A waterfront opportunity Labor may find too hard to resist

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Federal Labor are said to be considering eventually revoking those 'conclusive certificates' the former Howard Government slapped on documents covering the Australian waterfront dispute and mass sackings by Patricks Stevedores.

Won't that set the cat among the pigeons ten years down the track!

Perhaps we will be able to find out the truth of the rumour that John Howard 'engineered' this dispute and used $150 million of taxpayers money to underwrite those sackings.

At least we would probably get to see the 1998 ACIL-I aka Waterfront Strategy reported to be authored by consultant Paul Houlihan.

Howard and Reith may have led the charge to bring down the Maritime Union, but many of the current Coalition front bench were around in 1998.

Little Brennie Nelson was an MP at the time and became Secretary, Government Members' Employment, Education and Workplace Relations Committee in that same year.

And you thought cricketers played for the love of the game

Ever wondered what motivates a bloke - okay, and the odd sheila - to don the creams and play cricket? Well, Aussie cricketer Stuart MacGill (pictured below - thanks, Sydney Morning Herald!) has let the cat out of the bag.


According to MacGill, "People have many different motivations. For some it's ego, some it's for appearances, some it's for cash, for some it's to be a pain in the arse and for some it's to get out of the house."

However, MacGill reckons money is the primary motive for some of Australia's cricketers to play the game.

"I don't think it's a problem - provided the guy does his job I don't care what the motivation is."

Confirming just how out of touch Australian cricket's establishment is Australia's chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, rejected the idea that players were driven by money despite a survey, commissioned by the Australian Cricketers' Association, showing that 47 per cent of national and 49 per cent of state players would consider an early retirement to play in lucrative Twenty20 tournaments.

Read more about this matter in today's Sydney Morning Herald here.

The global warming fencesitter's dilemma

Playing devil's advocate to win from http://xkcd.com

Cease & Desist requests - one of the less travelled paths during the Obama v Clinton v McCain contest

It would appear that blogger allegations of Republican sexism and racism have entered the US presidential race, resulting in this little missive.

February 26, 2008

Sender Information:
SurveyU
Sent by: [Private]
[Private]
New York, New York, USA

Recipient Information:
[Private]
[Private]
New York, NY, 10009, USA

Sent via: Email
Re: Inaccurate article at http://jdel.tumblr.com/post/27338177

[Private],

We are SurveyU, authors of the survey reproduced in your post of February 26th at http://jdel.tumblr.com/post/27338177.
We are the sole author of the survey and received no payment or other consideration from any organization, including the one identified in your post, to create and distribute the survey. It is our intention to publicly release our analysis of the results.

We therefore request that you immediately amend the post to indicate those facts.

Without regard to your incorrect inferences as to whether this constitutes an attempt to architect attack strategies or create 'push polling', the survey uses a number of constructs commonly used by psychologists to measure attitudes toward race and gender (attached), and does not evidence any pre-determined bias or desired result. We used these constructs to attempt to measure whether race and gender are underlying motivators behind the voting intent of college students.

In a separate section of the survey a series of statements made by Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton were randomly assigned to one of the candidates or the other. This research technique is used to uncover any underlying bias that students have toward each candidate by seeing how the electability/appeal ratings differ when the same statement is attributed to each of the candidates.

Since you posted the article without any attempts to verify the accuracy ofyour information, we've gone out of our way to explain the survey methodology and intent to you, however, it appears that your motives are not to understand the research, but instead to draw attention to yourself.

SurveyU is proud of its use of scientific methods of gauging college students sentiment for the purpose of contributing to public discourse. We have produced a number of surveys for this purpose, all of which can be downloaded from http://www.surveyu.com/press_room.php

You are on notice that you have made false implications as to our motivations and our intent. We request that you either remove the post or reprint this letter in its entirety in the body of the post.

[Private]
Co-Founder SurveyU
--
[Private]
SurveyU - The Voice of the American Student

Copy of this request found at Chilling Effects along with a revealing secondary 'related link'.

Writers blogging 'til they drop? Not here in an Antipodean paradise

The New York Times is convinced that the world of web comment is one of 24/7 stress.

 

Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

To be sure, there is no official diagnosis of death by blogging, and the premature demise of two people obviously does not qualify as an epidemic. There is also no certainty that the stress of the work contributed to their deaths. But friends and family of the deceased, and fellow information workers, say those deaths have them thinking about the dangers of their work style.

The pressure even gets to those who work for themselves — and are being well-compensated for it.

"I haven't died yet," said Michael Arrington, the founder and co-editor of TechCrunch, a popular technology blog. The site has brought in millions in advertising revenue, but there has been a hefty cost. Mr. Arrington says he has gained 30 pounds in the last three years, developed a severe sleeping disorder and turned his home into an office for him and four employees. "At some point, I'll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen."

 

I am tempted to say life's not like that in Australia, but what I will say is life's not like that on the NSW North Coast.

For most of us blogging is tempered with various combinations of family, work, community volunteering, gardening, fishing, reading, walking, crossword puzzles, music, films, t.v., chinwags over coffee, shopping, creating art or crafts, home renovations, beer with mates, football, cricket, swimming and just plain lazing about in a little piece of paradise.

 

But then, I suspect that this is the case for most Australian bloggers. After all it only takes a nanosecond on the Net before pollies like Liberals Senator George Brandis offer up pure dross like Rudd didn't respect the Queen enough: Brandis demanding a prime ministerial 'necking'.

 

Hats off to Ken L. over at Road to Surfdom for alerting the southern hemisphere to the dangers of blogging with his post on the subject.

Imagine there's no relay, it's easy if you try

Could it possibly be that the over-hyped, obscenely expensive, politics riddled and ultra-greenhouse gas emitting Olympic Games has lost it's gloss?

Dare we imagine a world without that over-rated torch relay?

Could we possibly find ourselves finally with an Olympic year which doesn't clog the media with what is essentially sporting trivia?

Well, perhaps not yet - but this year's torch relay may yet signal a welcome return to placing sport in its proper perspective.

Elite athletics is not about world peace, the common good or social harmony. It is definitely not above criticism or social comment when self-indulgent national governments vigorously compete to hold these games and so heavily subsidise their 'sides'.

This year an alternative for free expression in China relay is taking place in hyperspace at www.penpoemrelay.org and on the ground.

Me - I won't be turning up anywhere to watch the flame go past.

The opening ceremony won't be on my teev on the night and the only Olympic sport I might watch will be the short grabs I accidentally see on the nightly news come August 2008.

A peaceful form of boycott? Nope. Simply never could abide all that jingoistic tripe!

The rest I leave to the Prime Minister who is doing a bonza job conveying Australia's official position on Tibet.

Art of the New South Wales North Coast

Dry Clarence Landscape by Robert Moore.

Majestic Gymea Lily by Pamela Griffith.

Focussed on Water by Nicki Holmes

A selection of local artists who exhibit from time to time at Grafton Regional Gallery

Australia 2020 summit not shaping up well

Australia 2020's moral policeman Rev. Tim Costello is in trouble, with the gaming industry pointing to a briefing paper he had prepared for the Strengthening Communities, Supporting Families and Social Inclusion working group which contained factual inaccuracies.

 

The 2020 website now posts all the background papers which disappoint for their lacklustre approach.

 

Longterm Health Strategy - a little gem which describes Australia's health system as "a sophisticated public-private and federal-state blend."

 

Strengthening Communities, Supporting Families and Social Inclusion - Tim hasn't corrected his allegedly faulty statistics.

 

The Future of Rural and Regional Australia - someone discovers that the "agricultural sector is an important source of income in rural Australia" and that "shortages of services and skills exist in rural and regional areas". But the real eye opener is this piece of wishful thinking; "But the agricultural sector is in a strong position to address the challenges of climate change."

 

The Future of Indigenous Australia - has this unique view of Australia's general indifference and underlying racism; "Mainstream attitudes towards Indigenous disadvantage are generally constructive, but the public is not well informed."

 

Governance - sit back and let flawed newspaper polls set government policy, because "Mass media not only relay information to the population. Opinion polls are one way in which they close the feedback loop in providing information about public opinion back to governments."

Understates the number of Australian political blogs - but then it uses The Australian as a source.

 

Full list of available 2020 topic downloads here.

Clarion call for NSW North Coast women

According to UNICEF the United Nations Children's Fund.

 

"Nearly 10 million children under age five die every year of largely preventable diseases," said Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF. "Many of the main global killers of children – including malaria and diarrhoea – are sensitive to changes in temperature and rainfall, and could become more common if weather patterns change."

 

In addition, women and children tend to be disproportionately affected by hurricanes and flooding, which climate change experts say will increase in intensity and frequency in coming years. The destruction of homes, schools and health centres resulting from natural disasters reduce services available to families.

 

Climate change experts also predict that warming and shifting rains could impact crop production, which could reduce food availability. In 2006, some 36 per cent of children globally were either moderately or severely underweight.

 

Last year's report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that malnutrition and associated disorders, including those relating to child growth and development, could increase as the global climate changes. Reduced supplies of clean water in some areas could also add to the burden on rural women and girls, who are usually responsible for collecting water for cooking and washing.

 

The voices of women and children must be heard and their needs assessed as part of the international response to prospective changes to the environment, and they must have access to the knowledge and tools necessary to protect themselves and their communities.

 

Women on the Northern Rivers must begin to face the fact that this climate change scenario also affects both them and their families, with a likely increase in injury and damage due to severe storms or flooding, a rise in mosquito borne diseases, heat stress and other health-related problems.

So far, local women's groups like Clarence Valley Women's Inc have been very silent on an issue which is coming straight at us all within our own lifetimes.

Accelerating republic debate for Australia?

With the country facing a myriad of environmental, economic and social problems, Kevin Rudd is quoted as suggesting an 'accelerating' debate this year on the subject of an Australian republic.

Yeah. Just what we really need at this juncture, a very public divisive national quarrel to divert us from the real work at hand.

The culture warriors might enjoy the thought but many of us would rather have all our teeth pulled.

The sight of Rudders constantly rising to the media fly this way and allowing it to set the political agenda exposes an irritating weakness.

So short, sweet and without rancour, Kev - p^ss orf!

Your behaviour is beginning to make Julia Gillard look like a very attractive option for PM about now.