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Re: [luv-talk] Melbourne transport gets more bizarre?
by Peter Ross 08 May '14

08 May '14

From: "Brian May" <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au> > Questions have been raised about how the Airport Rail Link can reach the > airport in 25 minutes, when it is sharing the line with the Sunbury > trains, and it currently takes 20 minutes to reach Sunshine. I cannot find the reference online but it is in today's The Age: It is using the Regional Rail Link. What a genius: One government wants to separate V/Line and Metropolitan lines, the next one sells it as a quick fix for an Airport Link. The people from Ballarat and Bendigo and the stops closer will thank Naphtine for this.. Well, we have a Bendigo "fast train" going 160km/h but a single track line for the last stops - so the train have to wait for each other. (Experienced a fortnight ago) > Previously they had long term plans that extend well into the future,while > the ordering was controversial, at least they were planning how the changes > when interact with future changes. They don't appear to have any of that > future planning with these changes. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/rail-tunnel-plan-based-on-common-sense-20… "The State Government prepared no thorough business case before committing to a revamped route for Melbourne's city rail tunnel, instead relying on "common sense". Planning Minister Matthew Guy made that startling admission on Thursday under questioning about why the government had dumped plans for a rail tunnel linking Parkville with South Yarra in favour of one that creates a new train station at Montague, near South Melbourne. The government says the new station will service the planned new mega suburb at Fisherman's Bend, despite being kilometres away from that location. Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Melbourne transport gets more bizarre?
by Peter Ross 08 May '14

08 May '14

From: "Brian May" <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au> > The media has lost the point, it isn't just a tunnel, it is a complete > redesign of how many lines use the city loop, making it more consistent > and less confusing in the process (e.g. the 'new' loop pair will be > bidirectional and won't change direction at midday every day). Yes, but to achieve it, all four tracks are completely reserved. They are fed by more than one line each (they all split further out) and every disruption will immediately cause a backlog piling up. Imagine you are a sysadmin and have four machines exclusively dedicated to "their" services. What do you do when one is in trouble? (Well, if you do not shutdown a few services completely you have to mix again, as in "the old days") And this trouble, on an old railway and signalling system as Melbourne has, happens every day. Over the last years working where I work now I cannot remember _one_ time during peak hours when I took a train according to a timetable and it proceeded smoothly. Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Melbourne transport gets more bizarre?
by Peter Ross 08 May '14

08 May '14

From: "Brian May" <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au> > On 8 May 2014 15:09, Peter Ross < Petros.Listig(a)fdrive.com.au > wrote: > > From: "Brian May" < brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au > > >> Questions have been raised about how the Airport Rail Link can reach the >> airport in 25 minutes, when it is sharing the line with the Sunbury >> trains, and it currently takes 20 minutes to reach Sunshine. > > I cannot find the reference online but it is in today's The Age: It is > using the Regional Rail Link. As said, I cannot find the online version of The Age article I read at lunchtime.. Here it describes the same: http://michaelwyres.com/2014/05/a-stupid-train-of-thought/ The new tunnel will link to a hastened airport link, using the yet to be completed Regional Rail Link lines through the western suburbs, with no stops for passengers along the existing Sunbury line, and to the Dandenong group, via South Yarra. But it got corrected: http://www.danielbowen.com/2014/04/13/napthine-promises-airport-rail/ The Sunbury/Airport line will be through-routed aboveground to Dandenong, via Southern Cross and Flinders Street. This presumably means that any plans for 9-car trains would require extension of aboveground platforms only. I would think it also puts in doubt the Airport line’s planned 25 minute trip, if those trains have to share the rails with stopping Sunbury line trains (rather than the RRL tracks as I first thought) — which can take up to 20 minutes between Sunshine and Southern Cross. Well, how much detail do you expect about a project designed on the back of an envelope? The Metro Rail tunnel had years of planning. This has nothing. It appeared so mysteriously that nobody can figure what it really is. Nobody was involved, bar a premier from the Portland area, a Transport Minister from Colac and a Planing Minister who may actually know a bit of Melbourne. And all what they did was applying "common sense". Nobody needs to be bothered with details, underground, over ground or beamed, where it goes, geological details, existing infrastructure as freeway ramps at Montague, Domain and Burnley tunnel, how to build underground Southern Cross, a station rebuilt in 2006, whether it may fit in the airport terminal or it stops on the runway.. Good thing: We know how much it costs: choose a random number somewhere between 5 and 20 billion, and promise to have it finished in 2023 or something sounding good and is far away in the future to avoid trouble in the next election. And hope that you are retired by then. Never was less skills needed to govern. Does anyone needs these people? Can we not create some fairy tale positions? Maybe, dukes and kings as in Huckleberry Finn's Adventures? If you want, pay them a salary, a few 100 000 per year, just to make sure they do not ruin the real world? (As you may know, the Huck Finn king and duke get tarred and feathered..) Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] Melbourne transport gets more bizarre?
by Peter Ross 08 May '14

08 May '14

From: "Brian May" <brian(a)microcomaustralia.com.au> > On 7 May 2014 22:29, Peter < Petros.Listig(a)fdrive.com.au > wrote: > >> The "re-engineered" Metro Rail will not enter the tunnel north of the CBD, >> instead it is planned to go from South Yarra via Domain to Fishermans Bend >> and... voila - appear at Southern Cross. From there a new Airport Link >> will go through Footscray and Sunshine - so will leave Southern Cross the >> "North Melbourne" way. > > Make sure you are well informed before the criticise the MRL. > > See: http://www.transport.vic.gov.au/projects/melbourne-rail-link Well, as a "cheap point" to start with: What does our government know about it? http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/premier-off-track-on-location-of-new-mont… "Hours after Premier Denis Napthine said the Montague station would be at Southbank, Planning Minister Matthew Guy held a press conference to insist the station would be at Fishermans Bend." The same type of ignorance of facts occurred when Naphtine introduced the East West Link. He had no idea was his government was planning. I ask you to look at the plan - what does it do to relieve pressure on the Southern Cross to North Melbourne link? E.g http://www.transport.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/121257/Melbourn… , page 4. Nothing! In the meantime, land next to North Melbourne station is earmarked for residential development. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-cbd-suburb-egate-20140425-zqz8c.html At the moment it is used by Metro and industrial railway towards the Port. Amongst others it feeds the Bunbury tunnel in Footscray which was considered as part of the Regional Rail Link at one stage. > As well as a much needed link to the airport. At the moment there is a Skybus reaching the Airport in ca. 20 minutes, and leaving Southern Cross every 10 minutes. In the future you can take a train via Footscray/Sunshine. a: Try it in 20 minutes b: try it in 20 minutes and need 15 minutes between Southern Cross to pass North Melbourne only. Well, you may possibly wish your Skybus back;-) Okay, they will most likely have "right of way" to "show off" the success - so I will see you taking your train to the airport once in a year while I am stuck every day on the way to work. At the moment some of the trains are not even usable for me: the trains (coming every 20 minutes) are declared "express" so they reach the last station on time. Good for Metro's punctuality bonus - bad for me as a user "served" by Metro. >> What a pity that it is already overcrowded there.. > > The 109 tram is also overcrowded towards Point Cook. So you could use the > same arguments here. The 109 runs from from Port Melbourne eastwards to Box Hill, not to Point Cook. The Airport Link goes through North Melbourne. > The media has lost the point, it isn't just a tunnel, it is a complete > redesign of how many lines use the city loop, making it more consistent > and less confusing in the process (e.g. the 'new' loop pair will be > bidirectional and won't change direction at midday every day). Well, the proposal above promises designated tracks for all lines using the City Loop. AFAIK there are four tracks only. I invite you to walk the streets, drive the roads, take your bike or catch the train I am using. They include most of the the area covered by the proposals central to Melbourne's infrastructure development. Look at the locations, the state our infrastructure is in and where we can extend it. The current plans are made by aliens, it seems to me. And they are financially ridiculous: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/east-west-funding-part-of-a-bumpy-road-for… The East West Link is three times the cost of the Wonthaggi desalination plant, which will cost Melbourne water users some $18.6 billion over the life of the public private partnership. The East West Link PPP will cost $36.1 billion to $41.7 billion over the 20-year life of the PPP, based on whether the discount rate (effective interest expense) is 8 to 10 per cent. According to the budget papers, existing PPPs worth $7.8 billion are paying $770 million a year, equal to 9.8 per cent. This is possibly more of a financial time bomb for Victoria's future than any budget deficit. In fact it a huge debt dressed up as a "surplus". We may have a "surplus" these days but end up with a Greek budget crisis in the future which will it truly make unpleasant to live here. The problem: Try to explain it to the public to stop this madness. It needs reading more than just a headline and a catchy phrase... But it will not bother Naphtine. He will be in comfortable retirement then, I am sure. Regards Peter

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15.6'' Toshiba Satellite P50-A01D Notebook | Buy Refurbished Laptops & Tablets Online - oo.com.au
by Andrew McGlashan 06 May '14

06 May '14

Hi, If there are any night owls here wanting a new laptop, this is worth considering... after the code discount [below], the FHD machine costs $800.60 delivered! http://www.oo.com.au/Toshiba-Satellite-P50-A01D-Not_P226130.cfm [and yes, it is Windows 8, but I'm sure we can install Linux on it, YMMV] This discount code ends at 3am and gives you 15% off. 15SITEOFF [site wide code, not just for this laptop] Cheers A.

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Fwd: A future for community radio
by Peter Ross 06 May '14

06 May '14

[I guess this interests some here] Hi there, Our community radio stations are at serious risk of being forced off air. Will you help protect them? Go to http://committocommunityradio.org.au/hockey today to help. The Commission of Audit has recommended that funding to our community radio stations be cut. If the Federal Government adopts that recommendation in the upcoming budget, it would mean stations right across the country could be forced off air. I don't think we can afford to let that happen, which is why I’ve just emailed the Treasurer, Joe Hockey, and called on him to protect our community radio stations. It was really easy to do - all the words and information are there, you just need to add your details and hit send. Will you join me by sending an email too? Go to http://committocommunityradio.org.au/hockey to send your message We can't afford to lose any of the stations who provide the local content that public and commercial stations can't or won't cater for. Thanks for joining me. http://committocommunityradio.org.au/hockey Thanks, Peter Ross

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Star Wars by Shakespeare by Ian Doescher
by Carl Turney 04 May '14

04 May '14

Hi All, > http://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370 A great read. Subject line says it all. Scene for scene, line for line, a re-write of the first movie (episode 4). I've heard rumours there's bootleg electronic copies floating around the internet, for those too poor or to hurried to buy a paper copy. Carl Bayswater p.s. A neat companion to the Family Guy and (something) Chicken spoofs.

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(no subject)
by David E Payne 02 May '14

02 May '14

50 years and ~ 2.3 or 3.3 hours ago* the first computer programs written in BASIC ran at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. http://time.com/69316/basic/# * I don't know whether New Hampshire had Summer Time then. "In the 1964 Official Railway Guide, 21 of the 48 states had no DST anywhere." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_the_United_States#Oth…

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How much do we want to work?
by Peter Ross 02 May '14

02 May '14

An article I read yesterday, a bit different compared with our budget "emergency" debate here. http://www.spiegel.de/karriere/berufsleben/arbeitszeit-einfuehrung-der-30-s… 35 Wochenstunden, 32 oder 30: In der Malocherrepublik Deutschland ist es keine Schande, weniger Arbeit zu fordern. Und das unabhängig von Kita-Zeiten. Die neue Arbeitszeitdebatte dreht sich um Sinn, Gerechtigkeit und Machtfragen. 35 hours per week, 32 or 30: To ask to work less is not a shame in "hard working" Germany. And not just dictated by opening hours of childcare centres. The new debate about working hours is about reason to work, fairness and power. --- Regards Peter

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Re: [luv-talk] : Global warming and survivalism (fork from Linux != Poltics)
by Peter Ross 29 Apr '14

29 Apr '14

From: "Jason White" <jason(a)jasonjgw.net> > Peter Ross <Petros.Listig(a)fdrive.com.au> wrote: > >> The current Australian leadership, at least, reminds me of an elected >> "absolute monarchy" (maybe that's the reason for the Dames and >> Knights;-) >> After election the leader is free to ignore all science and reason. > > I prefer to think of it this way: the new government is attempting to > implement the central elements of its election platform. As you may > recall, these included [.. list] > So surely we can't argue that Coalition voters aren't receiving essentially > what they (knowingly or unknowingly) sought at the election. Of course,just that the government has not the numbers in an elected senate. The demand to "obey" a perceived "mandate given by the Australian people" is bullying. I heard this "mandate thing" so often from Abbott's mouth that someone finally should shut him up - legislation is a bit harder than that, and he is for years droning about the "mandate" people have or do not have, quite often amplified by Murdoch's hate press. The elections prove otherwise, and there is process and rules to follow, even for notorious ignorant politicians as Abbott. His constantly repeated claims belittle Australian voters and damage a democratic society. Regards Peter

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