Red all over: Bono makes poverty his story for a day - World - smh.com.au
So, Bono gets to play news editor for a day. This part of the story is interesting:
Among the paper's other big-name interviews of the day was Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez who told the Independent that the Zimbabwean leader, Robert Mugabe, "is my friend. He has been demonised too much".
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Mark Steyn on NSA and phone records
To connect the dots, you have to see the dots
From Steyn's article (which, as one would expect, questions the fuss over this) :
Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) feels differently. "Look at this headline," huffed the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The secret collection of phone call records of tens of millions of Americans. Now, are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al-Qaida?"
No. But next time he's flying from D.C. to Burlington, Vt., on a Friday afternoon he might look at the security line: Tens of millions of Americans are having to take their coats and shoes off! Are you telling me that tens of millions of ordinary shoe-wearing Americans are involved with al-Qaida?
Steyn must have been first choice to have on your high school debating team.
From Steyn's article (which, as one would expect, questions the fuss over this) :
Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) feels differently. "Look at this headline," huffed the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The secret collection of phone call records of tens of millions of Americans. Now, are you telling me that tens of millions of Americans are involved with al-Qaida?"
No. But next time he's flying from D.C. to Burlington, Vt., on a Friday afternoon he might look at the security line: Tens of millions of Americans are having to take their coats and shoes off! Are you telling me that tens of millions of ordinary shoe-wearing Americans are involved with al-Qaida?
Steyn must have been first choice to have on your high school debating team.
Meanwhile out in the universe...
New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - Biggest map of universe reveals colossal structures
From the story above:
Both studies confirm that the galaxy distribution and structures of the universe match best the models in which normal matter makes up only a few percent of the universe, with about one-quarter taken up by dark matter and the rest dark energy.
"With new measurements, our emerging picture of a universe dominated by dark matter and dark energy had a chance to fall on its face," says Uros Seljak, another Princeton. "Instead, it passed a new test with flying colours."
From the story above:
Both studies confirm that the galaxy distribution and structures of the universe match best the models in which normal matter makes up only a few percent of the universe, with about one-quarter taken up by dark matter and the rest dark energy.
"With new measurements, our emerging picture of a universe dominated by dark matter and dark energy had a chance to fall on its face," says Uros Seljak, another Princeton. "Instead, it passed a new test with flying colours."
HIV in Japan
The Japan Times Online
The editorial from the Japan Times above contains a few surprises:
Last year the total number of those infected with HIV in Japan hit a record 6,560 (of which 4,673 were Japanese nationals), following an unprecedented 1,165 (of which 698 were Japanese) new infections reported in 2004, the most recent data available.
Notice how seemingly important it is for this article to distinguish between foreigners and Japanese with HIV? Japanese suspicions of foreigners being more disease ridden than "pure" Japanese is confirmed again.
Anyway, the rate of new infections in Japan in 2004 is not too bad for its population. Australia had 818 new HIV diagnoses and 239 AIDS diagnoses in the same year, but with about one sixth of the population. The total Australian HIV cases seems to be about 20,000.
By the way, from that Australian link, notice how the HIV diagnoses rate has jumped around for the last 10 years? Quite a big leap from 2000 to 2001 (I wonder what the reason for that blip could be), but basically there is quite an intractable rate of a minimum of around 650 each and every year. Far too many still for what is an entirely preventable disease, hey.
Anyway, back to Japan:
The term "sexual intercourse" has reportedly been banned in classrooms through repeated directives issued by the education ministry. And yet, educational authorities appear blinded to the fact that, in today's Japan, children grow up in an environment awash with distorted images of sex in manga, in magazines, on the Internet and on television, all of which make some young people overly interested in sex.
The first sentence is a little surprising. The second is somewhat true, although I would not say that on television there seems to have much emphasis on sex.
Then the editorial has this:
On a positive note, professor Montagnier maintains that a strong immunity resulting from a healthy lifestyle minimizes the HIV infection risk as the virus is not highly contagious, unlike other sexually transmitted diseases. This is why the poor -- who often have low immunity resulting from under-nourishment -- are the most vulnerable. The unhealthy eating habits of today's youths could also put them at a greater risk."
Maybe eating McDonalds leaves you more open to catching HIV?
Sounds like a highly questionable thing to be saying in an article criticising HIV education.
The editorial from the Japan Times above contains a few surprises:
Last year the total number of those infected with HIV in Japan hit a record 6,560 (of which 4,673 were Japanese nationals), following an unprecedented 1,165 (of which 698 were Japanese) new infections reported in 2004, the most recent data available.
Notice how seemingly important it is for this article to distinguish between foreigners and Japanese with HIV? Japanese suspicions of foreigners being more disease ridden than "pure" Japanese is confirmed again.
Anyway, the rate of new infections in Japan in 2004 is not too bad for its population. Australia had 818 new HIV diagnoses and 239 AIDS diagnoses in the same year, but with about one sixth of the population. The total Australian HIV cases seems to be about 20,000.
By the way, from that Australian link, notice how the HIV diagnoses rate has jumped around for the last 10 years? Quite a big leap from 2000 to 2001 (I wonder what the reason for that blip could be), but basically there is quite an intractable rate of a minimum of around 650 each and every year. Far too many still for what is an entirely preventable disease, hey.
Anyway, back to Japan:
The term "sexual intercourse" has reportedly been banned in classrooms through repeated directives issued by the education ministry. And yet, educational authorities appear blinded to the fact that, in today's Japan, children grow up in an environment awash with distorted images of sex in manga, in magazines, on the Internet and on television, all of which make some young people overly interested in sex.
The first sentence is a little surprising. The second is somewhat true, although I would not say that on television there seems to have much emphasis on sex.
Then the editorial has this:
On a positive note, professor Montagnier maintains that a strong immunity resulting from a healthy lifestyle minimizes the HIV infection risk as the virus is not highly contagious, unlike other sexually transmitted diseases. This is why the poor -- who often have low immunity resulting from under-nourishment -- are the most vulnerable. The unhealthy eating habits of today's youths could also put them at a greater risk."
Maybe eating McDonalds leaves you more open to catching HIV?
Sounds like a highly questionable thing to be saying in an article criticising HIV education.
Watch out Mickey!
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Shadow over sunshine state as three women killed in a week
Imagine the publicity there would be here if there were 3 separate crocodile attacks around, say, Cairns, in a week.
Imagine the publicity there would be here if there were 3 separate crocodile attacks around, say, Cairns, in a week.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Back to black hole evaporation
0604196.pdf (application/pdf Object)
I do a quick search of the Arxiv site every month or so to see what is new on black holes. The very recent paper above concludes with this:
The primordial black holes in the early universe might have longer lifetime than the lifetime predicted by Hawking (2) because they were submerged in dense soup of matter. Those surviving primordial black holes may be part of the dark matter in our universe. Equations (4) and (6) also suggest that one may be able to exchange information with an observer inside the black hole (15) [if she or he is alive.] in principle by modulating HBC.
This seems potentially relevant to my earlier posts about proper risk assessment not (apparently) being done with respect to micro black holes at CERN. (As you may recall, the "risk assessment" paper that was done seemed to rely solely on such black holes evaporating via Hawking radiation before they could concieveably cause any trouble.)
Of course, I don't understand the paper in any detail at all. Perhaps if I understood it properly, the delay in evaporation the author talks about might not apply to micro black holes. Furthermore, I have no way of knowing whether the paper is fundamentally credible or not. (As I understand it, the people who run Arxiv do not have a perfect system to stop quasi-scientific nutter's papers from appearing there. As a rule of thumb, I trust papers with several authors more readily than those by single authors.)
Anyway, it still seems to support my basic concern about whether all possiblities have properly been looked into about the fate of micro black holes that might be created at CERN.
I do a quick search of the Arxiv site every month or so to see what is new on black holes. The very recent paper above concludes with this:
The primordial black holes in the early universe might have longer lifetime than the lifetime predicted by Hawking (2) because they were submerged in dense soup of matter. Those surviving primordial black holes may be part of the dark matter in our universe. Equations (4) and (6) also suggest that one may be able to exchange information with an observer inside the black hole (15) [if she or he is alive.] in principle by modulating HBC.
This seems potentially relevant to my earlier posts about proper risk assessment not (apparently) being done with respect to micro black holes at CERN. (As you may recall, the "risk assessment" paper that was done seemed to rely solely on such black holes evaporating via Hawking radiation before they could concieveably cause any trouble.)
Of course, I don't understand the paper in any detail at all. Perhaps if I understood it properly, the delay in evaporation the author talks about might not apply to micro black holes. Furthermore, I have no way of knowing whether the paper is fundamentally credible or not. (As I understand it, the people who run Arxiv do not have a perfect system to stop quasi-scientific nutter's papers from appearing there. As a rule of thumb, I trust papers with several authors more readily than those by single authors.)
Anyway, it still seems to support my basic concern about whether all possiblities have properly been looked into about the fate of micro black holes that might be created at CERN.
Where will Santa live?
Guardian Unlimited | Science | Meltdown fear as Arctic ice cover falls to record winter low
From the article:
The summer and winter ice levels are the lowest since satellite monitoring began in 1979, and almost certainly the lowest since local people began keeping records around 1900. The pace of decline since 2003, if continued, would see the Arctic totally ice-free in summer within 30 years - though few scientists would stake their reputations on a long-term trend drawn from only three years.
Oddly, I can't find other versions of this story on the internet yet. I guess they are coming.
From the article:
The summer and winter ice levels are the lowest since satellite monitoring began in 1979, and almost certainly the lowest since local people began keeping records around 1900. The pace of decline since 2003, if continued, would see the Arctic totally ice-free in summer within 30 years - though few scientists would stake their reputations on a long-term trend drawn from only three years.
Oddly, I can't find other versions of this story on the internet yet. I guess they are coming.
Edging closer to Tom (a sort of movie review)
I still didn't get to see Mission Impossible III this weekend just gone. But there was a Tom Cruise connection: I saw "The Interpreter" (with Nicole Kidman) on cable.
I knew that it had received reasonable but not ecstatic reviews, and I must say that I quite enjoyed it, even with the presence of Sean Penn and a script that was, shall we say, trying a little too hard to be earnest in places. But it did have the pleasures of a big Hollywood movie: a big scale (lots of filming inside the UN itself,) some sequences of genuine tension, and Nicole Kidman looking just gorgeous.
It does give the impression of the UN (particularly the General Assembly) being a useful forum, and in that sense it was well and truly dated even before the script was written. (Presumably they had to make the UN look good to get permission to film there.) Also, the interior of the UN looked very fresh and sparkly. I visited there as a tourist in about 1980, and it looked generally run down and in bad need of new carpet and fresh coats of paint. Have they actually spent money on refurbishing it in the the last 25 years? Or is it just good lighting in the movie?
I had also forgotten that, according to Mark Steyn, the script had initially had Islamists as the villains. This was changed to be more of a Rwandan type African crisis at the heart of the politics of the story.
Oh well, it still seemed to serve the plot well enough.
Not a perfect film, but enjoyable enough.
I knew that it had received reasonable but not ecstatic reviews, and I must say that I quite enjoyed it, even with the presence of Sean Penn and a script that was, shall we say, trying a little too hard to be earnest in places. But it did have the pleasures of a big Hollywood movie: a big scale (lots of filming inside the UN itself,) some sequences of genuine tension, and Nicole Kidman looking just gorgeous.
It does give the impression of the UN (particularly the General Assembly) being a useful forum, and in that sense it was well and truly dated even before the script was written. (Presumably they had to make the UN look good to get permission to film there.) Also, the interior of the UN looked very fresh and sparkly. I visited there as a tourist in about 1980, and it looked generally run down and in bad need of new carpet and fresh coats of paint. Have they actually spent money on refurbishing it in the the last 25 years? Or is it just good lighting in the movie?
I had also forgotten that, according to Mark Steyn, the script had initially had Islamists as the villains. This was changed to be more of a Rwandan type African crisis at the heart of the politics of the story.
Oh well, it still seemed to serve the plot well enough.
Not a perfect film, but enjoyable enough.
Sheehan on Shorten
Dollar signs turn survivors into heroes - Paul Sheehan - Opinion - smh.com.au
Paul Sheehan takes a very cynical look at the whole mines affair (he even seems to think it is rather distasteful of the rescued to be taking about money.)
What interests me, though, is Sheehan's take on the media savvy (and potential future Labor Party leader) Bill Shorten:
Shorten is entitled to take whatever the media will give him. He did his job well and may be a good bloke, but it needs to be pointed out that he harvested a massive amount of credulous treacle from the media and the normally feral letter-writers simply for spinning a public relations job on behalf of a union which is part of a larger power structure, the militant, trench-warfare Victorian union culture that Shorten has shown no signs of wanting to reform.
For this is the same Bill Shorten who comes out of the Victorian Labor Right faction led by Australia's political Frankenstein, Senator Stephen Conroy. The same Bill Shorten who recently engineered a safe, red-ribbon seat in Federal Parliament by the usual route of branch-stacking, factional deals and backstabbing, tipping out Bob Sercombe, the soon to be ex federal member for Maribyrnong. The same Bill Shorten backed by Victorian state MP, George Seitz, described in The Age on Saturday as "perhaps Victoria's worst, certainly its most crafty and long-lived, practitioner [of branch-stacking]". The same Bill Shorten supported by Sang Nguyen, long-time mobiliser of Vietnamese votes for Senator Conroy's factional wars.
I don't think Sheehan feels all that kindly towards him.
Paul Sheehan takes a very cynical look at the whole mines affair (he even seems to think it is rather distasteful of the rescued to be taking about money.)
What interests me, though, is Sheehan's take on the media savvy (and potential future Labor Party leader) Bill Shorten:
Shorten is entitled to take whatever the media will give him. He did his job well and may be a good bloke, but it needs to be pointed out that he harvested a massive amount of credulous treacle from the media and the normally feral letter-writers simply for spinning a public relations job on behalf of a union which is part of a larger power structure, the militant, trench-warfare Victorian union culture that Shorten has shown no signs of wanting to reform.
For this is the same Bill Shorten who comes out of the Victorian Labor Right faction led by Australia's political Frankenstein, Senator Stephen Conroy. The same Bill Shorten who recently engineered a safe, red-ribbon seat in Federal Parliament by the usual route of branch-stacking, factional deals and backstabbing, tipping out Bob Sercombe, the soon to be ex federal member for Maribyrnong. The same Bill Shorten backed by Victorian state MP, George Seitz, described in The Age on Saturday as "perhaps Victoria's worst, certainly its most crafty and long-lived, practitioner [of branch-stacking]". The same Bill Shorten supported by Sang Nguyen, long-time mobiliser of Vietnamese votes for Senator Conroy's factional wars.
I don't think Sheehan feels all that kindly towards him.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
How not to write an Australian film script
Quest to write the Great Australian Script - Film - Entertainment - smh.com.au
This article in the SMH today has lots of people offering lots of reasons as to why Australian films often seem to have bad scripts. All of these sound plausible to me, as there happens to be an enormous black spot in my cinematic tastes, called "Australian film."
I can't say that I have ever seen an Australian film that I would say has risen above mediocre. Of course, having established this taste by the time I was about 20, I haven't spent a lot of time seeking out Australian films. (But I am always interested in reviews of films whether I intend to see them or not, so I at least know a little bit about most films released.)
It is entirely possible that they have been ones made in the last 20 years that I might like, but then again that would cause a crisis in cinematic belief system. Anyway, it can be more fun to be cranky and unreasonable.
One thing about Australia films not really mentioned in the SMH article, and which bothers me, is their frequently claustrophobic physical scale. Even a "routine" relatively low budget American film will often have busy city street scenes, scenes at train stations, banks or somewhere with lots of actual people in the background. Which is what real life is actually like, for most of us.
It seems to me to be extremely common place that nearly all Australian movies (not counting American movies being made here), even if outdoors, will still not show busy outdoor scenes.
Of course, this is all part of the cost of making a film, and even the cheapest American product is much more expensive than your average Aussie one. So to the extent that it is hard to raise money for Aussie films, it can't be helped. (I wonder if it is hard to get unpaid extras for an Australian film?) It is still a reason why, more often than not, watching an Australian film puts me in mind of watching a play rather than watching cinema.
Finally, in the interests of balance, I have said before that Hollywood is going through a particularly barren number of years at the moment too. Still, I would have to say that mediocre Hollywood is more engaging than mediocre Australian.
This article in the SMH today has lots of people offering lots of reasons as to why Australian films often seem to have bad scripts. All of these sound plausible to me, as there happens to be an enormous black spot in my cinematic tastes, called "Australian film."
I can't say that I have ever seen an Australian film that I would say has risen above mediocre. Of course, having established this taste by the time I was about 20, I haven't spent a lot of time seeking out Australian films. (But I am always interested in reviews of films whether I intend to see them or not, so I at least know a little bit about most films released.)
It is entirely possible that they have been ones made in the last 20 years that I might like, but then again that would cause a crisis in cinematic belief system. Anyway, it can be more fun to be cranky and unreasonable.
One thing about Australia films not really mentioned in the SMH article, and which bothers me, is their frequently claustrophobic physical scale. Even a "routine" relatively low budget American film will often have busy city street scenes, scenes at train stations, banks or somewhere with lots of actual people in the background. Which is what real life is actually like, for most of us.
It seems to me to be extremely common place that nearly all Australian movies (not counting American movies being made here), even if outdoors, will still not show busy outdoor scenes.
Of course, this is all part of the cost of making a film, and even the cheapest American product is much more expensive than your average Aussie one. So to the extent that it is hard to raise money for Aussie films, it can't be helped. (I wonder if it is hard to get unpaid extras for an Australian film?) It is still a reason why, more often than not, watching an Australian film puts me in mind of watching a play rather than watching cinema.
Finally, in the interests of balance, I have said before that Hollywood is going through a particularly barren number of years at the moment too. Still, I would have to say that mediocre Hollywood is more engaging than mediocre Australian.
Friday, May 12, 2006
On the NSA listening in..
Much outrage in the US about the NSA potentially working out who rings who. I am sure someone else has probably said it already, but anyway:
Since Eschelon became known, (since about 1988, according to an article here,) it's been a fair assumption that just about anyone's call anywhere in the world could potentially be being listened to.
Why did Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton not wear any wave of criticism for this?
The fact that such intelligence stuff goes on doesn't matter much if it it is not being abused, although admittedly it will always have the potential for abuse.
Frankly, at least while ever the world retains the capacity to bomb itself back to the stone age, having really, really good intelligence seems a very good idea, and worth the risk of abuse.
And one good thing about democracies: there are lots of opportunity for actual abuse to be disclosed. No? Well at the moment, what we are seeing is plenty of leaking about the mere potential for abuse.
Since Eschelon became known, (since about 1988, according to an article here,) it's been a fair assumption that just about anyone's call anywhere in the world could potentially be being listened to.
Why did Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton not wear any wave of criticism for this?
The fact that such intelligence stuff goes on doesn't matter much if it it is not being abused, although admittedly it will always have the potential for abuse.
Frankly, at least while ever the world retains the capacity to bomb itself back to the stone age, having really, really good intelligence seems a very good idea, and worth the risk of abuse.
And one good thing about democracies: there are lots of opportunity for actual abuse to be disclosed. No? Well at the moment, what we are seeing is plenty of leaking about the mere potential for abuse.
Expensive, but handy
Skype offers interpreting service In 150 languages - Telco/ISP - www.itnews.com.au:
Skype has teamed up with two firms to provide an interpreters service in more than 150 languages for callers using the VoIP service...
The service is touted as being available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at a cost of US$2.99 a minute.
Skype has teamed up with two firms to provide an interpreters service in more than 150 languages for callers using the VoIP service...
The service is touted as being available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at a cost of US$2.99 a minute.
How is it relevant?
California okays lessons on gays in textbooks�|�Reuters.com
The above story (short version: California's state Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would require textbooks in public schools to instruct students on contributions by gays and lesbians in the state's development) sounds too bizarre to be true.
How on earth is a person's sexual orientation relevant to what they have contributed to a state's development? But perhaps the bigger objection is to the compulsion to include it. Talk about going out of your way to upset your conservative constituents.
The above story (short version: California's state Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would require textbooks in public schools to instruct students on contributions by gays and lesbians in the state's development) sounds too bizarre to be true.
How on earth is a person's sexual orientation relevant to what they have contributed to a state's development? But perhaps the bigger objection is to the compulsion to include it. Talk about going out of your way to upset your conservative constituents.
Own your own spaceship
Private spaceflight | Rocket renaissance | Economist.com
Interesting article on various plans for privately run sub-orbital spaceships. I wish it had more pictures, though.
Interesting article on various plans for privately run sub-orbital spaceships. I wish it had more pictures, though.
Still under investigation
Health experts say cause for concern over "abortion pill"�|�Reuters.com
As a post here noted before, (I am going by memory here because the newspaper article link is no longer working) the problem is that the abortion pill's normal effects can mask what is actually an infection.
As a post here noted before, (I am going by memory here because the newspaper article link is no longer working) the problem is that the abortion pill's normal effects can mask what is actually an infection.
Black holes and extra dimensions
New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - When is a black hole like a dripping faucet?
Perhaps this is relevant to my previous posts about the uncertainties involved in creating micro black holes in particle accelerators.
What worries me is that so much about how they would behave seems unknown or unclear, and that this seems likely to still be the case when they might start to pop into existence at CERN in a year or so.
Perhaps this is relevant to my previous posts about the uncertainties involved in creating micro black holes in particle accelerators.
What worries me is that so much about how they would behave seems unknown or unclear, and that this seems likely to still be the case when they might start to pop into existence at CERN in a year or so.
An economics question
Michael Costello: Taking us down with them | News | The Australian
In the article above, Laborite Michael Costello criticises the budget because:
First and foremost, there is no strategy to rein in the current account deficit, which is running regularly at more than 6 per cent of gross domestic product and which has led to a national debt of about $500billion, still rocketing upwards. That's $23,000 for every man, woman and child in Australia.
He then quickly moves on to talk about skills shortage and training not being addressed.
Hang on, back to the current account deficit. This is all to do with private sector debt and import/export imblances, isn't it? Everyone acknowledges that there is no government debt now. Quite the opposite.
My question is: what are the possible government strategies to deal with large private sector debt, and our fondness for overseas goods?
It seems to me that this is an issue much raised on the Labor side, but (as in Costello's column) with virtually nothing said about how the government could tackle it.
OK, I know that Ken Davidson in The Age had a whole column about this, in which he wrote:
Given the unprecedented size of the foreign debt, a prudent government would measure every proposed expenditure and revenue initiative in the budget against its impact on net exports (exports less imports) in order to minimise the size of the current account deficit, which has to be financed by foreign borrowings.
But no, the Government is sticking with its discredited "twin deficits" thesis, to the effect that eventually budget surpluses, which add to national savings, will be reflected in current account surpluses.
It seems to me that this is not really an answer at all. There is no detail as to what expenditure and revenue measures could be taken to improve the current account deficit. I am guessing that this means that there is no magic cure; it would likely be a very tough nut for any governing party to crack.
Am I wrong?
In the article above, Laborite Michael Costello criticises the budget because:
First and foremost, there is no strategy to rein in the current account deficit, which is running regularly at more than 6 per cent of gross domestic product and which has led to a national debt of about $500billion, still rocketing upwards. That's $23,000 for every man, woman and child in Australia.
He then quickly moves on to talk about skills shortage and training not being addressed.
Hang on, back to the current account deficit. This is all to do with private sector debt and import/export imblances, isn't it? Everyone acknowledges that there is no government debt now. Quite the opposite.
My question is: what are the possible government strategies to deal with large private sector debt, and our fondness for overseas goods?
It seems to me that this is an issue much raised on the Labor side, but (as in Costello's column) with virtually nothing said about how the government could tackle it.
OK, I know that Ken Davidson in The Age had a whole column about this, in which he wrote:
Given the unprecedented size of the foreign debt, a prudent government would measure every proposed expenditure and revenue initiative in the budget against its impact on net exports (exports less imports) in order to minimise the size of the current account deficit, which has to be financed by foreign borrowings.
But no, the Government is sticking with its discredited "twin deficits" thesis, to the effect that eventually budget surpluses, which add to national savings, will be reflected in current account surpluses.
It seems to me that this is not really an answer at all. There is no detail as to what expenditure and revenue measures could be taken to improve the current account deficit. I am guessing that this means that there is no magic cure; it would likely be a very tough nut for any governing party to crack.
Am I wrong?
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Wasting technology
Why the World Doesn't Need Hi-Def DVD's - New York Times
This story (about the upcoming hi-def DVD wars) is a good read. Beta and VHS all over again....
This story (about the upcoming hi-def DVD wars) is a good read. Beta and VHS all over again....
A funny comment from The Age
Turning up the cringe factor - TV & Radio - Entertainment - theage.com.au
From the above review of the Logies (most of which I missed):
CSI's George Eads and Chris Non (sorry, Noth) were excruciating but not nearly as freaky as Bec and Lleyton's Epponnee Rae moment with baby Mia. She was kitted out in a miniature version of Bec's frock and sporting one of those baby headbands that look like they're covering up a manufacturing seam. Half Australia swooned, the other half threw up, though it did lead Rove McManus and Peter Helliar into one of the best lines of the night from Crown: "Sorry, we left our baby in the car."
My only comment about the show is that Bert Newton had a joke (and not just a passing one, he dwelt on it) about how everyone on Nine's Today show laughs too much. The audience laughed a lot at this.
I don't watch Today, but my mother and one TV reviewer I read have said the same thing. Now it seems that the entire TV industry agrees. Isn't that a bit embarrassing for the people on Today?
From the above review of the Logies (most of which I missed):
CSI's George Eads and Chris Non (sorry, Noth) were excruciating but not nearly as freaky as Bec and Lleyton's Epponnee Rae moment with baby Mia. She was kitted out in a miniature version of Bec's frock and sporting one of those baby headbands that look like they're covering up a manufacturing seam. Half Australia swooned, the other half threw up, though it did lead Rove McManus and Peter Helliar into one of the best lines of the night from Crown: "Sorry, we left our baby in the car."
My only comment about the show is that Bert Newton had a joke (and not just a passing one, he dwelt on it) about how everyone on Nine's Today show laughs too much. The audience laughed a lot at this.
I don't watch Today, but my mother and one TV reviewer I read have said the same thing. Now it seems that the entire TV industry agrees. Isn't that a bit embarrassing for the people on Today?
Checking out Japundit
Today's line up of articles on Japundit features 3 that you should see (permalinks here, with my own titles):
Proof that they are taking low child rate seriously
Shinto festival with a very big guest (probably workplace safe, it's cultural after all)
It doesn't take good looks to be an advertising star in Japan
Proof that they are taking low child rate seriously
Shinto festival with a very big guest (probably workplace safe, it's cultural after all)
It doesn't take good looks to be an advertising star in Japan
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