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Blogs ensures that good news travels fast and bad news travels faster, allowing mistakes to be recognized quickly and fixed promptly; people own their actions and own up to their errors so that they can learn from them; people know where they stand, know what’s expected of them, and know what it takes to get attention during the election time ….

The reason Gen Y favoured Rudd was because he addressed our very real concerns for the future of our country and our people. Consider Mark Twain: Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear

As Mark Twain said Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying, identified denial as the first of her five stages of dealing with grief and tragedy. The others are anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

We have got to make sure we are recruiting good people, we have got to get our organisation together, we have got to work on policy. You can't leave an election to the last four months. An election is a four-year proposition and right around Australia the Liberal Party has got to come to grips with this and we have got to lift our game.

• ALP - the natural party of government; [Why the Ruddslide? Why the Ruddslide?; Unlike their US counterparts, Australian psychologists have rejected any involvement in torture Torturous acts]
• · Murdoch's Australian papers covered the election with an eye to the likely post-poll climate Rupert Murdoch and the Claytons editorial endorsements ; APO ELECTION COVERAGE
• · · The first Australian social news site might help us decide, writes MARGARET SIMONS The Content Makers: Media Dragons Understanding the Media in Australia What's worth reading? ; As Web 2.0 technologies proliferate, an increasing number of Australians, especially young Australians, are relying primarily on information and communication technologies to engage and interact with each other and the world. Legal aspects of Web 2.0 activities: management of legal risk associated with use of YouTube, MySpace and Second Life ; Isys searches Bloggers

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Walt Disney once famously said, “If you can dream it, you can do it”. (He also went on to say, “Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse,” but that’s not where I want to go today). Disney’s spirit is echoed in the inspiration that drew me to join Saatchi & Saatchi: “Nothing is Impossible”. I love stories about people who transform dreams into reality and a great one has been taking place in where I live, New York City Theatre of Dreams

Can we change the heart of memoirs Last Lecture with Randy?
The NY Post reports on the auction for WSJ columnist Jeff Zaslow's book based on Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch's "last lecture," delivered in September by the 46-year-old computer scientist who suffers from terminal pancreatic cancer.

"I'm dying and having fun," Pausch said in the lecture, "And I'm going to keep having fun every day because there is no other way to do it."

The Post says "the lecture became an instant hit on the Internet, with people calling and e-mailing Zaslow to say how Pausch's inspirational words had helped them deal with their own problems, made them appreciate their families more and encouraged them to let their kids be more creative." The auction, by agent David Black, is said to have reached $6.75 million in NY Post dollars.

• Cold Lecture; [I am flattered and embarassed by all the recent attention to my "Last Lecture." I am told that well over a million people have viewed the lecture online Randy Pausch's Web Site ; Masters of the taxing film project: Elsa Ryan and her husband Warren are putting everything on the line to achieve their dream: Writing, directing and shooting their own feature film Shadows of the Past]
• · Ed Glaeser, who is always worth reading, writes a feisty fact-filled review of Krugman’s recent pro-Democrat book. He begins: Princeton Professor of Economics Paul Krugman talks about how the New Deal society has been dismantled in America, and the reasons for it. He brings it back to a revival of Southern issues about race being used by the 'Movement Conservatives' to undo various social policies during the present adminstration. Paul Krugman is also a writer and columnist for the New York Times.
Human knowledge is produced by intellectual combat that exposes weak premises and faulty conclusions to withering challenge. We are often improved more by our ideological enemies than by our friends, because our enemies push us hardest. In that spirit, I welcome the publication of Paul Krugman’s “The Conscience of a Liberal” (W.W. Norton, 352 pages, $25.95). The book espouses a world-view that is in many ways diametrically opposed to my own, but the process of intellectually disagreeing with Mr. Krugman fired my own passion for liberty more than the rhetoric of any current GOP presidential candidate does. Where is the Middle Class?]

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POLLS predict a Ruddslide on Saturday. Yet, beneath the wave that Kevin Rudd appears to be riding, there are a series of undercurrents that may overturn years of accepted political wisdom Opinion from the Murdoch empire

WWLL wall-to-wall Labor and Liberal Will to win: tough and tight
Cross your fingers and hope you get what you vote for.

Labor seems likely to have a landslide election victory in Australia on the threshold of an economic collapse even more devastating than that 0f 1929.
There are intriguing similarities between the forthcoming Australian elections and those of 1929. In 1929, the Scullin Labor Government won a landslide victory and took office just 2 days before the New York Stock-Exchange Crash of Black Thursday, 24 October ushered in the Great Depression of the 1930s. Now we have a similar situation in that centre-right Prime Minister John Howard, after eleven years in office, looks like being swept away in a landslide by centre-left Labor led by Kevin Rudd. Though perhaps unlikely, it may be that Howard could even lose his seat in the House of Representatives.

• Is Rudd Another Scullin? ; [Dr James Cumes is author of The Human Mirror: The Narcissistic Imperative in Human Behaviour. His new book America's Suicidal Statecraft was published in November 2006. In 2000 AD James encouraged Media Dragon to pen down Cold River James Cumes; A healthy dose of scepticism is crucial to our ability to process information, especially during an election campaign. A sceptic's guide to politics ; Rudd and Howard are both guilty of dumbing-down political debate through their use of pithy YouTube statements and glittering websites to divert debate. Hey, pollies, you're in my space. Get out!]
• · This is an exclusive indepth report on what it’s like to being a lower house candidate My Experience as a Candidate at Federal and State Elections; Former White House press spokesman Scott McLellan will discuss in his forthcoming spring book WHAT HAPPENED: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington how top officials got him to mislead the press. A very brief posted excerpt reads: "The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself. Scott McLellan: They Got Me to Lie: There was one problem. It was not true
• · Australians are much more socially mobile than Americans - but there are worrying signs Flipping burgers in America, land of missed opportunity ; No-one knows less about Australian elections than Antony Green who has blurbs everywhere. Czech out Mackerras pendulum … wisdom v hot air Last Minute Reports; Professor Brian Costar believes Labor will win about 36 additional seats to give it 96 House of Representatives members. Betting market
• · · Ambit Gambit Gambler; The Crikey Guide to the 2007 Election at Larvatus Prodeo gambler
• · · · Media Dragons inside the Blogging Community gambling on election and beyond A Must Read APO: French Zo Zo Zo ; Tropical Political Club; Graham Young loves blogs! Best Blog Posts of 2007: Call for Nominations
• · · · · Ach Top 100 Australian Blogs Index; A new blog every month? Are you nuts?
• · · · · · 100 Important Living Australians John Hatton used to have a metaphor for democracy - sunlight being the best disinfectant. Top 100

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Dear Diary entry 22 November 2007 AD:



In Parliament, John Hatton was very good value. We need a few more like him. In art, John is creating ripples in all kinds of rivers and landscapes … A noted British author once described good painting as arresting an image in time, such that film or cinema could never do. Painting offers something that no human eye, film or cinematic experience could deliver: the ability to capture an event or scene through the lens of an artist. One and all Australians should consider czeching out Different Strokes at 14 Foster Street in Queanbeyan The Artists Shed: John and David Hatton's art exhibition in Queanbeyan from today 22 November until Christmas

Ach, After spending September at Jervis Bay and October at Byron Bay, we could not agree more with John’s sentiment about the overkill of the development on the south coast. HUSKISSON is in danger of becoming another Byron Bay as developers circle the seaside village. In recent weeks two bids have been made to redevelop key commercial properties fronting Jervis Bay, and there are fears developers may move in to take advantage of Shoalhaven City Council planning laws left in limbo HUSKY ‘AT RISK’ ; Independent Mr. John Hatton, the anti-corruption and anti-crime campaigner - and the Wood royal commission, 10 years on Holding judgement

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Hollywood is a town awash in hyphenates Despite his Nobel Prize in Literature, Turkey's Orhan Pamuk feels he's still not part of the literary inner circle. But some people just refuse to come in out of the cold. Sure people love Apple and Cartier, but what about stuff that isn't in the luxury goods market? So how about the spell of history floating on Cold River

I felt I was out of Mars Reader's Report Confessions
Esther Allen has a long piece in the Guardian about her work writing reader's reports on books written in or translated into French or Spanish. Her passion for her work is palpable: "Writing the reports is a time-consuming, often frustrating, and always financially unprofitable pastime, and there can't be many of us willing to do it; sometimes two or three different publishers in sequence will, unbeknownst to each other, send me the same book to evaluate. I often wonder - particularly when a deadline is looming - why I do reader's reports at all.

Going along with that story she tells recently of the "same book sent to me by three different publishers. I imagined and pitied the poor agent, doggedly sending it back out after each new rejection, not knowing that my report had already shot it down. Then I found myself sitting in that agent's office. I was the one who'd brought up the difficulty of getting foreign books published in English. 'Yes!' he exclaimed. 'I've been submitting this wonderful novel everywhere' - he named the title - 'and no one will do it!' My heart sank."

• Financially unprofitable pastime; [As the writers strike enters its third week, I think the future belongs to a tantalizing new hyphenate: the writer-entrepreneur. Whoever enters the fray will still need writers to create this new content. So writers should keep their eyes on the prize. Getting a few more pennies of digital loot is just a beginning, not an end. The ultimate goal should be finding ways to own a piece of your own work. Come on, writers, script your futures; The life of the modern writer is complex. Starving alone in a garret wasn't always pleasant, but it was easy Let's Face It]
• · When we first launched Lovemarks into the world, a few people found it hard not to associate the idea with sex. The Attraction Economy: a side bar; What struck me about the guy, was his sheer love and passion for the cinema and food. His movie making is legendary; his wine making and food business are now a $150m enterprise Meeting Francis Ford Coppola
• · For a different counterpoint, there's Harper UK ceo Victoria Barnsley promoting their not-yet-launched Authonomy.co.uk as the new new thing to the Independent, though at this stage it sounds a lot like a new gloss on the old Time Warner Book Group's defunct iPublish. My view is more people want to write a book than read a book. Barnsley On New Site, Capturing Readers;
• · · The Chaser's "Eulogy" was less about the celebrities it referenced to than it was about public perceptions of those celebrities. The Chaser's 'just war' on celebrity worship; I am no stranger (nor are you, probably) to how the wider media sometimes depicts bloggers: as closeted wannabees who add to the rise of ‘faux journalism’. Books are currently being published on the subject. Media Dragons: How do You ‘Sell’ Your Blog?; Best Blog Posts of 2007: Call for Nominations

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Mmmmm..... The pork is coming thick and fast, with pollies spending our money like there's no tomorrow ... D-day minus 9 (NEIN) ; ach and You Decide

Bookmark YouDecide2007 - your election coverage Stay up to date on the Australian e(l)ections
The first thing I noticed is how heavy the pork barrel is

If Mr Rudd wants to have a debate about surpluses between now and election day, make my day
Nine days out from election day and what a campaign so far: the worm controversy, the rise and rise of MeTooism, pork barrelling by the truckload, the PM's morning walk turns into a daily stalk, Tony "I laugh in the face of your political correctness" Abbott, Family First's first p-rn candidate, things you can learn in the Qantas Chairman's lounge ... and so much more.
Don't lose the detail of this memorable (if interminable) campaign in the tired and emotional haze of Election Night 2007. Make a note of your favorite hustings moments now ... and send them to us!
The categories are (envelopes please):
1. The Evolution-Of-Dance Award for most excruciating YouTube campaign moment.
2. The Pork-Me Plate for the most gratuitous spending pledge.
3. The Latham Handshake Clasp for biggest campaign cock-up.
4. The Dennis Shanahan Medal for the most courageous spinning of a bad news moment.
5. The Suspend-Your-Cynicism Cup for the most inspiring campaign moment

• Election Coverage; [Fedral Election; The Crikey Election Awards: ]
• · Hain resurrects spectre of higher tax rate for the rich Richest Debate; How the Cold War gave birth to the Killer B. So the Internal Revenue Service has shut down the Killer B, the tax shelter that has helped fuel the stock buyback programs of many companies with foreign earnings, proving once again that the first rule of Tax Shelter Club is. Do Not Talk About Tax Shelter Club
• · · Last week Mr Keating lambasted key Rudd strategists David Epstein and Gary Gray … In the end, those kind of conservative, tea-leaf reading, focus group-driven polling types who I think led Kim into nothingness - you know, he's got his life to repent in leisure now, from what they did to him - they're back, they're back. These are, in my opinion, no-value people. Wouldn't fight, don't know how to fight, much less fighting the Liberal Party. They don't have the structure, or the creativity, or the passion, or the belief to go and grab the prize. They don't understand a victory. Keating the Musical; World-Renowned Social Entrepreneurs Issue a Call for Action

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In the last few weeks we have invaded Canberra and Byron Bay areas. We enjoyed the atmosphere of Manuka and Kingston in Canberra. We loved the Balina Manor and the company at Phil’s 50th birthday party. However, we advise keep away from the Coachman In Motel at Coffs Harbour especially when filled with unruly Schoolies. Another traveller - Kevin Roberts notes: I'm no authority on the world's greatest or coolest bars, but I do know what my favorite hotel bars are. What Makes a Truly Great Bar?

The planet will continue existing with or without us. DON'T START THE REVOLUTION WITHOUT ME
Being raised Catholic I was taught that the only impediment to receiving Holy Communion was a mortal sin which had not yet been confessed.

Because, after 10 years, 4,195 pages, and over 325 million copies, J.K. Rowling's towering achievement lacks the cornerstone of almost all great children's literature: the hero's moral journey. Without that foundation, her story -- for all its epic trappings of good vs. evil -- is stuck in a moral no man's land.

To be clear: This isn't a critique of Rowling's values. It's a recognition of a disturbing trend in commercial storytelling and Western society.
• If literature truly reflects society, then the end of the Harry Potter series spells trouble for us all. 'Harry Potter' missing a real moral struggle; [Google Vanity Ring: Status Symbol for the Attraction Economy; While in earlier times richness and importance were equal to the amount of money or jewels someone possessed, in a post information society it's the attention you get from the worlds people, that counts. Media Dragon …]
• · The days of my parliamentary experiences are reflected in articles like this - A FORMER state Labor MP, accused of spying on a Liberal opponent, has quit her taxpayer-funded job and been criticised by the Ombudsman for "highly inappropriate" behaviour Ombudsman slams ex-Labor MP's spying ; The hottest, raunchiest show on television right now is set hundreds of years ago in England. It’s based on a true story incorporating sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, along with wars, jousting, religion, politics and globalization. I’m talking about "The Tudors" By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. Socrates Epic storytelling = By all means marry
• · In Born Digital, due to be published next year, John Palfrey of the Berkman Center at the Harvard Law School and his colleague Urs Gasser plan to explore these issues in more detail. Not all people born during a certain period of history (say, after the advent of BBSes) are digital natives. Not everyone born today lives a life that is digital in every, or indeed any, way. Feel like a digital immigrant? Ask a native for help ; I am late again but last month was the Blog Action Day The topic for this year's blog action day is the environment; Do you find self-help books no help at all? Are you slogging away in a job you don't enjoy, to buy things you don't need, to impress people you don't like? Nigel Marsh, bestselling author of Fat Forty and Fired, knows how you feel. In his new book Observations of a Very Short Man, Marsh tackles work-life balance, passion in marriage (or lack of it), parenting, death - even dog ownership. OBSERVATIONS OF A VERY SHORT MAN
• · · Blogonomics: When Blogs Become Books
Having a popular blog really does help sell books on Media Dragon … And there's no doubt at all that needlessly annoying your blog's readers is extremely unlikely to be a good business decision. Cold War Googling; The BBC has launched a new blog to open up discussion about the corporation's website BBC launches blog about internet operations ; The BBC Internet Blog - a sister blog to the existing editors' blogs for news and sport - will cover plans for bbc.co.uk as well as the development of on-demand platforms such as interactive television and mobile. On demand Journalism
• · · · It is an honor to be chosen for Blog of the Year. vegnews is the place to get your vegetarian news and celebrity buzz, which makes it one of our favorites, ... Wow! Ecorazzi Named Blog of the Year by vegnews ; Call that a moustache? I thought you'd just forgotten to wash Blog: Mee Mee Mi Mo
• · · · · Damon Kitney & Annabel Hepworth, AFRBoss, October 2007, pp. 26-30. If there’s one thing that separates the high performers from the rest it’s how they handle the pressure of time. Autocratic, manipulative, power hungry, perhaps even deranged - the media mogul as portrayed in the press is one of history's more enduring figures. What are the strategic approaches and leadership traits that make for success in this fast moving, often turbulent industry? Lucy Küng combines recent thinking on leadership in creative environments and makes some recommendations for leaders in the media. Time lords ; Programmers make big bucks. Software developers dress casual every day of the week. Anyone can teach themselves to be a programmer. These are just a few of the reasons why people say they want to become a developer. Unfortunately, the job market is littered with people who may have had the raw intelligence or maybe even the knowledge, but not the right attitude or personality to become a good programmer. 10 signs that you aren’t cut out to be a developer ; NYTimes.com announced today that it launched “The Board” (http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/), a blog written by members of The New York Times editorial board, providing commentary and background on each day’s editorials. NYTimes.com Launches ''The Board'' Editorial Blog
• · · · · · CONSUMERS who get their news from the internet are likely to trust a blog for reliability as much as a mainstream media site, the competition watchdog said today. Blogs as reliable as mainstream media - ACCC ; She's slightly evil, easily annoyed, and for her a day without sarcasm is a day wasted. Meet Blog Idol winner Moata Tamaira, whose blog on Stuff.co.nz begins today. Blog Idol winner Moata begins posting ; No author biographies. Unless you’re creating a corporate blog, readers will want to know who they’re reading. You should include more than just your name 10 lessons to blog more professionally

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Booker Record Intact
The Booker judges continued their streak of overlooking the bettors' favorites, passing over Lloyd Jones and Ian McEwan to honor "the rank outsider" (Times) Anne Enright's "exhilaratingly bleak" THE GATHERING and thumbing their collective noses at the British literary establishment along the way.

Chair of the judging panel Howard Davies hailed Enright's book as "a powerful, uncomfortable and even, at times, angry book . . . an unflinching look at a grieving family in tough and striking language." Davies said it was "not everybody's first choice," but did call it "a choice with which all the judges were happy."

Before announcing the winner, Davies criticized the UK's newspaper reviewers for praising mediocre works from well-known writers and overlooking books like Enright's. "I think a little more distance, and critical scepticism, is required by our reviewers, together with greater readiness to notice new names," Davies said. He also indicated the judges were "surprised by the reverential tone adopted by reviewers in relation to books which, to us, did not come off at all." Why the judges were even looking at reviews instead of just the books themselves was not addressed--nor have we seen that question posed yet by the UK papers.

But they do hit back with their own opinions about the judges. The Telegraph says "Enright's victory is a major upset that is likely to fuel increasing criticism that the prize, routinely hailed as the world's most prestigious award for literary fiction, is out of touch with ordinary readers." Author Robert Harris says authors are being encouraged to write novels to please Booker judges that are "grim and unreadable and utterly off-putting for many readers.... They are elegant, elegiac but dull and dry. They do not connect with their readers. They are just deadening to read."

Enright's book ranked fifth in sales prior to the award among books on the shortlist, having sold approximately 3,000 copies, ahead of Indra Sinha's Animal's People. (Even though bettors favored Lloyd Jones's MISTER PIP, Bookscan figures cited in the press showed sales of just over 5,000 copies for that book.) Random UK says they are rushing a reprint of 50,000 copies of THE GATHERING.

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Things are seldom what they seem: media dragon masquerades as blog ...
Blogs allow you to share your opinions and expertise with the world. Writing a blog is like writing a public, online diary. If you like to share your opinions, your hobbies or your skills with others, why not write a blog? Talk to the world : The Man Who Sold the Cold War River

Interactive beats static
A blog is also a powerful business networking tool, she says. Blogs fit into the social networking tools and many will develop global networks with like-minded people.

THE hype over blogs focuses on gossip and radical politics. What many people miss is the power of the blog as a marketing tool for small business and an alternative to e-newsletters.
BUSINESS BLOGS
workingsolo.com.au
blog.completepotential.com
trevorcook.typepad.com
www.benjaminchristie.com
www.nobledentist.com.au/blog/index.php
www.frankteam.com.au/blog
blog.nowhiring.com.au
www.barrett.com.au/blogs/suebarrett
lukegoodwin.blogspot.com
Blogs offer superior features to static websites, sometimes cost nothing and are easy to use. They also increase a company's chances of being found in web searches, saving money on search engine optimisation.

• Media Dragons and blogs save time and energy; [Idris and I have innate insurmountable difficulties: I'm feminist and he's a health food enthusiast, all I want to do is eat biscuit after biscuit, he won't eat sugar, wheat, eggs, milk, or processed food Best personal blog 2007; Slav Andy Warhol claimed everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. Warhol was well aware of the media circus in the 1960s, but he may not have known that 40 years later people would become famous for being a reality show villain, blogging about celebrities or stepping out of an SUV sans undergarments. Everyone has a blog these days it seems--TMZ, Perez Hilton, Gawker, Huffington Post, Drudge Report, the Fug Girls. But the way to go from blog obscurity to infamy Fifteen Minutes Of Infamy]
• · The report observes that blogging is growing as a tool for promoting not only online engagement of citizens and public servants, but also offline engagement. It describes blogging activities by members of congress, governors, city mayors, and police and fire departments in which they engage directly with the public. It also describes how blogging is used within agencies to improve internal communications and speed the flow of information. Wyld develops a set of lessons learned and a checklist of best practices for public managers interested in following in their footsteps. He also examines the broader social phenomenon of online social networks and how they affect not only government but also corporate interactions with citizens and customers businessofgovernment@us.ibm.com The blogging revolution: government in the age of web 2-0; SQL Scalability Experts Launches Katmai App Compat Blog
• · More quickly than most anyone imagined, blogging is growing up. From the blogosphere's anarchistic roots, a professional cadre is emerging that is creating an industry whose top-performing businesses now earn serious money. Blogs are turning profitable; INVESTIGATIVE ORIGINAL BLOG REPORTING ON JAMES DOBSON comes via TMV co-blogger Shaun Mullen on his own excellent blog Around The Sphere Blogging Roundup October 29, 2007
• · · POLITICIANS are better equipped than judges to determine the appropriate balance between freedom of the press and protection of sensitive information before the courts, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says. Press freedom up to politicians - Ruddock;When it comes to disasters, no one does it better than California. California wildlifes: Climate change or not?
• · · · What People Search For - Most Popular Keywords
Millions of searches are conducted each day on popular search engines by people all around the world. What are they looking for? A number of major search engines provide a way to glimpse into the web's query stream to discover the most popular search keywords or topics. Searches; Technoratis
• · · · · There are no true readers today, only would-be writers -- Blogs changed all that. Blogging tools are as easy to use as email, and importantly, cost nothing. Type your words, press a button and your blog is updated Everybody Writes; Appropriate scaffolding and careful seeding of content will prove more useful. A complete taxonomy, for example, may overwhelm a small set of potential early adopters. Is Emergence (aka Messy) a Problem in the Enterprise? Is There a Midddle Ground?
• · · · · · Bill Ives Central European Photography 1918 - 1945; Tom Lehrer on Sociology on YouTube

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Life is not about fairness and you will only drive yourself mad trying to find it all the time - Today, I can’t decide, Czech beer or a glass of Australian red …
Ach ... after the entire week of colourful events in Canberra at Bentley Suits and episodes spilled by the Nissan NXR which leaked more oil than Sadam Hussein’s oil wells … it was nice to come back to Sydney in one piece …

Young, Eastern, working class, dirty, rude and sexy Also note the way HarperCollins announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Jeff Sharp's NY film production company Sharp Independent to collaborate on the development and production of motion pictures based on Great titles like Cold River Stories are central to human intelligence and memory. Cognitive scientist William Calvin describes how we gradually acquire the ability to formulate plans through the stories we hear in childhood. From stories, a child learns to ‘imagine a course of action, imagine its effects on others, and decide whether or not to do it’...Cognitive scientists have established that lists, in contrast, are remarkably hard to remember. Silver River: the beat goes on and on …

Arts and Science in Action & Theory Best Magazines Revealed

In this ever digitalizing age, it's great to see there is still a role for great writing, great photography, great art design and great production values. The magazine market continues to innovate and excite. I thought I'd share my current top ten with you - some brilliant examples from the US, Europe and New Zealand...

• Top Ten; [The success of online participatory media—video-sharing sites and corporate wikis alike—depends on the quality contributions of a small core of enthusiasts How companies can make the most of user-generated content ; One sees strange fantasies in the water . . . The publicity-shy property magnate Denis O'Neil has had to step up to the ring as residents oppose his plans for a marina at Rose Bay The Reluctant Millionaire: Is Media Dragon emerging from a media Ice Age? ]
• · The Minister for Arts and Sport, Senator George Brandis, has released further details of some important enhancements to the Government's new Australian Screen Production Incentive package, which was announced in the 2007-08 Federal Budget (see 2007 WTB 19 [795]). The new package includes a Producer Offset and a Location Offset MORE DETAILS ON NEW FILM INDUSTRY TAX INCENTIVES ; The arts and Letters Members Profiles
• · Before you become a critic, have you dared to act? Trust life to take you where you need to go. The most successful are those who act for others -- and have stopped counting. Be too busy to complain. Make your wishes worth fulfilling. I feel that in art as in life, the more you know, the better your opinion; Your secret is safe with Us and Media Dragon Dumpster Diver Discovers Stolen Artwork
• · · The Rotterdam Natural History Museum has appealed for somebody -- anybody -- to give it a single crab louse for its collection, amid fears they may be dying out. It does#not mean that small and unpopular insects are less important scientifically; THE last stands of Sydney's blue gum high forest could soon be gone if scientists can't find a way to combat the spread of an insidious insect infestation spreading through three states Bird and bug a deadly threat to gums
• · · · Berjaya Group Bhd has launched a legal action against the administrator of its once-listed CarLovers Carwash for keeping it in administration for three times longer than necessary and this had cost the company millions of dollars, "The Australian" newspaper reported yesterday Berjaya Launches Legal Action Against Carlovers' Administrator; ONE of John Howard's best mates and business confidants is embroiled in a multi-million-dollar insolvency dispute involving his son-in-law PM's mate in insolvency dispute
• · · · · An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. Plutarch said that in Greece about 2,000 years ago. Isn’t it time we learned? Because that’s the threat we’re facing If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people. Have an Escape Route ; Writing in Foreign Policy, Drezner and Farrell (2004) hit upon an amazing reality of modern life. Today, unlike at any time in the advance of history, people simply no longer need to leave their houses to participate in a revolution. With the advent of new technologies, new means can be used to foster online engagement, in both the individual and collective sense, and to create new dialogues between government and citizens (Reece, 2006) Overcoming public speaking surprises
• · · · · · Everything about freedom in the world has changed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, except the way we forget about it Berlin Wall ; Central Europe is a fascinating place and I should know, I come from there. Ravishing countryside, hospitable people and men who wear nothing under their skirts Living art

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Things are seldom what they seem: poor masquerade as rich ... Jozef Imrich is nothing if not rich.

I can spot a revolutionary from 100 paces. First clue: Everyone else thinks they're crazy, dangerous or ridiculous.
-Anita Roddick

George Will is a very dangerous writer and a man who is not freaked out by age ;-) Being rich isn't all it's cracked up to be

Enough, already, with compassion for society's middle and lower orders. There currently is a sympathy deficit regarding the very rich. Or so the rich might argue because they bear the heavy burden of spending enough to keep today's plutonomy humming.

Furthermore, they are getting diminishing psychological returns on their spending now that luxury brands are becoming democratized. When there are 379 Louis Vuitton and 227 Gucci stores, who cares?

Citigroup's Ajay Kapur applies the term "plutonomy" to, primarily, the United States, although Britain, Canada and Australia also qualify. He notes that America's richest 1 percent of households own more than half the nation's stocks and control more wealth ($16 trillion) than the bottom 90 percent. When the richest 20 percent account for almost 60 percent of consumption, you see why rising oil prices have had so little effect on consumption.

Kapur's theory is that "wealth waves" develop in epochs characterized by, among other things, disruptive technology-driven productivity gains and creative financial innovations that "involve great complexity exploited best by the rich and educated of the time." For the canny, daring and inventive, these are the best of times — and vast rewards to such people might serve the rapid propulsion of society to greater wealth.

But it is increasingly expensive to be rich. The Forbes CLEW index (the Cost of Living Extremely Well) — yes, there is such a thing — has been rising much faster than the banal CPI (consumer price index). At the end of 2006, there were 9.5 million millionaires worldwide, which helps to explain the boom in the "bling indexes" — stocks such as Christian Dior and Richemont (Cartier and Chloe, among other brands), which are up 247 percent and 337 percent respectively since 2002, according to Fortune magazine. Citicorp's "plutonomy basket" of stocks (Sotheby's, Bulgari, Hermes, etc.) has generated an annualized return of 17.8 percent since 1985.

'Positional economy'

This is the outer symptom of a fascinating psychological phenomenon: Envy increases while — and perhaps even faster than — wealth does. When affluence in the material economy guarantees that a large majority can take for granted things that a few generations ago were luxuries for a small minority (a nice home, nice vacations, a second home, college education, comfortable retirement), the "positional economy" becomes more important.

Positional goods and services are inherently minority enjoyments. These are enjoyments — "elite" education, "exclusive" vacations or properties — available only to persons with sufficient wealth to pursue the satisfaction of "positional competition." Time was, certain clothes, luggage, wristwatches, handbags, automobiles, etc. sufficed. But with so much money sloshing around the world, too many people can purchase them. Too many, in the sense that the value of acquiring a "positional good" is linked to the fact that all but a few people cannot acquire it.

That used to be guaranteed because supplies of many positional goods were inelastic — they were made by a small class of European craftsmen. But when they are mass-produced in developing nations, they cannot long remain such goods. When 40 percent of all Japanese — and, Fortune reports, 94.3 percent of Japanese women in their 20s — own a Louis Vuitton item, its positional value vanishes.

James Twitchell, University of Florida professor of English and advertising, writing in the Wilson Quarterly, says this "lux populi" is "the Twinkiefication of deluxe." Now that Ralph Lauren is selling house paint, can Polo radial tires be far behind? When a yacht manufacturer advertises a $20 million craft — in a newspaper, for Pete's sake; the Financial Times, but still — cachet is a casualty.

'Marks of opulence'

As Adam Smith wrote in "The Wealth of Nations," for most rich people "the chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches, which in their eye is never so complete as when they appear to possess those decisive marks of opulence which nobody can possess but themselves." Hennessy understands the logic of trophy assets: It is selling a limited batch of 100 bottles of cognac for $200,000 a bottle.

Enough, already, with compassion for society's middle and lower orders. There currently is a sympathy deficit regarding the very rich The Man Who Sold the Cold Rich River; A Lexus In Every Garage

Innovation

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It seems everyone wants to get on the innovation bandwagon, and Media Dragon is no different. Why innovation matters

There's a writer's trick for getting a grasp of large stories. You follow one person around and tell the story through his or her eyes. ... Turn off the television, turn on your brain
Being a citizen of a democracy means paying attention to what is relevant

LAST WEEK I flipped on CNN after I got home from classes, expecting to hear the latest update on Iraq, or what was going on in Turkey after the first Islamist president was elected after decades of secular rule. Instead, I watched "the most trusted name in news" excitedly read off the ever-so-taboo details of now former Senator Craig's star-crossed bathroom romance. Then, CNN updated me on the astronaut love triangle. For a moment I felt as if I were back at my high school cafeteria busily gossiping over the tawdry details of last weekend. Surely these stories rank last in relevance and importance to domestic and world affairs.

• Media of Schadenfreude; [I am astonished that some people (and they are not all economists) still believe that consumer decisions are rational and not emotional. Yet here are two more compelling reasons why this is just not so; one from an English philosopher and the other from a German psychologist Go with your gut; Jozef Imrich is a Czechoslovak Australian struggling with his own humanity and his contradictory persona of an iceman, a fascinating amalgam of hot and cold ;-) International Bookshops and Cold River ]
• · If you're looking for a job, here's a new way to stand out from the pack of prospects. The hottest way to land your dream job is to write a blog. Blogs Recommended For Job Seekers As Best Way To Stand Out; It wasn't the subject of Scott's story that stood out; it was the way he was telling it on his LaughingSquid blog. He reported the story by updating the ... Journalism is Burning Or How Breaking News is Broken
• · · Ha ... The weirdness that is Burning Man; AT 107 she is probably the world's oldest blogger and cyber granny Olive Riley may also lay claim to being the oldest YouTube user. World's oldest blogger
• · · · Enterprise Blog and Wiki Success Story from Traction Software - UK’s National Health Service (NHS) Orkney Bill Ives; Digital exchanges Coming to your inbox near you
• · · · · Charter 77 - Same as 69 only you get more explosive memoirs Why we have sex; There is a great moment in Hari Kunzru’s novel Transmission when a young Indian woman working in a Bombay call centre, finds she has developed an Australian accent as the result of mimicking the customers she speaks with everyday. Consumer advocate Paul English has started the Gethuman movement. His website lists the keys that you need to press to talk to a real person on many business and government phone numbers... Human Touch

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It seems there is no end to rise of the Google phenomenon Rise and Rise of Google

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It is official, Central Europeans are huge readers of blogs, many downloads of Media Dragon in the past few weeks, and we read that even books like Cold River are popular ... Czechs read an average of 16 books per year, putting the country in the top three in Europe in terms of readers.



More than 80 percent of Czechs go through at least one book per year, according to the poll done by the National Library and the Institute of Czech Language and Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Sweden and Finland have similar numbers. Czechs on average keep about 274 books at home and spend about 1,300 Kč ($67) per year to buy new books. Big home libraries the rule, not the exception - in the thick of a literary movement, Czechs are some of Europe's biggest readers

Australia’s experience with multiculturalism may be an interesting reference point for Europe and the Czech Republic. Mingling of peoples of different heritages and cultures in Europe has not always been positive. Throughout history, the conquest of various peoples and places has often resulted in oppression and exploitation of minorities.

Yet multiculturalism is of growing significance, with the development of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement, which gives EU residents more freedom to travel quickly across country borders. There’s a new wave of economic migration across Europe, and it affects all of the countries. Australia's history with immigrants may help the Czech Republic and the rest of the EU