Ten years ago today, Andrew Robb arrived at Parliament House intent upon an act of treachery.

   The US withdrawal from Syria, even if it was immediately corrected, indicates with certainty that Washington no longer intends to be the world’s policeman, the "necessary Empire". It destabilized without delay all the rules of international relations. We have entered a period of transition during which each major power is pursuing a new agenda. Here are the main ones.

   It’s heart-warming to talk to young people who have understood the religious con and the spirituality traps. No, they’re not caught in some pseudo-post-religiosity age. They understand the fluidity of thoughts and the necessity of uncertainty, which means they accept that OTHER people may not think the same. But they value their own search for purpose through the real sciences, while discerning the value of imagination and the trick of fantasy. 

   

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was on Capitol Hill Wednesday (23/10/2019) to testify before the the House Financial Services Committee about Libra, Facebook's controversial cryptocurrency plan. 

At least, Libra was theoretically his reason for being in Washington, DC. Once he was in the hot seat, however, lawmakers pinned him down with questions about basically everything, making clear just how much ire the ostensible social network now draws at the highest level.

  Modern wind turbines already represent a tightly optimized confluence of materials science and aerodynamic engineering. Veers et al. review the challenges and opportunities for further expanding this technology, with an emphasis on the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. They highlight the need to better understand atmospheric physics in the regions where taller turbines will operate as well as the materials constraints associated with the scale-up. The mutual interaction of turbine sites with one another and with the evolving features of the overall electricity grid will furthermore necessitate a systems approach to future development.

   The American company is destroying more jobs in related businesses than it creates. Amazon has destroyed several thousand jobs in France. This is the severe statement made by the former Minister for Information Technology, Mounir Mahjoubi, in a paper published on November 21, entitled "Amazon: towards infinity and Employment".

 

    Last year Justin Milne got into trouble for acting like he ran the ABC, giving directions for staff to be sacked or telling management what they should do.

  The toilet brush need never leave its holder again. Scientists have created a super-slippery coating that helps usher excrement on its way without leaving traces behind.

 Last night, on the idiot box, on an ABC show with some low bogan values presented by our favourite fence sitter, now bespectacled, Annabel Crabb, there was an important segment about "climate change" with Craig Reucassel. There some bush-hatted farmers in Queensland were stating with gravitas that, as one cannot predict the weather, one cannot predict "climate change"... thus climate change was a ridiculous concept...

  Malcolm Fraser occupies a rather unique place in Australia as someone who has, at different times, managed to incense both ends of the political spectrum. If nothing else this is indicative of someone who has a capacity to change his position over the course of a lifetime.

As key diplomats testified in an open session, Democrats hoped to overcome the polarization that has defined Trump’s presidency.

 

Dear Mr President and the First Lady,

Western philosophy 'unimaginative, even xenophobic'

Australia holds the potential to sit amongst the world’s renewable energy superpowers, but “unprecedented” bushfires across NSW reveal just how lacking the government’s climate change policy is.