Deep origins: language
Warning: longer essay-style post. David B Anthony in his extraordinary book The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How the Bronze-age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World tells us that language normally changes so that speakers 1000 years […]
The poetic stylings of Gina Rinehart
This is almost too good to be true, but it appears to be very much real.
Gina Rinehart has composed a poem extolling the virtues of Special Economic Zones and guest workers, and had it engraved on a boulder placed outside a new market in Perth’s suburbs.
Weekly Whimsy
This week’s whimsy is brought to you by archaeologists discovering an enormous gladiatorial compound buried near the banks of the Danube outside Vienna. Please share any bits and pieces you have come across recently that have surprised, delighted, intrigued or otherwise positively engaged you.
Don’t accept the premise
SlutWalk seeks to address the idea that a woman’s behaviour in one sphere of life should have no bearing on how she is judged in other spheres
Let them see…
Visual communication is generally thought to be inferior to verbal and written communication. But sometimes the lack of respect given to the visual as a means of communication gives it a power that more respected means don’t have. The Obamas and the Kennedys provide an interesting example.
Why talking about taxes negates the climate change case
Tony Windsor made the comment the other day that we were not actually debating a carbon tax but a relatively trivial issue about politicians lying. I was thinking this morning that he could have gone further – we are actually […]
A local slice of revolution
The town where I am fortunate to live, work and teach is situated in one of the most agreeable areas of rural NSW, and the locals are among the most resilient, resourceful and earnest people you could ever hope to […]
Peter Van Onselen's war against Class Warfare
Apropos of the AWU’s Resources Super Profits Tax ad [reproduced here on LP], Peter Van Onselen has written a piece in today’s Australian warning Paul Howes of the dire consequences should he engage in that cardinal sin, appearing to advocate […]
Wingnut as she is spoke: "Personal responsibility"
It is accepted wingnut wisdom that “personal responsibility” is the crucial element that separates civilisation (our gun-toting, refugee-bashing, home-schooled neighbourhood) from the barbarians (publicly-educated, prosocial, multi-branched liberal democracies). At the level of theory, the trope of “personal responsibility” conceives of […]
Acknowledgement of country 'culture wars'
They’re at it again: Members of the Liberal Party have been creating a minor storm about the matter of Indigenous recognition. In statements made to the Adelaide Advertiser yesterday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott implied that formal recognition of traditional owners […]
What is truth?
The other day, I mentioned Clive Hamilton’s series of posts on climate change denialism at The Drum. In today’s edition, Hamilton comments: Indeed, those who study the climate itself rather than the bogus debate in the newspapers and the blogosphere […]