dewline | Entries tagged with australia

This is disgusting news:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/14/australian-university-sector-accuses-trump-administration-of-blatant-interference-in-research

I'll bet that it's happening in many other places as well as in Australia. It's meddling of an evil sort and the rest of us shouldn't (be told to) tolerate it.

Current Mood: angry

Good morning, and good luck.

Especially to friends and acquaintances on the eastern coast of Australia at the moment because of Tropical Storm Alfred.

Current Mood: busy

Thread begun on Twitter by Laurie Penny:

https://twitter.com/PennyRed/status/1429145164984078336

Lest we forget the consequences of our ancestors' choices.

More on other topics later...

Current Mood: discontent
Current Music: "Merry Go Round" by Suzie Mcneil on CBCListen

Add this one to the list, I suspect.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/02/17/1935241/facebook-blocks-all-news-in-and-from-australia

I am left thinking that this was planned to happen this way.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/18/facebook-blocks-health-departments-charities-and-its-own-pages-in-botched-australia-news-ban

Current Mood: worried
Current Location: Home-for-now

This essay:

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/australia-zigzag-border?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

Reminded me of the dispute chronicled eight years earlier:

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/oh-no-canada/

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: A Sunday Edition podcast

1. I'm feeling a need for a haircut, for a shower, for shopping...and I look at today's forecast of 60 % chance of rain, possibly thundershowers. Today is going to be a conflicted day at the start of what's locally a long weekend at the top of August.

2. There's a gathering of reich-wingers in Sydney, Australia this weekend. Their big question is "How do we make sure that no one can avoid being misruled by our Doctrine?" Fair warning: images of evildoers such as Farage - the man who ought to be made to wear DCU Joker makeup everywhere he goes - included with the SBS article.

3. Some good news to give the attendees of the conference cited in item # 2 some pain: Australia's about to achieve 35 % of energy sourced from renewables, within two years.

4. Isn't a large part of Putin's clout oil-based? He might want to reconsider that course of action.

More later...

Current Mood: busy

Noting for future study:

"Democracy Has Been Made to Fail - Prof. Anthony Grayling"

The rampage of Sam Nunberg

Extortionist attempts extortion. Again.

Remind me to rant about super-heroes or space opera again some day soon, okay?

Current Mood: busy

On restaurant workers from Taiwan losing jobs at restaurants owned/managed by people from mainland China...in Australian restaurants:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/18/world/australia/china-taiwan-discrimination.html

Heather Mallick noting the possibilities for Problems in Canadian news services - specifically Postmedia newspapers - from a friend of DT-45 who runs the National Enquirer (warning for language of some people quoted therein):

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2018/02/19/can-trump-be-blackmailed-over-sex.html

"(David) Pecker sits on the board of Postmedia, which is currently cutting newspapers across Canada down to the bone.

Media companies seeking various kinds of help from Ottawa to survive their ongoing financial catastrophe should be alarmed. In no way can the Canadian government be seen as providing a benefit that would even indirectly fatten the profits of a creature like Pecker. Postmedia is bad enough, but the presence of Pecker is an indelible taint."

Current Mood: Time-crunched

This is to note a reply to bigots feeling bold enough to flex verbal muscle at the expense of people who never deserved such pains...

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/15/illridewithyou-hashtag-offers-solidarity-to-sydneys-muslims-after-cafe-siege

Here's the why of it:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-15/hostages-sydney-cafe-martin-place-police-operation/5967232

These people just had to go and do something not only mean, cruel and Wrong on its face, they had to play into the local Wrong-Headed Head-of-Government's hands by doing it, didn't they?

I don't want anyone dead of this. Not police, not hostages and certainly not hostage-takers. Because I want them to be treated according to the spirit and letter of the law...and learn from this that their First Mistake was to think that a crime of this sort was a good idea in the first place.

Waiting to be damned as naïve by PM Abbott's fellow believers for saying that...

Current Mood: worried

I understand that Australia's been coping with her own forms of seasonal weather misery over the last week or two in particular. It would be good for both our nations if we could export some relief to them derived from our current weather woes hereabouts. Yes?

Current Mood: irritated

Question: I've been looking at some of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's YouTube content - particularly the news content - and seeing the comments disabled.

Any word on why that is?

Current Mood: curious

jasonfranks just posted linkage to an interview he did recently that got my attention about some of the parallels between Canadian comics creators and their Australian kin:

In Australia, everything is local. The scene is going a bit more national now, thanks to the internet, but our cities are so geographically remote that even that is difficult. There's currently one publisher with direct market distribution, one with newsstand distribution, and a few traditional publishers who provide a very small amount of work for the bookstore market, but that's it. These days we have a few options as far as the circuit goes, but that's a very recent thing. Five years ago there was one per year. If you want to seriously do comics, you have to look overseas. Our population is small, and domestic sales are proportionately low. Also, it's hard to get out of the slushpiles without some facetime. Facetime costs thousands of dollars in airfare and accommodation. It's a battle!

Granted that we've had an inside track on getting ourselves organized faster with a better infrastructure to some extent, and living next to the Elephant also helped somewhat...and yet I can't help but feel more than a little sympathy for what feels like a shared situation.

What say you?

Current Mood: curious

I just saw this article:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/09/22/australia-sydney-dust-storm-outback.html

Ye gods.

Current Mood: worried

I understand that today's something of a mixed-blessing anniversary for your country. I just wanted to pay my respects to that, knowing a little better now of the nature of that event with the First Fleet's landing at Sydney Cove.

Wishing you all well...

Current Mood: pensive

Seeing as I work with an Australian national on an ongoing basis right now, this particular column from cbc.ca seems to be something I need to take a closer look at. Especially as I hope to visit the place someday.

Tony Burman used to head up CBC's News Division, and is generally a solid student of the journalistic arts. And as this essay reminds me, his sense of humour is therapeutic at restoring or preserving a sense of perspective as well...

Current Mood: amused

A random selection of stuff of interest to me tonight:

Antonia Zerbisias raises a fair concern about the possible future of the CBC...a possible future I find as unpalatable as the idea of it being shut down permanently. Her closing question disturbs me, because she might be right to ask: "Did we all (miss the vote)?"

thebitterguy notes a recent essay on Infinite Crisis, one that I have to admit reads as an inevitable comparison of assorted persons, given the days we live in.

CBC News notes the relationship between the Prime Ministers of Canada and Australia. I find this ringing true and disturbing all at once. Especially seeing as Mr. Howard's currently spending an overnighter here in Ottawa.

More of interest as I find it...and now back to you.