Monday 21 January 2013
Einstürzende Neubauten and Butoh collective DaiRakudokan - Halber Mensch (1986)
For the boy in Bruges XXX
Faking waves: how the NRA and pro-gun Americans abuse Australian crime stats
The Sandy Hook massacre and President Obama’s response to it has refocused attention on impact of regulation on American gun crime. Crime statistics before and after the implementation of gun laws provide a quantifiable measure of their impact. As a consequence, Australia’s gun laws and their impact have become part of the American gun debate.
In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre and Monash University shootings, the conservative government of John Howard introduced a series of gun laws. These restricted who could own guns and the type of guns they could own.
While the impact of the Australian gun laws is still debated, there have been large decreases in the number of firearm suicides and the number of firearm homicides in Australia. Homicide rates in Australia are only 1.2 per 100,000 people people, with less than 15 percent of these resulting from firearms.
Prior to the implementation of the gun laws, 112 people were killed in 11 mass shootings. Since the implementation of the gun laws, no comparable gun massacres have occurred in Australia.
Remarkably, American pro-gun advocates try to use the impact of the Australian gun law reform to make a case that reform “doesn’t work”. This seems amazing given the homicide rate in the United States is 5 per 100,000 people, with most homicides involving firearms.
When gun advocates use Australian crime stats, they sometimes employ a number of misleading tricks and sleights of hand. These tricks are common to several politically charged debates, and are a form of pseudo-science. Lets look at these tricks in action...
In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre and Monash University shootings, the conservative government of John Howard introduced a series of gun laws. These restricted who could own guns and the type of guns they could own.
While the impact of the Australian gun laws is still debated, there have been large decreases in the number of firearm suicides and the number of firearm homicides in Australia. Homicide rates in Australia are only 1.2 per 100,000 people people, with less than 15 percent of these resulting from firearms.
Prior to the implementation of the gun laws, 112 people were killed in 11 mass shootings. Since the implementation of the gun laws, no comparable gun massacres have occurred in Australia.
Remarkably, American pro-gun advocates try to use the impact of the Australian gun law reform to make a case that reform “doesn’t work”. This seems amazing given the homicide rate in the United States is 5 per 100,000 people, with most homicides involving firearms.
When gun advocates use Australian crime stats, they sometimes employ a number of misleading tricks and sleights of hand. These tricks are common to several politically charged debates, and are a form of pseudo-science. Lets look at these tricks in action...
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Michael J. I. Brown @'The Conversation'
Sunday 20 January 2013
Jim Carroll: 8 Fragments for Kurt Cobain
Bonus:
Jim Carroll talks with Matt Lauer about school shootings 'Today' Show (5/6/99)
Saturday 19 January 2013
Friday 18 January 2013
Thursday 17 January 2013
MTV, you spineless twerps
The stand-off was big news, and MTV eventually reversed the ban. "This Note's for You" went on to win Video of The Year at the MTV Video Music Awards.
(Source: Adweek, July 1988; Image via NME.)6th July, 1988
MTV, you spineless twerps. You refuse to play "This Note's For You" because you're afraid to offend your sponsors. What does the "M" in MTV stand for: music or money? Long live rock and roll.
Neil Young
[from the wonderful Letters of Note]
New David Peace novel on Liverpool's Bill Shankly due in August
Faber has announced a new novel from David Peace, set to tackle the legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly.
Peace is the author of The Damned United, about football manager Brian Clough, which was turned into a film starring Michael Sheen.
The novelist described new book Red or Dead as a change from the tone of his previous work, saying: "I've written about corruption. I've written about crime. I've written about bad men and I've written about the demons. But now I've had enough of the bad men and the demons. Now I want to write about a good man. And a saint. A Red Saint. Bill Shankly was not just a great football manager. Bill Shankly was one of the greatest men who ever lived."
The novel, for publication in August, will follow the rise of Liverpool FC under Shankly, until his shock retirement in 1974. 2013 is the 100th anniversary of Shankly's birth.
Lee Brackstone, creative director of Faber Social, bought world rights for the book excluding Japan from Hamish Macaskill at The English Agency, with Rob Kraitt at Casarotto Ramsay handling film rights.
Brackstone said: "A novel about one of the great good men of British football comes as such a tonic and a wake-up-call in these days of extraordinary wealth, privilege and abuse of both in the Premier League. There quite simply could not be a better time, culturally and politically, for this novel.
"David Peace's ninth novel is an epic in scale and ambition. If The Damned Utd re-defined how fiction can make compelling drama and art out of sport, Red or Dead rips up the rulebook and does so all over again."
Peace is also the author of the Red Riding Quartet, which was turned into a series by Channel 4. He has also written GB84, and the first two volumes of a planned Tokyo trilogy, Tokyo Year Zero and Occupied City.
Via
Peace is the author of The Damned United, about football manager Brian Clough, which was turned into a film starring Michael Sheen.
The novelist described new book Red or Dead as a change from the tone of his previous work, saying: "I've written about corruption. I've written about crime. I've written about bad men and I've written about the demons. But now I've had enough of the bad men and the demons. Now I want to write about a good man. And a saint. A Red Saint. Bill Shankly was not just a great football manager. Bill Shankly was one of the greatest men who ever lived."
The novel, for publication in August, will follow the rise of Liverpool FC under Shankly, until his shock retirement in 1974. 2013 is the 100th anniversary of Shankly's birth.
Lee Brackstone, creative director of Faber Social, bought world rights for the book excluding Japan from Hamish Macaskill at The English Agency, with Rob Kraitt at Casarotto Ramsay handling film rights.
Brackstone said: "A novel about one of the great good men of British football comes as such a tonic and a wake-up-call in these days of extraordinary wealth, privilege and abuse of both in the Premier League. There quite simply could not be a better time, culturally and politically, for this novel.
"David Peace's ninth novel is an epic in scale and ambition. If The Damned Utd re-defined how fiction can make compelling drama and art out of sport, Red or Dead rips up the rulebook and does so all over again."
Peace is also the author of the Red Riding Quartet, which was turned into a series by Channel 4. He has also written GB84, and the first two volumes of a planned Tokyo trilogy, Tokyo Year Zero and Occupied City.
Via
Simian Ghost - Be My Wife
Click arrow at right to download
A while ago Mojo Magazine asked us to do a cover of David Bowies "Be My Wife" for a tribute album they were putting together.
Unfortunately that project was never fully realised. We really like how it turned out though, so we'd like to share it with you now!
A while ago Mojo Magazine asked us to do a cover of David Bowies "Be My Wife" for a tribute album they were putting together.
Unfortunately that project was never fully realised. We really like how it turned out though, so we'd like to share it with you now!
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