Bus Lane Locations in Auckland (Link to map)

Fergus Young, , , , , 2 Comments

Was contemplating compiling a map myself of Auckland’s Bus Lane network, but it looks like Auckland Transport themselves have already created a Bus Lane and Special Vehicle lane map, albeit, one that is a bit out of date. (Will press Auckland Transport to update it,  particularly Queen Street and Mount Wellington Highway).

Click here or the image below to access AT’s Bus lane / SVL Map…

Given the plethora of Bus Lanes and Special Vehicle Lanes popping up in Auckland recently catching many otherwise law abiding people unaware, I feel it has come to the point where motorists in all practical intents and purposes now have to consult this prior to heading out in order to avoid running foul of the rules and ending up with a $150 NZD fine.

Warning, rant incoming: While I’ve never received an infringement from AT for anything I’ve done and while I do support the idea of special vehicle priority lanes where implemented appropriately to aid High Occupancy Vehicles to move more freely, I am steadfast in my view Auckland Transport could be doing considerably more than they have to aid the public to comply. These include…

  • Running advisory campaigns to advise the motoring public to please check for the latest information regarding bus lanes on the map (linked to at the top of this post)
  • Ensure that as a public service any and all Bus Lanes, Transit Lanes and Special Vehicle lanes are swiftly updated and marked on the map as soon as they are laid down.
  • Modify placement of bus lanes to aid people to easily merge into the general traffic lane. Right now, the way many bus lanes are drawn are pretty abrupt allowing drivers little chance to recognise and get out of the way of a bus lane.
  • While AT already have videos online on how to use or drive on bus lanes, there is very little practical information for drivers to navigate around bus lanes. e.g what happens if you find yourself approaching a lane that you don’t know how to safely get out of?

As a personal opinion, while the “Green team” (being environmental advocates) seem to be the one’s advocating heavy handed (Orwellian-like Camera) enforcement in the name of a climate emergency, they run the real of risk of becoming tyrants themselves. As an aside, It’s almost like they are demanding that people immediately put both their livelihoods and current living arrangements on hold and comply with their demands on issues such as climate change and the environment (as in, stop driving our Internal Combustion Engine powered vehicles right away).

The issue I have with the current level of bus lane camera enforcement is that it pits Auckland Transport (as a CCO) against the very public they are supposed to be serving fostering a rather divisive and counter productive “Us” vs “Them” sentiment along with contributing to the general public’s erosion of respect towards Authority.

I also fear that this may be a slippery slope and unless strongly challenged, will encourage other government departments to copy Auckland Transport and start rolling out a regular fines regime to use against the public they are supposed to be serving.

Furthermore, it raises an issue with so many otherwise Law abiding people getting pinged over an ever increasing array of ‘Strict Liability’ offenses now suggests people who otherwise have the best intentions are now no longer able to go about their lives without worrying about the the state coming down on them for an innocent mistake.

I will admit, I feel very strongly about how Auckland Transport are currently handling this and feel their current stance is highly corrosive to their own public image and is actually causing the general public to turn against Auckland Transport and their initiatives. I am currently locked in ongoing discussions with Auckland Transport about their conduct, as a civic concern, urging them to reconsider their approach and offering suggestions as to what they could do instead to improve public guidance, and education in order to aid compliance around bus lanes.

Auckland Transport and the “Green team” (including the likes of the ‘Greater Auckland / Transport Blog‘ people) need to be “reading the room”, they need to realize they need the support and understanding of the public in order to progress with their vision of achieving a transportation modal shift in Auckland.

While I can totally understand sitting on a bus that has been impeded by cars is a frustrating and irritating experience, comments online that I’ve seen from advocates directed against general motoring members of the public that happen to unintentionally drive into a bus lane I feel is completely unhelpful, divisive and unproductive. Statements such as “Selfish Idiot” and “It’s SOOOOO simple, just stay out of the bus lane” reeks of a total lack of both consideration for others and understanding of the situation. Work with the public, not against the public.

Edited 22 November 2023: – Fixed some egregious spelling mistakes

 

Bus Lane Locations in Auckland (Link to map)

Annie Crummer at Matariki Vibes 2022

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Annie Crummer at Matariki Vibes 2022. Effectively walked into this on a leisurely local neighbourhood afternoon walk without realising there was even this free concert on.

Annie Crummer performing on stage at Matariki Vibes 22

The free concert also had House of Shem, Che Fu, Herbs, among other acts. Hosted by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.

Wasn’t particularly packed at all. That said it wasn’t widely publicised either and had to really search for it online upon returning home from my walk.

Annie Crummer at Matariki Vibes 2022

“Global Economic Forum” Survey call warning

Fergus Young11 Comments

Had a suspicious cold call from someone purporting to be from the “Global Economic Forum” allegedly doing research for the aforementioned and was going to ask me 8 questions. Unfortunately, I could not verify the veracity of the organisation he purported to be representing. As far as I know, “Global Economic Forum” is not an organisation in it self so raised my guard. Please note the naming difference to “World Economic Forum”.

Recommend when you hear “Global Economic Forum” Do not proceed with the call, Hang up immediately.

They have been calling in as number 09 826 7214 (However, I warn that this very well could be spoofed)

Red flags noticed…

  • Repeating my name ad nauseum
  • Ran rough shod over trying to enquire and verify who he really was.
  • He was suspiciously and extremely insistent.
  • I asked him to send me an Email first about his company and I will circle back to it in my own time and the caller did not like that.
  • Would not tell me where he got my details from
  • An attempt to ‘Gas light’ me was made.

The caller hung up after I raised my voice after he tried to gas light me.

As an aside, I have decided to remove public access to my phone number entirely effective immediately due to scammers, mongrels and other degenerates. I originally did have it publicly accessible by way of publicized pass phrase purely for people to contact me in emergencies, however, I believe the people that matter most in my life already have my number anyway.

 

“Global Economic Forum” Survey call warning

NZ Topo maps Android disambiguation

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Up until now, had been using ATLOGIS “NZ Topomaps” app for Topographic maps for use outdoors in the NZ Bush. However much to my chagrin, despite paying them some coin for their Pro version find that they changed it now be a yearly subscription at $20.00.

Now using the similarly named NZ Topo maps developed by Mason Blackwood. Have paid for the Ads Free version.

 

NZ Topo maps Android disambiguation

BAN 1366×768 Screens 😛

Fergus Young1 Comment

In the year 2022, Why on earth do New mid-range and better Laptops fitted with a 15.6 inch 1366×768 resolution screen still even exist?

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Something tongue in cheek… In the guise of certain people in New Zealand advocating banning 1080 poison by way of “BAN 1080” signage and scrawls particularly in parts of rural New Zealand, I propose a new movement for the more tech inclined among us: BAN 1080  768, Demand 1080 (minimum)… 😛

“768” being the vertical resolution on laptops screens I’m railing against (which is not tongue in cheek). The majority, if not all laptops with a screen size of 14 inches or larger should have at least a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. No laptop with a screen 14 inches or larger on a medium spec (AMD Ryzen 5, Intel i5) or better laptop should ever be sold new with a mere 1366 x 768 resolution screen in the year 2022. Continue reading “BAN 1366×768 Screens 😛” →

BAN 1366×768 Screens 😛

Do not feed game cartridge to Crocodiles

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Here’s one for rather interesting warning labels. This one discovered on a Game Cartridge (Possibly for a Nintendo “Family Computer”)

First three symbols seem pretty self explanatory (Keep away from Heat, Physical abuse, and Water), but what on earth is the 4th one? Do not feed to Crocodiles???

Using Google Translate’s optical character recognition function, the text appears to say something along the lines of “We can not guarantee the item will survive damage from the above activities”.

Do not feed game cartridge to Crocodiles

From a time not so politically correct

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Discovered this thing sitting around in my attic space. Recalled I purchased this thing like a decade ago, but never got around to deploying it anywhere. Needless to say, socially speaking, equipment like this certainly would not fly these days…

Terminology that was in common use a few years ago within computing and electronics circles. Certainly wouldn’t go down well today.
From a time not so politically correct

Former Thrifty Car Rental Australia operational structure now rebranded as SIXT Australia

Fergus Young, , , , , 4 Comments

The NRMA’s car rental division, Kingmill Pty Ltd, formerly operating as Thrifty Car and Truck Rental Australia have since been rebranded as SIXT Car Rental Australia upon expiry of their original Master Franchise agreement with Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (DTAG) in the United States.

This change includes some of their network of sub-franchisees throughout Australia including, Lawrence Vic Pty Ltd and Pacific Automotive Holdings Pty Ltd which have followed their franchisor to rebrand as Sixt Car Rental Australia, while some other now former franchisees have either stayed on as Thrifty, changed over to other car rental brands or are in the process of establishing their own independent car rental brand.

Whether there will be any real material operational change with SIXT Australia (from how they usually did things under the Thrifty brand) or whether it’s essentially just a brand change (in the form of “same pig different lip stick”) remains to be seen. It is sincerely hoped that certain franchisees will take this opportunity of a clean slate in which to substantially improve their conduct and move on from some of their former practices (Including charging of fees outside of the written legal documentation and deliberately trying to deceive customers such as myself through the posting of multiple false testimonials pretending to be happy customers).

The Thrifty brand in Australia under it’s new structure has now been returned back to it’s parent Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group (DTAG) / The Hertz Corporation and now appears to be largely hitched in together with the Hertz branded locations through out Australia. In a nutshell, the people running Thrifty Australia as of now is not the same people running Thrifty Australia as of a few months ago. Continue reading “Former Thrifty Car Rental Australia operational structure now rebranded as SIXT Australia” →

Former Thrifty Car Rental Australia operational structure now rebranded as SIXT Australia

Leave your chainsaw in your vehicle

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Ray White Open home sign in Rolleston…

Welcome to our open home… Use your brain… Think for yourself… Use common sense… Leave your chainsaw in your Vehicle!!

A family has now moved in to the property I most recently purchased, with an Alarm system to go in very shortly.

I have noticed many houses that were for sale have since gone straight into the rental pool. Anecdotally, it appears to be happening all around the country. Consequently, should the trend continue, I would not be surprised to see that we eventually end up with a nationwide Rental glut at some point. May be the tables will then finally turn in favour of tenants and instead of Renters scrambling for properties to rent, Landlords would be scrambling for Tenants.

We don’t know how long this low interest rate environment is going to last. The government to be honest (both current and past) have been exceedingly coy as to their apparent lack of will do actually do anything concrete about the housing affordability and the accelerating inequality in this country.

Leave your chainsaw in your vehicle

Security Warning – Click Hijack investigation

Fergus Young3 Comments

Investigations so far suggest that there is some type of conditional redirect exploit/hijack being planted on many WordPress websites redirecting search engine referred visitors to fake award/survey sites such as “moviesuddenvalley”, “applefacetook”, “hurryexpectsugar”, “mouthtroubleask”, “ondiesmall”, “thendownmeat”, “makemodernfive”, “sayhitome”, “whateyeweight” among several others typically ending in a “.live” or “.top” address. While this Hijack, as far as I have seen appear to predominantly affect some WordPress websites, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this possibly affects other types of websites as well.

In my experience, for sites that are affected, to replicate…
(These most certainly could differ depending on the site affected)

  1. Prerequisites…
    • Needs to be done from an IP address that has yet to access the site in question. (e.g Mobile Data Connection, activate and deactivate airplane mode to get a new IP address)
    • Chrome or Firefox browser (Win 10 or Android) in Incognito Mode (No plugins). Reportedly in other variations of the exploit, it only occurs on Safari under iOS
  2. Search for the site in Google search
  3. Click on the search result that points to the website. Instead of loading up the website as expected, you get redirected to a hijack site.

The hijack will not fire If you access the site directly (via bookmarks or typing the address directly in the address bar of your browser). This appears to be some conditional exploit based on visitors coming from Search Engines. (e.g by typing the site URL directly into the Address bar, you won’t get redirected) and it looks like it will only fire once per IP Address each week (resets at the start of each week).

I probably should add that many so called WordPress vulnerability scanners online I’ve discovered aren’t even set up to detected this sort of hijack. The scanners based on “Securi” certainly will not detect this exploit, I’ve found.

Other resources…

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Original Post (Old):
Noticing some apparent weird intermittent redirect hijack on the general web where some sites are allegedly redirecting to some dodgy website with names such as “mouthtroubleask”

Update – 2020-09-11T06:55:00+12:00: Added steps to replicate (from my own experience)

Update – 2020-09-12T18:20:00+12:00: Added note to mention that all of the online WordPress malware scanners I’ve tried won’t detect this sort of hijack.

 

 

Security Warning – Click Hijack investigation

Pi-Hole on a Raspberry Pi 4

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Experimented with running Pi-hole on the Raspberry Pi 4 that I have.

5 Minutes in, Pi-Hole showing how tragically ad ridden the modern web has become.

The Set up at least for the more tech inclined is very easy, all you had to do was launch a command line prompt and type this command…

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

After running it for an evening. Thoughts and findings so far…

  • Predominantly Does a DNS level block with a blocklist of known advertisement serving IP addresses.
  • YouTube is a moving target whereby ads are served from youtube.com itself and therefore very difficult to (completely) block with Pi-Hole.
  • Mobile devices with Ad laden apps will perhaps see the greatest reduction in ads.
  • The default configuration doesn’t block nearly as many ads as say uBlock Origin installed on Desktop Firefox. This is not a replacement to having Client side ad blocking.

Curiously noticed these appearing in the query-log…

  • www.collab.apps.mil
  • www.gov.teams.microsoft.us
  • www.dod.teams.microsoft.us

Why would Teams try and poll for these addresses is beyond me. It does raise a sufficient level of curiosity that I will be checking this out.

 

Pi-Hole on a Raspberry Pi 4