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22
Feb

iPad policy in the Queensland State Election.

By Darragh|Thoughts|6 Comments

Here in Queensland, Australia, we’re just at the start of a new state election campaign, one that sounds like it’s going to be bitterly fought on all fronts and particularly nasty. The ruling Labor government is looking for a sixth consecutive term while the Liberal-National party (LNP) hopes to win government by relying on Campbell Newman, the former Lord Mayor of Brisbane, and a leader who doesn’t hold a state seat.

Let me state now that the following represents my own opinion and not that of my employer. Just in case that wasn’t clear enough already.

I had mentioned on Facebook yesterday that the LNP had come out with ‘policy’ that promised 6,000 ipads to be supplied to special education schools, exasperating that this was sensationalist, empty policy that gives money to tech companies and will have little benefit for educators.

I’m not a teacher or even involved in educating children in any way shape or form, but I don’t understand how handing out tablet computers suddenly benefits the education system at large. And I’m not going to pick on the LNP here exclusively, because Labor came out and announced a very similar policy, justifying it by stating that they want our children to have access to the latest technology.

Read about Labor’s policy initiative – using mining boom to give students iPads
LNP criticises Labor’s iPad policy
LNPs iPad policy initiative announced back in November

I have a large number of questions regarding initiatives such as these. Is there any special reason why tablet computers have been chosen? Why provide them to a small number of students? (at least, in the LNP case, the policy is focused on special needs). Is there any research available to suggest having access tablet computers provides tangible benefits for the young over alternatives (for instance, netbooks)? Why iPads when there are cheaper, just as capable alternatives on the market? The various media reports don’t indicate any answers to these questions.

This means, for me, policies such as handing out iPads willy-nilly are not policy at all, but rather things to grab headlines, and fool people into thinking the major parties have solutions for problems, particularly in education.

30
Jan

The drug of the nation: Homeland

By Darragh|Blog|Be the first to comment!

Amazingly for Australian television, a commercial station (Ten) actually started broadcasting a series worth watching.

Television in Australia frequently panders to the lowest common denominator. Poor reality tv seems to dominate – with the networks given simply to reproducing the work of the other through shows like The Biggest Loser (the double entrendre is particularly disgusting on this one). Apart from the ABC and SBS, it’s difficult for me to watch anything on the commercial networks with perhaps the exception of sports. If you don’t like sports, you’re screwed.

But randomly channel flicking the other day, my girlfriend stumbled upon Homeland. It’s a show that feels a bit like 24, which isn’t surprising since the creators – Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa – both worked on that series. While I never particularly liked 24, Homeland has some great narratives hooks that really have traction.

The premise is this: Claire Danes plays CIA officer Carrie Mathison, a counter-terrorism expert who becomes suspicious of the recently repatriated US Marine Nicholar Brody (played by the excellent Damian Lewis), who had been a prisoner of war in Iraq for the previous eight years. Brody has been rescued from captivity and returns to the United States as a hero, yet Mathison suspects that Brody may have been turned by fictional al-Qaeda leader Abu Nazir during his time in captivity, and now is actually some sort of sleeper agent for the terrorist group.

The series deals both with Mathison’s increasing paranoia about the threat Brody potentitally represents to the United States as well as the psychological problems Brody himself faces readjusting to life a normal US citizen. Brody’s wife, Jessica (playing by the lovely Morena Baccarin who you might know from the excellent Firefly series) had assumed Brody dead and had began a relationship with Brody’s close friend Mike, suddenly has a husband again and is thrust back into the role of the dutiful wife, despite having mourned and moved on.

I’ve managed to watch three episodes and they’re all gripping. Danes, who’ve I’ve always found particularly wooden as an actor (like a female Keanu Reeves) is good as the paranoid Mathison and Lewis as Brody is totally convincing. Like the best aspects of shows like The Killing, Homeland intertwines the human, everyday drama with the usual terrorist-themed thriller. It also neatly avoids equating Islam with terrorism.

The series won the 2011 Golden Globe for best television series, beating HBOs Game of Thrones, another brilliant series. So far, in my opinion, it’s been worthy of that award.

20
Jan

The problem of IP: SOPA, PIPA, development economics and Down Under

By Darragh|Blog|2 Comments

The whole world has been going a bit crazy over the issue of Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills that have been proposed for voting in US Congress. As you might know, Wikipedia and reddit closed down their sites for 24 hours and many other prominent web hubs have expressed their concerns regarding the potential for these bills to censor the Internet. It looks like the actions of these sites have signalled the death knell for these bills, but it is worrying that they even saw the light of day.

While my knowledge on these two bills is fairly limited, a facebook debate with a friend of mine made me recall some of the great work of development economist Ha-Joon Chang, and his arguments against strict intellectual property (IP) regimes in relation to developing nations.

His article, Strong IP regime not in interest of developing countries, published on the Third World Network distills many of his core arguments.

He rejects the neoliberal view that strong IP regimes are requisite for promoting strong economies, increasing innovation and promoting growth, arguing instead that new knowledge doesn’t necessarily evolve due to patent regulations, using the open-source technology movement as one principle example. He rails against the pharmacuetical industry and their profiteering on the back of overpriced medicines, nothing that many of the ideas used to create these drugs originating from research in public institutions, like universities. It’s an interesting read.

(I’d also recommend having a read of his booking Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective for a fascinating historical investigation of how the strategies used by Western powers to retain their economic power over developing nations. Patent law comes in for a right ol’ kicking here, and, while it might not convince the most hardened patent fans, it’s still very well written.)

My own view is somewhat muddled and somewhat limited by my lack of knowledge of IP law. I find myself drawn to arguments against strict IP regimes, but I also value incentives to innovate. I am, however, firmly against censorship of the Internet and am convinced the MPAA is taking the easy way out. Indeed, failure to innovate on behalf of record companies and film companies seems to me to be a bigger reason for piracy. In this case, perhaps IP is hindering innovation.

John Quiggin has also put forth some interesting analysis on the current SOPA/PIPA debate.

An aside

I’m reminded of the famous Down Under copyright case, where Australian group Men At work were sued by an entity known as Larrikin Music for allegedly stealing part of the famous Australian song ‘Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree’. Now Larrikin Music didn’t have anything to do with ever creating this song (which was written by Marion Sinclair in 1935), yet had obtained the IP rights to Kookaburra, then sued Men At Work for copyright infringement because the flute riff in ‘Down Under’ sounded similar. Clearly a case of IP gone mad.

16
Jan

Music: Real Estate – Days

By Darragh|Music Writing, Record review, Writing|Be the first to comment!

Many people liked about this record in late 2011. I’ve only really had the chance to listen to it this week and I can definitely understand why people like so much. Real Estate are from New Jersey, and Days is their second record – the follow up to their 2009 self-titled debut.

It’s extremely breezy, largely uncomplicated music. On first listen, I didn’t know why people were so plaeased with it. However, repeated listens allows the gentle clean guitar pop to seep into you. It slips in between the synapses, plugs right in. I could eat a salad while listening and not miss a beat.

Some enjoyable songs lurk around here. I’m talking about the likes Green Aisle. Out of Tune has a bassline that could have been lifted from Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams. Outside of these, the rest are harmless but none are particularly notable.

Scott Creney’s review on Collapse Board is pretty bang on – this isn’t a particularly challenging record, but nor is it totally without merit. This is easy listening for both hipsters and those who wish they were fashionable to be known as such.

11
Jan

Running crazy like: Half marathon for charity.

By Darragh|Blog|Be the first to comment!

I have a love-hate relationship with running. I love the actual act of long distance running, I love the feeling after you’ve done the kilometres, and I love the various aches and pains that creak into action as your muscles cool down. But I do have a problem with motivation. Getting me out there on the road seems to be the problem, though once I’m out there, I’m all good. Strange isn’t it?

At the moment, I weigh a bit over 100kgs. While I’ve always been relatively big – even at my fittest a few years back, it was difficult for me to get under 90kgs, but the extra weight has meant back and knee problems. I need to get rid of it and the best way to do that is obviously a good diet and exercise.

Hence, I’m determined this year to actually do the Gold Coast Half Marathon. For years I’ve been saying I’d do it, only to train for a bit only to have life get in the way. This year I’m going to try give myself some extra motivation, by doing it for charity. I’ve decided to support Oxfam. They do good work in developing nations and development is always something I’m particularly passionate about.

If you like to help me out, my donation page is here. Any amount is much appreciated. I’m aiming for $1,000 and if we make it to that amount, I promise to donate $200 further funds of my own money to the fund.

Donate by visiting my Everyday Hero page.

You’ll see the ‘donate’ button down the bottom of that page in the right hand corner.

I’m also using Nike+ to track my runs. If you’re a runner and use this service, feel free to add me as a friend. My user profile is “dbmurray”.

I’m also going to try do it in under two hours, which might be a bit of a task. But it’s at the start of July giving me a bit under 6 months to get myself into shape. Though, first training run wasn’t exactly positive. It felt good, but I only managed 2.5kms in 16 mins. Rubbish!

09
Jan

Surburbia politica: Livin’ on the southside.

By Darragh|Blog|4 Comments


Since 2009, I’ve lived in the inner southern suburbs of Brisbane, transitioning between Dutton Park, Woolloongabba, and now Annerley. Before that I grew up and spent most of my life living in the inner north/inner western suburbs, in places such as Bardon, Ashgrove, Indooroopilly, Auchenflower and a few years out at Brookfield. Given that my father dabbled in property development, moving around a lot pretty much defined much of my life. Our family staying in one place for more than a few years was rare.

It did always seem strange that my parents never ventured outside of a western suburbs of Brisbane. Living south of the river just never seemed an option for our family. My father explained it to me once.

Me: “Dad, why don’t you ever think about living on the south side?”

Dad: “That’s where the bridge people live.”

Me: “The bridge people?”

Dad: “The people from the other side of the bridge.”

Some people might call it snobbish, and I had assumed that they thought living south of the river indicated some kind of different socio-economic status. I don’t thik I believe that anymore. I think it’s an Irish trait, and being drawn to the familiar.

However, I broke the pattern in 2009, moving in with my friend Andrew Weber and a few other exceptionally cool cats to a great little share house in Dutton Park. Since the construction of the green bridge a few years earlier, getting to the university was much easier. And since I pretty much lived at university back then, being as close as possible was extremely convenient.

Since then, I’ve never looked back. It soon became clear to me that the inner south is the best place to live in Brisbane. Why? Well there are a few reasons.

Firstly, the transport is miles ahead of the north and the west. When I lived at Woolloongabba, close to Park Road Station, gave me access to two train lines (Beenleigh and Cleveland) plus the busway. I could traverse to UQ as easily as getting to the city. I lived in close proximity to the main bike way that is nestled beside to the South East Freeway, and if I wanted to go north or south, I could easily get to the M3 or Clem Jones Tunnel. Compare that to a commute into the city from the western side of the city, which is the equivalent of being slowly lowered onto a wooden spike.

Secondly, retail infrastructure and access to this infrastructure is much better. There are a huge amount of options here. Garden City and Carindale if you want the large shopping experience, plus numerous smaller retail hubs. Fairfield Gardens, Cooparoo and Buranda are all five minutes drive away.

Thirdly, resturants and bars are much much better here. Getting a beer in Kenmore on a weekday night is a task, being limited to pretty much the Kenmore Tavern or drinking cask wine on the side of the street. Good value restaurants are everywhere as well, having the choice of West End or the Gabba or South Bank close to hand. You have also got Bulimba close to hand. North of the river, at least outside the CBD and Fortitude Valley and perhaps New Farm, I don’t think you can do better.

You know I always have a sinking feeling that posts like the one I’ve just written will annoy people. Trust me, it’s not my intention. So before you think ‘man, this is total bull’, I’d realise that other people have different priorities to me, and not so obsessed with catching public transport, going to shopping centres and getting drunk.

But I would be interested in hearing other people’s stories about why their particular pocket of Brisbane is good or bad. I haven’t ever lived in the east, nor really the north (apart froma stint in Burpengary when I was about two). I can think of one downside to my area – the perception that it is a wretched hive of villany worse than Mos Eisly spaceport. As someone who has recently had their house looted, I can only feel that there may be some truth that the perception.

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