Twitter accounts have appeared purporting to be the pets of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, Abigail the Dog and Jasper the Cat.
So many Cnuts to choose from!
Nominations are now open for “Cnut of the Week”. Who do you think is futilely resisting the tide of change? I’ll select the shortlist at 8.30pm Sydney time, and you can vote during tonight’s Stilgherrian Live at 9.30pm.
Senator Stephen Conroy has been the clear winner for the last three episodes thanks to his persistence with the government’s Internet censorship plans. Some have suggested we just make him “Cnut for Life” and open the field to other contenders. What do you think?
We already have a pre-nomination of the bloke who tried to convince his wife that his iPhone accidentally emailed naked photos to another woman. Yeah, sure mate.
Who do you nominate, and why?
Links for 19 November 2008 through 20 November 2008
Stilgherrian’s links for 19 November 2008 through 20 November 2008, gathered despite the rain:
- Brisbane (Mt Stapylton): A sequence of radar images of last night’s severe storms over Brisbane.
- Web moves to front and centre in coverage of Obama presidency | ABC Digital Futures: For the first time ever, a website (not a newspaper or news agency) will have the most reporters covering the White House.
- Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide | Google: What it says: an excellent guide to what works best for getting better Google search results.
- Fireside chats in the 21st century | ABC News: “Obama not only raised far more money via the internet, he also spent far more than McCain on it. This approach clearly paid off,” says Barry Saunders in this superb opinion piece.
- New task force to examine ISP level content filtering | iTnews Australia: The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has formed a task force to look into the Federal government’s controversial ISP filtering scheme. The task force meets on 26 November and expects to take “a leadership role, provide expert technical advice, and review e-security and ISP filtering proposals” to assist the ACS to develop its own policy positions.
- The 7 Deadly Sins of Social Media | Capture the Conversation: “In the world of social media, are you going to be a force for good? Or are you going to turn to the dark side – ruining your chances and infuriating those who cross your path?” Some interesting tips on building an online presence.
- Industry and government work together to tackle internet terror | Home Office: The UK government announces an Internet “filtering” plan similar to the Howard government’s NetAlert scheme. The key difference is that the “bad stuff” it’s protecting us against is “websites that may encourage the endorsement or participation in acts of terrorism” rather than Conroy’s ubiquitous “child pornography”.
Achtung! Die grosskapitalistischen Hühner kommen!
As long as I can remember, the bridge over the railway at Newtown Square, Sydney, has been covered in posters. Last week the posters were stripped, it was painted a dreary shit-brown — and then a phone number appeared. Last night this paste-up protest appeared too.
At first I’d been pleased that the bridge was getting a fresh coat of paint, despite the colour. But when the “Bill Posters Prosecuted” message appeared, along with the phone number to book advertising space, I was disappointed to say the least. Yet another community space was turned into a commercial one. No longer could anyone with a bucket of glue and a brush promote their event, now it was only those who could afford to pay commercial rates on busy King Street.
The vibrant arts community of the Newtown precinct is precisely one of the reasons we and many others choose to live here, even though we’re under a flight path and real estate prices have become outrageous. “Achtung! Die grosskapitalistischen Hühner kommen!” indeed. We do not need yet another billboard for mainstream advertisers.
Marrickville City Council, please call off your advertising broker and return this wall to the community where it belongs.
Links for 17 November 2008 through 18 November 2008
Stilgherrian’s links for 17 November 2008 through 18 November 2008, thinned with cheap turpentine:
- NSW Government in Exile: “NSW is mired in incompetence and corruption. No-one in or near power appears able to come up with a coherent policy or plan. So let’s start.” Aparently I’m minister for infrasructure.
- HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter | Mashable: “The strength of your community determines overall what you will (or won’t) get out of the microblogging platform. What do you want to use Twitter for?” Sarah Evans offers some good tips.
- HOW NOT TO: Build Your Twitter Community | Mashable: The flipside to Sarah Evans’ previous post.
- What the family values folks don't get about family | denialism blog: “The anti-gay marriage folks think that family is all about fear, sex, and violence… These folks who fought for Prop 8 don’t understand the real meaning of family, of love, of comfort. For most of us, it’s not about fulfilling one fringe group’s idea of what God wants. It’s about creating a life with another, sharing a physical and emotional space with someone, rejoicing together when things are good, and holding each other when things are tough. It’s human.”
- Twitter is Real Life | Aide-mémoire: The ever-thoughtful Kate Carruthers has written an excellent piece countering the “Twitter is dead” meme which seems to surface from time to time. Yes, she says nice things about me (again), but there are good bits too.
- 30 Hilarious TV Meltdowns, Outbursts & Blunders | ClearlyAV: A collection of 30 videos which are (mostly) people losing their temper on TV.
- Green ICT Symposium 2008: The presentations for this conference, held in Canberra last Friday 14 November 2008, are now online.
- SSL Certificate Tester | digicert: While I don’t use digicert to buy my SSL certificates, this handy test page is good for showing the status of SSL certificates installed on your web server.
- Making money twice | 37signals: A good portion of this industry is still trying to figure out how to make money for the first time (hint: charge people). But for those who’ve mastered that, I want to talk about the next step: making money twice (or three or four times).
- NYT: Obama saying goodbye to BlackBerry? | msnbc.com: The limitations on the President, both legal and security-based, mean that Barack Obama may have to give up using email. Unable to get unfiltered access to The Real World, he’ll become increasingly dependent on a worldview filtered through his “advisors”.
Me on radio 2SER about censorship
Last night Sydney radio station 2SER‘s science program Diffusion broadcast an interview with me about the Australian government’s plans for Internet censorship. It’s available as a podcast and MP3 download.