3rd grade phone telcos and lessons learned !

After having had brushes with the lousy 3rd grade telcos like virgin mobile here in aus, i have learnt a few bits & pieces lessons in layman's terms:

Rule #1: never change sim card providers if your phone network is still locked. Unlocking the phone cost may be very exhorbitant!

Rule #2: Do not port your old number to new sim unless you are sure the new one is working !

Rule #3: make sure you have an unlocked phone before going overseas

Rule #4: Do everything possibly thru online before calling the "helpline"!

Chances are you are going to be talking to a voice robot anyway.

Indigneous and non-european descent soldiers remembered.
On remembrance day, SBS shows the documentary of Victor Lepp, whose chinese family came to Australia during the goldmines period in Ballarat. It was a challenge for these volunteers as they often suffer knockbacks before being considered eligible to serve as a soldier during those times.

Early Xmas present - A breakdown of US presidential results
  140 million Americans - a staggering 65% of the registered electorate - cast their votes to make Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States of America. Here is how the results break down...

Black Americans

95% of black voters went to the ballot for Obama and only 4% for McCain.

Whites

55% of white votes went to McCain including the notoriously hard-to-win white working class vote, but Obama stunned many by taking an impressive 43% of total white votes, cutting the Republican lead compared with 2004.

Hispanics

66% of Hispanic voters turned out for Obama - the best ever result for a Democrat.

Women

56% of the female vote went to Obama, exceeding the usual Democrat advantage.

**It should be noted that while Obama won the female vote overall, he lost the battle over white women by 7 points

Men

41% of white males voted for Obama.

Under- 30's

66% of under-30's showed their support for Obama - far higher than in any previous election - compared to 31% for McCain.

A staggering 54% of young white voters also went for Obama.

Catholics

54 per cent of them voted for pro-abortion Obama as opposed to 46 per cent for McCain.

Observers say the economy became the key issue for many Catholic Americans, which, along with issues such as the Iraq War and health care, eclipsed abortion.

Jews

78% of the Jewish vote went to Obama.

Asians

63% of Asian voters went to the ballot for Obama

53% of voters who earned $200,000 or more in 2007 voted for Obama.

McCain - who was expected to triumph amongst the wealthy, succeeded in polling only 45% of these voters.

73% of white evangelicals backed McCain and 25% backed Obama.

[source: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1083335/Breakdown-demographics-reveals-black-voters-swept-Obama-White-House.html] For an indepth analysis of the states votes breakdown by delegates, click here.

Is there a racial and demographic divide in US ? Is the election of a non-white president now the result of a handover because the country is facing a global economic challenge and beridden with war-torn struggles from previous administrations ?

Over in Aussie, Indigenous leader and Aboriginal rights advocate Patrick Dodson winner of 2008 Sydney Peace prize lecture has called for Australia to mirror the US President-elect Barack Obama's policies in seeking for compensation for Aboriginal people and for the ownership of Indigenous land to be recognised in the constitution. http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5125687

Microsoft new patch to fix or to condemn unlicensed software ?
Microsoft is claiming that the latest urgent patch http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-067.mspx recently released is to address a global worm attack crisis that was going to erupt http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/152688/microsoft_says_windows_flaw_could_bring_worm_attack.html In china, people are claiming a new kind of attack on their systems: http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/pirates-broadsided-by-microsofts-dark-stealthy-tactics/2008/10/24/1224351545386.html

The fraternity

What if it were true that all of us were part of a fraternity and the deaths or accidents that have occured were orders passed down by the fraternity ? This is part of an imaginary tale depicted by the movie "wanted 2008" but it does make one sit up and think and contrast it with that word called "fate".