The next generation Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) and what it needs to do...

The PIA is a planning organisation that represents Urban Regional Planning in Australia and has had a tradition of being conservative in its governance as a representative body. It had unshackled itself from being called the Regional and Town Planning Institute, it later became the Royal Australian Planning Institute only to be renamed the Planning Institute of Australia.

I still remember standing at a educational stand representing planning and a parent coming up with his eager son (who wanted to do planning I could see the planning bug in his eyes) asking "Anybody can be a planner can't they? There's no planning police is there? He may as well be an accountant". ~/ Sorry for any accountants reading this, honestly!

I feel that branding these days is something that seems to follow a trend, the brand of PIA is still one of being a club that you don't really need to join to actively participate as a planner or to call yourself a planner. Anybody can be a planner. Its stuck in a world registration that other professions have moved past, a world that they have been able to transcend and nail down. How can this be addressed? To sway up this discrepancy, architects, building designers, engineers, surveyors, doctors and nurses to it, why not planning?

Does it need to go to the extent of creating a Architects Act 1985? Possibly not. You need to be a registered Architect to call yourself an Architect. Planning needs to address this final level of professionalism. In a obscure way, the Certified Practising Planner system is doing a great job but fails in one regard, it's unknown outside of planning circles. In simpler terms, there needs to be Planning Accreditation Board to have people ask, are you a certified Planner?

Why does australia pay so much for data?

Would you pay $50 a month for unlimited internet from your mobile? Of course you would.

So why do we seem to be capped in Australia with data and time per month when the rest of the world enjoys free internet? I had discovered that a friend of mine who is traveling in the UAE is getting 4G internet for $50 a month.

So how is it that even Optus charge $60 for 10gb per month. Telstra charge anywhere from 250mb = $5 up to 6gb for $60 for one months of data. The best current Australian plan is Vodafone's $65 for 12gb. It's pure exploitation.

It still doesn't explain why we pay so much? Is the infrastructure? Investor expecting a high return? Greed?

NZXT H230 USB 3.0 White Mid Tower from Umart

It's a quality case within a budget price, and NZXT cases are well made, has no turn or wobble in the frame. I think because of the way the vents are designed, its quieter and also seems to be cooler temperatures as there's space to cool down internally.

Pros:

Easy to mount parts
Quiet case
Nice top usb/audio/power/reset buttons
I like the black cut on the front, makes it feel edgy
Rolled and soft interior which is also powdercoated

Cons:
Top Blueray enclosure can be tight
Door feels a bit plasticy, well it is made of plastic
Fitting drives and disk readers seems a bit haphazard because of the zero screws design (feels a bit servery)

Available from Umart:
http://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=213&bid=2&sid=139051&NZXT%20H230

TALENT PROPELLER Brisbane

http://talentpropeller.co.nz
http://talentpropellerjobs.com.au/

TALENT PROPELLER PTY LIMITED
Ph. v
10 Regent Street, Prahran, VIC 3181 Australia
PO Box 276, Prahran, VIC 3181
ABN: 497 087 568 60


So hard to find this recruitment agency contact details.

How Political polling has failed

In a digital age, who answers a land line. I recently made the mistake of plugging it in (yeah, we use phone lines for internet) and a torrid of spam came.

One of these calles, was about Polling. Reachtel, for one is a good example of how they fail. I received an automated call asking me yes and no question, of which I answered thinking it would be ok, until it came to a specific question about my member of parliament.

He wasn't my member of parliament. Fail, but I couldn't change my answers explaining my real dilemma, so, the information was wrong. I was one of another failings of the 'old ring up and ask or 'fill the form out. Or even, give an honest and accurate answer. No. Fail.

It started to get me up about other phone calls, from blind chipmunks needing plastic surgery, to my computer system  having a virus and I needed to go to a website to fix it, oh, they were a Microsoft service representative (no, no they weren't).

So, I unplug it now, I feel better, it makes life easy.

Josh Robert Thompson - The klog log jam

Well, to my dismay, a 8 year long running show called The Late Late Show ended and the main man Josh Robert Thompson is now out of work.

.. ... ..

What can I say? I think that this tragedy is that the talented and amazing artist is now on the ropes with both eyes busted, teeth scattered on the floor and blood slowly leaving his body.

But, don't be too distressed. He's got a podcast called Joshin around, it's pretty awesome, because it's random, collectively articulate and the best banter.

https://soundcloud.com/jrtvoices/pap-ep-7-fan-mail-follies

Episode is good, it has a lot of good lines, and introduces a world away, you can hear the echos of things from his past GP.


The hardest thing to do is find where your going, the road really makes no difference because you don't know where you're going so you can't make a wrong decision. Well, JRT is yet to find out what will happen as his own very show is coming up, we can wait and see how it works out. GG.

Life the Universe and Marvin the paranoid android

If you don't realize, or have not read  Douglas Adams "The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" series of book, the film is really the tip of the iceberg as well as the BBC TV series, which seemed to be rushed and quickly put together on a budget of a newspaper subscription, but anyway, this is digressing.

I guess I'm talking about the elephant in the room, Marvin. I came to a realization. To his insurmountable depression. And really, this is because he kept rambling lines that made me think of the impossible. Since the answer to everything is now the famous 42, as calculated by the great Deep Thought and that he said that they would need to create a living biological computer with calculations so intricate that hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings would get the question to the answer.

So they employed the world building Magrathea which is considered the home of the industry of "Custom-made luxury planet building" to build the Earth 1 of which got destroyed by the Vogons. So, the Magratheans had made Earth 2 and here in lies where marvin comes in to the fray.

Marvin is a Sirius Cybernetics Corporation prototype genuine people personality and is quoted as saying "Life? Don't talk to me about life" as well as "Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they ask me to take you to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction, 'cause I don't". Both very important although trivial lines. You see, I think that Marvin was intended as the output device for earth 2. As in, he essentially was created not only as a prototype but also lined by the use of a spatial displacement inside his head therefore his statement about having the brain the size of a planet is because he actually has a brain the size of a planet in his head! He also had the time to calculate as he's lived in the universe 37 times over, and finally say's "I think I feel good about it". Yes Marvin was intelligent, but I feel that having the question in plain sight is somehow obvious, just like what the answer is. 

Now, as to the depressed state, surely somebody who knows the answer to everything actually would then be a master of his universe able to take advantage to everything? Well no. I think an analogy here is in order. Now, people die every day on the roads because of speeding, misjudgement and drinking alcohol and driving. Now, the Police and ambulance find their work not so full of cheer because the answer to this problem is simple, don't speed, don't drink be a nice person. Why else would they be depressed because... they know the answer! That's pretty clear by Marvins final statement before he dies being "I think I feel good about it."

It's been quoted that Douglas Adams said that Marvin was intended to be a minor joke, but after the robot's voice actor was hired he eventually had to write some script for him time to time. Perhaps, the minor joke is the universe and we don't realise it.