So far I'm stumped.

I've tried using the New>>WebService>>WebServiceClient wizard - and pointing it at the WSDL (http://www.myserviceprovider/service/thingstodo.asmx?WSDL) and it does find the WSDL ok (thats a good thing presumably?)

But the next step has me infuriated. It deosnt seem to want to allow to generate a simple Java Application - or a Utility Project for theclient -= it wasnt me to create a whole web project and EAR file.... not ideal - but I'd settle for that (I'm just trying to right some test stuff at the moment).
Unfortunately attempts to do that after selecting a WAS6.1 runtime and JAX-RPC webservice runtime (I dont really undertsnad what this means) result in an error:

Unable to add the follwing facets to project WebServiceProject: Dynamic Web Module, Java.

<--love the misspelt error message!

Now I can see lots of links to stuff talking about how to publish webservices - but very few about how to create simple WS consumers.

I did this before about 4 years ago (WSAD 4? days)- and the old client is working within the context of our web application - but with errors. I just want to recreate a new one and test the WS part of the code - but it seems to be almost impossible.

THis document: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0803_yee/0803_yee.html talks about importing definitions into a service registry - but as far as I can tell I dont have a service registry. Does this mean I can no longer do WebService development for Websphere using RAD? DO I need to concede defeat to the .NET boys at the other end and tell them that clearly their toolset is far superior and they should redevelop our ENTIRE j2ee application simply because web service development is no longer possible?

Or is there a better way? Any hints would be appreciated!

...why get on a 2 wheeler in the first place? ...

Mike was basically right here:

1) Fun - riding a bike is fun. Cruising around attractive countryside all day with a group of mates is a great way to spend time. The feeling of leaning over and powering through a corner is SOOO much nicer than just lurching around in a big soggy car!

2) Cost - my bike cost me a fraction of what I'd pay for a roadworthy car. My insurance is cheaper on the bike than it would be in a car. I use less fuel than the most efficient of hybrid cars, and as a commuter I pay $0 parking a day instead of $30 a day for a car. I weighed up very carefully the cost of purchasing gear, getting trained and licenced and all my onroad costs and decided that for the budget I had I could not afford to purchase and run a reliable car - a bike on the other hand fell comfortably within my budget.

3) Convenience - I could have settled with public transport as a means to get to and from work. It would have worked out similar in cost to the bike (weekly bus fare is about twice the amount of fuel I use, so allowing for bike maintenance and registration costs would even out). Obviously the bus would dramatically reduce my 'danger of death' - but I'd be looking at 60-80 minutes each way to work instead of 15-20 minutes. Furthermore with bike parking being free and easy (for me at least) I cut out that nasty walk to the bus stop and rushing around to get places in time to synchronise with public transport timetables.

Yes I recognise that my safety is somewhat reduced being on the bike - but like all things in life it doesnt have to be all or nothing. The bike makes sense for all these reasons - it makes more sense to me to ride it in a manner that keeps me a safe as I can. Saying "Well I'm putting myself at risk here - so theres no point in bothering to put on any safety gear" just seems daft....

...the biggest cause of bike crashes ...is cars turning left in front of you

Turning left? pah... its those right turners you've got to watch out for!

(In case anyone isnt aware - here in Australia we drive on the left, hence making a **right** turn means crossing the opposing traffic)

I think if you believe that bad stuff will happen to you while riding then it just might.

Theres a big difference between believing something will happen and taking steps to reduce the consequences if it does!

If you follow your philosophy through to other areas of life we coudl assume:
1) You never take backups or your work (no need for any of that pessimistic version control nonsense)
2) You dont pay ANY insurance for anything...
3) You dont have a lock on your door at home
etc etc etc...

I dont think I'm going to have a crash - but I'm aware that most riders are like that and every now and then someone does. Sometimes through their own negligence and stupidity (screaming round a corner waay too fast), sometimes because of poor conditions (wet roads, oil or gravel patches) which are harder to avoid and sometimes through insane actions of other road users that can not be avoided.

If I am unexpectedly knocked from my bike by a careless car driver I want to make sure my chances of walking away bruised and angry but not seriously injured are as good as possible.

This is not fatalistic acceptance of the inevitable - its a sensible 'ride to survive' attitude.

... fact riding carefully could get you in more accidents.

In that case you need to re-assess what you mean by riding carefully! Riding carefully means scanning the environment arround you and assessing the risks your exposed to. It means weighing up those risks and taking steps to reduce them wherever possible. In the case you outlined it *may* be true that zipping past the bus is less risky than remaining behind it - in which case you ARE riding carefully by getting yourself out of a potentialy dangerous situation before it develops.

Scanning for hazards is arguably the most important skill of motorcycle riding (certainly in an urban environment) and it may be true that the number and variety of those hazards is greater in somewhere like India. In that case I would have thought safety gear would be EVEN MORE appropriate in that environment than the slightly less anarchic developed world.

A Brisbane summer would be up there with the hot stuff in Texas (many days of 35C+ and high humidity, occasional days of 40C+)

but the general attitude is 'If its too hot to ride wearing the gear, its too hot to ride'...

Of course I havent yet experienced riding in the summer (only been licenced for 3 weeks now) - so I cant comment on how uncomfortable my kevlar padded jeans and cordura jacket will be!

Heres a picture of me from this weekend where amongst a group of 40 riders I would have been one of the least protected as my gear is not leather:

A couple of threads recently have highlighted to me that attitudes to motorcycle safety vary widely around the world.

Here in Australia, whilst legally the only requirement is for a AS compliant helmet (some full face, some open-faced) - the majority of bikers choose to do the sensible thing and wear:

full faced helmet
some kind of armoured jacket (either leather or heavy-duty cordura)
armoured pants (leather, cordura or kevlar lined denim)
suitably designed boots (leather, NO laces...)
leather armoured gloves

Of course there are exceptions and you do see the odd fool in plain jeans, sneakers and a tee-shirt - together with the obligatory helmet. On these occasions I wince in anticipatory pain having seen and heard too many stories of people having their legs and arms scrubbed by an E.R. nurse with a wire brush to get the gravel out.

The growing trend of scooters (low powered, less stringent licensing requirements - automatic gearboxs) - means that lax safety gear is becoming more commonplace and every day I see guys and girls with bare legs, arms and open toed footwear just cruising through the city streets waiting for their hospital appointment to happen! Hospitals workers have stated that the number of horrendous injuries from low-speed scooter 'offs' is growing all the time and clearly the standard 'urban chique' dress code for scooter users is exposing them to this unnecessarily high risk.

So what the biker dress code in your part of the world? If inadequate gear is the norm - Why? Do people not realise the likelyhood of injury? Do they believe themselves to be untouchable with a 'wont happen to me' attitude? Is it a cost thing? (Good gear can be expensive) - or is there something I'm missing?

Vishal,

I have no problem with spitting - I dont feel the need to spit and even if I did (and wasnt properly helmeted) then spitting whilst riding would be more likely to end up in me spitting on myself than anything else!

Singing? - yeah no problem I have the occassional sing to myself in the cosy confines of my helmet. Why do you think a full face helmet would prevent you from singing?

As I tried to point out earlier (but probably not very clearly), the big advantage of a full face helmet is that it offers decent protection to your face when you come off the bike. Riders with open faced helmets are frequently admitted to hospital with horrendous facial injuries and its not unheard of to have a lower mandible completely ripped off in an accident. A full face helmet will prevent these injurues and could mean a face-first collision with the ground results in a little more than a few bumps and bruises. (Provided of course the rest of your body is appropriately covered to prevent you from gravel rash as you slide down the road).

Originally posted by Mani Ram:
Wear a masked helmet...

Hell yeah - if I were to spit whilst riding I'd regret it pretty soon!

(Plus full faced helmet does give the benefit of standing a good chance of preserving my beatiful face should I decided to have a close introduction to the road surface one day!)

...I was riding my BWM R90 to a business meeting. I was wearing a white dress shirt....

Did you learn your lesson? Do you still ride with such an appalling disregard for appropriate protective clothing?

Perhaps the wasp is doing you a favour by highlighting how an air-mesh jacket would not only protect you from wasp stings (which according to this thread seem to be more common than I would have imagined) - but also will stop you leaving valuable quantities of skin behind on the road when the unthinkable happens and an inconsiderate driver 'helps' you to part company with your bike at speed!

(Does the term 'squid' mean anything to you?)


ETA: Sorry I dont mean to be condescending - just showing a genuine concern for the fuuture wellbeing of a fellow rider!
[ July 15, 2008: Message edited by: Alan Wanwierd ]

I am looking for accomodation over the net. My office is in Aldersgate Street.

Can someone please let me know areas which are not far off from this area or areas from where I can easily commute using public transport.

What is probably more important than being 'not far off' would be being on a convenient line.

Aldersgate St is close to The Barbican which is on teh following lines:

Hammersmith & City: (Handy if you want to live in East London)
Metropolitan: (Good for North/NorthWest London)
Circle: (All central any accomodation will be expensive)
AND National Rail network. (Handy for North London)

If you look at this map:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tube-dlr-trams-and-train-travelcard-zones-map.pdf

and check any accomodation options against stations you should be able to find a decent compromise between expensive central living and overly long commutes.

Good luck

Couple of ideas:

1) Given the vast size of the DeathStar, some eco-systems were introduced to aid waste processing functions. Perhaps the snake was a vaulable part of the presumably vast system that helped breakdown trash into useful (or at least easier to transport) components

2) Stowaways - Human history is littered with stories of unintentionaly introduced species making transcontinental migrations. Witness Fire-ants in Australia - not native, not deliberately introduced - but now well and truly established. Perhaps the "trash snake" somehow was intentionaly introduced into the Death Star environment and miraculously found an environment in which it could thrive.

If you fall off, which is far too often, you need leather or some of the new microfiber stuff. Yes, its hot. I dumped my bike at about 130 MPH ~~200kpm. While I was in the hospital, they talked about another guy who had crashed that same day. A bit later, I saw him, covered in road rash head to toe, torn clothes, etc. We talked a bit. I asked "what happened" and he said "hit some gravel on my moped at 20pmh, you?" and I replied "seized at 130", I had two small holes where my leather gloves wore thru. I was wearing racing leathers (I was on a race track). That was all that was wrong, altho I had a really bad headache.

Indeed - I have no intention of cutting corners on my gear. If its too hot to bearably ride in the gear (and there are some high durability, armour plated, breathable abrasion resitant fabrics that are well suited to summer riding), then its too hot to ride.

Do you mean 'lane splitting' where you drive up between stopped cars at a light? Its fast, but very dangerous. Its legal in California, but illegal where I live. Be warmed, it really makes the dudes in cars angry. They tend to open car doors in anger.

Semantics: around here theres a distinction between illegal "splitting" (riding between cars moving in adjacent lanes - effectively carving out another narrow lane for yourself) and legaly permitted "filtering" (passing stationary traffic between lanes to get to the front and clear of traffic and danger).

Since by far the most common collision on the road is running into the back of someone stopped at an intersection theres good reason to believe that bikes 'filtering' are improving their safety. (Someone running into the back of you in a car is annoying and a quick exchange of insurance details... someone running into the back of you on a bike is a trip to hospital if you're lucky )

Recently in Melbourne Police have been cracking down on bikers in peak hour conditions and finding fault with riders 'filtering' (legally lots of grey areas for which they seem to be able to generate tickets if they wish). This has upset the biker community LOTS. Last week a guy didnt filter at an intersection he had previously been booked at and was run into from behind. He died.... Needless to say the biker community are very upset and advising their members to continue to lane filter regardless of police advice.

price of filtering: $100 when police are in the mood...
price of not filtering: DEATH....

Easy choice

..Right, you buy a $6K bike that does 150 MPH to save gas?

Actually its a AU$3.5K bike and I doubt very much it'd reach 150MPH its only a 250cc. In fact with me on the back it's highly unlikely to ever get beyond about 120kmh (about 80mph?).

Fuelwise I'm told this bike will use less than 4lt/100km (strange measurement I know but thats how economy is measured here in Australia). By comparison a good economical 1.6lt hatchback car will struggle to use less than 8lt/100km and I'd be lucky to find something roadworthy for under AU$10K. Add in $20 a day parking vs $0 a day parking, $600 year vs $300 vehicle registration etc etc and pretty soon this bike looks like a good budget option.


and of course yes - it should be fun!!

I had my 1st day of rider training yesterday and spent ages humiliating myself stalling on hillstarts (clearly my clutch control needs a little work!) - it'll be a while before I'm confident enough to take on the peak traffic.

No concerns over snow & ice here in Brisbane - but there is a mild concern that in midsummer out in 40C heat all the necessary protective clothing is going to be SERIOUSLY hot! I've even heard riders comment that lane-filtering at lights is absolutely essential to avoid sitting still in traffic for 30 seconds and getting heatstroke!
[ May 25, 2008: Message edited by: Alan Wanwierd ]

A combination of lifestyle factors together with rising fuel prices, increased congestion and limitied parking options has led me to drastically change my transport options a few times over the last few years.

I did drive a Diesel Landrover Discovery for a while - which was fun, but diesel prices have skyrocketed even faster than petrol (now costs 30% more for diesel than regular unleaded).

Eventually the impending huge maintenance bill scared me off and we sold the Disco - ..

I've been catching buses for a bit - but the WAITING, the poor timetabling, lack of reliability and the overcrowding is driving me insane - I just cant handle it - by the time I get to work I'm compeltely enraged and ready to go on a gun-totting rampage against anyone who iritates me..

So my next plan - fuel efficient, traffic beater, goes where and when I like and with $0 parking costs. The only downside is the ever present danger of death as other road users do their bit to try and reduce the road-using population:

My Golf hypothesis would be lots of people watch it simply because lots of people play it - and gain something from watching the skills displayed and dreaming that they might be able to play in a similar manner...

The reason golf is popoular to play would have to be that in terms of 'sport' its one where peak-fitness is not required - nor is coordinating large groups of people. So its easy to get in to since you and a mate can go down the local course and have a game without too much preperation AND you can keep playing the game long after your legs and lungs have deteriorated well beyond the point where playing more energetic sports woudl be possible.

... By the same logic - how come Darts hasnt really caught on in the international community? - theres a sport with low fitness requirements, low entry costs, low organisational requirements AND plenty of advert breaks for the attention-span limited American viewers!


oh and just for balance - Whilst Amercians may struggle with the appeal soccer and worry about the lack of goals and time between scoring events, the rest of the world struggles with the Amercian sports and their complete lack of flow! How can anyone get absorbed in a game where everyone stops and regroups after every 30 seconds? The joy of soccer is that in a good game the play builds gradually - with increasing tension and anticipation. Most of the time the 'goal' itself is a minor detail in terms of the play and TV highlight packages tend to do a complete diservice in this regard often showing a relatively uneventful goal whilst missing the poetic and graceful build up moves and team interplay that it spawned from.

There have been many a 0-0 game of soccer that have been rivetting, exciting and tremendously entertaining!
[ May 13, 2008: Message edited by: Alan Wanwierd ]

Popular theory amongst the English is that Americans refuse to take any team sport seriously unless nobody else plays it (fear of competition?)!..

A recent study of Australian supermarkets found that a staggering 30-something percent of transactions involved at least one 'overcharged'item.

Supermarkets are widely held in low regard for their destructive habit of putting small businesses out of business and then hiking up prices. There are essentialy only 2 big players in the Australian supermarket industry and they have a strangle hold on the entire population.... We now have very expensive goods and very low quality and no opportunity to 'vote with out wallets'.

Originally posted by Vishal Pandya:
Ultimately, the company loots the client.(bit harsh).

By the way when do you join your new company,Alan?

No "Company/Client" relationship here - I'm contracting direct to a government department... Project has been going for years and has consistently failed to have a development team to fill the planned 'resources'. People leave faster than they can recruit new people and the rapidly revolving door has created a spectacularly low quality code-base! I've been here for a little over 3 months and am one of the longest serving members of a 12 strong team (with project plan based on 18 resources) on a project thats been in development since 2003! By the end of May its likely that 3 more developers will have left including me and that the longest serving developer will have been here for 8 weeks...

This particuilar government department is already all over the press for IT crew-ups on other projects and its quite possible that at some stage this project will be canned as bean-counters realise that its a bottomless pit of spending!

I havent actually cemented the deal on my next job yet (although its very much a friendly handshake 'nod and a wink' recruitment process rather than a traditional job application since I know the people involved, they know me love the idea of me me coming on board). I expect we'll get it sorted out in the next couple of days and I'll probably be out of here in less than 2 weeks.

Ok heres an interesting scruples question:

You are in a software development job, comfortably paid but in a stressful environment on a project that ultimately is doomed to failure. One of the many problems with the project is VERY high staff turnover.

High staff turnover has led to an almost impossible to understand architecture, very poor documentation and low understanding and skills all round.

You suspect that with each attempt to meet various functional requirements your work is actually degrading the quality of the overall project further (rather than moving it toward completion). This is primarily due to a lack of understanding of any of the system architecture (if there is any coherent architecture) and an awareness that 'getting things done' means complying with various worst-practice anti-patterns and generally insufficient motivation to learn.

You know a new job elsewhere is on the horizon having discussed informally with your future employer all sorts of details so its only a matter of time before you get to leave the sh*t behind (accelerating the general attitude of ambivalence).

Which is the ethically correct path to take:
a) Work as little as possible so you introduce as little of your 'toxic' code as possible into the project
b) Work to achieve as many functional requirements as possible and to hell with best-practice.
c) Spend weeks learning the architecture in an attempt to try and re-architect some kind of an improvment knowing full well you'll probably leave before you get anywhere.

...I will agree with both of you about MOL. I guess what turned me off most was the Broadway style scenes. I'm not into Broadway.

..and yet the totaly over the top "We're Knights of the round table, we dance whenever we're able..." musical theatre sequence in HG didnt bother you?

Originally posted by Jim Yingst:
Not agreeing with your opinion is a "mistake"?

Ordinarily no, of course not - that would be incredibly arogant and egotistical of me. However, in *this* case, clearly those who dont agree with me are mistaken!!!

..and you are right 'Meaning Of Life' was nothing more than a series of disconnected sketches (some of which were very funny) - it didnt really work as a coherent movie.

On the whole Brian vs Grail issue - Do you think theres any correlation between your preference here and a preference for the humour of Palin vs Cleese? (Just curious... clearly there are 2 camps of opinion on the movies, just wondering if its random or if theres any other data that can be used to predict which you prefer?)

Even more than the Life of Brian

No way.... Strange how many people make that mistake! L.O.B. is far superior - has a beter constructed storyline AND has a good underlying message...


crowd: "Yes we are all individuals!!!"
lone voice: "errr... I'm not"

Classic...

Life of Brian (1979) - Surely the funniest movie ever made? and still side-splittingly funny after 100th viewing!

Hmmm...

If i wanted to celebrate the end of prohibition I'd suggest celebarting by:

Sitting down a good toke on some good quality weed,
dropping an MDMA tablet or some LSD,
and perhaps a small intravenous hit of an opiate of some kind to top the night off.

Do let me know when prohibition end wont you...

Well heres what happened:

1) I popped the router in an antistatic bag and left it unplugged - tested reception and all was good

2) I plugged in the router (to confirm whether the problem was created by the unshielded power supply or the now shielded router - and all was good.

3) I removed the anti-static bag (to verify that the unsheilded router caused a problem and .... confusingly enough all was STILL good.

I have no idea what happened but - hey everything seems to be working now!!

Hmmm....

Its definately worth a look - theres a good chance theres one somewhere stuffed in a cupboard! - and *IF* it fixes the problem then I can look at a more permanent non-overheating option. Heat isnt going to be a problem for the 30 seconds it takes to determine whether it has any effect or not!

I'll let you know tommorow!

Thanks for thinking about it..

So for a faraday cage to be effective it needs to have holes smaller than the wavelengths its protecting and be grounded...

As far as I can tell, WiFi is 2.4Ghz frequency - which translates to about 12cm wavelength, and VHF tv broadcastare around 1m wavelength.. So do you think putting the router into a grounded cage made from chicken-wire is worth trying? (gee the wifes gonna LOVE that in the living room! :roll: ).

Not sure if this is the right place to post this its not really meaningless, just a bit strange and some of you folks are smart 'switched on' people who might have wide enough experiences of teh world and a good enough understanding of physics to offer some explanation - so here goes:
Ok this is going to sound a little crazy!:

I recently decided that I *needed* my PS3 to be cabled into my LAN instead of using the unreliable WiFi connection. Unfortunately in order to do this I needed to magically create 2 ethernet ports at the end of the 1 cable (currently used by my HTPC).

I had an old spare Dlink624 router in the cupboard, so pulled it out and used it as a switch so that my living room now has 1 cable coming in, the Dlink as a switch and both HTPC and PS3 connected to it. To my surprise and delight it worked off the bat and my PS3 gaming connectivity improved accordingly (yay! smile.gif )

... A littlewhile later though a new problem has surfaced. I noticed that my HTPC, previously reliable on all channels lost reception of one particular channel - Couldnt get a lock at all. I figured I must've knocked some of the very dodgy antenna cabling whilst moving things around, so tidied up a bit and looked again - still no Ch7....

In a moment of madness, I unplugged the DLink and hey presto my Ch7 reception returned ...
I've checked the Dlinks configuration and the WiFi part appears to be disabled and it has no RF antenna plugged in.

Any ideas what could be doing this? and how I can rectify it? Should I plug the DLink into a seperate power board? Should I try and move it as far away as I can from the HTPC, indoor antenna and delicate DTV tuner cards? Should I wrap the damn thing in foil to try and shield it?

Anyone got good enough physics/engineering knowledge to tell me if 'standard domestic' WiFi could be interfering with VHF broadcasts?

There was a recent scheme annouced here in Qld, Austalia whereby homeowners could apply to be part of a bulk-purchasing group to get a good price on Solar gear. We currently have a scheme whereby govt subsidise instalations massively - and with this bulk-purchase scheme the price of a 1KW grid-connected setup would be reduced to less than $2K.

Unfortunately the scheme was so over-subscribed I didnt get on the list (a couple of those babies and I'd be energy self-sufficient)! With a financial ROI of less than 3yrs...

Without government subsidies or schemes the cost of a decent setup baloons out to around $12-$15k and ceases to make financial sense (cost of servicing that debt is greater than the savings made in power bills)
..........

Anyway - the orginal question - Why do corporates have green policies? I suspect this is mainly a commercial decision so they can spin their "green credentials" into some glossy brochures somewhere to convince investor XYZ that they are going to be popular with the paying coderanch....

Somebody somewhere knows what you're talking about...

Each of the words in that post apart from "Crore" and the acronyms "IPL", "SRK", "INR" are perfectly valid - but together I have no comprehension whatsoever of what you're talking about?!



I'm guessing the following:

SRK = The initials of some supposedly well known corporate player.

IPL = Some large corporate? Probably based in India since most JR topics that make no sense tend to be discussions of an Indian domestic nature.

Crore = Some word for a large number of units (Over the years I've learnt that "Lak" 100,000, so Perhaps "Crore" is a similar word for a larger value?

INR = (oh just figured this one out!) Indian Rupee!!! (Feeling pleased with myself for that one!)

=====================================

If those assumptions are correct then I can start to understand what you might be saying:

"How can spending $$$$x on the recent corporate merge possibly be justified? Is the resultant PR alone from this move sufficient for the larger corporate body to justify the expense?"

Obviously - since I've demonstrated such deep understanding of the topic, I'd probably not attempt to answer these questions...
============================================

Any other riddles?

Last weekend my entire extended family went for a weekend away from the city at a quiet little rural beachside town in northern NSW.

Whilst out and about at one stage (while I wasnt there) a young girl (around 10yrs old) stared brazenly at my wife, inlaws and daughters before asking "how come they are normal?" (pointing at my 3yr and 1yr old daughters).

This caused some confusion but after a bit of a discussion it became clear that my wife and inlaws Philipino appearance had confued her - particularly as my kids, being half caucasian, didnt share the distinctive darker skin and therefore couldnt be "chinese" !

She then followed up this question (after some discussion remember) with a classic: "So - can you speak English?"

Strange that in modern Australia someone can grow up still thinking that White=normal and being so intrigued and transfixed seeing an asian family!

Couldnt live without an oven at home....

BUT couldnt live without a microwave at work!

I would suggest that a good place to draw the line in terms of what is 'covered' might be in terms of intended audience and whetehr or not the song has been 'performed'.

As was stated before Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" was a cover - it was played for an audience.

the wedding band playing a set of well known songs - again definately 'covers' - They are playing to an audience.

2 Guys at a friends BBQ - still playing to an audience - thats a cover..

2 guys in their own basement? Theres no audience - so arguably theres no performance as such and therefore the 'cover' has not occured.



If we want to consider the difference between the classical repertoire and popular culture then perhaps we need to look at performer vs writer.

Classical music generally speaking is not widely recognised by its performers - more by the writers. i.e. We recognise something as being Beethovens 5th Symphony - but only a very well trained expert would be able to identify a recording as being Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Karajan...

By contrast, in popular music (and jazz) we tend to notice the primarily the performer and not so much the writer (where 2 are not one and the same). So we are familiar with the 'work' of many performers whilst the writers and producers are known only to the more enthusiastic listener. It is the specific performance of the artist that we associate as 'being' the song, nto the intellectual property of the content.

Perhaps a 'cover' then, ocurs when an alternative "performance" is offered to the more recognised standard. Since the classical repertoire has no recognised (in the public pysche) 'point of origin' in terms of performances - then new performances cannot be considered to be 'covers' (This would also occur for traditional songs like 'happy birthday'). A 'cover' occurs when a work the public associate with a specific performance or artist is performed by a different artist.

For the record I agree with Marc Weber - I've played in a few originals and a few covers bands (and a gazillion different orchestras). And the challenges are very different.

With the originals band the problem is always finding an audience who want to listen (was easy in the uni environment but back in the real world MUCH tougher).

With the covers band the challenge is finding an audience who dont want just a 'flesh covered juke-box' and wont critice you every time you arent exactly like the original artist.

With an orchestra the challenge is to get enough audience through the doors to cover costs to bring down the cost of participation to a level where Orchestra members can afford to join. If audiences dont show up, then cost of orchestral membership climbs and members leave - effecting the viability of the orchestra and ultimately diminishing audience numbers further (amateur orchestras rely VERY heavily on member co-ersion to sell tickets - fewer members means fewer ticket sales!). Solving this problem means most amatuer orchestras get stuck playing the same popular classics (Beethoven 5, Mozart 40, Berlioz Fantasique etc etc) over and over again since the public only has a appetite for what it knows (much like the covers band)

To answer the original question:
"How much Tax was deducted in your salary"

...somewhere between 30 and 35%....

- of course thats not including GST ("Goods and Servces Tax") - of 10% on every purchase.
- and local council rates at ~$2000 a year....

I suspect that in 1 generations time the concept of "broadcast TV" will be alien to our kids.

My 3 yr old daughter is unable to comprehand that grandma doesnt have playschool available for immediate viewing and can only watch whatever the networks happen to be currently broadcasting! She also finds herself sat in front of Grandmas TV saying "I'll just watch until this finishes" - not realising that the stream of broadcast TV will continue endlessly and wont ever reach the end of the file and return to a nice menu!!

Long live PVRs! (Although to be honest PVRs are surely just an interim solution in the transition to inevitable 'view on demand' technology)



...and if telephone technology will be sufficiently changed to be alien to our kids, then so will associated behaviours: Do you remember phoning round all your mates the night before going somewhere carefully coordinating excatly where and when you'd meet? No need to do that any more! - Just all head out roughly the same time and call around to see where everyone's got to. Planning no longer required... Will this result in a generation with terrible organisational skills?
[ March 03, 2008: Message edited by: Alan Wanwierd ]

I'd love to participate in this thread - but have never yet been able to discuss international relations without a thread being erased....

Our bus drivers do give change - but if you do hand them a $50 bill for a $3 fare they will grumble and groan and sometimes tell you to sit down until they've collected enough fares to have sufficient change for you!

Interesting that you guys mention "coin counting machines" - Our money counting machines on buses also do the driving (and have names like "Dave" or "Bruce") - and seem to find coins no easier to count than paper....

The zonal swipe system here in Brisbane will be OK - they just need to tweak the paramters a bit (like making it cheaper than cash fares so people actually use it)

Also at the moment the penalty fare for not "swiping off" the bus is way too
low: The system needs to know where you got on AND off the bus so that it can determine the correct fare to deduct from your balance. If you dont 'swipe off' the "penalty" is $3. This is a bit silly since fares vary from $1 to $5 meaning if you do a long journey the fine is cheaper than the fare!!!

The same system works on trains and ferries too (including transfers between the three since the zonal maps are the same for all forms of transport) only the penalty for not swiping off a train is $5. The highest metropolitan train fare covered by the system is a $15 journey from Gold Coast to Brisbane - Saving you $10 each time if you use the system incorrectly !!

There are a variety of ways to pay on a bus in Brisbane:

1) Any combination of coins or notes (average fare is around $3 - with $5 being our smallest note) - pay the driver.

2) Buy a "10 trip ticket" (slightly discounted fare for fixed zone length journeys) from a newsagent which you feed into a machine on the bus and it stamps time & route number on it...

3) Have a valid ticket from another bus, train or ferry (wave the ticket at the driver and he has to read it and determine whether or not it makes sense for you to have transferred onto his bus)

4) Newly implemented "proximity swipe card" system where you swipe a card past a reader when you get on and off buses and the system calculates the correct fare and deucts it from your prepaid balance (which can be topped up online). This system is fast and is definately the best way to get people on to buses quickly - but unfortunately the implementation has been very buggy with lots of people being over charged (fare calculation algorithms around various transfer combinations are obviously too complex) and card readers not working (they rely on GPS systems on the buses which frequently cant get lock) - Consequently the public has not embraced the system and without large uptake of the system it WONT make the efficiency improvments it was designed to!

...you don't get much snow on the ground, so why not use a bicycle?

Heat....

In summer, by 7am it can be over 30C (85F+), and by 4pm can frequently be in the high 30's (100F). Cycling in this kind of heat is not practical. Nobody wants to work next to someone who arrives every morning DRENCHED in sweat!.. add to that I live in a quite hilly area which makes cycling hard work, and that heavy traffic and lack of cycle lanes makes it quite hazardous and cycling doesnt seem like a very attractive option (there are people who do it though)

... buses come by every 5-15 minutes, it's not such a big deal if they're not on schedule.

Hmmmm - this is where I tend to disagree - One of the buses I catch regularly is timetabled to run every 15 minutes. If I miss it by a few seconds because the bus is running early I am *livid* and it really puts a downer on my day.

Of course the reason for my frustration may well be the uncertainly of when another night show up - I've lost count the number of occasions I've waited more than 45 minutes for a bus that's timetabled to run every 15 minutes!

Perhaps I'm just not cut out for public transport and should just fork out the money for another car!?