Weekly Poll: Howard government annoyances

The Howard government’s done some strange things this year. It’s decided that the army can somehow combat child sexual abuse (if the people involved and black and poor). It’s spending $6 billion on fighter-bombers the air force doesn’t want. It’s selling uranium to India. And more…

Which do you find the most annoying? Go to the website to vote!

And if you think I’ve missed out an important one, please add it in the comments.

[poll id=”7″]

Last week’s results: No-one thought Bono was a statesman striding the world or an inspiration for the 21st century. Combining the most popular responses, we find that Bono is, in fact, a wanker — a major 20th century musician who’s past his use-by date. No surprises there.

The Core: “The KLF: Genius or Gibberish?”

Cover of The Core magazine number 6, 27 November 1991

It’s two weeks since I posted the last thing from my deep past, the Script Challenge, and no-one’s solved it yet. So I’ll post something less cryptic, a little less demanding — an extract from The Core magazine, which I worked on back during the brief period when I was cool.

Plus it gives me a chance to reminisce about The KLF.

The Core dates from a fantastic period of my life. I’d been working for ABC Radio for a few years, and along with club promoter Scott Thompson — does anyone know where he is now? — I presented Club Escape, a dance music program on Triple J created by John Thompson-Mills that aired in Adelaide in 1990-91.

Club Escape was hot. We had 11% of the total radio audience on a Saturday night, which means we probably blitzed the 15-25yo demographic. Nightclub owners told us their venues were deserted until the clock struck midnight and we were off the air.

It Was So Much Fun.

Continue reading “The Core: “The KLF: Genius or Gibberish?””

First stranger-friend

Excellent. One week into using Facebook and I’ve just had my first “friend” request from a complete stranger. Silly man, he didn’t even provide a message to suggest why I’d want to be his friend.

Three Friday Rants

Ah, yet another busy week! So that I have at least some content to offer, here’s links to three pieces I found worthwhile.

“I don’t do predictions,” but…

Photograph of Antony Green

Election über-analyst Antony Green (pictured) has joined his eponymous Antony Green Appreciation Society on Facebook. Asked to give an election prediction, he said:

No. If I wanted to do predictions, I would have studied astrology. Not that you have to study anything to do astrology. It’s hardly a science.

It certainly looks like it will be an interesting election. There’s only been one opinion poll this year that suggested anything less than a 6% swing. If a swing like that occurred, you’d have to have the logical skills of a Christopher Pearson to construct a scenario where the government prevented Labor gaining 16 seats. I suppose we have another few weeks breathlessly hanging on to see if there is a poll turnaround.

Maybe more than a few weeks, if the election gets strung out until December. I reckon by then we’ll all be well over it.

P.S. Watch out, Antony! There’s an echidna behind you.