Random Developments

I’m a bit ambivalent about Labor’s plan for a funding a national broadband (FTTN) network with public funds. On one hand, I agree that Australia has a seriously antiquated communications network and that retail broadband services are way behind much of the developed world; some of that comes from the mix of the regulations placed on the telecommunications industry with the characteristics of the country (quite a few people living in very remote places). Telstra has rejected the idea of building a FTTN network due to the possibility (almost certainty) that there would be restrictions on the pricing it would be able to charge to allow competitors to have access to its network, and I can’t say I see a fault with Telstra’s argument.

On the other hand, I don’t like many of the (limited) details of the plan that came forward. The new network would work as a enforced monopolistic resource, with the possibility of Telstra (if it is not responsible for building the network) being forced to be a customer and prevented from building a competitive network. I can see why the Liberal Party would be against a plan like this, and it also rubs me the wrong way.

Worse than that, the idea of using money from the Future Fund to build the network is very, very bad (not to mention legally debatable). The Fund is money set aside for a specific purpose, and that does not include building infrastructure (or funding private companies building it); if they open the doors to use this money, I can see it being used for other ends in the future (and Labor has hinted that they plan to do it) and creating social security problems for the current employees of the public sector.

So, in principle, the idea is not that bad. The proposed implementation, though, is not very appealing; as always, the devil is in the details.

In any case, listening to politicians talking about megabytes per second in Parliament is highly entertaining.

I’ve been hearing about Twitter for a while now, but recently it has reached a peak: you can’t read a tech-related blog without seeing a comment about it.

Well, I already had an account (created back in November, updated only once with a generic “working”), so I decided to log in and take a second look. Man, is this thing slow! It takes forever to do anything; the process of loading the home page and logging in took almost five minutes. Is it always like that? Or is it peak time now (8.30pm in the SF Bay Area)?

My guess is that they became more popular than they expected.

I’ve just finished watching the first season of Star Trek: Enterprise (yes, I know that I’m a few years behind). For those not familiar with the series, this is a prequel to all other Star Trek TV series and films, and it follows the adventures of the crew of the starship Enterprise NX-01, the first human ship to reach warp 5. The first episode is set in the year 2151.

I was never really “into” any of the Star Trek series, and I don’t think I ever watched a full episode of any series other than Enterprise. That said, I had a fair idea of the “feel” of the Star Trek universe; I did watch some of the movies, and, anyway, Star Trek is part of popular culture.

However, living in Australia, I have to say one thing: the quarantine procedures of the Enterprise crew are appalling! Granted: scientifically speaking, the series leaves a lot to be desired (in one of the episodes, two crewmen land on a comet and walk around in what seems like Earth gravity…). Ditto for social and practical issues; it’s definitely no Battlestar Galactica, you’ll never see engineering going into a strike or the crew looking for a planet to mine for fuel. But, still, they should be aware of the risks of coming into contact with alien life forms. And they get bitten by that at least twice in the first season; you’d expect them to learn after the first one.

However, coming to think of it, the Vulcans are as cavalier about biological isolation as the humans (and any other humanoid race we’ve seen). Is everyone living in denial?

Boing Boing has a link to a scan of a 40-year decal sheet found by a blogger. Now, is it just me, or does this guy look amazingly like Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva? The decal even has one less finger on the left hand, just like the President.

Yes, this post is completely irrelevant to anything. I just couldn’t resist.