Last Tuesday we emptied our little house into the back of a removal truck. After a quick tidy and a last tearful visit to family we set off on the trail to Broken Hill. Z&JB had to wait on some repairs to their car. They followed on at a …
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San Francisco is best when it is inventing utopias (executing on it sometimes goes astray, but stay with me). In our Covid/Pandemic world we are all pushed into virtual classes, virtual work, virtual relations. Lets face it, we can only … Continue reading
The global COVID reset button has been activated to coincide with our move out west. My Mum and JB have not been able to fly back to the UK. So their holiday has turned into an extended stay with us. It has been great to have them both here. JB …
This food timeline started as a way to explore the revolution in Australian food that has occurred during the baby-boomers’ lifetime, but has since expanded to include more about the previous decades (and century) as well. Also included are overseas events and trends that had an impact here. The entries are brief, but there are lots of links if you want more information.
Screenagers in the time of coronavirus. (This was originally written for OneZero.) If you’re a parent trying to corral your children into attending “school” online, you’ve probably had the joy of witnessing a complete meltdown. Tantrums are no longer the domain of two-year-olds; 15-year-olds are also kicking and screaming. Needless to say, so are the […]
The last ten years have brought Knut Wicksell, a Swedish economist born in the 19th century, closer to the spotlight. His “Interest and Prices” (1898) should be understood as the birth of a new idea of how to explain monetary systems. (I have written about this elsewhere.) While some still pretend that Wicksell was a […]
The TARDIS of UNSW was a warmly received fan filmed produced in 2019 by UNSW’s DocSoc student group, part of a long tradition of fans telling their own Doctor Who stories. The DWCA’s last such production was well over a generation ago and now a new team of film makers are looking to throw their hats into the ring. The project is being masterminded by Thomas Walder (DocSoc) and Roger Reynolds (DWCA), and they’re on the lookout for script / plot ideas, actors, gaffers, costume designers, camera operators, sound engineers, make-up artists, and anyone else who can help out. As the COVID-19 pandemic has us all physically separated at the… Continue reading
Boris Johnson’s first response was at odds with the rest of the world. But this virus does not respect his delusions of national character
There is now the terrible possibility that Britain may match or even overtake Italy and Spain as the country in Europe that suffers most from the coronavirus pandemic. This tragedy has a political, as well as a biological, epidemiology. Those seeking to trace its path may look back on a telling moment – paradoxically the one at which the government finally changed course and fell into line with most of the rest of Europe. On 20 March, Boris Johnson announced the closure of pubs, clubs and restaurants. Even as he did so, however, he made it clear that this decision was an assault on the national character.
By J.D. ALT The theme and illustrations of this essay are from the new book “Paying Ourselves to Save the Planet.” It might seem, as we observe the U.S. government “instantly” generating $2 trillion new dollars for direct payments and … Continue reading
In March 2020, the Trudeau government launched a new version of the Insured Mortgage Purchase Program (IMPP). According to CMHC’s website: “Under this program, the government will purchase up to $50 billion of insured mortgage pools through CMHC.” Here are 10 things to know: 1. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is a federally-owned crown corporation. Many of us know [...]
Stuck at home with nothing to do? Don’t worry – the DWCA has your back! We’ve just released Volume Four of Zerinza, which collects the entire Eleanor saga from the pages of Data Extract, along with new behind the scenes material. With articles, comics, stories and illustrations, this volume is a celebration of the power and originality of fan fiction in general as well as that of Eleanor and her supporting cast in particular. Eleanor Chaplette was devised by Craig Land and Dom Kelly for the Doctor Who Club of Australia’s flagship publication Data Extract and featured from issue 228 in 2015… Continue reading
Due to the health emergency of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, the DWCA and its local groups have made the difficult decision to cancel upcoming events. As soon as it is possible to safely host events later in the year the DWCA will look to do so. The Canberra local group reports that since ACT libraries are closed so no meetings are currently scheduled. The Central West group reports they have no venues so no meetings are currently scheduled. The Newcastle local group have cancelled their meetings but are currently investigating if online meetings are viable. We wish all our… Continue reading
Canada’s most prominent progressive economist has passed. He will be sorely missed. https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/mel-watkins-a-life-well-lived
Brendel/Unsplash, CC BY-NC Warwick Smith, University of Melbourne This article was first published in The Conversation. Understandably, given we are in a crisis, the government has baulked at including superannuation contributions in the A$140 billion worth of $1,500 per … Continue reading
Monday morning at work I started running a slight temperature. My shoulders and neck ached. I work with immunocompromised patients so it was safest to go home. I am a nurse so in the interest of …
The legendary Prof. Harry Glasbeek of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University has penned the following commentary on how the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing and reinforcing the deep flaws in our economic and social order. It ends on a hopeful note: the people will demand better, when the immediate health crisis has passed. Prof. Glasbeek is the author of [...]
The federal government has announced it is prepared to pay wages subsidies of up to 75% of employee wages for all private businesses and other employers, including non-profits, partnerships and charities that expect a 30% drop in revenues, up to a maximum of $847/worker per week and $11,011 over the three months. The previously announced 10% wage subsidy was only available [...]
With the federal government is increasing its temporary wage subsidy to 75%, other reforms are needed to ensure the public funding goes to maintain workers, and not pad the profits of businesses. In the face of the COVID19 crisis, the Canadian government has done a very good job of both limiting the spread of the virus and putting in place [...]
Today is Day 14, and at 9 a.m. tomorrow I will
feel that it's OK to leave self-isolation quarantine. I haven't had symptoms, I'll be fairly confident
that I'm not a carrier of the coronavirus and so can't infect anyone.
But I certainly can be infected. The epidemic
is still growing in Australia so the danger is actually greater than it was
when I went into isolation. I'm in a high-risk group, and this virus does kill.
So I'm going to step very carefully indeed while the epidemic lasts. As
everyone else should do. No Kaffee-klatsches, no concerts, no court
appearances, no cavorting on the bloody beach...
Friday the thirteenth day, no less... But nothing bad has happened, apart
from an epidemic. Today the news went round that the United States has the
largest number of cases of coronavirus infection in any country, 85 000. Known
cases, that is. At the same time, president Trump's approval rating has gone
up. It's good to know the American electorate can recognize forethought and
intelligence when they see it.
By J.D. ALT It’s ironic that, at this moment, when the truthfulness and utility of modern money theory (MMT) is being publicly realized—(and even potentially implemented!)—that its singular vulnerability must emerge as a real concern: hyper-inflation. The most recent thing … Continue reading
A
grey, damp day, as the last couple of days have been. The garbage collectors,
our unsung heroes, pass by with their truck, working in a light rain. Why does
wet weather depress the spirits? In Australia, the driest continent, land of droughts
and devastating bushfires, we should be singing for joy and dancing in the
streets. (At 1.5 metres' distance, of course.)
Like
so many others, I've been trying to understand the pattern of response to the novel-coronavirus
epidemic by the right-wing governments currently in power through most of the
world. Including the most prominent and most analyzed of all, president Trump.
In
the first week of self-isolation there were simple, though sometimes difficult,
tasks. The first was getting over the jet-lag. This was familiar, and couldn't
be avoided. Energy was low, it was hard to concentrate, and sleepiness came at
the wrong times.