I can't believe this debate still rages

The now very tired debate1 going on between MSM and the journalistic Blogosphere went another round recently thanks to this piece by Christian Kerr in The Australian and some mud thrown back. I distinctly remember a time when I enjoyed reading The Australian. It hasn't been that way for a while, and they seem to just keep putting nails in the coffin, becoming more and more conservative and petty (among other adjectives). Here is a post in reply by the blog being heavily trashed by Kerr. I hope this unavailing and pointless slinging match is abandoned by both sides soon. ... more

V Festival - the wrap

So, we attended V Festival on the weekend. It was awesome. Here is a random assortment of highlights, lowlights and other shit. Highlights Muse. Best gig of the weekend. The Presets. This was the first act we saw and the only disappointment was its extreme brevity. 25 minutes is not enough Presets. We were left wanting more, much more. The Hoosiers. Don't think I'd heard of them before, but they put on an awesome show. The Zutons. After listening to their latest album You Can Do Anything a lot, I was really looking forward to seeing these guys. They sure ... more

What makes a good blog?

A while ago I was asked by my employer to write a short article on something web related to add some decent content to the company's new website. I ended up writing a short article on blogging for business promotion which included a short (and very incomplete) list of what I think are essential elements that must be included to count a website as a blog. I am sick of stumbling across websites labelled as blogs which are missing one or more elements which I believe are essential to the blog paradigm. This miss-labelling is particularly prevalent within traditional media ... more

The seasons like I've never seen them

As far as I'm concerned we've got a good two weeks of summer left, but the past week or so1 has seen a decided - and somewhat unwelcome - swing to autumn. The English summer, all four weeks of it, was a glorious experience - but the leaves are now falling. The long summer days of latitudes above 51° 30' really are something to treasure. It's a new and delightful pleasure - if only it wasn't so fleeting - to get off work at five (or so) and have a full 4 hours of daylight left to play with. Picnics in... more

Guns for personal defence? No thanks.

I've just been reading a post about the legal status of pepper spray in Australia1, which seems to also serve a secondary purpose, which is airing the author's views on gun ownership for personal protection. While I believe in the ideas of liberalism, I tend to tread a line somewhere between classic and social or modern liberalism. The so called nanny state is something to avoid, in my opinion, but placing legal restrictions on the ownership and use of personal firearms is not what I would consider nannying. Indeed, I believe one of John Howard's most courageous actions as Prime ... more