HOWTO: Enabling the external analog microphone on a Dell Inspiron 1720 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty for Skype

Computer: Dell Inspiron 1720

Operating System: Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty

Problem: Couldn’t get Skype or other applications to work with an external analog microphone (similar to this one)

Delete files older than n days with Delen

I just found a freeware Windows command line tool called Delen.  It is a little (~80Kb) utility that does lots of useful things that the DEL command in Windows doesn’t do.  I now use it to clear out a temporary directory of files older than 90 days.

Australia’s internet censorship plans canceled

At last, the Australian parliament has made a sensible decision about the Internet, and abandoned plans to censor it (SMH, 26 Feb 2009).   The “fundamentally flawed” (SMH, 23 Dec 2008) censorship was to filter out  “revolting and abhorrent phenomena” that “offend against the standards of morality” (SMH, 26 Feb 2009).

And another thing … would blocking “revolting and abhorrent phenomena” that “offend against the standards of morality” result in the proceedings of federal parliament itself being blocked online?  After all, last week saw four members of the House of Representatives ejected for unruly conduct, with two banned for 24 hours (The Australian, 22 Feb 2009).  Such behaviour is a revolting and abhorrent phenomenon that offends against the standards of morality.

What happened to ministerial responsibility?

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon doesn’t seem to understand the concept of ministerial responsibility that applies in Australia’s Westminster-based system of government.  Judging by his comments in parliament, he doesn’t even seem to understand the concepts of accountability or transparency either.

In an unusual argument in a censure debate, Mr Fitzgibbon said the Opposition defence spokesman, Senator David Johnston, should have worked with him to keep the issue from becoming a public embarrassment.

”It would have been a much more responsible act for Senator Johnston to come into my office and say, ‘mate, I think we have a problem with our Special Forces soldiers and mate, you and I both know we do not want this to become a public issue’,” he said. (Canberra Times, 26 Feb 2009)

Rudd Government takes credit

“ACT Schools will need to affix plaques to all projects granted under the Federal Government’s stimulus package to receive their slice of the $230 million on offer. Roadside signs supplied by the Federal Government will also have to be put in front of new science labs, language centres and school structures giving credit to the Rudd Government.” (Canberra Times 26 Feb 2009)

Why would the Rudd Government take credit for funding schools? It isn’t the Rudd Government’s money that is being used this way – it is the taxpayers’ money. Or did the Labor Party contribute the $230m?

Embedding iTunes track ratings in track comments

The iTunes software has served well, but it was time to switch to Amarok.  iTunes held all the rating information for my music collection, and that information needed to be migrated to Amarok.  The easy way to do that would have been be to use some of the existing tools.  As a challenge, I wrote a little Windows VB script to insert the iTunes ratings into the track comments, where they could be found and used by Amarok (or any other good music player).  Here’s it is …

It isn’t a surplus if you spend it

ABC News reports that:

The Federal Government has defended its plan to spend its Budget surplus on major infrastructure projects. (Emphasis added)

A surplus is the amount left over after you’ve done all the spending.  If you spend it, it isn’t a surplus any more.  Anyone who refers to the illogical nonsense of “spending the surplus” oughtn’t be paid much attention, or be given any responsibility.

Want to control interest rates? Don’t sell your bank.

According to a Google search, there are more than 1000 Australian web pages updated in the last month with the terms “interest rates” “cut” “banks” and “Wayne Swan” (the Australian Treasurer).  It looks like the ability of the government to force the banks to cut interest rates in line with movements in official interest rates is a hot topic.

No need for Olympic heats

The men’s 100m event at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games has 10 first round heats, five second round heats, two semi-finals and then a final.  It takes 18 races to work out which of the 80 competitors is the fastest over 100m.  The gold medallist will race four times.  This is madness.  The timing equipment measures each competitor’s time to 1/1000th of a second.  Wind speeds are measured accurately.  Let’s time each competitor over 100m, and give the medals to the three fastest runners.  We’d only need 10 races for the whole event.

Time to cancel 16 Olympic swimming events

There are 34 gold medal swimming events at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.  Almost half of them, 16, involve backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly or medleys.  These 16 events impose arbitrary restrictions on how quickly the swimmer moves through the water.

There are 27 gold medal track events.  Only three walking events have arbitrary restrictions about how quickly the athlete moves across the ground.

Perhaps this discrepancy could be solved by adding some more athletic events, such as a 200m hop, a 400 skip, or a 800m backwards race, and some individual and team medleys.  But it would make a lot more sense to cancel the swimming backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and medley events.

Petrol price control?

The Federal Government has been very interested in petrol prices. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has new price monitoring powers, and it’s announcements are generating headlines.

Private school students ripped-off $5,500 each, per year

The front page of the Canberra Times (19 Feb 07, “PM’s dollars for scholars plan“) carried this bald statement about school funding:

“… the Commonwealth spends $1051 per government school student compared with $4515 on every private school student.”

This statement gives the impression that government funding to private school students exceeds funding to government school students four-to-one. This isn’t so.

Education or political propaganda?

Taxpayers’ money is being used to turn schools into political propaganda machines.
According to a story

Telstra ignores new customers – Optus loves former customers

I’m trying to move my home telephone line from Optus to Telstra. Telstra hadn’t made any contact with me at all in the week since I successfully lodged an online transfer form. I optimistically tried to phone Telstra about it.

$42,000 Handout to each farmer

The Federal Government has given more than $2B to 72,000 farmers since 2001 because of the drought, with another $910M promised in the last fortnight (source and source). That’s about $42,000 per farmer. Wouldn’t it be great if that much support was available to everyone with a struggling business?