Aboriginal culture is proving to be one of Australia's most successful cultural exports. The digiridoo is played on the streets of Amsterdam, London & Tokyo by street buskers and the top Digiridoo Youtube clip has had more than 900,000 views. Art by traditional aboriginal painters fetches more than triple the revenue collected by any other Australian painting art form & is collected & hung by serious national galleries accross the world.

 

 

We hear about corrupt politicians all the time and in this regard Western Australia is no different to the rest of the world. If you've ever wondered where the following quote comes from, follow the link to the following Economist article.

The psychology of power. Absolutely. Power corrupts, but it corrupts only those who think they deserve it.

The police follow & harass the group, exposing these individuals to behaviour that would be abhorred if it was directed at any other individual or group in the community.

The police want more powers to deal with the criminal element inside these gangs but we will be forced to sacrifice more civil liberties for all in order to provide those additional powers. Liberties do not come without a cost. Sometimes the cost is accepting that certain individuals &/or groups will find ways to control arbitrage situations associated with banned activities/behaviour/psycoactives.

There is always a ‘grey space’ that connects law enforcement and the bad guys. Take a look in the 'grey space' these two groups share.

• The wearing of patches & badges
• Initiation/passing out ceremonies’
• Ability to project power & control
• Desire for control
• Association with negative events including violence and death

 

What the digital world and the internet touches must bow to the power of the law of diminishing marginal cost. Telecommunications have already passed through that first phase where it is now possible to communicate with anyone around the globe for an effective cost of zero. Not long ago, realtime communication would cost in the order of $'s per minute. Bank financial transaction costs are also near to zero with accounting compliance costs ready to follow suit. With powerful new tools, creative ideas and growing bandwidth per user, the way education is delivered & consumed is on the verge of a revolution. This is ultimately good for humanity but will feel like a crushing blow for every educational institution that relies on massive physical infrastructure.

Modifying your own mind for impacting positive outcomes is a real possibility. The implications for how we learn work & care for eachother is profound.

Mind & its Potential 2009 - A Unique Event to be held in Sydney

Speakers include - The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dr Martin Seligman, best selling author of Authentic Happiness, amongst many others.

The power of the internet is in collaboration. So, having asked you to submit your ideas for a TV ad turning up the heat on the Government's internet censorship plan, we're proud to announce the result: a sharp parody video that highlights how ridiculous the plan is - Censordyne!

Luckily, we know where every politician, their advisers and political journos will be - on a plane to Canberra for the next sitting week of Parliament. With your help, we'll have this video playing on every Qantas flight in the country for that entire week:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/Censordyne

Imagine that: every politician will be a captive audience; strapped into their seats and transfixed on the screen in front of them. We can even make sure our ad plays in the middle of the news bulletin - which they're sure to be watching.

That's also over 340,000 passengers who'll find out about the Government's unpopular and ineffective plan to censor the internet while flying around the country. What's more, they've got plenty of time to discuss the issue with those sitting around them.

Let's harness the power of the internet to save it - your contribution, matched by thousands of others like you, can take our campaign sky high. And it couldn't be at a more crucial time, with trials of the filter about to finish the Government will soon make a decision:

www.getup.org.au/campaign/Censordyne