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A letter I sent to Julia Gillard re. the ALPs political advertisi
Here's a copy of the content of an email I sent to Julia Gillard re the ALPs decision to run political advertising in support of it's Health Reforms and the #RSPT.

Dear Ms Gillard

I'm a keen ALP supporter but please understand that the ALPs decision to go ahead with political advertising in support of its health reforms and the RSPT are heartbreaking. It's also, as I understand breaking a promise the ALP made to the Australian people before the last election. The hypocrisy is sickening..

The ALP will probably still get my vote in the upcoming election, but my soul will weep a bit as I cast my vote for your party on election day. The ALP is becoming so much like the Liberal party it's getting very, very hard to tell the difference.

Please don't bother with a response to this email - the rhetoric that it would include about why we need the advertising would sicken me even more. And please don't re-direct it to any other Ministers. This email is directed to you personally.

I just hope that someone in your office takes a note of this email and that you get so many emails like it so that you'll eventually take note yourself.

And in case you were also wondering, the reason I'm writing to you and not the Prime Minister is that I would see absolutely no point in doing so but I am a more hopeful in writing to you that you'll actually take my concerns on board. I acknowledge though, that I'm probably living in a fools paradise at this exact moment, but it'll help me sleep a bit better this morning.

This email is sent in the vain hope that the ALP will change tact in regard to the above. It is also sent most sincerely and respectfully

Richard Tuffin
Monash, ACT.

This post has 1835 characters, and was posted by @richardtuffin

A possible link between Facebook and Hotmail self generated email
I read a great article last night by Dan Yoder called "Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook" It's at:

http://www.rocket.ly/home/2010/4/26/top-ten-reasons-you-should-quit-facebook.html

It's a great article and when I tweeted it, I got retweeted a few times which, to be honest is rare for me!

After I read the article which mentioned that the Facebook CEO had a dodgy past and how anti-privacy Facebook is, I got to thinking about the fact that my Facebook password and my Hotmail password were the same!

The reason I was thinking about this is that my Hotmail account has been self-generating emails for a couple of months and I couldn't figure out why!

I had stopped one series of self-gen emails after my account had been hacked and a dodgy auto reply message set up on my behalf. Yay!! Anyway, I got that one sorted and things were OK for a while.

Then, the self-generated spam emails kicked off again.

I'm encouraged that the first thing I thought to do last night after reading the article was to make my Hotmail password different from my Facebook password and Hazaah! Since then, and I should point out that it was only last night, I've had no more self-generated emails today! It's still significant that there haven't been any self-gen emails from my Hotmail even in that short amount of time!

This is still a win and I'm confident that by making my passwords different, I've fixed the problem. I really believe there's a link between me signing up for Facebook Apps, or even Facebook itself and the self-generating emails!!

I could be wrong but you never know. Perhaps someone far geekier than me my by chance read this post and be able to officially make the connection. Wouldn't that be a classic!!

Anyway, happy tweeting and careful Facebooking people!

regards

Rich

This post has 1986 characters, and was posted by @richardtuffin

Is your Hotmail self generating emails and is your Hotmail passwo
I read an interesting article last night entitled "Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Facebook" at

http://www.rocket.ly/home/2010/4/26/top-ten-reasons-you-should-quit-facebook.html

- it's a great read and my tweet about it got a few interesting people re-tweeting it which, to be perfectly honest is quite rare for me!

One of the things the article mentions is that the Facebook CEO is really a bit dodgy! It got me thinking about the fact that my Hotmail account has been self generating spam which has been bloody annoying for me and people on my contact list, and the fact that my Facebook password and my Hotmail password were the same!

So, I changed my Hotmail password last night and guess what... For the first time in about a fortnight, no self generating emails!!

Now, it may be a pure coincidence and I could log into my Hotmail account tomorrow morning and find 200 self generated emails but I don't reckon I will!

If you're having the same problem with your Hotmail account and your password's are the same, give it a go and see what happens!!

Please let me know via @richardtuffin ..

Good luck!

This post has 1261 characters, and was posted by @richardtuffin

Kids partys - a trap for eating healthy!! #ucanloseit
One of the first real suprise situations I faced when I got really serious about my weight loss program was at one of those mega Kids parties centres here in Canberra, eg Kids City, Fun Factory, Kids Rampage etc.

The usual deal with these places is that the adults will get offered finger food to eat while the kids are hoing in to cheesuls, mini-frankfurts, chips, lollies, cake etc.

I hadn't thought about it when I went to the first one of these parties after I seriously began my weight loss program, and having not had lunch, was fairly overwhelmed when a massive platter of wedges / chips / mini-pies came out.

I'd already purchased one apple which barely touched the sides, so when the platter came out I was almost in tears dealing with the temptation. Thankfully I limited myself to just a couple of wedges, but it was more the shock (almost literally) of the suprise of all this fried food that was the worst thing.

So if you're going to one of these mega-party centres for a kids party, either check if there's options for special dietry requirements or eat your own food beforehand and take your own snacks.

These places are often fantastic venues for kids birthday celebrations, but from my own experience, they've yet to fully grasp the concept of offering healthy options for the parents / grand parents / carers attending these parties although sometimes they actually do have fruit platters or healthy options available for the kids.

So be prepared - eat up before you head off and have some health snacks with you for when the chippies and pies come out!

This post has 1681 characters, and was posted by @richardtuffin

Great news for greenkeepers tending ovals after Essendon games th
Greenkeepers tending ovals after Essendon matches this year will receive a special subisdy for all the extra grass they'll have to cut around the forward fifty metre zone...

This post has 173 characters, and was posted by @richardtuffin

If @Penbo's for it, I'm against it!!
I've read with interest today's article by David Penberthy's article in the Oz titled: "If this mob is against censor, then I'm for it". It's online at

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/if-this-mob-is-against-censor-then-im-for-it/story-e6frg6zo-1225811639016.

@Penbo as I think of him now was one of the first Journo's I started following on Twitter and up until recent times I've enjoyed heaps of his articles in the Punch. He also seems like a genuinely nice guy, even making time to respond to me personally on a few different issues I've talked to him about on Twitter.

But by publishing today's article, he's drawn a pretty big line in the sand as to where he stands re. the Government's proposed Internet Censorship plan and it's one of the worst articles of his that I've read.

It makes some massive generalisations that could tempt the reader into thinking that he feels most, if not all of the people supporting the #nocleanfeed campaign are "a largely stupid generation of pampered kids". That would be me making my own generalisation of of his comments, but I think it's pretty obvious how he feels about those in the #nocleanfeed camp.

Penbo says that the what gets filtered will be controlled by an independent body but who decides who's part of that body?? Um, possibly the Government may have a bit of a say in that one I'm guessing! And call me cynical, but isn't it amazing how many viewpoints expressed by "independent agencies" set up by Governments end up having similar, sometimes identical viewpoints to the that Government!!

And who's to say, once the filter is in place that the current Government or some future rabble may decide that the Independent committee can no longer handle such an awesome responsibility and that it should be the Government who decides what we see and hear on the web. I can't site specific examples, but I'm pretty sure that sort of thing has happened once or twice in the past and if that does happen, then we really are in serious trouble, and the comparisons with China and Iran don't seem quite so "fantasical"...

Penbo's also acknowledged that the plan isn't "a work of genius" so we're both on the same page there. I think those concerns need to be expanded a bit though. Not so much in terms of the plan itself, but for the potential of the whole thing to go technically "a bit pair shaped"...

I've seen first hand over many years how well Government IT systems get implemented, mostly in the Welfare and Health sectors and quite frankly, it scares the living hell out of me.

When I think about some of the systems I've seen come and go around Government departments, I have a little laugh to myself, then a shiver runs down my spine and I quickly as I can go back to dreaming of Juddy screaming into the forward 50 to kick the winning goal after the siren for premiership no. 17!! (against the Pies or the Dons of course!!)

Also, given the thousands upon thousands of hackers around the world, how long till the filter's cracked and a "back door" is found so that those who want to can still see all the sickening stuff the Filter is supposed to stop?

I give it 3 days... Don't get me wrong - I hope I'm that's a massive underestimation (or is it overestimation?) but there's big money involved in Net porn and those at risk of losing a bit of coin from the Government's proposed plan aren't gonna let a system developed by a dozen or so underpaid and no doubt overworked techo's from or outsourced by the APS get in their way for too long!

And one other minor detail that might work against the filter being effective. At some stage, like it or not, Telstra's gonna have to be involved. That thought alone is just plain terrifying!!!

I hate to say it, but I think it'd be much more useful for the Government to spend the proposed tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars set aside for the filter on, dare I say it, trying to bring about cultural change within our country through the use of traditional and non-traditional mediums (that's TV, Radio, newspapers and, heaven forbit, the Internet...)

I hate childporn, bestiality is plain and simple sick and there's loads more crap on the web that needs to go, but a Government implemented, and most probably at some future stage controlled Internet filter is not the way to fix the problem.

The real fix starts with me, my wife, my kids, the people that look after and teach my kids and everyone that we know and talk to that we can convince to not ever look at. read or think about even the mildest forms of pornography via any medium, let alone the web.

The most effective filter that can ever be implemented is the one that each and everyone of has.

Quite simply, it's the one in our own minds.

Lets implement that one as quickly as possible and use it as effectively as we can!

This post has 5144 characters, and was posted by @RichardTuffin

Why Carlton should sack Brendan Fevola
I'm sitting here watching the pre-match buildup to the 2009 AFL Grand Final, and I see Carlton greats such as Jezza and Wayne "it was in!!" Harmes and I've gotten to thinking about Brendan Fevola again.

For starters, the fact that I think about him so often these days, that I'm forced to think about him really has got me mightily ticked off...

I was there at the infamous Millenium match when he "debuted" for Carlton, even though it was only a pre-season game.

He ran out wearing no. 25 and myself and an even older supporter ummed and ahhed to ourselves about this rough looking fella wearing what many to believe our Club's most famous number.

And then he started kicking goals and the more goals he kicked, the more comfortable we were with him wearing Jezza's magic number.

Since then, his form's been up and down. He has one the Coleman medal twice now to his credit. One of them the same year we won a wooden spoon which probably makes the feat even more incredible really.

Since the Millenium game, there's been a number of instances that have brought embarrassment to himself and more importantly, to the Carlton Football Club.

There's 3 instances that stick in my mind. He ran around Melbourne Uni letting off Fire Extinguishes one year with Matty Lappin. He urinated against a restaurant window one night and most blatantly, got drunk off his skull at this year's Brownlow Medal awards whilst reporting for Channel 9's AFL footy show.

It's that last incident that has really pushed it over the edge for me. For year's my defence has been "I don't care what he does off the field quite frankly (apart from anything blatantly illegal of course), as long as he keeps kicking goals for Carlton!".

But it's changed for me now. As I watch the players running on to the ground to contend for this year's premiership, I just dont think I want him there when it's our turn next. Why should he be??

He's brought so much shame to our Club, I believe that places on a premiership team should only be handed out to players who've given their all to their club, both on and off the field.

It may take us years longer to win a premiership without him although maybe not. But as the siren sounds for the beginning of the 2009 Grand Final, I can't help thinking he just doesn't deserve to be in a Carlton premiership team anymore, so why keep him..

Quite simply, he's too much of a goose!

This post has 2579 characters, and was posted by @RichardTuffin

An Aussies Memories of 9/11
I'll never forget watching the 10:30pm news on the #Ten Network here in Australia when the first plane hit.

Like everyone, at first I thought it was probably an accident although the speculation about it being a terrorist attack began immediately.

Analysis on the news channels began immediately and was well underway when the second tower was hit.

After that point it was mayhem and then the Pentagon got his as well and basically I thought I was witnessing the beginning of World War 3.

I'll never forget Sandra Sully's telecast that night. She was obviously emotional but held it together really well - incredibly professional under the circumstances.

Then there were the reports of the flight that had gone down on route to Washington. It was all to incredible to comprehend at the time.

Obvoiusly CNN was on pretty much all of the next day.

One other funny little memory - it obviously happened on a Thursday night as the Carlton Footy Club had a regular half hour spot on a sports radio channel. Weirdly enough it was probably around the time of our 2nd last final, but it was one time when even the footy had to take a back seat to more important things - much more important!

This post has 1291 characters, and was posted by @RichardTuffin

Brad Johnson refutes Terry Wallace about Carlton's Down Hill Skie
On the Today Show today, Brad Johnson very clearly refuted Terry Wallace's comments that Carlton had a number of Down Hill skiers, particularly Chris Judd.

Brad referred to the Carlton / Bulldogs clash earlier this season (which I was lucky enough to be at just quietly) when Carlton quite convincingly beat the Bulldogs and said that they weren't full of down hill skiers that day!

Personally, I think our Fab Four (Gibbs, Murphy, Judd and Stephens (usually, although in one article it was Richard Hadlee) probably could work a bit harder defensively, but they do OK!

Gibbs is probably the hardest working of these four players defensively, but lets not have them focussed to much on defensive skills when they've got so much to offer in attack!

This post has 791 characters, and was posted by @RichardTuffin