PHOTO ESSAY: Crash! Boom! World lightning.It’s like thunder, lightning, the weather around the world is frightening. An amazing collection of lightning photos.
July, 2009
Modern design from a Victorian era
The latest hipster home trend? Victoriana oddities like taxidermied dogs and skeletons of birds. Lovers of sleek minimalism look away.
Beer summit: Harvard professor responds
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. writes of his experience at Obama’s beer summit. However, Ruth Wisse questions if Gates really was the victim of racial profiling.
Gerard Henderson's Media Watch Dog: The Chaser “boys” bow out
In episode 21 of Media Watch Dog, Gerard Henderson looks at the final episode of the ABC’s The Chaser’s War on Everything (except Militant Islamism), Fran “Mahatma” Kelly and the media’s Tony Abbott celibacy obsession.
Socialitopoly!
Manhattan’s rich socialites are bored — no-one’s throwing parties any more. So Vanity Fair is indulging their need for amusement with a board game. Get your Louboutins and take stroll down Park Avenue.
Gwyneth has GOOP on her face
This week’s edition of Gwyneth Paltrow’s online GOOP newsletter has a literary agent spruiking a bunch of his clients’ books, with no mention of the blatant advertising that is occurring.
Terrified of terrorism?
Does the threat of terrorist attacks in Australia actually merit further changes to our anti-terror laws? We need to be careful not to overact, writes Robert Merkel.
TIME practises what it preaches with frugal photography
Photographer Robert Lam was excited when a stock photo he snapped made the cover of TIME magazine, until he found out the going rate for the mag’s cover shot is usually in the thousands of dollars — and he got $30. The cover story in question? “The New Frugality”.
Crikey Says: Tough media times = tabloid journalism
The overwhelming point of too much commercial media today is to generate ratings or circulation by methods which push the boundaries of reputation, ethics, taste and decency.
Lowbottom High Diaries: Underpaid, underappreciated and under the weather
The annual staff association dinner dance is not to be missed, writes Trevor Diogenes.
To whom it may concern: I’m sorry, OK?
What do you do when an inappropriate interview with a minor goes horribly wrong? asks J.O from Sydney.
The Big Four banks are guilty of corporate crimes
The NAB fee backdown is small consolation to bank customers who have been victim to one of the greatest corporate thefts over the past decade.
New donations laws are bad news for NGOs
The proposed new rules to political donations may have signifcant effects on NGOs, since governments increasingly regard NGOs as direct competitors in the political system.
Credit growth sluggish, recession jury still out
Reserve Bank figures out today continue to show an economy slowing as credit growth declines.
Political snippets: Why QLD politics got the feminine touch
Why Peter Beattie handing the Premier’s reins in Queensland to Anna Bligh should have been a tip-off to just how crook things there have become, South Korean dog meat, and more meaty chunks of news from the mind of Richard Farmer.
Broncos must battle through Hunt’s betrayal
Ireland’s out, Karmichael Hunt is in, and all is well with the world.
Guy Rundle: IP, a whiter shade of property
Intellectual property is a fiction, and the way in which it is conceived changes over time, writes Guy Rundle. Just ask Men at Work.
The shining star in the media universe: pay TV
Pay TV is turning out to be one of the biggest money spinners in the media sector, with reported increased earnings across Australia and the UK.
Tony Abbott’s powerplay goes by the book
The big challenge for Tony Abbott is to convince Australians that the Liberals really are interested in ideas, writes Norman Abjorensen.
Crikey Clarifier: How media regulation works
Wondering how and where you can complain about the Kyle and Jackie-O rape segment? Bernard Keane has the answers.
Who is Tony Abbott, heir apparent?
Courtesy of mere chance, he’s probably the highest profile replacement if Liberal Leader Malcolm Turnbull goes. Bernard Keane glimpses inside the “slightly scary” mind of Tony Abbott via his new book, Battlelines.
Political beat-ups are one thing, corruption is quite another
They love a campaign at The Australian. But when it comes to reporting corruption, however, the stakes are higher and we can’t be quite so cavalier.
ALP conference turtles pull their heads in
When a federal MP likens the ALP front bench to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you know the ALP National Conference has turned terminal.
Morning Market Report: Commodities and resources get a boost
The Dow closed up 83. It was a huge night for commodities and resources. Metals all well up, Oil price up $3.59 and Gold was up $7. US markets at 2009 year highs.
