bastard blinken

my way

“I sort of call this the Frank Sinatra approach” Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently told mining executives at the Minerals Council of Australia annual dinner.

“We’re going to do it ‘our way’ … Australia is going to lead the world in low-emissions production in the resources sector,” the PM continued, explaining the diplomatic tactic he intends to take to the G7 summit in Cornwall, UK this week.

CNNBBC

We do our best to try and write something of value here. So it is always distressing when we know about the motives of other journalists is confirmed – over and over again.

It’s finally happened – they’ve got footage of a CNN writer in a bar admitting to writing propaganda, aka “fake news”. As if we did not already know. The difference is catching a CNN writer admitting it on camera.

CNN, as in the CNN effect, is not what it represents—and likely never has been.

bang...

Washington: Although Joe Biden came into the White House promising to work with his political opponents to get things done, the United States Congress has remained as bitterly divided as ever since his inauguration.

science

 “[A] revolutionary recasting of physics . . . Marletto’s contributions to ‘constructor theory’ reconcile what we think of as physical laws with the open-ended possibilities thrown up by biology and information theory. It is a paradigm that, for all its rigor, re-enchants the world and enriches our place in it.” —New Scientist

covido

fodder...

An AI arms race is already underway. That's the blunt warning from Germany's foreign minister, Heiko Maas.

"We're right in the middle of it. That's the reality we have to deal with," Maas told DW, speaking in a new DW documentary, "Future Wars — and How to Prevent Them."

It's a reality at the heart of the struggle for supremacy between the world's greatest powers.

planet B

Are we alone? 

It’s the ultimate question, but it’s also an impossible task. 

“We could find signs of life, but it’s not going to be the definitive proof that we were hoping for when we started out on this journey.”

buffett

BBC

The BBC is the final liberal monolith in a British media landscape that has been dragged to the right by Rupert Murdoch and others. The Conservatives seem focused on doing all they can to tame it and bring it under political control. The broadcasting giant, meanwhile, seems intimidated, and has even backed down on occasion, as seen during the flag controversy in March.

Some believe that the BBC, in the 100th year of its existence, is fighting for its very survival. Others believe that such claims are even understated.

fleebag

balloons

Many of us have heard about the prosecution of Bernard Collaery on the say-so of Christian Porter. But very few know much more than that it is an almost secret trial against the former ACT Attorney-General. Unfortunately, John le Carré is no longer with us to tell this intriguing tale.

Witness K and Bernard Collaery

al weiwei

soldier flies

There is a "new" fly in town… It has been introduced a while back in Australia… 

Hermetia illucens [black soldier fly] originates from the Americas, and was probably introduced into Australia by the importation of decaying plant material (Callan 1974). It is now well established throughout Australia, and has been recorded from all states except South Australia, although it almost certainly exists there too. Although the authenticity of the Tasmanian record is questionable, this represents the southern-most occurrence of this species globally (Callan 1974). 

mobility