October, 2009
Video of the Day: Playing Tetris with Soviet Bloc blocks
Does old Soviet architecture remind you of anything? Animator Sergej Hein says he always saw a giant game of Tetris. And so he made this:
Antony Green: Can the Greens make a dent in Higgins?
On paper, the Federal seat of Higgins might not look as safe for the Liberals as it once did — but don’t expect to see Clive Hamilton make much of an impact there for the Greens, says Antony Green. History and the polls are against him.
Luxury brands tighten their crocodile skin belts
Versace are cutting a quarter of their workforce, Chanel also cut jobs, YSL has closed stores. It’s the smaller, family owned fashion houses that are really feeling the brunt of the tight arsed GFC shopper, while multi-brand players like Gucci and Louis Vuitton are still popping the champagne.
Read another chapter from Osama’s wife, Najwa bin Laden 
My father, Osama bin Laden
Read a chapter from the new book by Omar bin Laden, son of the world’s most infamous terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden, who he describes (amongst other things) as a mathematical genius who showed little affection and didn’t believe in refrigerators.
graph pr0n 
Internet access: more than just smut and piracy
New data shows Australia’s young people are overwhelmingly using the internet for education more than anything else — yes, even porn — but their access to the web is strongly tied to socio-economic factors. Should the government started subsidising net access for low-income families?
Film review: Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story
Capitalism: A Love Story is not Michael Moore’s best film, says Luke Buckmaster, but it’s a solid addition to his body of work, and a vintage Moore exposé that fits his battlin’-for-the-small-guys shtick like a glove.
maps This is your planet, 4C later
A great (if a little grim) interactive map shows how the predicted 4C rise in global temperature by 2050 will affect the planet in areas like sea levels, marine life, wildfires, drought and farming.
Birmingham: Aussies are crap at BBQs
Ooh, them’s fightin’ words: John Birmingham reckons Australians’ self-image as masters of the grill is totally overcooked. Greeks, Germans and even the Yanks would give us an absolute basting in a battle of the barbie.
The internet ushers in the age of the ‘amafessional’
The internet has allowed amateurs to directly rival professionals in opportunity, talent, quality and price, says Mark Penn — and not just in the field of journalism; bedroom musicians, artists and authors are all shaking up their respective fields with some serious competition.
Unsure whether to be happy or sad over the rising dollar?
With news that the Aussie dollar has dropped under 90c today, Tim Boreham writes on the changes — both good and bad — that a strong Aussie dollar brings. It’s not the doom and gloom that many are predicting.
Google has its head in the clouds over biggest deal yet
Google has nabbed its highest-profile client so far, with Los Angeles City Council voting to dump its Microsoft Office applications and transfer over to Google Apps’ ‘cloud computing’ based services. Is Microsoft’s dominance of the office software market under threat?
rumour 
White House and Fox News call a truce
According to a “very reliable source”, Fox News SVP Michael Clemente and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs have met to bury the hatchet over on their recent spat. Aww, just when it was getting good!
What will the web look like in 5 years? Chinese
Google CEO Eric Schmidt predicts what the Web will look like five years from now: Chinese-language sites will dominate, social media will continue its epic rise, and will all come in real time via super-fast broadband.
Grattan: Refugees hold Rudd hostage
Kevin Rudd’s ‘Indonesian Solution’ for the 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers has turned into a debacle with neither Indonesia nor Australian in charge, writes Michelle Grattan. Will they have to remove the refugees from the Oceanic Viking by force?
Which dead celebs earn the most from beyond the grave?
Too bad you can’t spend it when you’re dead, because Forbes have released their annual top earning dead celebs list. It’s a surprise number one this year with Yves Saint Laurent beating out the likely favourite Michael Jackson. Well, Le Smoking, is a classic.
At least one ex-Tamil Tiger is headed to Australia…
In an Oz exclusive from Sri Lanka, an ex-Tamil Tiger — unaware of the Indonesian Solution — discusses his plans to catch a boat to Australia, because it is the quickest and cheapest immigration option. Look out Wilson Tuckey!
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Democratic donors recieving White House perks
The Washington Times has scored internal documents it claims show Barack Obama has been rewarding major donors to the Democratic Party with exclusive access to the White House, administration advisers and important meetings.
Crabb: Captain Kevin not steering the ship
Who’s even in charge of Oceanic Viking and the Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard? We’ve become a leaky boat without a captain, writes Annabel Crabb. Kevin Rudd has become an expert in giving very vague answers about the saga.
revealed Read Sarah Palin’s financial records [PDF]
Sarah Palin has released her financial disclosures for the past year, revealing some juicy insights, including: a $1.5m retainer received for her upcoming memoirs, she owns a marketing business called “Pie Spy”, and hubbie Todd got $2000 from a teen abstinence advocacy group. Download it all here.
Sarkozy’s £250,000 shower
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made British MPs’ expenses look like chump change, with a new report finding he spent £160m (AU$290m) during his six-month stint in charge of the European Union, including £250,000 on a new shower that he never actually used.
Hartcher: Found! A true Labor leader — pity it’s not Rudd
Peter Hartcher has found an immigration leader in Paul Howse, national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, who objects to “exploiting the issue of race to whip up fear in the community”. Finally, some words of sense.
Wood: Interest rates must rise. Deal with it.
With a strong economy, low inflation and a rising Aussie dollar, a Cup Day interest rate rise is now almost a certainty. And so it should be, says Alan Wood: rates can’t remain at 50-year lows forever.
Friedman: We simply can’t win
America simply does not have the Afghan partners, NATO allies, domestic support or financial resources to win in Afghanistan, says Thomas Friedman. Who knows: if the rest of the world stops meddling, the country might actually manage to sort itself out on its own.
