Author Archive
Rahm Emanuel
Well, the mediagasm was right. He’s outta there … Too bad. “Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama’s White House Chief of Staff, was given a dead Asian carp as a farewell gift from colleagues before the former presidential aide resigned in order to run for mayor in his home town Chicago.” — Telegraph.co.uk “The mantra in the West […]
Bishop Eddie Long — the unravelling of bling theology
Last week as I referred to in Shame, not shock, we learned that the cult-leader Bishop Eddie Long, the ‘spiritual father’ of Destiny Church’s Bishop Brian Tamaki was being accused of sexual abuse of young men in his ‘flock’. Here’s an insightful article — harsh, in parts, but fair, it seems to me — about Bishop […]
Spooky. Is privacy passé now?
Following up on our discussion about how people can be ‘tracked’ through Facebook, Facebook leaks like a sieve, here’s another twist. Ars Technica reports research which found: “a significant number of popular Android applications transmit private user data to advertising networks without explicitly asking or informing the user.“ Um, by golly. I don’t like the […]
Don Draper is the devil?
Here’s a fantastic review of Mad Men, by Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times, suggesting Don Draper is … the devil. While everyone has been sidetracked by tortured-soul vampires and loveable werewolves, Don has been quietly taking over the world, one manipulative half-truth at a time. She makes a good case. (Very good writing […]
OMG is the ‘inter-generational wealth transfer’ meme gaining currency?
The cover of the current North & South magazine features a young bloke wearing Jed Clampett-inspired depression couture with the headline: Ripped off by baby boomers? / The Broke Generation / or a bunch of wingers? I haven’t read the article yet, but it probably has some roots in the same ideas Bernard Hickey promulgated […]
What you say ‘No’ to
Sometimes the ‘opportunity’ isn’t worth the cost. Earlier this month there was some discussion about Apple and Facebook not agreeing terms for co-operation… … both Facebook and Apple had spoken about integrating more closely with the new iTunes social network Ping, but Facebook asked for “onerous terms that we could not agree to” regarding Facebook […]
Shame, not shock
I wish I could express the same shock and astonishment at the allegations of sexual coercion by the leader of a religious sect that Destiny Church’s Bishop Brian Tamaki does (“Sex claim against mate stuns Bishop Tamaki”). Like many others I’m sure, the news that a persuasive ‘spiritual’ figure is being accused of multiple cases […]
Sailing or just being blown?
Overhead at the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club… … At that point you’re not sailing, you’re just being blown. Interested to know more, I stopped and asked the slighty battered-looking yachtie what he meant … He recounted how he’d recently been sailing in heavy weather and found himself with too many sails rigged. (He gave me […]
Paul Henry: gracious in victory
So, in keeping with my general policy of confronting and directly answering criticism, here’s a response… OK, that’s actually what I said (sorry to quote myself) but it seems Paul Henry subscribes to the same philosophy. Henry’s acceptance speech at the Qantas Awards is worth watching (video below the fold) because his delivery is almost […]
Good ideas, well expressed
I’m reading the fascinating and cleverly written book about the worldwide spread of the English language: Globish by Robert McCrum. Gosh it’s a good read. I am learning a lot, and I’m really enjoying the care he takes with his writing. He uses long sentences (like wot I do) and carefully, sometimes exquisitely chosen words. […]
Taking a direct approach
Remember my comment from ‘When ‘gurus’ attack …’ I was encouraged by a comment recently in a BBC interview with John Podesta, former Clinton chief of staff and Obama administration transition head… Podesta says he sets out to be an independent even critical voice, and adds this proviso: “If you’re going to be critical of […]
An utterly useless waste of a person’s time
This popped up in a random Google search this morning … He does “gaming” of the computer game kind. I told him I had a blog and that while blogging was an utterly useless waste of a person’s time, “gaming” over the age of 10 seemed to be a hundred times more futile. – from […]
Backstabbing, conniving, and insensitive — just what we need?
From a New Yorker profile of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg: “He stole the moment, he stole the idea, and he stole the execution,” Cameron [Winklevoss] told me recently. The dispute has been in court almost since Facebook was launched, six years ago. … To prepare for litigation against the Winklevosses and Narendra, Facebook’s legal team searched […]
BBC – ‘The Interview’: Tony Blair
I listened to this interview twice last night (as a podcast). I was impressed with Blair and his argument, I have to say. I always thought he was a great communicator, but didn’t expect to be struck, even inspired by his reasoned resoluteness and his thoughts about the challenge of radical Islam and Iran’s […]
