I am now a ratepayer. This means that I find this critique of the economic justification for the V8 race kind of interesting, if only because it shows how the Council seem to be overselling the event, either deliberately or through ignorance.
I don't watch motorsport, but I acknowledge that a lot of people enjoy it. My problem with funding this event is that it smells way too much like a scam. That, and it's really clear that the people who'll be benefitting from it won't be the ones paying for it - I mean, I'm not going to be getting $270 back for the $40 I'll be paying, unless visitors sign some sort of waiver thing allowing me to mug them, or something.
There's an online form to voice your support or disapproval, with the figures that they are quoting about the costs and benefits. They don't mention the fact that Canberra bought themselves out a very similar contract just recently, because they were losing too much money... but on the other hand, I guess they wouldn't.
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On a happier note, I'm not sure that this is what ARPAnet's creators had in mind as the future of computer networking, but I think we can join together in saying: Steve, Don't Eat It! (Thanks to stupidstuff for pointing this out to me.)
Oh, which reminds me, there's currently an article on the creation of unix, networks, and the emergence of open source on Groklaw. I hadn't realized that they started writing Unix and connected up ARPAnet the same year that they landed on the moon; nor that Linus Torvalds was born in that year. That's kind of cool.
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Don't know what the title of the movie would be, but how about this for a tagline: "Getting in touch with your mescaline side."
BTW, they're going to be making a sequel to Pretty In Pink. I immediately thought, "Well, it worked for Before Sunrise and Before Sunset..." And then I slapped myself around a bit. :)
Posted by svend at April 8, 2005 10:16 AMYou'd think they'd give each rate payer a double or family ticket to the V8's wouldn't you, just to say thanks... oh wait, that would mean they wouldn't be getting any money out of you. Scratch that thought.
Posted by: Sproke :0) at April 11, 2005 3:04 PM