Category: Articles
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Straw alarmism
So much is said in the political catastrophe surrounding climate change that I can’t quite imagine anyone keeping up with it. However, rbutr has informed me that one particular pseudo-anonymous article at something called the “Independent Journal Review” (or “IJReview”) could do with a closer look, and so I shall oblige. The IJReview discusses James Lovelock’s…
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The price of opinion
Gina Rinehart, for all that she inspires consternation, does not strike me as a particularly deep thinker. The poetry is a giveaway. We laugh, but it does tell us something serious about the person who wrote it. For instance, consider this extract: Is our future threatened with massive debts run up by political hacks Who…
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Failing: a taxonomy of techniques
Not having posted anything for a while, it must be time for another excursion into the minds of the next generation of professionals and experts. Having spent the last month marking assignments, tests and exams, I present to you the following valuable categorisation of failure: The Rainman: The student furnishes you with one or more…
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Help! Help! I’m being regulated
The Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Media and Media Regulation by Ray Finkelstein (which I shall henceforth refer to as RIIMMR, more enthusiastically had it come in holographic form) was released about 3 weeks ago [1]I’m a bit late to the party, but the wheels of government do turn rather slowly.. One of its more…
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Non-consensual wisdom
Previously, Shane Greenup brought to my attention two very interesting software projects, with somewhat similar goals: his own rbutr (currently in beta testing), and Dan Whaley’s Hypothes.is (currently being planned and prototyped). Rbutr (pronounced “rebutter”) allows its user base to link together web pages that rebut one another. These links eventually form conversation chains and webs that…
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Horrifying pixelated photos of Bob Katter emerge
It appears that some disreputable person has been mud-raking, after our hitherto good friend Bob Katter released a political ad showing a shocking, pixelated photo of two guys hugging (to bring our outraged attention to evils of gay marriage). Now, take a look at these revealing photos of Katter himself, and see if you aren’t as…
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Curing viral misinformation
A great deal of mischief is caused, regularly, by viral misinformation. Factoids that support one side of any controversial issue are rapidly copied and pasted many times over (the “echo chamber”). By the time anyone manages to marshal the truth into a coherent response, it’s too late — the lie has convinced enough people for…
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Hopes for 2012
Here’s a bit of everything for the new year — some hopes for what we could and should be doing as a nation, in no particular order. We must address the asylum seeker debate with decency, maturity and humility. We should accept many more refugees, and at the same time encourage other countries to do so…
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Glossary of politics
I thought I’d iron out some common appropriations of English words and phrases as used by politicians and journalists. Let me know if you have any more suggestions. accountability. 1. (n.) The state of being duly sniped at while virtuously refraining from voicing any counterargument that would draw attention to the ridiculousness of the snipes. 2. hold to account (v.)…
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The land of marking
Those less fortunate among us are, on occasion, forcibly sent to a distant (and somewhat two-dimensional) realm of existence to undertake grueling mental labour: the marking of student submissions. I have mapped this land from what little remains of my mind after many hours crossing its ragged terrain, with naught but a red pen and…