Monkeying around a serious election issue in IndiaIn the village of Chainpur in India locals have formed a political movement designed to draw attention to their long-running war against around 500 rampaging monkeys, which have adversely affected an estimated 50,000 people.
October, 2010
In Bali, they have fish in the loo
After a few beers at the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Bob Gosford got a pleasant surprise when he went to use the facilities and discovered…fish.
Is gay specific advertising on Facebook a breach of privacy?
Researchers in Washington recently discovered that Facebook ads displayed on gay men’s profiles substantially differed from those displayed on straight men’s. This could lead to situations in which a person’s sexuality is unethically revealed, writes Caitlin Fitzsimons.
Middle Earth mayhem: the PM, The Hobbit and the union
New Zealand PM John Key has upped his involvement in a bitter dispute between unions and film producers that may see production of director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit taken off shore.
Hockey: Our banks need to be held accountable
We don’t just rely on banks for our deposits, we rely on them for our superannuation and trust. Now is to the time to create a debate about where financial services in Australia are heading and how we can make them accountable, writes Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey.
PHOTO GALLERY: Rain on the rock
A magical look at Uluru during a storm, with waterfalls down the sides and ethereal fog hanging over it. Photographer Peter Carroll was up at dawn to capture these glorious photos.
Podcast: Televised Revoution #8
It’s been a massive week for the Australian TV industry from James Packer making a bid for Ten, to the death of Happy Days actor Tom Bosley. Televised Revolution is here to make sense out of it.
Howard vs Costello: the war reignites
The epic stoush between John Howard and Peter Costello has been jump started back to life, with the former PM blasting his long-serving deputy as a greedy elitist in the lead-up to the release of his memoirs next week.
Film review: Let Me In — the right kind of remake
Decades of cinematic corkers remade into duds have conditioned audiences not to expect much from remakes, but director Matt Reeves’s rehash of the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In proves there is still hope, writes Luke Buckmaster.
What your Facebook photo reveals about you
You may think you’re being cool with the slightly artsy Facebook photo with you barely visible in the background, but it’s just another social media stereotype. Gawker analyses the standard Facebook profile poses.
SA and WA lead the pack in obesity prevention
The Australian New Zealand Obesity Society released its annual league table of how the states and territories are performing in obesity prevention. It shows the SA and WA governments are leading the pack while the NT has won the “couch potato” award.
Costs of business as usual in the Basin
Waster reform in Murray-Darling communities not only requires political leadership and funding from Canberra and the states but demands that community leaders also step up, writes Professor Rupert Quentin Grafton.
Victorian federal redistribution: take two
Following the public consultation process into the draft Victorian federal boundaries that were unveiled in August, the redistribution commissioners have announced they have essentially junked their original proposal, writes William Bowe.
Getting high and driving a car: a police sanctioned experiment
Californian police believe if Proposition 19 (aka the marijuana bill) passes next month more people will be driving while under the influence. Steve Lopez participated in an odd, police-staged experiment to study the differences between driving drunk and driving high.
The NFL’s helmet-on-helmet collision conundrum
The NFL is now cracking down on helmet-to-helmet hits — and it’s causing quite a stir, writes Fanhouse’s Dan Graziano.
Hockey gets it right on banks
Joe Hockey may have stumbled on interest rate regulation this regulation, but he is right to call for a debate about the way we regulate the banks.
The Brumby Dump: gambling revenue on the rise
Gambling tax is projected to yield the Victorian Government more than $74 million in extra revenue in 2010-11, up about 4.5% on 2008-09 figures, writes Swinburne journalism student Tom Bradford.
Graeme Samuel’s NBN slug
As if Telstra didn’t have enough to deal with, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has raised the prospect it will do an about-face on its attitude to Telstra’s wholesale ADSL access regime.
Labor takes a casualty in anti-s-x move
I can’t remember the last time there was any good news for the New South Wales Labor Party. Today is no exception.
The Brumby Dump: V/Line quizzed over environmental damage
V/Line was involved in five serious incidents of environmental damage in 2007-2009, including killing critically endangered plants and spilling over 80,000 litres of diesel into the Geelong sewerage system, writes Swinburne journalism student Katherine McGowan.
‘Village idiot’ union head won’t give up on 9/11 conspiracy
Internal ALP enemies of Victorian Maritime Union state secretary and Trades Hall president Kevin Bracken are egging him on to further greatness after he reprised his considered theories on the 9-11 attacks on Melbourne radio this morning.
Time to look at illicit drugs in racing
Racing’s attitude to illicit drugs is still reflective of how sports like AFL used to think, writes Back Page Lead’s Ralph Horowitz.
The guinea pig’s tale of cannabis-based medicine
I became and remain the first patient in Australia with my particular Parkinson’s disease symptoms to legally obtain and use a revolutionary cannabis-based medicine, writes Graham Irvine, a law lecturer and broadcaster.
