by cameron | Aug 4, 2009 | Australian media, Australian politics, Melbourne
Reports today about the AFP arresting 4 men in Melbourne who were allegedly planning to attack a military base in Victoria is being called "terrorism" by the Prime Minister and the mainstream media. For example, News.com.au claims the attack, if it had gone ahead, would have been "the worst terror attack on Australian soil". However, if they were attacking a military target, does that qualify as terrorism? Wikipedia states that there isn’t an internationally agreed definition of terrorism, but I normally associate it with attacks on civilian targets outside of wartime. A small group of Somali and Lebanese labourers and taxi drivers attacking a military base doesn’t sound like the definition of terrorism to me. It sounds more like the definition of "stupid".
(UPDATE: in discussion with @napper, I said I think an attack by citizens of a country on its own army and inside the country’s own borders is more accurately defined as “revolution” or “insurrection”.)
So – why is it being referred to as terrorism by the Govt and the media? Are we back to the days where The Great Corporation feels the need to frighten the masses? What should we be watching out for? Is there a new law coming soon that will disappear more of our civil rights? Will Rudd use this to help push through his Internet censorship?
UPDATE: I also meant to add – as Terry did in the comments – that I hope the AFP have actually done their job this time, unlike in the Haneef debacle.
by cameron | Aug 3, 2009 | Podcast
Wolfgang Puck is one of the most famous chefs in the world.
Antony Van Couvering is the founder of Minds + Machines.
On today’s show they chat with me about their bid to own the new “top level domain” – .FOOD.
Do you want an independent media?
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by cameron | Aug 3, 2009 | Cuba, Iran, US politics
Iran? North Korea? Cuba? China?
No – the United States of America.
If President Obama and the Democratic Party aren’t willing to prosecute the people responsible for torturing and imprisoning a 12 year-old child, without a trial, without hope of defense, then what does that say about the current American administration?
by cameron | Jul 31, 2009 | Brisbane, Podcast
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5834380&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Brisbane Confidential 07 – The Da Vinci Machines Exhibition
I don’t I’ve plugged the Brisbane Confidential show much in this blog, but I thought this episode might interest y’all, because it’s about Da Vinci – and who doesn’t love Da Vinci?
New episodes of Brisbane Confidential are available each Thursday on ourbrisbane.com, BrisbaneConfidential.com and through iTunes.
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Brisbane Confidential is a production of ourbrisbane.com and The Podcast Network.
by cameron | Jul 31, 2009 | Uncategorized
Dilbert author Scott Adams has a GREAT idea for reducing health insurance premiums:
First, 80% of healthcare costs go toward chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.
Second, a huge study on diet and its correlation to disease, called The China Study, found that chronic diseases, particularly the ones I just mentioned, only get triggered if you eat a plant based diet, for the most part, regardless of your genetic propensity. (CR Note: I think he meant to write "DONT get triggered if you eat a planet based diet".)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study
The author’s thesis, backed by a mountain of data, is that the only safe level of animal based food is zero. No milk or cheese either. Moderation simply doesn’t work when it comes to eating meat. That’s the data talking, not me, according to this expert. I haven’t seen any data that contradicts that notion. Provide a link if you have.
As a practical matter, it would be impossible to ban meat from the diets of average Americans. But when you are talking about insurance of any sort, whether it is health or auto or hurricane, we accept the principle that risk factors can be considered in pricing. So all we need to do is charge meat eaters four times as much as vegetarians for health insurance. Over time it will create more vegetarians, for economic reasons alone, and healthcare costs will plummet.
You might say it is unfair for the insurance company to charge a higher premium for earthquake insurance to people who actually live on a fault line. But I say that’s just good business.
What do you think? Should health insurance companies have better plans for vegetarians? And would YOU become a vegetarian if you knew your health insurance would be cut by 75%?
