by cameron | Sep 24, 2007 | Iraq, Uncategorized
I just finished reading William Gibson’s latest novel SPOOK COUNTRY today (it’s a great read btw) and it reminded me of the whole issue of the missing money that went from New York in Iraq from 2003 – 2004 and then disappeared…. $9 Billion out of $12 Billion in cash that was sent to Iraq cannot be accounted for. So I googled it and found this recent interview on Democracy Now with two investigative journalists who have dug further into the story and uncovered some amazing facts.
With this much cash up for grabs, it’s easy to see why war is good for business… for some.
| Billions Over Baghdad: How Did $9B in Cash Airlifted From the Fed to Iraq Go Missing? |
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by cameron | Sep 23, 2007 | Atheism, Podcast, science, science vs religion
I heard about this on a recent episode of the Skeptics Guide To The Universe Podcast. Some guys calling themselves the Extant Dodos have been taking videos posted to the web by the Creation Science Evangelism organisation which “prove” creationist theories and then debunk them, putting the re-edited videos on YouTube. The CSE people don’t like criticism, so they have apparently threatened to sue the Dodos for infringement of copyright and have demanded YouTube take down the Dodos’ videos. The last recourse of people who can’t win an argument must be to sue your critics. The classic bit is that on their website, the CSE folks originally had this clause: “None of the materials produced by Creation Science Evangelism are copyrighted, so feel free to copy those and distribute them freely.”
Read more here.
by cameron | Sep 23, 2007 | US politics
I’ve never really taken the “Google is watching you” conspiracy theories very seriously, but Cory Doctorow has cooked up a scenario in his new short story “Scroogled” which scares the hell out of me. It’s a story about how easy it would be for Google to do a deal with a neo-fascist Government to provide them with information on everything about everybody. In this era of the decline of Western Democracy that we are living in, Google becomes the new secret police, spilling the beans on your entire history. I’ve always held the opinion that “privacy” doesn’t matter unless you have something to be embarrassed about, but Cory’s story dramatizes the scenarios in which you can become a “person of interest” and then “disappeared” if you get in “their” way. You could end up a suicide in Cabo. Make sure you read it.
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Now playing: Beastie Boys – Off The Grid
via FoxyTunes
by cameron | Sep 21, 2007 | Australian politics
When I had Matt Marks on the show recently talking about politicians using Web2.0 to engage their audience, I wish I’d seen this example. Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett (who was my guest on the show back in February 2005) has a video on his Facebook profile where recent G’Day World guest Julian Burnside QC explains why he believes why it is critical that Bartlett gets re-elected. Check out the video here. Not too shabby when the most visible defender of human rights in the country records a special video plugging you as “a person who is completely honest”. I think this is an amazing example of how to use Web2.0 correctly. This isn’t Andrew talking about how good he is – it’s Australia’s leading human rights lawyer talking about how good he is. Burnside carries a lot of weight in my book. Does something like this have an impact on how you are likely to vote?
by cameron | Sep 21, 2007 | Uncategorized
I can’t avoid posting about this. The mighty Van Halen have been doing some rehearsal gigs ahead of their tour which starts next week and some footage of the rehearsals has made it into YouTube. Thank god for the innertoobs.
Sure – Dave these days looks more like Glen Campbell than Thor The God of Thunder. But It’s great to hear his songs being sung in his voice and not Sammy’s weak-ass attempts. And Eddie proves that, despite the ravages of time, alcoholism and tongue cancer, he is still the guitar god he’s always been. Wolfie… looks, as someone suggested, like he ate Mike Anthony, just swallowed him up whole.
If you don’t wanna hear about it later… go runnin’ with the devil here.
