Watch Out Bloggers!

More than a third of UK bloggers risk the sack by posting derogatory or damaging details about their workplace, boss or colleagues, a survey claims.
Human resources company Croner, which commissioned the study, warned that such bloggers could be sacked from their job for gross misconduct.

Croner surveyed 2,000 people who keep a personal internet blog or diary and 39% said that they made harmful comments.

Bloggers should consider the potential impact of all postings, Croner said.

Gillian Dowling, technical consultant at Croner, said the situation was similar to the widespread introduction of e-mail in the 1990s.

She said bloggers had to take care that they were not lulled into "a false sense of security" by the informality and ease of posting their thoughts and opinions.

"If there is a negative impact on the organisation's corporate image which is so serious that it breaches the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, the employee could be dismissed for gross misconduct," said Ms Dowling.

"The blog could also be evidence of other conduct issues or reveal workplace discrimination or bullying."

Ms Dowling added that bloggers could also get sacked for revealing confidential secrets or sensitive financial data.

"Employers need to ensure that they carefully consider the impact of blogging on their organisation and take appropriate steps to minimise any potential risk," she said.

The study was conducted for Croner by internet research group YouGov.

Taken from the BBC website.

The Weather

Well, there's no two ways about it. The weather has been stinking. This may seem hard to fathom because I'm a pom but the rain during the wet I can handle because it's hot to go with it but I have to say that I'm bloody cold at the moment. A look at the thermometer tells me it's still 24 degrees C but I'm afraid I can't believe it. Lord only knows what I will be like if I ever leave Mission Beach and return to Engreyland but fingers crossed that's not going to be an issue for a long while. Now, I say I'm cold but I am in fact sitting here typing this in boardies and a T-shirt so I guess cold should be rephrased as 'not quite as warm as usual'.

Zazz

Now, I've been using this website since inception but I thought I should spread the word because not everybody has heard of it. The website in question is named ZAZZ.

They're a website who's philosophy is to sell one different random item every day at an unusually low price. I've bought several things from them starting from a USB hub (which was my test item to see if I received the goods) ranging to a 19 inch LCD screen. Now, I may be biased because they sell things I like but I don't think you can fault the site or its unique way of selling. Anyway, get and use them. You won't be disappointed...one day they will be selling something you've been wanting for a while at a price you can finally afford.

Cassowaries in the Garden

I went round a friend's house yesterday and there was an adult male cassowary with a chick happily wandering round in the garden. It can't have been more than four feet away from me but, luckily, I was on the terrace of the house behind a fence so it was a nice, relaxing meeting rather than a scary "wonder when he's going to kick me" meeting. Anyway, I'm glad to report that the adult and the chick both looked very healthy.

Ahh, This Is The Life

Nothing much happened today...I sat on the beach, walked my dog, ate, and drank beer. But not in that order and with several repetitions of each 'action'. You seriously ought to think about buying real estate here but then if you did I wouldn't have the beach to myself...

More Than Just Web Design

At Ion e-Business we're more than just the experts in web design in Mission Beach. We can also help you improve the general I.T. in your business by recommending and purchasing new hardware, networking your machines, sharing peripherals in your office and generally helping you with office automation tasks.

We've just helped Mission Beach real estate specialists, Andersons Real Estate, incorporate new Windows Vista machines into their network and brought their Microsoft Office technologies up-to-date by introducing Microsoft Office 2007.

Bindi Crowned Queen of Aussie Tourism

Pint-sized entertainer and wildlife warrior Bindi Irwin has been voted the favourite face of Australian tourism.

A survey, conducted over the past five weeks by online travel directory TotalTravel.com, asked 1,609 participants who they thought would make the best ambassador for the industry.

Eight-year-old Bindi, daughter of the late Steve Irwin, was the clear winner, with 38 per cent voting her the queen of Australian tourism.

Prince of the portaloos, Kenny, was a close second with 28 per cent of the votes, while foxy morons Kath and Kim came in third with 24 per cent.

Retired cricketer Shane Warne scored six per cent of the votes, with Bert Newton attracting just five per cent.

TotalTravel.com global marketing manager Paul Fisher said he wasn't surprised Bindi topped the poll as he believed she would be a "perfect ambassador" for Australia.

"The Australian people have fallen in love with this very bright, talented and well-adjusted young girl, who, like her late father, is passionate about the environment and conservation," he said.

"I'm sure international visitors would love to see Bindi say 'G'day mate'."

Thanks to SMH.

Open Source Infringes Microsoft Patents

Microsoft has given the most detailed description to date of the number of open-source computer programs it says infringe on its patents, but the company says it still prefers licensing deals with open-source developers, software distributors and users instead of legal action against them.

"There is no reason why any segment of the industry needs to be exempt from intellectual property rules," Horacio Gutierrez, a Microsoft vice president for intellectual property and licensing, said in an interview on Monday.

At the most basic level, open-source software is distributed free of charge to consumers or businesses to use on their computers, and to programmers to modify, build on, and distribute again - also for free.

While proprietary software companies like Microsoft make money by selling licences for programs, open-source companies give away the program and usually make money selling support services.

Open-source programs step on 235 Microsoft patents, the company said. Free Linux software violates 42 patents.

Graphical user interfaces, the way menus and windows look on the screen, breach 65. Email programs step on 15, and other programs touch 68 other patents, the company said. The patent figures were first reported by Fortune magazine.

Microsoft also said Open Office, an open-source program supported in part by Sun Microsystems, infringes on 45 patents. Sun declined to comment on the allegation.

Microsoft is the dominant maker of software that powers servers and desktop PCs, but the company views the free or low-cost Linux operating system alternatives "with a great deal of concern," said Al Gillen, an analyst at the technology research group IDC.

"It's one of the few operating systems that represents a viable threat that Microsoft has a great deal of difficulty containing," Gillen said, because the developers share their code.

"Microsoft can't drive a company out of business and make Linux go away," the analyst said.

Instead, Microsoft has struck a number of patent-licensing deals with companies that use open source code, most notably Novell last November.

In one aspect of the deal, Microsoft agreed to sell Novell's flavour of Linux, called Suse. It also agreed not to sue the customers who bought it, even though it claims the open-source software infringes on its patents.

"Microsoft could have chosen to litigate many years ago, but we have decided not to do that," Gutierrez said. Instead, in the interest of making sure programs that include open-source technology work well with Microsoft products and vice versa, the company will continue to pursue similar deals.

Courtesy of Sydney Morning Herald.

Contact Ion e-Business in Mission Beach for the latest web design technologies using Microsoft and open-source products.

Cancer Breakthrough

Scientists say they have developed a way to deliver lethal drug doses to tumours without causing side-effects, such as nausea and hair loss. The Australian team has used nanotechnology to create tiny particles which specifically attack cancer cells, but leave healthy tissue unaffected.

The particles - or mini-cells - are tagged with anti-cancer antibodies so they zero in on their target. The research features in the journal Cancer Cell. There is no other system where you can get so much drug concentrated into a little parcel. It is hoped the technique could treat tumours in the breast, ovaries, colon and lungs.

So far it has been used in mice and dogs, and the researchers plan to begin human trials shortly.

Traditional chemotherapy typically involves subjecting the patient's entire body to powerful drugs, which can cause a range of severe side-effects.

More from the BBC...

Mission Beach Web Design

Historically, the businesses of Mission Beach have had a rough time when it comes to website design

Many of the businesses have had to make do with web design companies from Cairns who have offered much but delivered little. Luckily for Mission Beach a new web design company has opened up in the area and is offering intelligent solutions to age old problems. Ion e-Business specialise in cutting-edge website designs and user-friendly content management systems. We like to give our clients the ability to modify their own web sites so that they can keep the content up-to-date and the website looking fresh through the ability to change simple things such as images.

Check out our web design portfolio on our website for more information.

Mission Beach Information Station

If you're ever in Mission Beach and you've got any questions about the area then visit the Mission Beach Information Station. The staff are really helpful and knowledgeable and can help you book Mission Beach accommodation, Mission Beach tours and transport.

They can also give you a hand if you're looking to purchase Whitsunday sailing packages and trips to Fraser Island. In fact, if you need to know anything about the east coast of Queensland then ask them, they'll probably know the answer.

White Water Rafting

A question I hear a lot while out on my travels fixing broken computers in various tourism establishments is what there is to do here while it's raining. Now, forgive me for being rude but if you can't think of something to do here then you've got no imagination. However, have you ever considered white water rafting? You're wet anyway so go and get wetter in a fun way.

The Tully River holds some of the best rapids in Australia for your white water rafting experience. In the wet season it often flows so fast that even the instructors won't go in (although I did hear one say about the impending tsunami-that-never-was that he'd be OK because he was out rafting that day anyway). Thousands of happy punters can tell you that it's not as scary as you may think, it's a bit of hard work and a hell of a lot of fun so give it a blast. You won't be disappointed.

Skydiving

Now, I've done a few tandem skydives in my time ranging from a murky one in Cambridge, UK to landing on the beach in Mission Beach and looking at the beautiful reef while I was serenely floating to the ground (obviously, that bit was after the 120 miles per hour freefall for 45 seconds!) but I've always wondered: 'why bother with the 10,000ft skydive'?

The reason I ask this is that if you're going to throw yourself out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft with a large handkerchief tied to your instructor's back and a lead holding you to him then go for the big one - the 14,000ft. Skydiving is scary enough anyway so get the benefit of 45 seconds of lung-emptying screaming and face wobbling.

Enjoy your next skydive!

Question For Backpackers Hostels

I have a question for backpackers hostels in Mission Beach.

Why don't you advertise the fact that people can stay in Mission Beach and work on the farms in Tully because there is transport available? No disrespect to Tully but, if you're on holiday in Australia, most people would rather stay in Mission Beach than there owing to the fact that a) we've got a beach and b) they haven't.

The reason I'm asking this question is that I've been in the visitors centre a couple of times when people have wandered in and asked about working on farms in Mission Beach. Worse still, the visitors centre haven't mentioned the transport offered by farms in Tully to and from work so these backpackers have gone off and stayed in Tully just so that they could earn some cash.

Seems like a big hole in the Mission Beach backpackers market to me. Tell people, SHOUT it from the rooftops, advertise it on your websites (if you've got one that people can find). Anything, just get more money coming in to Mission Beach and give people who have to work their way around Australia a choice of staying a) somewhere very nice or b) somewhere ok.

Woolworths - My Two Cents

There has been a lot of whingeing by people recently about the impending development of a Woolworths in Mission Beach. Well, I think all you whingers are idiots.

What choice have you currently got for grocery shopping? Either you can do a roundtrip to Innisfail and waste 100km of fuel; you can drive to Tully and get not a lot of a choice in the IGA; or you can pay the exorbitant prices charged by the local grocery stores. I mean, if you're all getting worked up about the environment then that hour and fifteen minutes to and from Innisfail isn't doing it much good and neither is the 40 minute one to and from Tully. Agreed, there should be a lot of planting going on around the new Woolworths site with local plants but take a look at it now. It's yet another bit of ugly, cleared land standing idle in Australia.

Come on Woolies, build the place as soon as possible so that we can all have some selection in our produce, blend it in as much as possible with clever planting, give us reasonable prices, and don't feed us with the leftovers that people from the North Shore in Sydney wouldn't buy because it the quality was too poor.

Bingo

Bingo will recommence in the Rainforest Room at the Mission Beach Comfort Resort on Monday 14th May at 7:00pm and thence every Monday evening. The profits for May and June will go to Junior Soccer.

Bendigo Bank, Community Bank

Got questions about the innovative idea of getting a Bendigo Bank in Mission Beach, then we suggest you attend their next meeting: Wednesday 9 May from 5.30pm for a 6pm start at the Mission Beach Resort Rainforest Room. People from Tully & Babinda will be in attendance and happy to answer your questions. Meeting to conclude by 7.30pm.