I like the fact that the training seems hard but not unachievable, pays very well and although you slog away for 10-12 hour shifts you can get 3 to 4 days in a row off.

As a woman, when you do decide to have children, you will be paid full-time wages while on maternity leave for 9 months -fathers however are entitled to paternity leave unpaid.

The other perk, you can then go part-time deciding whether to do nights or day shifts only 3 times a week.

Nice.

So why haven't I applied?

To be eligable you must have a current NSW drivers licence or 2nd year Provisional licence (strike one) meaning, I must get my licence (called the 1st Year Provisional Licence) and then wait a year before I'm then eligible to apply on that front.

The other stipulation is that you must have a UAI of 66 or a open foundations certificate (aka a university entrance mark) or a certificate III in a tafe course (strike two).

Even if I had those two things right now I would also need a car (strike 3) to drive the four hour trip from here to Goulburn.

So right now I'm in the process of getting my licence. Next year I am contemplating whether to do a certificate III or do an open foundations course.

Until then I have a year in which to do something while I wait for my licence to turn into a 2nd Year Provisional driver. *sigh*

There is a glimmer of hope of getting in sooner however, if I did finish up my studying (in a tafe or open foundations course) early I have heard some people have gotten into the Police Academy with just red P's which means I could apply next year in the September intake.

In the meantime though, its 'what do I study' to qualify to get into the academy while also saving for a car!

In my case I was a bit too busy watching out for where I

was going that I lost sight and thought of that which simply slipped off my hands and lay disowned in the puddle till someone, tempted by its redness perhaps, picked it up and walked away.

My pretty little wallet, red in colour, with a zip and a button hook, didn’t scream a high price but exhibited grace of handcrafted stone print.

And along with it, went my cards and my driving licence.

It doesn't seem to long ago, (although it certainly is, since my pesky little sister is in line now to get hers) that I got my licence. Not too long ago when I had to stand in line outside an office wondering -- 'what the hell will I do if the officer inside, in charge of issuing me my DL, asked me to park in reverse'.

I was proud for never having lost my wallet, considering it's not the first time someone's lost a wallet and people keep getting their licence made again n again. That licence was my pass to freedom each time I wanted to spin away from anything and anyone…

My licence to drive, to move and to fly unaccompanied. It is gone along with my pretty pouch. :(

There were cards, which are in fact retrievable… I didn't think the bank would understand the urgency, but they did and they conscientiously blocked all within a few minutes. Impressed and so touched. !!

What isn’t retrievable in this day and age? Even in case of people, it's amazing how people walk on, never look back when bonds are broken and strings are snapped, only to have shifted attention to the next in the contact list. And yet I believe no one or no object is replaceable.

Each pouch has a memory (I bought it along with a friend who lives far far away and she won't be back for many a days), each licence has a moment to it (I got mine with the same friend… she still can't drive and is happy that I can…).

In my loss I hope, whoever finds it…keeps the money (whatever little there is) … I'm sure he needed that note more than I did in that hour… but the DL and the library card…well I doubt he'll ever use… so why not post it back. Sigh !!

“Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.”

St. George's, September 18, 2008 -- The Minister of Finance today revoked the licence of Capital Bank International.  In a letter to Mr. De Bourg, the Minister cited several reasons for his decision

Dig the story

Now, it isn't the end of the world. I wouldn't switch to something called "abrowser" or "iceweasel" only to not click "accept": not a great deal. I love Ubuntu because it's practical and polished: a unique click will not certainly ruin the distro overall experience.

However, catching suggestions here and there, I think it could be a better idea to include an informative page the first time you'll fire up the browser. Better if it is written in common english.

If you don't know what is an Eula, try to remenber all the times you clicked through a license without reading it. They are EULA, licenses that limit your freedom to do things, but, if you think as I think, I've never cared about their content.

This is not the first time that a GNU/Linux distribution is facing a problem with people behind the brand Firefox, indeed many distros took the decision to denounce the brand name Firefox and stay as Free as possible. But there were other distros which managed to get into an understanding and could keep the Firefox ball rolling.

What has happened over the recent past is that Firefox has come up with a requirement that when the distribution makes it's own changes to Firefox and still want to use the branding of Firefox have to display an EULA when it's users start Firefox the first time. As the distro chose to bundle Firefox as the default browser, this means that when you install this distro and start the browser the very first time, you have to face an EULA and agree to it to continue using the browser.

The second wave of problem associated with this is that it is conspired that the distro chose to implement this without consulting, debating and discussing with the community. A recent thread started in its bug tracker, lead to a long discussion (which many felt should have happened in a mailing list and not in a bug tracker).

The possible outcomes can be,

1. Firefox again agrees for Ubuntu to use it without EULA being thrown to its users, hence the problem ends, at least for now.
2. Ubuntu decides to still have Firefox with EULA but somehow get the permission not to throw on its users at first start (i.e. meaning all users implicitly agree to EULA when they start it first time)
3. Ubuntu, following Debian and other distros, decides to denounce the Firefox brand and go for a custom brand or use Icedove (or similar browsers)

A lot of people support solution #3, especially those who want Ubuntu to strongly adhere to being like a Free Software distribution. My knowledge is very limited to the legal fundas behind it, but lots of people like me are also concerned. At one side, it's about the philosophy of freedom which had been keeping us with FOSS. On the other side, it might be losing a well matured and powerful browser like Firefox. But we all hope that the final decision taken by people behind Ubuntu will be to the best interests of its community and something a major portion of the community can accept.

J’ai retrouvé ma vingtaine de camarades de classe. Granted, on a pas causé des masses. Je ne sais toujours pas si c’est moi qui suis mauvais socialement ou si c’est eux qui ne m’intéressent pas. Enfin si, je sais, mais pas dans quel mesure une raison serait prépondérante sur l’autre. Okay, je fais mon écrivain blasé de ses contemporains mais en vrai j’ai séré des mains, claqué des bises et échangés quelques souvenirs de vacances. Ah t’étais au Japon un mois à nager avec des dauphins ? Heu… moi je suis allé au Cap D’Agde pendant une semaine. Ca t’en mets plein la gueule hein ! Hein ?! Non, en fait, je suis surtout aigri parce que cette année c’est fini les amphis. Je suis coincé avec la même vingtaine de personnes sans espoir de recroiser tous mes buddies des autres sections (O Zélie, Where Art Thou ?). Et ça, ça suxx grave. Me reste les soirées pour rattraper mon retard, même si à trois heures du matin dans une boîte surchauffée c’est pas forcément le meilleur moment.

Tout ça pour dire que me voilà reparti jusqu’en février. Chaque semaine amènera son lot de surprises avec des emplois du temps dignes d’un bon vieux jeu de plateau labyrinthe (plein de cours mouvants pour ceux qui sont trop jeunes pour piger la métaphore). Niveau masse de taf’ je devrais être tranquille encore un mois ou deux avant que je me retrouve submergé par le mémoire, les travaux de groupe et autres révisions de partiels. Du coup pour les trois défaitistes du fond (les mêmes qui se sont planqué sous leur bureau pour éviter un trou noir venu du LHC), sachez que TheBestPlace compte maintenir son rythme de croisière encore un petit moment. Parce que mine de rien, y’a rien de mieux pour survivre à quatre heures de sémiotique d’affilée que de lire vos com’ sur mon N95 ! Ah oui parce qu’en fait j’ai oublié de préciser que trente minutes auront séparés la pré-rentrée du premier cours. Sont rapides quand ils veulent visiblement. Tss tss…

Quoi ?! Tu ignores pourquoi et comment le Celsa avait été détruit au C4 ?! Alors va lire les notes 113, 115 et 100. Oui, dans cet ordre là.

Pendant ce temps là, les petits bâtards de première année attendent vendredi pour bosser. Ca je le sais parce qu’après la sémio, je les ai inflitré le temps d’un début de soirée. Mais ça je peux pas vous le raconter avant jeudi, vu que demain ce sera critique de bonne littérature ricaine qui va bien.

SCAN STAGE !!!

C'est possible que je ne sois pas autant un gros con que je le pensais, vu que j'ai des points de jury qui sont magiquement apparu au milieu de mes véritables notes.
Si vous voulez comparer avec la première session, démerdez vous, ça vous fera lire des vieux articles en cherchant. 

Je suis un gros utilisateur des services Google et voilà qu'aprés l'intervention d'Eric NICOLIER aujourd'hui au forum de la FNAC je me pose des questions sur ce choix dicté par la facilité et l'excellente ergonomie de leur produits.

Sans faire le polémique, je suis allé voir les conditions d'utilisation de ces services (merci Eric) car, comme beaucoups je pense, je ne les ai pas lu avant ... Je vous invite également à prendre un peu de temps pour les lire, vous trouverez par exemple :

4.4 Vous reconnaissez et acceptez que, si Google désactive l'accès à votre compte, vous pourriez ne pas avoir accès aux Services, aux coordonnées de votre compte ou aux fichiers qui y sont disponibles.

7.2 Vous acceptez que vos données soient utilisées conformément aux chartes de protection des données personnelles de Google.

11.1 Vous conservez la titularité des droits (droits d’auteur et tous autres doits) que vous détenez sur le Contenu que vous soumettez, affichez ou publiez sur les Services, ou par le biais des Services. En soumettant, affichant ou publiant le Contenu, vous acceptez de concéder à Google une licence perpétuelle, irrévocable, pour le monde entier, à titre gratuit et non-exclusive pour reproduire, adapter, modifier, traduire, publier, représenter, afficher et distribuer tout Contenu que vous soumettez, affichez ou publiez sur les Services, ou par le biais des Services. Cette licence a pour seul but de permettre à Google d'afficher, de distribuer et de promouvoir les Services et peut être révoquée pour certains Services, comme indiqué dans les Conditions supplémentaires applicables à ces Services.

11.2 Vous convenez que cette licence comprend le droit pour Google de mettre ledit Contenu à la disposition de sociétés, organisations ou individus tiers avec lesquels Google entretient des rapports pour la fourniture de services communs, et de l'utiliser en conjonction avec la fourniture desdits services.

11.3 Vous reconnaissez que Google, dans l'exécution des étapes techniques requises pour fournir les Services à ses utilisateurs, peut (a) transmettre ou distribuer votre Contenu sur différents réseaux publics et sur plusieurs supports ; et (b) apporter les changements nécessaires à votre Contenu pour le rendre conforme et l’adapter aux conditions techniques des réseaux, des dispositifs ou des supports. Vous accepter de concéder une licence à Google lui permettant d'effectuer les actes susvisés.

Inutile d'aller plus loin je pense que vous commencez à vous poser les mêmes questions que moi. Décidement les problèmes de droits et de licence sur Internet se pose même là on on les attend le moins !

Grégory

Pour moi c'était aujourd'hui la rentrée dans cette bonne vieille fac. Qu'est ce qu'on a fait? Pendant une heure on a entendu des choses qu'on savait déjà puis on a acceuilli les premières années pour leur faire une petite visite du campus :)

Quoi de neuf pour cette deuxième année d'Anglais? des nouveaux cours qui apparaissent comme la linguistique etc. donc forcément des nouveaux profs' ainsi que de nouveaux lecteurs qui j'espère seront aussi ouverts que les précédents.

De mon côté il va falloir que je prenne rendez-vous avec la personne qui s'occupe de la licence professionnelle référencement web à l'IUT pour poser des questions/voir si la filière me correspond.

Avant tout ça dans un avenir beaucoup plus proche je vais devoir réussir mon année et pour ça il n'y a qu'un remède... le bachottage ;)

des crasses

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam has suspended giving out licences for new golf courses in an effort to maintain soil for rice cultivation and protect poor farmers, reports said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked local authorities to review all existing courses, according to a report on the government's website, while the Vietnam News daily said no new licences would be issued.

"Golf course projects located on areas under rice cultivation must be unconditionally stopped," Phan Huu Thang, head of the Foreign Investment Agency, was quoted as saying in the Vietnam News.

He added that no new licences would be issued pending the review of existing projects.

Earlier this year, Vietnamese media said new courses had been licensed at a rate of more than one per week since early 2006, when foreign investor interest surged in the "emerging tiger" economy, which saw growth of 8.5 percent last year.

But they explained in July that as food prices were soaring and inflation went into double digits -- hitting 28.3 percent in August -- Hanoi wanted to freeze new courses that do not meet land-use criteria and environmental protection requirements.

World grain prices have shot up this year, leading to panic-buying of rice in Vietnam and prompting the government to cap foreign sales to ensure food security.

Amid Vietnam's economic boom, rice land shrank from 4.5 million to 4.1 million hectares between 2000 and 2006 due to the growth of industrial and residential areas, the Agriculture Ministry said in June.

AFP: Vietnam limits new golf courses to save land for rice: report

1. subscription
2. outright purchase, with annual maintenance
3. outright purchase, with free minor upgrades and paid major upgrades
4. outright purchase, with free major and minor upgrades for life

Subscription payments and purchase + maintenance are nice, if you can get them. They give a more predictable cash flow for a business and you can generally charge a higher lifetime price than you can with a single payment. But this isn't appropriate for all types of software. For example, it doesn't make much sense for lower priced desktop software. Assuming subscription or purchase+maintenance isn't an option, the question boils down to - should we charge for major upgrades?

Let's look at the numbers for a simple (contrived) example. AcmeSoft sells 1000 licences of v1 of their product in year 1, 2000 licences of v2 of their product in year 2, 3000 licences of v3 of their product in year 3 etc. Each year 50% of the customers who bought the previous version (new or as an upgrade) pay to upgrade to the latest version. The upgrade costs them 50% of the initial purchase. How much is the upgrade revenue worth? We can create a simple model in Excel:

Income new licences (blue) vs income from upgrades (red). Click to enlarge.

Percentage of annual income from upgrades. Click to enlarge.

In year 8 the upgrade income is actually worth more the new licence income. By year 10 upgrades are worth some 60% of yearly income for the product. If the product has a 10 year lifespan, nearly 50% of the total income from the product will be from upgrades. So it only makes commercial sense to give free upgrades for life if this will at least double the conversion ratio[1]. This seems highly unlikely. You can always try changing your upgrade policy and measure what effect it has on your conversion rate. Not much, I would guess (if anyone has tried it, I would be interested to know the results).

Even in a more pessimistic model where only 30% of customers upgrade and they only pay 30% of the new licence fee, upgrades still account for nearly 25% of total income over 10 years. You can download the spreadsheet and play with the parameters yourself.

Upgrade income becomes particularly important when:

• A product has a long life span.
• Customers are very likely to upgrade to a new version.
• There is little growth in new sales.

In the worst case you could end up with a product with a huge customer base built up over a long period, but which makes very few new sales as it has saturated the market. Free major upgrades would mean that each major release is then going to result in large expense (developent and support) but very little income. Microsoft must be very happy they didn't offer free upgrades for life on Windows or Office!

I don't see anything unreasonable about charging for major upgrades. The vendor has to do additional work to add the new features and existing customers can choose whether the new features are worth the upgrade fee. However customers have certain (not unreasonable) expectations for paid upgrades:

• The fact that the customer is expected to pay for major upgrades needs to be made clear before purchase.
• Any major bugs in version n should be fixed before releasing version n+1.
• A major upgrade should have significant new features.
• Major upgrades should not be released more than once every 12 months.
• The upgrade fee should be reasonable. Around 40% of the cost of a new licence seems typical.
• There should be a grace period for free upgrades. E.g. If I buy v1 of a product on 01-Jan I don't expect to have to pay an upgrade fee for v2 released on 02-Jan. Typically this grace period is 3-6 months.

If you are offering free upgrades for life currently, you can change your policy to paid major upgrades. But, obviously, you will need to honour free upgrades for everyone who purchases before the change of policy.

There are some, apparently successful, companies that offer free upgrades for life (Axialis for example). But I have heard many tales of small software vendors regretting their initial decision to give free upgrades for life. The easiest customer to sell to is the one you already have. If you don't charge for major upgrades, are you leaving large amounts of money on the table?

[1]Ignoring inflation, interest etc.

You must contact National Parks and Wildlife Service to purchase a Class 1, or Companion Bird Licence before you purchase any of the species of native bird, classified under these licences. National Parks and Wildlife Service can issue your Class 1 Licence for either two or five years. To maintain your Class 1 Licence you must maintain complete records of your birds, which must be submitted to the National Parks and Wildlife Service in July of each year. National Parks and Wildlife Service will issue your Companion Bird Licence for five years, and you must notify them about the source of the bird, which you require the licence for.

The following species may be kept under a CLASS 1 BIRD KEEPER LICENCE OR COMPANION BIRD LICENCE.

FINCHES

Z0659: Heteromun apectoralis
Pictorella Mannikin
Pictorella
White-breasted Finch

K0657: Lonchura castaneothorax
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Chestnut-breasted Finch
Chestnut-breasted Munia
Barley Sparrow

M0658: Lonchura flaviprymna
Yellow-rumped Mannikin
White-headed Finch
Yellow-rumped Munia
Yellow-tailed Finch

C0661: Neochmia modesta
Plum-headed Finch
Plumhead

Y0664: Neochmia phaeton
Crimson Finch
Blood Finch

E0662: Neochmia temporalis
Red-browed Finch
Redhead
Sydney Waxbill

M0666: Poephila acuticauda
Long-tailed Finch
Black-heart Finch
Heck’s Finch

Z0667: Poephila cincta
Black-throated Finch
Chocolate Parson
Diggles Finch
Parson Finch
Black-rumped Parson
White-rumped Parson

S0669: Poephila personata
Masked Finch
White-eared Finch
White-cheeked Masked Finch
Cape York Masked Finch

A0652: Stagonopleura guttata
Diamond Firetail
Diamond Sparrow
Spotted-sided Finch

G0655: Taeniopygia bichenovii
Double-barred Finch
Banded Finch
Banded Owl Finch
Bicheno’s Finch
Black-banded Finch
Owl-faced Finch

COCKATOOS
Any transactions of COCKATOO species listed under CLASS 1 licence require written notification of from both parties within 10 days of all transaction. This is in addition to the annual submitting of all fauna records, every July.

U0270: Cacatua leadbeateri
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
Leadbeater’s Cockatoo
Pink Cockatoo
Wee Juggler

Y0268: Callocephalon fimbriatum
Gang-gang Cockatoo

A0264: Calyptorhynchus banksii
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Banksian Cockatoo
Red-tailed Cockatoo

E0266: Calyptorhynchus baudinii
Long-billed Black-Cockatoo
Baudin’s Cockatoo
White-tailed Black Cockatoo

G0267: Calyptorhynchus funereus
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Funereal Cockatoo
Yellow-eared Cockatoo

C0265: Calyptorhynchus lathami
Glossy Black-Cockatoo
Casuarina Cockatoo
Leach’s Black Cockatoo

S0794: Calyptorhynchus latirostris
Short-billed Black-Cockatoo
Carnaby’s Cockatoo
White-tailed Black Cockatoo

LORIKEETS

G0259: Glossopsitta porphyrocephala
Purple-crowned Lorikeet
Blue Keet / Lorikeet

Q0260: Glossopsitta pusilla
Little Lorikeet
Gizzle
Little Keet / Lory
Red-faced Keet / Lorikeet

C0257: Psitteuteles versicolor
Varied Lorikeet
Red-crowned Lorikeet
Red-capped Lorikeet

ROSELLAS

K0285: Platycercus caledonicus
Green Rosella
Tasmanian Rosella

E0282: Platycercus elegans
Crimson Rosella
Mountain Lowrie

Z0287: Platycercus venustus
Northern Rosella
Smutty Rosella

GRASS PARROTS

A0300: Psephotus chrysopterygius
Golden-shouldered Parrot
Ant-bed Parrot
Golden-winged Parrot

Q0296: Psephotus varius
Mulga Parrot
Many-coloured Parrot
Varied Grass Parrot

M0306: Neophema chrysostoma
Blue-winged Parrot
Blue-banded Grass Parrot/Parakeet
Hobart Ground Parrot

Q0308: Neophema petrophila
Rock Parrot
Rock Elegant Parrot / Parrakeet

E0302: Neophema pulchella Turquoise Parrot
Beautiful Grass Parrot / Parakeet
Red-shouldered Grass Parrot
Turk
Turquisine Parrot

S0297: Northiella haematogaster
Blue Bonnet (except N.h.narethae)
Bulloak Parrot
Crimson-bellied Parrot
Eastern Blue Bonnet
Oak Parrot
Pine Parrot
Red-vented Blue Bonnet

U0298: Northiella narethae Naretha
Blue Bonnet
Little Blue Bonnet
Naretha Parrot

OTHER PARROTS

C0281: Alisterus scapularis
Australian King-Parrot
King Parrot

A0280: Aprosmictus erythropterus
Red-winged Parrot
Crimson-winged Parrot

G0291: Barnardius zonarius barnardi
Mallee Ringneck
Buln Buln
Eastern Ringneck
Mallee Parrot

Y0292: Barnardius zonarius macgillivrayi
Cloncurry Parrot
Cloncurry Ringneck

K8029: Eclectus roratus macgilivrayi
Australian Eclectus Parrot

M0278: Polytelis anthopeplus
Regent Parrot
Murray Smoker
Rock Pebbler

K0277: Polytelis swainsonii
Superb Parrot
Barraband
Green Leek

S0309: Lathamus discolor
Swift Parrot
Clink
Red-faced Parrot
Red-shouldered Parrot
Swift Lorikeet

PIGEONS AND DOVES

A0028: Columba leucomela
White-headed Pigeon
Baldy Pigeon

U0042: Geophaps plumifera
Spinifex Pigeon
Plumed Pigeon

G0039: Geophaps scripta
Squatter Pigeon

W0035: Phaps elegans
Brush Bronzewing
Little Bronzewing

A0036: Phaps histrionica
Flock Bronzewing
Flock Pigeon

K0021: Ptilinopus regina
Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove
Red-crowned Fruit Dove

QUAILS

S0017: Turnix melanogaster
Black-breasted Button-quail
Black-breasted Quail / Turnix

I stumbled upon reading an article found on the Toronto Star about a popular ridesharing service called "PickUpPal". The article states that a bus company called Trentway-Wagar (aka Coach Canada) did a private insider audit on PickUpPal. The information that Trentway-Wagar had collected was submitted to the Ontario Highway Transportation Board. Now, Trentway has asked the province that PickUpPal should be banned to operate in this province. It's not the first time this had happened. A Quebec based service called "Allo Stop" was completely sacked from operating in the province.

As for PickUpPal, it had violated many sections of the Public Vehicles Act, which governs any company where money is exchanged for a public transportation service. PickUpPal is a very popular service. It was used during this year's Vans Warped Tour and it is anticipated that it will be the prime solution for the upcoming Virgin Festival held in Toronto's Centre Island on September 6th and 7th.

In "retaliation", the PickUpPal organizers decided to launch a petition against the foreclosure of the organization from operating in the province. You can view the petition here. The coverage was well publicized.

References:

"Bus company tries to shutter web-based ride service." Arts Technica. 22 August 2008. 27 August 2008. <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080822-bus-company-tries-to-shutter-web-based-ride-share-service.html>

"Trentway-Wagar goes after PickupPal." p2pnet news. 21 August 2008. 27 August 2008. <http://www.p2pnet.net/story/16805>

"Online Company Under Fire For Offering Carpooling Service." Citynews.ca. 21 August 2008. 27 August 2008. <http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_26025.aspx>

"Bus firm calls online car pool illegal service." Toronto Star. 21 August 2008. 27 August 2008. <http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/482653>

Martyn Mendelsohn, an ear, nose and throat surgeon who appeared on the medical reality television show RPA, fronted the NSW Medical Tribunal yesterday over allegations he engaged in a sexual act with a female patient, The Australian reports.

Dr Mendelsohn, 50, admitted he did not attempt to stop a 22-year-old patient performing oral sex on him during an after-hours consultation in May 2005.

The woman had attended the surgery on a number of occasions and arrived that evening for surgery on her nose, the tribunal heard. (news)