Is too much VFL is a bad thing for AFL players, especially in good teams? Playing well in the VFL is not a guarantee to play well in the AFL, but good players get stuck, writes Catman Forever.
April, 2010
Bernardi: Rudd is up the creek without his budgie smugglers
The Rudd government is drowning in a sea of wasteful spending, and the tide of public opinion is about to turn — plus other hydrological metaphores from the pen of SA Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi.
The Tea Partiers in their own (crazy) words
NY Times cleverly asked members of the Tea Party to video themselves discussing the problems of the US, proving conclusively that Tea Partiers are predominately white, old and angry with everyone.
Does Australia’s asylum freeze break international law?
The government’s freeze on processing asylum applications from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan may be legal in Australia — but is it internationally lawful? Legal expert Savitri Taylor takes the case.
PHOTO GALLERY: The killer Tibetan tremors
Over 400 people have been killed and 10,000 injured in a series of earthquake in the Tibetan region of China, with this photo gallery showing rescuers desperately scrambling through collapsed buildings.
Thank God for the new sound of the Dawn Service
This year’s ANZAC Day Dawn Service will finally ditch God Save the Queen. It’s about time, says Barry Everingham — now we just have to get her face off coins and stamps…
Film review: The Most Dangerous Man in America — edgy documentary
The Most Dangerous Man in America is a gripping and immensely detailed insiders account of a top US policy analyst who took a bold moral stance against the Vietnam War. It’s fascinating viewing, says Luke Buckmaster.
How to spot fake online reviews
From Amazon to Yelp to Rotten Tomatoes, we increasingly look to the internet for guidance on what to buy, watch and eat. But how can you tell if the glowing “review” you’re reading isn’t just well-disguised PR puff? Consumerist readers compile a spotter’s guide.
Speculating on the Cathay Pacific near-disaster
Ben Sandilands offers his expert eye on Tuesday’s very hard landing of a Cathay Pacific A330-300 at Hong Kong’s airport and its similarities to a British Airways incident in 2008.
Do Australians still vote along class lines?
Once upon a time, brickies voted Labour, bankers voted Liberal and the Greens were but a twinkle in Mother Earth’s eye. But have things really changed? Possum Comitatus looks at the data.
The myth of the mining boom
One minute Australians are loving the mining boom, the next they are claiming it’s an under taxed industry and its success drags other industries down. Not fair! argues Mitchell Hooke from the Minerals Council of Australia.
revealed The WaMu rap: “I like big bucks and I cannot lie”
On the eve of the GFC, Washington Mutual employees at a company retreat busted out a fat cats version of Baby Got Back. “You gotta spends, like it never ends, cuz you gotta have that big new Benz”. Impeccable timing.
The best bits from the Oprah biography
Don’t waste precious hours reading all 525 pages of the new gossip-filled Oprah bio — The Daily Beast has wrapped up all the juciest bits into only two pages.
A lifetime of legal battles over Oreos
Ice cream mogul, Ben & Jerry’s Ben Cohen, tells the fascinating tale of his lifelong relationship with the Oreo biscuit (and the legal department of its parent company, Nabisco) — from sticking them in ice cream to using them to explain economics to the Pentagon.
Farrelly: Garrett sold his soul for nothing
Peter Garrett was the heroic rock star, the environmental warrior. Now he launches the tourism master plan for the Kakadu National Park. When did Garrett become the hapless travelling salesman flogging Brand Australia? asks Elizabeth Farrelly.
AAP hit by Chinese cyber attack
Newswire the Australian Associated Press was hit by a denial of service attack from China yesterday, Business Spectator reveals.
A day in the life of a Google employee
Tim Bray works for Google. He also lives in a Google Apartment, catches the Google Bus, eats at the Google cafe, uses a Google phone, drives a Google Prius. He describes a typical day in the Google cult office.
Malcolm Fraser: Do we really want a return to the White Australia policy?
Despite the fact that asylum seekers who arrive by boat rather than plane are overwhelming found to be refugees (85% compared to 30%), our government discriminate against them. Why? asks former PM Malcolm Fraser.
rumour 
Twitter app makers plot a revolution
Twitter has bought-out Twitter iPhone app Tweetie, and the folks who have made all the other third-party Twitter clients are pissed — rumour is that they’re now plotting “Project Shark”: a scheme to replace Twitter with an “open” alternative.
Deaths in custody: did the Royal Commission get it wrong?
Public knowledge of aboriginal deaths in custody is warped. Aboriginals are less likely than non-Aboriginals to die in custody and being imprisoned actually reduces likelihood of death, writes former head of research into the Royal Commission, David Biles.
Obama’s Soviet-style summit
Obama’s Nuclear Security Summit may have been deemed a “success”, with 47 nations signing a pact to keep nukes out of the hands of terrorists, but rumblings from the DC Press Corp is that the press’s access was so severely restricted, it felt like Soviet-era Moscow.
Brumby takes fight to the big stage
Daily media wrap: The battle of wills between Rudd and Brumby stepped up yesterday, as the Premier made the trip up north to tell the PM he won’t be bullied into hospital reform. But did his Southern-style stubbornness play well on the national stage?
Lewis: Rudd is a bastard of a boss
Our PM can be a lovely sensitive man when around women and babies. But all the Jeykll-Hyde rumours are true. As a boss, Kevin Rudd is hard nosed, insensitive and rarely praises his dedicated staff, writes Steve Lewis.
There’s nothing like Australia’s violence against tourists
Another day, another bashed tourist. Is violence in Australia towards foreigners worse than anywhere else or is it just because we’re here that we hear about it? asks Alice Terlikowski.
40 reasons why you should avoid a career in journalism
It’s a pretty crappy time to be a journalist looking for a job in Australia, with Tim Burrowes finding a total of 40 jobs currently advertised. Which should be enough for, oh, maybe one journalism class due to graduate soon?
