The Surgery

I’m home.

After 5 weeks, 5 countries, and more than 40,000 km in aeroplanes, cars, trains, buses and boats, I’m finally back where I started.

The world’s an amazing place, there’s no doubt about it.

The world’s also a very big place. You don’t realise just how big, or how amazing, until you travel non-stop for 30 hours from one side of the world to the other; the same distance that it takes an email, an instant message or a Facebook notification to travel in less than a second.

We flew from Melbourne to Sydney, then to Singapore, London, attended a family wedding in England, flew to Northern Ireland, drove through the Republic of Ireland, flew to Scotland, then Denmark, back to England and finally home.

I’d been to most of these places before, but some cultural differences that I really noticed this time were:

• In England, no-one has a laundry;
• The rest of the world still uses copper coins and denominations below 5 cents;
• Australia has a lot to learn when it comes to public transport;
• Dr Ron has an accent; and
• “Local knowledge” is everything!

Now I need a holiday to recover from my holiday. I guess that’s what work is for. I’m back into it, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Monday morning.

Catch you all on Tech Talk tomorrow night. More soon.

Here at Tech Talk Radio, we only get 13 weeks paid Annual Leave each year.  That’s why we need to make the most of it when it comes along.

I’m currently holidaying in England, Ireland, Scotland and Denmark.

I am negotiating Pounds, Euros and Kroner, drinking Guinness, eating pickled herring and fast becoming used to high-speed broadband and digital cable television.

I’ve been calling in to Tech Talk as well, despite the 9 hour time difference.

Normal programming will be resumed in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, I’m posting regular updates on Twitter if you’re interested.

Tune-in to your local ABC Radio National on Friday 11/04/08 at 5:55 P.M. to hear me rant about the use and abuse of the apostrophe.

Apostrophes do two things, that’s all: they make contractions, and they make possessives.

ABC Melbourne: 621 kHz AM. Follow this link for other ABC stations in your area. Many thanks to ABC producer Sue Clark for the opportunity to rant on Perspective, and thanks to Brett de Hoedt, Mayor of Hootville, for giving me a prod now and again.

Tune-in to your local ABC Radio National today at 5:55 P.M. to hear me rant about indefinite articles and the letter ‘h’.

In this installment about the demise of the English language, I get angry about people who use an “an” in front of words with a pronounced letter ‘h’: an horrendous, an horrific and an horrible practice I’m sure you’ll agree.

ABC Melbourne: 621 kHz AM. Follow this link for other ABC stations in your area. Many thanks to ABC producer Sue Clark for the opportunity to rant on Perspective.

Is there money to be made from online market research surveys?

I was having this discussion a few days ago with a colleague, and thought I’d share a few observations.

On Tech Talk Radio in May (Episode 20-2007) I talked about two online survey organisations which I’d had dealings with.

The first, emailcash Australia, awards points to account holders. Points are accrued by clicking on sponsored links, participating in surveys and buying goods and services from Reward Partners. After you accrue a certain number of points, these can be redeemed for cash. For example, after accruing 3,000 points I was able to cash these points for $30.00. By providing your electronic transfer details to emailcash Australia, they put the money straight into your bank account of choice.

The second organisation, Pureprofile, awards real dollars to account holders. Again, money is accrued by clicking on sponsored links and answering surveys. You can log in at any time to see your balance, and once your balance is over a certain amount, you can have this transferred to a real-world bank account.

As it so happens, I opted to receive a $50.00 balance from Pureprofile just last week. It was quite a painless process and the money arrived in my bank account within a few days. Here’s a bank statement with a previous payment from Pureprofile:

Some observations about online market research organisations:

• Yes, believe it or not, they do actually pay!

• By logging in, answering surveys and clicking links every day, it’s taking me about 6 months to get a $50.00 payout from both organisations. Whether this is on-par, ahead or behind other users, I don’t really know.

• I’ve never actually had to buy anything in order to qualify to receive cash. Clicking on links and answering anonymous surveys is all that has been required.

• The most personal information I’ve been asked is my age, gender, postcode, employment status and marital status. I’ve never been asked my name or address in an anonymous survey. (From memory you are required to provide your name and some additional personal information when you setup an account.)

• I initially setup two independent email addresses, solely for use by the marketing organisations and for receiving mail and notifications. I’ve never received any unsolicited email to either address.

• Is 3 minutes a day, clicking on links, worth the pocket money? I’ll let you make your own decision. My advice would be, it’s good pocket money, but don’t give up your day job.

Dr Ron.

(p.s. I have no affiliation with, or interest in, either organisation, other than as a customer.)

I received this in the email onslaught a few days ago. Instead of just hitting delete, something made me read it through to the end… I’m glad I did.

“My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed by until today, when I read his obituary. Please join me in a moment of silence in remembrance, for Common Sense had served us all so well for so many generations.

“Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were lost long ago in bureaucratic red tape.

“He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

“Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

“His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

“Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

“Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

“Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

“Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I’m a Victim.

“Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Be sure to tune-in to your local ABC Radio National today at 5:55 P.M. as I rant violently about something that bugs the bejeezus out of me.

Some of you may recall my sporadic contributions to Brett deHoedt’s successful podcast “Hootville” (R.I.P.), in which I waxed lyrical about the demise of the English language.

On this occasion, I’m talking about those little dots that form part of the letters ‘i’ and ‘j’. The little dot is called a tittle.

Please remember to dot your i’s. And your j’s. And don’t forget to cross your t’s. Thankyou.

ABC Melbourne: 621 kHz AM. Follow this link for other ABC stations in your area. Many thanks to Brett, and ABC producer Sue Clark for the opportunity to rant on Perspective.

(aka Tech Talk Radio production for 3 weeks)

Yes I’m taking some annual leave … “use it or lose it” they told me, so who am I to argue? I won’t be going away and Laney is working for a large part of the time.

How should I while away the hours? What constructive suggestions do you have for this lowly bit-twiddler?

Welcome to Dr Ron’s Doctor’s Surgery.

After much procrastination, and swearing that I’d never, ever publish a blog, it’s finally happened.

Join me here for rants and raves, musings and speculation about everything related to technology in Australia.

I’ll be taking tiny steps at first (being the introverted, trepeditious soul that I am). Bear with me as I learn all there is to know about blogging.