a good man is hard to find

Just when Mr Rudd looked to have Labor in the perfect position for the Federal election later this year, a report in the Australian today contains ominous signs that, far from being the long awaited anti-Howard many people…

one day you’ll be in the ditch, flies buzzin’ around your eyes, blood on your saddle

Slowly but surely, the 2006 US election result is catching up with the Bush administration. The steps taken by the Democrat-controlled Congress and Senate are – so far – not as spectacular as the many excesses of the pre-2006 period…

teutonic baby polar bear kill frenzy scandal

You may have come across this already: there is currently a heated debate about the fate of a baby polar bear named Knut, currently residing (or being held captive, depending on your perspective and level of insanity) in…

water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink: the great urban water conservation myth

As anyone who lives in Australia is acutely aware, water is a big issue at the moment – it tends to be when you found a country in a massive desert – and we’re all being

this monkey’s gone to heaven

A bit out of date now, but in February it emerged that the University of Sydney has agreed to ban stem cell research at a new facility built on land it acquired from a Catholic residential college.

According…

I can’t even touch the books you’ve read

This is an interesting little survey about books that readers in the UK found they couldn’t finish reading. The fiction list is as follows:

1.Vernon God Little, DBC Pierre
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling

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can’t eat all that stuff in a single bite

I’ve updated the layout somewhat so that longer stories are now abbreviated on the front page – hopefully this makes the site a bit more readable. If something interests you, just click the link to read on. If not,

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welcome to the working week

From the letters in The Age today:

CHANGES in the approach to work hours, in relation to family or rest time, are long overdue — but this applies to all sections of the workforce, not just those with

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it’s easy to see without looking too far that not too much is really sacred

Another snippet from the US election, where they make Australia’s current efforts in political mudslinging look altogether quaint and provincial. There’s currently a controversy over remarks made by the loathsome right wing ‘commentator’ Ann Coulter about John Edwards,…

i offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn

Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock recently appeared on the SBS program ‘Insight’ along with David Hicks’ military lawyer, military prosecutor, and his father Terry Hicks (link to the transcript here).

That Ruddock would even venture onto the program is surprising,…

all your seasick sailors, they are rowing home

We are like sailors who on the open sea must reconstruct their ship but are never able to start afresh from the bottom. Where a beam is taken away a new one must at once be put there, and for

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Australian and US elections: ridiculous media feeding frenzy season commences

Ah, elections. Such an exciting time, when the smallest mis-statement or mistake can lead to all kinds of media hysteria. Two examples have emerged in the last couple of days.

In the US, John McCain – senator, 2008 presidential candidate,…

what looks good in the day, at night is another thing

You may have read the bizarre story about Chinese scientists developing radio-controlled pigeons by cracking open their skulls and jamming electrodes into them (horrifying picture here).

Related reading led me to this amazing/ridiculous story…

Born Again German

I’ve always been fascinated with the relationship between language, thought, and identity. I remember someone once told me that words are the building blocks of thought, and it stopped me in my tracks. I’d never questioned what my thoughts were made of before, and it led me to the bizarre question – how would we think without words? Try it for a second. Kinda difficult to get anything except basic imaginings & rememberances, huh. Well then – what happens when you are forced to learn, and think in, a new language?

Canadian MPs actually show some backbone on terror

Canada’s parliament has just voted to repeal an anti-terrorism law passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Even more impressive, they did it in the face of a scare campaign from their government which…