After the expected flood peak of 9.4 metres in Rockhampton, a maximum of 9.2 was hit yesterday. Anton Lang took his camera and walked around his flood-affected city, snapping photos of submerged roads and ducks swimming through football fields.
January, 2011
World food prices at record high
Global food prices have reached a record high point according to figures released overnight by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The FAO’s Food Price Index of 55 commodities reached 215 in December (the average from 2002-2004 = 100), reports Richard Farmer.
Greece sets a new record
Scepticism clearly remains about whether Greece will survive without renegotiating its debt. The market last night was demanding a record high 12.521% to hold the government’s 10 year bonds, reports Richard Farmer.
WikiLeaks update: Garrett harpoons whaling deal, Argentina thanks KFC, suspected Colombian terrorists…
Take a look at some of the latest WikiLeaks embassy cables, including Peter Garret’s admission that it was unlikely Australia would support the International Whaling Commission’s plan to allow certain whaling and US concerns over a suspected FARC terrorist.
My School, your ABC, whose opinion?
An apparently obvious headline on ABC online earlier this week read “UK study backs websites like My School.” How odd, then, that the story focused on the Coalition’s criticism of the My School project, writes Dave Gaukroger.
Straight or not, it’s slim pickings for gay actors in Hollywood
Hollywood is supposedly one of America’s most gay-friendly cities, yet movie studios shut their doors to gay actors. It’s not just that gay actors aren’t hired to play straight roles - they aren’t hired to play gay roles either, argues Ramin Setoodeh.
travel Flying gets slushy in Antarctica
For a second season the Wilkins blue ice runway in Australian Antarctic territory is closed due to warm conditions. Well, comparatively warm. Crikey’s aviation journalist Ben Sandilands discusses landing planes in the coldest place on Earth.
Railing against the internet: a handy how-to guide for big business
With no end in sight to the disruptive impact of online technology, Bernard Keane presents a handy how-to guide for wealthy and powerful industries who want to respond to the fact that people are using the internet to avoid giving them money.
ProPublica goes private
Obviously crowd funding and philanthropy doesn’t pay for everything, with independent journalism website ProPublica announcing it will now accept paid advertisers. Richard Tofel explains how and exactly why they are taking the advertising route.
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Josh Groban sings the best tweets of Kanye West
From New Yorker cartoons to reenactments by children, Kanye West tweets are a never-ending source of comedic inspiration. The latest, and possibly the greatest, is a series of his tweets sung by Oscar and Grammy nominee Josh Groban.
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The top ten White House YouTube vids of 2010
The White House has joined the annual influx of “best of the year” lists with a compilation of the ten most popular videos on their YouTube channel.
ROK becomes an island terminal in QLD floods
The Rockhampton Airport is currently unusable, its runways flodded. But in an extremely well managed and coordinated exercise, the authorities used the long lead time before today’s predicted flood peak to protect as much airport infrastructure as practicable, explains Ben Sandilands.
Just another form of parallel importing
Whether it be Woolworths and Coles in food and liquor or Woolies, Coles, JB and Harvey Norman in electrical goods or Myer and David Jones in department stores, the power is in the hands of the major retailers. How sensible the government isn’t stampeded to change, writes Richard Farmer.
Warnie boned
It comes as little surprise that Shane Warne’s show Warnie has been terminated. With one episode to go, it has been reported that the final episode of the series has been shelved. Why not just play the last episode? asks Dan Barrett.
R.I.P. Lion of the Punjab
Salmaan Taseer, Governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, was assassinated by one of his bodyguards yesterday just days after announcing on Twitter that he would not back down on his opposition to Pakistan’s “man-made” blasphemy laws, writes Shakira Hussein.
The dancer who lost her leg: the Haiti earthquake one year on
In a very moving piece of anniversary journalism, the NY Times investigates citizens from Port au Prince, Haiti, a year after the tragic earthquake killed hundreds of thousands and left over a million people injured, displaced and struggling to survive.
80 more boat people drown
It depends on where you drown, whether dead boat people become news in Australia, suggests Richard Farmer. When you capsize off the coast of Yemen you obviously don’t rate, based on the recent reports of 80 asylum seekers drowning.
2010 on stage: the best (and worst) from Melbourne
From Shakespeare to Mamet; centuries-old operas to brand-new local works. And in a year that saw independent producers and smaller shows shine, a brassy all-American musical was probably the best of the best. Jason Whittaker names his top picks from the Melbourne stage in 2010.
The non-investor guide to investing
So you want to make millions on the stock market. Well, Gawker offers up its guide for the average investor in 2001, with tips such as don’t assume your financial planner is a good adviser on financial risk and do hold on to them until you are old and in need of money.
Journalists helping journalists: it does happen
The US Association of Health Care Journalists offers a useful service to members, where those who are researching stories put out calls to colleagues for suggestions about useful contacts or story ideas. Can you imagine this in Australia? asks Melissa Sweet.
The most powerful ads in history
Advertising is a powerful concept, and not just for making us open our wallets. BBC lists the six ads that made us view the world differently — from DeBeers convinving us that engagement rings had to have diamonds to Lyndon B Johnson paving the way for political attack ads.
The money men believe in global warming
A total of 950 natural catastrophes were recorded last year by the major re-insurance company MunichRe. The company says nine-tenths of the incidents were weather-related events like storms and floods, reports Richard Farmer.
travel Hobbit-hunting in New Zealand, stalking Tolkien in Oxford: tales of a Fangirl
Sure, Frodo and Sam may have trekked all the way from The Shire to Mount Doom, but as far as epic journeys go, Alexandra Patrikios can go one better. She made the journey from Melbourne to Oxford, by way of Wellington, all to catch a glimpse of a real-life hobbit and to sip beer amongst fellow nerds.
Rockhampton flood crisis: playing the waiting game
The worst case scenario brings the edge of the water level to within 500 metres of our home, and at those edges, it’s just a matter of an inch or so deep, at the very creeping edge of this massive flood, writes Tony from Oz in Rockhampton.
Our new attack aircraft: the end of the JSF?
The appearance of two all new attack and defend aircraft have raised issues of substance for the Joint Strike Fighter program, and indicate that the US and its allies should carefully review their plans to maintain air superiority, reports Ben Sandilands.
