Howard channels Pig-Iron Bob
March 29, 2006Howard’s desire to sell uranium to China has significant reminiscences of Robert “Pig-Iron Bob” Menzies selling iron-ore to the Japanese totalitarian empire while it was engaging in human rights abuses in Nanking, China in the 1933 invasion of Manchuria.
Chalabi as AWB’s nemesis
March 24, 2006As reported in the Melbourne Age, it seems Ahmed Chalabi was behind the Australian Wheat Board monopoly investigation for kickbacks to the Hussain regime.
Listening Experiments
March 24, 2006A project I’ve been involved with at the Music Cognition Group of the UvA is an online experiment into the ability of listeners to discriminate timing and tempo changes in Classical, Jazz and Rock music.
The Cost of Globalisation: McJobs
March 13, 2006Straight from the mouth of corporate America and using the U.S. Federal government statistics higher educated wages are falling, while lower skilled jobs wages (“McJobs”) are actually increasing in the U.S. As the article itself posits, it could be a statistical anomaly, or it could be the result of outsourcing as a result of globalisation…
Relativism
March 2, 2006As the debate rages over whether to fund Hamas, “a democratically elected terrorist organization”, it’s worth considering how the claim of the state of Israel and it’s terrorist group, the Ergun, responsible for bombing British hotels in Palestine in 1946, were allowed to be legitimate.
Cruel and Degrading Treatment
February 9, 2006The report in the New York Times of the force-feeding of detainees at Guantanamo Bay is harrowing. The use of restraints and force feeding is undeniably cruel and degrading treatment. While there is some partial acknowledgment that the inmates of Guantanamo bay were far from known militants:
Bobcasting
February 4, 2006I’ve been following the press releases of Australian Greens Senator from Tasmania, Dr. Bob Brown for some time. I was delighted to find he is now podcasting, calling in on his mobile phone about his position on issues, called, appropriately enough, Bobcasting. You can find his links also on the iTunes podcast directory.
The Thummer
December 26, 2005A project on which I worked for much of 2005 was The Thummer, an innovative musical keyboard which I’m very pleased to see has now reached public release. In particular, their video news release is well worth viewing.
Cronulla: Blue Singlets Make Better Beachware Than Brown Shirts
December 11, 2005The image of a mob of mostly young men in singlets (typically and traditionally blue) attacking a man possibly of Middle Eastern descent crystalises the character of the Cronulla race riot.
Letter sent to the Singaporean Prime Minister’s office
November 21, 2005I beg you to show clemency to Nguyen Tuong Van, who has rightly been found guilty of drug trafficking. A long period of inprisonment would maintain a strong deterrent against narcotics trafficking and yet produce a future citizen of worth. I understand the firm stand Singapore takes on drug trafficking and support firm but humane…