Month: June 2008

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Flattered

I’m particularly flattered by the people who’ve been concerned about the dearth of original writing here lately. “Are you ok?” asked one. “Just asking ‘cos you’ve not written any new stuff to entertain me recently (you’ve got a public out here y’know).”

Yeah, I’m OK. It’s just tough finding the balance between doing my geek-for-hire thing (which is what pays the bills) and creating original media (which doesn’t pay nearly as well, unless you’re Stephen King or someone).

In the first half of 2008 I’ve certainly done more writing, but my cashflows reflect that cost. Resolving this dilemma is my great challenge for the next three weeks.

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Nah, we’ll skip this week

The tail will not wag the dog. I’ve decided that Stilgherrian Live Alpha will not happen tonight. Thursday evenings have proved “difficult”. I’ll think about better times.

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Hello Mr Cooper! Beer please!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 0:57 — 2.2MB)

Do you remember this 57-second sequence from last week’s episode of Stilgherrian Live Alpha?

Yes, I blatantly demanded free beer.

Well, I asked for beer in return for a plug for the brewery. Such is the nature of a commercial exchange, right? Fair’s fair.

I thought I’d better put the clip online and bring it to the attention of the folks at Coopers Brewery in Adelaide and see if they come up with the goods.

I’ve just sent them an email. While it’s obviously extremely short notice, I’ll let you know how I go. With luck I’ll have a case of nice cleansing Coopers Ale to help the program go smoothly.

[By the way, the concert I refer to was the “Time To Act” concert for AIDS awareness which was held in Rymill Park, Adelaide. A great gig, which I’ll tell you about some other time.]

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Slavedriver Rudd fails the exploitation test

My good friend Stephen Stockwell asks whether, after a week of reports that our new Prime Minister is driving his public servants too hard, we could call Rudd the Australian Federal Government’s answer to Jason Calacanis? Perhaps he’s onto something.

In The Age today, author and lawyer Dr Mirko Bagaric reckons the ultimate test of character is when a person has unchecked power. “That is why at work you can get a pretty good gauge of the character of your bosses but not your underlings,” he says. “They are too busy being nice to you to try to get ahead.”

So what does Bagaric make of the many, many reports of public servants complaining that Rudd has turned their lives into a “nightmare” through overwork? Bagaric says, “Rudd has spectacularly failed the exploitation test.”

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