Jason Mark Roehrig My Web Home

Dear friend,

Imagine a government proposing an internet censorship system that went further than any other democracy - one that made the internet up to 87% slower, more expensive, accidentally blocked up to one in 12 legitimate sites, and missed the vast majority of inappropriate content.

This is not China, Saudi Arabia or Iran - this is the vision of Senator Stephen Conroy for Australia. Testing has already begun. The community must now move to stop this plan. Click here to save the net:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet

The system that Senator Conroy wants is a mandatory filter of all internet traffic, with the government of the day able to add any unwanted site to a secret blacklist. Already, the wrangling has begun for the inclusion of material relating to anorexia, euthanasia and gambling. It isn't difficult to see the scheme is open to abuse.

Even when it comes to preventing child p-rnography, the filter will not prevent peer-to-peer sharing and is very simple to sidestep. The protection of our children is vitally important - that's why we can't afford to waste funds on this deeply flawed system. We should be concentrating on solutions that are more effective and won't undermine our digital economy or our democratic freedoms.

This must rank as one of the most ill-thought decisions of the Rudd Government's first year in power. We need to act now to tell big brother the mandatory internet filter is incompatible with the principles of a modern democracy and modern economy:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet

Our government should be doing all in its power to take Australia into the 21st century economy, and to protect our children. This proposed internet censorship does neither. Take action to save the net today.

Thanks for being a part of the solution,

The GetUp team

PS - The proposed scheme will pass all internet traffic through a government filter - it's like asking Australia Post to filter every letter sent in Australia. Click here to save the net.

UK Brights Campaign

The UK has a bright campaign supported by the "mighty", or rather outspoken, Dawkins. The goal was to get secular advertisements published on public transport to combat the attempted brain washing of fundamentalists. Their initial goal has been met more than by just as satisfying margin.

Proton Beam Position

This is exiting news. And not because some idiots, cranks, or what ever you want to call 'em, are suggesting imminent doom, but rather for the new frontier experimental physicists are breaching. For a geek it's like Xmas: you can rattle the box, but can only guess what might be inside.

... more to follow soon!

A week ago, me and my friendly neighbour had friends over for raclette. One of the friends was Robert, who as a hobby builds plastic ship models. I told him how I had been thinking of taking up again my childhood hobby, and putting a couple of plastic model planes together myself. In dedication to his passion, Robert was all empathetic to the idea of gluing together plastic pieces, and offered me a model kit he had of a Constellation as a gift, to get me going. The following Thursday I received the kit.

Airfix - Super Constallation - Box

Now, a week later, I got started. I still have to buy the paints required, but a couple of pieces can already be glued together, which is what I've done. At least as far as I could get.

The kit is produced by Airfix, and assembling pieces of my kit took me back to my childhood days. Reminding me, as to why I back then avoided Airfix kits. Their molds are crappy. For one, pieces don't always align as they should, the extrusions are at unsuited places, and there's just too much plastic overflow with most parts. The only good part about this, is the challenge.

Putting together a ready-made set is easy. I'd actually prefer to create models from scratch. But who has the time? Leaving me quite happy to put together a ready-made Super Constellation.

Thanks to Robert I've got a kit to get me back into a realm of a prime passion (aircraft), I've been ignoring for far to long. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Some council gestapo officer thought it appropriate to fine a painter and home decorator for smoking in his van. Now obviously smoking is harmful, and smokers should be considerate, but smoking in a confined spaced, occupied only by oneself, should certainly be regarded as a private action of no concern to the government and subordinate agencies.

What's next? Will they come knocking on the doors of home-offices, to make sure you're not smoking in your own home?

As the SMH has recently reported, the plastic bag producer Valpak likes to claim ...Bio Bags: Deceptive brand and logo created by Valpak.

.. aware of the environmental limitations of plastic bags and we are focussing our business into the use of sustainable resources as well as offering degradable and compostable Cellophane bags where appropriate.

Quoted from Valpaks' About page.

What is so appauling about Valpak?

"We have never claimed bio-bags are biodegradable," Valpak's managing director, Alan Reid, said. "We registered the trademark six or seven years ago. It was never intended to make people think the bags are biodegradable."

Talk about cynicism. So Valpak unapologeticaly declares the bio-label as nothing but a legal misleading of consumers. Obviously they are not the only offenders, but an example that should serve as a lesson to all consumers: a green lable means nothing. If you want to follow your conscience and moral norms, make sure to research all your consumer choices.

Photo was taken by my friend
StevePhillips, from which the above
is a cut out.

Last Monday was supposedly the best day to observe with the naked eye the McNaught comet [C/2006 P1]. My friend Steve pointed this out to me, so we organized a get together for that day.

We nearly missed the event, as we were chatting away about the dire state of our world, our lives, and just the kind of stuff friends talk about when they get together. Luckily Steve checked his watch at the right moment, only a couple of minutes before it turned eight o'clock. What a close call.

Dulwich Hill is probably not the best location to observe such an event, but it's were I currently live, so we had to make do.

Up the road we found a good enough spot for our stargazing, as it is kind of elevated and provided a sufficient view of the horizon. Though, we had to go up the steps of someones' house, to have a really good overview of the skyline. Of course this made the inhabitant curious, two fellows with cameras, babbling excitedly away, but luckily she was a nice person, understood our interest, and was also willing to share with us here binoculars. As none of us two had thought of bringing ours, to busy checking our cameras, and full of excitement for what was to come.

We were a little skeptical after the first excitement had dissipated, that what we had seen had actually been the McNaught comet, it could have also been Venus. The mind after all, is a powerful illusion creator and fantastic distortion apparatus. But after checking the web, and looking at a few other images taken by space enthusiasts, we have come to the conclusion "yeah, we saw the real thing". An exciting evening. What is it with these trivial events, which create such strong emotional reactions?

Further Reading

The following are a few links I've gathered, for those interested in more information on the comet labelled C/2006 P1 and named after its Australian discoverer Robert H. McNaught.

• McNaught over Sydneys' skyline - the best picture of the lot!
• Halley-beating comet to glow in the sunset - article on SMH
• McNaught Photo Gallery on Spaceweather.com
• Comet McNaught indeed - disappointed blog post from Melbourne
• Comet 2005E2 McNaught on Jan 28, 2006 - photo taken from Japan
• New Comet is Brightest in 30 Years - article on Space.com
• Astronomy Picture of the Day published by NASA
• Comet McNaught Heading South - article on SkyTonight.com
• What's all the Fuss About? - a nice detailed article published by Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Comet McNaught visible on SOHO images - article published by Sydney Observatory

Time is so illusive. You never actually have, but we all want more of it. We ignore that we live in it. But why?

Because we quantify time, and seldom qualify.

Once time is divided into quantities, such as days, hours, minutes, or even seconds, one seems to be able to gauge it. But time is no object, as all those other things we quantify. Our brain though, is not advanced enough to differentiate between different types of quantities. So we fall for the fallacy, of being able to own, or have something, that can never be held.

Oh time, what a tricky existence you are. With out you, we could not exist. With you, existence for the conscious active being turns into a race against the turtle.

Willi likes to portray himself as a good guy, one who spends his money to help the less fortunate. Unmentioned the tax evasion benefits he gains. The reality of his supposed visionary help missions ain't all that rosy, as the LA Times has uncovered. Nice to see that serious investigative journalism still exists.

Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation