LE points to this article about the amazing death-predicting cat, a story which has also come to our attention around these parts. We have a more rational explanation than some supernatural feline power to predict an imminent demise, however.
What would you think if a human was mysteriously present shortly before a long string of people […]
Archive for July, 2007
when mr bigglesworth gets angry…
31Jul07This article in The Age is superficially positive - the new British PM is having trouble getting extended detention powers in anti-terrorist legislation implemented in Britain due to rational parliamentary opposition. The reason is a report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights:
The Joint Committee on Human Rights said in a report it had seen no […]
Typical Sydney-centric attitude
30Jul07Limited/no updates this week, as your author is stuck in Sydney, home of the homeless.
Well, I’m stranded in the city that never sleeps
Some of these women they just give me the creeps
I’m avoidin’ the Southside the best I can
These memories I got, they can strangle a man
Well I came ashore in the dead of the […]
If you are the somewhat paranoid type, at least when it comes to governments, why not scare the hell out of yourself and read this little piece by Paul Craig Roberts (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration) which attempts to answer the riddle: with George W Bush’s popularity sinking ever lower, why […]
There’s quite an interesting post here about this article in the LA Times, in which the Times’ religion reporter William Lobdell describes finding and then losing his faith in the process of reporting on the subject. He was initially attracted to Catholicism:
Meanwhile, Roman Catholicism, with its low-key evangelism and deep ritual, increasingly appealed to […]
two thoughts on nuclear power
20Jul07There are increasing signs that Australia is going to go nuclear in the medium term.
First Thought
One way of looking at the benefits of nuclear power versus the risks is to consider the worst case scenario of an accident, rather than the base likelihood of an accident.
As an analogy, consider the difference between a plane and […]
This interesting rant on The Road to Surfdom kindly makes the point that not all lawyers are evil - just the ones who consistently seek to undermine the legal process for political gains. Others, such as Dr Haneef’s lawyer Stephen Keim QC, are courageous and prepared to take real risks in the pursuit of […]
spin of the week
19Jul07The Australian runs a ridiculous front page story which describes a poll showing an electoral disaster for the Government as “HOWARD CHECKS RUDD’S MARCH!!!!1!!!11!!” (NB: there may have been fewer ‘!!1!’s).
Independent (and very excellent) political analysis site criticises blatant pro-Government bias in The Australian.
The Australian contacts the author and advises that the newspaper is going […]
…at least that seems to be the case according to “Let’s Get Ready Sydney“, a disturbingly Cold War-esque (and red, really, really red) website about planning for an ‘emergency’ that might cause you to leave your home in a hurry:
If it is safe to do so, take your pets with you. Put large pets on […]
You may have come across this story over the last few months - one Mr Hew Griffiths, an Australian software pirate - was extradited to the United States and prosecuted for offences under US copyright law. He subsequently pleaded guilty in a court in Virginia.
Some insightful commentary is here, on LawFont:
But we should be […]
fence posts
11Jul07More than six out of ten people regularly commit criminal acts (in Britain, at least). Democratic governments seem to regard legislation criminalising particular forms of behaviour as the default, and indeed only, way of dealing with most problems and many things which are only perceived to be problems.
In that context, here are two interesting […]
what are you, gay?
09Jul07I’m sure you’re familiar with the old “homophobes are really closet gays” line of reasoning. Interestingly, this research seems to confirm that theory. From the abstract:
The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men and a group […]
how now, brown bureaucrat?
09Jul07The lack of updates has been caused by your author’s temporary secondment to the home of closed supermarkets, icy wind and poorly dressed civil servants, Canberra.
We live in a political world
In the cities of lonesome fear,
Little by little you turn in the middle
But you’re never why you’re here
an enemy of the open society
01Jul07This article from The Australian, entitled “Silencing Our Basic Freedom”, is compulsory reading for anyone who cares about the future of democracy in Australia. This blog is frequently critical of that particular newspaper, but on this issue it is fighting for an extremely important and non-partisan cause - the ability of the media, and […]
