What are these now banned super-fast swim suits and how do they work? Sports equipment engineering design expert Lachlan Thompson has the answer.
July, 2009
Crikey Clarifier: How do full polyurethane swimsuits work?
Swimming now a contender for title of worst-run sport
Swimming is now a laughing stock, with its shoddy performance over the past few days at the FINA World Championships in Rome.
Crikey Says: A tale of two media incidents
Both The Chaser and Austereo’s Kyle and Jackie O show have stepped outside acceptable public standards recently. One dealt well with the fallout, the other, not so much.
Medicare De-Select: does allowing an “opt out” mean the end of Medicare?
Along with the laudable plans to reform a basically robust system, the National Health and Hospitals Commission proposal suggests something that could undermine our system’s very fundamentals: Medicare Select.
Media briefs: Why journalism is unsustainable … Palin the radio star?
Is Sarah Palin set to become the next golden tonsils? Madonna writes her own front page stories, even if journalism is not a sustainable hobby.
ACTU bites its tongue, retreats to attic
What trade-off has the ACTU received for biting its tongue about the building industry? So far, just some half hearted words of encouragement about ‘buying Australian’.
Tips and rumours: Lobbyists on the move
Labor spinner Alex Cramb will be returning to lobbying outfit Government Relations Australia next week, a tipster tells Crikey today.
Lobbyists line up to speed date government ministers
Businesses have forked out thousands to sit down to meetings with senior Rudd Government ministers, out of the gaze of the media, as an official part of the ALP National Conference.
ONA report sheds new light on climate change
A new confident report by the Office of National Assessments warns if humans must wait for their eyes to confirm the predictions of scientists, it will be far too late to do anything about it.
Political snippets: The national poker machine party, organic food no healthier
The ALP and their pokie loving ways, and is organic food no healthier?
There’s no Alice town camps deal, not now and not likely
The truth is, the battle for the Alice Springs town camps is just beginning, despite Minister for Indigenous Affairs Jenny Macklin’s latest deal.
Cabinet agrees to extend coal comp, but government tight lipped
The coal industry is expected to receive $1.5 b compensation for the ETS scheme. However, the government is still keeping quiet about probable job losses.
Ask the economists: rate rise frenzy fails to stack up
Crikey asked a group of leading economists to cut through the spin and dissect the how, why and when on interest rates so Kevin Rudd’s working families could properly plan for the future.
Ink blot secrets leaked online
Want to know the “right” answers to the Rorschach test — the ink blots — so you won’t appear crazy? They’ve been published on Wikipedia, and psychologists are not happy about it.
Kevin 09: competent, unglamorous and focussed on outcomes
Kevin Rudd today used his opening address to the ALP National Conference to paint his Government as one firmly in the Labor tradition: all social safety nets and nation-building. By his standards it was “soaring rhetoric”.
Australians clueless about refugees
Australians are “stunningly poorly-informed” about asylum seekers, thanks mainly to an anti-refugee campaign run by the media, writes Jeremy Sears.
Palin to become the next golden tonsils?
Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin is keeping quiet about her future political plans, but rumours abound that her dulcet tones are headed for the airwaves. Could she be the next Rush Limbaugh? You betcha!
Health reform report: big on efficiency but what about quality?
Many policy analysts (including myself) would argue that a Commonwealth take over of the whole caboodle is the way to go with health care. However, what is all this talk of “efficiency costs”? asks Gavin Mooney.
Vanity Fair tortures intern with cable news hell
Thomas Kaplan is Vanity Fair’s summer intern. Instead of tackling the usual work-experience tasks of filing and coffee-making, he has been given a special brief: watch 24-hour cable news channels for four days straight. Oh, and they’re broadcasting the whole thing live.
Chris Anderson: the future is free
Salon probes the mind of Chris Anderson, editor of Wired and author of controversial book “Free”, who says newspapers don’t matter, online writers are happy working for nothing and “free” is the future of the media.
Gossip Cops to patrol celebrity news
The folks behind Mediaite have just launched GossipCop.com, a watchdog for celebrity news and gossip sites. “Think of it as TMZ meets Smoking Gun. Or maybe Perez Hilton meets Columbia Journalism Review” says the creator.
