The TTIP protest

Today I joined in a protest against TTIP together with my friends Gerrit, Danny and Jos. I don't normally do this but the way that TTIP is pushed through makes my blood boil. Let me explain a little...

TTIP is a trade deal between the US and the EU. It's signed on a government level and should make trading easier, mostly for big companies. To make trading easier, the deal makes sure that regulations are made the same in the US and the EU. That's bad for Europeans because we have way stricter regulations to protect our health for example (chemicals in food, work conditions etc.).

An even worse thing is the ISDS chapter in this deal. It describes how disputes between a company and a country (yes, a COUNTRY) get settled. Basically this happens in private courts and behind closed doors, outside our regular, public justice system.

The worst thing is that this deal is being negotiated in insane secrecy. The ONLY people with easy access to the deal's documents are a key group of politicians and... plenty of lobbyist from big corporations! WHY?

After this deal gets signed, the people living in a country are completely owned by big corporations and there is nothing we can do about it. When for example a country restricts smoking, big tobacco companies can sue that country for lost income. Billions of euros can be up for grabs this way. Euros that could be spent on healthcare, schools, the needy etc. etc.

Resistance to this TTP deal is growing and right now, more than 60% of the people that read up on it, is against it.

TTIP must be stopped! It is NOT GOOD FOR US.

So after talking the talk for a year, today I had a chance to also walk the walk. This will not change things immediately but it generates talk and it shows that people are waking up. It also shows support to those actively fighting this deal in politics.

I sincerely hope that I am able to also wake up a few people.

All together there were about 7000 people. We gathered on a square and then marched through town to Museum square.

At Museum square they handed out free food after this walk. Lovely!

After that long walk Gerrit and I figured we deserved a few pints.

Later we were joined by Danny and Jos and we went out for some Indian food. Yummmm :-)

The anti-cleanfeed protest

Next Monday two colleagues and I will have a presentation of what we have achieved so far for them in the current project. Depending on this they will pay a certain amount of money. There's still a fair bit to do though due to unforeseen circumstances (= hardly any documentation because the client never wanted to pay for that) so I went in for a few hours today to do some administration and a bit of coding. Just a few little things that will make my life easier this Monday.

Nicole dropped me off and went shopping for Christmas cards. She returned with Christmas cards and... a new bag. I don't think men will ever understand this fascination for bags.

Then we went down to the food court for lunch. We got some Thai food. This time I asked for extra sauce which made it a lot nicer than last time.

After lunch, we walked over to parliament house for the protest. We passed this big building.

At parliament house we joined a protest against the plans of the Australian Government to implement a mandatory internet filter at all Australian ISPs. Unfortunately we just missed the speaker which must've been right at the start while we were still having lunch. We still joined for a good two hours.

Afterwards we walked back to Rundle street over North terrace. These funny stones are actually fountains. Very nicely done.

Different styles of architecture.

Modern?

We had coffee and cake at Chocolat, in Rundle street.

Cake and Nicole, Nicole and cake. It was very nice but by then I was getting really exhausted. I just didn't have enough sleep this week and work isn't helping. I'm not feeling too good at the moment.

I played two games of poker in the evening. I won the second game which delivered me a whopping $4.50!

The Beetle experience

In the morning we went car hunting again. It had been disappointing so far but that turned around today! The first dealer we went to was the Volkswagen dealer. We looked at the Golf and the new Beetle. I could drive the Golf but it was still not too big. And then I entered the Beetle. It was a sensational experience. I can actual stretch my legs almost completely in the passenger seat. In the driver seat I have no real problems either. The sales rep. told us we could take it for a test drive immediately since it wasn't booked for that time. So we took it for a spin and the drive was just really, REALLY good. It's a diesel and it took us up in to the hills in fifth gear (the Hyundai can't use 5th gear when going up in the hill, it would die) and still had enough power left to take over slower cars. It also stuck to the road like glue which made handling very enjoyable.

The inside only has the most common features, which results in a uncluttered design (see above photo). I do like it a lot. I can only say that this car was very enjoyable. And if a Mercedes A180 CDi would not exist I would have already made the choice.

Hence we also went to the Mercedes dealer. We forgot to take pictures there unfortunately. I did sit in the A180 and the driver's position felt even better than in the Beetle as I can totally stretch my legs in it. I was almost perplexed. Also the seat is higher up so getting in, even with its smaller four-door was super easy. Actually it's the only car I know so far that allows me to sit down first and then swing in my legs. In all other cars (including the Beetle) I have to actually step inside with one leg first, sit down and then pull in the other leg.

Today I will make a comparison chart and look up car insurance prices for the Beetle and the A180. One difference is that the Mercedes is $10,000 more expensive. But you can see where that goes.

When we drove home we passed parliament house where protesters were protesting against plans of the Australian Federal Government to install mandatory internet filters to be able to filter 'bad' content. It makes me feel I immigrated to China. I will write letters to members of parliament today and send them out soon. They have currently budgeted $44,000,000 for this and it's a total waste of money to spend it on something that people do not want and need.

When we came home I took Mason for a walk. For one third of the walk I also took Mason's shit for a walk until the first bin.

Some amazing plants are flowering at the moment. Stuff you don't see in Europe really.

Bottle brush flowers.

In the evening we went over to Deb and Richard for a BBQ. Here we see (left to right) Debbie, Greg, Debbie's mom, Gianna and Nicole.

The BBQ master: Richard.

Nicole and Gianna.

We played 8-ball and later on a 'small' version of snooker. Here we see Greg doing complicated things at which he is quite good ;-)

Richard also knows how to handle a que quite well. We had a most enjoyable time and had a lot of laughs.

The Australian government is about to spent $44,000,000 on research on and and implementation of two internet filters. One filter is to protect children from 'bad' content and the other one is to protect all of the Australian population from 'bad' content.

Parents can opt-out of the kiddie filter but the other filter will be mandatory allowing the government of the day (which can become left-wing, right-wing, too religious, too liberal, too dumb or too anything else) to put any site they classify as 'bad' on a black list that will be kept secret.

The (automatic) filter will do the following:

• Slow down internet traffic by 30-80%
  
• Put misjudged sites on the black list and no one knows how to get them off again
  
• Decide for YOU and your children what you can or can not see
  

In a time where the Australian government seems committed to improve Australia's poor internet capabilities of today, these measures do not fit as they will throw us back in to the internet dark ages. 

The $44,00,000 dollars could better be spend on education about the internet to parents and improvements to the network.

Visit http://www.nocleanfeed.com/ for more information!

The protest

During my lunch I went to a dental office. It's opposite parliament house where teachers were protesting.

It's the same as anywhere else. They want a better work-life balance and an increased pay which translates to: we want to do less for more. Fair enough.

On my way to the bus stop after work I saw the old tram. It's quite beautiful.