Club Troppo

I was discussing a project with a software engineer last week and mentioned Gruen Tenders, which I've bored Troppodillians with previously here and here . He said that I was describing ' Evidence Based Scheduling ' as described by software geek and commentator Joel Spolsky (ob...

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Old pals Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser are on a campaign for better standards of ministerial accountability. Good on them. I read that (I think) Malcolm said it wasn't party political. It was addressed to all parties. Now I wouldn't for instance say that Howard is particula...

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Paul Kellys piece in last months Australian Literary Review was in its way quite well done. Many of his general arguments were not only sensible, but were expressed with clarity and, at times, considerable force. Nevertheless, as did Raimond Gaita in his response this month, I...

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That worthy organisation ACOSS has asked me to get the word out on their national conference - to be held in Adelaide on the 22nd and 23rd of November this year - just before election day! Since we hold various debates on social policy here, it seems like a good place to put u...

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Secret Internal polling conducted exclusively for Club Troppo , has found its way into the public domain today. This new poll, a welcome addition to the cacophony of other polls testing the mood of the nation reveals that my confidence in the Government as effective economic m...

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Hopefully Troppodillians will forgive me for tackling another Pearson piece only two weeks after my last effort. I'll try not to make a habit of it, I promise. With your indulgence, then, let's proceed. Is it relativism to hold our liberal democratic traditions to a higher sta...

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I was listening to the ABC Book Show and Ramona started talking about anti-spam technology - which rather surprised me. She was interviewing Luis von Ahn who created CAPTCHA who had now produced reCAPTCHA. You know those nasty little visual quizes you fill out to prove to some...

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Andrew Leigh and Joshua Gans' latest attack on the Howard Government is causing collateral damage. According to Helen Smart , the publicity surrounding their latest Baby Bonus paper "spawned a disgusting hatefest on news.com.au and similar forums, with all the usual suspects g...

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John Mathews emailed me suggesting I might be interested in posting a link to this op ed on development policy. He was right. The article makes points that I've quoted Dani Rodrik making against the Washington consensus in earlier posts . I have little doubt that the article i...

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The Sydney Morning Herald's article on the Sea-Eagles trying to sign Willie Mason has fallen to cost cutting journalism and now the server just returns a meta-comment which saves on journalist labor the and reader's precious time: Forbidden You don't have permission to access...

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1. News and Politics Stuff 2. Life and Other Serious Stuff 3. The Yartz 4. T.S.S 5. Mad, Bad, Sad and Glad This edition of Missing Link compiled by James Farrell, Gilmae, Peter Black, Amanda Rose and Ken Parish with editing by the latter. What with the election campaign and al...

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I went to Richmond last weekend to look at what I thought was an exhibition of paintings by Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack - sometime of the Bauhaus and subsequently art master at Geelong Grammar with transport to Australia being supplied by HMT Dunera in 1940. The exhibition turned o...

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Puke!

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This scene unfolded during an electioneering wander by John Howard through a shopping centre complete with all the hoopla of cameramen etc. A woman was knocked over. The video which can be accessed at the bottom of the page here only begins after the woman has hit the deck, so...

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As America entered the 1990s, Republican speaker Newt Gingrich was busy making plans for the nation's future. " I keep reminding my friends we've entered the decade of the teenage mutant ninja turtle ," he wrote. His plans for the decade of the TMNT included "transforming the...

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The article - filched from Crikey! is over the fold. Have no doubt, further plant closures in Australias car parts manufacturing industry are much closer than anyone thinks. The rapid escalation of the Australian dollar has created a price competitive crisis. But theres more t...

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As usual my correspondents seem incapable of taking responsibility for their own emotions. Troppo reader Don Arthur asks : Dr Troppo, I’d like your advice on something I read in the newspaper this morning . According to Peter Hartcher subjects in a Dutch study found politician...

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Peach's longest serving employee is pregnant! Isn't that good! Well I think so and so does she. But she now has a problem. She's a vegetarian because she hates eating meat (not because she's strict about it on principle). But she's very very tired a lot of the time given her p...

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What a lucky little girl Polly must be to have a dad who gives her a story like this for a fifth birthday present . Read it and other polished jewels at Melbourne playwright Sam Sejavka's blog Sails of Oblivion (via Alison Croggon's equally wonderful blog Theatre Notes ).

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In Nicholas's thread below tigtog raised the topic of The Sounds of Aus , John Clarke's documentary on the Aussie accent , written by Lawrie Zion . (Apparently there's no web site, nor even a page on the ABC site). I enjoyed it too, but a few issues weren't resolved to my sati...

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