from Crikey …..

'Hacking democracy': a tool to streamline our Right To Know

from Crikey ….

Keane: Bishop and her fierce battle with the English language

Can two of the biggest question in physics be solved with just one theory?

Two of the biggest mysteries in physics - what dark matter is made of and why matter dominates over antimatter - might be solved in one go

Can science fully explain what we mean by the self, identity and human values, or are we just the victims of neuro-scientific hubris? Don't worry, there's no need to choose sides, says Julian Baggini

The self: why science is not enough

More than two weeks ago (8 November 2012) I noticed a small open water drain being covered with what I suspect was green algae... My guess at the time was that I could be wrong. The bloom was not total... It could have been just weeds, but having seen blooms before, I took a picture... Picture above by Gus Leonisky. 

This small drain, coming from Moore Park, flows into the Alexandra Canal which in turn flows into the Cooks River which in turn flows into Botany Bay, Sydney...

The launch of Gina's book was a love affair... Barnaby was so enamoured he could not stop himself lauding the small print... 

Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop has dramatically upped the ante over the AWU affair by claiming Prime Minister Julia Gillard was involved in a breach of the law.

The opposition’s accusation followed Ms Gillard’s seizing of the initiative before question time with her second feisty marathon news conference on the affair in three months.

You better not poke, you better not reply, 

you better not tag, I'm telling you why- 

Facebook's Clause is coming to town! 

They're making a list, and checking it twice, 

then selling your profiles as consumer advice- 

Facebook's Clause is coming to town! 

picture by Gus Leonisky — central Australia (heat on the ground near 50 degrees C "in the shade")

This is a short critical analysis of a presentation by the famous meteorologist and climate change skeptic Richard Lindzen. 

From Richard Lindzen:

The public perception of the climate problem is somewhat schizophrenic. On the one hand, the problem is perceived to be so complex that it cannot be approached without massive computer programs. On the other hand, the physics is claimed to be so basic that the dire conclusions commonly presented are considered to be self-evident.

The more the Merde-och media tries to make a scandal out of dust, the more it's losing to the "social media"... Actually the social media is made of two major folds. One is the "people media" — thinking erudite smart, knowing shovels for what spades are — and the other fold is the "airhead stratosphere"...

The mass media is trying to confuse us by telling us that the "people media" is the same as the airhead loopy transmission about the colours of high heel shoes...

Meanwhile the mass media is having to put brakes on extroardinary "revelations" that have no substance except that:

from Crikey ….

No photos, please: Nauru 'unlike anything ever seen in Australia'

Tony Abbott has access to more focus-group polling than I do, and he's clearly doing something right because he still looks like romping home at the next election. But I really wonder if he is listening to the big message.

The Gillard government might have been rounding out a year of achievement with the Abbott opposition in retreat, but instead goes into the last week of Parliament facing its greatest crisis.