Conferences, Religion, Telstra

[tcpip]

It has caused some anguish and gnashing of teeth, but I've decided to attend the AUUG Conference. I am less than happy with the administrative competence of the organisation (let alone breaching their own constitution), but I do want to meet Marshall McKusick. It must be a month for IT conferences; work is sending me up to Queensland this month to the Access Grid Workshop, and at the end of the month I apparently have been invited to address an ICT Conference in East Timor.

In religious news science has developed a helmet with gives one a "religious experience" (from reddragdiva. Actually Timothy Leary did that some time ago... The Unitarian-Universalists (once again) are making a pitch for agnostics, atheists and the like to join the fold with a full page ad in Time magazine. I may be tempted to pitch a Unitarian perspective for a $100 000 reward (although, philosophically, the definition makes it impossible).

Many years ago I worked briefly for Telstra; during that period I wrote a response to their Senate select committee submission which advocated privitisation of the organisation. I took the opportunity to recommend instead that the infrastructure remain in public hands, and the service provision be placed in a competitive market. Some years later Lindsay Tanner recommended pretty much the same thing - the Tories attacked the plan. Now they briefly entertained the plan, dropped it - and once again the good idea is shelved for years to come.

Comments

Re: /me holds the paranoia.

[zey.livejournal.com]

The sum total of communication I've received from AUUG has been one email in the past year - and that was a password request that took three weeks.

Hmmm. That's not good for an association with a $120 per annum membership fee.

Re: /me holds the paranoia.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

My sentiments exactly.