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Now, both major parties, and most of the minor parties run on a politics of fear.  From BOAT PEOPLE are taking over, WORK CHOICES is coming back, to the even more extreme “Gays are all depressed”.

But this one bugs me…  bugs me a lot.  (oh and I have a photo of it, so it is easier to do blog post on it)

The Labor’s 100 Million Dollars a Day.  Why is this a problem, quite simply because the Liberals have said they will pay of the deficit at more or less the same time.  So this means that the Liberals if they get power will have exactly the same level of debt repayments that Labour currently has.  So the issue is that if the Libs get power, they will do exactly what Labor are already doing?  A large number of (possibly overpaid) financial experts all agree that Australia weathered the GFC (or whatever technical term you wish to apply) incredibly well and that no matter who was in power, the government of the day would have entered into some level of debt.

As has been pointed out, the debt levels that Australia has are 2^nd to none in the world.  ( and not just because of the last 10 years, but 20 years of economic reform ), yet the Liberals run a policy of fear.

Even on the 7.30 Report Tony Abbott says “ Hundreds of Millions ” in a shrill voice.  Trying to relate that amount of money to normal people.  Sorry, but this amount of money cannot be treated as we treat money.  The scales are just too different. Drive along a new bit of freeway and try and see why it cost $1.5billion.  Without an understanding of the scales and trying to use your own pay packet as a bench mark will always result in a lack of understanding.

And like all political adverts, this one contains a disclaimer.  What is says, I am sure that only the persons that printed it and hung it would be able to tell you.  5 stories above street level there is no way to read what it says.  This needs to change.  I am only presuming that this is a Liberal advert.  Both Labor and Liberal do this.  And it has to stop.

So the numbers are bullshit, the argument is flawed and the subjective nature is exploitative.  Why, because it works.  The politics of fear has always been the way of politics.  Even the Greens use these tactics.  As they say, doesn’t matter who you vote for… a politician gets in.  With ads like this and people believing them, this will never change.

Tags: Annoyances, General // Add Comment »

Poor Andrew Bolt… he really has been kept in the dark.  You’d think that someone in the last nearly two years would have told him that there was a fake twitter account.  Surely.  But no, no one did.  This also shows that people like Bolt and even those around him in News Limited have no idea about brand management either.  People like Bolt are a brand unto themselves.

Of course I try very hard to avoid anything he says on the grounds that I might need to have my gall bladder removed, I am still well aware of him and his views.

The @andrewbolt account was started on February 11, 2009 or 538 days ago  and he is only just writing about it now!

@jason_a_w managed to find and write a very detailed interview with the person behind the account in August last year! (faking-on-twitter-fake-andrew-bolt/)

And yet 12 months after this post was written he has only just found out, or at least has only just started complaining. Of course like most right wing commentariat he is demanding justice and claiming this is the worst crime in history.

From his own blog:

“This is only a small instance, but as I’ve so often noted among Leftist activists from the French Revolution to the Internet revolution , many have a curious belief that their moral cause entitles them to act as barbarians. It’s this loss of conscience in the collective that makes them such a menace.”

“For at least a year, it’s been guilty of identity theft and defamation. And I would expect that the employer of this person might have something to say about that,” he said.” Source : Source: News Ltd

From his own blog

“I’ve been given names, and at some stage may use them. Parody is perfectly fine, but identity theft is low.”

Seriously WTF.  Either he knows who it is or he doesn’t.  I suspect he doesn’t, that is why he is using these bully boy techniques which work very well in old media, not so well in these new and rapidly changing social platforms. And of course the readers of his blog coming running to his defence with 183 comments, most of which seem to blame the ABC for reasons that totally escape me.

So when twitter discovers that Andrew Bolt has finally discovered that there is a fake twitter account, he encounters the Streisand effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect)

Now we have @LordAndrewBolt @AndrewBolt_PR @AndrewBlotMP @andrew__bolt @andrew_bolt_irl @mrsandrewbolt @lordandrewbolt @IamAndrewBolt @andrewbolt @AndrewBoltMP @MrAndrewBolt @anandrewbolt @andrew_bolt @anbrewdolt @fakeandrewbolt @TheAndrewBolt

And I am sure I have missed some, and all the while the account that started it all has gained over 800 followers in one day.

The more he complains the more he adds fuel to the Streisand Effect.  Sit back and enjoy the ride people… this will only get funnier I promise.

Tags: General, Redbubble, twitter // 1 Comment »

The interesting thing about Google spell checking, is that in some respects it is almost to good. Remember back in the day hunting through a dictionary to try and find a word. Trying to remember desperately if it had silent letters or a ph instead of an f.

As long as you can spell well enough for google… what else do you need.

“i cun spall wull enug for goggle”… and google does give you… Did you mean: i can spell well enough for google

( and yes the results count is correct for when I made the t-shirt)

Click on the image to buy your own copy of this t-shirt and support my camera addiction.

Tags: Redbubble // Add Comment »

Wow, I’ve really made it.  One of my tweets made page 8 of The Age (31/72010).  Pity I haven’t brought the paper in years and it was a friend (with a free copy) who found my name in it.

First point, and really it is so small as to be trivial, The article reads “But worse has followed. On ABC TV’s Q&A political panel The Worm was replaced by a series of idiot remarks from the Twitterverse and began less than a minute are the panel was introduced.” Pity really that Monday 26 April was the first episode of Q and A to have live tweets,  so I wouldn’t infer that this is brand new.  So I am going to draw the conclusion that Lawrence Money is not a regular Q and A watcher.

“Great panel” was the pointless first tweet from emilybweeb.”

Sure, it may have been pointless, but why is her opinion any less valuable than anyone else’s.  She may have genuinely thought it was a great panel, why is she not allowed to have and yet more importantly share this view.

On the Q and A Website they state..  “Q&A is about encouraging people to engage with politics and society.” But Lawrence seems to be of the opinion that if it is not funny or relevant to him, it should be derided.

…  “ A minute later came wolfcat: “Based on last night’s debate has anyone woken up yet?” Hilarious, huh?”

The Panel was taking about the debate and how boring it was… so yes it was funny.  Why was it funny, because it was in context and timely.  But I guess when you are writing a static column a week after the event you’re going to miss the joke.  (Don’t worry I am laughing at you now if it is any consolation)

Well see this is the thing, like the worm, the tweets are a sentiment tracker, but unlike the worm tweets add context and meaning as well.

“and this from unsongsongs:” Obviously the cut backs in The Age mean that they can no longer afford proof readers, the username is @unsungsongs.  (Hint for your style guide as well. You should refer to users including the @ symbol)

By the end of the evening that episode of #QandA 14,492 Tweets from 2,941 contributors.  (Source: @tweeveetv), so it is an active community trying to participate in democracy.

Also it is not the first time the ABC has had tweets on live TV, that honour goes to News Breakfast, which has been doing them (off and on) for the last two years.  But hey, never let the facts get in the way of a rant. Nor should we look at places like Current TV who ran live moderated tweets during the Obama campaign debates.

Now of course, social media isn’t for everyone. Nor is it the solution to all the world’s problems, but it is a tool, (yes even sometimes tools use it), but it is a tool never the less.

Times have changed and Twitter and other Social Media platforms give people a chance to interact across the country and often the world in real time when talking about serious issues or even trivial ones.  Both issues are what makes us, us.  Not everyone is highbrow all the time, nor are we serious all the time.  Even when it comes to serious issues a joke can be a way of breaking through the static of disinformation and disinterest.  Perhaps if more people interacted this campaign wouldn’t be so dull after all.

Tags: Annoyances, Funny, General, twitter // Add Comment »

I’ve seen lots of people talk about Net Censorship and how it is the only thing that people are going to use to define who they vote for in the election.

Firstly, anyone that votes only on one policy is nuts… there are a lot of things that makes Australia what it is… voting on one tiny aspect of a whole of government approach is just weird IMHO.

Now I am on the record as saying that I think the whole Net Filter is a big joke… (a bad one), but a joke. It won’t do one thing to stop what the government claims it is for. How often do you see when places are raided, collections of DVD burners. These DVD’s are distributed by hand or by post, not by the internet. But I digress…

From IT News

Ludlam, who has long opposed mandatory filtering, said the Liberals were likely to support Labor’s filtering proposal under Tony Abbott’s leadership.

“I think the Liberals are ducking and weaving; I think internally, they’re split … but the fact is, the party is led by Tony Abbott who is deeply conservative,” he said.

Never have truer words been said.  If you don’t think that a government lead by someone on the record by such a Conservative as Tony Abbott would not leap at an opportunity such as this (even if only partially technically feasible) you are in the words from The Castle ‘Dreaming Mate’.

Tags: Annoyances // 3 Comments »