Car Owners Claim NSW Police Harassing Them Based on Heresay Evidence

Came across this interesting thread on the ls1 forum tonight. There sure are some scary stories there.

Imagine, as an owner of a nice car you have a dispute with your neighbour about a fence or something and it gets personal. Your neighbour then complains about you to the cops, making up false stories about the way you drive. He might also get a couple of friends to call in aswell. You then face continuous police harassment, house calls, getting pulled over etc. etc.

Thankfully I don't have many disputes, and generally get on with most people. I also don't hoon around residential areas with a loud exhaust in the middle of the night, which I think is what pisses people off the most. I have friends who accelerate at full song down their own street at 3:00 in the morning when they are coming home from a night out, and it's a habit. Then they wonder why their neighbours hate them and their cars.

The police should be out catching people acting like idiots, not relying on the general public to report each other. It's dodgy, turns people against each other, and is too open to abuse by the public.

Harold Scruby Tries To Generate Hysteria With Misleading Videos

I found this video on Harold Scruby's website, and it's typical of the way he attempts to generate public hysteria with misleading presentation, much like Today Tonight and other such shows.

It's actually quite amusing, right up there with the "Window Tinting Homeland Security Threat".

The title of the page is: (Wait for it:) "Burnout Hoon Crash Video".

It features a guy performing a burnout in a car at first, nothing too earth shattering there.

Then, he gets the car into a doughnut, and proceeds to get out of the car, with it still performing doughnuts, while he stands next to it. He stuffs it up and ends up getting run over by his own car.

It is not the burnout that causes this guy to come unstuck, it's the fact that he gets out of the car whilst it is still moving, a very risky thing to do. I have grown up around "Hoons" and I have never seen anyone attempt this. It's totally obvious that if he had have stayed in his car, he would not have been run over by it.

Another point worth noting, is that the footage in question is not on a public road, but rather at what appears to be an appropriate location, so he is not breaking the law anyway.

A more appropriate title would be "Burnout Hoon Gets Out Of Car While Still Moving and Gets Run Over By It Video", but that wouldn't generate quite the same hysteria, and wouldn't hit the public with the same "shock" value, and wouldn't create the emotion you are trying to evoke would it Mr Scruby?

It seems that everything this idiot does and says erodes more and more into his credibility. We can only hope he is stripped of what little voice he has left, sooner rather than later. I haven't seen him appear in the media lately, hopefully they are getting the message.

Here is the link to Scruby's ridiculous attempt to get you all worked up:

Petrol Prices out of control, John Howard thinks Big Brother is important

It's an amazing state of affairs, when we have major issues with new industrial relations laws, people protesting in the streets. The oil companies (with the government riding on their back) are ripping us off, week by week.

Prime Minister John Howard made a statement on Monday, saying the Big Brother show should be axed. Big Brother, like all TV shows, will be axed when no one watches it. If it doesn't breach any laws, then it has as much right to be on air as any other TV show.

More to the point, this man is charged with making the most important decisions critical to the running of the country, and he makes a statement on something so trivial as a late night reality TV show? Is Big Brother really a big issue for this country that requires prime ministerial intervention?

I have a message to John Howard: If I don't like Big Brother, I will turn it off. I will decide if I think it's a "stupid program". One would think that such a professional politician would not make such sweeping and subjective comments.

What I do need you to do, though Mr Howard, is look into price gouging by petrol companies, as, unlike Big Brother, there is no button I can push to remove the damage the spiralling fuel prices (and the taxes you reap as a result of them) are doing to this country.

I think John Howard was perhaps trying to appeal to his conservative base of supporters by denouncing the show. Either that, or there was another issue that happened that day that he would rather we didn't know about.

BP Accused of Price Manipulation

No, they wouldn't do that would they?

Today Tonight

I found a brilliant article which basically outlines the show "Today Tonight". We could substitute the show for "60 Minutes", "A Current Affair", or any other trashy show that calls it's self a current affairs show.
Anyone who watches these shows and takes them seriously as news really must have a gullability problem. I personally find their recurring "reports" on car hoons quite a laugh. They normally find a group of idiots playing around in a car park on a Saturday night, find some stupid teenagers and ask them provicative questions that will produce the right answers. I have even heard a story of one of these groups of reporters asking drivers to do burnouts so they can get it on camera.
They then slice and dice the footage, use selective quotes, along with old footage, similar stories that they know their brain-dead audience will have forgotten about, to create a headline like "car hoons take over Sydney".
They then wheel out "experts" like Fred Nile and Harold Scruby, who really should have full time jobs on the the show, as they have just as much credibility.
Personally I couldn't care less if TV stations air this rubbish. The scary thing is that so many Australians actually watch and believe it as truth. This is obvious. If it were not the case, these shows would not still be on TV.
It would be an interesting study to see if watching shows like Today Tonight and A Current Affair actually have an impact on brain function and critical thinking ability.

- Here is another link pointing to some intelligent public criticism of trashy shows that pose as "news" such as Today Tonight.

- Yet another public forum, with some discussion of Today Tonight and A Current Affair

- Here's a great article on the way these programs exploit young people.

The Perfect Cup of Tea

I'm just listening to an intesting interview on the radio with Stephen Twinings, who is the head of the Twinings tea company. I am quite a tea drinker myself, every afternoon when I get home from work I make a strong cup with some creatine in it (for my newly found bodybuilding hobby).
Getting to the point of this little post, I heard that tea actually takes 3 minutes to properly brew in the cup. Mr Twinings has said that pot tea can tend to be better because people generally let it sit for longer than when they put a teabag in a cup. This is because when you make tea in the cup, you can see the color change, and when it goes dark, you generally pull the tea bag out because it looks ready. Apparently, this is not long enough, and the tea still has some brewing to do after the water turns dark.
So, when I get home tonight, I will take the advice of Mr Twinings and leave the teabag in the cup for a couple of minutes longer.

Cleaning Your Car

Today is Sunday, the only day I get off at the moment, and is the day of washing the car. Above is a link to a really comprehensive thread on the Australian LS1 forum that covers everything about washing your car.
Interestingly, the guy who wrote it is perminantly banned.

Ghost Rider - Nutter On a Motorbike Doing 300kph+ On Public Roads

I came across these videos on the net the other day. This guy (or a group of guys) make videos of riding flat out around Sweden. There are about 4 ghostrider videos, and there are quite a few clips available on the net. The pictures below are taken from a clip featuring a 500hp turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa. He pops wheelies at over 300kph on public roads in daylight with traffic.

It's without doubt the most amazing footage I've ever seen. The best is the run around Stockholm, which goes for about 20 minutes and is flatout all the way. The guy has a death wish but it's very entertaining to watch and he really can ride. I have a couple of Ghost Rider videos on order from the local motorcycle shop, but they can also be purchased all over the internet.


Ghost Rider pops a wheelie at over 300kph.


The modified 500hp Hayabusa.


A picture of the turbo on the Hayabusa - Big enough for a car.


Another wheelie at massive speed

Car Ad Wowsers - This is what we're up against

I just came across this document, which outlines why the brilliant and entertaining advertisment for the Holden ute was taken off TV.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ADVERTISEMENT
The material reviewed by the Board begins with a voiceover stating "Awesome Power. Frightening Beauty. And a bad attitude" as the camera travels through a forest area at nighttime marked with a private property sign. As the camera travels through, the night time mist gets thicker and the sounds of a car engine and tyres screeching are heard getting louder and closer. The advertisement is accompanied by the soundtrack of "Highway to Hell". A huge cloud of mist and smoke reaches up into the sky and lifts to reveal the new Holden Ute. The voiceover states "The new Holden Ute. Power to burn."

THE COMPLAINT
Comments which the complainant/s made included the following:
"This obviously represented a car doing "heli?s/doughnuts/burnouts. This practice is illegal on the streets, and is dangerous."

"I find this so irresponsible and offensive considering we are losing young drivers on our roads in the thousands. I feel Holden are promoting bad attitudes and very reckless handling of a motor vehicle."

"The advertisement incites drivers to break current traffic laws ("Hooning") in the states of Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania where such an offence may incur a penalty of permanent confiscation of the vehicle."

Who makes these complaints? What's wrong with doing hellis and burnouts in a controlled environment? How are they dangerous if there are no other people or cars around and common sense is exercised?

How many young drivers have died while doing hellis and burnouts? Since the car us usually stationary or travelling at less than walking pace when such maneuvers are being performed, I fail to see how this can be dangerous. Certainly not as dangerous as drivers jamming their brakes on infront of me when they see a roadside speed camera.

If I was a bit less sensible, reading those complaints would make me want to lay down a big fat set of linies at every opportunity, just to piss off the people who wrote them. I would argue that the wowsers are the ones who are inciting irresponsible driving.

If they want to complain about an ad that is seriously offensive, how about those inneffective "shock" ads that show traumatic car accidents and horrible situations, telling me that I will die if I drive 5kph over the speed limit. When I get home from work and put on the TV, I don't want to see a badly acted simulation of a horiffic car accident. It makes me unhappy and depressed, puts me in a bad mood and impacts on my evening when I'm supposed to be relaxing after work. I usually change the channel or make a cup of tea. If I had nothing better to do, I would file a complaint about those.

The picture below illustrates a guy (or a girl possibly) doing a classic burnout in a VP Commodore. While it is a bit of a waste of rubber and perhaps pointless is certainly can be a bit of fun. Hellies involve the car doing circles, producing similar smoke. Personally, I find hellies (doughnuts) a bit more fun than burnouts, because they involve a bit more skill, and the rear end of the car is actually moving. You can also reverse the lock at the right time and do figure eights and other silly things like that. Of course, you have to watch it or you can easilly buckle a rim if you hit a gutter (or something more expensive). Of course, it goes without saying that there are really dumb places to do stuff like this (anywhere where there may be people, traffic, buildings etc.), and there are places where it doesn't matter so much (1000km from anywhere in the outback, or on private property), although these complaining wowsers don't think you have the intelligence to work that out.



Burnouts and hellis are an integral part of Aussie culture, just like AC/DC, and their song "Highway to Hell", and must never be allowed to fall victim to the same people that want to ban bullbars, and make us use public transport by narrowing roads that are already busy. One day, if we are not careful, every last bit of harmless fun will become a socialy engineered taboo. Most Sydney motorists already trundle along blindly behind one another like sheep, with one eye on the speedometer, the other on the edge of the road looking out for speed traps.

Steering Fixed on the VP

I replaced the whole steering system last weekend. It was meant to last another week, as last weekend was meant to be the weekend to fully move out of the old house and get it ready for inspection. As it turned out, I had to do it during the week after work.

The job was really easy. I just got the front of the car up on chassis stands, removed the hydraulic lines and reservior from the pump, removed the steering linkage and hydraulic lines from the steering rack, then replaced the rack and pump, and hooked up the hydraulic lines again.

The old rack was really worn, with one of the steering rods having over 2mm of play. When the new rack went on, setting the toe-in was quite difficult. I got it near enough and went down to the wheel alignment place and got it done properly. The only other hassle was doing up the rods without breaking the rubber boots on the rack. Where the boot goes over the rod, it fits quite tight. As the rod has to be turned to tighten it, the boot tends to twist. The boots are crucial for keeping dust and road muck out of the rack. I removed the clips on the end of the boots pushed them back a bit and put WD-40 under the boot. This allowed the steering rod to turn inside the boot without damaging it.

The car now feels much better. I hadn't realised that rod was loose. The car now doesn't tend to take it's own course when it hits an irregularity in the road. Now I'm not fighting the car, it's much more relaxing to drive and gives me much more confidence at speed.

Now to do the rest of the suspension, in the next few weeks I'm getting Kings springs, Koni shocks and Nolethane bushes all round. Upgraded swaybars and a strut brace will soon follow, all in preparation for the new power plant.

Power Steering Failure

My power steering has finally decided to die. It has had major fluid leaks for a few weeks, which have slowly been getting worse. Now the pump has seized because of no power steering fluid, and the belt just makes smoke because the pully won't turn. I've just sourced a reco rack and pump for $470 from the local power steering place.

It's a common problem with the older Commodores as they are quite heavy on the front and have a sharp rack and pinion set up which relies quite heavily on hydraulics. I have been driving without power steering for a week or two which has been interesting, and has really helped build up my arm strength.

I'm looking forward to installing a nice new (reco) pump, rack, tie rod ends and I'll get a much needed wheel alignment on the weekend.

The guys at Ryde Power Steering Pty Ltd have been great. They didn't realise I needed one today, as I probably didn't explain my self properly on the phone, but they are flatout getting one ready for me before close of play today (Friday afternoon).

Here's a free plug for them, I'd give them a link, but they have no website.

M7 Toll Set To Increase Next Saturday

The toll on the M7 is set to increase next Saturday as is explained in a small obscure place on their website, which I'm not going to link to. Nice scheme. Make it cheap, get people used to it, then, when it's percieved as a good thing, fleece them for all they're worth, then a bit. This makes me glad that I never started using it.

Speed Cameras. Another Reason To Avoid Sydney's TollRoads

I am hearing from more and more people who are being booked for minor speed offences (10km over the limit) or less while using Sydney's privately owned tollroads. Namely the cross city tunnel. I just heard from a guy who was booked for doing 90 in the tunnel. The speed limit is 80 apparently.

All reports indicate that there is usually no one in the tunnel for obvious reasons. When I see stuff like this day in and day out, and premier Iemma comes on the radio saying "We only put cameras in black spots" and such meaningless idiotic statements as "There's no such thing as safe speeding", I fail to see how these cameras exist for any other reason than to make money.

Imagine paying through the nose to use an inadequately built tollroad such as the cross city tunnel, an you have only paid to use it because the roads you used to use have been closed off, and then you get pinged again with a $200 fine for going 10km/h too fast on a road with no one else on it.

Another thing that worries me, is that if one of these cameras were faulty, and I get a ticket, even though I'm not actually speeding, what comeback do I have? I get a ticket in the mail a few weeks later, and I can't even remember the trip. Most punters will get the ticket in the mail, and say "Oh, well, I must have been speeding because the camera says so", and pay the money. I would probably do the same because I don't have the time or money to fight it.

If I know a road has a speed camera, I will always choose an alternate route for this very reason, tollway or no tollway. Even if it means backstreets and speed humps. Again, I'd rather pay for tyres and suspension than give money to the government for free (well, more than I already do anyway).

I have only lost one point from my license, and that was in Melbourne, by a speed camera that was mounted within 200m of a speed limit change, and I was booked for doing 84km/h in an 80 zone. After an experience like that, one does tend to see the whole "speed kills" campaign as nothing more than propaganda to justify the rorting of motorists in this way. Safety doesn't have anything to do with it.

I would have lost many more points from my license (maybe all of them) if I had not chosen to avoid all roads with speed cameras installed. Especially when you see all the court cases being raised recently because of their alleged innacuracies.

If the government cared at all about road safety, they would make it harder to get a license, they would fix the inadequate roads and the numerous dangerous intersections that exist in Sydney. You only have to look at the on-going issues with expansion joints on the M4, and the RTA's refusal to install flashing lights around schools to inform motorists when they should slow down during shool hours to see how much the RTA and the government care about your safety.

Labor Plans to Restrict Internet In Australia

In the news today, Labor has put forward that they want to force all ISPs in Australia to filter all traffic. The plan is to filter all internet users, unless they opt out of the filter. The result of this, is that all uneducated computer users will be prevented from seeing websites that our government don't want them to see. Child protection has, of course been raised as the reason for this.

"That is not good enough when research suggests that the exposure of children and others in the community to this sickening content can lead to aggression towards women and child abuse." said Kim Beazley. What research? Who paid for that research? When was the research done? What was the nature of the study?

Too often the mainstream media sweepingly quotes "research", and that is not good enough. Government sponsored research is a crock at the best of times. We only have to look at the "research" that says I'm more likely to die if I'm breaking the speed limit by 5 km/h. It's not research, it's bollocks put forward as research to support their method of revenue raising.

Australia already has some of the tightest internet regulation in the world. Many sites were forced to move off shore because of our draconian internet censorship scheme, taking jobs with them. These wern't all porn sites either. These planned changes will bring us even closer to China.

There are already filtering program available to parents. The government's excuse is that these are too hard for most parents to install. Well, if parents are stupid enough to let their kids loose on the internet, and they don't know how to use it themselves or watch what their kids are doing, then they are negligent. I'm sorry but I just don't buy it. This is nothing to do with kids, it's about restricting information.

I don't care about the filters, I will just use encryption via a proxy, and most kids will do the same. I know of school kids that are more proficient on computers and the internet than myself, and I've been doing this a long time now. It's almost scary how good some of them are. Once everyone is using proxies, the ISPs and the government will have no way of knowing what data is being transmitted and recieved, let alone where it is going.

The internet is the last (first?) medium of free information exchange among the world's citizens. Lets not let the clowns who run this place into the ground destroy the internet for us aswell. Hopefully Labor will not get elected federally. We can only hope the rest of Australia will see what Labor has done to NSW and not let them do the same to the whole country.

Harold Scruby Nominated for Bent Spoon Award

Harold Scruby has been nominated for a Bent Spoon Award on the Australian Skeptics website.

The reasons for nomination are well explained:

Nominee: Harold Scruby
Nominated by: David Perkins
Date: 21/12/2005

For his constant refusal to let facts get in the way of an argument. This guy:

* ran over a jogger in his car, then got off because it was the joggers fault,
* created a rule to not allow Japanese or Korean people into the exclusive Cabbage Treet club (not only has the rule been overturned, so has his membership),
* was the whole Ausflag debate from a few years ago....,
* is currently the president of the Pedestrian Council of One. He is anti 4WD at the moment (despite driving one himself), anti bullbar (despite being the spokesperson for a type of bull bar!)(see Smartbar), and just basically a pain in the neck.

All his facts are taken from surveys of his mates, or statistics selected specifically to suit his needs. For example, one of his oft quoted facts is that 90% of 4WD's never see dirt, despite 32% of 4WD's being registered in Rural/ non-urban postcodes.... Another example would be the misguided opinion that 4WD's are responsible for most pedestrian accidents. RTA statistics prove that 4WD's, Utes and Vans together account for 15% of pedestrian fatalities (despite being around 25% of the vehicles on the road), wheras 66% of fatalities are caused by sedans!

See www.trac.com.au for confirmation of facts.

SpyFalcon :: Spyware That Poses as Anti Spyware

I have recently fallen victim to this hidious program that is quite difficult to remove. SpyFalcon is a spyware program that installs it's self into your machine when you visit certain websites. The thing about SpyFalcon is that it installs, and then proceeds to issue fake warning pop-ups telling you that you have spyware on your computer. They then tell you that you need to purchase the SpyFalcon software to remove these security breaches. SpyFalcon IS the security breach. The software it's self MAY work, but the way it is distributed, by installing scripts on machines with out permission is wrong, and the company deserves to be sent to the wall, or sued for more than they are worth.

In the meantime, there is a good way to remove SpyFalcon from your machine, so you will not get these pop-ups any more. The full procedure to remove SpyFalcon is listed here.

For a bit more info about SpyFalcon and the deceptive way it works:

"SpyFalcon is a rogue anti-spyware program that uses a Trojan horse to infect computers. It produces a task bar balloon pop-up warning about a spyware threat that in most cases does not exist, unless you count its own Trojan. The pop-up is actually a deceptive advertisement designed to prompt the user into downloading SpyFalcon." As quoted from this site.

For those who are more academically inclined, Wikipedia also have an entry dedicated to SpyFalcon, which explains this security threat and some of the earlier malicious spyware programs that it originated from, such as SpyAxe and SpyWareStrike, which, although I have never come across, seem to have worked in the same or similar way. Here is the WikiPedia article on SpyFalcon.

The clowns who wrote SpyFalcon need to be shut down and prosecuted. For the integrity of the internet, they need to be tracked down, fined for 50% more than the net value of all their assets, and then locked up for a good 5-10 years. I call on the governement to make an example of these kind of people. Unfortunately, they are probably operating from a 3rd world country where decent laws do not apply. As the internet develops, they will be dealt with eventually, I'm sure.

Here is some more great information on SpyFalcon.

Cross City Funnel - I Still Won't Use It

In a cynical attempt to drag motorists into the failed Cross City Tunnel, they have halved the toll and reversed some road changes.

Not good enough. Forget the tunnel. I'm not going into the city full stop, until the traffic light changes are reversed, and ALL the roads are re-opened. It's quite funny, I used to go into the city a bit, but since this tunnel opened, I just don't have the time to sit in traffic. I avoid it at all costs. I even know some tradesmen who do not take jobs on if they are in the city, just because it is unviable to spend 2 hours sitting in traffic just to get there.

Clover Moore can have her "garden city" with no roads or cars. There just won't be anybody there. As a 25 year old male, I will not get on a train in this city for fear of being mugged. Even in the day. I just know too many people that have run into trouble, and some of those people are much better able to defend themselves than I am. I'm just a skinny computer guy:)

Same goes for the M7. Everyone is raving about how good it is. I disagree. It should be a public road, funded by the government out of the massive taxes we pay to them. It doesn't have enough lanes, and therefore is nothing more than another inadequate piece of rubbish designed to make money for some corporation (Macquarie Bank, I believe. Surprise surprise.) I can't verify this, but I used to use Old Windsor Rd, which joins to the M7 every day, and ever since the M7 was opened, the traffic lights on Old Windsor Rd were more often red than green. I wonder what the reason for that would be. Couldn't be to force more people onto the tollroad could it?

I will continue to punch through the back streets to avoid these toll roads, and I'm currently modifying my car to handle chicanes, roundabouts and speed humps more quickly so I don't lose much time as I take my alternate routes. The cost of the petrol I use while hooning through the back streets is far less than the cost of paying the tolls. Tyres may be a different story, but I'd rather pay a bit more to tyre companies for actual tyres than to be rorted by Macquarie Bank for using a road. It's more fun to roar through backstreets than to sit on a tollway which is gridlocked with traffic anyway. They all have inadequate lanes, so this is always the case.

Make the Cross City Tunnel free, remove all traffic light changes and road closures, and then maybe I'll think about using it.

Rental Market in Sydney is Red Hot

As I have written in the last post, I have recently moved house. The couple that I was living with wanted to get their own house togeather and I was ready to move to an older house where I can build engines and partake in other messy persuits without worrying about making a brand new house dirty.

Luckily I found an old friend who has the perfect place, and I am comfortably in there now. My friends that I used to live with are having nothing but trouble finding a place. The market is crazy, and there are simply more people trying to rent than there are houses. Real Estate agents are flat out and most houses are taken the day they are first expected (as ours was) with about eight applicants.

Unfortunately, this makes things difficult for young people, as the houses tend to go to middle aged couples with families, as you would expect. I know if I had a house to rent out, I would be going with the middle aged couple rather than the young people.

When I took out the lease on the last house, the rental market was similarly heated, as Bob Carr had just brought in land tax changes which was forcing many owners to sell their investment properties. This caused many tennants to be displaced at the end of their leases, as happened to us. It seems that the recent downturn in the Sydney property market and reviews to the tax scheme have done little to change the situation.

Part of the problem is the fact that for most middle income earners, especially younger people, it is simply out of the question to purchase any kind of residence in Sydney. This means EVERYONE has to rent.

I'm hoping my friends can find a place, I'm helping them any way I can, because I know they are good tennants. I also hope the rental market in Sydney becomes more balanced because there must be a lot of people at the moment going through major stress trying to find rental accomodation.

PC Power Supply Failure

The power supply of a PC is one of the most common points of failure. My PC had been playing up for a while. When I would power it up, it would turn on momentarily and then switch it's self off. After this, it would require the plug to be pulled (or the power button to be held down) to reset it before powering up again. For a long time it would always fire up on the second go. Interestingly, it only started doing this after I upgraded the graphics card and moved to dual SATA drives, so the extra load must have pushed the old 350 watt PSU over the edge.

I recently moved house, and when I tried to get it going after the move, it would switch off again every time, not allowing me to start it up. In my stupidity, I tried this too many times and ended up corrupting the boot sector on my system drive.

I got a 450watt power supply with built in SATA power plugs, and it's all working well now. I had to load the recovery console and run chkdsk, fixmbr and fixboot, and luckily the hard drives are not physically damaged.

Fred Nile Tries to Ban Smoking in Cars

Christian Democratic Party MLC Fred Nile has drafted a private member's Bill to legislate against drivers smoking whilst driving. Here is the story.

I would actually support a move to fine drivers who smoke while they have children in the back seat. But when I'm driving by myself? That is a disgrace. What is Australia coming to? It is also a disgrace that a man such as Fred Nile has so much sway over the government here in Australia.
How dare he suggest I'm not allowed to smoke as I'm driving to work by myself. Who does he think he is? What is a religious leader doing in parliament anyway? We have massive crime problems here in Sydney, with people getting bashed shot and stabbed on the streets every weekend, and this guy wants to ban smoking in cars.

This is the same guy that thinks he knows what you and I shouldn't read and see. He wants our internet filtered so we can't have access to things that he feels are inappropriate. To be honest, I don't have anything personally against the guy, he is entitled to his views, but when his twisted views are inflicted on my life, I get really angry.

Fred Nile can get stuffed. I'm going to continue to smoke in my car. It is because of people like Fred Nile and the way they attempt to turn Australia into some kind of religious state by infiltrating parliament that I have forever turned away from the church. Well there are a few other reasons too, but that's another post:)

VP V6 Commodore Specifications

Here's all the specs for my VP:

Engine: 3800 V6

"V" configuration. OHV design with cross flow cylinder heads. Multipoint fuel injection. Engine management computer. 91 octane fuel. Low friction technology. High energy distributorless, ignition fired by magnetic pulse from crankshaft, via computer. Triple coils. Computer activated electric cooling fan. The engine control module (ECM) is a Delco 1227808.

Capacity: 3.791L
Induction: multipoint EFI
Valvetrain: overhead valves, 2 valves / cylinder
Bore x Stroke (mm): 97.0 x 86.0
Compression ratio: 8.5:1
Maximum Power: 127 kW @ 4800 RPM
Maximum Torque: 293 Nm @ 3600 RPM

Transmission:

GM Hydra-Matic 4L60 - 4 speed automatic transmission with overdrive and lockup torque converter. Also known as TH700R4.

Ratios:

1st       3.06
2nd       1.63
3rd       1.00
4th       0.70
Reverse   2.29

Diff Ratio: 3.08:1

Suspension:

Front: MacPherson strut, incorporating wet sleeve shock absorbers. Direct acting stabilizer bar. Progressive rate coil springs.

Rear: Trailing arm with 5-link location. Panhard rod. Progressive rate coil springs. Double-acting shock absorbers. Stabilizer bar.

Steering:

Type: Power-assisted, variable assistance, variable ratio rack and pinion

Turning circle (m): 10.7

Brakes:

Front: ventilated disc
Rear: disc

Dimensions:

Wheelbase: 2731mm

Track:
Front: 1451mm
Rear: 1478mm

Length: 4890mm

Width: 1812mm

Height: 1403mm

Back to the Rotary Engine

I love rotary engines. A couple of years ago, in what seems like a past life, I had an old series 2 with a mild port 13B in it. It had a decent exhaust, stock carby and ignition and on an old school motor out of an RX-4. It went quite well and probably pulled mid to high 15s but it seemed faster, and was a sheer joy to drive

The series 2 has a great weight distribution and the chassis is very strong. The light motor is mounted as far back in the engine bay as possible, and the driver/passenger sit quite close to the rear wheels.

The series 1, 2 and 3 RX-7s that were sold in Australia had 12A rotary engines. Mine had a 13B put in it which is a bit bigger and more powerful. I was impressed at how much fun the rotary engine is to drive. They rev effortlessly out to 7 grand, making more and more power as the revs increase. They are incredibly smooth, and to me they seem like a great idea. The rotary engine does not have any pistons, valves or anything like that. It has much fewer moving parts than a conventional 4 stroke engine and make more power for it's weight. This makes them ideal for small cars that want to go round corners like an RX-7.

The time has come to get into rotarys again. I'm soon to move house and will be purchasing an old 13B to rebuild, and a reasonable series 1/2/3 RX-7 body to put it in. I need the car to be decent, as I don't want to initially put much thought into it. I want to concentrate on developing a home-built pheripheral port engine, which should make up to 300kw, although it may not last longer than 80,000kms. The beauty of the rotary engine is that there is nothing holding it back. All you have to do is let it get the air/fuel it wants by making the holes (ports) bigger. A pheripheral port is a totally re-located inlet port that allows the engine to draw close to maximum charge, creating insane amounts of power for the size of the engine. It also burns some of the fuel incompletely, and there is some blow-through at idle, causing unburned fuel to come out the exhaust. Especially when cold. Such an engine can cost $20 worth of fuel just to get warmed up. I have to build one.

I will document the whole process on the web, although I will probably create another blog/site and do the whole thing properly with photos and everything. Of course I will put a link here.

I couldn't be botherered writing any more. It's really hot tonight and I'm going to go downstairs where the air-conditioning is.

Mainstream Media In Decline

This is an interesting article which looks at the way alternative news sources on the internet are gaining popularity over the corporate owned mainstream publications.
As a reader of both styles of media, I think one has to be just as skeptical when reading alternative news sources as when reading mainstream media.
Sometimes I find the best perspective can be gathered by comparing mainstream news from various different countries. For example, an article about Australia which appears in the BBC news, but doesn't appear anywhere in any Australian mainstream publications is always worth a deeper look.

23rd August 2001, Supreme Court, Justice Richard Chesterman on the media:

"The appellant's argument exaggerates the influence of the tabloid media. The public is well aware that its function is to generate income for its proprietors and that the dissemination of information and expression of opinion by it is secondary to that purpose. Information published by the media is often inaccurate and is frequently distorted by the need to create sensation. The distortion is sometimes deliberate. Journalistic opinion tends to be populist rather than responsible and is often the product of ignorance and prejudice. Contrary opinions are suppressed."

This article illustrates the state of things quite well.

Mainstream media attempts to discredit blogs and internet sources in order to try and regain control.

4WDs - Blowing Away The Lies

The green lobby and the likes of Harold Scruby of the "Pedestrian Council" would have us all believe that four wheel drive vehicles kill thousands per year and should be taxed off the road.

While there are better vehicles to trundle around the city in, and I have no interest in getting one (Wouldn't have the time to take it to the bush and use it for what it's designed for), Australians have a right to drive these vehicles. We should not just lie down and let these uninformed idealistic clowns change our way of life, let alone dictate what we can and cannot drive.

It's 4WDs today, it'll be V8s tomorrow, then turbos, and before we know it, we will all be legislated to drive little hybrid cars with GPS tracking and speed limiters, or even worse, we will be herded onto government owned trasnport. (Or more public/private partnership scams to build mass-transit systems).

Imagine picking up a trailer load of fence pailings from Bunnings in a Toyota Prius (Not that I have anything against those cars, I actually think they are a great idea, but I'll CHOOSE if I'm going to drive one, thankyou).

I'm actually beginning to think that the green side of politics is lobbying for anti-independance. They want me to rely on the Government to transport me around. What a joke, ever tried to get to work on a train in Sydney?

Anyway, here is a page from the Australian National Four Wheel Drive Council which covers the lies that are being put forth by the anti-4WD lobby, and illustrates the massive flaws in their argument, as well as touch on a few issues that our anti-4WD friends are obviously unaware of (Or maybe they conveniently over-look them).

Traffic Lights Sabotaged at 400 Sydney Intersections to Funnel Motorists Through Tollway.

A parliamentary committee has revealed that sequencing was modified on 400 sets of traffic lights around Sydney when the Cross City Tunnel was opened.
In short, this means that our state government has allowed the corporation that built the tunnel to make the rest of Sydney's road more inefficient (Roads that Sydney residents have paid to build and maintain), so they can force more motorists to use their poorly planned and overpriced Cross City Tunnel.
Getting this information was like blood from a stone. The RTA even cited "terrorist concerns" as a reason for not releasing the traffic light changes.

This is the latest article

I hope the Cross City organisation is sent to bankruptcy for conning and manipulating the people of Sydney in such a way.
With Peter Samson in charge of Cross City, (An Ex-RTA Chief Executive) I guess they have the required expertise and experience at the top of their organisation to screw the motorists of Sydney very efficiently.
After all, the RTA is second to none when it comes to screwing motorists.

Defending our cars from the greenies

I stumbled across this article the other day, it sums up quite well the hypocricy and idiocy of our "do-gooder" anti-car brigade.
We need to tell these green hippy idiots to shove it, build some decent roads and ban those stupid bus lanes that hold everyone up.
If we can't trust the government to keep law and order, and we can't trust them to use out taxes wisely, I'm buggered if I'm going to trust them to transport me around. We only have to look at the safety standards of Sydney busses and recent rail disasters, which aren't even investigated properly.
I'm keeping my car (actually I'm getting a bigger, faster more powerful one).

Here is the article:

Defending the Car Against Greens

HostHead.com - These Guys Rock

Well, we're a few weeks into our hosting with HostHead.com, after giving SkilledHost.com and their poor service and monumental incompetence the flick.
All I can say is that these guy are real pros. The service is working just as well as it was when I first set it up, and hasn't gone down, at all.
Anyone looking for a cheap host without cheap service should try these guys. They are adult friendly too.

Well, it's now November 2006, and all I can say about HostHead is that they still rock. Not a single glitch in their service, and I recommend them to everyone. And no, I don't have any affiliation with them. I just found them one day. My level of enthusiam for them as a hosting company is probably amplified by the woeful performance of the original hosting company we used for this project: skilledhost.com. As it turned out, they were anything but skilled.

WinMerge - A useful tool for tracking changes in files

I have just had a big blitz on security on my main site. Some securtiy breaches can involve a hacker subtley adding or changing file on your server, resulting in an open back door. In a large site, this can be difficult to detect. The hackers sometimes make the filenames follow the same conventions as the other thousands of files in the site so they blend in.
I found a free tool which is great for this kind of work. You simply point it at the two sets of files that you want to compare, and it presents you with a list of pairs and results. You can then click on any pair of documents to analyse the differences.

WinMerge can be found at: http://winmerge.sourceforge.net/

Switched to HostHead.com Today

After a bit of looking around and reading this funny thread, I decided to go with HostHead.com. They have been around since 2001, and seem to be respected among members of the boards. So far the support has been great. I am fully up and running, all questions answered, and I only submitted my details 2 hours ago.
Their service and load times seem much better that SkilledHost, and I get the impression that the guy knows what he's doing and has been doing it a long time. The cost is a little more, but if they can keep my sites up, it's more than worth it.

RoadSpy - A new service for Australian motorists

A brilliant new service called RoadSpy has just arrived in Sydney. This service sends SMS messages to your mobile phone, notifying you of speed traps, accidents and other traffic hazards. They were going to include RBTs, but I heard that has been stopped because of requests from the Police.
That's probably not a bad thing, RBTs probably do actually save lives, unlike speed traps.
They will be recieving my payment on Monday. What a brilliant initative. It should prove especially handy when I get my 5.7 litre V8 later this year:)
Here's the site.

The Matrix ScreenSaver

I found this great matrix screensaver the other day. It is like the one on the first Matrix movie. If you look closely at the code in the movie, the characters are not English. This screensaver uses pretty close to the original matrix characters. It is the most authentic one I could find. Best of all, it's free.

Get it from this page on the Kelly Software site. Here is a screenshot, The picture is optional, I remove it for a simple authentic look:

And if you are a real Matrix fan like me, the official Matrix site definitely worth a look.

Don't Use SkilledHost.com

I've finally come to the end of what I am willing to accept from our new webhosts. A while ago I posted that we went with a new host, SkilledHost.com. It turns out that they are anything but skilled.
We set up our accounts, uploaded our sites, and paid $100 to have a dedicated SSL certificate installed on one of the sites.
Shortly after, the whole lot fell over for three days, including SkilledHost's main site. When it came up again all data and settings were lost. They apologised, and I said okay, and proceeded to upload my files again.
The dedicated SSL certificate was lost with the server settings, and after two months and repeated requests, emails and support tickets, we are still to have the service re-instated. At first they replied to a couple of messages, saying that everything was lost and that they would have to set it up again. Now they don't even reply to them. Although the sites are up, without the SSL we cannot use them for their intended purpose.
I know two months is way too long to be patient for something like this, but I have had other things to do, and I was hoping they would sort it out, because their service and price was just right for us.
Having read a bit on the forums, it would appear that I am not the only one having problems with SkilledHost. You can read more about how they run their business here, here, another one here, another one from DigitalPoint forums here, and here's a review.
I just wish I read those threads before I signed up with them, but they weren't ranking in Google at the time.
So, this weekend, I am researching new hosts and I am going to be giving SkilledHost the flick on Monday. We will also demanding a refund for the SSL.