abandoned houses

The aircraft do not pass directly over my property, but the go quite close. Sometimes there is the brief shadow of an aircraft passing between me and the sun. Down the road is a spot directly under the end of the main runway. Once there were houses. Now there are none. The fences stands abandoned, all that's left. Even the church is derelict.

"abandoned properties" by yewenyi [?]

News alert - Gay bomb stolen!

The gay bomb, winner of the annual ig nobles has been stolen. It is rumored to be taken by an group of Australian left wing radicals. Informants advise they are going to bomb the Christian Democratic Party's annual gathering.

Social Engineering

When I was in Taiwan I was witness to one of the most impressive pieces of social engineering I have ever seen. The Chinese are renown for two things (amongst others) which are a penchant for gambling and a dislike for paper work and government taxes. So I was surprised in Taiwan to discover shop attendants almost forcing me to take the cash register receipt. Even in Australia, if I say bought bottle of water from a food place, they would not bother giving me a receipt. When I returned to my hostel, I asked about this unexpected behavior. It turned out, that the government had a problem. Small businesses would not record their cash flow. surprise! surprise! But they had very cleverly solved the problem. They issued government supplied cash registers. Every receipt is a lotter ticket in a national lottery. Once a month the prizes are drawn and the wining numbers published in a national news paper. As a foreigner I could not win a prize, so just before I left I gave my receipts to some locals I knew who could. I was mightly impressed and I can say that apart from the night food markets, I never ever made a purchase without getting a receipt.

"IMG_3600" by Doug Nienhuis [?]

Vladimir Putin a gay icon

I just love it. Previously I spoke of Vladimir. To find out that he is a gay icon on ABC raido was just very very cool. Almost hysterical.

"putin_.JPG" by win/win [?]

Internet snooping

It seems that the plans to provide free public wifi have hit a legal hurdle, they need to know who you are.

Under the Telecommunications (Interception) Bill, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must supply user identifiable information such as IP and MAC addresses to law enforcement.

A very shory history of the fall of France in 1940

Germany invaded France and were surprised to win. The French fought valiantly but were routed and threw in the towel. The British also fought valiantly but ran away with their tails between their legs after a few days. The Americans stood the side lines and said, nothing to do with us.

"Oradour-Sur-Glane" by bloomsday616 [?]

a loss of confidence...

I have been listening to Dr Karl for some time. He occasionally complains about his slide down the scale of trustworthiness in the ABC surveys. Though he is still very credibly in the top 10. I would suggest that this is the reason why:

What the listeners are seeking is unbiased views of the world. They do not necessarily have to be correct, but they should be biased on good science. However Dr Karl occasionally makes the mistake of towing the line of the ABC. So when he gives a view on some topic that is to do with policy he takes the policy line rather than the good science line, even thought they may end up with the same outcome. This makes him a less trustworthy source of information. We do not want dogma, we want honest science.

I have no surveys or other analysis to back up this hypothesis.