http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/society/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-we-wanted-reality-wed-turn-off-the-television/ “Some day, far into the future, this here machine will become a powerful medium with the potential to unite nations and inspire common folk through high-definition images of overweight D-list celebrities struggling to run and weeping atop rowing machines”. Do you know to whom this quote - which is believed to have been uttered at the unveiling of the first television set - is most commonly attributed to? Nobody. Absolutely no one said this. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-we-wanted-reality-wed-turn-off-the-television/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-we-wanted-reality-wed-turn-off-the-television/#item7710 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-no-evidence-sex-for-cab-fares-is-a-trend/ Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-no-evidence-sex-for-cab-fares-is-a-trend/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/theres-no-evidence-sex-for-cab-fares-is-a-trend/#item7708 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/stop-expecting-facebook-to-be-your-friend/ Well, what did anyone expect? Facebook removes harmless pics of Aussie mums breastfeeding, and what, we’re surprised? Gee, who’d a thunk that a massive corporation that exists to profit from banner ads wouldn’t share our values? Facebook’s moral universe is admittedly rather haphazard. Its automatic boob-detecting software got onto those breastfeeding Mums much quicker than the site had on other occasions removed pages dedicated to hate and vilification, or pages that cruelly mocked the innocent dead. But here’s the thing. Facebook is not an arbiter of values, nor should it be. It has its own rules and its practices, and anyone who uploads content onto Facebook cannot reasonably expect its editorial policy (or lack thereof) to align with their own values. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/stop-expecting-facebook-to-be-your-friend/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/stop-expecting-facebook-to-be-your-friend/#item7704 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-world-has-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/ Margaret Court was right - we’re all going to Hell. But she wasn’t the first to tell us, we’ve been going to Hell for centuries. Here Simon J Green digs up the transcripts of the Margaret Courts of their day. February, 2012 The state of the planet today makes me sick. Back in my day, children respected their elders. If you didn’t show the right amount of respect, you were given the strap. I got bamboo across my palm thrice in school and it did me the world of good. Something else that made me the sensible person I am today: a decent education. The corner stone of that education was maths. If more kids were taught mathematics in school, there’d be less drop outs, less teen pregnancies and more graduates going to university. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-world-has-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-world-has-always-been-going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket/#item7671 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/ Stop all the cheering, cut off the champagne. Prevent the pollies from barking and silence the drums. The piddling interest rate cut didn’t even happen. Today’s widely expected drop of 25 basis points was the catalyst for plenty of chest beating. Treasurer Wayne Swan tried to unleash righteous fury, the banks tried to cry poor, the unions said the banks are squeezing ordinary Australians, and not in a good way. Nothing happened. The Reserve Bank of Australia decided to keep the cash rate steady. But was all the hullabaloo justified in the first place? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/interest-rate-barney-barely-even-rates-as-interest/#item7700 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/life-slips-by-while-youre-filming-it-on-your-phone/ Some friends of mine had lunch on Saturday with a mate who spent so much time artfully composing photos of the gathering to post on Facebook they never got to have an actual conversation. It was as if my friends were just attractive extras, hired to play a part in this bloke’s nicely curated published version of his excellent life. I’ve also written before about paying hundreds of dollars for a great experience only to miss it because you can’t bring yourself to switch off your iPhone. It’s a modern curse. And in cases like these the greatest danger is your friends will be busy next time you suggest a photo-shoot, neatly disguised as a catch-up. But what happens when the urge to document an event gets in the way of saving someone’s life? There is a terrible story out of the flood-affected Queensland town of Roma this morning about about a woman who was swept away by raging waters while six brave, still-connected-to-reality men tried desperately to save her. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/life-slips-by-while-youre-filming-it-on-your-phone/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/life-slips-by-while-youre-filming-it-on-your-phone/#item7698 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-science-of-punching-on/ Recently, Jason Tin wrote a rather satisfying article about the imminent death of the internet due to it collapsing under the weight of its own vapid incivility. He’s right. And you’ve seen it, of course. An online comment section can turn a group of people who pay their mortgages and love their kittens into petty, hateful stupid people braying non-sequiturs at each other like Tourettes’ donkeys. But, why? Good question. Science, having nothing better to do, has come up with some rather intriguing answers. So if the internet is dead, then consider me the pathologist – the science wonk who goes picking around in its chest cavity with tweezers trying to determine what killed it. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-science-of-punching-on/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-science-of-punching-on/#item7692 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facebooks-being-a-boob-over-breastfeeding-pics/ The Facebook ban on photographs of women breastfeeding their own children raises some important issues about freedom of choice and the role of social media in setting behavioural standards. There is no valid reason for any social media network to ban legitimate pictures posted by women of themselves breastfeeding their own children. Such pictures can help normalise breastfeeding and educate others about how breastfeeding is done in real life. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facebooks-being-a-boob-over-breastfeeding-pics/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/facebooks-being-a-boob-over-breastfeeding-pics/#item7693 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/can-you-be-a-different-kind-of-girl-when-youre-53/ In 2008 a journalist from Vanity Fair said the thought of sex with a then-50-year-old Madonna “seems like a fetish” - presumably because she was then already “old”. Yet there she was at 2012 Super Bowl half time with pom poms, gladiator outfits, military drummers, a gospel choir and loads of cameos from other stars singing about being a “different kind of girl” in her new song. The general consensus was she knocked the half-time show right out of the park. Who said it’s inappropriate for a 53-year-old woman to dress like a gothic cheerleader? Maybe 50 is the new 25. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/can-you-be-a-different-kind-of-girl-when-youre-53/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/can-you-be-a-different-kind-of-girl-when-youre-53/#item7691 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/friday-dilemma-should-smacking-be-illegal/ Anonymous says: Before I became a parent I thought this question was an absolute no brainer. A little smack here and there can’t hurt a child, I used to think. Especially if it’s going to help them learn to control certain behaviour and doing dangerous stuff, like crossing a road without looking. Things are different now. My daughter is 18 months old and I couldn’t smack her for the life of me. The idea fills me with horror. Friends say that will change as she gets older, but I’m not convinced. There are other ways to teach your kids a lesson. This article in today’s Daily Telegraph advocates making smacking your kids illegal. But what do you think? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/friday-dilemma-should-smacking-be-illegal/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/friday-dilemma-should-smacking-be-illegal/#item7679 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Fifteen years ago when one of your girlfriends had a few too many Illusion shots standard practice was to put her in a cab, give the driver her address and $20 and pat yourself on the back for being a responsible friend. You wouldn’t do that now. Not if you cared about her well being at all. Trust between taxi drivers and passengers has been worn down to a new low, typified by comments yesterday from a Perth cabbie, who after being acquitted of involvement in a sexual assault said it was becoming more and more common for taxi drivers to be offered sexual favours in exchange for fares. It’s one of those “trends” that’s impossible to quantify. No woman is ever going to admit to anyone that when she found herself $10 short of a cab fare after the work Christmas party she settled the debt with a quick sexual act. It is a highly unlikely response to a situation.