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Moments of Genius is a series of six interviews running on bigthink.com. The interviews with a range of modern-day Edisons delve into the back stories of great discoveries and earth-shattering insights, and tease out the elusive eureka moments. Moments of Genius
Planning in NSW is out of control New political force - Julian Assange - John Hatton
The growing audiences at corruption fighter John Hatton's public speaking engagements, like the one in Wollongong tonight, may herald a new political force come next March.
AFTER a wave of community enthusiasm at recent public meetings, 12 residents from community action groups have taken up the John Hatton challenge to form Highlands Voice. The steering committee chose Mr Scandrett and Geraldine Turner to act in the roles of the group’s convenor and co-convenor.
• Penrith poll sends Labor fair warning ; [ Group gathers, so now the Southern Highlands has a voice ; O'Farrell's chief of staff at the time personally confirmed to me by phone that "the evidence is strong", but nothing was done. ]
• · Television is the ultimate connector. I’ve been saying this for a long time. The reason TV is so engaging is because it uses sight, sound and motion to deliver the three keys to a person’s heart – mystery, sensuality and intimacy. Every year the last few decades, trend pieces start popping up in magazines predicting “The death of television,” yet here we are, more than 60 years into the TV era and it’s stronger than ever. Television: Part 1 - We’re All Screenagers ; When all else fails, try being good. - So starts New York Magazine’s excellent feature this month on why American television is better than it’s been in ages. In a world where American Idol, Survivor and Dancing with the Stars are used to being the center of attention, smaller shows like Mad Men, Breaking Bad, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and 30 Rock are changing the way Americans look at TV. When all else fails, try being good
• · · Dinner last week was with two crazy Italians, Giuseppe Caiazza and Domenico Siniscalco. Giuseppe cut his teeth at Club Med, Ford and Toyota and is now going to Milan to run Saatchi & Saatchi. Domenico is an incredible guy who has had three careers. A leading academic at Cambridge, the Minister of Finance for Italy for five years, and now a banker with Morgan Stanley. The three of us are in different decades in age terms and I had just read a great article from Tony Parsons talking about the various decades of man. Discussion ranged over 2001 Chateau Haut Brion and we concluded that Tony was pretty much on the button. Decades of man. ; Wikileaks and The Next HOPE DecAde of Wikileaks - Founder Fears For His Life
• · · · Whistleblower website Wikileaks has made contact with the US government over claims that an American serviceman is one of its sources. Wikileaks makes contact with US government
; It used to be nondescript parcels on the doorstep, cryptic phone calls at midnight or shadowy meetings in underground car parks. Now explosive information is more likely to arrive - to the tune of a novelty sound effect - in an email. But profound and important questions surround the transaction of secret, highly sensitive, classified material. Governments and big business are fiercely protective of their internal dynamics and increasingly are coming down hard on leakers and whistleblowers. The public though demand and defend their right to know when governments they’ve installed are making decisions on their behalf, or the actions of big business impact their lives. JULIAN ASSANGE - WikiLeaks founder drops 'mass spying' hint
• · · · · Pentagon investigators are trying to determine the whereabouts of the Australian-born founder of the secretive website Wikileaks for fear that he may be about to publish a huge cache of classified State Department cables that, if made public, could do serious damage to national security, government officials tell The Daily Beast. Pentagon ; Google Iceland safe haven for press freedom: Wikileaks insider
• · · · · · Assange was born in Townsville, Queensland in 1971.[1] Assange has said that his parents ran a touring theatre company, and that he was enrolled in 37 schools and 6 universities in Australia over the course of his early life. One of the most intriguing people in the world" and "internet's freedom fighter Julian Paul Assange ; Iceland has passed a sweeping reform of its media laws that supporters say will make the country an international haven for investigative journalism. The new package of legislation was passed unanimously at 4am yesterday in one of the final sessions of the Icelandic parliament, the Althingi, before its summer break. Antony Loewenstein