SynapseChronicles

Thoughts that made it to the page

Archive for the ‘Miscellaneum’ Category

  • Nau Pop-Up Shop Is Serious About Sustainability – One of my fave sustainably-minded companies, Nau, opens its first retail store since it scaled back operations – and in typically high-sustainability style…
  • John Quiggen: Privatisation debunked – Economist John Quiggen debunks the Queensland Government's arguments for privatisation.
  • The Big Green Idea – The British Council have launched a $10,000 grant for a "big green idea".
  • Emissions trading: Auctioning permits vs giving them away – David Jeffery answers one of my questions about giving away permits to high-polluters as part of the emissions trading scheme. While it seems my hypothesis is incorrect about the lack of incentive for polluters to act, giving the permits away is still a bad thing…
  • Climate (and other) change – Awesome post by Duncan at Digital Eskimo for Blog Action Day – says everything that I wanted to so, just more eloquently…

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  • Synapse sparks (06-Aug-2009)

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    • Ross Gittins – "It's gamesmanship, and we all lose" – "If [Kevin Rudd's] latest compromise fails, it will be because of an impasse between those decrying the scheme as too tough and those objecting it isn't tough enough. Such a failure of will reflects no credit on any political party or interest group involved. All the political parties are playing games for their own short-term advantage."
    • NSW Switches Its Brain Off – NSW continues to lead the way in stupid, short-sighted decisions. Can we, like, sack the entire government and opposition and start again?
    • Unleashed: The numbers prove Turnbull wrong – "The federal opposition is calling for the re-introduction of Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) to deter people from risking the dangerous journey to Australia in unseaworthy vessels in the hope of seeking asylum. The protection of life is a worthy aim indeed. But Mr Turnbull has got it wrong."
    • The Crisis of Credit Visualized – Excellent visualisation of how the credit crisis came about using info-graphics.

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    • Unleashed: Web of secrecy – Mark Pesce on the ACMA blacklist leak this week.
    • Willie Smits restores a rainforest – An inspiring example of clever thinking, local engagement and ecological intelligence to regenerate and revitalise a community and gorilla habitat in Indonesia.
    • The illusion of clean coal – "The private sector, however, is reluctant to fork out not just because of the upfront cost of power plants, but also because, tonne for tonne, CCS looks like an expensive way of cutting carbon. The cost of it may fall, but probably not by much, given the familiarity of the technologies it uses." Yet more evidence that "clean coal" is a pipe dream. How 'bout we follow the market and invest public funds where the private funds are going?
    • Choice ATM Watch – The folks at Choice Magazine are watching the banks to see what charges they are clobbering ATM users with. Leave a comment on the site with your experience…
    • Designer baby row over US clinic – I love Gattaca (the movie), in part because of its "just in the future" predictions around genetic selection and how that might impact society. Seems we'll be grappling with those questions soon…
    • Getting Priorities Right – Humorous anecdote suggesting how to get your life priorities right. [hat tip @rosshill]

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    • NT Intervention: Let’s Try That In Sydney – Fascinating thought experiment by a New Matilda contributor. Turns out the author lives in my apartment complex! (I saw the “Alcohol prohibited” sign on his balcony…)
    • ethipedia – Truly Sustainable Business Practices – This is something I was thinking Choice Magazine could do for the Australian market, but never quite got around to expressing it. A site that "crowd-sources" data to test ethical business claims to help highlight greenwashers.
    • Obama to Limit Executive Pay to $500,000 a Year Under New Rules – "President Barack Obama will announce tomorrow that he’s imposing a cap of $500,000 on the compensation of top executives at companies that receive federal rescue funds, an administration official said." About. Bloody. Time….
    • Israel’s use of white phosphorus confirmed – "Amnesty International delegates visiting the Gaza Strip found indisputable evidence of widespread use of white phosphorus in densely populated residential areas in Gaza City and in the north. … Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely populated residential neighbourhoods is inherently indiscriminate. Its repeated use in this manner, despite evidence of its indiscriminate effects and its toll on civilians, is a war crime,"
    • Rudd hampers police child-protection efforts – "$2.8 million, which the Howard government allocated to expand the Australian Federal Police’s Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team (OCSET), was instead used by Rudd to help create Conroy’s $44.5 million Rabbit-Proof Firewall. … Without that money, OCSET simply doesn’t have the staff to investigate all of the suspected pedophiles it already knows about."

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  • Black Magic Tricks

    My friends Sonny and Biddy who are We Buy Your Kids have an exhibition along with Greedy Hen on at China Heights at the moment. Details below:

    Black Magic Tricks poster

    Details are:

    China Heights – Opening Fri 6 Feb
    Upstairs 257 Crown Street, Darlinghurst

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  • Synapse sparks (19-Jan-2009)

    • The Doc Searls Weblog : Markets are miracles – Doc Searls shares a story about a conversation – scroll down to the "Markets are Miracles" section. The markets that Doc describes are the sorts of markets I'd like to participate in. The idea inspires me. The one thing that I'd add to Doc's description is "conversation with nature". But that's a whole other story…

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