Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Least Corrupted Countries in the World
The 2007 corruption rankings for 179 countries in the World Democracy Audit are listed below (www.worldaudit.org):
Friday, July 11, 2008
Only in New Zealand...Armless Man caught driving
Armless Tauranga driver Colin Raymond Smith got off a dangerous-driving charge after satisfying police he could steer well with his left foot, but a Florida man wasn't so lucky. Michael Wiley, an enthusiastic driver despite having lost both arms and half a leg in a childhood accident, lost his licence long ago and has reckless driving charges as long as your ... well, you get the idea. His most recent charges weren't driving-related. They involved a domestic assault, in which he used his head. See news abstract below
Armless man caught steering car with foot at 121km/h
Friday, March 24, 2006
A man with no arms was caught speeding at 121km/h yesterday - using one foot to steer and the other to operate the pedals.
The man told shocked police he was born with no arms and said he'd never held a driver's licence.
The 32-year-old unemployed Waikato man was clocked on State Highway 2 at Papamoa, Bay of Plenty, at 10.30am.
He was given a $170 fine and has been forbidden from driving. Police say he will probably also be charged with dangerous driving.
Senior Constable Brent Gray approached the driver's window, spotted a foot up on the dashboard and noticed the seat was reclined.
Mr Gray told colleagues he thought the man had an "attitude". But then he noticed his armless torso.
"He was pretty shocked by that, as you would be," acting Senior Sergeant for the road policing unit, Deidre Lack, told the Bay of Plenty Times this morning.
The armless speedster told the stunned highway patrol officer he had been driving for years, without any issues.
Ms Lack said she had spoken to several officers with lengthy careers and none had heard of anything remotely like it.
She had nothing against people with disabilities who drove motor vehicles, but had absolutely no sympathy for this speeding driver.
"Obviously driving at a speed like that, arms or not, you're just waiting for an accident. You're asking for an accident at 120km/h, whether you've got arms or not. Look at the risk he was posing."
The incident was a particularly unusual example of the sort of ridiculously dangerous driving that police encountered while on patrol, she said.
Ms Lack had no idea how the man had driven for years - as he alleged - without being caught.
Tauranga double below-the-knee amputee, Pat Barry, said he was amazed to learn the man had been driving so long without being caught.
"For obvious reasons it was good the police stopped this man when they did before he killed himself or someone else, but there are avenues for this man to go to, to seek funding to get his car converted and modified, and quickly get lessons so he can obtain his licence to drive."
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
Armless man caught steering car with foot at 121km/h
Friday, March 24, 2006
A man with no arms was caught speeding at 121km/h yesterday - using one foot to steer and the other to operate the pedals.
The man told shocked police he was born with no arms and said he'd never held a driver's licence.
The 32-year-old unemployed Waikato man was clocked on State Highway 2 at Papamoa, Bay of Plenty, at 10.30am.
He was given a $170 fine and has been forbidden from driving. Police say he will probably also be charged with dangerous driving.
Senior Constable Brent Gray approached the driver's window, spotted a foot up on the dashboard and noticed the seat was reclined.
Mr Gray told colleagues he thought the man had an "attitude". But then he noticed his armless torso.
"He was pretty shocked by that, as you would be," acting Senior Sergeant for the road policing unit, Deidre Lack, told the Bay of Plenty Times this morning.
The armless speedster told the stunned highway patrol officer he had been driving for years, without any issues.
Ms Lack said she had spoken to several officers with lengthy careers and none had heard of anything remotely like it.
She had nothing against people with disabilities who drove motor vehicles, but had absolutely no sympathy for this speeding driver.
"Obviously driving at a speed like that, arms or not, you're just waiting for an accident. You're asking for an accident at 120km/h, whether you've got arms or not. Look at the risk he was posing."
The incident was a particularly unusual example of the sort of ridiculously dangerous driving that police encountered while on patrol, she said.
Ms Lack had no idea how the man had driven for years - as he alleged - without being caught.
Tauranga double below-the-knee amputee, Pat Barry, said he was amazed to learn the man had been driving so long without being caught.
"For obvious reasons it was good the police stopped this man when they did before he killed himself or someone else, but there are avenues for this man to go to, to seek funding to get his car converted and modified, and quickly get lessons so he can obtain his licence to drive."
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
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help? Days in Picture, 11-JULY-2008, Auckland, New Zealand
Men run in front of a bull during the fourth day of the annual bull-running festival in Pamplona, northern Spain. One man was gored and six others taken to hospital. Dozens have been hurt since Monday.
A sadhu, or Hindu holy man, emerges from a swim in the River Ganges near Allahabad, India.
A boy collects spent bullet casings from the ground in the northern city of Tripoli after the Lebanese army is deployed to end renewed sectarian clashes there in which four people were killed.
Kashmiri women wait outside the only maternity hospital in the north-western Indian city of Srinagar.
An elderly Tibetan shouts slogans against the Chinese government at a protest in the Indian capital, Delhi.
A French army paratrooper rehearses his landing on the Place de la Concorde in Paris ahead of the Bastille Day parade on 14 July.Rate Me:
help? Wednesday, July 9, 2008
iPhone 3G prices and plans for 20 countries (updated)
With less than a week to go before the launch of the iPhone 3G, we thought we'd be able to compile a list of iPhone prices for the 20 countries where the new version or Apple's phone will be making its debut on the 11th. But surprisingly, seven operators still haven't announced any pricing. Maybe that's good decision-making on their part, because in a good number of cases, the pricing of the phone and especially the plans were disappointing, often translating in significantly more than the $199/$299 indicated by Steve Jobs in his WWDC keynote.
The pricing diversity around the world—or even within Europe—is staggering: you can pay anywhere from $94 to $377 for an 8GB iPhone 3G and between $24 and $128 for plans that may only have a (few) hundred MB worth of data or are "unlimited." Denmark isn't as bad as it looks, because the minimum contract is only six months and prices drop by a third if you stay after that. The Netherlands is pretty good, especially considering that you can have your iPhone unlocked for free after 12 months.
Update: added Canadian iPhone prices; Belgium is no longer getting the iPhone this Friday; added Telstra; added Vodafone Portugal plans.
Update 2: added prices and plans for New Zealand, Mexico, ONE in Austria.
Here come the caveats: although I think I managed to decipher plans on non-English language web sites, I may have made a mistake here or there. I've chosen the cheapest usable plans. The dollar conversion was taken from earlier reports in some cases, so it may not reflect the most current conversion rates, and for Canada and Switzerland, I've used a one-to-one conversion rate because the difference was only two percent or less. In some countries (Canada...) basic services incur extra fees, while in the US and Canada there are significant extra fees that come on top of a plan, as well as sales tax, which is included in most European countries. Use the links to see all the details.
Note: You can get your phone repair, iPhone unlock and unblock by the leading mobile phone repair specialist Omni Tech Limited, 378 Great North Road, Henderson, Auckland. Tel: (09) 8383943, info@omnitech.co.nz
Rate Me: The pricing diversity around the world—or even within Europe—is staggering: you can pay anywhere from $94 to $377 for an 8GB iPhone 3G and between $24 and $128 for plans that may only have a (few) hundred MB worth of data or are "unlimited." Denmark isn't as bad as it looks, because the minimum contract is only six months and prices drop by a third if you stay after that. The Netherlands is pretty good, especially considering that you can have your iPhone unlocked for free after 12 months.
Update: added Canadian iPhone prices; Belgium is no longer getting the iPhone this Friday; added Telstra; added Vodafone Portugal plans.
Update 2: added prices and plans for New Zealand, Mexico, ONE in Austria.
| Country | Carrier | 8GB | 16GB | Plan | Minutes | SMS | Data | Contract |
| Australia | Optus | uncomparable pricing | ||||||
| Australia | Telstra | no prices yet | ||||||
| Australia | Vodafone | no prices yet | ||||||
| Austria | T-Mobile | no prices yet | ||||||
| Austria | ONE | uncomparable pricing | ||||||
| Canada | Rogers | $199 | $299 | $60 | 150 | 75 | 400MB | 36 months |
| Denmark | Telia | $298 | $426 | $128 | 300 | unlimited | 300MB | 6 months |
| Finland | Sonera | $250 | $385 | $50 | 100 | 100 | 100MB | 24 months |
| Germany | T-Mobile | $94 | $236 | $77 | 100 | 40 | Unlimited | 24 months |
| Hong Kong | Three | $377 | $479 | $24 | 500 | unlimited | 500MB | 24 months |
| Ireland | O2 | $265 | $360 | $71 | 175 | 100 | 1GB | 18 months |
| Italy | Vodafone | $313 | $423 | $93 | 400 | 400 | 600MB | 24 months |
| Italy | TIM | no prices yet | ||||||
| Japan | Softbank | uncomparable pricing | ||||||
| Mexico | Telcel | $331 | $454 | $44 | 200 | 100 | 100MB | 24 months |
| Netherlands | T-Mobile | $126 | $252 | $47 | 150 | 150 | Unlimited | 24 months |
| New Zealand | Vodafone | $414 | $527 | $60 | 120 | 600 | 250MB | 24 months |
| Norway | NetCom | $275 | $452 | $79 | 100 | 100 | 100MB | 12 months? |
| Portugal | Optimus | no prices yet | ||||||
| Portugal | Vodafone | ??? | ??? | $47 | 100 | 100 | 250MB | 24 months |
| Spain | Movistar | no prices yet | ||||||
| Sweden | Telia | $284 | $451 | $50 | 100 | 100 | 100MB | 24 months |
| Switzerland | Orange | no prices yet | ||||||
| Switzerland | Swisscom | $249 | $349 | $25 | - | - | 100MB | 24 months |
| United Kingdom | O2 | $196 | $315 | $59 | 75 | 125 | Unlimited | 18 months |
| United States | AT&T | $199 | $299 | $70 | 450 | - | Unlimited | 24 months |
Here come the caveats: although I think I managed to decipher plans on non-English language web sites, I may have made a mistake here or there. I've chosen the cheapest usable plans. The dollar conversion was taken from earlier reports in some cases, so it may not reflect the most current conversion rates, and for Canada and Switzerland, I've used a one-to-one conversion rate because the difference was only two percent or less. In some countries (Canada...) basic services incur extra fees, while in the US and Canada there are significant extra fees that come on top of a plan, as well as sales tax, which is included in most European countries. Use the links to see all the details.
Note: You can get your phone repair, iPhone unlock and unblock by the leading mobile phone repair specialist Omni Tech Limited, 378 Great North Road, Henderson, Auckland. Tel: (09) 8383943, info@omnitech.co.nz
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