Yesterday I followed this mellifluously titled article on why the author hadn't been able to write a best selling 'ideas book'. This is what I had to do. First, I needed to have a platform. A platform is something you stand on. It makes you taller than you are. In trade publis...
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Another Ignite Melbourne is on! What is that? Ignite is a format for public speaking which emerged from the tech sector. You get exactly 5 minutes to speak and you must speak to slides that move forward at a preset rate every 15 seconds. It's quite hard to do well, which is pa...
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[caption id="attachment_17826" align="alignright" width="500" caption="Photo credit: Matt McDermott"] [/caption] Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has a message for the Occupy Wall Street protesters : Keep focusing on gross inequality of outcomes and you'll get nowhere. Haidt and hi...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w833cAs9EN0 My previous post on the right led to my discovery of this great clip. Many will already have seen it. Anyway, enjoy.
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Update - Tweets placed in a more coherent context in In search of Qanilingus at CDU Law and Business Online . NB Australian Financial Review arguably has the best coverage and has no paywall for the weekend. downesy Stephen Downes by CDUlawschool Alan Joyce's secret ambition i...
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John Quiggin reprises an old theme of his - which I recall supporting previously (I'd forgotten that my post " the stupid party " was actually in response to another of John's posts/columns). In any event, I was talking to a CIS person the other day and mentioning that for me...
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Edit - I really want opposing views. Anyone who thinks there is a strong case for a concerted push for more literacy, please give it in comments At the Lowy Interpreter Andrew Carr says "One policy guaranteed to feature in the ' Australia in the Asian Century' White Paper is t...
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[caption id="attachment_17786" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Today's NT News front page (28 October) - a true classic of the genre even for that august journal of record"] [/caption]
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I didn't really expect that my recent posts about the somewhat indeterminate aims of the "Occupy ..." protest movement would result in a lively discussion thread about what I imagined was the entirely uncontroversial proposition that the limited liability corporation is by and...
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Moving backwards? Opposition leader Tony Abbott's project is "oriented to the past rather than the future, and it seeks to reinstate the past by projectively erasing the present", writes Mark Bahnisch . Bringing back tram conductors: The Greens want to bring back Melbourne's t...
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Twitter even allows you to convey complex if slightly tongue-in-cheek ideas, but possibly only to people who bother to follow the links: 11 hours ago CDUlawschool CDU Law School 1/2 Houses not o/priced tiny.cc/iwt9a but will fall over time due boomer retirement tiny.cc/2sw9b H...
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[caption id="attachment_17754" align="alignright" width="199" caption="Celebrity lawyer Chris Murphy"] [/caption] Twitter is a much more useful social media tool than I had imagined. I've been using it for several weeks now to produce the daily links to interesting legal stori...
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[caption id="attachment_17751" align="aligncenter" width="612" caption="Occupy Brisbane signage: Vaccines? And what are "chemtrails"? What about whales or nukes or live cattle exports? Must be getting old ..."] [/caption]
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Back in 2006 UK rumour-monger Guido Fawkes boasted that the news is no longer defined by big media . Laurie Oakes is afraid he's right. In his 2011 Andrew Olle Media Lecture , Oakes predicts that bloggers will soon be determining what is news. He says that political commentato...
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Now it may or may not have any connection with the debate about the pros and cons of the "Occupy ..." movement in Australia or elsewhere, but the following story by Cory Doctorow from techblog BoingBoing is both fascinating and disturbing, as much for the superb associated ima...
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A few months ago there was a blog debate about the tensions between a movement left and a wonkish left in pursuing political change, summarised neatly here by Matt Cowgill . A domestic sequel has arisen in Australia. In the United States the wonkish left, from Riksbank laureat...
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I recently decided to install an air conditioner in my study. Naturally, caring about the environment (but not enough to forego my comfort) I chose the most energy efficient model on the market (the only 6 star split system).[1] Got a phone call yesterday – the importer is out...
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I muse at CDU Law and Business Online about the broader implications of Eatock v Bolt in light of last night's Austin Asche Oration in Law and Governance by Federal Court Chief Justice Pat Keane. Discussion is solicited, there rather than here by preference.
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From today's piece for Crikey: First a declaration of interest. I’ve known Allan Asher, thought only really to say 'hello' to, since the mid 1990s. I liked him and, at least from my limited vantage point think he was shaping up to be a good Commonwealth Ombudsman. He’d also in...
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A winner-takes-all-society will fail: America's top 1 per cent might have the best educations, the best doctors and the best lifestyles, but their fate is bound up with how the other 99 per cent live, writes Joe Stiglitz . Harry Clarke agrees : "the inequality threat to the su...
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Well I can't say I really agree with the criterion of quality - but anyway, at least by our intrepid old friend Joel's lights file sharing hasn't harmed music making. Recent technological changes may have altered the balance between technology and copyright law for digital pro...
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It is by no means the first time that people blinded by faith or ideology have pursued false premises to absurd conclusions – and, like their religious and political predecessors, come to believe that those who disagree are driven by ‘woeful ignorance or intentional disregard’...
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It was a sign of things to come perhaps. As the All Blacks performed their pre-match war dance with its stamping, grunting, eye-bulging and tongue lolling, the camera cut away to a shot of Australia's Radike Samo. His face shiny with perspiration, was framed by a 'do that look...
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The Lodge in Canberra, the official residence of the Prime Minister will be closed for repairs for the next 18 months . Several figures, including Jeff Kennett , former NCDC head Tony Powell and Andrew Carr of the Lowy Institute deem this an exercise in turd polishing. A new,...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jskDDLjFvGA Ever since I've been being invited to the Prime Minister's Science Prizes I've regarded it as a great privilege to attend - even if I have to fly myself to Canberra and back. Almost invariably the people who wi...
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On my recent trip to the US it was fun that my previously measly Oz dollars bought nearly US$1.10. But another thing that illustrated was what a poor deal we get on many global goods and services. Before I went I investigated getting noise cancelling headphones. I didn't want...
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The Occupy Wall Street Movement is growing: "The challenge for those of us who believe in market economics is how to restore business legitimacy", writes Peter Shergold . The top one per cent: "One of the most striking successes of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been the...
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New post by me at CDU Law and Business Online . An extract: Moreover, yesterday’s behaviour by Murdoch’s Brisbane Courier-Mail of publishing edited extracts of a Liberal-National “dirt” file on Queensland Labor MPs rather suggests that it is high time for media behaviour to be...
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Why is tax reform so hard? Reviews such as the Henry Review often point to 'low-hanging fruit' where efficiency gains can be made without any significant equity costs. One oft-noted example is property stamp duty, where the Henry Review recommended its replacement by land taxe...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ii8m1jgn_M&feature=player_embedded
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I'm pleased to say that we have taken possession of several container loads of these items which Ken has suggested using as prizes instead of the Troppo Mercedes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V3G1cwqYkO4
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Anne Summers' essay on Andrew Bolt in The Monthly is free access for 24 hours. A key extract: Media and politics today are less a contest of ideas and more a continuing conflict of opinion. “Bolt’s genius is that he’s always finding the fault lines and finding an argument,” La...
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The OECD are entertaining the readers of their newsletter by asking them whether the worst is over. Apparently only 10% of people don't know. That's one informed readership. Nothing like having a few clairvoyants on board. Current results Is the worst of the global economic cr...
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At CDU Law Online - Colourful lawyers, police and the media (the Adam Houda wrongful arrest saga).
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In light of Paul Frijter's sketpticism about the possibility of co-ordinated international action on carbon emissions and his recent offer of a wager on the outcome of international action, I thought I'd try to put the economic problem into some of the language of Internationa...
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Seen any great blog posts recently? Written something you want to share? I'm a bit tied up today so this week's missing link belongs to you. Post your links in the comments thread.
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From the Sydney Morning Herald this morning. Paris-style train plan for city Jacob Saulwick October 6, 2011 RAIL services on the north shore, inner west, Bankstown, Hurstville and north-west lines would operate as single-deck, high-frequency metro-style trains under a plan bei...
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I attended the Federal Government's Tax Forum in the last two days which was quite worthwhile. I was supposed to have two goes at the 'inner circle' where you got to talk, but one of these two goes was subject to Julia Gillard not wanting a go. Turned out - on the question of...
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My blogging time over the last few days has been absorbed by creating a "social media presence" for my employer CDU Law School. It involves not only a blog but also Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn facilities. It's been something of a struggle to convince the powers-tha...
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The political fight over climate change policies continues to rage in our parliament, with the shadow minister for Climate Action apparently threatening a double dissolution of parliament if that is what it would take to repeal the current policies. The deeper question for ana...
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Peach Home Loans gives part of its commission each year for each of its borrowers. Last year we gave money to an appeal for African Women as I know one of the people involved. We're likely to do the same again this year, but we're also sending out cards and one can nominate pa...
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Many things are provided as public or collective goods that don't need to be. We don't need to provide hospitals or schools as public goods. We could provided them on a full choice, fee for service basis. But once we get to providing safety nets, minimum standards or free good...
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Martin Wolf has usually managed to moderate his inner interventionist. No longer, it seems. In his most recent column , he casts caution aside: "The time has come to employ this nuclear option [the printing press] on a grand scale." Not doing so, he says, would ensure a renewe...
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I think I listened to one of Martin Rees' Reith Lectures last year, but I listened to a couple yesterday and thought they were very good. I like a public lecture where the author skilfully throws of intimations of his own perspectives on life on the way to making his central p...
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Reading Tim Harford's excellent Adapt: Why success always starts with failure an idea occurred to me. He talks of the curse of the playpump - a photogenic aid strategy that appeals to celebrities and millionaires but which doesn't work. It's obvious that information about what...
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Clive Hamilton writes : Women's morality differs from men's. Feminist philosopher Carol Gilligan argues women are motivated more by care than duty, and inclined more to emphasise responsibilities than rights. They seek reconciliation through the exercise of compassion and nego...
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