/ blog · 2010
Archive
Posts from 2004 to 2017. This was a personal blog during a fairly chaotic decade in independent publishing — some of it tech commentary, some of it Australia, some of it ephemera. It’s kept here in full for anyone who arrives via an old link.
Current writing lives at SiliconANGLE.
Rudd lies on filter again
Via The Age Rudd also defended the government’s proposed internet filter, which is designed to block child pornography, terrorist material and other extreme and offensive information, saying it was in line with how movies and videos were censored. Except it’s not, is it Kevin Rudd, because you can view/ buy R and X rated movies. […]
Finally The Whole Indian Racist Attack Thing Might Be Over
The Age: Most attacks on Indians not racial: report One in seven assaults on Indians in Australia in the past 14 months has been racially motivated, an Indian government report claims. But here’s the kicker which The Age completely ignores: A list collated by the Indian high commission in Canberra and tabled in the Indian […]
The Dark Days Of Fascism Are Upon Us
It’s one thing to introduce Internet censorship in Australia. It’s Nazi like at the basics. But in the last few days the media, led by News Corp is pushing this country into the dark days of fascism. The target is Facebook, as I wrote yesterday. But the scope continues to get darker. Let me say […]
ABC Fucks Up Web Terminology Again
And this time it doesn’t come from someone called Tony Hate site targets Trinity’s accused killer Queensland police are monitoring a social networking site set up to vilify a man charged with the murder of eight-year-old Trinity Bates from Bundaberg. Except it’s not a social networking site that has been set up, it’s a Facebook […]
Australian Winter Olympics Success A Sign Of Affluence?
We’ve won our 4th ever Winter Olympics Gold Medal: The Age. Of course everyone in Australia knows who won the first one, and it will be a story for the ages: Steven Bradbury is 4th in the final and looks out of it, and then the 3 people ahead crash into each other, allowing him […]
Is The ABS Now Racist As Well?
The Age: Local-born more at risk of assault PEOPLE born overseas are less likely to be assaulted than those born in Australia, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics data… It showed an assault rate of 3.6 per cent for Australian-born people, or 445,000 victims, compared with an assault rate of 1.7 per cent, or […]
The Government Is Spooked
SMH: Labor digs in for early election After saying over and over again they wouldn’t go early, all of a sudden they’ve changed their minds…at a time polls are heading in the wrong direction for them, and the media has reports such as concern from ALP back benchers that this could be a one term […]
If You Wan’t To Know The Relevance Of b5media Today…
Hit Google News. Hit Google Blog Search. Over 50 bloggers were fired from what was once the third largest blog network, a network that has taken $8m in funding, and hardly anyone wrote about it. They’ve also launched a new site today. The interwebs are silent. A couple of people who did write about it […]
The Filtering Problem on RSVP
So I joined an online dating site, specifically Fairfax’s RSVP. Yeah, yeah, online dating etc… But there’s a catch. Well, there’s not that sort of catch yet, its been less than 24 hours 🙂 The filtering sucks. I received an email of potential matches: none of them matched. The problem is that while you can […]
The end of b5media
Mass Firings At b5media: Entire Entertainment Network Shut I’m not happy about it. I’ve settled my differences with the other founders (well, the actual founders, not the interloper), and although there is the odd person who has been fired today I’m happy about, mostly I find the news sad. The thing is though: b5media is […]
Why Can’t ABC Journos Get Simple Web Descriptions Right?
Or maybe it’s just ABC Journalists with the first name of Tony? On Q&A last week (the school children vs the PM episode) Tony Jones fumbled the name of iiNet, and suggested that people had been downloading pirated movies from “iiNet’s website.” The biggest copyright case in Australia in years, and he doesn’t understand that […]
I Love Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith on Avatar (via Wired) “I enjoyed it for what it was,” Smith said of James Cameron’s Avatar. “I’m totally with the big blue fucking cats. Especially the one cat that was sexy and I wanted to fuck her.”
The First Softbelly Inquisitr MTUB Poker Night
Per the earlier post on a Melb poker night, I loved the idea so much we’re now sponsoring it. 32 people. We’ve gone from 9 to 18 today. If you’re in Melbourne, and have avoided MTUB, or are a regular, either way come down. It’s free, and there is free prizes for those who register. […]
Melbourne Poker Night
The folks behind MTUB (Melbourne Twitter Underground Brigade) have organised a poker night Feb 24. Details here. If you like poker (and there’s no secret that I love the game) and want to meet some Twitter/ tech people over a friendly game, sign up, it’s completely free. If you’ve ever played Pub Poker before you’ll […]
Sea Shepherd Fibs Again?
Wikipedia: “In warfare, ramming is a technique that was used in air, sea and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with the force of the ram’s momentum….” No matter how many times I watch this video, I get the same result. The […]
Is an Insurance Scam Racist?
The Age: Burned Indian faked attack to claim car insurance: police And this follows the recent murder of an Indian man by other Indians. Both cases were cited in the Indian media as examples of Australian racism. So is an insurance scam racist? Side note: the funniest thing this morning was listening to the head […]
Apparently Chairs Cause Fatness
I use to like Troy Buswell, but it was when I realised that he cared only about himself that I lost faith. Not saying I’m exactly skinny myself (but I’m only 10kg off my ideal weight now.) That said, the issue was with the ex: maybe I should forgive now, and accept he had good […]
Balance on the Indian Attack Stories
I may not agree with every conclusion, but some decent balance and some reasonably fair perspective. Warranted in the broader picture of the debate. It’s simple: India doesn’t want to see its citizens harmed In a few elegant words, Tharoor cut to the heart of the issue and it is worth quoting him in full: […]
Wait, so not all Americans know about the Fried Chicken thing?
And here I was thinking that it was just us dumb Australians…. 🙂 Daily Camera: Denver schools’ menu for Martin Luther King birthday hard for some to digest Denver Public Schools apologized Tuesday for what it called a “well-intentioned but highly insensitive” attempt to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Friday’s DPS lunch menu, […]
Just How Racist Are The Young Turks?
Follow up to the last post, I made this little video: