Dave's Archives

AI-generated (stable diffusion) ge of "cyclon writing with a pen".

The sporadic blog of David J A Cooper. I write sci-fi, teach software engineering, and occasionally say related (or not related) things.

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  • Phone fail

    For the last few minutes, I’ve been fascinated by a random text message indicating that the sender is taking some sort of medication and will shortly be in attendance at the Ivanhoe Rehabilitation Centre in Melbourne. Such is life outside my comfort zone. (I’m fairly sure it’s nobody I know, but I could be horribly…

  • The sun is trying to destroy us again

    Slightly Disgruntled Scientist, I think the sun is on to you.

  • Back’s boats

    Senator Back is doing the rounds with a strong anti-boat-arrival theme. I fired back a letter in frustration, which I’ll get to in a moment. First, I’ll mention something else I discovered. Back sent out two letters, about a month apart, each accompanied with a pamphlet on how Labor is failing to “stop the boats”.…

  • “The worm doesn’t like me”

    Pity poor Mr Abbott – it’s so unfair. Apparently he’s expecting the “worm” to turn on him again in the coming debate: Certainly I know the worm dislikes Liberals, the worm’s always hated Liberals, and I suspect that the worm’s not going to change its character. So I’m expecting to see a pretty unenthusiastic worm…

  • Was it right? (part 2)

    This is a counterargument to a [intlink id=”1069″ type=”post”]previous post[/intlink], in which I argued the case for switching from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to Prime Minister Julia Gillard (or rather, why certain objections were unfounded). Gillard’s rise to power may have restored Labor’s popularity for the time being (and certainly at a very opportune moment),…

  • I vote for a hung parliament

    How did it come to this? The Greens, supposedly a party of the “far left” (whatever that means), are now the flag bearers for a market-based policy – carbon emissions trading. Rudd along with three successive opponents – Howard, Nelson and Turnbull — all pledged to introduce or support an ETS. Now the Labor Party…

  • Was it right?

    Tony Abbott wasted no time in conjuring up the “midnight execution” imagery to describe Julia Gillard’s usurpation of power, and a little later trying to explain why this wasn’t precisely the same thing that he himself had done to Malcolm Turnbull six months earlier. (He probably had to go all out, because Gillard out-polls him…

  • False security, false feminism and false secularism

    There seems to be a growing school of thought in Western countries that the burqa (or other forms of Islamic headdress) should be banned, with several European countries (including Belgium, France and Spain) debating or already having passed laws against it. There are murmurings here too, by the Liberals’ Cory Bernardi and the Christian Democrats’…

  • One belief does not a religion make

    There’s nothing like a righteous religious leader for a good dose of stagnant inanity. Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen doesn’t let us down (SBS, ABC, News Ltd): As we can see by the sheer passion and virulence of the atheist – they seem to hate the Christian God – we are not dealing here with…

  • The ABC of climate change denial

    The ABC chairman Maurice Newman’s thoughts on the reporting of climate change are, I think, symptomatic of the damage that denialism has inflicted. He was interviewed on Wednesday, and appears more than a little ignorant of the state our of climate knowledge, and even a little naïve regarding scientific processes. Newman says: My view on…