MikeFitz with overflow bit set…

An always-entertaining speaker and a meaty topic for this month’s meeting on Tuesday Sept 21.

Joseph Cooney: Hidden Gems of the Windows Operating System for Developers

Come along to this session and learn about two interesting technologies for Windows developers that are hardly known outside of Redmond.  They’ve both been around since Windows 2000, are fundamental parts of technologies that you use every day and both are fast!  Can you guess what the two mystery technologies are?

Find out this month at QMSDNUG.

About The Presenter: Joseph Cooney
To find out more about about Joseph’s skills, interests (and sense of humour) check out his blog at JCooney.NET.

Date: Tuesday 21 Sept 2010
Time: 17:30 for 18:00
Location: Microsoft Brisbane office, Level 9, Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle St, Brisbane

RSVP
All welcome. Bring your colleagues.
If you haven’t already done so, an immediate rsvp by email to mike@fitzsimon.com.au will help with planning.

These details are also on QMSDNUG’s website at www.qmsdnug.org.

Phil Bellamy, of @PhilBellamyInc, a Twitter friend I *didn’t* make during the recent Federal election campaign, has asked me to expand on my view of him as a multi-level marketing scammer.

This came after I noted that Phil was among those who had blocked me during the course of the election campaign.  Another Twitter user asked me “Who is Phil Bellamy anyway?”  My reply was…

@millionsofmyles B4 the election he was the most prolific tweeter on #AusVotes but now has reverted to his multi-level marketing scam mode
Sat Sep 11 12:24:25 +0000 2010 via TweetDeck in reply to millionsofmyles

MikeFitzAU
Mike Fitzsimon

And here’s Phil’s “request for further information”…

@MikeFitzAU multi level marketing scam mode? care to expand further? Love to see what you have to say.
Sat Sep 11 16:24:38 +0000 2010 via web in reply to MikeFitzAU

If you wish, Phil, I’ll certainly “care to expand further”.  How’s this? …

Phil Bellamy

Now, of course, I don’t know Phil in real life.  His website, philbellamyinc.com, has been in maintenance mode for months.  I can only make my judgements about him based on what I read in his Twitter stream.  Accordingly, I offer as evidence, Phil’s Twitter stream.

click to enlarge

As you can see, it contains such classics as…

RT @FiverrMe: I will professionally ghost write and edit an ebook or report for you for $5. http://fiverr.com/114083 –
Sat Sep 11 19:15:02 +0000 2010 via HootSuite

RT @FiverrMe: I will professionally ghost write and edit an ebook or report for you for $5. http://fiverr.com/114083
Sat Sep 11 13:01:15 +0000 2010 via HootSuite

RT @FiverrMe: Just Sold - I will professionaly copywrite your squeeze or landing page content so it conv… for $5. http://fiverr.com/11193
Sat Sep 11 12:23:38 +0000 2010 via HootSuite

RT @FiverrMe: Just sold - I will copywrite a sequence of 10 emails for your next email marketing campaign. for $5. http://fiverr.com/108967
Sat Sep 11 12:21:11 +0000 2010 via HootSuite

RT @BuildFollwers I will build your twitter account for 3 months for $10 - http://tenbux.com/gig/build-your-twitter-account-for-3-months
Sat Sep 11 04:06:10 +0000 2010 via HootSuite

Clearly, Phil has a way above average interest in the @FiverrMe Twitter account.  I wonder what goes on there?

@FiverrMe

Well @FiverrMe is owned by a person with a female name, which I won’t reproduce here because that could also be some other real person’s name.  Her web page is
www.only2clicks.com/pages/fiverrme.

If you were to click on that link you will see such wonders as:
• “Drive Traffic from Twitter”
• “Starter Twitter + 500 Followers”
• “I’ll DM My Followers For You”
• “Your Product Audio Endorsed”
… in fact, everything you need to know about marketing in a way that disrespects your followers.  I’ve expressed my horror at this mis-use of Twitter before.

click to enlarge

So what does @FiverrMe tweet about?  Here’s the first couple of tweets I sampled…

RT @FiverrMe: Just sold - I will copywrite a sequence of 10 emails for your next email marketing campaign. for $5. http://fiverr.com/108967
Sat Sep 11 19:45:15 +0000 2010 via HootSuite

RT @FiverrMe: I will professionally ghost write and edit an ebook or report for you for $5. http://fiverr.com/114083 –
Sat Sep 11 19:15:02 +0000 2010 via HootSuite

intervista

Fiverr.com appears to be a community of users.  The links in @FiverrMe’s tweets contain numbers (eg 108967) which could identify a “referrer number” or “affiliate number”.  In any case, they land on a page belonging to a Fiverr user (with a male profile photo) called “intervista”.  Intervista is indeed offering to copywrite 10 e-mails or ghost write an ebook for $5.  Sound too good to be true?  It probably is.

Intervista is a talented fellow.  Look what else he offers.

Intervista will create an audio recording endorsing my product?  Given that I’m pretty sure he has never used any of my products, what would you call this?  “Fake Honesty”?

He’ll also set up a new Twitter account with 2000 new targeted followers.  I wonder what he has promised these people in order to persuade them to become followers?  More “Fake Honesty”?

In either case, would you use this “Fake Honesty” to sell your products?  Is it worth the damage to your reputation when you are found out?  “Fake Honesty” has a negative value.

A Scam

Now, let’s look at what is a scam.  I think it is fair to say that persuading people to part with money in return for something of no (or even negative) value, is a scam.  Not illegal, but still a scam.

Summary

Finally, let’s check through the tweet that Phil wanted expanded further.

• B4 the election he was the most prolific tweeter on #AusVotes
  I don’t think Phil has any problem with this.
• but now has reverted
  There is evidence that Phil had a keen interest in affiliate marketing well before the election, eg his tweet “How To Mask Your Affiliate Links Using PHP” back in February 2010.  During the election campaign, Phil tweeted prolificly into the #AusVotes stream, no doubt adding a large number of followers.  He is now disrespecting those new followers by cluttering up their Twitter feed with marketing spam.
• to his multi-level marketing
  Let’s see, Intervista is selling “fake honesty” at $5 a throw.  (That’s one level.)  If the victim has come from one of @FeverrMe’s affiliate links, she’s in for a cut.  (That’s two levels.)  Phil is not incurring the damage to his brand for nothing.  He is being recompensed in some way, monetary or intangible.  (That’s three levels; multi-level marketing.)
• scam mode
  I’ll ask you, dear readers (and Phil Bellamy) “Is selling fake honesty a scam?”

Strange thing on the scrutineering last night.  Something unexpected; something which won’t show up in the official figures.

In Forde, for the House of Representatives, there were four candidates; Greens, LNP, Labor and Family First in ballot paper order.  (There’s a photo of my ballot paper in my previous post.)

When calculating the Two-Party-Preferred figures (distributing Greens and Family First 2nd and 3rd preferences), about 20% of Greens second preferences went to Family First.  At the same time, about 20% of Family First second preferences went to the Greens.

Now the Greens and Family First are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.  It would usually be completely unexpected that anyone who voted [1] for either Greens or Family First would vote [2] for the other.  The LNP scrutineer and I both spotted the trend and looked at each other in disbelief.

It was the Labor scrutineer who told us what was happening.  Voters were saying “A pox upon both your houses!”  They were voting for ANYONE before going to one of the Majors.

Not only are we staring down the barrel of a hung parliament, but clearly, there’s a lot of disaffected voters out there - even more than the stupidly-high 6.6% (at our booth) informal vote would suggest.  I don’t think either major party can claim much of a mandate for anything after this election.

———————
Update: Sun 22 Aug 2010 (late)

Protest Vote

I’ve been asked to estimate the size of the “protest vote”.  My calculations are based on my observations while scrutineering at one booth (Shailer Park in Forde).

• 20% of Greens primary can be called a “protest vote” because 2nd pref was directed to Family First : 20% of 13.54% = 2.71%
• 20% of Family First primary can be called a “protest vote” because 2nd pref was directed to Greens : 20% of 5.60% = 1.12%
• Increase in Informal : 6.63% in 2010, less 3.30% at the same booth in 2007^* = 3.33%
• Total Protest Vote 7.16%

———————
^* Note that Shailer Park was in Rankin in 2007 and was redistributed into Forde in 2010.

Other interesting factoid: the successful LNP candidate for Forde in 2010, Bert Van Manen, stood for Rankin in 2007 as a Family First candidate.

I’ll be handing out How-to-votes at a fairly busy booth on my own all day tomorrow.  Past experience tells me that it’s hard to find a break even to get to the loo, let alone vote.  Plus, there’s all those Senate numbers, 1 to 60 in Queensland.

Fortunately the AEC allows early voting, so get in early I did.  I rocked down to my local AEC office this afternoon and here’s the result.

Voted Greens

Of course, [1] for Petrina Maizey, Greens candidate for Forde; [1] for Larissa Waters, Greens lead Senate candidate.  However, special attention [60] for well-known homophobe Wendy Francis, @wendy4senate.

I used www.belowtheline.org.au to help me plan my 60 Senate numbers before I went to the polling booth.

On the way, I heard a caller to my local ABC radio station (@612Brisbane) lament the poor choices that we are offered by the major parties.  He said, “This election is like a Test Match between England and New Zealand.  I don’t really care who wins; but I’ll certainly celebrate when one of them loses”.

Excellent image manipulation by Indonesian digital imaging artist Heru Suryoko.  (Via Looks Like Good Design.)

I haven’t been so well lately, but last Monday I did manage to crawl to the screen to watch Q&A on ABC1.  I didn’t want to miss WA Green Senator Scott Ludlam.

The arrival of asylum-seekers by boat has dominated the electorate lately and Q&A reflected this.  More than half the program was dedicated to the topic.

At one point, I tweeted something I once saw on an Aboriginal mate’s Facebook page.  It struck a chord with the #qanda audience.  I see that now, at the end of the week, it is still the top tweet (with 70+ retweets) with the #qanda hashtag.

———————
I like the idea of tweet text being searchable, so here it is …

To my aboriginal mate, the definition of “irony” is one wave of boat people complaining about another. #qanda
10:06 PM Jul 12th via TweetDeck
MikeFitzAU
Mike Fitzsimon

Earlier this week I was pleased to have fun setting up a new blog for a dear friend, Del.  She is an outstanding teacher who has taught all three of my sons and (mostly) kept a straight face.  She is also the Brisbane Broncos #1 Fan.  Maureen and I have known Del for more that 20 years.

Here’s her new blog, tentatively titled Del’s Adventures.  You’ll find it at broncdel.wordpress.com.

Last month, we celebrated Mother’s Day. We were reminded of what all mothers (and fathers) wish for their children; to be happy, to be healthy, to live in peace and equal opportunity.

This is Hassan, the son of a good friend.  Isn’t he gorgeous?  With his mother’s love and protection, he is certainly happy and healthy.

Unfortunately for Hassan, however, he and his family live in Gaza.  No matter how much his parents may wish for it, they do not have peace and equal opportunity for Hassan.

On the same day as my friend posted Hassan’s photo to her Facebook, Israeli navy warships were firing on Gazan fishermen to keep them away from productive deep-sea fishing grounds.  This is not a naval blockade to keep weapons out; it is just another part of Israel’s slow genocide in Gaza; applying pressure to the civilian population at every point.

Three weeks ago Australia expelled an Israeli diplomat over Israel’s use of forged Australian passports in the assassination of a Hamas leader.  Recently, an Australian citizen was treated appallingly after being left to bleed during Israel’s attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.  Israel’s actions are not those of a nation which respects others.  Decades ago, I was a supporter of Israel, but no more.

I have come to realise the United States’ unthinking and unconditional support for Israel since 1967 is the root cause of most of the conflict in the Middle East.  Israel believes that it can carry out any action and, so long as there is no response from its most powerful ally, the US, there will not be any adverse consequences; there will be no need to pursue peace.

This not a Democrat or Republican problem.  This situation has persisted under many Presidents: Carter, Reagan, Bush Snr, Clinton, Bush Jnr and now Obama.

When Israel intercepts a humanitarian convoy and the result is 9 dead, it is not good enough for the United States to merely express “regret for the loss of life”.  The rest of the world can condemn Israel, but unless the response from the United States is stronger, nothing will ever change, conflict will continue, mothers will continue to lose their children.

What does this mean for Hassan?

None of us are born with hatred in our hearts.  Hatred will only come after we experience fear.

Hassan has been born into a family where he is surrounded by the love of his parents.  He has nothing to fear; no reason to hate.  Please help Hassan not know fear.

A plea to all my US friends

Now, I am fortunate to have many friends from around our planet.  Many of them are US citizens, many are mothers and some are grandmothers.

To all of my US friends, especially those who are mothers and grandmothers, I make this plea: I urge you to write to your Congressman and the Senators for your state.  Tell them that you do not support the Unites States’ unconditional support for Israel; you do not support the Unites States’ tacit support for the genocide of Palestinians.

Do not remain silent.  Do not let your government breed fear and hate in your name.

Let us pray that by next Mother’s Day and next Memorial Day, fewer Mothers are missing their sons and daughters. Let us pray that Hassan grows up in peace and never knows hatred.

A double-header for QMSDNUG’s April meeting with two speakers who are definitely worth going out of our way for.

Paul Stovell: Aspect Oriented Programming

AOP allows you to separate the concerns of your code and to change the behaviour of existing objects.  In this session we will look at three ways of utilizing AOP techniques from .NET: using PostSharp, Castle Windsor Interceptors, and the Microsoft patterns & practices Policy Injection Application Block.  We will dive into the .NET runtime technologies that enable AOP, and look at some useful scenarios in which it can be used.

Solon Edmunds: Experiences with Agile

Agile encompasses a lot of things these days, a lot of it marketing .. some of which resembles miracle cures.

But in the real world, it takes time to learn new skills - they don’t just fall out of the sky and land in your lap like some people wish they would!  And both organisations and software development are complex, so evolving them is a process, and it’s useful to understand this and plan accordingly.

Solon will be happy to share some of his philosophies, anecdotes, and recommendations he has developed over a decade of implementing and customising agile processes in development houses.

Date: Tuesday 20 April 2010
Time: 17:30 for 18:00
Location: Microsoft Brisbane office, Level 9, Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle St, Brisbane

RSVP
All welcome. Bring your colleagues.
If you haven’t already done so, an immediate rsvp by email to mike@fitzsimon.com.au will help with planning.

These details are also on QMSDNUG’s website at www.qmsdnug.org.

I’m saddened to see that, despite criticism from within Australia and internationally, Senator Conroy continues on his Quixotic charge to use ineffective technology to combat child pornography.  Even sadder to see some Labor MHRs happy to see money wasted.

You cannot tell me the filter won’t do *ANY* good.
– Arch Bevis, Labor MHR for Brisbane, toeing the party line, January 2010

Quixotic Conroy.  Click to enlarge.

Sancho Panza: Don Quixote, Use the Lance!
Don Quixote: No, this toothpick is much better.
Don Quixote: You cannot tell me I can’t lodge it in my opponent’s eye.
Citizen: But Senator Conroy, paedophiles don’t use HTTP. They use HTTPS, VPN, P2P, IRC, chat rooms, myspace, facebook…
Sen. Conroy: No, we paid $44m for this HTTP filter.
Sen. Conroy: You cannot tell me the filter won’t do *ANY* good.

Arguments against the Mandatory ISP Filter

Mind Map presenting arguments against the filter. (click to enlarge)

You may recall my earlier post where I presented a Mind Map of the arguments against Senator Conroy’s Mandatory ISP Filter and offering a better solution for Child Cyber-Safety.

It was prepared for a meeting between Arch Bevis, Labor MHR for Brisbane, and a number of individuals who had met at a meeting of Stop Internet Censorship Brisbane, including myself.

Meeting with Arch Bevis

From my notes after the meeting between Stop Internet Censorship members (SIC) and Arch Bevis (AB)…

SIC: The filter won’t work at all.
AB: You cannot tell me the filter won’t do ANY good.

He’s right.  We couldn’t tell him.  Any discussion of the technologies actually used by paedophiles just bounced off the stonewall.

SIC: The blacklist is secret.
AB: Yes, I’m uncomfortable with that. There should be enough information published about each blocked URL to explain why the decision was made, without, of course, publishing the URL.

Hmmm…

SIC: It’s censorship.
AB: Of course, some censorship is necessary. However I can think of some past Attorneys-General who, if armed with a scheme like this, would have made blacklisting decisions that I would not agree with.

… thereby proving our point that future governments cannot be trusted with scope-creep-ready censorware in every Australian ISP.

SIC: In-home filtering and parent supervision is better.
AB: That won’t happen.

AB went on to point out clearly that no education or training is necessary to become a parent.  He stopped just short of actually calling Aussie parents “dills”.

SIC: Senator Conroy’s communication presents the ISP Filter as a magic bullet.
AB: I’ll meet with Senator Conroy and ask him to tone down the PR language.

Two months later, I note Conroy now says occasionally, “We never said it was a magic bullet.“  Unfortunately, nothing else has changed.

SIC: It’s a huge waste of money.
AB: $44m? Pfft! You should see what the other side wasted on a cancelled naval helicopter contract.

I gather from this that both major parties have even bigger waste/skeletons in their closets and that wasting money comes easily to politicians.  Clearly the “waste of money” argument won’t get much traction with the major parties.

I have to say, I came away from the meeting disheartened.

So Who Will I be Voting For?

Andrew Bartlett

Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown and Senate Candidate Larissa Waters

A Federal election will be called later this year.  The Greens (particularly WA Senator Scott Ludlam) are the only major party who have spoken out consistently against the filter.  They also have a published policy to “ensure that regulation of the internet is transparent, accountable and protects freedom of speech, expression and access to information“.

If I were an elector in the seat of Brisbane, I’d be voting for Arch Bevis’ rival, former senator Andrew Bartlett.  As a Queenslander, I’m certainly voting for Larissa Waters in the Senate with the flow of preferences to be determined very much by the other parties’ policies.  I’ll be looking for policies that won’t place the yoke of censorship on the Australia I leave for my children.

———————

Related “Conroy Cartoons”

Pervert Conroy?

Future Filter

Phone Senator Conroy

87 Percent