Peter Black's Freedom to Differ

WUDC 2007 update

An update from the 2007 World Universities Debating Championships, being held in Vancouver, Canada.  After round 6, Queensland A (Erin O'Brien and Evan Goldman) is apparently on 12 points and Queensland B (Tom Gole and Julian Ensby) is on 14 points.  With three more rounds tomorrow both teams are a good chance to make the break - of course, we won't know any of the results from those rounds until the break is announced just after midnight on 1 January (Vancouver time).

Wild predictions for a Wired 2007

Wired makes predictions for 2007.  Read them here.

The Chaser's year in review

The Age has The Chaser's year in review.  Read it here.

Guantanamo review boards

The New York Times has a fascinating story about the review boards being used at Guantanamo to determine who at Gitmo can be held as an enemy combatant.  Read it here.  (Thanks to the Volokh Conspiracy for the hat tip.)

The year ahead

Susan Estrich looks at the year ahead for the US Democratic party leading into 2008:

If you were inventing a candidate to challenge Hillary on both high drama and sheer toughness, you couldn't do better than a black man running to her left on the war, and on the future to her past, with the kind of rock star charisma and all-things-to-all-people appeal that reminds most people more of Bill than Hillary. But you also have a "second tier" that in another year might be considered more than that: Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator and vice-presidential nominee who is currently leading the Iowa polls; Sen. Joe Biden, who sets the bar on foreign policy expertise; and even the two former nominees, each of them imagining that the party will turn to them to fulfill their fates.

Read it here.

Video of Saddam's hanging

Video has emerged of Saddam Hussein's execution.  This quality of this video is poor as it appears to have been taken on a mobile phone (cell phone) by someone who was in the room when Hussein was hung.  Nonetheless, if you want to see video of his hanging, you can watch it below:

Saddam's hanging

It appears as though the full video of Saddam Hussein's hanging is not yet available online.  However, Marc Santaro has a riveting piece in the New York Times recounting Hussein's last hour.  It is a must-read.  Do so here.

Best movies of 2006

Over at MovieCityNews they have put together a chart collating the top ten lists of US film critics - 164 critics have been included so far.  Check out the chart here.  The top ten as they stand at the moment are:

1. United 93
2. The Queen
3. The Departed
4. Pan's Labyrinth
5. Letters from Iwo Jima
6. Borat
7. Little Miss Sunshine
8. Babel
9. Half Nelson
10. Death of Mr Lazarescu

WUDC 2007 update

An update from the 2007 World Universities Debating Championships, being held in Vancouver, Canada.  Colm Flynn's World Debating News and Ciaran Lawlor's 1stpropinthefinal report that the motions for day two were:

• That this house would criminalise the payment of Ransom.
• That this house Supports Independence for Quebec.
• That this house would abolish all taxes on inherited wealth.

After round 5, both Queensland A (Erin O'Brien and Evan Goldman) and Queensland B (Tom Gole and Julian Ensby) are on 11 points (out of a maximum 15).  After the nine rounds teams usually need 18 points to break (ie. make the octo-finals), so both those teams are well positioned.  The leaders afer round 5, on 14 points, are Oxford E and Yale B. 

Best of 2006

Continuing my end of year wrap-up ...

Best Films Released in Australia (unfortunately I didn't really see as many as I would have liked this year, so this is an incomplete list):

1. United 93 - what I said when I saw this film back in August is still true: "It is a harrowing reminder of September 11 that is also one of the most suspenseful and well-crafted movies I have ever seen.  It succeeds as a film on its own terms, as well as forcing the audience to reflect on the tragic events of that day.  United 93 is a masterpiece that everyone should see."
2. The Departed - Martin Scorsese is back to his best in this film anchored by several superb performances, although Leonardo DiCaprio stands out in a role where he finally shows his potential.
3. The Queen - a remarkably understated masterpiece.
4. Snakes on a Plane - watching this movie was just so much fun!  It more than delivered on its premise. See my original post here.
5. Brick - an original and absorbing film noir set in a high school, unfortunately this gem failed to attract much of an Australian audience.

Best Australian TV Shows:

1. Tripping Over - a unique and involving Australian drama that tragically failed to find much of an audience.
2. The Chaser's War on Everything - for some unknown reason ABC dumped this show in a late Friday night time slot, but it found a loyal audience and managed to shock us and make us laugh week in week out.
3. David Tench Tonight - this much-hyped show didn't appeal to as many people as creator Andrew Denton would have liked, but I found Tench's provocative and self-obsessed humour hysterical.  If you doubt me, check out his interview with The Wiggles - they had no idea how to respond.
4. Australian Idol - the producers managed to successfully reinvent the show this year.
5. Thank God You're Here - fun concept but I'm not sure how long it can last.

Best US TV Shows:

1. Arrested Development - although this show was tragically axed this year, it remained funny and inventive right to the end.
2. West Wing (Season 7) - yet to air in Australia, I managed to watch this show finish in style on DVD.  The election and aftermath are a fitting end to this high quality show (even if the last episode is very disappointing and the live debate episode gimmick simply doesn't work).  I would say more, but I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't seen it yet - ABC will air this season in 2007.
3. House - consistently the best US show on Australian TV.
4. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - now if only we could get The Colbert Report.
5. Iron Chef America - SBS finally started airing this more accessible version of Iron Chef towards the end of the year and it quickly became a show that made staying home on Saturday a viable option.

Best Blogs - these are the blogs I absolutely have to check first thing every morning:

1. TVNewser - a full round-up of what is happening in the world of US TV news.
2. Hollywood Elsewhere - now as a blog, Jeffrey Wells takes us into Hollywood with his usual wit and insight.
3. Volokh's Conspiracy - a thoughtful exploration of law, philosophy and politics.
4. Reel Pop - provides a thorough round up what is happening in the world of online video with original insights and analysis and great videos.
5. Weatherall's Law - essential reading for anyone interested in intellectual property.

Best Websites:

1. YouTube - apart from being the media phenomenon of the year, it is a great site to waste a few minutes, hours, days ...  It is amazing what you can find on this site.
2. Wikipedia - last year you found your answers to all your questions through Google, this year you used Wikipedia.  An extraordinary resource.
3. MovieCityNews - David Poland's site not only links across the web to Hollywood stories and articles, but it contains original content that adds to your understanding of the business of Hollywood and the art of film.
4. Slate - a great online magazine.
5. I Want Media - links to all major media stories. 

Video of Saddam before hanging

From what I can tell, the video footage of Saddam Hussein's execution has yet to be broadcast.  However, the US networks and cable news channels have announced what policy will guide their decision to broadcast part of the video if and when it becomes it available.  Read more from the New York Times here.

There is, however, footage of Hussein just before he was hung:

World Universities Debating Championships

Yesterday was the first day of competition in the 2007 World Universities Debating Championships, being held in Vancouver, Canada.  The motions for the first three rounds of competition were:

1. That this house would Ban Government Funding of Religious Schools.
2. That this house believes that the UK should abolish it's Nuclear Arsenal.
3. That this house Supports Accelerated Land Redistribution in South Africa.

QUT doesn't have any teams competing, but UQ has quite a few.  Queensland A - Erin O'Brien and Evan Goldman - is off to an excellent start, placing first in their opening two debates.  (No word yet on their third debate.)  Good luck for the rest of the competition.

I'll occasionally post updates on how Queensland is going, but for more complete information, check out these two blogs:

• Colm Flynn's World Debating News; and
• Ciaran Lawlor's 1stpropinthefinal.

Why we prefer piracy over legal downloads

Ars Technica looks at why piracy is still more common than legal video downloads

A recent study conducted by consumer and retail analysis group NPD claims that peer-to-peer (P2P) video downloads (which in the study are synonymous with illegal downloads) are outpacing purchases from legitimate video download services five to one. The study, which was performed with NPD's VideoWatch tracking software on "the home computers of more than 12,500 U.S. households," states that 8 percent of Internet-using households downloaded video content from P2P services, whereas 2 percent paid to download video content from legitimate providers. The study also indicates that nearly 60 percent of video files downloaded from P2P sites were adult-film content, while 20 percent was TV show content and 5 percent was mainstream movie content.

... [A]ssuming that NPD's study approximates reality, one could attribute the strength of piracy and the limited adoption of commercial and P2P-based video downloading to several factors.

First, legal movie download services are still relatively new, and the movie industry's trepidation has prevented a diverse body of content from becoming commercially available ...

Another obvious factor is Content Restriction Annulment and Protection (CRAP) technologies, more commonly known as DRM. Consumers who pay for digital video downloads want to be able to play those videos with the software of their choice, without a lot of trouble or the imposition of additional limitations. Consumers also want to be able to convert legitimately downloaded content to other formats so that it can be played on mobile devices. Pervasive DRM and high prices make legal video downloading much less appealing to the average consumer.

...

Let's not forget about quality. Maybe Joe Public doesn't lust after HD content or high-bitrate audio, but the P2P world does. Experienced P2P users can find movies and audio whose quality blows away that which is offered online.

...

Last but not least, there's the pricing. It's hard to compete with "free," but the rise of legitimate services show that people are willing to pay.

Read more here.

Google unaffected by the Asian internet crisis?

Poynter wonders, has Google built a smarter internet?

Day two of the Asian Internet crisis. Here's a short update from Shanghai.

...

Skype is back in action, but MSN is spotty. When I can get online, I can only see that nobody else is. Yahoo is totally out of service.

What keeps amazing me is that all Google services keep on humming as if there was no problem: Google search, blog search, Gmail, Gtalk, Google Reader, Adsense, Google Documents, Blogger.com...

I have been asking around a bit why people think Google can avoid the physical barriers that are causing problems for most of the others. One explanation is that Google, without claiming or getting much praise, has been building a smarter Internet. They seem to be able to avoid single points of failure.

Read more here.  Interesting ...

People and events of 2006

Continuing my end of year wrap-up ...

Top 5 news events of 2006:

1. The Democrats take control of Congress and President Bush replaces Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary with Robert Gates - hopefully signalling a change of strategy in Iraq.
2. North Korea tests nuclear weapons on 9 October - Kim Jong Il has to be taken seriously.
3. Google buys YouTube - confirmed the arrival of Web 2.0.
4. Saddam Hussein sentenced to death - the end of an era.
5. Italy wins the World Cup - the sporting achievement of the year.

Top 5 people of 2006 - the people who mattered, not necessary the "best" people of 2005:

1. Mahmoud Ahrmadinejad - by pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting Shi'ite groups in Lebanon and Iraq, and hosting a Holocaust deniers conference, Ahrmadinejad has become a powerful leader in the Middle East and the Muslim world more generally.
2. Al Gore - put the environment back on the global political agenda.
3. Kim Jong Il - in October proved that North Korea possessed nuclear weapons.
4. Nancy Pelosi - helped orchestrate the Democrats take control of both chambers in the US Congress in 2006 and next year will become the first woman to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
5. Condoleeza Rice - had an extraordinarily busy year trying to maintain global peace and stability and even though she answers to George W Bush, she remains popular at home and abroad.

Top 5 things that changed the world in 2006:

1. YouTube - leading the Web 2.0 revolution, YouTube has thrust user-generated content into the mainstream.
2. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth - people are beginning to feel not only that the environment might be important, but that it might affect them.
3. North Korea tests nuclear weapons - the threat of nuclear war seems real again.
4. Second Life - the popularity of this virtual world is more than just a gaming trend, it is a whole new world of possibility and opportunity; at times this world seems like a much better place than our real world.
5. Pluto is no longer a planet - this may not have changed the world much, but the universe now feels pretty different.

Saddam Hussein's final act II

TV Newser has two posts on how US TV will handle the video of Saddam Hussein's execution should it become available:

Saddam: How Will TV Networks Handle Video Of Hussein's Hanging?

An insider wonders: "What's the official plan is in dealing with the hanging video of Saddam?"

More: "I'm sure every network has had their standards and practices discussions about this already. It is inevitably going to make it onto YouTube -- and likely some other channels around the world, whose audiences have tougher stomachs for this stuff, will air whatever the video in its entirety -- then do the American nets use the excuse the 'story about the video' to air it? Which magazine show does it first?

How different is it from the oddly framed image of the dead Abu Musab Al Zarqawi which the Pentagon displayed for the reporters in the press room that day? Does any violation of a Geneva Convention get trumped by the 'right to know' and 'need for proof' of Saddam's death? We gonna be watching a media sanctioned Faces of Death video soon?"

Saddam: CBS & ABC Won't Air The Full Tape; FNC & CNN Still Deciding

"Meetings were held Thursday in at least two network headquarters over how to handle the potentially graphic images" of Saddam Hussein's execution, THR's Paul Gough reports.

"ABC and CBS said they wouldn't air the full execution if the video became available... CNN and Fox News Channel still were discussing what they would do if the footage were made available. It also wasn't clear what the newly launched network Al-Jazeera International would do."

Read more here and see my earlier post here.

Saddam Hussein's final act

According to the New York Times, preparations for the execution of Saddam Hussein are taking on a sense of urgency and American and Iraqi officials have suggested that he could be hanged within a matter of days.  Apparently the execution will not be televised:

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the [Iraqi] national security adviser, said there would be no advance notice of the execution because of fears that any announcement could set off violence. When asked who would be invited to attend the hanging, Mr. Rubaie said: “No television. No press. Nothing.”

He said that the execution would be videotaped but that it was unlikely the tape would be released.

I tend to agree that opting not to televise the execution is the right decision, not only for national security reasons, but also because televising it would only serve to make Hussein into even more of a martyr to extremists.  However, I don't subscribe to the argument that it should not be televised because the death penalty is brutal and barbaric.  While I agree that it is - I am strongly opposed to death penalty in all cases, even in a situation as extreme as Hussein - I am inclined to think that televising his execution would powerfully demonstrate how horrific and final the death penalty is.

Nonetheless, the execution will videotaped.  So, I wonder how long before it turns up on YouTube?  And wil you watch it?  I know it seems macabre, but I think I would ... 

Peekvid

Update Saturday, 10 February 2007: For more information about Peekvid, its legality and alternative sites that provide a similar service, go here.

During the week I discovered this website - peekvid - an online video site that links to only copyright infringing material (usually DailyMotion).  It is quite extraordinary that it hasn't been taken down yet, especially in light of Cooper v Universal Music.  If you look at their movies, you even have several that are yet to open in Australia, such as Blood Diamond, Rocky Balboa and The Pursuit of Happyness.

Promoting QUT

A QUT student forwarded this song from the 2005 UQLS Law Revue - it is a reworded version of Ben Lee's Catch My Disease, commissioned by Donald Trump who wants a new advertising campaign for the QUT.

See other Law Revue songs, sketches and video fillers here.

And you can see a real QUT promotional video here.

(Thanks to Susan for the hat tip.)

Australian people and events of 2006

Continuing my end of year wrap-up ...

Top 5 Australian news events of 2006:

1. Socceroos at the World Cup - Australia's superb performance united the country and impressed the rest of the world.
2. Steve Irwin's death - an unexpected tragedy.
3. Kevin Rudd wrests Labor's federal leadership from Kim Beazley - the bump in the polls won't last, but at least the ALP now stands a chance against John Howard.
4. Media reform passes through the Australian Parliament - media ownership in Australia will never be the same again.
5. Australia regains The Ashes - the series became not just about winning back The Ashes but also humiliating the English.

Top 5 Australians of 2006:

1. Kevin Rudd - his end-of-year defeat of Kim Beazley for the ALP leadership has set up the ALP to come close in 2007.
2. Peter Beattie - this self-proclaimed media tart continues to have a dream run in Queensland.  No matter what happens, his image never seems to suffer.
3. Hugh Jackman - returned to Australia and shone as The Boy From Oz.
4. Shane Warne - retires on his terms as Australia regained The Ashes.
5. Guus Hiddink - well, an honourary Australian. 

Five important cases:

1. New South Wales v Commonwealth of Australia [2006] HCA 52 (14 November 2006) - the unsuccessful challenge to WorkChoices was not the first decision of the High Court that gave a broad interpretation to the corporations power, but it is arguably the most significant.  The Federal Government now clearly has the power to use the corporations to regulate areas that were originally one thought to be outside the scope of Federal legislative power - including education and health.
2. McKinnon v Secretary, Department of Treasury [2006] HCA 45 (6 September 2006) - the High Court's blow to freedom of information was a disappointing decision for Australia's democratic system.
3. Cooper v Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd [2006] FCAFC 187 (18 December 2006) - the Full Court of the Federal Court handed down this decision that linking can be authorisation of copyright infringement just before Christmas to widespread international concern.
4. Australian Broadcasting Corporation v O'Neill [2006] HCA 46 (28 September 2006) - an important decision in favour of free speech in cases of prior restraint. (See my summary of the case here.)
5. Forge v Australian Securities and Investments Commission [2006] HCA 44 (5 September 2006) - the practice of appointing acting judges (rare in Queensland but surprisingly common in New South Wales) passed constitutional muster.

Don't Rate Our Teachers

On Wednesday, Online Opinion posted an article talking about how South Australian teachers were unhappy with a website called RateMyTeachers.com (see my post here).  Today, the Courier Mail reports on similar concerns from Queensland teachers:

ONE Queensland teacher is described as "unhelpful", another "can't control the class" and a third is "in the wrong job", according to a controversial website allowing students to anonymously rate their teachers.

Both teachers and principals have condemned the site RateMyTeachers, fearing some of their colleagues are being vilified as more and more Queensland students log on.

Already hundreds of Queensland students have used the site to rate and post comments on their teachers.

Read more here.  I really can't see anything wrong with this website - students and parents are perfectly entitled to have opinions about teachers and to share those opinions with others.  This website simply gives students and parents a new medium to voice their opinions.

Hey Microsoft, where's my laptop?

Microsoft has handed out Acer-Ferrari laptops loaded with Vista to several bloggers.  Long Zheng first posted about it and has followed the fallout.  Read more here.

John Edwards confirms what we all already knew

John Edwards will officially announce today that he is running for President in 2008.  The New York Times has the story here. 

Also, visit John Edwards' One America website here.  He also has posted some videos to YouTube here, a MySpace page here, and is on Flickr here and Facebook here.  It is clear that Edwards is easily winning the online campaign at the moment and given all the time he has been spending in Iowa in particular he is well positioned to be a serious contender.  He is also a superb campaigner - I was fortunate enough to see and hear his One America stump speech when I lived in New York a few years back and it was spectacularly impressive.

His weakness is his lack of experience, especially concerning foreign policy.  However, I believe he has compelling vision for America and the world and would be an excellent Democratic candidate for President in 2008.  At the very least his presence in the primaries mean Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson will be pushed if they are to become the nominee.

Here is one of Edwards' YouTube clips:

Legal Tech 2006

FindLaw has put together a list of the best and worst Legal Tech decisions and issues of 2006 here.

Best 10 video posts of 2006

Continuing my end of year wrap-up ...

There have been numerous top 10 online video lists for 2006 already this month (see here), but I thought it was time for one more - mine.  So, here are the top 10 video posts on Freedom to Differ this year ...

10. Nuckin' Futs! - The Jib Jab Year in Review: You can never go wrong with JibJab and although their year-end wrap wasn't as good as some of their other stuff, it makes a good start to this list.  (See my original post here.)

Nuckin' Futs! The JibJab Year in Review | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

9. Rumsfeld gets cute at the podium: the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson has been very funny this year (well, at least the bits CBS has posted to YouTube) and this is one of the best.  (See my original post here.)

8. Introducing David Tench: Unfortunately the show didn't really take off, but I thought he was funny. (See my original post here.)

7. March of the Engineers: my favourite from the 2006 UQLS Law Revue.  (See my original post here.)

6. Harry Potter's Scar: my favourite from the 2005 UQLS Law Revue.  (See my original post here.)

5. Stewie Griffin addresses Harvard University: you've got to love The Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.  (See my original post here.)

4. Everyday: an extraordinary clip where Brooklyn photographer Noah Kalina took a daily photo of himself for six years and made a movie of the results.  (See my original post here.)

everyday on Vimeo

3. Where is my worthy adversary?: although getting old now, this footage Senator Robert Byrd dithering on the Senate floor still cracks me up.  (See my original post here.)

2. Baginski - Fallen Art: a very striking animated short.  (See my original post here.)

      The Hole - video powered by Metacafe

1. Indecision 2006: Probably the source of more clips on this blog than any other has been The Colbert Report, so it is only appropriate that the number one clip is Stephen Colbert calling the 2006 midterm election.  (See my original post here.)

Cinematic Correctness

David Poland has an interesting piece on film criticism and a phenomenon he calls Cinematic Correctness:

And do "serious" critics have to beat up commercial cinema simply to prove that these other films deserve a place at the multiplex?

Like Political Correctness, Cinematic Correctness is both heroic and villainous. Hurting films, like hurting words, must somehow be both protected and destroyed by the keepers of the flame.

Read more here.

Gerald Ford: The Underappreciated President

The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes has a nice piece looking at the political life of President Gerald Ford.  Read it here.

David Asman's lucky day

TV Newser had this fun post yesterday:

Nowadays, when news anchors make a mistake, they know it'll be preserved electronically forever. During the 9am hour of Fox News Live, when David Asman added "tit" to the word title, he was immediately aware of this fact:

"She lost her tittle thanks to a few -- her title, her title. Jesus, oh God. Oh, the internet, what they're going to do with this one! Oh God! Wellll... the former Miss Nevada could take Donald Trump to court..."

Asman was laughing so much, he barely finished the tease.

I've looked for the clip on YouTube and Google Video and so far it is not online. 

Web portals

The Age today had a good feature story on web portal competition, with a focus on the Australian market.  Read it here.

Virtual law?

Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr makes a good point:

Uncertainty in the "Law of Virtual Worlds"?

Today's Washington Post has a front-page article by Alan Sipress arguing that the legal rights held by users of online games are very uncertain right now. Is it just me, or is this uncertainty, um, virtual? As best I can tell, the law here is actually quite clear: property rights are set by the user's contract with the game. The article mentions an apparent conflict with a single court decision somewhere in China. The conflict is unclear to me, however, and differences between Chinese law and U.S. law presumably are very common. What am I missing?

Read more here - including several interesting comments.  I agree with Orin - I don't get it.

RateMyTeachers.com

Online Opinion has an interesting article today about RateMyTeachers.com:

South Australian teachers are outraged by the website RateMyTeachers.com.

The site asks students to anonymously rate the performance of teachers in categories titled: Easiness, Helpfulness, Clarity, Popularity and Overall Quality. So, why are teachers outraged? What is the problem with sites that rate performance?

After all, the work most of us perform is subject of review. Reviews of workplace performance, for example, are usually detailed and comprehensive.

Read the rest here. 

Iraq

On Boxing Day the US military announced the deaths of six more American soldiers in Iraq.  2978 American soldiers have now died in Iraq, five more than the number killed in the 9/11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. 

YouTube Nation

YouTube is currently featuring this song about the influence of YouTube:

You can download the lyrics here.

Best posts of 2006

Titling this as the "Best posts of 2006" is a little bit pretentious, as all I'm really trying to do is put together in one place a collection of posts that represent what I have posted on this blog this year.  Some of these posts are academic, some are trivial, some just link to what other people say, and some are a little random, but they do represent what interests me and what I have posted on this blog in 2006.

Media Issues:

• Nine Network v Ice TV - an interesting copyright issue currently before Justice Bennett in the Federal Court.
• Glenn Milne attacks Crikey's Stephen Mayne - the beginning of a bizarre media circus.
• Summary of the proposed new media framework for Australia - an overview of the reforms when first proposed.
• Free speech issue at Columbia University? - "Stop being a pussy".
• Is the media (and this blog) beating a dead horse on BB? - following the whole turkey slapping incident.
• Are blogs the answer to concentrated media ownership? - alas, probably not.
• FoxNews turns 10 today - why has it succeeded?
• More on David Tench - an early look at David Tench.

Internet Issues:

• What to do about racist Australian blogs? - shutting them down is not the answer.
• Cybersquatting? - summarising Wayne Smith's alleged cybersquatting.
• Australian government to provide an internet filter - I had my doubts.
• Thank God It's Here: Downloading TV shows in Australia - hear, hear!

Politics:

• Politics moves online,  ALP tries to close defamatory website, Peter Costello and the "Beds are Burning" and Victorian politics on YouTube - politicians discover the internet.
• Improving debate in the House of Representatives - why PowerPoint won't work.
• Labor attempts to revive the Senate committee system - an outline of the ALP's ambitious plan following Australian democracy under attack again.
• Review of a compelling documentary This Divided State - one of the lesser known political docs out of the US this year.

Other:

• Blawg Review #85 - a wrap up of the blawgosphere at the end of November.
• Judicial appointments - a collection of links relating to judicial appointments, specifically the appointment of Justice Ann Lyons to the Supreme Court of Queensland.
• School chaplains and s 116 of the Constitution - arguing that Howard's plan for school chaplains would not violate the Australian Constitution.
• School pays out over boy's reading failure - could the school have been sued?
• Thinking about the Constitution - a couple of points arising out of one of my Australian Federal Constitutional Law tutorials.
• Jonestown: The Power and the Myth of Alan Jones - a review of this compelling but flawed biography.
• Why laptops should be banned in lecture theatres - this was the first post in what became a recurring theme this year.

Tomorrow I'll wrap-up the top 10 video posts this year.

End of year wrap-up

For the next week, I will try to wrap-up the year by posting each day something that either looks back or looks forward:

• Wednesday 27/12 - Best posts of 2006
• Thursday 28/12 - Top 10 video posts of 2006
• Friday 29/12 - Australian people and events of 2006
• Saturday 30/12 - People and events of 2006
• Sunday 31/12 - Best of 2006
• Monday 1/1 - Predictions for 2007

Enjoy your holidays!

Wikiasari

On Saturday Jimmy Wales announced Search Wikia, "A project to create the search engine that changes everything."  Read the announcement here.

The question not asked

Howard Kurtz wonders why FoxNews Sunday anchor Chris Wallace didn't ask the obvious important question:

Chris Wallace can be a very aggressive interviewer, as Bill Clinton can attest. So I was somewhat surprised in looking over a transcript of his "Fox News Sunday" interview with Lynne Cheney that a certain followup question wasn't asked:

WALLACE: It's been well publicized that you're going to have an addition to the Cheney family. Your daughter, Mary, is going to give you, I think you're sixth grandchild?

CHENEY: That's exactly right.

WALLACE: What do you make of all the fuss about this?

CHENEY: Well, I think that it's just very lucky for me that I enjoy being a grandmother and I get to do it for the sixth time. And we're very much -- Dick and I both very much looking forward to this new baby.

WALLACE: And your thought about Mary being a mother.

CHENEY: Well, she'll be a great mom. She really will.

Nothing on the administration's position on the rights of same-sex parents? In fact, you wouldn't know from watching the interview that Mary Cheney was part of a same-sex couple.

Read more here.  Is this an example of FoxNews bias, or did Chris Wallace simply feel that the Cheney family shouldn't be used to score political points?  Either way, I think it was a question that should have been asked, even if Lynne Cheney declined to answer it.

It's not to early to begin focusing on 2008, is it?

With 2006 almost at end, the US media is going to pay more and more attention to the build up to the 2008 Presidential election.  With both parties having several very strong potential candidates, it is going to be a very tense electoral cycle.  The Republicans have John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and possibly even Condoleeza Rice (although I think it is highly unlikely she would run), and the Democrats have Hilary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson and possibly Al Gore.  As always, much will depend upon who performs well in the New Hampshire Primary.  To that end, the Concord Monitor have conducted an early poll of who would do well if it was held today:

Two weeks after speaking to a sell-out Manchester crowd of more than 1,600, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is reaping the benefits of his visit. If the Democratic primary were held today, Obama would be in a statistical dead heat with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, according to a new Monitor poll. Last month, a Monitor poll showed Clinton trouncing her opponents, with Obama lagging 23 points behind.

...

Although Clinton commands considerable support among likely Democratic primary voters, she struggles in general election match-ups, according to the poll. If the contest were held today, both Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani would prevail over Clinton. Obama, in contrast, would eke out a slight win over both Republican candidates. Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards is neck-and-neck with the Republicans.

...

As the 2008 presidential primaries near, the Republican field has also become increasingly competitive. Giuliani closed the gap with McCain in recent weeks, turning an 8-point deficit into a slight lead, according to the poll. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House speaker Newt Gingrich trail behind, with 10 percent and 8 percent respectively. The poll shows Giuliani garnering 26 percent to McCain's 25 percent.

Read more here.   

Blawg Review Awards 2006

Blawg Review has announced their Blawg Review Awards for 2006 here.  Freedom to Differ was selected as the Best Australian Blawg.  Read the complete list here.

Nominations for the 2007 Australian Blog Awards are also open at Collective Apathy here.

You just can't be expelled for making a movie that is vulgar, tasteless, humiliating and obscene

From the Houston Chronicle:

Making a movie in which evil teddy bears attack a teacher got two budding filmmakers expelled from their high school, but a federal judge says it was the school that was wrong.

...

State law allows expulsion for activity unconnected with school if the activity is unlawful and interferes with school operations.

The judge said the movie was "vulgar," "tasteless," "humiliating" and "obscene," but ruled that school officials did not prove it disrupted school.

Read more here.

The web's most useful sites

PC World has compiled a list of the internet's most useful websites.  Read it here.

Privacy and YouTube

Steve Bryant at Google Watch asks "Is YouTube a Bigger Big Brother than Google?":

The dangers of exposing too much data through Google are well-known, but the dangers of exposing yourself on YouTube may be much greater. ... open-source investigative work, done via YouTube, is disturbing. We are all part of the surveillance society now, whether willingly or no. Whereas we once tacitly agreed to be videotaped on whatever premises we frequented, those videos are no longer confined to hard drives and tape cases; in a few seconds, they can can be broadcast across the world. In the case of catching a killer, this is a good thing. In the case of protecting our privacy, the opposite applies.

Read it here.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

For those after some holiday IP fun, visit the House of Commons for a copyright-themed Christmas e-card here and the "Twelve Days of Commons Christmas" here and here.

A holiday themed Chad Vader 5

Chad Vader Episode 5 has been online for a few days now (for the earlier episodes see here and here).  Here is the special holiday episode:

Blogs, books and newspapers - good or bad?

Over the Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh has a thoughtful piece looking at whether blogs, newspapers, books and even conversations are good, bad or somewhere in between.  Read it here.

Pachelbel rant

Comedian Rob Paravonian rants about how much it sucks to play Pachelbel's Canon in D on a cello in this clip.  I was particularly taken with this because I have sister who used to play the cello and I remember how much she hated playing Pachelbel's Canon.

Find out more about comedian Rob Paravonian here.

Censored stories in America

Project Censorship has published a list of the top 25 censored stories of 2006.  Read the list here.

Is the Venice Project going to be YouTube's murderer?

From Gizmodo:

The guys who brought you KaZaA and Skype are at it again, and their upcoming Venice Project Peer to Peer streaming will show YouTube how video is really done. Just like KaZaA was a disruptive force in music sharing, and Skype was a disruptive force for phone calls, the Venice Project will kill current online video sharing and TV streaming sites.

So how can the Venice Project demolish what is essentially the biggest video site on the internet? Two reasons: the founder's track record, and the state of the Venice Project now.

Read more here.  I'm not quite as convinced ... yet.  The next few months will be no doubt be telling.

No to deep links

From CNet News.com:

A federal judge in Texas has ruled that it is unlawful to provide a hyperlink to a Webcast if the copyright owner objects to it.

U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay in the northern district of Texas granted a preliminary injunction against Robert Davis, who operated Supercrosslive.com and had been providing direct links to the live audiocasts of motorcycle racing events.

Lindsay ruled last week that "the link Davis provides on his Web site is not a 'fair use' of copyright material" and ordered him to cease linking directly to streaming audio files.

The audio Webcasts are copyrighted by SFX Motor Sports, a Texas company that is one of the largest producers of "Supercross" motorcycle racing events. SFX sued Davis in February, noting that fans who go to its own Web site will see the names and logos of sponsors including wireless company Amp'd Mobile. (Anyone who clicked on the link from Davis' site, however, would not see the logos of companies that paid to be sponsors.)

Read more here.  As Reel Pop's Steve Bryant says "Oops, you broke the Internet".

Underreported movie stories of 2006

At MovieCityNews Larry Gross reveals the three most underreported film stories of 2006.  Can you guess what they are?

1. This is a level of overpowering box-office impact for an actor that the Will Smiths and the Tom Cruises ought to be in awe of.
2. He's the actor whose appearance in the credits is overwhelming proof the movie has some creative interest or ambition, or that the persons involved in casting the movie are on to some things.
3. Cohen-to-Ferrell at the end of Talladega: "You taste like America." This is the single best line of dialogue in a Hollywood mainstream flick this year.

Read more here.