Friday, January 30, 2009

Around the interweb

Have you seen this little beauty yet? Best sign yet that internet viral marketing has the fulcrum to destroy the old TV and advertising 30 second spot model.



Transform blog has a link set wondering how long before caffeine is classified as a Class B drug?
A google-news search finds 285 media hits ranging from Fox news (Lots ... and Lots of Coffee Linked to Hallucinations), and the Times of India (coffee can lead to hallucinations), to The Australian (Drink coffee, see dead people) and even Reuters with the ridiculous invent-a-quote headline 'Coffeeholics wake the dead'.
The evidence doesn't quite fulfill the moral panic. That space is reserved for the Reefer Madness Luddites who moved cannabis up to Class B again.

Graeme Edgeler does a deep think on the role of grand juries in the NZ court system, in light of the recent police killing of Halatau Naitoko. Must admit, it would fill a vacuum in the system. Perhaps the admin could be done by the Supreme Court. I mean, something's got to fill in the time and space within the new building on the corner of Bowen and Molesworth.

Nothing sums up Whangarei better than this story.

Chris Trotter continues to blow strange new notes out of his old trombone. Social democracy more than just pragmatic Marxism, eh. We must all pull together. It's from each according to their talents, but not as we know it...
Of course, what Steve might actually be suggesting is that the middle and upper classes should bear the entire weight of the crisis on their own shoulders. If so, I would like to hear him explain why these Kiwis (who are also, presumably, innocent of any role in the creation of the global recession) should be the ones to make all of the sacrifices. Apart from utterly impoverishing these groups (and thereby transforming them into members of the working class) what purpose would be served by such an inherently unjust policy?
Haven't heard the story of John "Aladdin" Thane yet? Jon Stewart at the Daily Show sums it up in Stim City:


And BoingBoing points to this stunning portfolio of London from the air. You can almost see the Brit City from Judge Dredd, any day expecting to see motorways built on the roof of the city.