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The bottom line... that's what people who don't want accountability always focus on. Not on the numbers that got you to the bottom line. People who want accountability want to know how you GOT that bottom line.

Regarding Kerry and his service, I'll stick with McCain's opinion- Kerry served honorably and no dirty trick is going to change that. There are some sick people out there. He volunteered for combat, I don't particularly care about the shiny objects bestowed upon him after the fact. But tell me, do you think the people who give out medals are that stupid?

Bush's administration lied about certainty and specificity. Bush's State of the Union address identified specific quantities of specific substances, and Rumsfeld announced their location. You don't do those sort of things when you're not sure. All the others were emboldened by the administration's confidence in those findings, and rightly so; you'd expect the executive branch to have the best access to intelligence. When people raised doubts they were told "trust us, we know what we're doing". Well, Fool me once, shame on you, as they say.

And I defy you to come up with any methodology by which you can show that more civilians would be dead if Saddam were still in power than as a result of the war. As a conservative estimate over 11,000 civilians have been killed directly as a result of this war. So far we only know about 5000 or so from Saddam's reign, and it seems that many of these were from the insurgency after the first Gulf War that the US encouraged but failed to support. Furthermore, it's not clear at all that Allawi is going to be any better. You may recall that this is why we didn't take out Saddam the first time- it was judged that Saddam was a known quantity, and humbled at that- it was not clear that we could easily do better. This alone does not show that the war wasn't justified, but it does show that your thinking is very lazy.

As for the bombing strategy, duh you use different tactics in different places and if they aren't useful then you evaluate your chances of success and the cost of the conflict in the specific case. 900+ American soldiers dead and over 10,000 Iraqis dead so Allawi can demonstrate even faster Due Process than Texas under Bush.

Why do you want to talk about Michael Moore so badly? Quit trying to change the subject.

Here's a recap of our discussion of Bush's AWOL:

Me: Bush was AWOL, here's the facts that prove it.
You: That site is partisan.
Me: That doesn't change the facts it contains.
You: MICHAEL MOORE MICHAEL MOORE!
Me: WTF?

Can't believe I'm wasting my time on you. In a sense you win- there goes 15 minutes I'll never get back and no one who cares will ever read this.

In Australia voting is compulsory for both the state and national senate & house elections. We consistently get something like 90%+ turnout. Alice & Bob can't afford the fine so they vote. What I can't understand is how we end up with a 2 party system that basically mirrors the farnarckled Rep/Dem thing you have going on over there. The ABC ( think Aussie BBC ) has recently introduced a policy?. The world seems to be rapidly sliping into the three police states of Winstons time and we have no one to blame except ourselves.

Or maybe "infinity minus a day".

-------
Richard Aedy: And the US - which as you mentioned has big TV and film and recording industries - wants to push all of these boundaries out.

Colette Ormonde: Oh yeah, they can't extend it indefinitely because that's against the US Constitution so the phrase is 'infinity minus a day.'

Richard Aedy: (laughs) That would take a lawyer to come up with I think.

Colette Ormonde: Oh yeah.

From http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/buzz/stories/s995 919.htm
-------

Well, I sent a letter to Senator Lundy and asked HACK to do a story on it (which they politely declined, having done an FTA story a couple of weeks back).

But the problem is I live in a staunchly Liberal electorate. There's really not a lot I can do with threatening to vote against them.

Fry

...this event has graved itself into the national psyche...

It's been in the news a lot over the last month. Here I thought everyone was using the "Dingo's got my baby" quote because they were keeping up with the news, but instead they were just refering to some old movie. That's Slashdot for you. :)

Read about it at:
The Australian
ABC

There was a good debate on Lateline last night about this, between the health minister and opposition health minister. At least the ALP seems to understand the seriousness of dodgy patents with regards to pharmaceuticals, if not with software.
Frankly, I think Gillard owned Abbott. She was informed, rational and thoughtful in the debate. Abbott couldn't seem to murmur a sentence in his defence without the words "figleaf" and "anti-American" inserted somewhere.

The more bilateral treaties the US can sign which contain DMCA, Software Patent and Big Pharma-friendly provisions, the less chance it will have of repealing such laws. The U.S. executive will be able to point to these bilateral treaties and shrug - we couldn't change them even if we wanted to. THAT is why GW Bush signed the treaty just now (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1168 234.htm) with unseemly haste. Not because Australia matters economically to the U.S., but because it helps to entrench these obscene laws in the U.S. and put them beyond the reach of future legislation.

1. Are you a Primary Producer? [read Farmers and Miners]

The Primary Producers have so much sway even in this day and age. They get more access to sell Tin/ Chrome/ Wool/ Lamb and the technology and intellectual capital gets shoved under the rug.

This is what has occurred here.

Australia is entirely dependent on US for defence as well. The Australian Army has enough ammunition for 3-5 days of full combat. There is almost always a few days lead time before invasions, and these two combined is designed for enough time for the US to step in and back us up. This is why Australia is so closely aligned with the US.

Australia is content having the Brain Drain. To the politicians on both sides, the net benefit outweighs the loss of innovation.

The opposition has attached two non-negotiable conditions to their support of the "Free" Trade Agreement legislation. The government has said will not agree to one of these conditions. This might delay the passage of the legislation until after the next election, by which time the balance of power could have changed and the legislation can be considered on its merits instead of political manoeuvring. If the deadlock is never resolved the legislation might die a natural death.

There was an interesting report on 4 corners (Australia) last night concerning the FTA and its impact on the PBS (the scheme that Australia has for keeping drug prices set appropriately based on the actual benifit the drug provides).

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2004/s11654 35.htm

There were a couple of interesting points. Like large pharm companies in the US spend more money on marketing than they do on R&D. Why on earth it should be legal for them to market direct to customers is beyond me - shouldn't a doctor be making an medical decision here?

They also pointed out that a large amount of R&D actually takes place at research labs in acedemia and that large US pharm companies then pick up patents (cheap for them compared to doing the R&D themselves) and make a great profit churing them out. So I wouldn't be too quick to say large US pharm companies are doing the majority of R&D.

It should also be pointed out that large US pharm companies fight to keep generics out of the market so that they maintain a monolopoly in order to maintain high prices.

At the end of the day the large US pharm companies are fighting using any and all tatics to make as much money as they possibly can.

Supersonic jets using afterburners use ungodly amounts of fuel.

correct, but the Concorde didn't ordinarily use afterburners; it had them only for the greater thrust demands at take-off and during acceleration, not for cruise. it was an expensive plane to run largely because of its low seating capacity and short range, which barred it from many of the lucrative trans-Pacific routes.

(some have also argued that the low-to-nil bypass ratio of the Concorde's Olympus engines made it more expensive to run. that may be true; i don't have any really convincing evidence either way.)

I've heard the Concorde made slightly less noise than a 747-400 or something like that.

that would have had to depend on what the plane was doing. during landing, i can well believe the difference might have been small; during take-off (under afterburners, natch!) that would very much surprise me; and while supersonic, absolutely not.

Concordes were politically acceptable so long as they stayed subsonic over land, so nobody would complain about the boom. they were also hideously expensive to run, which in a more rational world might have shut them down all by itself, but apparently there were enough eccentric ultra-rich people to keep them flying for decades in spite of that fault. no amount of money, however, would let them reamin at their designed cruise speed above anyplace people lived, and that was as much a political shortcoming as a technical one.

Heart Pump , 30 October 2003

old news. patients are already benefiting from LVADS in melbourne. There was a story on ABC Catylst (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Heart Pump , 30 October 2003 (full transcript) where one of the recipients received a pump. The news presenter tried to find a pulse, but none could be found due to the continuous pump. Interestingly the body seems to adapt to it.

The company who is commercialising this technology, Ventracor lists more faqs here.

Heart Pump , 30 October 2003

old news. patients are already benefiting from LVADS in melbourne. There was a story on ABC Catylst (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Heart Pump , 30 October 2003 (full transcript) where one of the recipients received a pump. The news presenter tried to find a pulse, but none could be found due to the continuous pump. Interestingly the body seems to adapt to it.

The company who is commercialising this technology, Ventracor lists more faqs here.

Heart Pump , 30 October 2003

old news. patients are already benefiting from LVADS in melbourne. There was a story on ABC Catylst (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Heart Pump , 30 October 2003 (full transcript) where one of the recipients received a pump. The news presenter tried to find a pulse, but none could be found due to the continuous pump. Interestingly the body seems to adapt to it.

The company who is commercialising this technology, Ventracor lists more faqs here.

Like, a few years ago. I also remember seeing it on TV in Britain. IIRC there were problems keeping the thing from getting clagged up, because the body tries to coat foreign objects with tissue, but IANA physician.

They can change UNIXWare to BOB ...

"Bomb On Board"? I don't believe for a moment UNIXWare could be "Best On Board"...

• the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) - government-owned, considered to be left-leaning regardless of whoever is in power, but probably more central than left. Programming consists of everything from mainly British shows to innovative local productions - which usually never achieve popularity until they are head-hunted / ripped off and mangled by one of the 3 commercial stations. Ad-less (well, internal ads only, between programs)
  
• SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) - known as "Sex Before Sleep" by people who think the word "knickers" is rude and funny. Nominally a "multicultural" station (in the best sense of the word), plays everything from PBS news and documentaries, through comedy (South Park, Daily Show, etc), anime, non-mainstream sport (soccer, Tour de France, etc), to "European" movies ;-) Semi-commercial - government sponsored, but with commercial advertising between programs.
  
• 7, 9, & 10 - the 3 commercial channels. One's tied up with AOL, another's tied up with Microsoft / MSN, and the other one has no money so runs "The Simpsons" on a mobius loop interspersed with "Big Brother", "Australian Idol", and even less-successful local reality TV. All run as many programs as they can fit in between the ads...
  

Obviously our Government doesn't have enough budget set up for the program to go on. Don't worry, earth is our home.

1) Grandparent poster was funny. Admit it. What is inherently childish about making a joke?

He's not mocking Christians. He's mocking insane Christians, who really do exist. Read about faith healers. Crazy.

2) What did his post have to do with Darwinism? Why did you bring that up?

3) Despite the article write-up, I fail to see how this gives evolutionists any more "ammo." (And I'm an evolutionist.)

If you find yourself debating evolution, and the evolutionist brings up this peice of news as a general peice of evidence for evolution, then you don't need to finish the conversation. The evolutionist obviously doesn't understand evolution. (This happens a lot.)

4) How did grandparent post offend you? I don't understand.

for these reasons alone I love living in a place where if I'm outside it can be hard to be captured by image because of the size of the country.

the closest we have to cctv in melboure was some cameras put up in sept-oct '81 for CHOGM. This of course in under review as the 2006 commonwealth games are being planned.

But getting a shirt and some dacks at a local store on the weekend illustates how insidious observation has become. I picked up a buiness card seeing where was an online ordering option and I happened to notice the terms of condition for entry into the store.

If you refuse to have your bag searched the company reserved the right to use video images to refuse entry into *any* store in the future indefinatly.

• ``For YOUR protection, a video record of you and your establishment is being transmitted and recorded at remote locations. [insert darkglass here on shirt] All criminal acts prosecuted.''

  Steve Mann, Shooting back.

The problem for me is twofold, double standards and unnecessary data collection. Double standards becuase I bet the store owners and company in question would object if I did a steve man on them and put them under surveillance , secondly the potential for abuse or mistakes made using this approach.

In a country where noise is made about *free speach*, *innocence before guilt* and *privacy* I'll make less of a noise when pollies allow visual transmission of 100% of parliamentary procedure and not cut transmission due to parliamentary standing procedure to avoid honourary members falling into disrepute.

Who modded parent Insightful? The page linked to in the parent post talks about a ruling by the International Court of Justice at The Hauge, not the United Nations. The U.S. disagreeing with the International Court of Justice is not the same as disrespecting the United Nations.

The UN is mentioned in the article, however:

"It may complicate the process, it could distract from the political work at hand, I know there's been talk about taking this back to the UN," [US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher] said.

"We don't think there's a need for a General Assembly action at this point."

Meanwhile Arab governments are pressing for an urgent meeting of the United Nations General Assembly to call for the destruction of the barrier.

Isn't it obvious from reading the article that the action by the International Court of Justice is now prompting talk of action in the UN? Wouldn't it therefore follow that these are two separate institutions? Yes, very Insightful post by the parent.

Now, the question of whether the U.S. is doing the right thing in the Israeli wall/fence/barrier/whatever issue is a completely valid one. And, it may also be (most certainly is) true that the U.S. does indeed disrespect the UN. But please, site something relevant next time.

U.S. authorities accused him of violating U.N. sanctions imposed against Yugoslavia by playing the match.

Yeah 'cos we all know about the US's unwavering respect for the UN...

But only when it suits...

...to Firevouz. But then I suppose Donald Trump would be upset.

The dictators we support, in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, Libya, and elsewhere, serve only select global corporate interests, while fueling the sources of terrorism, at the convenience of a corporate US government.

Libya has given up the quest for nuclear weapons, in return for a normalization of diplomatic status. I submit that Libya not having nukes is of more than "global corporate interest".

The US bombed the crap out of the Serbian military, not the people.

Amnesty International disagrees with your assessment.

That's one reason we don't have Serbian suicide bombers attacking us.

Another, more likely reason is that the Serbs aren't Muslim. Non-Muslim suicide bombers are pretty rare. They exist, but not in great numbers. Also, we don't have many suicide bombers attacking us at all. They're mostly attacking Israeli civilians, Iraqi civilians, and Iraqi police.

And let's have a citation backing your belief in (and promotion of) the lies about Iraqi support for Al Qaeda, which have been definitively debunked by, among others, the 9/11 Commission.

Here's your citation. If a US Federal Court decision isn't enough to convince you that it's not a lie, then I doubt any proof could.

As for being debunked by the 9/11 Commission, they haven't released their final report yet, but the staff statements so far have not debunked anything. Pre-report staff statements have said they have found no evidence of a collaborative relationship in regards to the 9/11 attacks; they made no effort to prove there was no financing of Al Qaeda activities, and current events suggest they are not done with this issue. I'd hold off on calling their lack of evidence an evidence of lack at least until they release their report, if I were you.

See original post #3, about lying to the public, and calling it official intelligence - to which which you declined to respond, since everyone already knows better than whatever veiled apology you'd contrive for BushCo's lies about intelligence they make up to justify their malevolent agenda.

I didn't respond to it because it was a baseless insult without any evidence to back it up. It wasn't worthy of addressing.

However, if you insist:

Intelligence is sometimes wrong. That doesn't mean it's made up. Much of the intelligence upon which we were acting when we invaded Iraq dates from before Bush ever took office, and was deemed compelling by, among others, John Kerry.

How about people accepting that torture is unacceptable, rather than crying "blame the troops" whenever they're not chanting "support President Bush and our troops"

How about recognizing the difference between interrogation and torture, instead of trivializing the plight of those who were actually tortured by Saddam's regime? Those who were raped? Murdered? How about not attempting to conflate the policies with which you disagree and the illegal actions of a few sick criminals, that are completely different than those policies?

How about recognizing that Donald Rumsfeld initiated investigations that have already resulted in convictions, with more to follow, of those involved in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners? How about recognizing that the General in charge was yanked from her post almost immediately, again thanks to Rumsfeld?

See, the difference you're missing here is that when American Soldiers do something unacceptable to Iraqi prisoners, they go to jail. Under the regime we displaced, which if you had your way would still be there, they'd be promoted.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Welcome to the program.

Many Australians have been voicing their concern about this country's front-line role in the campaign to attack Iraq, but so far the Howard Government has stood firm.

So how will it deal with another Australian who's reportedly declared Government policy against Iraq is dumb and not worth the risk?

Well, not so easily, when that opinion comes from a senior analyst in the Office of National Assessment, Andrew Wilkie, and pinned to that is his resignation.

The Office of National Assessment gathers and interprets an enormous flow of global intelligence material and briefs the PM accordingly.

Andrew Wilkie is a Duntroon graduate, a former soldier, a lieutenant colonel and has dropped a bombshell in the national capital tonight with a stinging criticism of the Howard Government's policy on Iraq.

He joins me now from Canberra.

Andrew Wilkie, is it accurate to describe you as a senior analyst with the Office of National Assessment?

ANDREW WILKIE, FORMER ANALYST, OFFICE OF NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS: Yes, Kerry.

KERRY O'BRIEN: And you were originally seconded to work there from the army back in '99.

ANDREW WILKIE: That's right, '99 and 2000 I was seconded there as a strategic analyst in the strategic analysis branch.

KERRY O'BRIEN: And the Office of National Assessments more recently, have you been privy to top level intelligence on areas like terrorism issues and Afghanistan and Iraq?

ANDREW WILKIE: Over the last 15 months or so I've been working global terrorism and transnational issues.

Because I'm one of the very small number of ex-military people in the office, I keep across potential military problems and am called in to work in the national intelligence watch office when those crises blow up.

Hence I've worked on Afghanistan, Kosovo and I was on stand-by to work on Iraq.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Why have you resigned?

ANDREW WILKIE: Kerry, war must obviously be justified and it must obviously be the option of last resort.

I'm not satisfied that in this case it is either justified or it's been viewed as the option of last resort.

KERRY O'BRIEN: Was there a particular moment that pushed you over the edge on this decision, I mean it is a big decision.

You've walked away on a career.

ANDREW WILKIE: It's the biggest decision I think I've ever made in my life.

Frankly I don't know what tomorrow will bring for me.

Was there a particular point in time?

No it's been accumulating over many, many weeks, if not months.

Although there have been some particular incidents which stick in my mind as incidents which annoyed me very much at the time.

For example, when Colin Powell presented evidence to the Security Council some weeks ago now about links between Al Qaeda and Iraq and as far as I'm aware there was no hard evidence and there is still no hard evidence that there is any active cooperation between Iraq and Al Qaeda.

KERRY O'BRIEN: But are you satisfied that you're really in a position to know that, to know that in the face of Colin Powell and all the credibility that he might muster?

ANDREW WILKIE: Yes, we are obviously privy to a substantial flow of intelligence, of hard intelligence from the US.

We haven't seen anything to prove that there is a link between the two organisations.

And, in fact, if you just approach it from first principles, there's a lot of good reasons why there wouldn't be a link.

Unless, of course, Saddam Hussein is pushed into establishing a relationship with Al Qaeda and that's one of the things that I worry about, if there is an invasion of Iraq that that will be just one of the sorts of forces that could push him towards a closer relationship with

Me without mod points.

*sigh*

Lousy control nuts, anti gun nuts. Don't complain tho dude, here in .au I can't own anything resembling a machine gun, and if I tried, it'd be mucho jail time for me. Unless of course I were an aborigine.

You do realize that by far more American soldiers have died since the "war" has been over right?

You do realize that the total number of American soldiers killed since the invasion began is still less than 1,000, right? The invasion started in March, 2003, and it's now nearly July, 2004, which means the rate of American soldiers dying in Iraq is roughly comparable to the murder rate of Chicago, Illinois.

And that guerrilla warfare has been taken up by the true believers in that country.

Which "true believers in that country?" The various militias? Disbanded. The Madhi Army? They're fighting with us now. Zarqawi's Tawhid organization? They're not even Iraqi! They're Jordanian!

We "beat" Afganistan and the Taliban is coming back there.

The legitimate government of Afghanistan would be shocked to learn that the Taliban is coming back. The hundreds of tribal and clan representatives who participated in not one but two loya jirgas would be shocked to learn that the Taliban is coming back.

Please. A couple of guys holed up in a cave does not mean "the Taliban is coming back."

Please take your pessimism, your negativism, and your Chicken-Littleism somewhere else. Slashdotters are, as a group, far too thoughtful to fall for those lies.

You're going to have to come up with much better lies if you want to make any headway here.

Great moments in science.

I'll confess that my blanket statement about a growing culture of greed may have been unfair and - admittedly - unresearched.

Okay.

But my statements about over-representation (not a fault of farmers mind you) still stand, as does my remark on Australia's unbalanced focus on agriculture.

Okay. To say we've got big, nightmarish environmental problems is an understatement. The fact that they've been able to turn a huge salinity problem in VIC into a "salt for cents" business scares the shit out of me and also just about anyone who lives/works/depends on the land. Australian farmers and rural communities are not ignorant, they know the problems. I think you've acknowledged this. You're right that you hit a sore spot of mine - people who've read somewhere that farming is bad (it is, but I believe it can be managed) and hence condemn all rural folk as ignorant in their practices or just outright baddies (some are, most aren't).

Interestingly, it's also a shame that by definition, cities/urban areas emerge from (and consume) our most fertile land. Not that I'm saying this as any defence for negligent, short-sighted farming practices, but instead I usually say this to the person on their high-horse to point out that we are all part of the problem.

hope that you can accept my apology for the unfounded 'culture of greed' comment

Appreciated. I should add that farm operators (not all are family run, as you probably know) aren't saints, there is greed, but it isn't a culture.

if you'll also accept that many of my points on agriculture vs the environment and over-representation are also true or at least warrant some merit.

Sure, although I'll have to take your word for the over-representation issues - I'm almost totally uninformed with the politics, and I have a sore point with spending on roads, which could generate 1000s of words of my thoughts...

I've realised I fell into the trap of blaming rural Australians for the flawed policies of government - which wouldn't be fair even if it made any kind of sense.

Exactly. As a nation that uses it's own agriculture, we're all part of the problem.

I'd also be interested to learn about what you meant by one corporation controlling most of the country's cattle production. It's certainly not something I was aware of.

I'm no expert, my field of interest is actually electronic engineering. However, it's my understanding that the cattle production sector has historically attracted a sort of "enterprise business model" bunch of entrepreneurs, but then again so have the other sectors, I guess. Certainly in the area I grew up there existed a huge cattle property, complete with mansion and servants the owner rarely visited, a landing strip for a private Leer jet (+ paid pilot) and private (non-mustering) chopper (+ paid pilot).

Anyway, found the landline episode and this age article, about the sale of Stanbroke. Stanbroke was already the worlds' largest beef producer, I thought it was being bought by AAC (another significant owner of beef production) but apparently not, had my facts wrong, they actually lost the bid. After reading these articles I've linked I'm now of the impression that the final deal isn't so bad afterall.

Still, the empire grows bigger.

So, I actually think you and I are not on totally different wavelengths afterall. Isn't rational discussion great? :-) My original sentiment for the objection of comparing the American farm lobby and Australian rural politics (of which I admit I know little, being neither a farmer nor interested in it) came from that sbs dateline episode I

I'll confess that my blanket statement about a growing culture of greed may have been unfair and - admittedly - unresearched.

Okay.

But my statements about over-representation (not a fault of farmers mind you) still stand, as does my remark on Australia's unbalanced focus on agriculture.

Okay. To say we've got big, nightmarish environmental problems is an understatement. The fact that they've been able to turn a huge salinity problem in VIC into a "salt for cents" business scares the shit out of me and also just about anyone who lives/works/depends on the land. Australian farmers and rural communities are not ignorant, they know the problems. I think you've acknowledged this. You're right that you hit a sore spot of mine - people who've read somewhere that farming is bad (it is, but I believe it can be managed) and hence condemn all rural folk as ignorant in their practices or just outright baddies (some are, most aren't).

Interestingly, it's also a shame that by definition, cities/urban areas emerge from (and consume) our most fertile land. Not that I'm saying this as any defence for negligent, short-sighted farming practices, but instead I usually say this to the person on their high-horse to point out that we are all part of the problem.

hope that you can accept my apology for the unfounded 'culture of greed' comment

Appreciated. I should add that farm operators (not all are family run, as you probably know) aren't saints, there is greed, but it isn't a culture.

if you'll also accept that many of my points on agriculture vs the environment and over-representation are also true or at least warrant some merit.

Sure, although I'll have to take your word for the over-representation issues - I'm almost totally uninformed with the politics, and I have a sore point with spending on roads, which could generate 1000s of words of my thoughts...

I've realised I fell into the trap of blaming rural Australians for the flawed policies of government - which wouldn't be fair even if it made any kind of sense.

Exactly. As a nation that uses it's own agriculture, we're all part of the problem.

I'd also be interested to learn about what you meant by one corporation controlling most of the country's cattle production. It's certainly not something I was aware of.

I'm no expert, my field of interest is actually electronic engineering. However, it's my understanding that the cattle production sector has historically attracted a sort of "enterprise business model" bunch of entrepreneurs, but then again so have the other sectors, I guess. Certainly in the area I grew up there existed a huge cattle property, complete with mansion and servants the owner rarely visited, a landing strip for a private Leer jet (+ paid pilot) and private (non-mustering) chopper (+ paid pilot).

Anyway, found the landline episode and this age article, about the sale of Stanbroke. Stanbroke was already the worlds' largest beef producer, I thought it was being bought by AAC (another significant owner of beef production) but apparently not, had my facts wrong, they actually lost the bid. After reading these articles I've linked I'm now of the impression that the final deal isn't so bad afterall.

Still, the empire grows bigger.

So, I actually think you and I are not on totally different wavelengths afterall. Isn't rational discussion great? :-) My original sentiment for the objection of comparing the American farm lobby and Australian rural politics (of which I admit I know little, being neither a farmer nor interested in it) came from that sbs dateline episode I

I'll confess that my blanket statement about a growing culture of greed may have been unfair and - admittedly - unresearched.

Okay.

But my statements about over-representation (not a fault of farmers mind you) still stand, as does my remark on Australia's unbalanced focus on agriculture.

Okay. To say we've got big, nightmarish environmental problems is an understatement. The fact that they've been able to turn a huge salinity problem in VIC into a "salt for cents" business scares the shit out of me and also just about anyone who lives/works/depends on the land. Australian farmers and rural communities are not ignorant, they know the problems. I think you've acknowledged this. You're right that you hit a sore spot of mine - people who've read somewhere that farming is bad (it is, but I believe it can be managed) and hence condemn all rural folk as ignorant in their practices or just outright baddies (some are, most aren't).

Interestingly, it's also a shame that by definition, cities/urban areas emerge from (and consume) our most fertile land. Not that I'm saying this as any defence for negligent, short-sighted farming practices, but instead I usually say this to the person on their high-horse to point out that we are all part of the problem.

hope that you can accept my apology for the unfounded 'culture of greed' comment

Appreciated. I should add that farm operators (not all are family run, as you probably know) aren't saints, there is greed, but it isn't a culture.

if you'll also accept that many of my points on agriculture vs the environment and over-representation are also true or at least warrant some merit.

Sure, although I'll have to take your word for the over-representation issues - I'm almost totally uninformed with the politics, and I have a sore point with spending on roads, which could generate 1000s of words of my thoughts...

I've realised I fell into the trap of blaming rural Australians for the flawed policies of government - which wouldn't be fair even if it made any kind of sense.

Exactly. As a nation that uses it's own agriculture, we're all part of the problem.

I'd also be interested to learn about what you meant by one corporation controlling most of the country's cattle production. It's certainly not something I was aware of.

I'm no expert, my field of interest is actually electronic engineering. However, it's my understanding that the cattle production sector has historically attracted a sort of "enterprise business model" bunch of entrepreneurs, but then again so have the other sectors, I guess. Certainly in the area I grew up there existed a huge cattle property, complete with mansion and servants the owner rarely visited, a landing strip for a private Leer jet (+ paid pilot) and private (non-mustering) chopper (+ paid pilot).

Anyway, found the landline episode and this age article, about the sale of Stanbroke. Stanbroke was already the worlds' largest beef producer, I thought it was being bought by AAC (another significant owner of beef production) but apparently not, had my facts wrong, they actually lost the bid. After reading these articles I've linked I'm now of the impression that the final deal isn't so bad afterall.

Still, the empire grows bigger.

So, I actually think you and I are not on totally different wavelengths afterall. Isn't rational discussion great? :-) My original sentiment for the objection of comparing the American farm lobby and Australian rural politics (of which I admit I know little, being neither a farmer nor interested in it) came from that sbs dateline episode I

Creepy.

Here's a link to the story with images.

Link

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1128 68 4.htm

How would you like it if Australia's Prime Minister tried to influence the US elections? Can you see now why godwill to the US is evaporating aroud the world, including within your allies?

If we continue climate research and do nothing it will be too late to do anything before we really know for sure if we really are contributing to global warming with pollution. However, if we assume that warming is a fact and that it is our fault we lose little and may just save the world. The cost of doing nothing is too high to tolerate.

Incidently figures collected state that the temperature was rising steadily for 1000s of years but started rising much faster once the industrial revolution started.

Most, if not all, Climatologists now believe the evidence of global warming through pollution and human activity has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Actually I heard recently that the US Department of Defence now list global warming as a risk to US national security (ABC tv Australia, Landline).Landline global warming report.

Snippet:

How transits can determine distances:

In 1716, Edmond Halley was the first astronomer to suggest transits could be used to work out how far away the Sun is - also known as AU. Once this was known, the distances to all the other planets in the Solar System could be calculated.

If the transit was measured from several different places on earth, Halley reasoned, there should be a slight difference in the visible track across the sun. But this shift is so slight it is difficult to measure directly. Instead, the time at four different points during the transit can be noted down. These are: the first moment when Venus touches the Sun's disc, the moment when it is completely inside the disk, the moment when it makes contact with the other side of the disk on its way out, and the last moment of contact.

Astronomers can then compare these four timings as seen from different locations, a known distance apart. Using some fairly simple geometry the distance between the Earth and the Sun can be calculated.

CSIRAC - (1949 - 1961) - digital computer, entire machine housed at melbourne museum (victoria, australia) after service with CSIRO ( formerly called CSIR), Radio physics lab Sydney University finally residing at Melbourne University.

Interesting facts ...

• approx 5th digital computer created
• 
  
  one of last original computers intact
  CSIR Mk1 or CSIRAC designed by team lead by Maston Beard and Trevor Pearcey for CSIR (CSIRO)
  primary store of 768 20-bit words
  magnetic drum 4,096 word capacity
  10ms access time
  clock speed 1000Hz
  serial bus
  paper tape input
  30 KW power requirement
  crt output of registers
  high level programming via language INTERPROGRAM
  audio output for errors
  first computer programmed for music
  emululator available
  

references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSIRAC
http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/csirac/csirac.html
story on recreations of some of the original music tracks CSIRAC
50th Anniversary of the CSIRAC

CSIRAC - (1949 - 1961) - digital computer, entire machine housed at melbourne museum (victoria, australia) after service with CSIRO ( formerly called CSIR), Radio physics lab Sydney University finally residing at Melbourne University.

Interesting facts ...

• approx 5th digital computer created
• 
  
  one of last original computers intact
  CSIR Mk1 or CSIRAC designed by team lead by Maston Beard and Trevor Pearcey for CSIR (CSIRO)
  primary store of 768 20-bit words
  magnetic drum 4,096 word capacity
  10ms access time
  clock speed 1000Hz
  serial bus
  paper tape input
  30 KW power requirement
  crt output of registers
  high level programming via language INTERPROGRAM
  audio output for errors
  first computer programmed for music
  emululator available
  

references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSIRAC
http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/csirac/csirac.html
story on recreations of some of the original music tracks CSIRAC
50th Anniversary of the CSIRAC

CSIRAC - (1949 - 1961) - digital computer, entire machine housed at melbourne museum (victoria, australia) after service with CSIRO ( formerly called CSIR), Radio physics lab Sydney University finally residing at Melbourne University.

Interesting facts ...

• approx 5th digital computer created
• 
  
  one of last original computers intact
  CSIR Mk1 or CSIRAC designed by team lead by Maston Beard and Trevor Pearcey for CSIR (CSIRO)
  primary store of 768 20-bit words
  magnetic drum 4,096 word capacity
  10ms access time
  clock speed 1000Hz
  serial bus
  paper tape input
  30 KW power requirement
  crt output of registers
  high level programming via language INTERPROGRAM
  audio output for errors
  first computer programmed for music
  emululator available
  

references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSIRAC
http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/csirac/csirac.html
story on recreations of some of the original music tracks CSIRAC
50th Anniversary of the CSIRAC

I'm considering doin research on the 'how', 'why', and 'classification' of belly button lint.

it's been done, it even won an prize.

I'm considering doin research on the 'how', 'why', and 'classification' of belly button lint. I'm sure there's a government funded grant in it. We REALLY NEED TO KNOW THESE THINGS 'just in case' they are usefull in the future.

Sadly, you've been beaten to it.

Because, cladistically speaking at least, birds are dinosaurs, most closely related to the Dromaeosauridae like the Velociraptor.

True - but the dinosaur ancestors of birds displayed none of the attributes that this paper specifies as enabling them to escape this instant extinction story. So that hurts rather than helps their case.

Mammals 65 million years ago were tiny (mice sized) and most likely nocturnal

There were larger ones.

And this leaves out all the animals that survived and were much larger than many of the dinosaurs that went extinct. Crocodiles, for example. They weren't small, and couldn't burrow - so this bit of speculation falls straight over.

Then, of course, there's all the animals that lived in the sea that died out right along side similar-sized animals that didn't.

No, I think simplistic explanations just aren't going to cut it. Clearly there was something more complex going on - but it's unlikely we'll ever know for sure at this point, short of inventing a time machine. Certainly the fact that population sizes and diversification had already been decreasing for quite a long time tell us that there were other factors at work.

No, make that millions. We spend more on create rainforests in Iowa than searching for things that could end civilization. Screwed up priorities? Yup.

Reluctantly. The Pentagon has now banned digital cameras so that it's harder to learn of our abuses in the future. When CBS was first going to air the story, the Pentagon tried its best to suppress it rather than deal with it.

well i dont know that it has to be an inside job.
from this article it says that:

the webcam is updated hourly and

the nz team got a lot of responses about the inflatable dino.

so im assuming this information is known and available to the public and also that enough people follow the cam. i dont know these things for sure cause nz is getting /.ed.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a story complete with picture in case of a Slashdotting.

This is a great hack. It has to be an inside job. How else would they know when the camera takes pictures, to avoid getting caught. Not to mention the exact location of the camera.

Too funny!

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a story complete with picture in case of a Slashdotting.

This is a great hack. It has to be an inside job. How else would they know when the camera takes pictures, to avoid getting caught. Not to mention the exact location of the camera.

Too funny!

Sorry, it was a while ago. The website is just as funny.

This is my current desktop image.

But my rage at Monsanto masks the fact that GM products themselves are dangerous products that are not fit for consumption and pose a large threat to the long-term viability of live on Earth.

If driven by greed, probably yes. But I do not see the enormous problems you seem to imply if this knowledge is developed in the open, and in an environment that does not encourage greed.

I'd like to point out the ideas of CAMBIA, particularly the ideas of Richard Jefferson. He talks a lot about adopting copyleft-ideas to GMO, and I find that a very interesting approach. I think there is a good middle ground here somewhere, and that it consists mostly of regulating how this knowledge is used.