it was the best of times, it was...

It was an absolutely lousy week. For those who think that I am calm, cool and collected in the face of life's little ups and downs... think again.

No, not sick. Just a lousy week.

Less than a year ago we changed to the nbn, the latest in Internet technology. Except that the nbn uses -- I have been reliably informed -- the same connections as our previous network. And -- like the previous network -- it died.

Still... Telstra -- our network provider -- did send a text. Your network is stuffed, they said, Phone this number. So I phoned that number.

Turns out that the number is the standard Telstra "support" line. I spent ten minutes working my way through voice recognition software. Followed by another fifteen minutes on hold. On the bright side, there was no recorded suggestion that, Your call is important to us.

Finally, a human.

His English was okay, his accent made him incomprehensible. Half of our conversation was me asking him to repeat himself, slowly and clearly.

Remember that we had a text telling us to phone this number? Pointless, really. (a) this English as an optional language operator had no record that we had been sent a text. So he could not give me more details of the why behind the text. And (b) he had no information on the outage to our Internet.

Hint to Telstra: If you send a text to a customer -- give details to your support staff.

Pre-nbn I had phoned Telstra, several times. Once, the operator told me, There are no reports of an outage in your area. I told him, Yes there in at least one report, that's what I'm telling you now. This nbn operator seemed to be working from the same rule-book.

So we spent a long time with the untrained idiot stepping through his list of pointless questions. Are all the wires connected? Is there any damage to cables? Have you restarted the pc? the modem?

His final answer was, Phone back in two hours. He may have said, While we work on your problem... but I doubt it. If I were kind I would give him the benefit of the doubt... by this stage he could have been saying anything, his accent was getting worse and I had given up asking him to repeat.

A couple of hours later, the network came back. Just... came back.

I started to phone the support number. Reached the voice recognition... and couldn't be bothered going through all that again.

Since then, the internet seems to be working okay. Except...

Except that World of Warcraft no longer works. A related problem? Who knows.

All I know is that WoW seems to be "supported" by people who failed the test to work for Telstra.

I think I've written about Telstra lack of support without swearing (I'll check before I post). Later, I may be able to do the same about WoW.

It's been a lousy week.

On the bright side... another step forward coding my app:-)

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===
"Are you one of those people who think wallowing in unhappiness and bad luck is the same as toughing it out?" … Ononoki (an anime character)
  

Subjects of offence

First we have a grovelling apology by the editor. It was someone else's fault, he sobs. This on the same front page which tells us that a school is going to give students p money for better results.

Yes, "p money". A professional Editor would have prevented that typo. Just as a real Editor would have noticed and removed offensive words from Modesty Blaise.

So what were the offensive words? We are never told.

Was it when we read that the thugs are newcomers to Australia? Real Australians, we were told, would not bash a woman. But these men are newcomers. Did this cartoon comment offend all New Australians? Probably not.

A few days later we have the man who would be mayor adding to the chorus of denials. None of my coworkers think like that, he writes, adding a few easily offended voters to his support group. Robert Drewe must not be a coworker.

"Mrs Fawcett even had the classic physical features cruelly known as 'tuckshop arms', thick and pendulous upper arms that wobbled threateningly as she stamped around the tuckshop..." Can you pretend that that is not offensive?

Offensive to  the real Mrs Fawcett -- we are told that this is not her real name -- and to anyone else who volunteers to help in the tuckshop. Thanks for all your unpaid help, you fat and ugly women with tuckshop arms.

Amongst all this pretended contrition is a letter from the Ginger Meggs cartoonist. Well done, he writes, we must be so careful to not offend anyone.

This from the cartoonist who recently introduced the Chinese girl -- intelligent and hardworking, of course. And the Indian or Pakistani boy who is a great cricket player. Are racial stereotypes okay as long as they are from other countries?

Plus the long-running stupid boy, the stupid violent bully and the lovesick girl. Objects of fun for us to laugh at. But that's okay. Is it?

The quality of our daily paper is embarrassing. That's okay, there are plenty of other sources of "news", each with their own standards and bias.

Now we are expected to accept the fake apologies -- and direct passing of blame -- for one offensive word. While the rest of the paper is littered with equally offensive articles. On behalf of all of us ignorant and accepting readers -- I am embarrassed.

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===
"Are you one of those people who think wallowing in unhappiness and bad luck is the same as toughing it out?" … Ononoki
  

Honest opinion

Congratulations to The West on two counts for the article, "Budget gender balance fix" (23/6). First, for the pretence that the paper influenced a government decision. Second, for the tacit admission that the regular "opinion" pieces are direct reflections of the opinion of the newspaper, not the writer.

 

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Take a lesson from the weather… it pays no attention to what the critics say." … per Ginger Meggs

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

dinosaur sculpture

Hello Ben,

I like the look of the dinosaur sculpture proposed by Ben Juniper. It looks good and it's exactly the "big thing" which Perth "big people" say that we want:

It's big, it's expensive and it's eye-catching.

Of course the closest it comes to "West Australian" is that  it is steel. Oh, I suppose you could somehow link it to dinosaur footprints in Broome.

Even worse: it was first offered to Tasmania. The artist failed to sell it there so, on the rebound, he's trying to sell it to WA. May as well build a giant steel elephant, for all the relevance to WA. If it is painted white, even better.

Why not be *proud* of WA. Draw tourists to see the amazing state that we already have. Did you see the ad that wants tourists to "climb the four biggest mountains in WA, all in one shire"? Use what we have, what is already unique -- and beautiful.

Or are you too embarrassed to admit that WA is already unique. With no need to compete with big and ugly models in other parts of the world.

... Nick

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." … William Bruce Cameron, 1963
   

flying low

Qantas are no longer flying overseas. Customers who have already paid for overseas flights are offered a credit -- credit for a service which is no longer being offered.

Don't worry. Your money is being used to pay the multi-millionaires who run this non-flying airline. You know, the ones who will never be made redundant.

Qantas, the un-Australian airline.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===
"No sense being pessimistic. It wouldn't work anyway." … per Ginger Meggs
===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

Bring it on!

Apparently we have had thirty years of economic growth.

This has lead to interest rates so low that it is not worth leaving money in the bank. Traffic congestion as we all rush to earn another dollar.  A building industry which demands government support when noone really wants to build.

We encourage population growth to support industries which serve no purpose other than making a few rich people even richer. While the population continues to grow we will never be able to solve the problems of a growing population.

If we stop population growth today it will still take generations of effort to solve tbe problems of the people we already have.

Isn't it strange that the working masses are told to retrain to suit requirements of a changing business -- yet those same businesses are unable to change themselves : builders, for example, can only build. When there is less need for new building -- why are building companies unable to change to a more necessary activity?

After thirty years of economic growth we have a concrete jungle swallowing all available green and open space. We have neighbourhoods being destroyed to allow a select few people to get richer by squeezing more concrete into smaller area.

On days when there is no smoke from controlled burns, we can look out over the filth of permanent pollution.

Thanks to thirty years of economic growth the majority of people are priced out of the housing market. A low interest rate is no comfort to a young family who can never afford either deposit or repayments.

After thirty years of economic growth -- I am looking forward to the promised recession. Less economic growth? Less growing pains? Time to take a breath? Bring it on!

Nick Lethbridge    /    Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." … William Bruce Cameron, 1963
   

Kings Park chairlift

Driving south from the city at night, I could see the State War Memorial. It is a bright, floodlit beacon. The surrounding darkness of Anzac Bluff provides a somber and somehow moving setting.

I wonder how the Memorial will look with enormous, floodlit pylons of a chairlift scrabbling up the otherwise pristine slope.

===

later: This letter was published -- unchanged -- in the daily paper. Such glory :-)

Agamedes Consulting    /   Problems? Solved.
   ===

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." … William Bruce Cameron, 1963