Damned if you do ...

"First they say it is OK to mine uranium from three sites but not from others. Then they say it is OK to sell uranium, but not to enrich it. And then they say, well, maybe it is OK to enrich it, but we shouldn't use it to power our towns and cities. It is policy anachronism piled on contradiction, capped by inertia."

Read John Howard's full nuclear argument in The Age.

If there's one thing Howard should be recognised for - and this is a quality I haven't yet seen anywhere in the Opposition - it's that he's confident enough in his decisions that he doesn't mind when the public is against him.

Even when some members of the public hate him, and he's speaking on an issue like nuclear energy or free trade, in his mind and to his knowledge he is acting in the best interests of a progressive Australia.

2-0 -- should've been 0-0

I watched the soccer this morning - Australia v Brazil. And seeing as though i'm out of touch with all other current affairs going on I thought I'd write a small review of the game.

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BEEP! beep BEEP! beep BEEP! - 1:30am? I'd only been asleep for two hours, but my alarm was insisting there was something worth getting up for.

It took me a while to realise why I was awake, but the reason was soon obvious: Australia, for the first time in donkeys' years, were going up against reigning champions Brazil in the FIFA World Cup in Munich. The Australians had won their last game agains the South Americans in 2001, and they were a good chance of doing it again.

From the outset, the Aussies looked fitter then Brazil, and the final 2-0 scoreline didn't indicate how close Australia came to winning. The shots on goal were pretty equal between the teams, it's just that Brazil had a couple more decent strikes, two of which resulted in goals.

The 'ronnies', Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, played far from their expected best as the Aussies used some stern defence to keep the strikers at bay.

Also, the referee seemed all too keen to forbid the Australians from tackling properly, and the Brazilians seemed all too keen to drop to the ground at any chance they could. The stigma in the press of Australia being a 'rough' team didn't help our case when it came to contested tackles. At one stage Ronaldo fell onto an Aussie and proceeded to hold his knee on the ground, completely milking a penalty from the ref, who was more than happy to oblige.

Aside from the setbacks, the Aussies played a gallant match. It was just one of those matches where the scoreline didn't reflect the nature of the match.

Now all we need is a draw against Croatia and we're through to the second round.

GO AUSSIES!

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read the SBS reports here and here
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Oh, and before you think about streaming live World Cup footage on your blog, take a look at this saga I found on Boing Boing

Not dead, just busy ...

I thought I'd write a courtesy post just to let all [zero] of my readers know I haven't given up on the blog [even though it's no longer compulsory that I keep one for uni].

I've just been bloody busy with end-of-term assignment and whatnot.

I haven't even started reading my free book I was so excited about.

Nevertheless, there's been plenty going on in Australian media, and I'll start posting again in a few days when my life regains some kind of normality and I'm not staring at academic words 23 hours a day.

I'm thinking about creating a local blog, designed to service only my local area. Kind of like a regional newspaper except published daily and incorporating only short, sharp pieces about news within the immediate community.

More ideas to come ... I'd love to know your thoughts.
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*photo courtesy of WITC's ergonomic tips

a + b = laughter

It's hard to come up with a correct formula for comedy, but Tom Gleisner reckons Working Dog Productions has come up with a winner.

All I can say is thank god they're here, it's about time Aussie comedy got a fair go.

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*photo: ten