Missing Link Daily

A digest of the best of the blogosphere published each weekday and compiled by Ken Parish, gilmae, Gummo Trotsky, Amanda Rose, Tim Sterne, Jen McCulloch and Stephen Hill

Politics

Australian

Holbein sketch of Lady Guildford (via Scarlett W Blue)

Apathetic Sarah notes that Queensland is to get its first nude beach. And that the Treasury Workchoices report being hyped by the press is soo last April.  Harry Clarke feels that the the date of publication of the report is not very relevant.

Harry also foresees a cataclysmic wages explosion flowing from the Brumby government’s agreeing to pay increases for teachers.

Jack Lacton is apoplectic about curriculum changes at Macquarie University.

In an article largely devoted to Sam Newman, Catherine Deveney has the temerity to diss a Gold Logie winner, and earns the ire of Andrew Landeryou.

Andrew Bartlett has seen the future of Queensland on a billboard. 

Andrew Leigh looks over te numbers and tries to come up with “middle Australia“.

International

Darryl Mason reports that the White House has lost a lot of e-mails about Iraq. As Richard Nixon might say, “expletive deleted”.

Derek Barry has a round-up of news on Cyclone Nargis, while Norman Geras and Ian Holliday speculate on the possibilities of longer term benign political consequences.

Terry Flew covers the Indiana primary in three guest posts for Larvatus Prodeo.  Peter Faris QC and Publius both predict the imminent demise of Hillary.


Economics

Joshua Gans is only getting started on the problem of parental support – i.e. paid parental leave – and promises more.

Peter Martin wonders why more people aren’t taking up job opportunities in the boom State of Western Australia.((Probably for the same reason the NT’s population only ever inches up despite prolonged boom conditions and excellent facilities: remoteness and isolation impose both financial and “separation from family and friends” costs that most people aren’t prepared to pay unless they have no other realistic choice ~ KP))

Harry Clarke takes issue with the proposition that selling dope in post offices would result in a reduction in consumption!


public transport

dolly

twins

yours like this?

Issues analysis

Andrew Leigh links to a paper on emerging financial sophistication in the people smuggling industry – COD. ((It can’t be long until there is a Facebook app or even a full blown Web 2.0 site offering trust metrics for people smugglers…100% positive ratings FTW~gilmae))

Fred Argy wants to clear the air on any perceived ideological bias he may or may not have against privatisation.

John Quiggin continues his focus on the Republican War on Science.

Kathy G looks at research on poverty and pain.

Having trouble teaching controversial issues to high school students?  Harry Brighouse provides convenient summaries of “for and against” arguments on two of them: abortion and parents designing their children. 


Arts

Lady Guildford after intensive study of happiness research realises that money can’t buy it …

Paul Martin suggests that Stefan Ruzowitzsky’s Foreign Oscar winning Holocaust film The Counterfeiters is “nothing special”

Andrew at the Art Life offers some images of anatomical theatre from the medical museums of Europe and the US, while linking to even stranger mishaps that resulted in the head of the Philip K. Dick android becoming the centre of a lawsuit against an American airline after the farcical revelations that the head of the robot is missing – having been left in the overhead storage compartment at the conclusion of an interstate passenger flight. Surely the irony of this incident is going to offer mirth for PK Dickheads for years to come through its abundant layers of irony. (SH – How will the robotics company ever know that they are in possession of the authentic facsimile of PK Dick’s head, its not like they can utilise the Voight-Kampff test upon their robot to make sure they have the “real thing”)

“Plaintiff brought the Head onto the plane in a carry-on duffel bag and stored it in the overhead bin. Plaintiff fell asleep during the flight from Texas to Las Vegas, and woke up when the plane arrived in Las Vegas. (Motion 1:22-25.) On waking, Plaintiff immediately left the plane to catch his connecting flight to San Francisco. (SUF ¶ 2, SGI ¶ 2.) Perhaps because he had just woken up, Plaintiff lacked the total recall 1 to remember to retrieve the Head from the overhead bin.”

Scott Esposito ponders the reasons behind the sudden rise of critical attention afforded to Chilean born writer Roberto Bolano in the USA, considering how the mythologising of the writer’s life assisted in attaining a broader attention rarely afforded to writers published in translation.

Scott McLemee picks the recent English translation of Victor Serge’s gut-wrenching novel set during the claustrophobia of 1940s Stalinist Russia Unforgiving Years as his current favourite work of fiction for 2008.

Alison Croggon reviews a Melbourne production of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs and wonders:

Aside from the obvious attractions of the beautiful language of these texts, its hard not to speculate that some kind of reclamation is taking place, a return to some of the nascent explorations that were blown apart by the catastrophic events of the 20th century, in particular the second world war. Its not nostalgia Im sensing here, but a certain curiosity, a certain desire, and Im intrigued to see where it leads.

Amanda Rose returns to her roots with a country muxtape.((The jazz one had too much bloody sax for my taste ~ KP))

Mark Bahnish reviews and gives the thumbs down to a new sci-fi novel The Philosopher’s Apprentice by James Morrow((I wonder if that’s the same bloke who once wrote a libertarian-oriented blog ~ KP))


Sport 

Tony is less than thrilled at the one-off interstate game in the AFL this weekend.


Snark, strangeness and charm

Ken Lovell updates contributors to his appeal for assistance for a Phillippines school on where the money went.

Is there an optimal way to be “in the moment“, wonders Norman Geras?

Tony the Teacher distills the flavour of Melbourne from a talkback radio segment.

Audrey Apple doesn’t like Samantha Brett.

Jeremy  approves of plain speaking

Lauredhel finds something salacious in the stacks.

Phil at veni vedi blogi finds his left wing principles challenged by a despicable person.

Gummo Trotsky uses the Fritzl case as an excuse to launch into McLuhanite weirdness, with the threat of more to follow.

skepticlawyer spreads her wings, finds her own digs and her own domain name.

  1. ba-dum-bump-chee[]

About Ken Parish

Ken Parish is a legal academic, with research areas in public law (constitutional and administrative law), civil procedure and teaching & learning theory and practice. He has been a legal academic for almost 20 years. Before that he ran a legal practice in Darwin for 15 years and was a Member of the NT Legislative Assembly for almost 4 years in the early 1990s.
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Amanda
15 years ago

[i]too much bloody sax for my taste[/i]

So sorry to disappoint, Ken! My tastes are veering towards hard bop right now and it rather goes with the territory. This one probably undoubtably has too much bloody pedal steel.

Amanda
15 years ago

Sorry about weird code, that’s how you do it on a message board I’m constantly on and its become a habit.

Laura
15 years ago

Listening to the tape right now. I don’t like Samantha Brett either, incidentally.

John Greenfield
John Greenfield
15 years ago

What has happened to Melbourne that this dopey Deveney bint has become the Luvvies sage? She would do well to address the questions she asked of Kate Richie to herself.

Has Catherine Deveney broken new ground in creative endeavour, challenged outmoded cultural stereotypes or questioned the human condition? Is she brave? Is she smart? Is she funny? No, she’s been an illiterate op-ed bloviating Luvvie for 20 years. And she’s certainly NOT pretty. What a pill.

Kevin Rennie
15 years ago

Re Iraq eamil:

It is surprising the the White House has not sent lots of fake email to itself supporting its current Iraq policies. Richard Nixon sent fake telegrams to himself in 1972 supporting the mining of Vietnam’s Haiphong harbour. He probably blanked the ones opposing him. Mind you it wouldn’t have hurt his landslide re-election later that year as it didn’t come out until afterwards. Truth overboard again!

Gummo Trotsky
Gummo Trotsky
15 years ago

Nothing brings out the bloviators like the casual mention of Catherine Deveney, does it?

And so quickly too!

John Greenfield
John Greenfield
15 years ago

Bloviating is fine. It is illiterate bloviating that is the enemy, you see.

Gummo Trotsky
Gummo Trotsky
15 years ago

In the phrase “illiterate bloviating” the adjective is redundant.

John Greenfield
John Greenfield
15 years ago

Do you file and take dictation as well?

John Greenfield
John Greenfield
15 years ago

Or perhaps you have been dating Miss Hathaway for too long?

John Quiggin
John Quiggin
15 years ago

I think we ought to declare John G a national living treasure, as the last person alive who thinks that attacking “Luvvies” is clever. Perhaps he could pass this dying trade on to his descendants, in the manner of the last Muggletonian.

Gummo Trotsky
Gummo Trotsky
15 years ago

Do you file and take dictation as well?

That question has a certain familiar ring to it.

John Greenfield
John Greenfield
15 years ago

Gummo

Actually, it is a response to an all too familiar snark. So you ARE dating Miss Hathaway? Quelle horreur! :)

LQ

Johnnie, Johnnie, Johnnie. I don’t think it takes much cleverness. You see, The Luvvies are the gift that keeps on giving. If only there were only one of you left. Alas, post-WW2 exuberance combined with advances in medical technology means we are still left with an awful lot of you for a few decades yet. So long as Labor keeps you at bay and throws the occasional off-cut to keep y’all salivating for years, the country can otherwise be safely and wisely governed to maintain cohesion and prosperity. The Luvviesphere is a harmless place to sequester The Luvvies. More humane than a zoo.

nabakov
nabakov
15 years ago

“I dont think it takes much cleverness.”

Yes, as your contributions amply demonstrate.

John Greenfield
John Greenfield
15 years ago

Good lord. Are you out of town at the moment? Otheriwse the bars have closed very early today!

Liam (Bring Back Punster Paxton)
Liam (Bring Back Punster Paxton)
15 years ago

This can only be solved by interpretative prance. I mean dance. Or do I?

Pavlov's Cat
15 years ago

Only Greensleeves could equate being fully literate and well organised with doing the menial chores that are properly done only by bints, and dopey ones at that. Exactly who, Greensleeves, do you expect to empty the chamberpots so regularly filled to overflowing with your errors?

Miss Hathaway, BTW, has eyes only for Jethro. If you can’t get your popular culture references right, You Would Do Well not to make them at all.

John Greenfield
John Greenfield
15 years ago

PC

Oh thank you, thank you, THANK you for completing the square. GT aka Jethro. You stick to the proofing and leave the popular culture references to me ;)

Fyodor
15 years ago

Mr G, the only culture in which you could be considered authoritative is the fungal variety residing between your tin ears.

Liam (Bring Back Punster Paxton)
Liam (Bring Back Punster Paxton)
15 years ago

Fyodor: Sledge 4/10. Concise and well-prepared with multiple references, let down by softness of the target. You would do well to refer to bints, Presbyterians or luvvies.
Hope this helps.

Pavlov's Cat
15 years ago

Liam, 4/10 for you too. It’s Presybterians!

(Mark B will back me up here.)

david tiley
15 years ago

We are not called luvvies any more. We are called teh government. Heh.

Francis Xavier Holden
15 years ago

amanda – I didn’t think it was even possible to have too much pedal steel.

Laura
15 years ago

I’ll start feeling sorry for him soon.

oh – no – it’s ok it went away.

As you were.

Shaun
15 years ago

So true brother. The notes in between, those crying quarter tones, are what stokes the heart.

Amanda
15 years ago

francis – I did not think it was even possible to have too much sax!

Fyodor
15 years ago

…let down by softness of the target

Inevitable, really. I imagine this is a recurring problem for Mr G.

As far as soft targets go, I reckon Mr G is the Stay Puft Monster of Ozblogistan.

Besides, since when have we been marking against a difficulty factor? I suppose I have to sledge National Blogging Treasure Dave Tiley to hit a Perfect “Chad-Michael Michaels” 10, do I? Homey don’t play dat.

Liam (Bring Back Punster Paxton)
Liam (Bring Back Punster Paxton)
15 years ago

Well Dave’s #22 was a pretty good example.
*I’ve* always given kudos for challenging verbal abuse, I mean, sure it’s fun to go around the mulberry bush with Joe Cambria for shits and giggles, but there’s nothing like a decent intra-blog fight. It brings things out into the open and catalyses [ahem] into healthy verbal sparring all of the ill-feeling that gets bottled up.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it: get a blogger of eminence and patience to sledge you *back*. That’s right. It’s time to bait Quiggin.

Fyodor
15 years ago

Your hurdle’s too high, Haiku. I shudder to think what level of Birdist lunacy would be required to generate the casus blogi for a spray from JQ. I disagree with him on lots of issues, but he’s unfailingly reasonable and courteous in debate. That kind of unprovoked bagarre is best avoided, I think. Failing that, you first.

I enjoyed Dave’s #22, too [say that quickly five times], but of what was it meant to be a good example?

Liam (Bring Back Punster Paxton)
Liam (Bring Back Punster Paxton)
15 years ago

A ripper riposte, if not a superb personal sledge per se.

Fyodor
15 years ago

Aye, true.

Cardinal de Richelieu
Cardinal de Richelieu
15 years ago

Yeah, why don’t you have a stoush with that prick the Duc d’Orl

Fyodor
15 years ago

Depends. What’s his position on the gold standard?

Cardinal de Richelieu
Cardinal de Richelieu
15 years ago

– Whats his position on the gold standard?

Reclining. On Cloth of Gold.