Larvatus Prodeo’s Last Post
As of today, Larvatus Prodeo will cease publishing: the blog began to wend its way through the online world on March 17, 2005, so it’s a very old beast in internet years. We collectively feel seven years is enough.
How the Wivenhoe engineers fell foul of the Floods Commission
As I outlined in the first post, in February this year the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry reconvened as a result of reporting in The Australian by Hedley Thomas which suggested there had been a major breach of the flood [...]
Could the Wivenhoe flood engineers have done better?
As I mentioned in the other post, which is necessary reading for background, the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry in its Final Report did suggest that the engineers could have done better – a little, perhaps – but were sufficiently [...]
Weekly Whimsy
This week’s whimsy is brought to you by my favourite April Fool’s Day prank from this year. Please share any bits and pieces you have come across recently that have surprised, delighted, intrigued or otherwise positively engaged you.
Amazing rain, and what the flood engineers did about it
Most people had the impression that the four flood engineers, Robert Ayre, John Ruffini, John Tibaldi and Terry Malone, had done pretty well during the Brisbane 2011 flood event, which began on 6 January when the Wivenhoe Dam first exceeded [...]
Framing the drug law debate
For anyone who’s paid any attention whatsoever to expert opinion on the issue, the Australia 21 report on illicit drug policy is profoundly unsurprising. Prohibition has failed, and imposes massive human and financial costs on all of us.
The coming death of the “high street” – and does it matter?
Embarrassingly, it was only when I initially lived in London in 2007 that the concept of “the high street” really twigged; growing up in Penrith, New South Wales, the fact that our main street happened to be called “High Street” [...]
Spotlight the Spin
Our weekly (mostly) look at media spin tactics: ooh look! A Big Distracting Thing!
Lazy Sunday
Since we don’t live by politics alone (I sincerely hope), what else did people get up to this weekend? Join in, share some tales, regulars and lurkers all!
What does it take to justify murder?
The recent chin-stroking by various people regarding Trayvon Martin’s death at the hands of a vigilante crank is shameful. I was reminded of Maia’s commentary on the victim-blaming attending the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case. (In an astonishing coincidence, both Martin and [...]