September 2011
1 post
The coming end of work?
There was a time, not that long ago, when technology advanced so quickly that millions of employees were put out of work, never to return to the workforce. I speak, of course, of horses, put (literally) to pasture at the turn of the 20th century as the mechanisation of agriculture and the rise of the automobile irreversibly changed the economy.
So far, despite the massive technological advances...
August 2011
1 post
A rant for our times.
It’s been a cunt of a week. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I always thought that Things Are Getting Worse, but even in my most violent spasms of raw pessimism, I never thought things would get this bad this fast.
It’s not just the riots. I mean, it is, because the naked fact that a significant chunk of our alleged society is so alienated that they turn against it can only be...
July 2011
2 posts
A letter to Peter Marks, Chief Executive of The...
Mr Peter Marks peter.marks@co-operative.coop Chief Executive The Co-operative Group Ltd
Dear Mr Marks,
I write as a member of The Co-operative Group, and someone who shares its values.
You will, no doubt, be aware of the recent allegations published in The Guardian detailing the actions of the News of the World newspaper, a News International publication. The allegations are of a vile nature,...
Why the working class/eudaemonic/whatever...
So, in a few corners of the internet, talk has turned again to revolution. I don’t believe it, and I give you 25 reasons why it won’t happen. Ever. Because people with MBAs are still taken seriously, and allowed to largely determine the direction of society.
Because the very architecture of the buildings we live in atomises us and separates us, preventing us from knowing our...
May 2011
1 post
Nick Dyrenfurth is a Disingenuous Arsehat
In today’s Australian, Nick Dyrenfurth rails against the “nihilist left”, which turns out to be anyone who doesn’t agree with his view that the extra-judicial killing of Osama bin Laden was the greatest thing since the Inclosure Acts. The shrill tone of the piece belies its intellectual squalor, and the precarious moral scaffolding upon which the justifications are built....
March 2011
1 post
So, what happened?
So, for the Greens at least, the NSW election wasn’t as good as hoped. It wasn’t a clusterfuck, by any means - take it from someone who saw a genuine clusterfuck when I was a member of the Australian Democrats for the 2004 federal election. But it wasn’t a glorious success, either.
There is a cruel all-or-nothingness that taunts parties at the stage in their growth where the...
February 2011
1 post
So, I'm Leaving Sydney
After a reasonably intense two years attempting to get my company Constrex up and running, and not getting much market traction, I’ve decided to close it down and move on to bigger and better things.
So, having now got my visa, and booked my flights, I’m leaving for London on March 26 and, at this stage, plan to spend two years there. I’m looking forward to it, not least because...
January 2011
1 post
Missing the point on the power selloff ripoff.
Anyone of the slightest intelligence reading the common press in New South Wales cannot fail to notice the shallow understanding displayed of most issues, nor the narrow intellectual spectrum of ideas which are permitted to be expressed. The latest in the litany of examples of these tendencies is the present brouhaha over the privatisation of electricity retailers.
An honest press enquiring into...
November 2010
2 posts
The Pike River Mine Disaster: Your part in their...
Most people would have watched the unfolding Pike River mine disaster on their 42-inch plasma TVs, and expressed their sympathy for the miner’s families under the glare of their house lighting.
Here lies the obvious, yet unspoken, irony: the very setting where most people have seen the worst parts of coal mining is powered by that very coal, hewn from the ground at the risk of miners’...
On the Anticipation of the Uncertain Return
Amongst my most treasured of feelings, is that of the Anticipation of the Uncertain Return.
Let me explain what I mean. It usually strikes at airports, perhaps train stations. You’ll be looking at the vehicle which is to take you to some place. Not just any place, but a place you haven’t been before, or have visited rarely. Your chest tightens imperceptably, your heart rate rises,...
August 2010
2 posts
It couldn't be any worse than our current... →
The ass-backwards arguments against gay marriage.
Another day, another barely intellectually respectable diatribe offering some rationale why gays and lesbians shouldn’t be demanding the right to marriage. Le sigh.
The basic premise is this: that because its arguable whether the state has a legitimate right at all to sanction marriage, or because marriage is itself a flawed institution for whatever reason, that gays and lesbians should...
June 2010
3 posts
Winning a House of Reps seat: what it takes
Some thoughts on the tactics and requirements for an independent candidate to have a good chance at winning a division in the Australian House of Representatives at a general election.
2.8 million interactions. In advertising, a rule of thumb is the “rule of seven”, which says that a consumer will need to be exposed to an advertisement 7 times before they act on it. Applying this to...
May 2010
3 posts
Identity Fascism: Why I'm quitting Facebook
The time has come for me to leave Facebook. Having spent the best part of 5 years on it, it’s not a decision I’ve taken lightly, but recent events have shifted the nexus between its cost and its benefit to the point where I no longer think it’s worthwhile to stay.
Facebook itself has changed, from being a private network between friends to being a commercial experience, where...
April 2010
4 posts
Could the internet filter increase the online...
The actual danger posed to children online is a function of two things: the actual risks that exist online, and the effectiveness of control measures that parents put in place to mitigate those risks.
Though the filter proponents seem unwilling to mention them, there are plenty of other risks to children in the online environment:
Disclosure of private or personal information
Contact with...
March 2010
3 posts
On #nocleanfeed and Doublethink
I have been pondering Stephen Collin’s response to my last foray into the #nocleanfeed argument for some time now. And I think we’re both wrong, though at a deeper level than we’ve argued previously.
It’s axiomatic that before people will agree with your arguments, that they must believe your arguments. This is a problem for the #nocleanfeed argument (certainly as...
Why I won't be checking in to FourSquare
Nobody can escape the flood of Foursquare notifications on Facebook and Twitter from their friends as neophyte users of Foursquare broadcast their every movement, yet to realize that their friends don’t really care that much that they’ve checked into their bus stop, or whatever.
Those who know me know I like Twitter. And the reason I like it so much is that you self-select your...
Where should government end?
Mike Casey’s latest blog post raises an important issue with broader implications than the ill-conceived grab for control of the internet by the Australian Labor Party.
The internet is the way of the future, it is not something to control, it is something to educate about and encourage.
This raises two points: one tactical and one philosophical.
The tactical point relates to the open...
February 2010
5 posts
Getting fenced in by porn: Why #openinternet is...
In the years before Barack Obama took the rulebook of American politics, ripped it up, burnt the pieces and pissed on the ashes, the Democratic Party elected Howard Dean as its chairman. Dean’s legacy has been swept away by the tide of Obama’s campaign, but he was instrumental in the Democratic recovery of the US House of Representatives in the 2006 election, and his “50-state...
Is software engineering really engineering?
I’ve followed a more unusual career path than most into software development, having qualified as a mechanical engineer and spending the last few years working in both engineering and construction on such things as alumina refineries and sewage treatment plants before my current work.
I half-jokingly tweeted that software engineering was a less than a full engineering discipline, reflecting...
“I do not say that John or Jonathan, that this generation or the next, will...”
– Henry David Thoreau, Walden
All you need is love? Oh, for fuck's sake.
So BlackBerry is the latest company to join the inglorious list of many who’ve purloined a Beatles song to attempt to sell their dull and mediocre wares. This isn’t even the most egregious offence: That honour belongs to George Bush and friends indulging in that same song at an APEC conference some years ago.
John Lennon must twitch in his grave every time the song he wrote is abused...