There is a scammer on the loose hoping to get into your PC by claiming that your INF files are by default “infected”. They are turning what are usually harmless and necessary information files into some sort of “proof” that your PC needs help. Don’t believe ‘em. Just hang up and run your virus scanner on that folder to prove it to yourself.
INF file – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An INF file (stands for information) or Setup Information file, is a plain text file used by Microsoft Windows for installation of software and drivers. INF files are most commonly used for installing device drivers for hardware components. Windows includes IExpress.exe for the creation of INF-based installations. INF files are part of the Windows Setup API.
Filed under scams inf by Rob.
Don’t you love seemingly global competitions that deep down in the fine print exclude significant populations? Yes, I understand national and state laws are the usual “reason” for this but somehow I think it could be worked around a bit better, or at least made more obvious. Otherwise readers just waste their time looking at web pages and filling out forms. And whilst that’s the point of this marketing exercise anyway it does set in train some negative feelings when you realise that you’ve just done what they wanted – for little or no return. You aren’t likely to win anyway but in fact you were never even eligible. Sucked in, as they say.
CyclingNews is a familiar culprit and they are up to it again with this Specialized comp (and I like and use Specialized gear, by the way):
Rules – Win Specialized Bikes Gear with Cyclingnews.com
6. Unless otherwise stated, each Competition is open to all who are 18 years and over, except: 6.1 residents of Belgium, Norway, Sweden, India, Rhode Island, New York, Florida and Puerto Rico, New South Wales (Australia) and any country embargoed by the United States
Not forgetting this catch-all that doesn’t apply in the case above but is another nagging irritant, especially given that CyclingNews started in NSW, Australia in the first place:
FutureNet – Competition Rules
Unless otherwise stated, each Competition is open to all GB residents of 18 years and over, except employees of: (a) the Company; and (b) any third party appointed by the Company to organise and/or manage the Competition; and (c) the Competition sponsor(s).
Grrrr. I must move on and get a life.
Filed under rants raves by Rob.
It must have been a tad embarrassing as well as expensive (and arguably romantic, in a way) for Qantas to have to maintain such old aircraft well into the jet age.
Between trips to Norfolk’s short grass strip the old birds were maintained in the hangars furthest from any passenger terminal but plainly visible to anyone driving from the domestic terminals to the “new” international terminal on the far side of the airfield. It was semi-hidden but by far the most interesting part of Sydney Airport in the 1970s…
Perhaps even more surprising than seeing big 4-engined turbo-prop L188 Electras flying into Sydney Airport in the 1970s was seeing (and hearing!) these 4-engined piston and prop-driven Douglas DC4 airliners in regular service from Sydney to Norfolk island!
They would often appear on the distant horizon to the east and north of where I was at Marrickville and lumber their way onto a short final approach to runway 16, making a left turn late over Sydenham. Presumably they were a slow-moving nuisance for the faster jets and were “hurried up” by air traffic control.
Excuse the blur but it was hand-held after dusk!! Point is that it’s an L188 Electra, one-time workhorse for TAA and Ansett, forced to serve out its days carrying cargo at night. Sydney then (as now) had a curfew on jets so “quieter” prop-driven aircraft did the night-time shifts. It extended the life of this Ansett Electra, which was retired from passenger duties in the early 1970s.
I remember both TAA and Ansett Electras swooping in from the south, joining the 16 approach quite late, over Marrickville or even Sydenham in order to ‘nip in’ before a bigger jet. They often soared over my head, one following the other in the 2-airline parallel timetable days.
This particular shot was taken in 1976, close to final retirement from the fleet.
This is a wet Coogee crit during the Bank Race. Judging by the mix of toe clips and Look pedals plus the ‘leather hairnets’ it’s probably 1987 or so.
Dean Woods was in the crowd but strangely enough he didn’t recognise me (not that he should’ve!)
The Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic was Australia’s biggest road tour, running for 19 years until (I think) 2000.
Well I think it was ’87. It’s the Coogee crit stage of the Bank Race, anyway, which held criteriums and road stages in and between various towns in Queensland and NSW. Some promising guy called Jan Ullrich won it overall one year and another memorable winner was Cronulla’s Matt White.
Snazzy Austin caught in a Marrickville Street around 1948 or thereabouts.
Nice to see that Michael ‘Bling’ Matthews is back to his winning ways. Meanwhile Cadel Evans returns this week to contest Romandie after quite a long break. Given that he is skipping the Giro this year presumably he’ll be fresher than last year when he starts Le Tour. And if that doesn’t go well he can always say he was underdone. Let’s hope we see no need for any such excuses.
Michael Matthews takes sprint victory in Rund um Köln
Michael Matthews (Rabobank) won the 95th edtion of the Rund um Köln (Tour of Cologne), the race traditionally held on Easter Monday each year, at the head of a bunch sprint. The Australian under-23 World champion outsprinted Marcel Kittel (Skil-Shimano) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Leopard Trek) at the end of the hilly 203.5km race.
Cadel’s Diary | Cadel Evans 2011 – The Official Site of Cadel Evans – World Champion 2009, Tour de France runner-up in 2007,2008.
From here, the focus of the pro cycling world shifts towards the stage races. And now, after a month of physio, recovery and lighter than planned training, I get ready to start back at an old favourite race of mine, Tour de Romandie.
Filed under Matthews by Rob.
To read the comments after Elizabeth Farrelly’s piece in today’s SMH (or the National Times if you prefer) is to only confirm what she is saying: that the process of modern democracy lends itself to short-sighted popularity contests rather good long-term decision making. This is not news of course but you’d imagine it was from the rabid commentary. Indeed I would suggest that most people don’t think analytically about the bigger issues that confront us as a society, rather they engage emotionally in a knee-jerk reaction to “protect their patch”. Often the more “enraged” commentators miss the point completely and simply regurgitate the last thing they heard from Tony Abbott or Joe Hockey. Or Barnaby Joyce, perhaps. (Actually just the other day on ABC radio Senator Joyce repeated his assertion that a politician’s job is to reflect the opinions of the electors. Which doesn’t leave much room for being analytical or even logical in your decision making, does it? As long as you are popular you are doing a good job. So much for leadership.
Democracy Is Blocking Intelligence
Everything is dose related. Whether it’s arsenic in your diet or radioactivity in the sea, small amounts now and then are OK, even beneficial, but large amounts, repeatedly, are bad and even terminal. It’s the same with almost everything else – cars, houses, chocolate, holidays, even happiness.
For one person to live in an acre of grass and trees is perfectly harmless, even lovable. But for the numberless hordes to do it means an end to wilderness, clean air and polar bears.
Democracy Is Blocking Intelligence
Democracy is very close to our hearts. So close that we go to war in order to impose it on those too weak or benighted to grab it for themselves. But democracy, the tyranny of the majority, may yet prove an own goal for humanity, mainly because of the weird trick it does with scale; allowing us all to pursue our own happiness as if we were the only ones on the planet. Allowing us to act like a vast family of solipsistic only children, steadfastly voting for lower taxes and higher services.
Interesting tale here I’m sure but what gets me is that they were charged with “recklessly” dealing with the proceeds of crime. Recklessly? Apart from being a bit uncool and splashing it about a bit, they dared to be reckless with the purportedly ill-gotten cash as well? And that’s so much worse than taking good care of your (allegedly) stolen loot. Now a careful, astute robber would think it better just to put that in a cash deposit for a while, as after all the owners may want it back.
Train of events led police to two men allegedly carrying $2m
Li Wang, 26, from Sydney, and Yu Xiang, 25, from Auburn, yesterday appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court charged with recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Filed under Australia, the law by Rob.
This otherwise innocuous travel article really sums it up for me, plainly illustrating the corrupt interconnection between traditional mass media and its self-serving, uncritical promotion of mass consumption. Yeah, OK, I’m on my soapbox again, but hear me out.
It’s blindingly obvious that travel writers will promote travel, and in that simple way thus promote themselves and their livelihood. On the surface that’s fine – it’s how the world turns after all – but for the fact that it’s rarely a balanced account, rather it is simply a gushing, glowing encouragement to consume. In this example it’s along the lines of ‘let’s keep air travel cheap, perhaps stupidly cheap’ and never go back. Now travel can be useful, wonderful and enlightening or just another tick-in-the-box consumerist urge. What keeps it in check – and provides a balance – is price coupled with convenience, or a lack of it. Bigger planes and terminals and less service helps cut the seat cost, and the convenience factor is often pretty well equal across all airlines. So price usually wins the day, especially if you shop online. But if we simply drive down the price for the sole purpose of increasing consumption we are really just removing a natural barrier to over-use of our finite resources. After all, if we all did it we’d have the cheapest air fares imaginable, but the maximum degradation of our planet. Is that ultimately good for tourism?
Which is not to say that we should return to elitist super-high-price air travel as we want fair access for the maximum number of people. But we also want to strike a fair balance between cost, access and resource use across the greater economy. To me current super-cheap airfares don’t look realistic or sustainable. I suspect that we have subsidised air travel infrastructure and simultaneously run down alternatives like rail to artificially make Aussie air travel look and feel a bit like the US air travel market but less volatile. But in so doing we are also not recouping the real environmental cost of air travel. At some point – probably quite soon – there will be a reaction where hidden subsidies will fall and real costs will rise. Even if you just looked at aviation jet fuel prices alone it’s obvious that prices will rise.
That’s my viewpoint – but what does this SMH travel writer suggest?
Australian airlines | Who are we flying with? | Travellers’ Check
There was a time in the 1990s when flying was a choice between tweedledum and tweedledee – two of the most expensive, non-competitive airlines in the developed word. The cheapest return air fare between Melbourne and Sydney was $239 and, if you travelled at the witching hour on Wednesday night you might be able to get a return ticket to Perth for under $500 if you booked a month ahead.
Now let’s look at this statement for a moment. Set aside the issue of a lack of competition – something that really goes waaay back to the earlier and long-standing 2-airlines policy rather than simply the 1990s – and look at those fares: $239 return between 2 cities some 800km apart by air. Or $500 to get right across the continent. And ask what would be a fair price to shift yourself and some luggage that distance. Compare it with driving or rail or even riding a push bike if you like. Those prices don’t sound that unrealistic to me, especially given the convenience and time saved. In fact those prices look and feel quite sustainable, even if we imposed greater charges on the airlines to more fully recover public infrastructure, air navigation and safety bureaucracy costs (it’s not just airport infrastructure after all). If you see those prices as too high, what would be a fair price?
Australian airlines | Who are we flying with? | Travellers’ Check
In 2011, I have to say, it’s difficult to imagine that loathsome travel era returning. There’s now a choice of no fewer than seven niche and mainline brands providing full-service for both holiday and business travel and no-frills low-cost right across domestic and international networks.
Now the SMH travel writer has a far different view to mine, clearly. That high-cost era is, to him, not just more expensive but actually quite “loathsome”. Quite a powerful word to use in this context. Of course we are better off with more competition and we don’t want to return to the 1990s per se but perhaps – given peak oil and a growing user-pays mentality – a reality check is in order as well.
Australian airlines | Who are we flying with? | Travellers’ Check
Clive Dorman is one of Australia’s most experienced travel journalists.
Apparently so.
Or is he simply injured and struggling to regain form? He has been in the wars physically, especially with the back injury, and coming back to top form after any injury is hard enough (some of us never get back at all, do we?). Well that may well be, but you’d imagine Lotto would stand by him for at least a full season. As a side issue he is also just a bit too philosophical about life, isn’t he? And we can’t have that! Let’s put him in the ‘too much like Cadel’ basket and move on. Perhaps he’ll get an offer from BMC in due course?
SBS: Cycling Central : Lloyd released by Omega Pharma-Lotto
The Belgian Omega Pharma-Lotto team announced today the termination of its contract with Australian rider Matt Lloyd.
The team strongly clarified that doping was not behind the decision but hinted at unspecified behavioral reasons for the termination of the specialist climber.
Omega Pharma-Lotto Release Matt Lloyd | Cyclingnews.com
Lloyd won the climber’s competition at the 2010 Giro d’Italia but had a difficult winter after being hit by a car in Melbourne in December. He underwent surgery on his shoulder and also suffered spinal injuries.
Omega Pharma-Lotto Release Matt Lloyd | Cyclingnews.com
“Of late, subconscious elements have crept in slowly and steadily leading to a bogus phase of being so eager to be involved mixed with the slow process of recovery we cannot be 100 percent sure the first race will be of the highest quality, but thankfully the people surrounding me have blessed me with the confidence to once again feel the heat around the corner. Not to mention a brilliant team who’ve given me the opportunity to once again step it up a notch in order to remain directly driven towards the event I anticipate the most – The Giro D’Italia..
“If I’ve been bleeding in places you cant see, and feeling the affects of doors being locked, I’ve called the people who change the locks, and the gate is open…All I have to do is ‘open the gate’..”
Lloyd Suffers Second Training Accident In Three Months | Cyclingnews.com
“There was a lady and she was on her way to a Valentine’s date and she was late,” he explained. “She turned into a driveway and she wasn’t looking. She said, ‘sorry, sorry I’m running late for my Valentine’s date.’ I said, ‘don’t worry about it it’s just my knee, make sure you’re not late for cupid’s arrow.’ She was pretty nice and I just thought, shit happens, let it go.”
Lloyd Breaks Shoulder, Injures Back In Training Accident | Cyclingnews.com
It is his second back injury, following damage to his lower back in a crash at the Amstel Gold Race in 2009. “There’s damage to two or three parts of the upper part of the spine, which is okay for me because I think last year I broke seven of the lower ones so I’m trying to spread it out a bit,’’ Lloyd said.
The X Rays show it’s (vertebrae) a bit buckled and twisted due to the swelling, but generally according to what (the doctors) said that can slowly repair itself and everything can come back together quite smoothly.
Filed under Lloyd by Rob.
Worth a read…. although personally I don’t think you can so easily – so glibly – stratify society into common viewpoints, it’s far more complex and interwoven than that suggests. I don’t see some sort of unintelligent scum floating on top of a civilised, informed society, for example.
Nor can I support the idea of labelling people by profession – even politicians – via simplistic one liners (‘professional liars’, etc). Tempting though that may be.
Nor can I ignore the intransigent old media that in many ways still runs the show. It’s too easy to overlook the split and conflicting roles of the paid media, as neutral documenter of a changing society via such things as births, deaths, marriages and raw, unbiased reporting on one hand and as an active participant in the mass marketing of products, ideas and opinion on the other. It’s this deep, dark and ultimately corrupt conflict between simply reporting the facts and actually publishing what sells that so often distorts our received view.
We may know (say) 10 people really well and tap into the views of 25 or more in our daily lives, but we are presented at the flick of a switch or turn of the page with the sensational, distorted accounts of thousands more in the wider media. These dire, desperate views of vested and ill-informed interests are presented with little indication of scale or perspective; indeed the more dire and desperate the better in many cases.
By looking only at the old media we cannot really know what people are thinking. We have to bypass the vested interests – not just the mining companies or clubs or whatever but the media itself – and go and speak with the greater community to do that.
Clubs Launch Anti-Pokies Restrictions Campaign
That’s why I’m thinking Clubs Australia may be right, in its pro-pokie campaign. Maybe it is un-Australian to oppose a regime that has always sought the little guy’s blessing to thieve from the poor and give to the rich. Less lions led by donkeys than galahs led by wombats.
Filed under media, Politics by Rob.
I hate, loathe and detest those “were you on the plane?” questions that the old media insert in their reportage these days. In this case it’s as if a plane landing safely is so ultra-newsworthy that we need an eye witness account to confirm the terror of it all: “So, did you see the valve itself? Was it stuck open or closed or in-between? Or was it a fault in the monitoring system? Did everyone look for parachutes as the ordeal unfolded?”. Yawn.
OTOH it’s so exciting to see that the esteemed SMH is unable to distinguish between “effect” and “affect”. Perhaps they don’t care anymore? Luckily they don’t run an airline.
Priority landing: Qantas flight lands at Sydney Airport after fuel valve problem
A spokesman for Sydney Airport said no other services have been effected and everything is operating as normal.
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