The 2007 Ig Nobel Prizes have just been announced. My favourites: A toss-up between “Linguistics: Juan Manuel Toro, Josep B. Trobalon and Nuria Sebastian-Galles, for determining that rats sometimes can’t distinguish between Japanese, played backward, and Dutch, played backward” and “Aviation: Patricia V. Agostino, Santiago A. Plano and Diego A. Golombek, for discovering that hamsters recover from jetlag more quickly when given Viagra.”
How’s that whistle, little doggie?
Given the fascinating discussion happening in my piece about the Citizenship Test — and there’s plenty for me to respond to, I know, I’ll get to it — it’s appropriate to mention the Australia Institute’s new report Under the Radar: Dog-Whistle Politics in Australia.
You can download the table of contents and summary (21k PDF) free. The full report is $21.
The Space Age is Dead
What has happened to our sense of adventure? 50 years ago today that Russian metal thing (left) went “Beep, beep, beep” and we were thrust into the Space Age. But now the Space Age is dead.
On 4 October 1957, it was a beach ball with a beeper inside. A month later, 3 November, it was a differently-shaped Russian metal thing with a dog inside.
“Jay-zus,” thought America, collectively. “Those goddam Commies have gotten into space! And they’ve got The Bomb.” They called it “the Sputnik Crisis” and the US created ARPA (which eventually developed the Internet) and New Math (which created a huge market in hula hoops for primary schools).
The first human in space was in 1961. And only eight years later people were walking on the moon.
But now, in 2007, it’s been 35 years since anyone’s been to the moon. Indeed, it’s been 35 years since anyone’s been more than 480km from Earth.
Citizenship Test comments kick off!
If you’re not across the comments feed, check out the debate on my piece about the Citizenship Test. Going off!
Beazley’s Last (Parliamentary) Speech
That fine political blog Larvatus Prodeo says, as I did, that Kim Beazley’s final speech to Parliament was filled with history.
Here, then, is the full text of Bomber’s final speech. Anyone know where I can get the audio?
Coonan vs Conroy: preparing for battle
As mentioned last week, Friday morning I’m having breakfast with the ICT minister Senator Helen Coonan and her ALP counterpart Senator Stephen Conroy — along with some many members of the ACS.
That’s Senator Coonan on the right. In every sense of the word.
While the discussion will be chaired by some bloke from Channel 7, I’m assuming there’ll be a chance for questions. When I asked on Link last week, here’s what popped up. What would you add?