Telstra announces plans to acquire KAZ Group Limited

The joke within the IT industry was always the performance of KAZ.

The top position held by people who were basically cronies of Peter Kazacos, Johnny Limpydontis and Mr. Grotti (names have been changed to protect the guilty), could not effectively mange their way out of a paper bag. These position were held by unqualified, staff.

An internal memo illustrates the sentiments felt :

Kaz Computer Services, Share price value at one stage was worth $1.60 went all the way down to 11 cents last year, now slowly climbing.
One of the Manager's, Graeme Smith, due to the lack of perfomance, got a severance package in shares worth $1.6Mil, which was cashed in.

FY 01/02 turnaround 100mil profit $10mil, FY 02/03 turnaround 245mil profit 9mil.... please explain?
They signed up a couple of big contracts (eg. Pivot), which they did not meet the SLA's, and have lost a few other bids/contracts due to incompetancy.
Have been in the newspapers regading a few scandals with employee relations. Last year paid out big to an employee who was going to take them
for unfair dismissal, many more could have followed.
A company which praises itself for having migrant labour via a loophole in the system, imported from (india?) via New Zealand.
To keep thses people out of the public eye, they are employed in the Operations Centre, (high security), where they cannot be seen.
A steal, at only 400 mil, at the current profit levels an investment that will take 40 years to break even.
Considering a good real estate investment can yield a 200% profit in 5 years!!

Telstra aquired KAZ, for approx $400 million too much and is now trying to flog a dead horse.

H2go Water Profits

In today's times, one of THE most profitable industries, is that of the sale of water.

This is especially true, if you're Coca Cola Amatil, and you purchase your water from the Australian Government at a rate of $1.40 per 1,000,000 litres ( a figure the general household pays over 570 times more !!!!).

In this particular case, the water company mentioned, USED to sell it water in containers of 600ml for a retail price of $3.00.

The marketing deprtment stepped in and claimed it 'researched' that people do not drink that much so, it REDUCED its retail packaging to 450ml WITHOUT reducing the cost.

AN INSTANT PROFIT of 25%.

MCC Parking Heist

The Melbourne City Council has ran out of ways to extrude monies from the general public.

In an attempt to boost its revenue, the Council has proposed to prolong the parking times that have to payed for. Not so long ago the time the parking meters expired was 5:30 pm. This has been extended to 7:30pm.

Only just recently is was 'talked' about BUT the council was so eager to implement this policy there was NO TIME to make new signs up, instead stickers were placed over the previous time.

The government is all too quick to act when taking monies from the public, but when it comes to the other way around, the process is painfully slow.

Recently a politician conceded that the old aged pension is NOT enough, yet the new payments MAY be introduced NEXT YEAR.

City parking is currently at $3.40 per hour.

KAZ to fire 100 staff?

Telstra today declined to confirm or deny a report that it was firing up to 100 staff from its troubled IT services division KAZ.

News Ltd newspapers this morning reported that between 50 and 100 KAZ staff could be sacked, with a decision due this week. The news comes months after Telstra chief executive Sol Trujillo made it clear KAZ was no longer up for sale after a long-running process failed to find a buyer on satisfactory terms.

Telstra spokesperson Martin Barr told ZDNet.com.au that the company stood by earlier comments by another spokesperson, Andrew Butcher, that Telstra "continually reviewed" its operations to ensure it balanced its business with market demands.

Barr declined to comment further or to directly confirm or deny the reported cuts.

Local competition in KAZ's core market for IT services is currently intensifying, with Australian rivals such as Oakton, UXC, ASG and SMS Management and Technology speedily growing, and HP reviving its local operation with the purchase of EDS.

Telstra and KAZ officials have repeatedly declined to make senior officials from the troubled IT services provider available over the past year, although Telstra's group managing director of enterprise and government David Thodey has spoken to the press about KAZ, which sits within his division.

zdnet.com.au 24 Sep 2008.

Kaz has always been a running JOKE within the IT industry. It's stories like this that prove the matter even more.

Mag 'pulls out of wedding deal'

Controversial radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his fiancee Tamara Jaber have reportedly lost out on $200,000 magazine deal to sell their wedding pics, with a lack of guest celebrities rumoured to have sunk the deal.

Sandilands had in July negotiated to sell New Idea magazine the exclusive rights to cover his wedding next Friday, with the radio star believing the lucrative deal was all stitched up.

But New Idea has pulled the plug at the last minute, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, citing insiders as saying the magazine had gone cold over the lack of a celebrity-filled guest list.

Kevin Rudd and his wife, Therese Rein, and Nicole Kidman had originally been invited to add the necessary glitz for the occasion, the newspaper said.

But all three declined to attend the extravagant do — which includes nine bridesmaids for Jaber and at which the couple will be carried on thrones.

Woman's Day and OK magazine have stepped in to strike a new deal with Sandilands, but the contract is reportedly only worth half of what New Idea had originally been willing to pay.

While Australia's A-list celebrities have snubbed the chance to see Sandilands and Jaber get hitched, there could more than a few average Joes in attendance.

On its website, OK magazine is running a competition giving away 10 double passes to the wedding.

ninemsn 20 Sep 2008

'the couple will be carried out on thrones' - WTF are they anyway??? !!! ??? Serious delusions of Grandeur. Nothing more than just wanna be's as illustrated by his record label "KING KYLE" records.

Nothing more and nothing less than gutter trash entertainment (?? !!) nobodies.

Magazine apologises over McCain photos

The editor of a top US current affairs magazine has vowed to send an apology letter to John McCain after a photographer he hired to carry out a photo shoot with the Republican presidential candidate doctored images to portray him as bloodthirsty — literally.

Atlantic Monthly editor James Bennet says Jill Greenberg "behaved improperly" and will not be paid for the session, but has come under fire for hiring the well-known critic of President George W Bush to carry out the shoot.

Greenberg took several moody back-lit pictures of McCain that she later superimposed with a shark's mouth dripping blood.

She captioned one "I am a bloodthirsty warmongerer" and another "I will have my girl kill Roe v Wade", reference to running mate Sarah Palin's anti-abortion stance, and posted them on her website.

"She has violated the terms of our agreement with her, of our contract with her so we're taking steps," he told Fox News.

"I mean, this photographer went in there under our auspices to take a cover shot for us … but while she was there she behaved in an incredibly underhanded and unprofessional way."

But Bennet has come under fire for not checking the photographer's credentials.

Greenberg came to prominence in 2004 for her photographic exhibition "Four More Years", where she displayed toddlers apparently crying at the prospect of a second Bush presidential term.

She later admitted making the toddlers cry to get the visual effect.

Greenberg also claimed she doctored the image used by the magazine on its cover to make McCain's skin and eyes look bad, but Bennet stands by the image choice.

ninemsn 16 Sep 2008

As a general rule US Politics is not usually entertained, as it is beyond the scope of this blog, BUT the temptation of this article proved too great to resist.

McCain has the (Anglo-Masonic) makeup , and the Warmongering (Many documents now reveal that, Bush's family financed the Nazi's in Germany, together with banks like J.P Morgan) attitude to be the next leader. Obama has a 1 in 5 chance of making it, this time around.

It has been proven that Bush obtained power fraudulently, yet there is nothing ANYONE can do.

He is part of a global military and economic oppressive power (dictatorship). Amongst other things, it is a government that supports the production and distribution of drugs in Afghanistan, via Military channels.

The rights of the citizen of the U.S. are being eroded away, and forcing them into slavery, via the new ACTS. The current constitution will be changed in the years to come, to the detriment of the people.

Deportation order 'revoked after donation'

Former immigration minister Amanda Vanstone reportedly overturned a deportation order against a suspected Melbourne mafia identity after a large donation to the Liberal Party.

The order was revoked 14 months after a large donation was made to the Liberal Party by the man's brother, an alleged Calabrian crime figure, Fairfax newspapers say.

Four Liberal MPs in two states lobbied or contacted Ms Vanstone about Francesco Madafferi's case, Fairfax says.

Madafferi's brother, Antonio, donated $15,000 to the Liberal Party in September 2004 and a further $7,500 in June 2006.

Ms Vanstone granted the visa in November 2005.

However, Fairfax says there is no evidence to show that the donations influenced any decision-making by Ms Vanstone or encouraged any of the politicians to contact her about the case.

But it says the case raises questions about the appropriateness of political parties accepting donations from those seeking favourable visa-related decisions or access to politicians.

Madaferri was ordered to be deported to Italy on character grounds in 2000 by Ms Vanstone's predecessor, Philip Ruddock.

His alleged serious and repeated criminal activity in Italy in the 1980s and his status as an illegal immigrant who had overstayed his tourist visa in 1989 were cited as reasons.

Madafferi, 47, was charged by federal police last month in Melbourne in connection to a syndicate allegedly involved in the world's largest seizure of ecstasy.

20 Sep 2008

Just another example of how corrupt politicians are.

In this case this information has made it out into the public eye. There is NO excuse for this kind of action. Everyone has a price, and in the case of Vanstone, a few thousand, not much cheaper than a high class whore and definitely LESS SATISFYING.

The drug industry especially of this calibre is well known to people higher in the hierarchy. The couriers and dealers that are shown to be caught are only the small fry.

The producers are well known to the people in power, and as a general rule LEFT ALONE

It is a well organised industry that involves, politicians and law makers and enforcers alike. It is the rogue newcomers that are caught / disposed of.

Workers reject Telstra contract offer

Telstra workers have voted to reject a new work contract that unions say would reduce wages and conditions for new workers.

Unions and Telstra have battled for months in the Australian Industrial relations Commission (AIRC) and the Federal Court over Telstra's plan to replace outgoing Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) with a new standard contract in its wholesale and service advantage divisions.

Last weekend, the AIRC ordered Telstra to put the new deal to the vote with workers.

The company announced in a statement on Tuesday that eligible employees voted against the agreement "by a narrow margin".

"Employees will remain on the terms and conditions of the current Telstra enterprise agreement," the statement said.

ACTU assistant secretary Chris Warren said the vote was a "stunning rebuff" for Telstra.

"Telstra workers have been treated very badly by the company's management and it is no wonder they have rejected this non-union job contract," he said.

"Telstra employees have been denied their right to union representation and subjected to almost every trick in the book by management.

"The company's job contract would have turned new employees into second-class workers ( SLAVES) with reduced entitlements to paid overtime, no guarantees of annual pay rises and reduced redundancy."

But Telstra denied ( no one EVER admits ) disadvantaging workers and accused unions of turning the contract issue into a means to influence the federal government's industrial relations policies.

"The ACTU and unions have clearly used this process to pressure the government on policy and, as a result, they have created significant industrial relations uncertainty" a spokesman said.

2008 17 Sep 2008

Maybe the unions should take a look at the EXISTING Telstra Work Contracts. These contracts have been in existence for quites some time, and state that Telstra WILL NOT PAY for your hours worked, whilst simultaneously making huge profit on YOUR WAGES.

This has already been reported here :
http://corpau.blogspot.com/2008/09/telstra-wages-fraud.html

Ghostbusters now available in USB form

The 1984 comedy Ghostbusters is one of the funniest movies ever made (that's a PERSONAL OPINION) , and it will now be remembered as the first film ever to be released in USB flash drive format. PNY and Sony Pictures Entertainment recently announced plans to pre-load the film on specially marked 2GB USB drives.

The film is put on flash drive in a DRM format, so a user cannot copy it. However, you can download it to your PC in case you need your ectoplasmic fix for the day. Unfortunately, if you try and play the movie without the flash drive inserted, you will get slimed, as it will not work.

This is the first time a movie has been used to sell a flash drive, but it probably won’t be the last. Perhaps all movies will be on flash drives someday, but these flash drives should probably be some sort of special packaging. This Ghostbusters flash drive, by itself, has no branding of any kind, but it does have 12 hours of video play, 33 hours of music and 1080 picture capacity.

coolest-gadgets.com 4 Sep 2008

I bought it, I have the right to COPY it to my machine and use it WITHOUT the flash drive.

Another reason NOT to buy SONY products.

Hollywood Hores - Lily Allen

It is messages like this that are sent out to impressionable (girls) that you are a success if you're a party animal, and a Trailer Park Whore.

These messages are further perpetuated through the 'net via social networking sites like Facebook, etc.

Classy act :

But the pop star ended up telling her awards co-host Sir Elton John, to f*** off, when he suggested she may have had too much champagne.

The seed is implanted, to make the vulnerable, want to be famous, with the allure that fame and fortune will come their way.

What is not told that EVERYTHING has a price, and most importantly the money made from you is more significant.

Shirley temple was known to have quoted that from the $3,000,000 she made Hollywood, she ONLY saw $45,000 (i.e. 1.5 %, from her prime in the 1930's).

The purses strings of Hollywood are held by a financial elite.