Weekend Reflections is on again. Please comment on any topic of interest (civilised discussion and no coarse language, please). Feel free to put in contributions more lengthy than for the Monday Message Board or standard comments.
Van Nguyen to die tomorrow
The impending execution of Van Nguyen has rightly aroused a lot of outrage. While it seems unrealistic to suggest trade sanctions or anything similar, there is one response that is relevant, proportionate and justified. The Singaporean government should be told that, if the execution proceeds, they will never again receive any co-operation from Australia on drug crimes. The same message should be given to Indonesia in relation to the Bali Nine (where, disgracefully, Australian police set up the arrests while leaving their Indonesian counterparts free to seek the death penalty).
Some recent presentations
I’m in the process of trying to make my presentations available on the internets. Here are links to a couple in which people have expressed interest (PowerPoint versions only). More presentations and Keynote versions to come, I hope.
The (un)sustainability of trade and current account deficits
Just when I thought it was safe to give up …
… on the Bullets, they came out with the kind of form that everyone was predicting at the beginning of the season, crushing the Adelaide 36ers 130-109. And it was a game to watch, with McKinnon scoring some massive slams and an impressive alleyoop (via Rucker), Rucker scoring four three-point shots in succession and Black, Bradtke and Brannen all doing amazing things. If anything the scoreline flattered Adelaide, who scored 37 points in the third quarter but even then did not look at all like a winning team.
If they can keep this up, they’ll be contenders. If not, at least this match means the season wasn’t a total wipeout for me.
Scrooged
The government spent $50 million of our money telling us public holidays were Protected by Law (emphasis in original). So how is it a great victory for Barnaby Joyce to get amendments which mean that we can’t be sacked for working on Christmas Day[1]. Not that I’m bagging Joyce, who’s at least doing something. But it just points up the mendacity of the ad barrage to which we’ve been subjected.
fn1. If we’re lucky we may get Good Friday and Anzac Day protected as well.
Jonathan Strange Seminar
Henry Farrell at CT has organised another book seminar, this time on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell. Several CT members (Henry, Maria Farrell, John Holbo, Belle Waring and I) review the book, and the author Susanna Clarke, responds. This is one of the best blogging innovations I’ve seen.
Feed of the day
i got a note from James Gross at Feedster.com to say this site has been picked as Feed of the Day by Feedster.com. which seems to be an RSS-based version of blog search services like Technorati, Blogpulse and IceRocket.
Obviously, part of the implied social contract in such selections is a reciprocal plug, which I’m happy to provide, since I think RSS is a really big deal.
Following on from my previous post, I’m a bit dubious about the potential for RSS-based advertising, at least for general rather than product-oriented blogs, but Feedster seems to have the lead running in this field, and it will be interesting to see what they can do with it.
Pub Ecology
I’ll be at a Pub Ecology event at the Red Room, UQ Union 7pm tonight, talking about biodiversity trading. The rest of the week will be pretty hectic. I’m giving a couple of papers at the State of Australian Cities conference, on Wednesday and Thursday (one on water and one on global cities), then a flying visit to Sydney.
I plan a lot of relaxation next week.
Blogs and ads
With the general resurgence in Internet-related commercial activity and speculation, it’s not surprising that a fair bit of attention has turned to the commercial and advertising possibilities of blogs. Blogging as a large-scale phenomenon came too late to cash in on the dotcom mania last time around, but plenty of people are keen on a bite at the cherry this time around. The multi-million dollar purchase of Weblogs Inc got lots of people thinking about how much their site might be worth.
But just like last time around, there are plenty of reasons for scepticism. Looking at the prices being charged by leading bloggers on Blogads, it doesn’t seem as if many people are making a lot of money. Nic Duquette did the sums and concluded[1] that a site with 10 000 page views a day ought to be able to gross around $US4500 a year. Putting in 10 hours a week for this kind of return amounts to a wage of $US9 an hour, and that’s before you allow for any costs.
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Monday message board
It’s time, once again for the Monday Message Board. As usual, civilised discussion and no coarse language, please.
