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Category Archives: Economics

Dead Men Walking

March 14, 2010 – 4:42 am

A report into the collapse of Lehman Brothers criticises senior executives and auditor Ernst & Young for serious lapses that led to the firm’s collapse. The report says Lehman was insolvent for weeks before it went bankrupt, sparking a global financial meltdown.
It accuses management of “actionable balance sheet manipulation” and using accounting tricks to hide [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Funnies, Law, Politics, Public Policy | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Making someone pay for bullies

March 10, 2010 – 10:56 am

In an interesting case, the Victorian Supreme Court has decided a victim of bullying may get compensation for threats to kill made to her by a bully when she was eight years old. The compensation is under the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996 (Vic) (‘VCAA‘). Among other things, when they were both eight years [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Law | Tagged , , , , | Comments (13)

Down, Kookaburra, Down

February 5, 2010 – 7:52 am

I learn via the Hoydens that the Federal Court (oh, the stupid, it burns) has decided that Men at Work’s Down Under infringed the copyright held by the owners of Kookaburra Sits Under the Old Gum Tree. Here are a few observations from a lawyer who has handled some small IP matters.
1. IP law is rapidly [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Intellectual property, Law | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (45)

Investment Wankers

February 4, 2010 – 2:18 am

An Australian banker is in hot water after being filmed looking at semi-nude photos of a model while a colleague was doing a television interview nearby.
He could be seen clicking on photos of Miranda Kerr in the background of the Channel 7 interview on Tuesday with an analyst for Macquarie Private Wealth.
The footage soon made [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Fark!, Feminism, Funnies, Internet, Media, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , | Comments (45)

Forgiveness is overrated

January 25, 2010 – 11:13 pm

One of the advantages of being a skeptic is that you don’t have to reject positions articulated by religious figures just because you think they believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden, but also because you think that core chunks of their doctrine — including bits often regarded as wholly good and reasonable [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Feminism, Marriage, Politics, anthony daniels | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (49)

The limits of law

January 19, 2010 – 9:07 pm

[Update: now cross posted at Online Opinion - 22/1/10]
One of the things that I’m thinking about in my PhD is the limits of law. What can law change? And more importantly, what can’t it change? Who enforces the law? Can we change the way in which people behave by regulating them more?
Via CoreEconomics, I came [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Human/Civil rights, Law, Personal liberty, Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (48)

Demolition Man

January 17, 2010 – 4:08 am

Royal Bank of Scotland shareholders have criticised the appointment of Sir Fred Goodwin by the architectural firm RMJM in Edinburgh. The consultancy role will be his first job since leaving RBS after the government bailed it out 15 months ago.
Roger Lawson, from the RBS Shareholder Action Group, said it was “ironic” Sir Fred got a [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Funnies, Politics, scotland | Tagged , , , | Comments (17)

Oh, the squick, it burns…

January 17, 2010 – 1:03 am

I have never seen this film, and I’m not sure I want to see it either, as it seems to consist of humour that makes you excruciatingly uncomfortable at the same time as being funny.
Of course the premise is unbelievable: it is economically impossible for a state with significant chattel slavery ever to develop the [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Australian internet filter, History, Human/Civil rights, Popular culture | Comments (4)

I am not an underclass

November 24, 2009 – 3:10 am

Disability sucks. I just thought you should know that.
It’s sometimes painful, always inconvenient and inclined to bite gaping holes out of your self esteem. Most people are pretty reliable: they get up in the morning, go to work or school during the week and kick back on the weekends doing activities they enjoy once the [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Personal, Politics, Public Policy, Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (58)

A world without monotheism

November 23, 2009 – 9:52 am

I originally posted this comment to the Richard Dawkins forum (which gets rather bitter and nasty over time). I’m writing a novel based around the issue now, but the question originally came from one of my students.
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This topic came up when I googled the question ‘what would civilisation look like without monotheism?
I realise this is [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in History, Law, Religion, anthony daniels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (22)