Sliced Wikizine

Image by Leonard John Matthews via Flickr

SURPLUS

The only thing that we achieved in office under Howard was to accumulate a surplus. This felt good, and so we want to keep doing it because it makes us look good.

Scare Tactic: “Families know they have to spend within their means.”

Reality Check – Services and infrastructure needs to be keep up to date and able to accommodate changing needs of the population, and these things come with a price attached.

Families that are good with their money understand the difference between debt that invests in the needs of the family into the future and wasteful debt buying useless things they can’t afford and have no value over time.

For more explanation of the numbers and surplus and position of both, this is a good article that covers off on the detail:
Tony Abbott's economic action plan doesn't add up (The Australian)

National Broadband Network

We don’t really understand technology either how it works, or what the uses for it into the future might be, but we like to save money and the internet is a bit interesting but while it is nice to have it is not really important.

Reality check:

Uses for the internet are developing in ways that we cannot predict, but will fundamentally change the way that we do business. Reliable high-speed broadband is important particularly for remote Australia, and providing services to regional areas with our sparse population means that private companies are not likely to be motivated to deliver to remote areas.

While people are using wireless on their phones etc, this is not an indication that wireless technology is suitable for a national broadband network. The NBN is not about downloading games, or trivial matters, and it is more akin to building a freeway for safe, speedy travel, compared to using a two-lane suburban road to travel between major cities.

More details here from those involved in the rollout of the NBN and in a position to know the facts of the merit of the NBN and the financial aspects. Quigley openly slams Coalition’s broadband policy

According to The Encyclopaedia Galactica, The Total Perspective Vortex is allegedly the most horrible torture device to which a sentient being can be subjected. When you are put into the Vortex you are given just one momentary glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and somewhere in it a tiny little mark, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot, which says, "You are here."

...since every piece of matter in the Universe is in someway affected by every other piece of matter in the Universe, it is in theory possible to extrapolate the whole of creation - every Galaxy, every sun, every planet, their orbits, their composition, and their economic and social history from, say, one small piece of fairy cake.

Only Zaphod Beeblebrox is reported to have survived the Vortex unscathed (and then to have eaten the small piece of fairy cake). When it showed him the "You Are Here" marker, Zaphod correctly interpreted the Vortex as simply telling him that he was the most important being in the universe. This is due to the fact that he entered the Vortex in an artificial universe, which had been specially created for his benefit (thus making him the most important being in it. Zhaphod responded when asked how he felt after the experience:

"Hey, I'm Zaphod Beeblebrocks, and I'm a really great guy!!!"

(This is actually from a Wikipedia entry on Douglas Adam's Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy, not the Encyclopaedia Galactica, but I just threw that in for effect.)

As my retinue of Twitter followers has steadily grown into the thousands, I have found Twitter to be more and more like the fabled Total Perspective Vortex. Not that I find Twitter to be a horrible form of torture, quite the opposite or it wouldn't enjoy the kind of popularity it does. Nor do I consider myself to be the most important being in the universe; somehow being a single voice in an near infinite horde of users is somewhat humbling. Being a face in the immense Twitter crowd is something like getteing a glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation.

Having as many followers on Twitter is of course eminently desirable, right? But what you find, despite the obvious opportunities for shameless self promotion that exist when you have a large potential audience, is that the experience becomes less personal. You tend to be much more interested in where your next retweet is coming from than any kind of personal interaction. Unless there is some promotional benefit bestowed by personal interaction; otherwise it might seem a waste of time.