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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  • More Monckton hyperbole

    Fresh from pontificating on the principles at stake in allowing Lord Christopher Monckton to receive the support of a university in his inane ramblings, I find myself unable to let go of the subject. My comment on an article by Anson Cameron at The Drum didn’t apparently make it has now past moderation [1]I’m very…

  • Poor persecuted Monckton

    His Great and Wondrous Beneficence the Lord Christopher Monckton did, after all, give a lecture at Notre Dame University. Attempts (initiated by Natalie Latter) to dissuade Notre Dame from lending Monckton its credibility did not come to fruition, though drawing attention to his Lordship’s rank lunacy is always a small victory in itself. As the…

  • Party on, Bob

    Bob Katter is doubtless one of the most open and sincere members of federal parliament (along with the other independent MPs). As everyone knows, such qualities are easily discarded by career politicians as they manoeuvre their way around the fickle whims of the electorate, the propaganda of special interest groups and the machinations of their…

  • Gaming the birther denialists

    In news from America, Donald Trump has “accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish” – the final clinching proof that the sitting US President was, in fact, born exactly where he said he was. What a marvellous achievement. Clearly, in deference to such awesome influence, said sitting US President, having just been…

  • Enforcing enlightenment

    I agree wholeheartedly with Jonathan Holmes’ article (and his April 4 episode of Media Watch) on Andrew Bolt. There are probably a few essays now floating around expressing a similar sentiment on Bolt’s run-in with the Racial Discrimination Act. Australia doesn’t have an institutionalised right to free speech (except political speech, as narrowly implied by…

  • Carbon parochialism

    One of the most effective arguments against pricing carbon in Australia is that horrible rhetorical question: how much effect will it have in isolation? Carbon price opponents think they’re onto a winner here, and their success (I think) has largely been in framing it as a national rather than a global issue. In reality, reducing…

  • In the spirit of carbon rationing

    I’ve gone with a new option being provided by my hosting company. Though widely ridiculed in medical circles, homeopathy has the backing of a substantial collection of anecdotal science. There is little evidence to suggest it has ever cured anyone, but the principle may instead be applied to other facets of our civilisation – particularly…

  • Useful delusions

    Two curious, abstract figments of the political imagination, contracts and mandates lay the mental groundwork for whatever contrived political debates might lie ahead. In this case, I speak of the unfortunate politics of New South Wales (where I don’t live). On one hand, Barry O’Farrell has signed a “contract” with voters, promising to resign if…

  • ABC News Panic

    This is ABC News Breakfast co-host Virginia Trioli, in a recent promo: I reckon when people wake up in the morning they have one primary concern: is the world safe? Has anything happened drastically overnight that I need to know about and that I need to worry about. I don’t know if this is how…

  • Question time psychosis

    I read (via the ABC) that our new Greens MP Adam Bandt believes that the hallowed institution of Question Time is in danger of becoming a farce: There is a real risk that we are about to lose one of the key opportunities that Parliament has to hold the executive accountable and to ask ministers…