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There is some really thought provoking stuff over at esr.ibiblio.org - Armed & Dangerous - (esr.ibiblio.org/index.php?p=184 full story here), an excerpt follows below: "I believe, but don?’t know how to prove, a much stronger version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis than
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Just recently came across an old transcript of an interview with Martin van Creveld (one of my favourite military writers - he wrote good books on command in war and technology of war). He gives a really interesting perspective on the problems Israel is having in Gaza, strangely enough things
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How ironic is this? I've been waiting for my new water tank to be installed. But after years of drought it has been delayed - by rain! "Installing a 5000-litre rainwater tank in every Sydney home might put off the need for a new dam for up
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Another interesting snippet re international aid and Africa: Tech Central Station - False Hope "Thus, the international aid system has essentially served to reward policies that slow down development, whatever the initial intentions of its advocates. Under such circumstances, the implementation of the rule of law in Africa, necessary
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"The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem." Source: SPIEGEL Interview
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On the Live 8 website it states that: "Every single day, 30,000 children die, needlessly, of extreme poverty. On July 6th, we finally have the opportunity to stop that shameful statistic. 8 world leaders, gathered in Scotland for the G8 summit, will be presented with a workable plan
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Someone suggested to me the other day that I ought to join th eAustralian Labor Party. I replied that I was unable to commit to a party that upheld socialism as one of its core values. It made me recall a quote from Winston Churchill on socialism: "Socialism is
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"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy) One little problem with Livy's idea is that a last hope may still lead to a stupid and unnecessary war. Many wars seem
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A friend who works in IT support (for a very large and well known IT industry multi national doing security patching and stuff) just phoned me because his boss wants him to work overnight to do a release and then to front up to work again early tomorrow morning. This
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Seth Godin makes an interesting point about a new digital divide: "I think a new divide has opened up, one that is based far more on choice than on circumstance. Several million people (and the number is growing, daily) have chosen to become the haves of the Internet, and
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Was reviewing the pictures on the Blogtalk Downunder Flickr and it occurred to me just now that I have not seen so many Mac notebooks in one place ever before. Then I went to check out one of the tools that was recommended Tinderbox - which only works on Macs.
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Just back from the Blogtalk Downunder conference that was held here in Sydney over the past few days. The conference was organised by the education department from the University of Technology Sydney, and the attendees were largely academics and teachers. There were a few industry people there, notably Trevor Cook