Archive for May, 2003

Burma update

Saturday, May 31st, 2003

Although there were hopes that things might get better in Burma after Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest last year, these seemed to be somewhat misplaced. Now the BBC is reporting that Suu Kyi has been arrested again: A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was ...

Underheard and overlooked

Friday, May 23rd, 2003

I've mentioned previously the news service from Inter World Radio, and today's bulletin is as informative as ever. Among the stories you may have missed: Indonesian troops have massacred a group of boys, according to reports coming out of Aceh province. Witnesses are quoted as saying the soldiers assembled the boys ...

Third level education and access

Thursday, May 22nd, 2003

The arguments presented by (certain) members of the Irish government, advocating the re-introduction of fees for third level education, are superficially attractive. Ultimately, however, they are misleading and wrong. Positing a false dichotomy, and rewriting history, they attempt to deflect attention from true issues of, and solutions to, inequality, while ...

Subcultures and the mosh-pit

Wednesday, May 21st, 2003

I've just picked up 'The Subcultures Reader' and came across Wendy Fonarow's "Spatial Organization of the Indie Music Gig." The piece seems to be quite an accurate and interesting description of the layout of gig venues, but I couldn't help but smile at her description of the front area of ...

Food and famine

Wednesday, May 21st, 2003

There's an interesting piece in the latest edition of Steven Talbott's Netfutures newsletter dealing with food, famine, and biotechnology. This quote, from Susan Lindee, skewers some of the simplistic arguments for biotechnology responses, and places the argument, properly, back in a critical framework: People can starve when the grain elevators are ...

Upcoming media regulation changes

Tuesday, May 20th, 2003

Much coverage of the FCC's upcoming review of media regulation pretty much everywhere at this stage, including an interesting piece in the Nation by Bob McChesney and John Nichols, who have been talking about media and media reform for quite a while now. Definately worth reading...

Back in the saddle

Friday, May 16th, 2003

Well the essays are finally out of the way (for the moment). I got my iBook back too (with new logic board). All of which means I'm all set to resume posting. Yay!

Fall-off in posting

Saturday, May 10th, 2003

Been a bit light in my posting schedule over the last week - make that non-existent posting. Mainly due to the time of year - all my course deadlines happen sometime between last Tuesday and next Wednesday. That and a little bit of trouble with my iBook - it's due ...

Dangers of cannabis

Friday, May 2nd, 2003

The Guardian has an article today about a British medical journal editorial on Cannabis. I had started writing a post accusing the authors of scaremongering because of this quote (from the Guardian coverage): The authors, from Imperial College London and St Mary's hospital, London, argued that 120,000 deaths are caused among ...