Monthly Archives: April 2005

A glimpse into early French ‘talkies’..

Posted on April 30, 2005 by Sophie Masson

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of research on early French ‘Talkie’ films, not only as background for my 1930’s crime series, which has a great deal to do with the film world, but also because my paternal grandfather, Robert-Rene … Continue reading →

Posted in Films and TV | 9 Comments

A few words about American talk radio (and related topics)

Posted on April 30, 2005 by Don Arthur

In this month’s Atlantic Monthly David Foster Wallace has a long article on Los Angeles talk radio host John Ziegler. DFW (as fans like to call him) spent a month hanging around KFI‘s studios. What he finally came up with … Continue reading →

Posted in Print media | 6 Comments

A nuclear power hypothetical

Posted on April 29, 2005 by Ken Parish

This post is inspired by a suggestion from reader Steve on my previous post about serious playfulness as a way of promoting constructive blog debate. Imagine that it’s 2006. The new Australian Prime Minister Dr Brendan Nelson has been convinced … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | 24 Comments

Serious playfulness at the brain gym

Posted on April 29, 2005 by Ken Parish

I initially posted the following as a comment to my recent post on global warming. But I think it’s worth creating a separate discussion thread: I think blogs offer a potentially very useful way to explore and understand complex issues, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorised | 23 Comments

Dr Jayant Patel: Butcher of Bundaberg Hostpital

Posted on April 29, 2005 by Nicholas Gruen

Writing my column I try to follow a fairly standard formula editors seem to really want this of commenting on topical events. Sometimes I find this preoccupation with what’s happening now really frustrating. It means that things at least in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments

If You Haven’t Got Anything Nice to Say – Sit Down Here

Posted on April 27, 2005 by Geoff Honnor

The art of the obit is a tricky one and potential exponents have had a field day recently what with Joh – a unique amalgam of the mayor of Porpoise Spit in Muriel’s Wedding and a dyslexic John Calvin – … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 25 Comments

Cognitive dissonance

Posted on April 26, 2005 by Ken Parish

Cognitive dissonance and its subset confirmation bias are behaviours of which all of us are guilty, probably more often that we like to admit even to ourselves. We’re not perfectly detached, perfectly rational beings. All of us have variable tendencies … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 34 Comments