thought I was going to be chucked out!!! If that had been the case, I can assure you I would have stormed out with Junior in tow, and taken him over to his father, who then could have stormed back in with him...

Anyway, finally, Mr Mac arrived. We got in first! The upshot of Junior who was awol is that he can tell the teacher the truth but not me. I hate that. I cannot stand being lied to by my own children. He was in the public library, and Mr Mac wants to tear shreds off them now...

The careers adviser was called in. She is marvellous. Very supportive of me as is one other teacher, Junior's last year's English teacher.

You know, people in authority can do all the talking to a teenager they would like, but it's still going to sound like a lecture, have you noticed? Things like - it's all about you, D... What are you good at?... What would you like to do?...

Der, I dunno. (Sorta. Dunno. Nothing...)

Now, the government beaurocrats are NOT issuing exemptions for under sixteens to leave school. Nah-ah, no way. Nix, zippo, nada from their office. Not happening, Stan. Bloody-mindedness, I say.

Junior isn't sixteen, and it's too effort, as oldest would say, to do a section 71. He could go out and do work experience if he was 'sectioned'... (He could leave school full-stop with government permission...)

Work experience? No pay for working between the hours of nine and three-thirty week days. Did you know Junior could get quintuple overtime after three thirty? According to the Deputy Head, that is. And as Victor Borge would say, possibly the rest of the Deputy's body, too... Yeah, right. Someone wants to take Junior on, in any case, and then pay him? He would have to fork out ACC, plus all the rest.

Junior work? Yeah right. Apparently he has not been much use around the farm, refusing to work when he's been there over school hols. And now my husband decides to tell me. (What is this, a conspiracy against Linda?)

Now, if he left before 16 with govt permission, he could get on a 'Course'. With a 'Youth Provider'. When he has been on a 'Course', he can then go to MIT free because they hold places for kids on 'Courses'... Great! I'm all for courses. But they won't let him outa school until he is sixteen. But they can trade off, if the school is willing to give them the funding they would get from them still being enrolled.

Yeah, right. Wonder how much the average child is worth per week to the average school?

Junior could trial all the various courses for the next six weeks until he turns sixteen...

But how is he? It's a case of ask no questions get told no lies at present. And blind eyes turning all over the place... How one can turn their blind eye is beyond me...

Now, all I have to do is retrieve his artwork and paints etc before they accidently get chucked out....

And you can work it all out. Simple really...

Bye-ee...

Consumer Reports Survey: US Consumers Lost Nearly $8.5 Billion to ... - MarketWatch

Vodafone extends free broadband deal... what I think they should offer instead.
I think the free broadband deal has past it's used-by date.

I was hoping for a fresh new offer on 1st August, like part of their other changes at Vodafone.

Just for people who only require plain home phone and broadband, here was what ihug used to offer in 2007 compared to Vodafone's current offer:

	ihug: Bundling		Vodafone: Free Broadband till the end of 2008
Minimum requirements	ihug home phone + calling plan ihug broadband		Vodafone home phone and broadband packs Vodafone talk 1
Offer	Two months free broadband Free connection	Free modem Free connection	Free modem Free connection Free broadband until 31 December 2008
Total spent in a year without offer*	$1000.95		$988.95
Total spent in a year with offer*	$759.95	$852.00	$810.00 - $930.00
Contract term	0 months		12 months

* Some notes:

Modems used to cost $99.95, but as Vodafone have dropped their prices to $49.95, this is the modem price described here (credits for modems are equivalent to the modem prices at the time of offer)
Home phone for ihug is calculated to the price at the time of the offer ($41.00)
talk plans are not included for total with/without offer on the ihug column, as for this we only want to sign up to home phone and broadband in comparison to the Vodafone offer. The extra expense for talk 1 for one year is $180.
Only the cheapest plans are selected for the offer (ihug home phone + broadband 1 and Easy pack and talk 1)

The ihug offer started in December 2006 and changed slightly in February 2007 to include two months free broadband (the whole price of the broadband plan, and not just the $30 credit Vodafone's now offering)

It was at this time that we signed up to ihug, just when Telecom got criticised for their management on Go Large (we were on it for 2 months).

We really thought that this was an excellent deal compared to any other ISP because of one thing - no contract!

I would actually like Vodafone to reinstate an offer of a similar kind. Even if it's just two months with $30 credit rather than the full broadband component price. ihug was in Vodafone ownership back then, so there isn't much of a reason why they can't now.

No contract will definitely stand out in the marketplace, because the requirement to have talk 1 really is excessive (really - $15 a month for national calls only in weekends and weeknights... come on!)

I don't think that free broadband (for 7 months from when it first started) is worth having a 12 month contract along with a calling plan.

MED withholds ACTA papers
MED releases just 15% of the documents requested in Official Information Request

Enhancing Web 2.0 Accessibility Via AxsJAX: A Tutorial at Google
This google talk lecture is on a Java technology for page ripping called AxsJAX.
This presentation tutorial of AxsAJAX is for building an screen reader for the blind.

I like this as it makes building a simulated 'expert systems to read and process existing web content so much nicer,
I mean, great for hacking, in that it lets your computer become more aware to the key page information.

And they mention a T-Shirt contest and the bit about the car, I think was cut.

Trademe Priacy Email
Got this today

Dear *****

We are writing to make you aware of the provision of some of your personal information to the New Zealand Police.

The Police served a search warrant on Trade Me requiring information on people who had traded with 8 suspects associated with the “Urewera Raids” late last year. We are compelled by law to provide information in response to search warrants.

Some of your information was amongst that provided. There is no suggestion that you were in any way related to these events last year, apart from being one of 3000 who traded with someone that was a suspect in this investigation.

Both the Privacy Act 1993 (Principle 11) and the Trade Me Terms and Conditions (Section 6.10) and Privacy Policy allow for personal information to be provided in matters related to maintenance of the law by public sector agencies.

If you have any more questions in respect of the matter, the Police Detective leading the investigation is ****************

We are sorry to have to bring this to your attention, but given current media focus on the issue we believed we should make you aware of the situation.

If you have concerns in respect of how we have acted in relation to the Privacy Act 1993, you can make complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (http://www.privacy.org.nz/ )

Sincerely

Trade Me Support
================

http://www.trademe.co.nz

Hmm hope there won't be any raids as I'm no longer living in NZ...