Saints, beware Hawks scorned

In the past two seasons no side that has run into Hawthorn after a regular-season loss by the Hawks has come within five goals of the brown and golds.

St Kilda faces Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium on Friday night after the ladder-leader’s loss to Richmond on Saturday.

Since the Hawks’ round two loss to Geelong in 2012, the Hawks have bounced back with wins on six occasions, including twice this season. They thumped West Coast by 50 points in round two and Port Adelaide by 45 points in round 16.

Injured pride: Will Hawk Brent Guerra bounce back in time for Friday’s St Kilda clash? Photo: Getty Images

The Hawks reviewed the Richmond match on Monday and ruckman David Hale said he was certain his team would be much better when the ball is bounced against the Saints on Friday.

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”I’d say Clarko [coach Alastair Clarkson] will have us pretty fired up from the start this week,” Hale said. ”The players were pretty down last match so hopefully this week we can bounce back sharply.”

Liam Shiels (ankle) and Grant Birchall (knee) may press for selection this week after missing several weeks through injury while former Saint Brent Guerra is expected to play after looking injured against the Tigers, Guerra was instead suffering from a cramp.

Hale said he didn’t know the extent of Luke Hodge’s thumb injury.

St Kilda’s Rhys Stanley is unlikely to face the Hawks after injuring his collarbone in a fall during the Saints’ loss to Brisbane Lions.

Hale said the Hawks had their colours lowered against Richmond but would be up for the clash with the Saints. ”We are confident that Tigers’ game was just one out of the box,” Hale said.

”Last year we got a kick in the pants from Richmond as well, then we went on to play some pretty good footy so now we will look to play three or four hard games going into the finals and then hopefully have a pretty good September.”

The Hawks weren’t the only premiership contender to lose at the weekend with Geelong falling to North Melbourne and Essendon taking a thrashing from Collingwood.

But Hale believes his side’s poor game was simply the combination of coming off a big win over Essendon and being over-run by a stellar performance from the Tigers.

Hale added that the loss was a reminder of what can happen should the Hawks have a bad day in the finals.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Bid to kill CAPTCHA security test gains momentum

August 5, 2013 – 5:33PM

Lucy Carroll

A mix of hard to read CAPTCHAs from the web.

It is one of the frustrations of the internet: trying to read those distorted letter puzzles that appear when signing up for an email account or web service.

Now, consumer groups are calling to abolish those blurry – and often illegible – words known as CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), which are supposed to be easy for humans to read, but difficult for computers.

CAPTCHA tests stop spam by prompting consumers to prove they are human by retyping jumbled letters when signing up to new online accounts or posting online messages. They are also used to stop scalpers from scooping up thousands of concert tickets using automated software.

A CAPTCHA generated on Google’s website for sign up.

But thousands of Australians who are blind or vision impaired are blocked from accessing websites that use CAPTCHA because they – or their screen reader software – cannot read the letters.

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Teresa Corbin, chief executive of the Australian consumer group ACCAN, said that people with and without disabilities are increasingly frustrated by the use of these letters as online security tests.

“They fundamentally fail to properly recognise people with disability as human,” said Ms Corbin.

Annoying: a campaign has started to kill off these fuzzy words.

ACCAN is joining with other groups such as Blind Citizens Australia, Able Australia and the Australian Deafblind Council to call on organisations to phase out their use.

A new “kill CAPTCHA” petition has been launched on change.org and has received dozens of signatures from people affected by accessibilty problems.

ACCAN disability policy advisor Wayne Hawkins, who is blind, said the letter tests disenfranchised large sections of the population and make it difficult for people with disability to access online government services.

“I have been blind for about seven years and CAPTCHA has fast become one of my most hated aspects of the web,” Mr Hawkins said.

“I’m constantly frustrated when trying to book concert tickets online, contribute to online forums and email politicians through the contact forms on their websites.”

He said audio CAPTCHA, which was supposed to solve the problem for blind or vision impaired people, is almost as inaccessible as the visual alternative.

But security experts say it is essential in preventing cyber criminals from creating thousands of rogue accounts on the internet.

“It is an inevitable safeguard,” says AVG security advisor, Michael McKinnon.

“If we didn’t have it we would be lowering the bar for criminals to be able to automate a lot of the work they do.”

He said that some organisations have worked out how to subvert the safeguards, such as paying workers in low-cost labour countries pay people a few cents to answer CAPTCHAs for them.

“The reality is that even before we get to that stage there are so many websites that have no accessibility at all. Targeting CAPTCHA is unfair because disadvantaged users often can’t even get that far.”

The official web standards body, the World Wide Web Consortium, said there are many CAPTCHA alternatives, including simple maths questions, trivia, the use of sound files and even biometric technology such as fingerprints and retinal scanning. Microsoft have launched a substitute called Asirra (Animal Species Image Recognition for Restricting Access), that asks users to identify photos of cats and dogs instead of letters.

Asirra – which uses more than three million photos of cats and dogs – could be a simpler system as computers find it more difficult to recognise images rather than text.

“These alternatives show that there is no excuse for the continued use of this technology,” Ms Corbin said.

The Australian Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, said he is unable to use text based CAPTCHA because screen readers can’t recognise them.

“I can’t use the audio ones because they are too hard to hear. There needs to be an alternative for people who are blind or have low vision.”

Who uses CAPTCHA?

• Google (when signing up for an account)
• Microsoft (when signing up for an account)
• Shadow minister for disabilities Mitch Fifield (for contacting the minister)
• Deputy leader of the Opposition Julie Bishop (for contacting the minister)
• Shadow minister for education Christopher Pyne (for contacting the minister)

The Sydney Morning Herald

Digital billboards … big, bright, bold – and banned

August 6, 2013 – 12:01AM

Tony Moore

brisbanetimes.com.au senior reporter

Digital billboard, facing ban by Brisbane City Council

Photo: http://www.goa.com.au

Flashing and moving “digital billboards” in Brisbane – virtually large-scale television sets – will be banned on Tuesday by the Brisbane City Council.

The council says large moving images on roadsides are a potential distraction to motorists and can cause traffic accidents by drawing drivers’ eyes from the road.

The ban will not apply to warning signs at roadworks.

Neighbourhood Planning committee chair Cr Amanda Cooper said the problems were obvious and planning laws need to change.

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“This poses potential issues on our roads as traditional billboards are replaced by high-tech digital signs that are basically de facto television sets,” Cr Cooper said.

“These changes put the safety of motorists and pedestrians first.”

Changes to the council’s flashing signs bylaws will however allow smaller flashing signs for shopkeepers wanting to attract customers to their shops, Cr Cooper said.

“On the flipside, small businesses were being hamstrung by unnecessary rules and costs to install simple digital signs telling people they were open for business,” she said.

“We’re now removing that burden to help them attract more customers.”

The ban is one part of the first major change to Brisbane City Council’s advertising sign bylaws since 2005.

The new laws will prohibit new roadside billboards and signs that used moving and flashing images similar to that of a television.

The bylaws will also guide how any large billboard is positioned on a major roadway.

There is already a large billboard on Shafton Avenue that has drawn adverse comments.

Cr Cooper said the new laws would do away with the “one size fits all” approach and allow small businesses to install electronic and digital window signs up to four square metres without having to apply for a permit.

She said that would save a small business up to $800 for the application and $223 for the annual licence fee annual licence fee.

Application fees for other business wanting to introduce “still” signs will also be reduced.

Brisbane Times

Foster children bullied, lag behind at school: Queensland report

August 6, 2013 – 12:01AM

Marissa Calligeros

brisbanetimes.com.au reporter

sad teenager Photo: Angela Wylie

Children in foster care are more likely to be bullied at school, lag behind in the classroom, and be suspended or expelled, a survey by Queensland’s Child Guardian shows.

It found children and young people in out-of-home care continue to be disadvantaged in the state’s education system and are less likely to meet national benchmarks for literacy and numeracy and progress to higher education.

2000 children and young people were surveyed and 38 per cent reported having attended between three and nine schools.

The average age in the biannual survey was 12.

More than half the children had more school changes than care placement changes, suggesting even more disruption.

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Only 20 per cent of children and young people surveyed experienced the same number of school changes as placement changes.

Children and young people who had been expelled had, on average, twice as many care placements as those without disciplinary problems.

Those who had been suspended also experienced a higher number of care placements and shorter placement lengths.

One third of young people and children reported experiencing more than two problems at school, including bullying, problems with teachers and not having the things needed for school.

The survey also shed light on what children saw as the source of their teacher’s dissatisfaction and their problems in the playground – and it was a mixed bag.

Responses included: “Because I can’t stay focused”, “Because I can’t stay on the left page. I try to be neat but just get scribbles”, “My weight”, “They ask stupid questions about my family” and “Problems with making friends”.

The survey revealed hope, however, with most of children and young people saying they intended to complete Year 12.

But in 2007, not one of the 369 young people in care aged 17 or 18 was eligible for an OP.

“The effects of education disadvantage are felt well into adulthood, placing these young people at heightened risk of a variety of negative outcomes including poor employment prospects, high rates of welfare dependence [and] drug and alcohol abuse,” the report says.

As of June 2011, more than 4500 children and young people in Queensland were living in foster care.

The Child Guardian recommends including children and young people in their individual case planning.

“They may attend a meeting and provide their views in person, they may provide their views … by discussing their views with a teacher, carer … or they may provide a written statement,” the report says.

“Young people [should] identify their goals, what they are good at and enjoy, what they may need help with and what extra-curricular activities they may wish to participate in.”

Brisbane Times

Court gives drug dealer a chance to mend ways

August 6, 2013

Christopher Knaus

Police reporter for The Canberra Times.

 

A drug dealer who a judge described as ”not Mr Big of the drug world, or even Mr Slightly Large” has been given a chance to prove he can rehabilitate.

Daniel Austin Slater, 33, a heavy cannabis user who suffers from schizophrenia, was caught ”red-handed” during a pre-dawn police raid on his home at Ngunnawal in February last year. Officers found bundles of cash, cannabis, methamphetamine, scales, a gold bar and guns in his home.

The cash – totalling more than $123,000 – was found stashed in a hallway cupboard, the pocket of a jumper, the bathroom vanity and the laundry sink.

But Slater claimed that a large portion of the cash and the drugs were not his, and that he had only owned one of the firearms at the premises.

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Slater, who has already spent 238 days in custody, faced the ACT Supreme Court for sentencing on Monday. The court heard he suffered from mental health issues and had a daily cannabis habit.

Slater said he was storing the cash and drugs for other individuals, who he would not identify because ”realistically, I’d have to leave Australia”.

He said different people would come by at different times and drop off the drugs and money. He said the deal allowed him to use some of the drugs free.

He told the court he did not consider himself a dealer and only ever sold drugs to friends if they were looking for help.

He said some of the $123,000 cash was from savings that he had made from his disability pension and from money given to him as gifts by his grandfather.

Ten different phones were found at his home and text messages implicating him in drug dealing were discovered by police.

Chief Justice Terence Higgins asked Slater whether he understood that a large number of phones was ”indicative” of drug dealing.

Chief Justice Higgins also remarked on the three sets of scales found with traces of cannabis in Slater’s home, asking, ”I take it they weren’t all for cooking?” He said the amount of money involved was ”considerable”, suggesting a significant level of trafficking.

But defence barrister Ken Archer asked the court to consider Slater’s position in the criminal hierarchy.

Chief Justice Higgins said that was difficult to assess, but he later acknowledged that Slater had not lived a life of large extravagance and was not ”Mr Big of the drug world”.

”There may be people further up the chain who drive Maseratis, and he wasn’t one of them, I accept that,” Chief Justice Higgins said.

The court heard Slater, with his diagnosis of schizophrenia and drug dependency, was a difficult candidate for rehabilitation services.

Mr Archer asked the court to either defer its sentencing of Slater to allow it to assess his rehabilitation efforts, or to hand down a suspended sentence with a condition to attend rehabilitation.

Chief Justice Higgins said the suspended sentence might be too inflexible, and might set Slater up to fail. He warned Slater that if he kept on using cannabis he would keep coming back before the courts.

The court deferred sentencing Slater, telling him that if he did not make efforts to rehabilitate, he could face a ”considerable time” in the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

If he was successful in keeping drug-free, Slater could expect a suspended sentence of three years with a good behaviour order. He will be back in court next February.

 

Canberra Times

Prime Minister goes for care factor

August 6, 2013

Mark Kenny

Chief political correspondent

 

Kevin Rudd has made a major pitch for the votes of battling families in the outer suburbs, announcing extended out-of-school-hours care for up to 345,000 children.

The $450 million plan designed to give frustrated parents longer to get to and from work was one of two big-spending promises unveiled by Mr Rudd, with another $200 million dedicated to propping up the beleaguered automotive sector, still reeling from Labor’s sudden change to Fringe Benefits Tax treatment of private-use cars.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was also focusing on cost-of-living pressures, travelling to a meatworks in the marginal Brisbane Labor seat of Blair to announce that his first act as prime minister would be to repeal the carbon tax. He said he had written to the head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to indicate it would be the top priority from day one of an Abbott-led government.

Kevin Rudd: “A kid’s development doesn’t just begin at nine and end at three”. Photo: Getty Images

Both promises came on a day characterised by gaffes and over-reach with misrepresentations or outright lies abounding.

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Mr Abbott’s message was partially compromised by the fact that the JBS meatworks chosen for his renewed war on the carbon tax had received $4.4 million in carbon price adjustment assistance.

In a sign of the first-day pressure, Mr Rudd’s childcare promise was accompanied by a false claim that Mr Abbott had stated he was planning a $70 billion raid on federal spending.

”It is allocated,” Mr Rudd said of his new childcare pledge. ”That is why we are investing in Australian families and what they need, as opposed to Mr Abbott who has said he will be in the business of ripping $70 billion out which means cuts to jobs, education and education services as well as cuts to health.”

Asked to show where Mr Abbott had made any such statement, Mr Rudd provided no evidence.

Mr Rudd said the new out-of-hours commitment would see grants of up to $200,000 paid to some 500 schools to offer more places, more flexible opening hours before and after school and during holiday times, and new programs such as organised sport, homework clubs and music tuition.

Declaring ”a kid’s development doesn’t just begin at nine and end at three,” and that people’s jobs didn’t end with the school bell either, he said parents had been crying out for extra help such as out-of-hours education beginning at 7am and extending as late as 7pm.

Last month Fairfax Media revealed some areas of Sydney are facing a critical shortage in after-school care, with significant waiting lists at some schools.

The chairwoman of the National Out of School Hours Services Association, Robyn Monro Miller, said the funding would go a long way if spent wisely. ”We hope the investment will target the areas where the need is greatest,” she said.

The $450 million fund would allow up to 500 schools to offer more flexible opening hours, more places and high-quality activities such as homework clubs, music lessons and supervised sport.

Canberra Times

Moça NUA no iate

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Cinépolis foi parceira da Record nas Olimpíadas de Londres

 

 

 

A Cinépolis foi parceira da Record na transmissão em 3D da Olimpíada de Londres.

Então é isso. Mas amanhã tem mais. Tchau!

 

Flávio Ricco com colaboração de José Carlos Nery

Johnny Martins já tem novo emprego depois que deixou a Record

 

Fora da Record, o diretor Johnny Martins, a convite da rede de cinemas Cinépolis, tem comandado as gravações de várias peças institucionais que serão exibidas antes das sessões.

 

Flávio Ricco com colaboração de José Carlos Nery

Jayme Monjardim vai dirigir o especial do Roberto Carlos

 

Já foi definido na Globo que Jayme Monjardim, mesmo com a novela do Manoel Carlos, irá dirigir o especial do Roberto Carlos.

 

Flávio Ricco com colaboração de José Carlos Nery