Things that give you the sh1ts

[bennymacca]

Do you remember the thread about how the prices were far too expensive?
The opponents of the NBN forgot to start a thread about how that was wrong and the prices are really good.

I'm one of those sceptics, and I'm waiting to see whether they stay good after they get enough take up to be able to claim the programme as a success. It wouldn't be the first industry to offer good starter prices in the early days to get a market share established, then adjust later.

My scepticism has been proved right for us light users - I rarely exceed 8GB per month.
When it was first mooted 10GB NBN plans at 25mbps were being offered at $39.95 per month - fairly commensurate with my existing ADSL2+ plan.*
The lowest NBN plan I can find now is a 12 mbps plan offering 30GB (uploads counted too) at $59.95, or $64.95 at 25mbps.

*Adding VoIP and a home phone brings my ADSL2+ plan to $59.95 per month - the same service with the NBN will now be a minimum of $89.85, and that is without allowing for the $10 a month free calls I get now.

So my $59.95 package jumps to something like $99.85 minimum for a doubling of my present speed...

Sure I can afford it but I resent attempts being made to con me and the general community...

(all 12mb services)
Nuskope offer 10gb for $40 and 50gb for $50
Adam offer 20 down and 20 up for $50
Internode offer 30 for $50

adam's phone service is $10 a month, internode offer different options starting from $0 and working up to $20 a month depending on what sort of call rates you have and want etc.

TPG offer an unlimited 12mb with a home phone that gives you unlimited calls to land lines for $70 a month

not sure you were looking hard enough!!

[Psyber]

You get more radioactive material reheating your dinner in the microwave or listening to AM radio (true story)
That's what I used to tell the old grandma's that called in to cancel their mobile plans

Working for telstra for 5 years gives me plenty of ammo on people who think mobiles fry your brains.

Microwave ovens in good repair are much better shielded in a big metal box, and not within a cm or 2 of your brain.

Telstra lie to their staff too... (And I say that as a shareholder.)

[bennymacca]

A Neurosurgeon I know who nis interested in the topic says the only way to use a mobile is at arm's length either on speaker or with a wired earphone.
(Wireless/bluetooth puts a concentrating antenna next to your brain too.)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19328536

plenty of other studies that indicate no link at all (plenty of references in these summaries)

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/fact ... cellphones
https://www.cancerwa.asn.au/resources/c ... ones-myth/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_pho ... Precaution

i do agree that if you can reduce exposure it can't be a bad thing, but i don't think it is really much of an issue (disclaimer: i am an electronic engineer not a neurosurgeon)

[bennymacca]

You get more radioactive material reheating your dinner in the microwave or listening to AM radio (true story)
That's what I used to tell the old grandma's that called in to cancel their mobile plans

Working for telstra for 5 years gives me plenty of ammo on people who think mobiles fry your brains.

Microwave ovens in good repair are much better shielded in a big metal box, and not within a cm or 2 of your brain.

Telstra lie to their staff too... (And I say that as a shareholder.)

just put your tin foil hat on and you will be fine

[Psyber]

Do you remember the thread about how the prices were far too expensive?
The opponents of the NBN forgot to start a thread about how that was wrong and the prices are really good.

I'm one of those sceptics, and I'm waiting to see whether they stay good after they get enough take up to be able to claim the programme as a success. It wouldn't be the first industry to offer good starter prices in the early days to get a market share established, then adjust later.

My scepticism has been proved right for us light users - I rarely exceed 8GB per month.
When it was first mooted 10GB NBN plans at 25mbps were being offered at $39.95 per month - fairly commensurate with my existing ADSL2+ plan.*
The lowest NBN plan I can find now is a 12 mbps plan offering 30GB (uploads counted too) at $59.95, or $64.95 at 25mbps.

*Adding VoIP and a home phone brings my ADSL2+ plan to $59.95 per month - the same service with the NBN will now be a minimum of $89.85, and that is without allowing for the $10 a month free calls I get now.

So my $59.95 package jumps to something like $99.85 minimum for a doubling of my present speed...

Sure I can afford it but I resent attempts being made to con me and the general community...

(all 12mb services)
Nuskope offer 10gb for $40 and 50gb for $50
Adam offer 20 down and 20 up for $50
Internode offer 30 for $50

adam's phone service is $10 a month, internode offer different options starting from $0 and working up to $20 a month depending on what sort of call rates you have and want etc.

TPG offer an unlimited 12mb with a home phone that gives you unlimited calls to land lines for $70 a month

not sure you were looking hard enough!!

I'd used the same cluster of three for "then and now" comparisons - iiNet, Internode, and one other whose name I can't remember, and made my comment based on those past and present offerings...

When it gets closer I'll see if Nuskope's cheaper deal still exists...

[HH3]

Ok im not reading any of the last 5 or 6 comments...

[Psyber]

A Neurosurgeon I know who nis interested in the topic says the only way to use a mobile is at arm's length either on speaker or with a wired earphone.
(Wireless/bluetooth puts a concentrating antenna next to your brain too.)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19328536

plenty of other studies that indicate no link at all (plenty of references in these summaries)

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/fact ... cellphones
https://www.cancerwa.asn.au/resources/c ... ones-myth/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_pho ... Precaution

i do agree that if you can reduce exposure it can't be a bad thing, but i don't think it is really much of an issue (disclaimer: i am an electronic engineer not a neurosurgeon)

The problem is the issue of it being too hard to prove one way or the other - so I take the cautious line.
Similarly it has been two years since the W.H.O. declared that diesel fumes are just as carcinogenic as Asbestos, but while we have been very active about Asbestos all agencies and the media continue to ignore this one and leave it hidden from public view.

[Psyber]

You get more radioactive material reheating your dinner in the microwave or listening to AM radio (true story)
That's what I used to tell the old grandma's that called in to cancel their mobile plans

Working for telstra for 5 years gives me plenty of ammo on people who think mobiles fry your brains.

Microwave ovens in good repair are much better shielded in a big metal box, and not within a cm or 2 of your brain.

Telstra lie to their staff too... (And I say that as a shareholder.)

just put your tin foil hat on and you will be fine

I don't need the tin foil hat as long as I keep the phone well away from my head...

[bennymacca]

another decent article on maximum power transmitted etc

http://www.acma.gov.au/~/media/Technica ... phones.pdf

so maximum transmitter power for a mobile phone is around 125mW, which is very low. most of the time it would be operating far below that too, because it turns down the transmitter to a level to the lowest possible level to maintain reception (to increase battery life)

I have done an RF safety course, and usually RF radiation starts to become an issue at 10W or higher.

something like a handheld marine radio can transmit 7W or so, and there are recommendations to hold them 10cm or more away from your head etc.

[bennymacca]

The problem is the issue of it being too hard to prove one way or the other - so I take the cautious line.
Similarly it has been two years since the W.H.O. declared that diesel fumes are just as carcinogenic as Asbestos, but while we have been very active about Asbestos all agencies and the media continue to ignore this one and leave it hidden from public view.

medical statistics are notoriously shoddy too (mostly not their fault as it is almost impossible to find a control group of people)
too often they imply correlation = causation

[woodublieve12]

everyone reading this current conversation

[Psyber]

another decent article on maximum power transmitted etc

http://www.acma.gov.au/~/media/Technica ... phones.pdf

so maximum transmitter power for a mobile phone is around 125mW, which is very low. most of the time it would be operating far below that too, because it turns down the transmitter to a level to the lowest possible level to maintain reception (to increase battery life)

I have done an RF safety course, and usually RF radiation starts to become an issue at 10W or higher.

something like a hand held marine radio can transmit 7W or so, and there are recommendations to hold them 10cm or more away from your head etc.

One of the issues that others have focussed on is the contention that the field is being concentrated by the antenna, and another the argument that the field intensity goes up when the phone is not at idle but actively trying to maintain a signal particularly in difficult areas. A third is the argument about whether the declared safety limits are really safe. The Neurosurgeon, Vini Khurana, doesn't argue from physics and theory but from clinical data in his practice.


But the Physics and Maths of this is not my forte, so I'll take the cautious line rather than accept the reassurances...
(Note my comment above about authorities ignoring the link between cancer and diesel fumes despite the W.H.O. published statement - the risk gets played down if it is going to cost too much to fix.)

[nuggety goodness]

Workplace training.....

Sitting for a full day learning stuff that i have already been shown at a pace that is putting me to sleep... the trainers are so monotonous and have no ability to engage people...

Over it!

[bennymacca]

everyone reading this current conversation

Engineering - Solving problems you didnt know you had, in ways you don't understand

One of the issues that others have focussed on is the contention that the field is being concentrated by the antenna, and another the argument that the field intensity goes up when the phone is not at idle but actively trying to maintain a signal particularly in difficult areas. A third is the argument about whether the declared safety limits are really safe. The Neurosurgeon, Vini Khurana, doesn't argue from physics and theory but from clinical data in his practice.


But the Physics and Maths of this is not my forte, so I'll take the cautious line rather than accept the reassurances...
(Note my comment above about authorities ignoring the link between cancer and diesel fumes despite the W.H.O. published statement - the risk gets played down if it is going to cost too much to fix.)

this is my exact point - implying a correlation between cancers and mobile phone use whilst ignoring the science is exactly why the medical journals sometimes get it so wrong

[bennymacca]

Workplace training.....

Sitting for a full day learning stuff that i have already been shown at a pace that is putting me to sleep... the trainers are so monotonous and have no ability to engage people...

Over it!

We have to do WHS, equity and diversity, fraud and ethics, and security training every single year.

[Booney]

One particular teenager that resides at the Boon residence and the state of his ******* room.

I'm pretty sure, certain in fact, that mine never looked and worse still smelt like that!

*WARNING* - Stern Father-Son talk approaching.

[heater31]

One particular teenager that resides at the Boon residence and the state of his ******* room.

I'm pretty sure, certain in fact, that mine never looked and worse still smelt like that!

*WARNING* - Stern Father-Son talk approaching.

Vomit on the floor?

[Booney]

Very good.

No, lucky for him.

[heater31]

You never can be sure that there isn't with a stench wafting out the door....

[Bum Crack]

Ok im not reading any of the last 5 or 6 comments...

I read the first sentence and got a headache.