Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
In this episode Snarky Platypus and I taste test the new Arnott’s Shapes Aussie Legends crackers, and we hear how bots and trolls are spreading disinformation about Australia’s unprecedented bushfires.
Continue reading “The 9pm Authentic Aussie Inauthentic Robot Food Politics, with Added Platypus”
Residents of the depressingly tight-sphinctered Melbourne suburb of Prahran torture their dogs. True. And it’s ugly.
Also this week, Australia gets a new masthead for quality journalism, and everyone goes all wet and judgemental. Something something football on the internet. And I finish all the things that I meant to do on New Year’s Eve but didn’t.
Despite being recorded more than five weeks after the previous episode, this is really just a continuation. More or less. Shut up I’m telling this story don’t question me.
Look, I’m going to be writing some more words for a bit, so feel free to scroll down or click through or whatever and just play the podcast, OK?
Marcus Westbury, who I’ve written about before, has noticed something special about Australia’s new defence minister.
“John Faulkner [pictured left] hasn’t changed his glasses for so long they’re almost fashionable again,” he tweets. “Do you think if I start referring to John Faulkner as ‘the hispter’ it will catch on? He has the retro ironic glasses for it.”
“It’s gonna be awesome to see those glasses in the back of an F-35 or sticking out of a tank. Cartoonists will love this,” Marcus reckons. And I reckon too.
So, dear Australian political writers and cartoonists, can we please start referring to Senator John Faulkner as “The Hipster”?
Marcus also wonders about the fate of the Rudd government’s transparency program, which Faulkner was driving in his role as Special Minister of State. “It was the most impressive thing about the Rudd government,” says Marcus. “What now?”
Stilgherrian’s links for 09 May 2009 through 17 May 2009, gathered intermittently and jumbled together at random:
Stilgherrian’s links for 28 October 2008 through 31 October 2008, gathered using an automatic government-controlled thought-filter:
Three quickies for you: The 40 Most Inappropriate Children’s Book Covers (I like Sharing is for Losers: an Ayn Rand Primer and Pop! Goes The Hamster And Other Fun Microwave Games). A nice rant about Sydney’s Fireworks Display Exhaustion Syndrome. And the story of the Bluetooth Burqa (hat-tip to 3 Quarks Daily).