CNN’s attention to detail

At CNN.com, the photo chosen to illustrate the editorial about gun control and magazine size : a pile of spent 105mm artillery shell casings from a demonstration of a L118 howitzer in Australia.

I didn’t even know we had a howitzer violence problem.

(the cnn story was published Jan 12 so to find it you’ll have to expand the date range to thirty days and scroll to find it)

goldyen vending machine

Space International Ltd., a company started by Rokugawa with funds from selling novelty USB flash drives, is offering gold or silver to the world’s biggest vending machine market, where consumers can buy anything from drinks and candy to lingerie and fortune-telling printouts.

Why won’t the ABC publish some people’s comments?

Whilst I was having a bitch at Andrew Bolt the other day, a few readers noted that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia’s publicly funded broadcaster, well, chooses not to publish at least some of the public’s comments on it’s Unleashed blog.

It’s one thing for a private blog – either an individual’s or that of a private company – to choose who it wants to let comment, but it’s an entirely different matter for an entity such as Australia’s ABC.

Profanity, death threats; such comments it would be understandable they aren’t published. This, however, is not the case with Unleashed.

Rather, comments by those of the Right, thus those who in general disagree with the argument put forward on Unleashed, are often left by the wayside.

Why?

Elsie: grandmother, and probably someone who winces when I swear-blog…

ABC Unleashed and Drum have banned me too. They never publish any of my comments.

Sigh!

Carpe Jugulum: swears like a sailor (he was one after all) on the phone, but usually tones it down on the internet, no doubt, especially on a public-owned site like the ABC…

Elsie, oddly enough Unleashed won’t publish me either, they probably don’t do sane discourse or reasoned debate.

Magsx2: thought she might have actually been my mum when I first started reading her… and I mean that in a good way…

I have never had any comments published on any ABC site.

The ABC appears to have little problem publishing the rants of an anti-Semitic hate-filled leftist, but when it comes to those who, generally speaking, probably think what Bob Ellis writes is pure rubbish (and why are taxpayers funding him?!), oh no, that’s not OK.

The ABC would do well to clean up its act rather than sweeping its duty to the public under its smug rug.

*X-posted

How quickly they forget.

So Palin has caused a spike in death threats?

Oh you mean ones against her?

Or the ones against her daughter?

Not to mention the tasteful apparel you can get featuring her..

So lefties, projecting much?

Bob Brown Vs Wivenhoe dam

Its been fairly widely reported that the Wivenhoe dam managed to mitigate the effects of the floods by up to 2 metres. There is some controversy over why the dam (built for flood mitigation) started the flood at such a high level. After a few years of dry winters it would have been a courageous public servant who mentioned the dam should have been lowered by releasing more water.

Heres Bob Opposing a dam on the Mary river (in 2006), in all fairness it wouldnt have been finished in time for this disaster

Senator Brown, who recently led a protest flotilla of canoes down the Mary River where Premier Beattie plans a dam, said the environment will be a huge issue for voters.

He still doesnt get what the word mitigation means.

Bob thinks, or pretends to think, mitigation means “stopping bad effects altogether”. It doesnt, it actually means trying to lessen the worst effects an uncontrolled flood would bring. As Wivenhoe has apparently done in this flood.

Heres a statement from the Queensland state greens, Ive highlighted the parts that should be branded into hides for arrogance and overweening pride.

“The federal government has saved Anna Bligh $1.8 billion dollars by refusing Traveston Dam – she should use that money to supply a free rainwater tank to every remaining South East Queensland home without one, and to invest in stormwater harvesting in our cities to catch the rain where it falls.

“If Bligh is determined not to use money saved from Traveston on providing sustainable water solutions, then it should be used to reduce government debt. The cost of Traveston was one of the reasons she used to justify selling off the state’s valuable assets – now there is even less excuse for this ill-conceived flogging off of public goods.”

“Bligh should also bring back the tough water restrictions that South East Queenslanders showed they were easily able to meet. A permanent water saving target of 170L per person is achievable and will keep a lid on water costs. 

“If we are to get serious about sustainable water supply for South East Queensland, we must ensure that population growth in our region is sustainable. We should refuse to grant new development approvals unless the proponent can demonstrate that the necessary water is available and that planning processes address sustainable water supplies.

With timely planning and provision of water recycling, demand and supply management, rainwater tanks, stormwater harvesting, evaporation reduction, water efficiency and sustainable groundwater extraction, there should be no need for energy-guzzling desalination.

“Bligh should also scrap the planned Nathan Dam on the Dawson River which is designed to provide water to coal mines, and invest that money into providing renewable energy which will create Queensland jobs,” concluded Ms Waters.”

The bastards assumed there would never be another downpour in Queensland. The breathtaking arrogance of assuming they knew the future is shocking.

Sticking the word “dam” in their search engine reveals the following headlines.

No support for Traveston Dam in southeast votes

Help Stop the Dam – Bus from Brisbane

Greens slam Premier on false ‘green’ dam claims

Traveston Dam state approval a farce

Greens will stop Traveston Dam: Ronan Lee

Greens welcome Traveston Dam refusal

Thats the top few out of 22. (most don’t refer to dams in their titles).

Now having read their anti dam crap what do you think they are doing now?

Greens join call for judicial inquiry into flooding impacts

Including this great screamer.

“..planning for strategic river catchments and floodplains and how this could best take account of the uncertainties presented by climate change.”…..”Queensland has been through an unprecedented period of climate variability“…. “ill-considered and opportunistic calls for mega-dams and the like“….

This section especially needs to be factchecked every time its raised.

“Dr Connors said she believed the terms of reference should include looking at the appropriateness of developments such as open cut coal mines and coal seam gas infrastructure on the Condamine and the Fitzroy river catchments which are characterised by periodic flooding and, in particular, on the floodplains of these catchments, given that many of these were forced to release huge amounts of polluted water during the flood.”

The amounts released, to put it mildly were microscopically small. If all the water being removed from the mines was released all at once what %  of the flow would it make up right now?

Well heres a coal bloke with the figures.

“..Mr Roche said several of the mines in the central highlands needed to get rid of 100 to 200 megalitres of water to get back into operation. “To give an idea, the amount of water flowing past them to Rockhampton is about 250,000ML a day,..”

 LESS than 1/1000th of the volume in a given day…

Bob Ellis, Uberdouche, sponsored by your ABC.

Another stream of urine conciousness from the ABC’s pet hack.

His article is a tissue of phlegm and bile, its points searching for a fact to hang off.

But the best bits are his unscripted replies to comments. Heres a brief fisking of only one of his comments.

Bobs factchecker is on fire, wont someone get Bob a new one?

Bob Ellis :

13 Jan 2011 9:14:48pm

“More left wing figures though have been successfully killed. JFK. RFK. The Reverend King. His mother. Malcolm X. Olaf Palme. Salvador Allende. Hugh Gaitskell. Steve Biko. Che Guevara. Medgar Evers. Dag Hammarskjoeld. Patrice Lumumba. John Lennon. Anna Lindh. Attempts were made on FDR and Harry Truman, left wingers, and Theodore Roosevelt, a trust-busting environmentalist. It is hard to call Lincoln a right-winger. He freed the slaves, and all. Anwar Sadat. Indira Ghandi. Rajiv Ghandi. Mahatma Ghandi.

Please supply a list as long as this of right-wing figures shot at by radical socialists.

Or shot at by anybody.”

Lets go through Bobs list, remembering this is supposed to bolster his argument that lefties are at great risk from raving right wingers with rifles!

JFK: Shot by Communist/ex communist.

RFK. Shot by Palestinian upset by his support for Israel

The Reverend King. Shot by an avowed racist, who coincidentally was assisting ex-democrat George Wallace in his election bid.

His mother. Shot by another African American who claimed he did it because “all Christians are my enemies.”

Malcolm X. Shot by African American nation of Islam members.

Olaf Palme. Theories run from Fascist groups to the red brigades. The person suspected as most likely was a petty criminal and drug dealer.

Salvador Allende. Coup, overthrown by right wing junta, congrats Bob one so far to bolster your right bashing.

Hugh Gaitskell.Died of Lupus, are some claims he was bumped off by the KGB..

Steve Biko. Bumped off by Fascist racist government, Gooood Bob thats 2.

Che Guevara. He was actively fighting to overthrow a government, what were they supposed to do, send him flowers? He ran an execution squad in Cuba, so hes probably not who you should be putting up as an “Innocent”.

Medgar Evers. Killed by KKK member, who, coincidentally was visited in hospital by the local Democrat/segregationist politician.

Dag Hammarskjoeld.” No evidence of a bomb, surface-to-air missile, or hijacking was found”, not a good conspiracy to raise Bob.

Patrice Lumumba. Wanted to bring the Congo over to the USSR during the cold war, killed by his own government with Belgian and possibly US involvement, Ill award you 1/2 for that one Bob.

John Lennon. Killed by a nut, no politics apparently involved.

Anna Lindh.”His motive was not considered political, although Mijailović shortly after his arrest was identified on a photograph as standing in the front row of a crowd adhering to Liberal People’s Party chairman Lars Leijonborg delivering a speech.”  (the party is about as right wing as the ALP)

Attempts were made on FDR: Zangara confessed and stated: “I have the gun in my hand. I kill kings and presidents first and next all capitalists.” Not exactly Any Rand was he?

and Harry Truman: Puetro Rican independence activists, well known republican voters Im sure…

left wingers: An impossibly broad category, but judging by your efforts so fan not as many as you think..

and Theodore Roosevelt: Shot by an insane man, no political outlook apparent.

a trust-busting environmentalist. irrelevant to why he was shot, absolutely.

It is hard to call Lincoln a right-winger: He freed the slaves, and all. So regardless of any other professed politics this one act of virtue make him left wing. Sorry, that wont wash.
Anwar Sadat. Killed by Jihadis. religious assassination.

Indira Ghandi. Shot by Shik extremists incensed about her storming of a temple previously.

Rajiv Ghandi. assassinated by Tamil Tigers, heres one of their statements.”..we pledge our militant solidarity against western imperialism, neo-colonialists, Zionism, racism and other forces of reaction..”
Mahatma Ghandi. Killed by a mentally unbalanced Hindi nationalist upset at Pakistan being granted independence.
2&1/2 out of 22 which can be directly attributed to EEEEVIILL rightwingers, not a good average Bob… Grade: EPIC FAIL

Pike river follow up.

Bad news for the families of the miners lost in the Pike River mining accident.

The poor sods wont get the bodies back, conditions are unlikely to allow the safe retrieval of any remains for the forseeable future.

This was a fairly widespread opinion held by most mining crew Ive worked with, the scale of the fires/explosions and subsequent weakening of any ground support made this a likely outcome. But its a bitter pill for the families and friends to swallow. And for those who want to know why the bodies arent available Ill just ask, how many living mines rescue blokes are worth killing to retrieve the deceased? Its hard, but one live miner is worth 100 dead ones.

RIP blokes.

Cool thing makes gun laws useless?

This is possibly the coolest “toy” Ive ever seen.

Its a printer.

Its a 3D printer

Its a 3D printer that makes almost any object it has a design template for….

Its a MakerBot “Thing-O-Matic”

The daily mail has a reasonable write up on the machine, including this picture of geek lust in action…

Morton wondered if there were plans for a lady sized model any time soon....

 

However a little section in the write up got me thinking…

“But its creators say future models could combine plastic with metals – allowing them to make electronic gadgets at the push of a button.”

Id give it about 1 week after the metals model was introduced before the first pistols/pistol parts are available for sale. So how would gun control work after you can produce your own?