TPN Week In Review: March 17 – 23, 2008

This week on TPN – discussions about photowalking, the future of social networking, the Bear Stearns financial crisis, nuclear energy, a $3 Billion Man, a reversal of the full mount position, The Wire finale, footy, What To Do When You Become The Boss, box office results, with lots of free music and much, much more!
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Ben Kenney is the host of theWatt Podcast a well established and popular discussion show about all things energy. We talked about power decisions in Canada, CANDU technology, and New Brunswick’s electricity export plans.(MP3 – 22 MB – 01:03:49 M) Listen to Atomic Show #087 Here! Ben Kenney is…

The 2web Crew #21: Outsourcing and flame wars

Join Norg Media’s Bronwen Clune, Scouta’s Richard Giles, TechCrunch’s Duncan Riley and briefly Tangler’s Mick Lubinskas for a chat on Flame Wars in the week that was (including exclusive comment fromDuncan Riley) Instablogs funding and Citizen Journalism Web 2.0 newspeak and the need for…

Martial Arts Explorer – V3 P9

We’ve had a number of request to see Scot on the mat. Here’s the result. We are not responsible for any injuries or damage that may occur when you fall off your chair laughing. Master Chris…

Today In Music History: March 21, 2008

DOWNLOAD the podcast by right-clicking this link or press play and listen in your browser. Today In Music History: March 21, 2008

G’Day World #320 – Jamais Cascio on “The Chorus”

Jamais Cascio is a San Francisco Bay Area-based writer and ethical futurist. He joins me today to talk about our growing reliance on online social networks and the net in general as forms of identity management. What are some of the consequences of putting your personal information online or -…

The Atomic Show #086 – Howard Shaffer – voluntary nuclear educator

Howard Shaffer is a Rickover selected former Navy nuclear officer, he helped to build and operate several plants in the US and Taiwan, and volunteered throughout his career to share nuclear information with anti-nuclear advocates.(MP3 – 19.8 MB – 00:57:28 M) Listen to Atomic Show #086 Here! Howard…

Box Office Weekly #110

Box Office Weekly #110 (MP3 – 16 MB – 23 min)Listen here: In today’s show, weekend box office figures, TV ratings and these stories: Let the NBC fire sale begin!… Broadway flushes out a new venue… and in this week’s commentary Dan suggests something to watch if you’re sure you don’t want…

Extraordinary Everyday Lives #044 : Al Upton and the miniLegends

EELS44 This edition of the show is Sponsored by Nick Hodge, Professional Geek at Microsoft.The Extraordinary Everyday Lives Show #044 – Thursday 20th March 2008 : Al Upton and the miniLegendsDOWNLOAD AND SAVE – Right-click. 1:05:03 22.9MbExtraordinary Everyday Lives show #44 – Al Upton and the…

Today In Music History: March 20, 2008

DOWNLOAD the podcast by right-clicking this link or press play and listen in your browser. Today In Music History: March 20, 2008

The Digital Photography Show #87: HDR, Photowalking and More with Jeff Revell.

The Digital Photography Show #87: HDR, Photowalking and More with Jeff Revell.[audio:http://digiphoto.thepodcastnetwork.com/audio/tpn_digiphoto_20080318_087.mp3]March 19, 2008 : Today, we talk with uber-enthusiast Jeff Revell about HDR images, photowalking, the newest Nikons, the…

TPN Rock Again – featuring Uncut

Out Of Sight, by Uncut (www.thenewviolence.com). Originally aired in TPN Rock at SXSW 2007. Tags: Uncut.

Today In Music History: March 19, 2008

DOWNLOAD the podcast by right-clicking this link or press play and listen in your browser. Today In Music History: March 19, 2008

Today In Music History: March 18, 2008

DOWNLOAD the podcast by right-clicking this link or press play and listen in your browser. Today In Music History: March 18, 2008

The Cranky Middle Manager Show #136 When You Become the Boss- Bob Selden

Getting that first management job can be exciting- or really tough. Here are some great tips for survival. Wayne Turmel talks to Bob Selden, author of What To Do When You Become The Boss. We also salute two Australian explorers whose first management gig didn’t go so swell. It’s been that kind…

The AFL Show preseason 3

This weeks episode is co-hosted by Daisy Pearce. Daisy is the captain of the Darebin Falcons who are the reigning VWFL premiers. Daisy is a superstar footballer who played her junior footy with the boys until she was 15 before gaining all Australian selection in the womens league at age 16. She’s…

TPN Rock Takeover, with Rowland Cutler

While I’m off having my ears melted from my head at Austin’s SXSW (expect a highlights show at some point!) it’s the monthly…

Today In Music History: March 17, 2008

DOWNLOAD the podcast by right-clicking this link or press play and listen in your browser. Today In Music History: March 17, 2008

Take Two: Australian Business Review: March 17, 2008

Leon Gettler and Garry Barker examine the Bear Stearns financial crisis as it touches world banks and Australia in particular and suggest we ain’t seen nothing yet. They touch on Telstra and the Australian national broadband network, yet to be built, and do a bit of forecasting on interest rates.

Connections #026 – Insights from a $3 Billion Man

David Moore is Director of Enterprise Engagements at Hewlett Packard in Sydney, Australia – and through the course of his career, has been involved in closing deals totaling in excess of $3 Billion.Prior to joining HP, David had a long career at Deloitte Consulting, as Industry Leader in Energy,…

Martial Arts Explorer – V3 P08

This time we cover the differences between sport martial arts and self defense and Michael looks at a reversal of the full mount position.Please subscribe to this version of the podcast in…

The 2 Web Crew #20 – Zuckerberg!!

Join Norg Media’s Bronwen Clune, Scouta’s Richard Giles, and TechCrunch’s Duncan Riley for a chat on The new and old Microsoft Balancing family life and a startup The appeal of Live internet TV Mark Zuckerberg/ Sarah Lacy WordPress vs MovableType Download Stream:

The Productivity Show #37 – David Gray (Global Geek)

I thought it was time to go back to the technology of productivity, and who better than David Gray of the The Global Geek Podcast, to discuss all things geek and beautiful. Patient Admin Systems! – Tony sold ‘em, Dave now uses them. They record things like blood pressure straight into…

Fidel bias in the media – Example 1

The Herald Sun. Hardly the bastion of journalism, I know. And this editorial I link to below is a classic example of trashy media.

Just to correct some of their factual errors:

1. Castro was not a dictator by any definition.

2. Castro did not take the world ‘to the brink of nuclear war’ by defending his country with ballistic missiles. That is the right of any country. On the contrary – the United States’ attempt at an illegal invasion of Cuba took the world to the brink of nuclear war.

3. It wasn’t Castro’s actions that “condemned his people to almost Third World status”. It was the actions of the USA. Castro and Che didn’t nationalize American interests in Cuba until after the American government was trying to interfere in the government of the country (in an attempt to bring back to power their puppet Batista).

clipped from www.news.com.au

Exit Fidel Castro
  blog it

US “Defence” Budget to exceed $1 TRILLION in 08

The world’s largest arms dealer, the USA, which is also the country with the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons (it maintains a current arsenal of around 9,960 intact warheads… how many DO you need to destroy the world?), will spend more that $1 trillion on “defence” for the first time in history in 2008, according to this article in Le Monde. I put inverted commas around “defence” because their current strategy of non-UNSC sanctioned pre-emptive attacks can hardly be called “defence”. It’s a typical PR sleight-of-hand. Let’s call it what it is. It’s an “ATTACK” budget.
As part of this $1 trillion, the US will spend $23.4bn towards developing and maintaining nuclear warheads.

The older I get, the more I read, and the more unconvinced I am becoming that democracy and capitalism contain the model for the future for the human race. If the USA is the beacon of modern democracy, then I believe we need a new system, a better system.

clipped from mondediplo.com

It is virtually impossible to overstate the profligacy of what our government spends on the military. The Department of Defense’s planned expenditures for the fiscal year 2008 are larger than all other nations’ military budgets combined. The supplementary budget to pay for the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not part of the official defence budget, is itself larger than the combined military budgets of Russia and China. Defence-related spending for fiscal 2008 will exceed $1 trillion for the first time in history. The US has become the largest single seller of arms and munitions to other nations on Earth. Leaving out President Bush’s two on-going wars, defence spending has doubled since the mid-1990s. The defence budget for fiscal 2008 is the largest since the second world war.

  blog it

Cam’s World 2 August 2007

Paul Spoerry has some great visual aids to help us understand the motivations behind the US’s middle east policies. Like this:
US petrol consumption

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Meanwhile, you have to love the pure frakking BALLS on the Bush administration. Who else could spin the sale of $70 Billion of weapons to the Middle East as “ensuring peace”?!!! Rice sez:

“We are helping to strengthen the defensive capabilities of our partners,” Rice said in a statement. “We plan to initiate discussions with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states on a proposed package of military technologies that will help support their ability to secure peace and stability in the Gulf region.”

Let’s look at the track record of the countries they have sold weapons to over the last 20 years… Iraq. Afghanistan. Iran. Israel. Saudi Arabia. How’s the peace strategy working so far, Condi?

The amount of money that the US itself spends on weapons every year is just insane.

The world spends US$780 billion every year on maintaining its military and buying new weapons —that’s $2.1 billion every day. Dr Oscar Arias estimates that if just 5% ($40 billion) of that annual $780 billion were channeled into anti-poverty programmes over the next decade, the whole world could have basic social services. A further 5% over ten years could provide everybody on the planet with an income above the poverty line. UNICEF estimates that spending just $7 billion a year for the next decade could educate every child on Earth.

(source)

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Laurel Papworth accuses my 2Web colleagues and myself of being sexist because there aren’t any women in our 2Web group!

Hey I, for one, am a HUGE supporter of the meme that we need more women in tech/web. Lots and lots. I’m sick to death of going to tech events and being surrounded by blokes. AFAIK, the 2Web group has never turned down an application for membership from a lady. If there is passive sexism involved here, it’s you girls being too passive about getting involved! Hike up your skirts girls! 🙂

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Telstra put GPS trackers into the cars of their technicians then informed them that if they had a problem with it, “they would face a review of employment.” Classy. According to The Age:

Victoria’s Workplace Rights Advocate Tony Lawrence investigated initial reports of the tracking devices and told The Australian newspaper he had referred what he believed to be a criminal matter to police.

It puts turning off Facebook into perspective.

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The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is back on and TPN’s man on the scene, Ewan Spence, is spending the next month chatting with the performers, audience and promoters! Catch it almost-live on TPN’s EFF show!

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Just for something a little bit different, I’m a guest today on Rod’s Atomic Show. He wanted to talk to me about how the nuclear industry might be able to use new media to change the perception of nuclear with the general public, bypassing the not-always-independent mainstream media. Did anyone else see that show on Frontline last night about the nuclear industry in France and Canada? I saw some of it. Fascinating.

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John Howard and his government never cease to amaze me with how much they have become the white, straight, Christian party. Today Howard announced legislation which will overturn State legislation which allows gay couples to adopt children from overseas. We need a Bill of Rights in this country. Badly.

Iran vs USrael

Charley Reese (ex-Orlando Sentinel) has written an interesting piece for AntiWar.com about Iran. He makes the following points:

I don’t see how any honest man can believe that Iran is a threat to the United States or its neighbors. Iran has not invaded anyone in the past 100 years. Iran has from the beginning insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes, and there has been no evidence – I repeat, no evidence – to the contrary. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty explicitly authorizes countries to enrich uranium. In other words, Iran has not done anything illegal.

Iran has no intercontinental missiles, and the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons is Israel. Please note that the United States flatly refuses to endorse the idea of a nuclear-free Middle East. Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel has refused to sign it. Iran admits international inspectors. Israel flatly refuses to allow international inspectors. The only country in today’s Middle East with weapons of mass destruction and a history of invading and occupying other people’s countries is Israel.

So why are the US so interested in Iran? According to Wikipedia:

Iran ranks second in the world in natural gas reserves and third in oil reserves.

Or course, the US has been trying to get its hands on Iran for decades. The Iran-Iraq war was started when Saddam Hussein, backed by the USA, invaded Iran in 1980.

According to Robert Parry there was a secret encouragement by the US administration (President Jimmy Carter, conveyed through Saudi Arabia) which was embroiled in a dispute with the new Islamic Republic of Iran. In the words of Alexander Haig, secretary of state from 1981, “It was also interesting to confirm that President Carter gave the Iraqis a green light to launch the war against Iran through Fahd.”

(Source: Wikipedia)

Robert Parry, btw, was the journalist who broke the Iran-Contra scandal involving Oliver North. For those of you too young to remember,

It involved several members of the Reagan Administration who in 1986 helped to illegally sell arms to Iran, an avowed enemy, and used the proceeds to fund, also illegally, the Contras, a right-wing insurgent organization in Nicaragua.

(Source: Wikipedia)

They also turned a blind eye to the Contras raising money by exporting crack cocaine to the US.

Ever wondered what happened to the people in the US administration that were convicted in the Iran-Contra affair? Most got away with it, pardoned by George H. W. Bush when he was President. Many of the people involved are now working for the current Bush administration. Including Robert Gates, the guy who replaced Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.

He served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991–1993 under George H.W. Bush. During Iran Contra he was Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. In 1984, as deputy director of CIA, Gates advocated that the U.S. initiate a bombing campaign against Nicaragua and that the U.S. do everything in its power short of direct military invasion of the country to remove the democratically-elected Sandinista government.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Where does that leave us?

It’s important to understand that the people running the US at the moment have a history. And anyone who thinks these things are “conspiracy theories” only need to read a couple of books. The Iran-Contra affair wasn’t a conspiracy theory. It happened. Ronald Reagan admitted his involvement in it (after first denying it). He admitted George H. W. Bush knew about it as well.

These things happened.

Israel, on the other hand,

has received substantial direct economic aid from the United States, including approximately $1.2 billion per year since the mid-1970’s, although that regular annual amount has been being tapered off by $120 million per year beginning in 1998.

(Source)

Israel’s relationship with the United Nations is pretty bleak.

From 1967 to 1989 the UN Security Council passed 131 resolutions directly dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict. Of the 131 resolutions passed, 43 could be considered neutral while the remaining 88 either criticized and opposed the actions of Israel or judged against its interests. Nearly half of the 88 resolutions against Israel “condemned,” “censured,” or “deplored” the member state or its actions. During this time, in the UN General Assembly, 429 resolutions against Israel were passed, and Israel was condemned 321 times.

(Source)

It makes you wonder.