text:
Union Rights and ResponsibilitiesBy
The Cardinal Newman Society pointed out the other day that a slew of Jesuits at Marquette University wanted Gov. Walker of Wisconsin recalled. When asked why they did so, the spokesman for the Province would only confirm the signature of one of the Jesuit professors at Marquette and then referred the inquiring reporter to Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship (FC), the USCCB document on Catholic voting. Presumably, the Jesuits are appealing to the document's position on unions in light of Gov. Walker's ending the collective bargaining rights for most public sector unions.
Color me old-fashioned, but I've thought for years that it helps to actually read documents. So what do the bishops actually say about unions?
The first mention in the document has employers responsible for many things including allowing their workers to join a union. But then the bishops note that workers have responsibilities too. They write:
"Workers also have responsibilities—to provide a fair day's work for a fair day's pay, to treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to the common good. Workers, employers, and unions should not only advance their own interests, but also work together to advance economic justice and the well-being of all."
Please notice that employees and employers have a responsibility to the common good, to the "well-being of all." This is important because the Holy Fathers like to remind us through Catholic social teaching that with rights come responsibilities. Pope Benedict put it this way in Caritas in veritate:
"Hence it is important to call for a renewed reflection on how rights presuppose duties, if they are not to become mere licence."
The footnote after this line leads us to Blessed Pope John Paul II's statement for the 2003 World Day of Peace. He said, recounting Blessed John XXIII's wonderful document Pacem in terris, that
With the profound intuition that characterized him, John XXIII identified the essential conditions for peace in four precise requirements of the human spirit: truth, justice, love and freedom. Truth will build peace if every individual sincerely acknowledges not only his rights, but also his own duties towards others. Justice will build peace if in practice everyone respects the rights of others and actually fulfils his duties towards them. Love will build peace if people feel the needs of others as their own and share what they have with others, especially the values of mind and spirit which they possess. Freedom will build peace and make it thrive if, in the choice of the means to that end, people act according to reason and assume responsibility for their own actions.
Rights and duties, obligations and responsibilities go together. So when the bishops write about laborers and their responsibility towards the "well-being of all" they really mean it.
The bishops mention unions again later in FC and state that
Catholic social teaching supports the right of workers to choose whether to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively, and to exercise these rights without reprisal. It also affirms economic freedom, initiative, and the right to private property. Workers, owners, employers, and unions should work together to create decent jobs, build a more just economy, and advance the common good.
Again, with every right is a responsibility. Do the laborers of Wisconsin's public sector have the right to bargain collectively? "Yes, they do," says the Church.
But don't they also have the responsibility to "advance the common good"? "Yes, they do," says the Church.
So who's in charge of maintaining the common good, you ask? Well according to Catholic social teaching it's the State.
Ahh, so here we get to the fundamental question. What happens when the State determines that employees, their own in this case, are failing to advance the common good? What if the State determines that the lack of accountability for workers, years of systemic underperformance as well as political corruption actually does real harm to the common good? What then?
Catholic social teaching is clear and consistent on this point. When your right gets in the way of the common good then your right may be trumped. In Rerum novarum Pope Leo XIII defended the natural right of private property against the Socialists. However, he admits that private property is not an absolute right. When the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council explained the right of religious liberty, even they provided the qualifying "within due limits." If you fail your duty, you could lose your right.
The people of Wisconsin, despite what the good Jesuits at Marquette might have hoped, have determined that the current situation with the public sector union is hurting the common good. One way this happens is that the employer who gets the short end of any union abuse is the State itself, i.e. the body charged with maintaining that common good.
Here, then, is the moral of the story. Laborers have a right to unionize and to collectively bargain. They may not abuse that right at the expense of the common good. What union leaders in this country need to learn, as well as Catholics who defend unions, is that belonging to a union does not inoculate one from, you know, SIN. Union leaders and members are not as pure as the wind-driven snow. Unions are populated by people who are prone to the very same vices as the employers who can and have and do abuse workers. Therefore, belonging to unions does not exempt one from criticism, and being Catholic does not mean you have to blindly support unions.
My hope is that for the sake of the great tradition for unions in Catholic social teaching , Catholics like the Jesuits at Marquette can advise unions to avoid the harms to the common good that the people of Wisconsin have noticed again and again and again and again….
42 thoughts on "Union Rights and Responsibilities"
Thoughtful article. Here's my question: It sounds, from above ("What happens when the State determines that employees, their own in this case, are failing to advance the common good?"), like the State's the one determining whether the "common good" is being met — and if it is not being met, according to the State's judgment, the "right" to unionize can be legitimately squashed. What happens if "the State" (or, more specifically, its leaders) holds commitments to a political theory (say, laissez faire capitalism) which sees most if not all union activity as detrimental to the common good? Then it would seem that de facto elimination of unions in laissez faire capitalist States would be supported by CST (which is absurd). (And I don't think that this thought-experiment is that "out there", given the tendencies of many in the Tea Party toward laissez faire capitalism). In other words, it seems that the logic above gives a free-pass to States with inimical attitudes toward unions in the first place to eliminate them. So long as "common good" is judged through the a lens which colors an unregulated free market rosy, I don't know how such a slippery slope is avoidable. It seems that a proper application of CST requires the reverse: judging the free market through the lens of the common good (as described in CST) — in which case massive deregulation and the general economic vision heralded by many in the Tea Party are already out of bounds.
You bring a good point about unions and capitalism. However, when your speaking about companies and employees in the private sector, you cannot apply the same thinking and theories to public sector. The reason being is that private companies earn a profit. Workers and their representatvies work out agreements between management or owners of the company. Then, they can come to an equitable agreement. But, you fail to mention all the that private unions have given up to keep their jobs and the company they work for profitable. The good old days, which many would debate weren't so good, are not feasible with the global economy and the competition. Labor is your biggest cost in any business. Now, let's look at public unions, which, if you think about it, do they really need unions? One could argue that the firemen/women and police do need unions so they do not become tools of politicians. All state governments have labor boards and labor laws, which, they stronly enforce on the private industries. So, why do public workers need protection from the ones enforcing the fair labor laws and practices? Also, public sector unions do not negotiate with management, they get their very nice salaries, benefits and retirement set by politicians that were backed and supported by the unions that they negotiate with. That seems to be unethical all in itself. It's a perfect scam and ponsi scheme. If you look into the Wisconsin situation you will find that the budget has a surplus, no union employees were let go and the state taxpayers are getting relief. This is what I would term as everyone winning and the state looking out for the common good. Also, go to twitter and see all the death threats from union workers. It's sad. Public workers have had it very good for a long time. Please don't use "we've had our incomes cut", everyone has. If the union workers are so concerened about income, maybe they should ask their "leader" to cut their pay, which puts the union leaders in that dreaded 1%. Or, maybe ask for some of your union dues back, since they was the majority of it on buying campaign ads Sadly, the dance is over and now the band wants to be paid.
Thank you, sir, for an excellent Catholic defense of Gov. Walker's policies that I have had trouble articulating. You are a calm, collected, and fine writer.
Official pronouncements of the Church and its documents on this subject(and on a few other politically charged subjects) always seem to need a translator. At minimum is needed certainly a cascade of articles and frequently even a panel discussion or two, to decipher. Either these documents are delivered up to be so simple that they are vague, leaving some of us scratching our heads, or so complex, broad and wide, and deep, that they explode all over the field, but entirely miss the target–if the target is actually that of informing or catachizing the laity.
Unions are seen as nearly organized front groups for communists, Marxists, socialists, and radicals who have highjacked the terminology of the Catholic Church along with many of its broader charitable themes, all in order to intimidate, bully and threaten others outside the union to "pay up". Like the taxpayers, for instance, in the case of public unions.
As a relatively new Catholic, I have had more exposure to the term "social justice" from the Pelosi types than from the Church, but the Church doesn't seem to mind; on the one hand said to deplore socialism, and on the other entertaining without incident those American priests and Bishops who sympathize, empathize and rationalize the actions and points of view of clearly socialist.
I just don't quite get it, but I do usually find that the parameters, the definitions and the distortions on these political questions and on these well politicized issues are profligated by few of the faithful, and instead mostly by lay Catholics, or those who are not Catholic at all. There is little debate when only one view of only one side of any issue is defended and excused.
Immigration is one. Good Bishops have preached human dignity, charity, etc., on the immigration issue. I have heard nothing from the same Bishops that addresses the ILLEGAL part of illegal immigration, or a nation's right to its borders, a right to reasonable and orderly process for crossing those borders, the expense and increasing social burden of citizens carrying the financial burden for these "visitors" who avert from the process.
Everything is one sided here. Spending other peoples money will soon be coming to an unceremonious end when it runs out.
Well said.
To my mind saying that this squabble was all about collective bargaining rights is the same as saying the Church's squabble with the government is all about contraception. There is much more to both stories.
The way I understand it the public service unions in Wisconsin can still bargain for salaries, but not for other benifits. I also understand that no public employee has lost his or her job over this whole affair. So, what was all the fuss about.
This is a great article! I come from a working class family, but (no doubt because of our Catholic faith) I was taught as a worker you are to be honest and do your best always. The potential problems with unions today is that they do think they are an absolute right to everything they fight for. The problem is, like virtually all lobbying groups today, is that they get too caught up with their own special interests and totally neglect what is good for the body. Employers do this too, but now unions and employers have almost equal power–and it's all directed inward and not at the common good. The Church is correct again.
Well, the state also long ago determined that women have the right to abortion so don't so quickly consign the state to being the ultimate arbiter of moral authority and the common good. And let's remember that about 800,000 less people voted in this election than in 2008 when Obama won Wisconsin by 14% of the vote. And there were other issues involved in people's deciding to vote for which candidate (or not voting), so it wasn't simply a referendum on public unions. Why are workers here on this website always depicted as being the only folks in the equation prone to sinfulness? I can think of more than a few politicians, corporate executives, lobbyists, etc. who seem mighty sinful to me.
Can you actually demonstrate with ACTUAL EXAMPLES how specific union negotiations have hurt the public good in Wisconsin? No one on this site can actually point out specific decisions by unions that have done this.
Unions in get make it very difficult to fire bad workers, they promote an artificial egalitarianism among workers and production (same wages regardless of quality of work), they demand higher wages even when the whole body is hurting (in a recession)and that hurts everyone becasue prices and cost of living goes up. In short, and in very general terms, they think only of themselves and are often oblivious to the problems and concerns that are not directly affecting them. The problem is, almost all people in power do this now (including the employers). So unfortunately, even though there was nothing wrong with what Wisconsin did, it was too little, too late. I predict this will do little to solve the real problem at any real rate because it will take a complete overhaul of our culture back to Gospel principles–not the unholy trinity that we promote across the culture today: ME, MYSELF, I.
This is my humble opinion.
Peace, Braden.
When the state has to pay an "unfair" portion of worker's pension, healthcare, fraudulent overtime pay, etc. to union employees it is taking away from other services that would have been provided to the general population (public good). Additionally, since these reforms were enacted the state budget has improved, unemployment has decreased and Wisconsin is now in a better financial state to provide government services to its people (improving public good). I hope that answers your question.
Those are not examples of when the union has negotiated in bad faith. Those are examples of contracts the state agreed to, in solid economic times. So, we'll try again. Someone point out actual specific negotiations in recent history when unions in Wisconsin negotiated in bad faith.
Braden has a point in that the Unions negotiated in good faith for the benfit of their membership. It is beyond difficult to negotiate for the common good and the membership. I sit in negotiations now representing a company not a state. The company and the union are represented but not the common good. Both parties are supposed to acknowledge this but easier said than done. Equally Gov. Walker was handed a mess created by years of previous contract negotiations that now the state cannot afford without harming the common good as perceived by the majority of the population of Wisconsin. Hugely unfair situation for both the govenor and the unions but none the less it must be addressed. My understanding was the unions did offer concessions but the elected government of the state believed these to be insufficient to fix the financial situation. Now the parties are stuck and there is not a win-win answer. The general population of Wisconsin (or the next state in line) including businesses can belly up and pay the higher taxes or the unions can be forced to accept more concessions. It is left to the "State" in this case to make a decision for the common good. Unfortunately this decision is not made outside of the process and Omar describes. There is no neutral third party to make the decision on common good. It therefore has to be political. The final answer until the next election in Wisconsin is that the majority has determined that the common good is best served by further union concessions and the only way to achieve this is to diminish the collective bargaining rights. Very ugly but as someone else points out, the next election is the answer. The government did what they thought best for the common good and so far the majority of the people in Wisconsin agreed.
I think this is an actual example.
PS What is it on this site with the dislikes? I expect we differ in our opinions but I'd never tag you to get your comment hidden. Oh, well. Pax.


text:
|Create a free SCUK account and get access to the forums and our regular newsletter.
|Jul 28, 2015
Snozone Milton Keynes
The Milton Keynes Snozone is situated about 10 minutes from junction 14 of the M1. You can see the Xscape complex that houses the slope from the M1 and the building dominates the skyline for miles around. The slope eventually opened on 2nd October 2000 after some considerable delay and offers the longest slope and arguably the best indoor snow in the UK.
We have all the recent news on this slope here.
Slope Runs
Opening Times
There is a four hour freestyle session available on Thursday and Friday nights between 7pm and 11pm. The first Saturday in every month will have a five hour freestyle session called "Park Strife". All of these sessions cost £35.
Equipment Hire
Hire of Snozone's ski/board equipment is included in the entry price. Helmets are freely available and must be worn by juniors, anybody involved in competitive racing and anybody using the jumps. Clothing is separately available for a small fee.
Other Facilities
The slope is overlooked by the bar/restaurant and the Esporta gymnasium.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Kimberly B.
My fiancé, Ben, and I live in Chicago. I knew that we were going to get engaged; it was just a matter of time. I could wait for the ring, but I wanted to make sure that the venue, the Newberry Library, and the church were available. Ben agreed that I could book the venue and the church, but I had to promise not to tell anyone until we got engaged.
On February 22, 2008, Ben told me that he had a special date planned. He took me to 5 pm mass at St. Michael's, and then to our favorite restaurant. We then walked to the Newberry Library, where a wedding had moved from the main library entrance and into the dining room. It was decorated beautifully, and there was a chair waiting for me. At the top of the stairs, a harpist started playing, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Ben then got on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I was crying, and obviously said, "Yes."
I then looked outside and saw a horse carriage waiting for us. The carriage took us to a famous Chicago spot - the Pump Room. When we arrived, we were served champagne and a dessert that spelled out: "Congratulations - You're Engaged!" in chocolate. It didn't end there, as my family was located one block away at a different restaurant waiting for our news. It was amazing, and indeed, a tough one to beat!


text:
Recently added item(s)
You have no items in your shopping cart.
You are about to change the currency that is being displayed.
This conversion is an estimate and you will be billed in GBP when your order is placed
iPhone Case
iPad Mini Case
Mule Slipper
Small Zip Pouch
Long Wellie Boot
Small Zip Cosmetic Case
Key Ring
Tear Off Pad Trio Set
Travel Card Holder
Medium Tote
Foldaway Tote


text:
High Speed Steel
High Speed Steels are high alloy; W-Mo-V-Co-Cr containing steels designed to cut metal and other materials efficiently at high speeds. They must stand up to the extreme heat generated at the tool's cutting edge. Typical high speed tools include twist drills, spade drills, end mills, taps, reamers, broaches, hobs, punches, form tools and tool bits.
Hot Work Tool Steel
Tool steels used in hot forming and die casting applications. These steels require a good combination of high-temperature strength(hot hardness and temper resistance), wear resistance, toughness and heat check resistance. Typical applications include forging dies, hot upset dies, die inserts, extrusion tooling including liners, dummy blocks, stems and die casting dies.
Cold Work Tool Steel
Cold work tool steels are used in applications which require a good combination of wear resistance, toughness and compressive strength allowing metal forming, cutting and stamping operations to be performed. Typical applications include blanking, drawing, cold extrusion, fine blanking, thread rolling, knives, metal forming, powder compacting, rolling, shearing, rotary dies, cold forging and swaging dies.
Powder Metallurgy
PM High Speed and Tool Steels, produced by Carpenter Powder Products, offer superior corrosion, wear, toughness and temper resistance for the most demanding tooling applications. PM-produced high speed steels offer the ultimate in impact and wear resistance for cutting tools. SBSM is the exclusive supplier of PEAK Spray Form (PSF)materials.
Knife Steel
SB Specialty Metals is proud to be the exclusive distributor for Carpenter Technology's family of knife steel. We are a full line distributor of conventional and PM stainless and tool steel grades for knife steel applications. Typical applications include industrial knives, kitchen cutlery, hunting knives and folding knives.
Premium Products
SB Specialty Metals offers a premium line of Tool Steels and High Speed Steels to meet your most demanding tooling applications. We now carry conventional and air melted materials as well as ESR and VAR quality grades. These materials along with Carpenter Powder Products and Spray Form products allow our customers to choose from a full line of material options.


text:
The Sony HVL-20DW2 Video light is switchable between 10W and 20W. Designed to mount onto the camcorder's accessory shoe, the HVL-20DW2 provides 10W operation when used with an NPF-550 InfoLithium battery, and 20W operation when used with NP-F750 or NP-F960 InfoLithium batteries (batteries must be purchased separately).
Camcorders without an accessory shoe require the optional VCT-S30L shoe bracket.
Sony NPF-730, NPF-750, and NPF-950 batteries are the only ones that will work in the 20W mode.
- Dual Operation
- 10 Watts or 20 Watts can be selected by the user.


text:
A colleague recently came across a funny website I thought you'd enjoy. It listed some hilarious mistakes people made on their résumés. Here are a few highlights:
"Skills: Strong work ethic, attention to detail, team player, self-motivated, attention to detail."
"I have a demonstrated ability in multi-tasting."
"Graduated in 1882."
"Took a career break to renovate my horse."
"My work ethics are impeachable."
"I consistently tanked as top sales producer for new accounts."
"Dear sir or madman…"
"Skills: I can type without lokng at thekeyboard."
"Instrumental in ruining entire operation for a Midwest chain store."
One woman sent in her résumé and cover letter without deleting a friend's edits, including such comments as, "I don't think you want to say this about yourself here."
The whole job interview process can be stressful, can't it? Certainly none of us want to make the kind of mistakes listed above, but maybe there's some wisdom in not taking ourselves quite so seriously and lightening up just a bit.
Do you have a funny job interview moment – as interviewer or interviewee – you'd like to share?
Follow me on Twitter @Dalyfocus
Follow me on Facebook
Keep up with Focus on the Family on Facebook
Simply confirm your registered email address below and click "Reset Password." We will immediately email you a link back to the site where you can enter a new password for this account.
The Intersection of Faith & Reason
Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved.


text:
As a professional building designer, I personally walk each site and
consider lot limitations, orientations and panoramas.
This information is coupled with the criteria of the homeowner
and serves as an integral part of the design process.
I have personally designed thousands of homes in Texas
and over thirty additional states. With over twenty years experience
in custom home design, I am sure you would benefit by using my firm
and its services.
If I can be of any assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me directly."
Todd Rice, President
Rice Residential Design, L.L.C.
Katy Freeway, Suite 250 | Houston, Texas 77024 | phone 713.984.8604 | fax


text:
Versatile, year-round sportcoats tailored with soft shoulders., full lining, and easy drape. 100% wool. Dry clean. Imported.
Additional Sizes:
Color : Select Swatch Below
On all online orders$50 or more◊
For Assistance Contact us Toll Free Anytime at 1-800-285-2265
California Transparency In Supply Chains Disclosure
1-800-285-2265 ©Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc.


text:
Thank you. If a matching email exists we will send you an email in a few minutes with instructions on how to reset your password.
Don't forget to check your spam folder if you cannot find the email. For further assistance please contact us at email@example.com .Okay
Vintage By Dounia
Our love for vintage finds is the driving force behind this handpicked collection. From furniture to small accents we strive to make any home simply one-of-a-kind.


text:
Register now for free, or sign in with any of these services:
Status: Open
Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Saturday & late appts. Available270762attr:sunglassesultrasound
Grand Vision opened in 2010 and has committed to the highest standards of care and quality since its inception. For your convenience, Grand Vision has Saturday and evening hours available to accommodate nearly any schedule. Our optometrist, Dr. John Musselman, has been treating patients for 30 years.
Be the first NOLA.com user to add photos or videos of Grand Vision LLC
Highest prices around and poor quality lenses! Sorry guys, I've been getting glasses for many years and never dealt with such an unprofessional place like this.
Treatment of Eye Diseases, Over 30 Insurance Plans Accepted, Over 1000 Designer Frames, Comprehensive Eye Exam
Eye Exams, Eye Treatment, Glasses, Lenses and Contacts


text:
Town Square
Tis' time for Paint Satrick's Day
Original post made by Tis'Bailey, in step, another community, on Mar 10, 2009
It is, as always, Paint Satrick's day when the gathering of the Paisley, as is all step-Irish, meets at Satrick's aka Round Table Pizza Alamo, for the planning but never painting of Satricks.
Shall we celebrate in this year of forlorn a most wonderful Paint Satrick's day come Tuesday, March Seventeenth?
Sure, and I'll be there at pub time come 2PM in the afternoon.
Hal Bailey
Don't miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.
Primaries and Pivots
By Tom Cushing | 21 comments | 653 views


text:
Pipreola riefferii the green-and-black fruiteater is a species of bird in the Cotingidae family.
The green-and-black fruiteater is found in subtropical or tropical forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Learn more about the unique features of Pipreola riefferiis and what distinguishes the fruiteater from other member of the family.
Discover more about where to find the green and black fruiteater and what sort of habitat it lives in.
Find out more about the size and reproduction of the green and black fruiteater.
Find out the current status of the Pipreola riefferii population and how it has been evaluated in BirdLife International's Red List.
Get reference material for Pipreola riefferii.
Pipreola riefferii © Steve Blain
Pipreola riefferii
Pipreola riefferii nest and eggs.
Nest, eggs and skin. Santa Elena, 8 km east of Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia. © Thomas Knight Salmon Collection
Senior Curator, Bird Group, Department of Life Sciences.


text:
Great articles on other sites
Great articles on other sites
- iiNet founder Michael Malone finally backs TPG Telecom takeover
- How and why the public sector must make friends with artificial intelligence
- Second anniversary of IT pricing report approaches - Computerworld
- Doctors spend 15 mins opening Fiona Stanley Hospital software
- What to expect from Abbott's national cyber security strategy
- ISPs need more time for data retention compliance
- TPG iiNet bid: major shareholders complain
- Qld emergency services payroll replacement on the rocks
- Victoria to wait another eight months for public IT dashboard
- Superloop CEO slams Australian govt tech policies
Renai's other site: Sci-fi + fantasy book news and reviews
Renai LeMay
- Kim Stanley Robinson's new book Aurora is due in July
- What's the future of "Grimdark" fantasy?
- An epic rant from Richard Morgan about nuance in writing
- Brandon Sanderson's Firefight: Review
- Get into Jeff VanderMeer's head as he writes the Southern Reach trilogy
- George R. R. Martin's next book The Winds of Winter won't arrive in 2015
- Alastair Reynolds' Poseidon's Wake launches 16 April
- Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword: Review
- Ann Leckie finishes Ancillary Mercy
- Hannu Rajaniemi's The Fractal Prince: Review
News, Telecommunications - Written by Renai LeMay on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 11:23 - 73 Comments
Copper network rotting? "Nonsense", says Turnbull
news Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described as "nonsense" claims by unions that Telstra's existing copper network is on the verge of collapse, which would make it unsuitable for use in the Coalition's fibre to the node National Broadband Network strategy.
Last week Telstra chief executive David Thodey was asked about the state of the telco's copper network, given that Telstra has several times over the past decade warned the Government that the network would not last forever, including on one memorable occasion in 2003 when the telco said the network was "at five minutes to midnight".
Thodey's comments that the network was in good shape and could last another 100 years (referring to its century-old history) spurred an angry response from unions on the issue. For example, the Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union, which counts many Telstra staff amongst its members, alleged that the telco's telecommunications pits had been nicknamed 'bad-dad' or 'Baghdad' because of the extensive use of plastic bags to keep water out of the infrastructure.
The issue is particularly pressing for the Coalition, as the Coalition's NBN policy will see a large portion of the copper network reused as it rolls out fibre only to neighbourhood 'nodes', rather than all the way to premises as under Labor's existing NBN plan.
Turnbull conducted an interview on June 19 with ABC journalist Jake Sturmer with regard to this and other issues associated with the National Broadband Network rollout. However, Sturmer failed to use material from the interview in a segment broadcast on Monday's ABC News at 7pm. Because of this, Turnbull has published the full text of the interview on his site.
In the interview, Turnbull said: "It is obviously a big network and it's delivering the bulk of our telecommunications services, at least in the last mile at the moment but there are areas where it is in poor repair, areas where under any regime where it's going to be used there would need to be remediation. But the proposition that copper is obsolete or is rotting or is on the point of dissolving is nonsense."
"Under our approach of fibre-to-the-node most of the copper is replaced in any event, it's only the copper from the street cabinet to the premise that is left in place and that by and large is the part of the copper network that has the least maintenance problems because it is least touched. You'll find that with telecom networks, whether they're copper or fibre, the greatest number of faults occur where the most hands are put on them."
Turnbull said he had heard about the term 'Baghdad' in reference to Telstra's network, but encouraged Sturmer to take "a reality check" on the issue.
"That copper network, which you are trying to paint the picture of just being on the verge of collapse is actually carrying almost of all Australia's fixed line telecommunications over that last mile. So you just have to have a bit of a reality check here," he said.
Yesterday Turnbull also published a statement on his site regarding maintenance costs on the FTTN network constructed in the United States by massive telco AT&T. It is generally considered that FTTN maintenance costs are expected to be higher than FTTH costs, due to the inclusion of the legacy copper technology in FTTN rollouts, as well as the necessity of using powered 'nodes' to connect the copper and fibre infrastructure in FTTN networks, compared to the lack of powered nodes in comparable FTTH networks.
In the transcript of the May conference, AT&T president of network operations Bill Smith was asked about cost savings with respect to FTTN networks compared with FTTH networks. "I don't agree with the hypothesis that most of the problems are from the node to the home," said Smith, referring to the portion of FTTN networks which consists of copper. "That's a very short distance in the model that we're using – you know, generally speaking it's less than 3,000 feet."
"And so in today's world — look let's say we've got a home that's 20,000 feet from the central office. Maintaining 20,000 feet of copper – yeah, there's maintenance costs there. In the fibre to the node architecture, I'm only maintaining 3,000 feet. Everything else is fibre. And the reality is that in some regards, there is a lot of activity that goes on in the neighbourhood. You know, I drive into my neighbourhood and I see somebody planting a bush or something – you know, I kind of react to that. Because any time I see a shovel going into the ground that's a potential problem for me. But fixing a copper cut cable is a simpler deal than trying to repair fibre. So you know, I think we will see frankly – we've got a pretty broad base of footprint for our u-Verse build, our project light-speed that we built our u-Verse on. And the fault rates are low so we get a lot of cost savings on that."
Look, it's pretty hard to disagree with what Turnbull's saying here. He's right — the majority of Australia's broadband needs are currently successfully served by Telstra's copper network infrastructure, and that isn't going to change any time soon. The network is not at five minutes to midnight; in fact, its fault rate is generally pretty good, owing to the constant investment which Telstra is ploughing into it. Also, remember that unions typically support Labor and love criticising Telstra, so it's no surprise to see them criticising the copper network to be used in the Coalition's FTTN plan here. These are political comments as well as technical comments.
And while it's easy to criticise his use of AT&T's self-serving comments regarding FTTN maintenance costs, it's also true that this is a major telco, comparable to the size of Telstra, saying this publicly in response to financial analyst questions. Turnbull is fully entitled to refer to AT&T's comments on this issue as an international example to help make his case locally for FTTN. Let those who don't agree with Turnbull's use of AT&T statements in this regard stack up evidence for the other side.
Of course, we also need to ask: Is Turnbull telling the whole story here? The obvious answer is 'no'. There is also a lot of truth to the union claims that Telstra's network has many, many problems, many of them literally fixed with plastic bags over copper cables. We've all seen the shocking photos and everyone has stories about abysmal MDUs etc. Telstra's copper network does have issues — things aren't as pristine as the telco would like us to believe. If you dig under the surface of Telstra's copper network, a thousand little problems crawl out like cockroaches, as we've seen with the recent asbestos scandal.
As for the ABC reporter who Turnbull claimed neglected to include his comments in the ABC News piece, I have to say that I also agree with the Liberal MP on this one. You can't simply claim that the Opposition "was not available for comment" on an issue on which you've interviewed their representative only days before. That's misrepresenting the situation. At worst, Sturmer could have drawn from the many other publicly available interviews in which Turnbull has made his opinion clear on the copper, or from the Member for Wentworth's parliamentary speeches. That's what I usually do when I can't get a direct comment on an issue. You say something like "The Coalition has previously said that its stance is this …".
Image credit: Office of Malcolm Turnbull
73 Comments
I can agree with the fact the copper network is kicking along fine.
By my whole issue is the fact the copper network can NOT sustain the speeds we are after.
question: if we all get VOIP then what would happen to Emperor Turnbulls clothing?
@wayne – you and Turnbull obviously don't do ULL & PSTN faults.
The biggest lie from Turnbull in the entire article is: "the greatest number of faults occur where the most hands are put on them."
As a Telco Business Analyst, with direct experience (and reporting work) on faults I can say that this is utter bullshit.
When reviewing Time-domain reflectometry results it is clear that the vast majority of faults on the line run are those within 0-1000m from the far end (the customer).
You will often see attenuation (db) spiking over 60db within 0-500m of the house, which when you transpose over Telstra cable run reports it will usually indicate a bridge tap, battery.
The other common occurrence are faults just where the cable enters the house and the socket. See as you'll note from the pit/pillar to the exchange the run is under ground. From the Pit to Pillar the line run is strung via the telegraph poles and thus exposed to all nature of issues like birds and animals chewing out the insulation.
Of course one reason why Telstra's offical reports on faults does reflect the severity of these issues is that the techs will often have Alcatel speed touch ADSL devices that they use for testing.
These things can sync at 60db attenuation when most consumer quality devices will flap or just outright fail at 50db.
The larger problem though that Turnbull has is that there is simply no way that they will be able to offer 50mbps. Look at iiNet's ADSL2 sync distribution maps. At present the vast majority of people on iiNet's ADSL2 sync less then 50% the theortical throughput.
You buy a 24/1mbps service and you barely get 10mbps.
The same and worse will happen with VDSL. You buy a 50mbps and you'll barely sync at 19mbps – and that's if your a clean line run.
If your unlucky like hundreds of thousands of inner and outer (especially) metropolitan residences are you'll be lucky to get a few stable periods of very low throughput.
That said if you want to know the true motive of a liberal you only have to see where his wallet is. I wouldn't put it past Turnbull to have secret shares in the leading VDSL modem manufacturer. I worked for Turnbull at OzEmail and the sweat shop conditions they put us under in St Leonards (concrete floor, no air-condition) was a nightmare. If he can do this to the company that made him his first major fortune then he'll do it to the rest of Australia.
I wish I could highlight your post in bold. The last mile is touched FAR more often and that's where all the faults are. Turnbull wants to rip out the only reliable part of the network and leave the unreliable part as copper. What a joke, I used to think he was a smart man but he obviously has no clue.
Are the electrical costs of FTTN actually higher overall? Read somewhere, recently, that the costs of a powered node are basically the same costs as the optical termination hardware that'd otherwise sit in every premise in a FTTH rollout.
That is Wrong
The reason is simple people still need a Modem for ADSL and the power used by the modem is equal to or more than the NTD.
This is not an apples with apples comparison. With the NBN, you will need an additional WiFi gateway to distribute the signal through your house. The NTD provides only a single Ethernet port (yes there are 4 ports on the device, but they don't work like normal routers). This additional WiFi device will chew as much power as the single DSL modem/WiFi base station needed for a FTTN solution.
Like it or not, FTTP is the more power hungry option within the premises.
This is true. However as has been well established overall power requirements including end user equipment are higher for FTTN.
The difference however isn't as huge as most have been lead to believe. The "two extra power plants" often quoted comes to mind
"Well established"? By whom? When? References?
Alright. But please note this is a zombie horse topic.
Active switched nodes will need infinitely more power than passive, but that is being disingenuous. (x / 0 is infinite i.e. #DIV0! in Excel)
The whole GPON network will use X kWh per annum, up to the user boundary
The whole FTTN network will use X+Y kWh per annum up to the same point.
The only argument (that is valid) is the value of Y.
If there are 70,000 cabinets using 1 kWh per day, that is 25.55 GWh per annum.
NBN Co could be paying an average price of $0.10 per kWh ($100 per MWh), or thereabouts.
That is about ~$2,500,000 a year for each kWh consumed each day (average per node), over the power cost of GPON
Why measure it up to the user boundary? The user power is still power, still has a cost, no?
The other thing is that DSL modems don't actually draw power from the phone line (not DC power anyhow).
Yes, but a cost to who?
Do you factor in the cost of running your television as part of the cost of having Foxtel?
That's not even the right analogy. The more accurate analogy would be, would Foxtel factor in the cost of you running your television as part of the cost of providing that service to you?
Charts I've seen show FTTN as double the electricity per subscriber as GPON.
I think Simon Hackett might have referred to the chart (it's from a research paper) in his recent CommsDay talk but I don't remember for sure: http://simonhackett.com/2013/04/09/cd-syd-2013-problem-with-fttn/
Both FTTN and FTTP solutions requre a NTD. With the FTTN is is BYO, Some of these can act as a router also, as per an ADSL router.Power consumption of the NTDs is abour the same for both networks, although some people will buy a VDSL2 modem/router not just a VDSL2 modem.
Power differences for network delivery are quite different. The addition of 'mini nodes' and FTTB will drive up electricity use also.
There will also be additional civil works to get power to some nodes.
Saying they are replacing much of the copper is a furphy as most of that copper is fine and has been kept in good condition. It is the last mile that is stuffed which makes sense from a business perspective faults that affect many people are fixed as they are worth fixing but faults affecting a single house are not fixed.
The AT&T comment does not provide any data for actual costs of maintenance of FttN vs the current network since according to Malcolm Everyone is doing FttN this data should be readily available.
Then there is the Fault Rate or as it is properly called the Voice Fault Rate as not getting an internet connection is not considered a Fault by Telstra so how is this number relevant at all?
To use an analogy why should be get to eat steaks when shit will suffice….
Thanks Mal.
that obviously should be "should we get"
Really really need edit button Renai.
Great article! Balanced, objective and truthful.
Come on it is funny when they bite onto such an obvious line.
Of course MT would say this, just as Conroy will say the opposite…
Regardless, some are missing the point IMO… dirt roads would have sufficed too, but would they have been a better option than asphalt…?
Once again, here's what MT's conservative colleagues abroad say about copper related technologies…
Mal can live at my place on a wet day and see how good the copper is.
That's my point Kevin.
Your internet works. It may be slow but it works.
Telstra don't care about the speed you get. They will just say you copper is fine
Does Kevin use VOIP?
FTTN has always struck me as a more sensible plan, just on a cost vs quality angle.
Sure, to the door would allow for better speeds, but:
a) most users won't need these speeds
b) getting the last mile as fibre is available for a charge, and to be honest you can probably afford the charge if you're eyeing off the high performance plans anyway.
Complaining that the general speeds are not fast enough under the FTTN plan is (IMAO) like complaining that neither system is the speed that some areas of Japan are rigged for (where's my 2gbit link). The amount of money saved by going FTTN could be better spent elsewhere, as long as people who "need" it (or must have it) can pay some smallish amount of cash (a few grand, depends where you live compared to your node) to have the last mile as fiber then it is suitable.
And before you complain about paying for the last mile yourself (if thats what you want) consider it as an investment in your home, as you could use it as a selling point.
"If" we end up with an LBN I'll wait for Telstra/ Optus (even the Chinese government) to roll out FTTH as I WILL NOT PAY FOR FTTN, I'd rather stay with my crappy ADSL which cuts out when it rains and I cannot use the voice component due to interference and I'm just under 600 cable metres to my Top Hat enabled RIM.
Screw FTTN, I agree with the dirt road to bitumen analogy, copper's day as a communications medium has done it's dash in Australia and it's time to move on today, not in 5-10 years time.
As Gough said – It's Time!
"And before you complain about paying for the last mile yourself (if thats what you want) consider it as an investment in your home, as you could use it as a selling point."
What about the renters you Douche!
Digital divide much? Most tenants find it hard to get needed maintenance done let alone installing FoD.
Well, if your predictions on network speeds and who needs them, is correct as opposed to all the major network companies, we will indeed save money going FTTN. If however the lay mans opinion is incorrect, we have just wasted billions.
"FTTN has always struck me as a more sensible plan, just on a cost vs quality angle."
FTTN is probably OK if you aren't looking more than 10 years down the track. FTTP is as close to future proof as we can build at the moment. With the current growth of demand in speed, by the time the FTTN network is complete it will be just about obsolete and it will be time to start spending just as much money again to update it.
While technology will be cheaper in the future, the costs of labor will only go up, most of the costs of "last mile" connectivity is in the labor so putting it off is a false economy.
@Adam, this is the type of arrogance I expect from Turnbull and the coalition supporters. To say that the speeds delivered by FTTH aren't needed by residential users is idiotic and myopic.
Copper IS the weak link in Turnbull's "plan" I've had BT infinity when I lived in England and the service was up and down like a blue arsed fly, because the copper is the weak link.
Turnbull is in denial about the copper, like Abbott was in denial about climate change. Sticking his head in the sand and hoping that the copper is ok is just idiotic.
I would have to label you as a Turnbull true believer.
1. The demand for internet speed and capacity is growing at an enormous rate. Copper is not able to provide the capacity that is going to be required by a household in the foreseeable future and the only material that will is fibre optic cable. Fibre is the only available material that is capable of handling the increasing demand over the next 50 years. You might like to note that more than one user and more than one device will be increasingly using the available internet capacity in a premises.
2. Building a network that you know is going to have to be replaced by the time it is completed is a waste of money. Turnbull claims that his FTTN is going to be about $3billion cheaper than the current NBN FTTP roll out. What Turnbull hasn't revealed is how much extra he is going to have to pay Telstra for the copper from the node to the premises or what the replacement cost of the FTTN network is going to be when that becomes necessary. Postponing asset purchases often is poor financial management. I hate to think what the lost opportunity cost will be if we end up with FTTN instead of FTTP.
3 There is no money "saved" by going to FTTN that can be used for anything else. The money for the network is being borrowed to construct the network. This money is to be repaid by NBN Co. to the Government together with 7+% interest. The money to repay the government will come from the NBN Co customers. ie RSPs. Therefore there is no money just floating around that can be used to bolster budget expense items like education or health.
4. The furphy of paying for fibre for the "last mile" is another disingenuous mouth flap by Turnbull with absolutely no consideration about the practicality of what he was saying. The first thing that comes to mind is that if it was tried it would be a "lawyers picnic" and my great grandson or granddaughter, who isn't even a gleam in there fathers eye yet, will be dead before the first fibre drop is allowed to be made.
Everything you have presented is old hat offerings from Turnbull and each one has been well and truly rebutted by experts. I would suggest that you need to take a good long hard look at the subject and what has already been written by knowledgeable people. You can then decide if you really want to regurgitate Turnbull's tripe.
"FTTN has always struck me as a more sensible plan, just on a cost vs quality angle"
Let's look at that…
1. FTTN has a very short lifespan because of it's data transmission limitations. Therefore, a FTTN network must be amortized over less than 10 years, while a FTTP network can be amortized over 60 years or more.
Result = FTTN is more expensive
2. Copper in general has a much higher maintenance cost than fibre. The main reason is that locating a fault with fibre can be done very quickly while with copper there is a lot more work involved (and time is money)
Result = FTTN is more expensive
3. Let's just suppose that Australian business and the Australian people want the capability to grow at whatever pace they can rather than be limited by the communication systems available. Now if FTTN can offer upload speeds to the vast majority of the population that allow for 2-way HD communication (say at least 10Mbps up), then FTTN could work for that…but FTTN cannot, so it is a huge limitation.
Result = FTTN is a major barrier to success
@Adam – "b) getting the last mile as fibre is available for a charge, and to be honest you can probably afford the charge if you're eyeing off the high performance plans anyway."
Err what? Last time I checked, current NBN plans are comparable (sometimes even cheaper), then the current ADSL2+ plans from the major ISP's. So if people are on the current 1TB iiNet ADSL2+, and then wish to go onto the 1TB 100/40Mbps NBN plan (both $99.95).. those people are 'living the high life'?
Get off it. That's the best thing about the current FTTH NBN, for a new technology there isn't the whole new technology tax! Yes Telstra, I'm looking at you (3G, 4G when they first came out, and even now).
29 billion for fttn
32 billion for fttp
Where was the cost advantage of FTTN again?
"a) most users won't need these speeds"
Of the people I know only their parents/grandparents would necessarily be able to state this. Even then things like netflix which hopefully might one day reach us would then suddenly turn that statement on its head (my parents whom are now in the US use it exclusively and love it now they have discovered it).
Current copper isn't currently able to provide decent speeds let alone enough. Most of my friends luck out with bad copper/infrastructure and are stuck at below 5mb speeds (one should be getting 18ish). Even at 10 I can generally only do one thing on my connection (youtube/streams(in HD) or torrents or gaming). For my friends and their internet savvy kids its a nightmare to fight over the limited bandwidth (and its bandwidth not quota which is the issue).
b) getting the last mile as fibre is available for a charge, and to be honest you can probably afford the charge if you're eyeing off the high performance plans anyway.
a 25mb or 50mb plan is more than affordable currently and on par with our current BB plans! Sure if you want the 100/40 with heaps of quota it gets more expensive but even then that far in the way pales from being able to fork out a lazy $2-3k (and probably much like solar panels its not something that will boost the $value of your property more likely just make it more appealing to buy at the same price point).
This is not the copper network that is rotting *waves hand*
LOL. *waves hand* FTTN will be fine.
1) Yes, the copper network is currently carrying Australia's telecommunications. But is it 'fit' for the purpose? If you're only talking about phone calls, then sure. But this is not 1984 – it is 2013. The question is, does the current copper network provide reliable infrastructure upon which Australians can perform the breadth of telecommunications tasks they need and desire? The fact is, even if all the 'evidence' against the reliability of the network is anecdotal, that's a hell of a lot of anecdotes from Australians using the network and reporting it to be inadequate. Forget about speed – the existing copper network is incapable of supporting a reliable Internet service at any speed 24/7 for many people, particularly during bad weather. That makes it not fit for purpose, and ignoring these problems (which are predominantly last mile issues) when upgrading to FTTN will leave us with a network which is simply not up to the task.
2) You've quoted Telstra's claim that the fault rate on the network is 'generally pretty good'. But that claim relies on Telstra's fault reporting processes which have been revealed through anecdotal testimony of various Internet discussion boards to be vastly misleading (if not deliberately falsified) – it appears to be common practice for Telstra technicians to submit job summaries with 'no fault found' as a result of discovering and then fixing a reported fault. The result of such concerted activity is clearly a massive alteration of fault statistics, it means Telstra can't be trusted to report the fault rate and most importantly it means we have no way to reliably estimate the actual quality of the network. That's not important for FTTH, but it is critical for FTTN.
@TrevorX yes, you're 100% correct. The CAN is ok (for the most part) for voice, like a dirt road is fine for horses or wagons, but not late model sports cars.
Just take a look at whirlpool at the number of people who bitch about their ADSL being unreliable or unusable when there's rain. This is the 'D' side of the copper that Turnbull in his idiotic dismissive arrogance claims is fine and in perfect condition to support the much higher frequencies required for VDSL2.
When it rains, my ADSL is up and down like a blue arsed fly, often up to 60 reconnects in 24 hours. It's not going to be better under FTTN, but worse.
Telstra have no obligation other than to provide a functional telephone line to make and receive voice calls on. If you get ADSL that's a bonus. Try and get Telstra to guarantee any speeds out of copper and they'll just laugh at you.
Which raises the question I have made countless times over the past few months – what precisely will the LNP 'guarantee' of 50 & 100mbps minimum consist of? By what mechanism will the guarantee be introduced, monitored and enforced? A guarantee that's not guaranteed against anything (in this case, some form of binding legal mechanism) is not a guarantee, it is a platitude.
And sure, the LNP can't guarantee a new law will pass without a majority in parliament, but they can at least describe their intentions. Despite the insistence of the media that the LNP have provided guarantees, right now we have nothing but empty political promises from a party that has consistently demonstrated an eversion to honesty and accuracy in its statements for years. There's a word for people who continue to believe statements from those with a history of dishonesty – suckers.
Agreed, we have now the opportunity to invest in new technology and these recalcitrants want to do CPR on the copper network. For what? An incremental speed increase? Zero reliability improvements.
Come on… Spend the extra 3 % for the passive fibre network and don't even bother with the copper from the node interim measure.
I don't want a slightly better speed for tens of billions of dollars.
I am absolutely opposed to spending money on propping up the copper.
AT&T is trying to divert questions about their own technology. Message to the shareholders: Nothing to see here…We have the best systems on the face of the planet. It costs nothing to run, is reliable and oh so fast.
Prove it. Prove that copper is more reliable and cheaper to run. Otherwise it is hot air.
Completely anecdotal.. but I would settle w/ Telstra just getting the phone lines to work properly =/
Mine has carked it at least twice a year. And every time I have to go through the fuss of calling Telstra to get it fixed. And then pray they actually *fix* the damn thing as I've had several occasions where the supposed tech went and reported it as "fault fixed" and my phoneline was still dead…
and how did i know besides the obvious? My alarm is connected to my phone lines and likes to "gently" remind me the connection has gone faulty w/ a small high pitched *beep* that I can hear all throughout the house. Yes that was a very fun experience when Telstra sent techs that said it was "fixed/no line fault" over the span of 3 weeks till it was eventually resolved xD
I live in a regional area and have ADSL 1 currently (only option besides dialup or non-existent mobile broadband).
When everything is peachy, it works reliably and is plenty fast enough for my uses. Pings are fine etc.
The problem is when everything is not peachy. If it rains for more than 1 day, suddenly I lose reliable internet access. If it rains for a couple of days, I lose the phone line completely.
If you were to look up the faults reported on my line per year, you'd see only 1 or 2 per year. 2 days of faults out of 365 days per year.. that's a pretty decent line you might say. But that doesn't take into account the process behind resolving a fault, which goes like this:
1) Call ISP, lodge fault.
2) ISP books Telstra tech, who can't come out immediately.
3) 2 or 3 days later, Telstra tech appears. Of course by now, the rain has stopped (techs can't work in the rain after all, it's dangerous to mix electricity with water) and whatever was causing the fault has started to dry out.
4) Telstra tech can't find any fault with the line, other than "it's a bit staticy, but you have an internet connection so that's all I can do".
5) I get charged a call out fee ($140 or so).
I can't afford to run this rigmarole more than once or twice a year, especially given that I can't get anyone to come and look at it while the fault is actually occuring!.
So, we end up with "low fault report count".
If only (like the current NBN hardware) Telstra had some form of testing/monitoring equipment at the customer end. So they couldn't blame your hardware, the ISP, Zeus, Martians, plus it would run tests on the line when it went down and located the approx location of the fault.
I've seen this sort of fault myself, its due to a damaged conduit that has cut into the cable. Takes a couple of days for the water to soak into the ground far enough to kill it. No wonder they can't find the fault to fix it. Could even be in your front yard.
Turnbull's perfect copper must be why my ADSL2+ which normally delivers 2.1 Mbps is running at 288 Kbps during the current wet weather today. Yes, all the cabling is good, and the router is a top of the line Fritz!Box.
We have been swapped onto every spare copper pair in our street.
There are no improvements on the horizon without replacing the copper with new copper or fibre, and in the 2010s it makes no sense to thread new copper into the ground.
Fibre is the answer, not copper, no matter how much Turnbull panders to Telstra as it proposes the same eight-year-old plan which John Howard rejected.
Its funny how an 'intelligent' person does not realise, the copper network was built for making voice calls… (that is what it was specifically been designed to do – way back when)
Nowadays, we are using the same old technology (as a stop gap) and forcing data down the same old cable that is designed to handle voice.
Fibre is meant for data, voice, TV, and who knows what else.
Copper is simply old fashioned, unreliable, and not as good as Malcolm makes out (go figure) and is better used to power your home, street lights and the FTTN cabinets that will most likely be built (if at all)
I used to work for a Telco and have sent this first hand.
Fact: If you were to pick 500 pits (that's the Telstra ones out the front of your home) at random, open them up and inspect them – you WILL find that MOST, if not all, have rotten, green copper cables instead of the COPPER colour they once were, again – way back when/then.
Fact: The cables going TO the exchange from the pillars are in much (MUCH MUCH) better condition then the last mile is.
But seriously, it is depressing just how stupid us Aussies can be – especially if we vote in a govt that has no idea.
Please call me a zealot, and an IT professional that has no idea – I'd gladly wager that 500 RANDOMLY PICKED pits contain nothing but badly damaged cables. Hell Malcolm, Tony or Pine can even pick the 500 pit…thats really how bad they are. But make sure you have the MSM there to report on it when they inspect them.
That is all :)
I like Thodey's comments about going another 100 years. It is exactly the opposite of what Telstra has said for years. Impressive reverse somersault with a half twist. Malcolm must award him with a perfect 10 out of 10.
"Some may say that the last hundred years have left the copper degraded, oxidised and nearing the end of its life cycle. I say they are are all wrong… Copper doesn't oxidise. I have miraculously changed the nature of this metal and it will now be better, stronger and faster than the 6 million dollar man. It will never, ever, ever be a poor transmitter of electrical current ever! Over to you Malcolm…"
Maybe Thodey is eyeing off the contracts for the copper remediation? Maybe the bean counters worked out that's more than what they'll get for cutting over to fibre…that and the paypacket they get when the Libs have to BUY the last mile off of Telstra.
I think so too. His comment has a commercial motivation. But it's our money he will get yet again. As if Telstra hasn't had enough of my money, my parent's money and your money over our lifetimes…
A lady in the town i live in whose computer i fix on the odd occasion it needs fixing was having massive issues with her telephone line after a storm, 6 months she had been paying for an internet connection she was unable to use.
We tried everything from a new ADSL router, to a new telephone cable in the house, etc…
Got onto Telstra, they sent out a technician, said the issue was at the exchange and that he had fixed it, still didn't get the DSL modem to sync up, called Telstra again, they did another call out, said the issue was somewhere else, supposedly fixed, nothing.
In the end she decided to cancel her broadband with Telstra. She got a new computer the other week, decided to give broadband another shot, first thing Telstra said to her…. "There's a problem with your phone line just outside the house".
At least Telstra eventually refunded her for the new DSL Modem and the money she paid when she wasn't getting a service from Bigpond.
But still, the fact that it took a disconnection of DSL and then later on a reconnection before they finally decided there was a fault with the copper (in the last mile) just shows how crappy Telstra's fault report database must be.
Lets hope Rudd can keep Turnbull in check
As much as I respect Turnbull as a writer and an orator, I think Turnbull needs to expand his vocabulary.
Claims of "nonsense" without qualification, I've heard this all before.
Saying that all is rosy because copper currently carries broadband is really just avoiding the bigger issue. Are people getting the best broadband they could over that copper? The answer, based on public feedback, has to be no. Does copper provide us with a a long future (Thodey misleadingly said its got another 100 years in it)? The answer is no. Shortening the copper does little to fix both these problems. It's just prolongs the inevitable and adds a lot more expense to get to the same end point -FTTP. Out here in the regions, if FTTN goes in, it will ensure a digital divide that will exist for at least another decade and ensure there is no ubiquity. The job needs to be properly from the outset, and the copper needs to be placed with fibre. It makes little sense to do it any other way.
So Malcom Turnbull thinks that the copper network is ok and everyone who says it's not is a cretin. I invite Mr Turnbull to inspect any pit in my street and then make the same statement. Plastic bags don't lie whereas politicians can please themselves.
I just want to know if MT will resign from his position as communications minister should his target of a minimum 25 Mbs for all by Dec 31 2016?
It can only be due to his incompetence that this target is not met.
I'll have to chat with betfair about setting up some bets on when the first node goes live and if the rollout will meet the 2016 and 2019 targets. Oh and the budget tart too.
TBH, I'd prefer the Libs to just say they don't believe in the Govt being involved in Telecoms and not waste the money on FTTN.
You mean… you want the Libs to tell the truth?
Now there's an election-losing strategy if ever I heard one.
I think it did lose them one or two elections…
Dear Mr Turnbull, it's our tax dollars that paying for this so give us what I want, not what you think we should have and after that keep you mouth shut because you don't know what you're talking about
Well, it's not exactly our tax dollars, but our internet bills…
…which is only greater justification for your sentiment. So yeah, Turnbull should stop trying to sell us a product he doesn't truly believe in. He's a lot like that Telstra rep who was trying to sell me a more expensive, inferior broadband with historically bad customer service. He even tried to entice me with a $50 credit… Yeah, thanks, but no thanks, buddy.
Technically it's both, our tax dollars are paying to build it and then we pay to use something that we paid to have built.
Like Mr Turnbull, you don't know what you are talking about.
The NBN Co and the build of the NBN is being financed by borrowings. It is not being financed out of tax or other earnings if it was it would have to be included on the budget. The NBN will repay loans out of its earnings from selling its services. It will also return 7%+ to the Government on the Government investment.
Out of the money you or I pay our RSP there is a percentage that pays for the cost of capital works. It may come as a shock to you but when ever you buy anything there will be part of that money being used for capital expenditure. It is called commerce.
No one is paying twice for the NBN or paying for it by their tax, although Turnbull could stuff that up, The system devised to pay for the NBN is as equitable as possible. The users contribute to the repayments of the capital cost depending on how much they use the NBN. I can't think of any thing fairer.
The current minimum speed is quoted as 900Kbps according to one of Telstra own former staff that wrote that policy. Although I've also seen a figure of 1400Kbps on the bigpond website.
Therefore Telstra have set the bar really low, only if your ADSL service drops below that minimum speed will they investigate. Turnbull has dug himself a very big hole by stating publicly that the minimum speed on the new network is going to be 25Mbps.
Its going to cost billions of dollars, and incur an incredible level of frustration for the poor technicians who have to locate and repair all the faults in the old copper cables.
Where do you draw the line ?
When 50% of the copper on the node has multiple faults (per customer line) ?
When 50% of the copper on the node has multiple faults ?
When all the copper on that node beyond repair, and has to be scraped (joints corroded, wires broken, no slack left to rejoin cables) ?
The awful truth is the cost of a new length of fibre is LESS than the cost of the same length in copper. Why risk $31 billion of tax payer's money on a FTTN network that keeps the oldest and less reliable section of the existing network ?
That being the existing copper cables, which can vary from perfect to scrap value. It's a massive unacceptable risk and certain to be hit by huge delays and cost overruns.
This FTTN plan is proof the coalition are going to waste money in poorly thought out plans, much in the same way they accuse the current government as acting. No matter what plans Tony Abbott has to better run the government finances, spending $31 billion in this way proves he doesn't have the ability.
Renai, why did you link to an article with claims about telephone service faults in an article about the use of the copper network for high speed internet access?
I think the fact that most of the country is still classified as "MSD" while Telstra recovers from the floods in January says something about the state of the copper network. Ignoring the fact that it may be *possible* for the copper to survive another 100 years (doubt it), do we really *want* to deal with it for another hundred years?
"Look, it's pretty hard to disagree with what Turnbull's saying here. He's right — the majority of Australia's broadband needs are currently successfully served by Telstra's copper network infrastructure, and that isn't going to change any time soon. "
I fully agree! The bulk of our current needs are handled by copper.
Current needs.
Now, can we return to the NBN debate, that's about our current and *future* needs?
My current needs aren't, and neither are a lot of other people's.
Anyway, reading between the lines we can see what Turnbull is really saying. "The copper network is very valuable, but I still expect Telstra to hand it over to me for free."
His idiocy would be laughable if it wasn't for the fact that the joke is on Australia.
Why not referendum about NBN let people decide
Copper sucks
Blog, Policy + Politics - Jul 31, 2015 12:43 - 0 Comments
Google ploughs $1m into Australian tech education
More In Policy + Politics
- Four months later, data retention funding model still incomplete
- Less talk, more action: Entrepreneur tells 'Labor for Innovation'
- Bronny Copter is here to save us from Bishop's Choppergate
- 7:30 exposes Aussie Hacking Team industry
- Hypocrisy? Fletcher pushs tech exports to China while TSSR bill looms
Blog, Enterprise IT - Jul 31, 2015 14:16 - 1 Comment
Legacy health software lands SA Govt in court
More In Enterprise IT
- Microsoft wants to win you back with Windows 10
- Qld Govt Depts have no disaster recovery plan
- ASD releases Windows 8 hardening guide
- ASG picks up $35m CIMIC IT services deal
- Datacom completes mammoth Health ICT takeover
Industry, News - Jul 28, 2015 12:37 - 0 Comments
ICAC to investigate NSW TAFE ICT manager
More In Industry
- iiNet shareholders vote 'yes' for TPG buyout
- iiNet chairman "proud" as TPG sell-out looms
- Kotaku alleges abuse, gross staff neglect at retailer EB Games
- Aussie software firm Marketplacer grabs $10m
- Expert360 pulls in $4.1m for consultancy 2.0
Consumer Tech, News - Jul 29, 2015 17:14 - 11 Comments
Telstra integrates Netflix, Stan, Presto into re-badged Roku box
More In Consumer Tech
- Older Australians embracing video games
- Gasp … Qld will fuel electric vehicle charging stations with solar
- Oops … Tesla enthusiast charges car on Qld windfarm
- Netflix Australia: Review
- RAC builds electric vehicle highway in WA


text:
Diminutive in -y from government.
govvy (not comparable)
- (colloquial) Of or run by the government.
govvy (plural govvies)
- A government job.
- 1986, Coffield, F., Borrill, C. and Marshall, S. "Shit jobs, govvy schemes or on the dole: occupational choice for young adults in the North East of England" [title]
- 1998, Hollands, R. "Crap jobs, "govvy" schemes and trainspotting: reassessing the youth, employment and idleness debate" [title]
- 2003, Frank Webster, Theories of the Information Society [1]
- In these regions new occupations are either state-created 'govvies' or in areas such as tourism, leisure and personal care.


text:
- Home
- DRF Bets
- Handicapping & PPsHorsemen's ProductsReports
Access past performances
- The Wizard
- DRF Gameplan
- Quick Sheets
- DRF Picks
- Today's Racing Digest
- Key Race Report
- Positive ROI Report
- Moss Pace Figure Reports
- Debut Reports
- BreezeFigs
- Clocker Reports
Racing and Wagering Information
- DRF EasyForm PPs
- DRF Classic PDF PPs
- DRF Formulator PPs
- DRF HarnessEye PPs
- DRF Daily Harness Program PPs
- Daily Racing Program PPs
- Equibase & Trackmaster PPs - Thoroughbred
- TrackMaster PPs - Harness
- Entries
- Results
- NewsCategoriesTrack Notes
- Blogs
- Learn
- Video
- StorePast Performances
DRF PlusREPORTSPICKS
- Compare all DRF PPs
- DRF Formulator PPs
- DRF Classic PPs
- DRF EasyForm PPs
- Daily Racing Program PPs
- Expanded Closer Looks
- Equibase & Trackmaster PPs - Thoroughbred
- Events
- Breeding
Midnight Interlude supplemented to Barretts January mixed sale
Santa Anita Derby winner Midnight Interlude is one of 22 horses supplemented to the Barretts Equine Ltd. January mixed sale, the company announced on Wednesday.
Barretts will conduct its mixed sale on Jan. 22 in the Hinds Pavilion located on the grounds of Fairplex Park in Pomona, Calif., beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific. There are 317 cataloged hips in the sale plus the 22 supplements.
Midnight Interlude, a 5-year-old son of War Chant, won the 2011 Santa Anita Derby for owner-breeder Arnold Zetcher and trainer Bob Baffert. He also won the Tsunami Slew Stakes at Hollywood and finished second in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby. He won three of 13 starts and earned $769,232.
Midnight Interlude is out of the Group 1-placed Groom Dancer mare Midnight Kiss and is a full brother to 2012 turf stakes winner Midnight Crooner. He is offered as a stallion prospect from the consignment of McCarthy Bloodstock, agent.
Among the featured hips in the catalog are: California stallion Ancient Art, who has produced 17 winners from 57 foals three and up and is a half-brother to Breeders' Cup Turf winner and sire Johar; broodmare Miss Nicolie, a stakes winner and stakes producer; and Phi Beta Heat, a half-sister to Grade 1-placed stakes winner Mensa Heat who is in foal to English Channel.
To view the online catalog, click here.


text:
[This media activity follows an Honor Cordon welcoming Minister of Defense Valeriu Pasat of the Republic of Moldova.]
Q: (Inaudible)
A: (Secretary Cohen): First of all, you said when I travel to the Gulf States what message would I take?
Number one, there has not been a determination that I will go to the Gulf. But should the President ask me to go to the Gulf, then I will do so at that time. Right now my plans are to attend the Wehrkunde Conference in Munich and to visit Moscow as well during the course of that trip. So there have been no plans at this point to extend my travel beyond then.
A: As I've indicated before, the President is still seeking to resolve this issue through diplomatic channels. But in the event that we are unable to do so, then we will proceed in another fashion and I am sure that if any other type of action is either warranted or taken, that we will have the support of our friends in the Gulf.
A: I think, as Secretary Albright has pointed out, that she is still committed to seeking a diplomatic solution as an agent and spokesperson on behalf of the President, but that the time is perhaps running out for diplomatic efforts to be successful. The window is still open, but the opening of that window is getting a bit
narrow. So I think that she is traveling to obviously convey a message that explains the United States position and continue to seek ways in which our allies can be supportive of acquiring -- or achieving, I should say -- the ultimate goal. That is to have free and unfettered inspections and to allow UNSCOM to carry out its mission.
It is our belief that if the allies remain firm, if the Security Council remains firm in insisting upon the commitment to its resolutions, that we can avoid any need for military action. That is our hope, and I think that effort will continue. In the meantime, obviously, we have our forces in place, should there be any threat to those forces, should there be any threat to the surrounding neighbors in the region. But I believe that Secretary Albright is committed to exploring every reasonable diplomatic initiative.
Q: Mr. Secretary, have there been any unusual requests from Gen. Zinni (inaudible) for unusual military equipment, people, (inaudible)...?
A: I wouldn't want to comment on any requirements for our operations. I've indicated before I think we have satisfactory troops and equipment and whatever is necessary in the Gulf to protect our forces, so I wouldn't comment beyond that.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish with your relationship (inaudible) with the United States? Do you hope to eventually join NATO or (inaudible)?
A: (Minister of Defense Pasat): As I have mentioned, Moldova has been taking part actively in the Partnership for Peace, and I refer to the training that was taking place as well as to the military exercise that we've been a part of.
Also today we are going to sign a plan of action for 1998 and we will continue to be interested in participating in all the programs that are part of the Partnership for Peace. Moldova is not contemplating, at this point, joining NATO.
Q: Thank you Mister Secretary.


text:
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model Cycle 18, Episode 6: Who Was Sent Home?
It's hard to believe we're already six weeks in to America's Next Top Model Cycle 18. Who was sent home on Cycle 18, Episode 6: "Jessica Sutta and Nadine Coyle"? Read on to find out.
Read spoilers at your own risk! For more on Wetpaint Entertainment's philosophy on spoilers, click here.
AzMarie (USA)! And yes, we were as shocked as you probably are. We understand that Tyra and co. were annoyed at AzMarie for not playing along with the Booty Tooch workshop, but she's been one of the strongest contestants all cycle.
Was this elimination justified? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
ANTM airs Wednesdays at 9 pm ET/PT on The CW.
Get your ANTM fix: Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter.


text:
Our local State Senator Marty Golden is garbage.
Or rather, his reelection propaganda is, but the dude is a strong supporter of dangerous fracking. So really, is it merely the campaign poster that is garbage?
11209, Advertising, Amazing NYC Photos, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Fracking, Garbage, Marty Golden, New York, NYC, NYS Senate, Photography


text:
Passion Pit are one month away from the release of their second album "Gossamer". Before it happens, the American outfit shred another installment from the LP entitled "I'll Be Alright". It's the second thing out from the new record (check out last month's "Take A Walk").
We're hyped about "Gossamer" which hits the shelves July 23.


text:
Senate's border vote was off-target and simplistic
The misguided notion that the solution for the nation's immigration problem can be found solely at the U.S.-Mexican border is a hard one to shake. Even in the U.S. Senate, which in May passed what may be the best chance for a comprehensive immigration bill, the fixation on building more fences and laying more barriers is strong.
In a 94-3 vote on Aug. 2, the senators tacked onto the Defense Department's appropriations bill an amendment authorizing the expenditure of $1.83 billion for 340 miles of triple-layered fencing and 461 miles of vehicle barriers along the border between the United States and Mexico.
"We're not playing games here," said Sen. Pete Sessions, R-Ala.
The vote was a triumph for Sessions, who had worked steadily to appropriate money for the fencing that was part of the May immigration measure. The funding for the fence had been defeated earlier by a large margin when he had tried to attach it to Homeland Security funding.
True, border enforcement is a legitimate part of an immigration strategy, but only a part. Such a strategy must also recognize, as the larger Senate measure does, the need for a sweeping, inclusive effort to craft policies that will enable the nation to control the flow of immigrants, bringing the millions already in the country out of hiding and into the system.
It will seek to link immigrants with the economic sectors that need their skills - sometimes urgently. And it will establish a process to enable those who wish to participate fully in our system to work toward full citizenship.
Time and again, experience has demonstrated that physical barriers of this sort afford at best only a temporary pseudo-response to the challenge of illegal immigration.
Such is the ingenuity (and greed) of the coyotes who herd undocumented aliens over the border, and such is the desperation of the immigrants themselves to reach the United States and the opportunities that await them here, that fences, barriers, monitoring gear and all the rest are ultimately ineffectual.
The time for Congress to come up with comprehensive and realistic immigration reform is running out in this session. Holding more congressional hearings as well as appropriating money for more fences is simply avoiding coming to terms with the heart of the matter. Fixating on simplistic answers betrays the nation's ideals and immigrant heritage.
Subscribe to the Caller-Times
Need Help? Call us at 1-800-566-8098.
Monday-Friday: 6am-3pm / Saturday: 7am-11am / Sunday: 7am-11am


text:
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Move Over New York, The Real Housewives of Miami Are Moving In!
Is Bravo confusing itself with all its different Real Housewives franchises? Although it was Bravo confusing itself with all its different Real Housewives franchises? Although it was originally announced that The Real Housewives of New York would return with a fourth season later this month, Bravo has decided to play a little game of Housewives switcharoo and premiere a sunny new franchise, Real Housewives of Miami, in its place. (Not to worry, the Housewives of New York will come back at some point!)
The new show will debut February 22 at 10/9 c and promises to heat things up this winter. Here's a look at the ladies of Miami from a Bravo press release:
Marysol Patton: Miami native Marysol Patton is one of Miami's most sought-after women both socially and professionally. Divorced 10 years has allowed her to put all energy into creating and running one of the premiere public relations firms in town, the Patton Group. Armed with her bedazzled iPhone and a hot female staff, this PR maven definitely knows how to throw a party for her A-list clients. When Marysol's not working, she finds time to hang with her mother Elsa, a character in her own right. Elsa considers herself a "seer," not a psychic and she's a hot commodity amongst A-listers looking for spiritual guidance.
Adriana DeMoura-Sidi: This Brazilian bombshell is a full-time mom and a highly respected art curator who is always on the go. Coming off a traumatic divorce, Adriana wasted no time meeting her new fiancée, Fredric. Still her relationship is always on the rocks, as Adrianna's flirtatious ways and fiery personality seem to get her in trouble and leave her peers gossiping.
Alexia Echevarria: This "Cuban Barbie" holds the pulse of Miami's Latin culture. As the executive editor of Venue Magazine, Alexia spotlights the latest fashion trends as well as up-and -coming Latin film and TV stars. Alexia loves to spend time at her Miami Beach home with her husband Herman, and admits she is at times more of an older sister than a disciplinarian to her two sons from a pervious marriage.
Cristy Rice: As a Miami native who is beyond proud of her roots, Cristy's sassy Latina flair is evident in everything she does. Recently divorced from NBA superstar Glen Rice, Cristy has entered a new phase of her life, being single and living out loud. When she's not out dancing at night or dealing with relationship drama, Cristy's life is jam-packed with being a single mom to her three children and running her own clothing store.
Larsa Pippen: This wife of NBA superstar Scottie Pippen shares the unofficial title of "Hottest NBA Wife" with her friend Cristy Rice. A snarky Lebanese beauty, Larsa boasts that she's successful at everything she does, including playing wife and mother to her four young kids. When she's not busy turning her three little boys into star athletes, shopping for her one-year-old princess, or firing nannies, Larsa is happy to spend a little time on herself.
Source: People


text:
August 5, 2015
FRITCH, Texas -- Investigators have identified two men who were aboard a plane found on a receding, drought-stricken lake in the Texas Panhandle after being missing for 24 years.
Steven Lampe was the pilot of the small, two-seat Beech 77. Larry Lucas was his passenger, officials said.
Aaccording to a National Transportation Safety Board report, the 25-year-old pilot and a passenger died in the crash.
The plane and bodies never turned up during a six-day diving search.
Two teens from Fritch were canoeing at the Lake Meredith National Recreation Area when they discovered the wreckage Friday.
National Park Service officials said the discovery was confirmed to be the fuselage the plane.
It went missing during a two-hour flight on Jan. 27, 1984.
Park service personnel have closed the area around the wreckage so they can investigate the site, spokeswoman Rozanna Pfeiffer said.
To comment, the following rules must be followed:
Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content, but the station is under no legal obligation to do so.
If you believe a comment violates the above rules, please use the Flagging Tool to alert a Moderator.
Flagging does not guarantee removal.
Multiple violations may result in account suspension.
Decisions to suspend or unsuspend accounts are made by Station Moderators.
Questions may be sent to email@example.com. Please provide detailed information.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or email@example.com.


text:
There are currently no items in your cart.
Western Swing Sheet Music: 3 items found
King Of Western Swing
Guitar, Piano/Keyboard, Vocal, Piano/Vocal/Guitar - Difficulty: medium
By Bob Wills. Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook. Western Swing. Songbook. Vocal melody, piano accompaniment, lyrics, chord names, guitar chord diagrams, introductory text and black & white photos. 104 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.306043).
Usually leaves our warehouse: Within 3 to 4 weeks
Learn to Play Western Swing Steel Guitar
Steel Guitar
2-DVD Set. By Cindy Cashdollar. Instructional/Guitar/DVD. DVD. Guitar tablature. Homespun #DVDCYNLS23. Published by Homespun (HL.641746).
Usually leaves our warehouse: Within 3 to 5 business days
San Antonio Rose
Piano, voice, guitar (with chord names)
Composed by Bob Wills. Vocal Music. Bourne Parade of Fabulous Song Hits. P/V/C. Single. With chord names. Published by Bourne Music (IM.112921).
Usually leaves our warehouse: Within 1 to 2 weeks


text:
June 15, 2015 - August 9, 2015
Thursday, July 2ndHC117 (HCL1) will be open from 7am-6pm.FO393 (FLL) will be open 7:30am - 4pm.All other labs will be open at their regularly scheduled times.
Friday, July 3rd - Saturday, July 4th Independence Day All labs are closed on Friday, July 3rd and Saturday, July 4th for the holiday observance.
DeKalb, Illinois 60115 | Regional Sites | Contact Information
Emergency Information | Employment | Maps
© Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.
All rights reserved. Web Site Privacy Policy


text:
Terri Hall
Terri Hall, a homeschool mom of nine turned citizen activist, is the founder of Texans for Toll-free Highways and Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom.
Monthly Archive for February, 2014
Straus wants tolls, higher taxes, Beebe to keep freeways free
Speaker Joe Straus (R – Dist 121) is a master at kicking the can down the road. After three sessions as Speaker of the Texas House, Straus has failed to properly fund the state highway system. At the commencement of the 83rd regular session last year, he promised to end diversions of the gas tax […] [Read More]
Wolff: 'I like tolls,' if you won't carpool or get on a bus, then you 'oughta pay'
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff wants you to pay up to 50 cents a mile in new toll taxes to drive San Antonio freeways. Tolls will cost the average family $2,000-$4,000 a year in new taxes on driving and Wolff has his fingerprints all over the deals that brought it to San Antonio. First, Wolff […] [Read More]
SH 130 toll traffic plunges, are taxpayer bailouts ahead?
The facts don't lie, even if the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) does. Recently released traffic data for the privately-operated southern leg of SH 130 shows traffic dipping anywhere from 10%-15% year over year or even from month to month. Moody's downgraded the bonds held by Spain-based Cintra to junk bond status as the SH […] [Read More]
City caves, agrees to take over state roads
It's unbelievable what politicians consider a good deal. The San Antonio City Council formally approved an inter-local agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to takeover maintenance on 21.8 miles on segments of nine state highways within the city: Broadway, Culebra, Eckert, Fredericksburg Road, Lone Star Pass, San Pedro, UTSA Blvd., and Hausman. In […] [Read More]
Campbell's betrayal on tolls leaves Chan opening to snag senate seat
How the mighty fall could be the theme of the Texas Senate District 25 race where incumbent Donna Campbell faces a tough fight to hang onto her senate seat. Campbell drew two primary opponents in her re-election bid, one a Chamber of Commerce establishment pick, former County Commissioner Mike Novak, who's running on giving more […] [Read More]


text:
Woman reports television stolen valued at $2,500
The following information was provided by the Kenova Police Department:
A 26-year-old woman reported that a television she valued at $2,500 was stolen from her residence in the 2100 block of Sycamore Street. The incident occurred on Friday, June 7. Police later arrested a suspect.
LARCENY: An 81-year-old woman reported a DVD player and surround sound system stolen from her residence in the 1000 block of Walnut Street between 2 and 9 p.m. Tuesday. The items were valued at $400. Police have a suspect.
LARCENY: An 18-year-old man reported a gaming system and accessories were stolen from his residence in the 1600 block of Chestnut Street between June 5 and June 7. Items were valued at $300.
STOLEN PHONE: A 28-year-old man reported his cellphone stolen from the 1900 block of Chestnut Street on June 5-6. The phone was valued at $600.
LARCENY: A 59-year-old man reported $700 worth of tools stolen from his residence in the 500 block of 10th Street. The incident occurred between midnight and 9 a.m. on June 6.


text:
Classic epics such as Homer's Odyssey begin in medias res. That is, the account begins in the middle of the action and the background is filled in later. Perhaps one should read Not Exactly: In Praise of Vagueness by Kees van Deemter by starting in medias res. The book is divided into three parts. The content in parts II and III is better than the introductory examples in part I may lead one to expect.
Part I of Not Exactly is entitled "Vagueness, Where One Least Expects It." This section gives several examples of how common concepts are not as precise as one might expect at first glance. However, the vagueness in these examples is not as unexpected as the section title suggests. The book points out, for example, that all measurements are somewhat imprecise. This portion of the book is reminiscent of a precocious child whose form of humor is to take statements more literally than they were intended.
Part II, "Theories of Vagueness," is more substantial than Part I. This section contains an interesting introduction to linguistic theories of vagueness. It also introduces classical logic and fuzzy logic. (The book is to be applauded for alluding to the limitations of fuzzy logic; too many popular books are uncritical in their presentation of the subject.) However, statistical theories of vagueness are conspicuously missing. Most surprising is the lack of any mention of Bayesian statistics.
Part III, "Working Models of Vagueness," turns from theory to application. The section discusses computational approaches to vagueness, in particular artificial intelligence. This final section is disappointingly brief. After about 220 pages describing the problems of vagueness, one would expect a more in-depth discussion of how these difficulties are addressed in practice.
Reading Not Exactly leaves one with a vague feeling that it may have attempted to cover too much ground.
John D. Cook is a research statistician at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and a blogger.


text:
ok thc... i cant install a wad because i cant get into wad manager because i dont have truncha signer, and second i no i need preloader and IM SORRY im only a kid and im crapping myself.
and sociallyantisocial, i cant because they will charge me an extra 200 for have homebrew channel installed anda mod chip i have to use savemii to install a 4.1 game i just need to no wat games have it or will hae it (and no im not putting the jap version of wii sports resort on lmao) and i just wanted to be sure that this will work, and also if there is a quicker way with like a autoboot disk for the homebrew channel
Anyway thanks for ur help but any more info would be appreicated
i have it installed, but n i cannot, i turn on my wii and nothing comes up ( i dont have preloader or bootmii) i have a savemii chip, is there a disk or something i can use to get into the hbc? i dont have a truncha singer (watever that is lol)
if nothing comes up (not even the banner,) then you are pretty much screwed...
i have the same problem.....
just send it to nintendo and they'll fix it...
it's only $75...
just learn from it and next time install preloader.
If everything else fails, you could fix this issue by updating to a higher system menu version #.
You could even update a 4.1u to 4.1e if you had to. 4.2 is also now available on disk update. If you are on 4.2e, then you can not update by disk.
It may also be possible to fix this type of brick by filling the nand with massive amounts of savegame files, channels, DLC, which could possible send you to data management allowing you to bannerbomb or install a savegame exploit.
Best option, as mentioned almost a year ago now (thanks for bringing this thread back to life) would be to have boot2 bootmii, preloader/priiloader, and a trucha patched system ios so you can use those recovery disks.
Also, installing a theme via wadmanager will wipe out preloader/priiloader, it would not help in this case.
Ipsa scientia potestas est.
Warning: Piracy is NOT supported. Word your questions carefully.


text:
Graduate and Professional School Week @ Penn State
Main Content
- No pre-registration required - stop by the HUB with your student ID card.
- Dress is business casual.
Career and International Education
Diversity Initiatives and Multicultural Programs
Premedical-Medical (B.S./M.D.)
Postbaccalaureate Undergraduate Certificate in Premedical Basic Sciences
Copyright ©2015,
The Pennsylvania State University |
Privacy and Legal Statements
Contact the Eberly College of Science Site Administrator


text:
Assess the performance of your stores. Track key metrics such as dwell time via an online dashboard.
Visualize your customers' experience and shopping journey. How often do they come back and where do they go in your shop.
Boost your marketing and merchandising strategies. Understand why some products sell better than others and improve your sales with targeted campaigns.
Tailored solutions for your shop, restaurant or chain are available. Sign up, receive and plug your sensor, log in to your dashboard and start looking at your live data.
|Small Specialty Stores & QSR
|Large Specialty Stores
|Shopping Malls, Department stores
|Traffic Metrics (Visitors, Dwell time)
|Outside Traffic Metrics
|Loyalty (Repeaters, Cross-shopping)
|Data export
|Data explorer
|Marketing Campaign Tracking
|In Store Merchandising Support
|Large Areas Flow
|From 9800円 per month
|From 14800円 per month
|Let's talk