A Leader Talking Sense

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-25/czech-president-vaclav-klaus-joins-the-drum/2809722

This Article Re-Posted Courtesy of the Daily Reckoning

China’s Internal Credit War
Tuesday, 12th July 2011
Paris, France - Melbourne, Australia
By Dan Denning

..............

--The papers are full of winners and losers from the government’s carbon tax. Blah blah blah. Nearly everyone will be a loser in the long run. But for investors, the big winner is obvious: natural gas.

--Rent seekers will be pleased that the government will set up a Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and fund it to the tune of $10 billion. A government-picked committee will pick winners in the alternative and renewable energy industry to spend taxpayer money on—this from the government that has burned down homes and wasted billions in its previous efforts to stimulate the economy.

--The CEFC is almost guaranteed to be rife with incompetence and corruption. It is the nature of government agencies. And the central problem is that this isn’t investing at all. This is spending money on technologies that cannot reliably deliver base-load power in a cost-competitive way. This is a gift, a subsidy, and an occasion for front running, in which favoured industries and companies are going to get money because they’re connected.

--Same as it ever was with government-run programs. The really scary creation of the carbon tax is the Climate Change Authority. This new organisation will set targets for greenhouse gas emission levels in the same way the Reserve Bank sets targets for the price of money. It will even be run by former RBA governor Bernie Fraser. More on how this price-fixer will work tomorrow.

--Why is gas the winner? Even before the carbon tax was announced ABARE was reporting:

“The share of gas in electricity generation is projected to grow from 19 per cent in 2007-08 to 37 per cent in 2029-30. Gas-fired electricity generation is based on mature technologies with more competitive cost structures relative to many renewable energy technologies. As such, it has the potential to play a major role in the transition period until lower-emission technologies become more viable.”

--The emphasis added there is our own. But the fantasy of cutting emissions by 80% before 2050 is laughable. The only way to reduce emissions that much is to drastically reduce the amount of electricity the country produces, which may, in fact, be the result of the de-industrialising Greens. Their fondness/fanaticism for a cold, dark, and medieval world of subsistence living is alarming.

--In the meantime, gas-fired power will keep the lights on in Australia while the renewable industry tries to figure out if it can scale up and deliver the energy the economy requires. Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson is already talking about the conversion of the Latrobe Valley’s coal-fired power Hazelwood plant to gas. This is why our Revolution in the Desert report talks about gas as the next big energy thing in Australia.

--The most frustrating aspect of the carbon tax is that it’s a continuation of the trend by government to grab more power at the expense of economic and political liberty. The emotional justification—it’s saving the planet—seems to satisfy a lot of people. But the reality is that the taxing of carbon dioxide is just another way for the Welfare State to finance its permanent growth.

--Australia is a global leader in this sense. At a time where the perpetual debt model of the Welfare State is running into its natural limits—the inability to service existing debt—this government has shown the rest of the world’s elite a way out. If you tax carbon dioxide you create a vast new tax base from which you fund the growth and power of the State.

--If you doubt that this is all about government income and making more people dependent on transfer payments, just look at how the case is being made to the public. It’s all about how much you will get from the government and which industries will receive compensation. Government bureaucrats and a taxpayer salary will make those decisions on your behalf. And you’ll pay for the privilege.

--There will be a point where Australians realise the real motivation for these laws is the expansion of government power. It’s not about saving the planet. It’s about doing what you’re told and accepting the government’s power to regulate the minutest aspect of your private life. All for the common good, of course. Australia has been eaten by the bear.

Regards,

Dan Denning
Daily Reckoning Australia

Thanks Dan, you are right on the money

Transformers Dark of the Moon

Melsy and I went to see Transformers Dark of the Moon on Sunday.

A thoroughly good ride was had. Plenty of outrageous destruction of entire cities by the "bad guys" Deceptacons. The "good guys" the AutoBots, of course save the day. The plot is very simple: Traitor AutoBot helps bad guy Deceptacons get new technology to move their space city to Earth so they can use our resources (the Greens won't like that!). Then of course they will have to wipe out the humans or make them slaves (for what purpose, it's not clear). Bad guys eventually get beaten but only after a lot of damage is done.

The movie's director apparently had a spat with Megan Fox and replaced her with some fluesy whose name I can't remember and can't be bothered Googling. Her acting was as bad as the colagen job on her upper lip. But the director didn't care, judging by the long panning foot to breast shots of her in 6" high heels and a postage stamp sized dress. Put it this way, she wasn't there for her acting skills.

Take away the basic plot, super poor acting and you have a dazzling display of hi-tech 3D action that is absolutely amazing.

Recommended if you like an action flick and you can leave reason at home.

Rating: B-

Reds vs. Crusaders

Ah Rugby. I have failed to post anything for the last 6 months so I thought a new post discussing my most favorite topic is overdue.

This weekend's match between the Reds and Crusaders for the Super 15 title will be a cracker. Not least because it will pit many All Blacks against several key Wallabies (or likely ones at the very least). But because it will set the scene and expectations for the coming RWC which I intend to write a lot about as it unfolds.

I am keen to see how Andy Ellis and Dan Carter handle Will Genia and Quade Cooper (the Red's best Kiwi in the last game..a Tokoroa boy). I know that the Crusaders won't give the Reds any space, unlike the Blues last week. My guess it will be grinding, tight football for the first 60 minutes to tire the Reds out, and if they can wear them down they may open the game up after that but not until Dan-the-man has slotted a few through the posts.

Let's hope that the referee will make reasonable calls and not miss obvious forward passes and offsides like last time not to mention a couple of dubious penalties that even my Aussie mates were quietly smiling about. The Crusaders will be seeking revenge for the debacle of the last meeting.

Positives for Crusaders: Been here done this - they know finals football. A serious pack anchored by the Frank brothers and an All Black back row. Look for early dominance at the scrum which they will use to hammer the Reds in their 22 to get penalties. It might not be pretty but it will happen.

Positives for Reds: Home crowd of parochial, chip-on-their-shoulder Queenslanders will be deafening, backed by the whole of Australia and probably a few others outside Australia.

Look for the Crusaders to counteract any favoritism with the completely justified Earthquake angle (you gotta have a story). But seriously, the Reds are a good all round team with that X factor ability to excite - a younger version of the Crusaders in a way. They can certainly defend so look for the Crusaders to take the penalty kick/drop goal rather than tries if they can get within range.

Into the Lion's den (the local Rissole) I go - I might just buy a brand new Crusaders jersey for the occasion.

Prediction: Reds 12 vs Crusaders 22

Book Review - Slaying the Sky Dragon - Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory

I recently purchased this book from Amazon. It gave me an opportunity to test the capability of reading a book on the iPad. Although not as good as a book (arms get sore when reading in bed) or a dedicated Kindle reader (clarity, no backlight) I was really impressed with how easy it was to download and read the book using the iPad Kindle Reader. It even made sure the page I was up to was synchronised automatically between the Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone.

As for the book. Now this is a comprehensive demolition of the AGW myth. The details of exactly how the myth was perpetrated is all there along with very detailed technical rebuttals that are above my understanding. The evidence is so clear, the arguments completely science-based as to make the reader wonder how come so many people can be so tricked for this long? But then again some wags at the Cancun round of global warming alarmism polled the delegates on whether they wanted to ban di-hydrogen monoxide and got an overwhelming majority wanting to ban the stuff! These are the same people that want to tell you how to live your life.

How governments can continue to prattle on about reducing CO2 when there is this much incontrovertible evidence to the contrary amazes me. The population is mostly aware now but the hidden globalist, population reduction agendas continue despite the desire of the voters. Ask yourself why? Cui Bono - who benefits? It ain't you or me.

This book is only US$9.99 and is released electronically so you don't pay shipping. Buy it, get educated and vote against any politician that wants a PLANT FOOD tax.

Kangaroos Take CHOKER Title from Resurgent All Blacks

What a wonderful weekend of ruggers eh?

First off I witnessed the supreme choking of the Kangaroos against the mighty NZ Kiwis in League. True, not my first game of choice but a great game anyway. Now they have successfully blown the Four Nations as well as the heart stopping loss in the World Cup a couple of years ago. The Aussies should have won but failed, they are now the Chokers from Down Under.

Speaking of "should have won", those Wallabies should have won too if you read any of the press in Australia from their Hong Kong win. It was as if the Wallabies had won a world cup! The truth is that they won a single game against a bored All Blacks side sick of playing the Wallabies in a dead rubber contest. I guess we had to throw them a bone. The English team looked really good and they are adapting to the new rules. Perhaps the biggest mistake Australia made was to assume that England would play dour set piece rugby. When they didn't and ran the ball back at the Aussies they opened up some pretty big holes. But then the Aussies had bugger all possession because their boys up front where somewhere else - probably at church praying for something, anything, to improve their woeful performance. And the Wallabies are in serious trouble with their kickers. In RWC you cannot give away 11 points of missed kicks in any game of the finals series. Still, the Wallabies, will pick themselves up and post a glorious 50+ score against the Italians and all will be forgotten by the cheer squad Aussie press.

Then I watched the Mighty All Blacks play Scotland. What an impressive display of rugby power. The Scots were not as bad as the scoreboard suggested with gritty defense and some good set piece play. However, they had nothing to fire at the All Blacks.....and then there was SBW. To compare him to the great Jonah Lomu would be premature but watching him take in two defenders and still offload reminds me of the two seasons it took for the rest of the world to learn how to contain Jonah. How long until they figure out how to tackle Sonny Bill without him releasing? Certainly it will take two players from opposite directions or perhaps three. But unlike Jonah he's in the mid field which will open up gaps inside and out wide. But it wasn't just Sonny Bill, Smith was excellent as usual and then there was Gear on the wing. Why the hell is Rockocko even on the tour when we have such talent as this? The Scottish game put the world on notice that the All Black back line will be impossible to contain next year.

Global Cooling?

To be an AGW skeptic was pretty hazardous just a year ago let alone from the beginning but now people are finally waking up and I don't need to be so careful when discussing the subject with the brainwashed Global Warming Alarmists.

This bloke knows the truth:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100055500/global-cooling-and-the-new-world-order/

I feel the need to buy a V8 to help produce enough CO2 for those poor plants that will starve if these idiots get their way.

iPhone 4.1 OS

Recently I tried the latest iOS 4.1 for iPhone 3G and it seems to have solved the sluggishness and drop outs I wrote about in the blog post "When Technology Lets You Down". Would have been nice if Apple could have got it right first time or warned users of 3G iPhones not to install iOS 4.0 - a total lemon.

iPad Review

I predicted the iPad would be a failure but I was wrong. In fact, it looks like the iPad is the first competent device in the battle for a whole new position in the market. The press is hailing it as the “new tablet market” when in fact the tablet market is actually about 5 years old – I even owned a Toshiba Tablet PC, complete with rotating touch screen and OneNote software, but it was an abject failure. It was Windows XP, had a terrible screen that you could hardly read in normal light and was unusable to take notes with but I digress…

The reality is that the Tablet space has come of age and my new iPad is awesome.

The purported justification for getting an iPad was to replace my laptop for day or overnight business trips and it does this very well with some limitations around updating MS Office documents.

One of the key changes in usage I didn’t anticipate was the substituting of the web browser for custom iPad applications for some major websites. eBay is a good example and most of the newspapers have dedicated applications too. So it’s not just a more convenient web browser – in a lot of cases you don’t even use a web browser! This makes reading the newspaper websites a quite different experience. I have NZ Herald, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald and even the Sun from the UK and they work great.

Gaming is a great deal of fun on the iPad. I haven’t really been into console gaming but the iPad is different. The number of quick and simple-to-learn games is extraordinary and many have “lite“ versions for free. This is what keeps the kids begging to use it each evening.

This device is made for your coffee table. It is a welcome replacement for a Windows laptop (with power cord draped across the room and making you stay near enough to a wall socket) when slothing in the lounge while ‘er in doors is hogging the TV watching recorded day-time soaps.

I got the iPad 8G 3G version and purchased a pre-paid SIM and a $150 voucher which gave me 12GB of data which expire in 12 months. I reckon that means I can use this iPad online anywhere for a year for $150. For most non-technical users who just want email and a web browser, why would you bother with a PC and a fixed broadband connection?

Other Notes

• The touch screen, as the one and only input method (no mouse), is reasonable but no substitute for a full size keyboard and mouse– it’s slower to do any serious work.
• If you are a business user you still need a laptop or computer to synchronise with – there is no other way to put files on the device (e.g., songs, movies, office documents)
• It’s not a replacement for an iPod simply because of its size
• It’s not a replacement for your iPhone – the 3G is for data only (I guess you could use it for Skype though)
• In reality, changing MS Office documents and attaching them to emails or updating a document sent to you via email is not possible. Let’s say you have a large PowerPoint you want to show someone – not possible unless it will fit in your email as an attachment or you can browse it on the web or you have a PC to synchronise with. As for changing the PowerPoint at the last minute while on the road…think again.
• The lack of Flash support is noticed but not a showstopper.
• A big negative is that there is no support for multiple Exchange emails. It can support any number of email mail boxes but only one Exchange one. I use two Exchange mail boxes but luckily I can have one on my iPhone and one on the iPad. IOS 4.x will fix this when it comes out for iPad…..I hope
• I have an iPhone, PC and iPad. Because they are all synchronising to OutLook whenever a meeting reminder goes off I hear a cacophony of reminder noises from these devices…it can be quite annoying.
• There is no security control. For example, if the kids are playing with the iPad they can read your email just by pressing the icon – sort of like leaving your computer logged into your email. It would be great if specific icons could be protected by a PIN.
• The battery life is awesome - 10 hours is no problem.
• The charger that comes with iPad is more powerful than the iPhone/iPod one but they are interchangeable.

My recommendation: Well worth the investment and capable of supporting you on an overnight business trip when you want to avoid the weight and size of a laptop and its power pack...you don't even need to take the charger (unless you have an iPhone in which case you will need the charger anyway!)

When Technology Lets You Down

I have been trying to figure out what has gone wrong with my technology recently. I have an iPhone which I have generally been very happy with. As far as usability goes it’s great. As far as smart phone application features go it’s great. As far as a phone goes it is very average. I did make the mistake of upgrading to OS4. If you have an iPhone 3G DO NOT upgrade to OS4 – it’s slow slow slow. I think this has also contributed to the poor phone performance.

But is it the phone or is it the network? I briefly thought of phoning Vodafone to see what they had to say and then thought better of it. Are you kidding? Do you think they will tell friendly Rajeev anything useful?

I have been travelling this week to Canberra and Melbourne. I had no signal for almost two days while attending a conference at the Hyatt which is a stone’s throw from the new parliament house. Imagine not being able to get a signal in the best hotel in Canberra right near parliament house? Clearly Vodafone does not value doing business with the Federal Government.

Today I am in Melbourne at the airport….no signal. I am in a bar in terminal 3 with windows left and right open to the tarmac, yet, no signal. I know it’s not my phone because my laptop also can’t make a 3G connection. I sit here and watch the signal strength of my phone go from full bars and 3G to edge network, GPRS then progressively no bars and loss of signal. My PC behaves the same. I’ve managed to connect for 2 minutes before it died. Imagine not being able to make calls or connect to your email at the very time when you have dead time and need to? Clearly Vodafone does not value the business traveller to Melbourne.

Conclusion: Vodafone is the problem.

I am sick of it. Next week I am changing to Telstra. I am going to pay the premium to get a decent service. No more “no signals”, drop outs and calls that never connect….I hope. I will report back soon. Then I am going to buy a new phone. I might even buy just an ordinary Nokia that does PHONE CALLS really well.

And now my flight has been delayed an hour….FML.

Best Cartoon I Have Seen in a While

Swine Flu Reports Are Out

The reports on the swine flu hoax are out and its pretty damning, but along the lines of what I expected.

Basically, the pandemic was engineered to sell vaccines and WHO advisors were getting kick backs.

Here's two links that give the details although some whitewashing and obfuscation is added in for good measure (an amount of doubt needs to be included so as to avoid having to actually prosecute anyone):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/04/AR2010060403034.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFlu/swine-flu-pandemic-world-health-organization-scientists-linked/story?id=10829940

I particularly like how they are keeping the financial ties a secret in order to “protect the integrity” of the WHO advisors! This is really getting things arse about.

Will this be on the front page? Will our media print really big articles and admit they contributed to the hype and weren't objective enough? Ah, no.

The last time I had the flu was 5 years ago - about a month after I had a flu shot. I haven't had the flu or a shot since.

My MAME Arcade Machine

Mel heard me waxing lyrical about my Galaga prowess in the 80's and decided one day to buy me a joystick from China which connected to a computer and allowed me to play Galaga as a present. Well in the excitement of the game I destroyed said Chinese joystick in about 2 days. She decided I needed a more robust gaming experience so she found this old arcade machine on eBay and said "go on, fix it up". Hmmmmm.

We got it from a bloke in Castle Hill but we still needed a trailer to get it home. It weighs about 100Kgs so it’s a beast and not easy to move around.

I decided to build a MAME machine. What's that? MAME stands for “Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator”. MAME is a technology that runs on any standard PC (or even Linux) and can run all the old games from the 70's, onwards. All the classics like Space Invaders, Galaga, 194x, Defender, Bomber Jack....the list goes on. Go to this site to get MAME. Go to this site to download any game you would ever want and play it with MAME.

My plan was to convert this classic cabinet to MAME but to make it otherwise look and work exactly as the old machines. The benefit is that the cabinet will be able to run 1000's of games and it will be easy to maintain - it’s just a PC after all.

This is the story of what I did to it over the last 4 months.

First thing I did was gut the cabinet and throw away pretty much everything.

I also broke down the top half because I wanted to stick a new LCD monitor in there.

I obtained this old computer (1.7GHz, 512MB RAM, 20GB disk) which was about to be thrown out at work ...

...and pulled the guts out of it, re-mounted the power supply and hard disk onto the side panel of the original PC’s cabinet.....

....then mounted the computer onto the left side wall of the cabinet

I replaced all the old buttons and joysticks with new ones (cost $49) and installed a KeyWiz keyboard encoder ($70) which turns the switches and joystick signals into keystrokes as if there was a computer keyboard attached. The MAME software is looking for these keyboard keys and uses them to control the games.

Sound is very important with an arcade gaming machine. I happened to have an old surround sound system in the garage so this made a splendid addition to the cabinet. I mounted the subwoofer/amplifier into the bottom and placed the rear left and right speakers on the sides. Later I installed the front left and right and centre speakers in the top half of the cabinet.

Now for the display (Monitor). This presented the biggest challenge mainly because I didn’t really have a good plan for mounting the LCD into the cabinet. I had 2 ½ attempts at mounting it securely before finishing on a design that was not the right one, but it worked in the end anyway.

I fabricated the mounting brackets above and a close up below.

The correct way to mount the monitor, in hindsight, would have been to use the existing wall-mounting facility on the back of the LCD monitor and have two brackets that attached to the surrounding MDF frame. But we live and learn!

I had previously pulled the top half (which housed the original monitor / display) completely to bits. Some of the front-facing surrounds had to be re-sprayed matt black. These are behind tinted glass so they don’t have to be perfect, just black.

Now for rebuilding the top ½ of the cabinet

I made a couple of cardboard sides to cover the gaps and painted these matt black as well. They look a bit sus here but when behind the tinted glass they are completely black and you can’t see any features.

Finally! The top ½ back on top of the bottom half! I needed help from Mel and Jesse a couple of times to get it aligned and bolted down. It weighs a ton.

Then I mounted the three surround sound speakers into the top cabinet.

A bit of final wiring and cable tying and we’re done.

Time for a test run! Tayla playing Frogger.

Beeeewdeful! I have the top score on Galaga, Clayton has top score on Bomber Jack and Mel has the top score on everything else.

PS: Yes, it is in the dining room now :-)

Rugby Scoring System PCB

This is the printed circtui board I designed and had manufactured in Thailand. It handles the powering of the siren, connections to the button bank and driving of the SD/Card, buzzer and LCD backlight.

Couple of Useful Services

I have used two services for several months now and can vouch for them:

Zoho

This is a file sharing website. Its excellent and saves you having to remember to carry around your USB memory stick. The free service lets you store up to 1GB "in the cloud" which basically means it is stored out there on the Internet. You can share with others and it keeps versions of your files so you don't lose any information. It's fast, easy to use and very functional. You can even edit most file types online.

LogMeIn

This is great for accessing computers remotely. I use it to log into my home computers from work to setup torrents or whatever (e.g., forgot to bring a file so I can log in and share onto Zoho then download it to work). I also use it to shutdown the kids computers when they forget! NB: Works best with FireFox or IE. Doesn't work well with Chrome/Iron.

Version 2 of Rugby Scoring Console

About 4 months ago I completed version 2 which now handles sin bins and has a siren. Here's a picture:

I have since been working on version 3 which includes a memory card interface so that game results can be captured and saved onto the card and read in a PC. The whole program runs in less than 25K!

The new console has a completely new circuit board inside which I will post a pic of soon.

Dear Oh Dear Oh Dear Oh Dear...

The Swine flu just continues to make me laugh.....read it and weep/laugh.

Wait, they hype a false flu pandemic to sell vaccines that are then linked to the spread of the very same flu so they can sell more vaccines?? You just can't make this stuff up!

Hard to Argue With This Logic

The six major beneficiaries of drug prohibition....

We Have Been Programmed to Think Democracy is Good

Here's why it's not.

Godfrey Bloom in the European Parliament

He even mentions the falsification of climate data in New Zealand.