The power and phone are finally back on at Aardvark's castle -- and not before
time.
It took 23 hours to get the power restored after it went off at 6:20pm on Monday
-- but that alone is not so bad. After all, large areas of the upper North
Island were affected and there are only so-many linemen available to fix
such problems.
However, TransAlta have a lot to learn about liaising with their clients in
such cases. Their fault line kept advising that the power was off in my area
but that we could expect it back on within the hour. It was giving such
optimistic reports for the first 12 hours and even when I rang them (on my
cellphone) at 11am on Tuesday and spoke to a genuine human, I was told that
"power should be restored by 10:30am this morning -- oh, that can't be right."
TransAlta -- just say "as soon as possible" -- disinformation is worse
than no information -- it really is!
Readers Say
No Comments Yet -- send me yours and fill this space!
|
Have Your Say
|
I must also apologise if you're waiting for a reply to any email you may have sent
me -- I now have a backlog of some 200 emails to wade through.
Someone Give The ASB A Kick
A reader has contacted Aardvark pointing out
that the ASB Bank doesn't want its online customers using passwords that
are too secure.
According to the FastNet help-desk, you can't use any non-alphanumeric
characters in your password because "there are going to be changes to
the URL" and such characters "could cause problems."
I suspect the help-desk operator was a little confused at this stage, but
I must wonder why the bank's password algorithms can't cope with the odd
dash, dot or exclamation mark.
Programming convenience before security? Is that a good idea?
Read This -- if you can
I'm always reluctant to criticise my direct competition in the online Net
news industry -- so I must point out that the following is not a reflection
of IDG's competence or abilities -- rather it is a damning indictment
of the idiots who call themselves CM Research.
It seems that CM Research have been commissioned by IDG to conduct an online
survey of IDG.Net.nz readers. Not a problem -- except that the
web designers at CMR are somehow under the illusion that yellow text on a
white background is both easy to read and sensible.
If it hasn't been fixed yet then
here's the page,
otherwise you'll find a
screen-dump here.
Aussie Opposition Has The Right Idea?
Leader of the Australian opposition, Mr Beazley, says his party is giving
serious consideration to boosting R&D tax concessions to 200 percent
when it gets into power -- a move which would effectively give Aussie
businesses a $2 tax credit for every $1 spent.
At present, Australian companies get a $1.25 tax credit for every $1 spent,
this having recently been reduced from a previous 150% R&D tax credit.
In the face of this, and similar policies in the USA, it is little wonder
that the amount spent by NZ's businesses on R&D is amongst the lowest
in the world and those with the good ideas are queuing for outbound flights
at the nearest international airport?
Hmmm... wouldn't it pose a conundrum for the government if someone came up
with a new idea for tee-shirts that needed a little R&D? :-)
As always, your feedback is welcomed.