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Dunedin, Tooth, Wikileaks, Opportunity Costs
Regular readers would know that I have a certain fondess for a small city in The South Island of New Zealand. Early this week I went to Dunedin to look at an investment property (i.e., place to retire in). I received notification today that the current owners (the Dunedin Chinese Methodist Church) are happy to accept my offer for the delightfully deco former Maori Freemasons Lodge, built 1933. Images (ravensbourne00.jpg .. ravenbourne09.jpg, follow the obvious sequence) available.
Second visit for root canal therapy this morning. The prognosis is not good. Despite having a fine set of fangs in most instances, it seems that my poor cracked tooth (bottom right molar) is beyond the abilities of medical science (at least within reasonable cost) and will have to be removed.
There is much to be said about Wikileaks and the recent arrest of its founder, Julien Assange. A large protest is looming in his home town of Melbourne. I have had brief email conversation with him in the past around the founding of the Isocracy Network; and (arranged prior to this recent major media event) will be speaking about Wikileaks at the Melbourne Unitarian Church on January. Also conducting the service this Sunday on Lyle Allen's address on local democracy.
Finally, macabre explanation of opportunity costs (hat-tip to Brendan E) "I think dead children should be used as a unit of currency. I know this sounds controversial, but hear me out."
Second visit for root canal therapy this morning. The prognosis is not good. Despite having a fine set of fangs in most instances, it seems that my poor cracked tooth (bottom right molar) is beyond the abilities of medical science (at least within reasonable cost) and will have to be removed.
There is much to be said about Wikileaks and the recent arrest of its founder, Julien Assange. A large protest is looming in his home town of Melbourne. I have had brief email conversation with him in the past around the founding of the Isocracy Network; and (arranged prior to this recent major media event) will be speaking about Wikileaks at the Melbourne Unitarian Church on January. Also conducting the service this Sunday on Lyle Allen's address on local democracy.
Finally, macabre explanation of opportunity costs (hat-tip to Brendan E) "I think dead children should be used as a unit of currency. I know this sounds controversial, but hear me out."
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So you know Clare Curran, eh? Somewhat better than her predecessor I believe, I've heard good things about her...
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Hmmm.. Maybe Wikileaks could move in there..
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Congratulations on the property. It looks swell. :)
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If, however, his goal is the prevention of loss of innocent civilian life, why did he not go to the trouble of blacking out or otherwise editing the names of civilians who were working with US forces in the region, and who have now had their names exposed for anyone who cares to look?
It feels like it was a rush-job, a "get it to press immediately" situation that should have been handled with a great deal more care and thoroughness if the purpose is truly 'open press' and humanitarian concerns.
Assange's motivations and biases seem to be at odds with the WikiLeaks ideal of a whistleblowing, unbiased, no-secrets press.
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I don't think that was a specific objective, but certainly a result. They did have a "post anonymously" without editorialship, but faced with justified criticism they amended that policy.
The issue of editing names is one which has been, I believe, addressed in part. The 92,000 Afghan War documents were released to The Guardian, the NYT and Der Spiegel. About 15,000 of those documents have not been released, and the organisation is reviewing them on the grounds that you raise; in fact they have even asked the Pentagon and Amnesty International to assist them in this process, but neither has responded positively.
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Very interesting article, and certainly parallels some of my beliefs around the ethics of consumerism and out societies fiscal priorities, be they in the public or personal arena.
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WRT to the opportunity costs issue it is just damn weird what some people spend money on and disturbing when practical costs are considered. At least with the above I can sort-of justify the purchase of a residential building....
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BTW, the interior walls of the Lodge hall are made from Oamaru stone.
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BTW, great news article!
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A fez would look great there. Maybe compulsory hats for all committee members. Although there is stiff competition.
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Besides, check it out on google map (Ravensbourne Rd, Dunedin) - and have a look at the natural area nearby, (i.e., Signal Hill parkland etc)...
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(Though I imagine that you don't get to keep the two grand pianos, alas...)
Good luck with the dentistry, too.
As for the Dead-Children-as-currency idea, maybe I'm just cynical, but I think that without a way to overcome the Dunbar Number/"Monkeysphere" issue, the framing wouldn't help any more than The Starving Millions evoked at dinner tables persuade children to eat their dinners...
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I guess you don't want to maintain a garden? No homegrown organic veg?
Assange Issues:
We'll be talking about this issue over the fires made from the last drop of oil on earth.
Dead Children as Currency:
How many DCs for a Big Mac?
How many for a bag of crack?
How many for a cure for AIDS?
And what price in DCs to make nukes into spades?
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As for DCs, all those can be calculated from the current value of 1 DC = 800 USD...