Crikey media wrap: In one of the most serious clashes between the bitter enemies in decades, North Korea attacked South Korea yesterday, killing two South Korean soldiers in a shelling spree.
November, 2010
NBA 
Forecast for Miami Heat? Cold
It’s the question on everyone’s lips in the NBA: what’s wrong with the Miami Heat? It’s still early in the season but if the team’s fortunes don’t turn around soon coach Erik Spoelstra will be, well, feeling the heat, writes Sean Ross.
It’s time to reboot the bank debate
Talk of Hockeynomics and bank regulation may have whipped up a frenzied debate but virtually nobody involved has actually addressed the most important concerns posed by the GFC, writes David Llewellyn-Smith.
mental health Will national health reform improve health care safety?
The Parliamentary Library has just published a digest of the curiously named National Health and Hospitals Network Bill 2010 but it’s really about establishing the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care as a Commonwealth statutory body, writes Melissa Sweet.
Climbing to Presidency, the Palin way
Like or loathe her, no-one can say Sarah Palin hasn’t done things her own way - including becoming a reality TV star and a best-selling author. But in order to seize the top job she’ll need to play ball and make some changes, writes John Dickerson.
film reviews Machete — Rodriguez and co. carve up a classic
Exploitation movies don’t get much more deliriously exploitative than pulpy auteur Robert Rodriguez’s high-octane tribute to grindhouse cinema, Machete, co-directed by his long-time collaborator Ethan Maniquis, writes Luke Buckmaster
Listen up Conan: here’s 5 ways to improve your show
Crikey’s TV blogger Dan Barrett has been more than a little obsessed with the launch of Conan O’Brien’s new late night talk show. Continuing his obsession, Barrett has a five point plan for the man himself.
Huge challenge, tricky name
She’s a write-in candidate with a tricky name to spell but that isn’t stopping US Senator Lisa Murkowski from attempting to pull off one of America’s most amazing political victories, writes Richard Farmer.
The fattest nations on the planet
Australians may be fat, but we ain’t fat enough to make the top ten list of countries (to be fair, we make the top twenty) of the WHO’s most obese nations. A whopping 95% of Nauru’s population is overweight and
The continuing culture war on marriage
If gay marriage can’t be allowed because of cultural and religious grounds, then why exactly did the Howard government legislate against it back in 2004? asks The Piping Shrike.
Making (and eating) Ramona Koval’s Bubba Sponge
The Book Show’s Ramona Koval offered W H Chong the recipe for her Bubba’s Birthday Sponge. He carefully followed her instructions and, with sticky hands, took photographs of the process.
Vale Frank Fenner: one of Australia’s greatest medical scientists
The death of one of Australia’s great medical scientists, Emeritus Professor Frank Fenner, has, not surprisingly, made international headlines. Croakey compiles of the comments that have arrived from his colleagues and friends since the news broke of his death, at age 95.
How to eat camel
Not overly successful Australian explorer Peter Warburton and his party became stranded at the Oakover River and were reduced to eating their camels one by one. Bob Gosford goes through his old camel recipes.
Re. “First Dog on the Moon” (17 November 2010)
Crikey apologises to The Franklin Mint
I say, I say, Our Say: it’s the new, old-style pub politics
For the past three weeks, users of the Our Say website have been posting political questions and visitors have been voting on which question they would most like to see answered, writes freelance journalist Bhakthi Puvanenthiran.
Rinehart joins the Ten billionaire’s club — so what’s she playing at?
There is a more than touch of irony in the news that Gina Rinehart has purchased a 10% stake in Ten Network, given her well-known dislike of giving media interviews or revealing very much at all about her vast mining empire, Hancock Prospecting. So what’s she playing at?
Fairfax faces the future by going deeply vertical
Fairfax staff are bracing for a wave of “efficiency” gains across The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald after the company’s long-awaited investor briefing this morning relayed the widely-expected news that at least $10 million would be hacked out of the mastheads through a new corporate restructure.
Rooted: hypocrisy, synchronicity and carbon neutrality … you can bank on it
While NAB staff were no doubt celebrating in their five-star green building with organic carrot juice and celery sticks, the blokes in the project finance team were signing off on a loan to help refurbish a 40-year-old polluting monstrosity.
Crikey Conversations: Obama makes up ground on the Russian front
Improving relations with Russia is a classic win-win proposition; it reduces the pressure on the West and also strengthens the more progressive forces in Russia by drawing the country more closely into the European net.
Named and shamed
The reaction to the Federal Government’s new immigration detention centre in South Australia has turned ugly, with a far Right party determined to exploit it.
aviation industry Qantas: no trust without higher thrust
In what may not seem completely reassuring for passengers, Qantas is resuming A380 flights to London from Saturday but isn’t yet game to trust the giant airliner on trans-Pacific flights.
Clash of the senatorial egos spells trouble for Telstra’s shareholders
The spat over the NBN business plan will harm Telstra shareholders more than anyone else.
Vale Frank Fenner, the greatest public health achiever of all time
The death of Frank Fenner, a giant of Australian science, was largely ignored by the tabloids. After all, the guy only helped save a hundred million lives or so. It wasn’t like he took a lot of wickets or anything, writes Stephen Luntz.
Kate Holden: lots of people like drugs, try asking them about it
Drug use, particularly that of marijuana, is endemic in all our communities, and yet we persist in throwing up our hands, sputtering outrage and condemning users whenever the four-letter-word is mentioned, writes author Kate Holden.
