No, really.

That’s the big story from this year’s Penny Arcade Expo – PAX – the festival for gamers held this year in Washington.

A project in development since 1997, the long-awaited and much ridiculed attempt to bring the controversial hero from 1996′s Duke Nukem 3D to a new generation has been the subject of 13 years of industry jokes.

Most are bad, honing in on the title’s acronym “DNF”, which in motor-racing terms means “Did Not Finish”.

But DNF has also become synonymous with “vaporware awards” – awards handed out annually by the video games industry for the most eagerly awaited titles which never materialise.

“The great vaporware saga of Duke Nukem looks to be coming to a close,” IGN reported.

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“Let me repeat that for the non-believers: Duke Nukem Forever is real and it is an actual playable game.”

The original 3D PC game became a huge success due to the appeal of its lead character, described by his creators as a “combo of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Arnold Schwarzenegger”, and the fact that its visuals were on a par with those of the genre groundbreaker Doom.

It also contained a high level of sex and violence, which helped it generate plenty of controversy at the time.

Now, 13 years later, the Duke’s still got it.

“It looks like the aliens Duke punished in his earlier games are back – and they are here for our women,” IGN reports.

“This personal affront to Duke leads him on a mission to kill everything in his way, including a giant alien queen with three breasts.

“And in typical Duke fashion, after seeing the entirety of this tri-boobed monster, the hero quips, ‘Hell, I’d still hit it.’”

IGN’s Levi Buchanan was given a full 15 minutes of game time at PAX on Duke Nukem Forever.

One of the highlights, he noted, was the ability to kick a giant Cycloid’s eyeball through a set of goalposts after killing it.

http://network.news.com.au/images/i_related.gif Read about Buchanan’s 15 minutes with Duke Nukem Forever

He was also shown yet another trailer for the game in which, a woman remarks to Duke that his new adventure looks great.

“Yeah, but after 12 f**king years, it should be,” the Duke responds.

The only concern, Buchanan notes, is the lack of a firm release date.

“Sometime in 2011″ was the line given to those allowed to experience Duke Nukem Forever at PAX.

But as Buchanan says: “That’s not was this re-unveiling was about.”

“This was about blowing minds, because show-goers were genuinely surprised to see that Duke Nukem Forever was not just at PAX, but was also something they could get their very own hands on for the first time.”

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/pax-reviewers-claim-duke-nukem-forever-is-real-and-playable/story-e6frfro0-1225914610608#ixzz0ylNIcWnk

The Facebook lists containing the names of about 100 teens are sowing panic in the southern town of Puerto Asis where the slayings took place.

Several police teams were sent to investigate and discover who was behind the lists, police General Jose Leon Riano said.

A criminal gang known as Los Rastrojos operates in the area, as well as a faction of the guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

According to officials, the crime scare started August 16 when two teens, aged 16 and 17, were shot dead while riding a motorbike.

The teenage boys were asked to leave the town or face the consequences, local media reported.

The Facebook hit list was posted on August 17th. On it were 69 names, including those of the two killed.

Three days later, another boy whose name was on the hit list, Norbey Alexander Vargas, was killed.

Another young man, 16-year-old student Juan Pablo Zambrano Anacona, was wounded in the same incident, according to PattayaToday.

Since then, another two lists have been issued, panicking parents.

Most of the names on the lists belong to people under 18 years of age.

Police said they were weighing the possibility of the lists being a macabre joke or game between adolescents in the town.

Citizens claim police aren’t taking the hit list seriously enough and that the death count is much higher.

“In Puerto Asis they have killed 20 young people threatened on Facebook and the authorities have not said anything,” jesusmhenriquez posted on Twitter.

“That is Colombia.”

Gen Riano said several of the teenagers on the lists no longer lived in Puerto Asis.

He also said that threatening messages against local police have been posted in the town, with the authors accusing officers of having a hand in the killings.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/teen-murders-linked-to-facebook-hit-list-in-colombia/story-e6frfkyi-1225909823526#ixzz0xajyapZI

Whilst this is merely a ‘planned’ act, and has only been greenlit by a US Supreme Court that ruled it a reasonable action, it’s no big threat; and let’s face it within a matter of days someone will bash out some code to ensure this threat is defeated. Yet it causes some concern for security having a camera on both sides of the device. Now I can’t simply place my phone camera side down to set at ease that nagging 1984 orwellian paranoia. Read on for details, courtesy of news.com.au: -

APPLE has been accused of creating “traitorware” for trying to patent security software that tracks down people who jailbreak their iPhones and iPads and locks them out of their devices.

Jailbreaking allows users to access software and features for their devices that have not been sanctioned by Apple.

The process was declared legitimate by a US court earlier this month, but Apple said any such interference in their device will void its warranty.

Apple’s patent, which went before the US Patent and Trademark Office earlier this week, is for “systems and methods for identifying unauthorised users of an electronic device”.

Using the software, Apple can remotely access your sensitive information and data, ostensibly to determine if you are an “authorised user”.

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Related Coverage

* Halo: Life ban for pirates

* iPhone set to get an iKill switch Courier Mail, 17 hours ago
* A Trojan horse in your phone Australian IT, 9 Aug 2010
* Jailbroken – now iPhones are for porn, too NEWS.com.au, 27 Jul 2010
* US legalises ‘jailbreaking’ iPhones Australian IT, 26 Jul 2010
* iPhone buyers get OK for class action Australian IT, 12 Jul 2010

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Among the information they can access, the system can take a flashless, undetectable photo of the users’ face (with the iPhone 4′s front-facing camera) and multiple photos of the surrounding location.

It can also record the users’ voice regardless of whether they are making a phone call, monitor their internet usage and record the heartbeat and “vibration signature” of the user.

According to the patent application, if these identifiers do not match the “authorised” user, the system then determines if there is “suspicious behaviour”.

Suspicious behaviour, says the application “comprises one or more of hacking the electronic device, jailbreaking the electronic device, unlocking the electronic device, removing a SIM card from the electronic device, and moving at least a predetermined distance away from a synced device”.

If Apple decides that all this adds up to unauthorised use they will remotely lock or shut down the offending iPhone or iPad, making it unusable.

It’s been labelled by watchdog organisations as dangerous spyware. They even invented a new word for it – “traitorware”.

US civil liberties group, Electronic Frontier Foundation, has called the patent “downright creepy and invasive” and overkill for technology that is to track down a lost or stolen phone – something already possible with the “Mobile Me” app.

“This patented process could be used to retaliate against you if you jailbreak or tinker with your device in ways that Apple views as ‘unauthorised’ even if it is perfectly legal,” it said.

There are obvious financial incentives for Apple putting an end to the legal process and the Electronic Frontier Foundation believe this could be the greater motive behind the software.

“This patent application does nothing short of providing a roadmap for how Apple can – and presumably will – spy on its customers and control the way its customers use Apple products.”

Electronic Frontiers Australia shares their concerns.

“There are huge privacy implications.” Colin Jacobs, chair of EFA told news.com.au

“It raises the risk of what happens if someone gains unauthorised access to the information… if this information is stored then it’s pretty clear that someone will come looking for it.”

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/apple-traitorware-can-take-your-photo-and-shut-down-your-jailbroken-iphone-ipad/story-e6frfro0-1225909901032#ixzz0xaemny1w <– Not really, this is all there is to read, this is just included so News Ltd. won’t cry about copyright.

It was pretty pointless gaming with no real purpose once you reached a certain level, and invariably the alien invasions became too hot and rapid to consequentially engage. But we all played it none the less. Addictively. Fanatically.

The worst part was what came next, in 1997, with some wanky attempt at a trilogy with a buggy as hell art deco future tech world with flying cars and circle jerking that really bombed called X-COM: Apocalypse. Due to the transition of computer technology and their attempt to try and make things cutting edge most people were playing the game on older systems, or systems too new, back when CPU clock throttling was manual and dodgy leading to the game running too slow, or too fast, or otherwise just not running at all.

1998 brought Interceptor, a space based version that was the polar opposite of Apocalypse, polygon graphics and really retro-feel can be achieved by … well, poor programming and no game design, which was the case. It too was another flop. Later in 2001 X-COM: Enforcer arrived from another company, Infogrammes, as opposed to Microprose. By this stage most gamers who were original fans weren’t interested, there were a plethora of fan based games, RPG’s, and stuff along those lines but they were all abysmal.

So, I apologise to those fans who’ve read this far, for being four months late in addressing that … wait for it.

X-COM is being remade, set in the 20′s or 30′s from the looks, by 2K the guys who brought us fun titles from System Shock to Bioshock, etc. 2K Marin hasn’t released many details about the project just yet, but has confirmed that the game will be played from the FPS perspective, eschewing the isometric viewpoint of previous games. That means it will probably be in real-time too, rather than the old-style turn-based – though the official press release promise there’ll still be a strategic element to the gameplay.

The plot of the new game will put players in the shoes of an FBI agent who has to identify and eliminate a new threat.

“With BioShock 2, the team at 2K Marin proved themselves as masters of first-person, suspenseful storytelling, and with XCOM they will re-imagine and expand the rich lore of this revered franchise,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K.

“Players will explore the world of XCOM from an immersive new perspective and experience firsthand the fear and tension of this gripping narrative ride.”

The new official XCOM website has a few bits of concept art which imply a minimalist look for the game, as well as an update to the series name; it’s changed from X-COM to just XCOM.

I decided to shoot off an official complaint to Australian Customs, whilst it’s just an idea I’ll add any resulting commentary to this thread. Email below: –

Dear Australian Customs,

I am writing to submit a suggestion, by way of a complaint, in relation to the thousands of tonnes of counterfeit clothing that Australian customs destroys every year.

I am sure that it would be very simple to orchestrate, and that many charities would jump on board, a program by which all counterfeit shoes, clothes, materials that could be considered essential clothing items for individuals be defaced by, for example, dipping in vats of black ink, thus rendering the brand infringement void and then given to the tens of thousands of homeless people in our country.

Further if this tactic were looked into, surplus could be sent overseas to nations where some children have never even owned a pair of shoes and where even a scrap of blanket could mean the survival of a person from the harsh elements of their world.

We are a nation of waste, and it disgusts me to be a part of (through inaction) this cycle of waste that has gone from being over officiousness to a culture in itself.

Regards,

BaSH PR0MPT
Please note: all correspondence will be published on bashpr0mpt.com and may be syndicated through RSS or other means to other networks or hosts.

From electromagnetic aqua jet propulsion through to self tinting glass I’ve come up with thousands of hair brained ideas but this one struck me at 1AM during a late night wee. Oft the best room of the house for thought, the toilet never let’s me down.

If a solid state light emitting diode can cycle literally as fast as the current going to it to power each cycle can pass, and if the human eye cannot perceive cycles beyond a certain threshold of speed making light appear to be a constant, then why not have light emitting diodes strobe at that peak level and thus benefit from the 50% on 50% off ratio of high speed strobing saving 50% of all power used for lighting the world over?

I’ll just leave this here.

You were given plenty of warning before I cancelled these services, yet after several emails, three phone calls, and ongoing complaints through this form, including each time drawing your attention to the articles I’ve written about your negligence even in losing a customer on my blog which averages traffic of 1.8m viewers per week.

I am again writing to complain that I am still getting bills at my previous address, I informed you several months ago that I had changed address and asked you to stop annoying the current tennants with bills for services that were long gone come 2010.

Please cease sending correspondence to the current tennants, and frankly, fuck off and leave me alone. If you contact any credit firm in relation to these accounts and dare to register negatively against me, legal action will be sought and compensation will be sought.

Again, to summarise; I haven’t had your services since 2010 started, don’t want your services, paid all my bills up to that date, and cancelled the services by means required per contract due to YOUR breach of the contracts in question.

To summarise further; fuck off. Ok?

This complaint has been syndicated on my blog, for my viewers amusement, because you guys are absolutely useless and they enjoy seeing how retarded big corporations are. :)

To the people manning the @optus account, feel free to go back through my blog to find all the nitty gritty details. But seriously, what do I need to do to get you guys to stop? I can file an injunction if you want, but surely SOMEONE in your company MUST be reading those complaint forms and emails I’ve been sending?

Here’s where shit gets weird.

I recently bought an iPhone 4, first thing I wanted to do was download an epilepsy inducing strobe app to be annoying with the LED flash. It gave me my 2 minutes of amusement, and eventually (half a book and two movies later) I crawled into bed.

I wanted to see if the torch aspect of the LED was good in zero lux, I flicked it to strobe for farts and giggles, and lo and behold I could hear it. Not it in the phone, but in my ears. When it’s dead silent and you get that whine of silence that isn’t quite tinitus, and the strobe goes off the sound vibrates, I hear an oscillation in the monotone of silence.

I figured it was a neurological bias inflicted by optical receptors crossing wires somewhere up top; but even with my eyes closed, and even under a pillow I could still ‘hear’ the oscillation. I’ll get a third party to test it soon, but seriously, when the doc said I had dog hearing I thought he was just exaggerating!

Do you hear the iPhone 4 LED? Is so, let me know!

I informed them first and foremost of who I am, what I do, and provided estimates of my demographic reach and klout (for their nerdier PR types) and explained that I feel, as a swing voter, to be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. I didn’t really expect a reply.

Late last night the Coalition announced it won’t be voting for an internet filter that censors the web. This comes after the Government responded by deferring the filter until 2012 (with the likelihood that the filter will never come back in its current form).

With independent Senator Nick Xenophon, the Greens and now the Coalition all walking away from the ineffective policy of censoring the internet, there is now no way for the Senate to pass the dodgy scheme as a whole.

While this news was epic, one issue I raised about Work Choices (the individually negotiated contract of employment allowing unfair and downright unconscionably things of new employees, in some instances forcing unpaid overtime regularly) being dead and buried.

The line they’re still towing is that they cannot say that all elements of work choices are off the table.

The main issue with this is that the Coalition assume that the average Australian has the cognitive abilities to fairly negotiate their own employment contract; which time has showed they clearly haven’t. It was this Act that led to the Coalition being ousted in a landslide victory by Kevin Rudd in 2007 who was brought in to undo some serious Coalition fuck ups.

For now, I’m willing to risk it and vote Lib, (similar to conservatives for US readers or Tory for UK) and see what bag of worms we untie this election.

Well, this morning I recieved a DCMA copyright infringement complaint filed by a “michael Green” [sic] who claims original ownership of the content. Given that it sounds like bullshit, and it is defendable as it’s fair use under the DMCA, I’ve decided to fight it and see where it goes.

I’ll update with more when I find out what YouTube has to say on the matter, given their knee jerk reactions to DCMA. Below is the notification I recieved, dramatically it was in stark red. :)

ATTENTION

We have received copyright complaint(s) regarding material that you posted, as follows:

* from michael Green about Pakistani Police Do a Barrel Roll – bashpr0mpt
Video ID: W9pNOY0qtxw

Please note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos that you have uploaded. Please delete any videos for which you do not own the necessary rights and refrain from uploading infringing videos.

If you are unsure what this means, it is very important for you to visit our Copyright Tips guide.

If one of your postings has been misidentified as infringing, you may submit a counter-notification. Information about this process is in our Help Centre.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material was disabled due to mistake or misidentification may be liable for damages.

For your reference, a copy of this message has been sent to you via email and can also be located in your Account Warnings page.

Replacing or even handling batteries in this era is as absurd as replacing the engine in your car rather than shoving a petrol bowser nozzle into it.

Everything that requires power should have a lithium ion battery and be rechargeable from a wall socket. Fuck Kyoto and big daunting steps that narrow minded voters find fickle politic in, a small logical (albeit technological) step forward would be ridding our shelves in supermarkets of batteries as we did old incandescent bulbs, which we replaced with ‘energy saver’ bulbs half a decade ago.

Just a thought.

“Our military has been testing such robots along the border,” a defence ministry spokesman said.

Two robots with surveillance, tracking, firing and voice recognition systems were integrated into a single unit, he said, declining to give details.

The robot unit costing 400 million won ($US330,000) was installed last month at a guard post in the central section of the Demilitarized Zone which bisects the peninsula, Yonhap news agency said.

It quoted an unidentified military official as saying the ministry would deploy sentry robots along the world’s last Cold War frontier if the test is successful.

The robot uses heat and motion detectors to sense possible threats, and alerts command centres, Yonhap said.

If the command centre operator cannot identify possible intruders through the robot’s audio or video communications system, the operator can order it to fire its gun or automatic grenade launcher.

South Korea is also developing highly sophisticated combat robots armed with weapons and sensors that could complement human soldiers on battlefields.

It has a largely conscripted military of 655,000 against Pyongyang’s 1.2 million-strong force, but a falling birth rate means Seoul will struggle in the future to maintain troop numbers.

Paul D. Ceglia filed a suit in the Supreme Court of New York’s Allegany County on June 30, claiming that a 2003 contract he signed with Facebook founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg entitles him to ownership of the company and monetary damages.

The suit is being heard by Judge Thomas Brown, who issued the temporary restraining order earlier this month. Facebook has requested that the case be moved to federal court.

In his suit, Mr. Ceglia claims he signed a contract with Mr. Zuckerberg on April 28, 2003, to develop and design a website, paying a $1,000 fee but getting a 50% stake in the product. The contract stipulated that Mr. Ceglia would get an additional 1% interest in the business for every day after Jan. 1, 2004, until it was completed.

In a statement, a spokesman for closely held Facebook said, “We believe this suit is completely frivolous and we will fight it vigorously.”

Mr. Ceglia didn’t return calls seeking comment. His lawyer, Paul A. Argentieri, also didn’t return a call for comment.

It’s unclear how Mr. Ceglia might have become involved with Mr. Zuckerberg.

A copy of the contract seen by The Wall Street Journal says it is “for the purchase and design of a suitable website for the project Seller [Mr. Zuckerberg] has already initiated that is designed to offer the students of Harvard university [sic] access to a wesite [sic] similar to a live functioning yearbook with the working title of ‘The Face Book.’”

The date of the contract appears to conflict with previous accounts of the creation of Facebook. Mr. Zuckerberg built a predecessor to Facebook called Facemash in October and November 2003, but Mr. Zuckerberg didn’t register the domain thefacebook.com until January 2004.

In 2009, New York’s Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo accused Mr. Ceglia of defrauding customers of his wood-pellet fuel company, according to a news release from the Attorney General’s office.

The state claimed that he took more than $200,000 from consumers and then failed to deliver any products or refunds. The wood-pellet case is ongoing.

Victor P. Goldberg, who teaches contracts at Columbia University’s Law School, said the Facebook contract lawsuit may get tripped up by the statute of limitations, which is six years in New York.

He also said the contract itself was unusual, because it doesn’t stipulate what else Mr. Zuckerberg would have gotten from Mr. Ceglia aside from $1,000.

Adam Oliveri, managing director of New York-based SecondMarket, a company that helps early employees and investors in Facebook trade shares of the private company, said such trading continues and that he didn’t expect the suit would have much impact on such deals.

“I think people will read this and take it to be a lawsuit that will be dealt with pretty quickly by Facebook,” said Mr. Oliveri.

Facebook has grown explosively in recent years, and has about 500 million users globally. Along the way, the company has wrestled with other challenges over its early ownership and origins, and with user privacy issues.Facebook

Thus, this is an urgent plea. If you are female, live in Indonesia, and have ‘beiber’ in any way shape or form in your username, biography, or fuck .. anywhere, please, please, please remove me and go drown yourself in the bathtub. You’re not a Twitter rockstar, you’re just some fucking crazed fangirl, and you’re fat. Yes, you are. No, your mother was lying, she’s biased. Go fuck a yak.

Aside from that there’s a lame animation cut scene between all actions of menu items exploding out or in depending on whether you’re entering or exiting a program. There’s red underline under typographical errors, yet it still refuses to learn profanity.

Oh, also during the upgrade expect to lose all your thumbnails of prior images, they’re still there but you can only access them from a computer. Also you’ll lose most of your apps, and all your SMS backlog; even a restore of prior phone records does not seem to rectify this.

This pissed off the faction leaders most of all and gave them a strong standing point to pretend it was all about the tax. What it appears to really have been about is shanking him as he’d delivered on everything they wanted but was focusing more on the people than the politicking bitches in Canberra.

Even well leading up to this there was an uneccessry emphasis in the media on Rudd being a ‘lame duck’. This was simply not true, but an effective method when you consider the low intelligence of the average person and their liability to ‘feel’ and follow sensationalism as opposed to stepping back and evaluating things critically. Rudd was being criticised like assinine twats in high school would, delving into his personality, his look, his speech, everything but the fact he’d followed through with MORE of his election promises than any prior leader and has truly future proofed our nation.

We still have the same policies being applied but with a different leader. It’ll be interesting to see what happens now Gillard has washed the blood off her hands. Regardless, it’s a sad day for libertarians and democracy in Australia. Governments in the party system arguably enough don’t represent or speak for their people for the most part but now I can truly say;

Our government is illegimate and does not represent the will of the people of Australia. Tyranny and betrayal is superior to the votes cast. And if you rock up with the Minister for Defence by your side you’ll always win the coup.

Farewell democratic lipservice they used to give us to make us at least -slightly- delude ourselves we’re a free state.

I’ve had a dozen or so people ask me today what a spill is; my response is the same that history will reflect if you try and research this disgusting coup against the will of the people. Spill is what BP’s oil is doing in the ocean right now. And even at present google yields barely a blip of this political ‘spill.’

The media at present are focusing on the positivity, highlighting that she’s a woman and thus it’s exciting, amazing, and different. Claiming that it wouldn’t be the same if it’s ‘another boring man in a suit’ per one News Ltd commentator. They’re lining up for fallacious logic that if you oppose her it’s because you have a problem with a woman in power (creepy, as I wrote that a political commentator just said that on Channel Nine).

I am happy to have a woman in power and think it’s long overdue. Given that the majority of Australians are female, it makes sense. It’s as overdue as a non-white president was for the US, not that the supression of womens rights here is even comparable to the hostilities and suffering of non-white Americans. What disgusts me is; our first prime minister took power through backstabbing a great bloke who followe through with almost all his promises in record time, a man who (as an ALP PM a rarity (ALP aren’t business savvy like the Libs are, for the sake of non Australians, and usually lead us into a lot of debt but improve living conditions where as Libs lead us into the black and fuck our few constitutional rights in the arse)) saw us through the Global Financial Crisis while emerging unscathed with one of the worlds strongest economies.

He was a man of the people and a populis elect by far, but he trod on the toes of union hard men and wanky factional leaders; the same leaders I was proud in 2010 appeared to have no control over the government with them tending more to our interests than the faction leaders.

To this very minute they’re still dodging the word coup.

I’ve been getting obscenely large bills, but one was a telephony charge error for an install that didn’t happen, but I’m still getting charged $40 something per month for my home phone even though the ‘fishing bundle’ I was offered took into account my Foxtel and home phone. I’m refusing to pay the Bigpond bill until they sort out my speed issue because frankly I don’t trust them, but at 1:20 last night I noticed my speed was about 40 kbps.

Ringing up to complain this morning, I got told that I was over cap (100gb, nowai?) at 55 gb, I pointed out that that was the first thing I checked, she then stated since then I’ve downloaded 450 gb. I professed that as much as I’d like to break the laws of physics, I can’t. She palmed me off to billing.

So, Telstra, if you’re reading this, can you please sort this out for me? My username is bashprompt [at ] bigpond, of course. Let me know if you can halp via Twitter kthx. :)

8:22 AM 15/06/2010 Called Telstra after noting that my service was suspended after refusing to pay an erroneous bill of $607 whilst I have yet to receieve satisfactory service from their Bigpond department (Contract implicitly states in no uncertain terms 20mbps minimum service). Spoke with a female named ‘Miles’, she asked me if I’d be paying, I declined as the bill is still in error and I am not receiving adequate speed per contract.

Period they are claiming for landline is Feb to July, which should be 5@$9.90 $49.50, however the first month was TPG naked DSL thus the cost was incurred by and paid for by TPG, so that should be $39.60.

The period they are claiming for ADSL2+ is March to July which would be 4@$109.90 thus $439, however as I explained to them, and as is written in my case notes as an addendum to my contract I made the signing agent write IN to my contract that I will not be paying nor will I be bound to them for net access contractually until they provide ADSL2+ speeds, of which I am receiving approximately half the speed required for it to be in that standard.

I made a token payment of 40.44 (Receipt# 1667704396) for the landline, which is what they are claiming the ‘month’ bill was, will make additional to meet $49.50 once I sort out the Bigpond issue. Still yet to find the mythical $89.99 flat offer that Scott (manager from complaints) offered me that juped me into signing on with Bigpond with promise that they’d track him down on his offer, I don’t understand why I’m paying $129 for what iPrimus offer for $49 naked.

8:34 AM 15/06/2010 Transferred to billing department, spoke with a woman who explained that they weren’t taking into account my Foxtel and hadn’t set up the billing for the account properly which is why my landline was twice what it should be, she asked several other details of me to be able to find my Foxtel account to link it. After ten minutes of waiting with intermittant comments from her saying the computer was still trying to find my account she terminated the call without comment. They have my contact number, will see if they try and call me back or whether I’ve just been ditched.

7:17 AM 21/06/2010 Contacted Telstra technical support to report my connection running well below agreed speed, pulling 50kbps instead of 20,000kbps (20mbps). Placed on hold. 7:27 AM 21/06/2010 call terminated by Telstra end, ditched again, yey.

7:28 AM 21/06/2010 Called Bigpond back, again, went through to an operator but was placed on hold immediately, spoke with Rachel, explained that I’m calling about the same issue. She said I’ve used 55gb and I’m shaped, I explained I’m on the 100gb plan, she stated I’ve used 450gb from the last time I checked (1:26 AM was when I checked my usage last, with the problem presenting at 1:20), I explained that’s simply impossible. She told me to contact 137663 3 3 regarding billing. I asked why I have to contact billing, she said because they’re closed. I asked why that’s even an issue given that it’s a technical fault, she said that they have very limited access to function on accounts and billing are the only ones who can look into cap issues. I pointed out that this is very unprofessional and that tech support should handle all this behind the scenes as an in house issue not palm the customer off just because they can’t solve the problem prima facie. She had no idea what I was talking about, so I thanked her and will contact billing.

One thing I question is, is there a responsibility within the media to ignore, or at least not sensationalise dicks? I mean, it’s all well and good to scream public right to know, but do I really care or want to know that some anachronistic cunt who played some random three letter abbreviated version of football thinks X or Y? Public right to know more often than not leads to sensationalism which makes for ‘good reading’ for the media, but destroys lives and keeps alive debates that shouldn’t even be debatable anymore.

The irony of football variants, for those outside Australia, is that most of the best players in the last few decades have been indigenous Australians, so for ‘footy fans’ to show racism let alone established icons when the victim of their jibes are the people who’ve launched the game to whole new levels of competativeness and talent is pretty daft.

A SIX- storey-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm on last night and burned to the ground, police said.

The King of Kings statue, one of southwest Ohio’s most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.

The sculpture, nearly 19 metres tall and 12 metres wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed Touchdown Jesus because of the way the arms were raised, similar to a referee signalling a touchdown in a game of football.