Russel Brand Slammed by Journalist Dina Rickman for Keeping Focussed on an Interview

Since Russell Brand developed a social and political conscience (or as least begun to share it with the public) I have been a big fan. 

He has recently been supporting the campaign to fight Westbrook Properties from massively increasing rent in order to force eviction of tenants at New Era Estate. 

In an video interview with Paraic O'Brien, Brand slams...no, that's not the right work...smashes... nope still not there...politely and respectfully...yes, much better... dresses down O'Brien for changing the direction of the discussion about the rent hikes and forced evictions of the residents of New Era Estate by asking Brand how much his home costs. 

FYI, Brand rents.

O'Brien continues to try and force some sensational confession out of Brand while, now, completely ignoring the more important issue regarding the people of the New Era Estate in Hackney.

Shitty reporting? Why yes. 

Have a look for yourself:

Enter Dina Rickman, in support of Brand and attacking O'Brein's dodgy reporting you may think. But no. She adds a new layer to the stupid with this headline:

Don't Ever Ask Russell Brand How Much His House Costs

...which he doesn't own.

Essential, in her few lines of reporting, she is attempting to lambaste Brand for putting O'Brein on point.  She was supporting O'Brein's bad reporting, which leads me to think that she does not know how to report.

I thought I would give her the benefit of the doubt and check out her other writing. Here are some of here recent highlights:

• "Would You Want to be a Princess Nowadays?" (Oh wait, just a list of comments. No reporting going on here folks)
• "I'm fat, so what? It's not an ugly word': Why the f-word might just finally be OK"
• "We Need to Break The Public Hair Taboo"

Classy stuff.

I am beginning to think that we need to take a more active role in improving the media. So here is what I propose; copy and paste this message to Matthew Champion, the editor of i100 and let him know that Dina Rickman is not up to scratch:

TWITTER: @matthewchampion, I know you want a site we can trust, but @dinarickman has slipped through the cracks with this last @rustyrockets piece

Or your own creative twitter. I am sure Champion will listen, as he says:

Because i100 is from The Independent you can still trust us to take our facts very seriously (even the funny ones). Some of the stories will have been inspired by the brilliant work in the i or The Independent. Most will be from the crack team of i100 journalists.

Now, let's have a look at O'Brien. His editor, Ben de Pear, seems to be on his side with this ridiculous tweet:

@rustyrockets vocal on the rent row- but not on his own calling our @paraicobrien"snide" #NewEraEstate http://bit.ly/1FHK1sp #c4news at 7

 So perhaps even de Pear needs a little schooling on journalism. Let's hope this sinks in:

@bendepear, old @rustyrockets had to put your boy, @paraicobrien, back on topic about #NewEraEstate. You should be thanking him.

 What it all comes down to is a sub culture of shitty reporting. These are the people we rely on to get information about what is going on in our world and they are letting us down. That is why many of us are going to the internet for our news for better or worse. Perhaps we need to look at our news through the lens of sites like the Trews.

Why are we seeing more and more protests in the western world?

We are seeing more and more protests in the western world. But why?

I don't have all the answers but I think its stems from a number of things.

First, I think the momentum got under-way as a result of the Arab Spring and Occupy movement. The protests seem to be a result of the continued frustration over the voice of the people being ignored by those in power, coupled with the continued strain on the common people via prohibitive laws or laws that breed inequality. This inequality can be between, class, races, religious practices or even between people and groups like large multinational corporations.

In recent years, we have also seen greater restrictions and management of protests. For example, you now have to get a permit to protest and you are cordoned into specific areas, usually to hide you from view of the people you wish to see your cause. Police create huge strategic plans to manage protests.

The strange thing is that this cordon and control by an outside source is completely contrary to the nature of a protest. A protest is designed to be a regaining of control by the protestees (new word). It is should be the responsibility of the protest groups to organise as best it can to get its point across. The very act of controlling a protest it the first aggressive act against the protest. Even before it hits the ground.

This control causes greater frustration by the protest group which causes them to push their cause even harder.

Secondly, we are are at a stage in our existence on Earth where our natural non-renewable resources are in rapid decline. Those that are in power are grasping for the last scraps and they will do anything to get them, like manipulate and corrupt governments. This is nothing unusual. We have seen resource declines throughout history with similar tragic effects until an alternative is found of the situation implodes.

I don't know if this is avoidable, but we have fostered a culture and political system where those who seek to gain more than others are rewarded. Once they have more they do everything in their power to stop others from gaining more and catching up. Even to the point where they will sacrifice some of their gains to prevent others from moving up. This is the very core of corruption.

This may be an effective tool in the past where you are competing for finite resources for your survival but as we are now forced to see each other less by our small groups and tribes and more as a collective member of Earth this strategy fails.

Communism was our first attempt at collective sharing but it failed to understand the highly and irrationally competitive nature of many people. This quickly led to corruption. Democracy, on the other hand understood that some people are innately corrupt and buffered for it better.

The thing is, Democracy can only buffer for so long until corruption takes hold and if Democracy starts with corruption, it is essentially a loosely hidden dictatorship of the corrupt elite and is destined to fail from the start.

What we are seeing in the Democratic world now is that the buffer has worn through and the corrupt elite are taking hold.

We are now railing against this because we see where this will lead. Thus we protest. The corrupt-elite know what's coming so they militarized the police force. They try and control protest before it even starts. They block and control the media through corporate monopolies and attempt to reign in the free flow of information (net-neutrality). And they seek to pry on our everyday lives (internet surveilance).

We see the inequality rise in our countries and know that we need to stand against it before the corruptions takes hold.

We are now understanding that we are all brothers and sisters of Earth and we seek to take responsibly for our planet and each other but are barred from doing so by the very nature of capitalistic democracy and corrupt quasi-democratic dictatorships.

Global society is in dire need of an audit. A revolution. These protests are the first salvo of this revolution and those corrupted and in power know this and are fearful. It is time for the pendulum to swing in the other direction.

... the alteration of men on a mass scale is, necessary, ... a revolution; this revolution is necessary, therefore, not only because the ruling class cannot be overthrown in any other way, but also because the class overthrowing it can only in a revolution succeed in ridding itself of all the muck of ages and become fitted to found society anew.

Karl Marx

Let's hope we can do it peacefully.

Pay Inequality and Inequity Aversion

I was reading something on Inequity Aversion, specifically the Ultimatum Game. Basically, It is played between two players where one person gets a sum of money and must decide how that money is divided between the two. If the other player is unhappy with the division then they can veto the decision and no player gets any of the money. The average minimum accepted amount that was generally not vetoed was that the holder of the money keeps 80% and the other player keeps 20%.

I was thinking about this and the pay divide and thought that maybe a good first step for governments might be to mandate that the highest paid member of the company can only earn, as a minimum, 80% more than the lowest paid member (of course this would also include the sum total of share options and other perks).

For example, if a CEO earn's $1,000,000 per year in their company then the lowest paid worker would earn $200,000 per year. If the CEO wishes to earn more, say $1,500,000, then the whole organisation would have to work to ensure that lowest paid worker earned $300,000 per year.

This can equally be worked out in terms of hourly wage. Let's say our CEO works 50hrs a week giving him a $1,000,000 salary for the year her hourly rate would be:

     Hourly rate of highest paid worker = Annual Salary/(weekly hrs x 52 weeks in a year)

     Hourly rate of highest paid worker = 1,000,000/(50/52)

                           1,000,000/2600
                           $385 per hour

    Hourly rate of lowest paid worker =

                           Hourly rate of highest paid worker - (hourly rate of highest paid worker x 80%)
                           $385 - (385 x 80%)
                           $385 - (308)
                           $77 per hour


If the highest paid members wish to earn more then they had to work with all members of the company to increase the minimum wage of the lowest paid member. This would also incentivise all members of the organisation to seek to improve the business. Just a thought I am chewing on at the moment.

I think that when management are incentivised in this way they would also be willing to be more open about he goals of their company with all its members so they can work together to move forward. 

Science Education and T-shrits

I have been thinking about science education for a while and I really like the idea of combining science education and art. As a bit of an experiment I thought I would design a few t-shirts with some science themes.

My idea is that shirt designs just sort of get science out there in a beautiful way. I love to see what shirts people are wearing on my commute or out shopping. I also think that science is truly beautiful and it is worth sharing this beauty with others.

So putting this all together I decided to start a little science based clothing company called Nerdlish. You know, sharing the language of the nerd. So at the moment here is the link:

NERDLISH

I'll talk more on this later.

Internet Addiction

Saying someone is addicted to the Internet is like saying someone is addicted to sight, taste, hearing, touch and feel.

The Internet is just another sense we can use to examine the world.

Some people may have a better Internet sense than others in much the same way as a chef may have a better sense of taste, or an artist, a better sense of sight.

Internet addiction is a claim made from fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the new. And fear of this new senses potential. People have gained power by controlling the five senses but now with a new sense and with many others adapting to it so well they are uncertain.

This is a completely normal behaviour, but not one we should leave unaddressed.

Perhaps we should think of Fear Addiction and it's treatment instead.

Dumb is the new cool

Okay it's not the new cool. It is something that is pervasive in Australian society and is really dragging us down. I don't know if this is a my imagination or not but once it was the common habbit of Australians to play dumb to draw information out of someone and then, at the right time, make quiet poignant remarks. These days I believe this behaviour has evolved into just plain stupid. No more so than in our bogan culture. I was on the train yesterday and this young girl, dressed reasonably well say down and dialled someone and then proceeded to swear, mispronounce words, misuse words and generally sound rather dumb. I think the lad that this young lady was quite clearly and in no uncertain terms declining an invitation to be courted by missed a bullet. I think the local community should rent some ad space on the train to place the banner: "It is better to be thought a fool than opening your mouth and proving it."

The Day We Fight Back

If you are reading this on the 11 Feb you will notice a banner on this blog. Today is an international day of protest against aggressive over-the-top surveillance in our lives. It called:

The Day We Fight Back

While mass-surveillance in the U.S. came to the worlds attention last year by whistle-blower Edward Snowden's leak of the NSA's government-commercial surveillance ventures including xKeyscore, PRISM and Tempora, they are not alone. Canada watches your wifi, Australia is about to micro-chip babies and the U.K. has the British National Identity Database. Many more countries do the same.

Mass surveillance has become a global phenomenon. A fashionable pastime for governments in much the same way that the militarising of the police has become fashionable since 9/11.

Intelligence agencies and spies are an unfortunate, but necessary part of a governments toolbox. But because of their access to government and their secretive nature they must be closely controlled and monitored.

Organisations and concepts constantly move through points of balance and extremes. The global mass surveillance pendulum has swung the intelligence world into the extreme and it is up to us, the people, to bring it back to balance.

Today we make a stand in protest against the extremes of mass surveillance. Join us and sign the petition to stop the abuse of over-surveillance on the people. Take a stand again the NSA's surveillance program and make an example for the world to see. 

  

Mass surveillance is good...

...for controlling the population. Look, spies are cool and all, and those men and women who do this as a career are truly brave, but creating surveillance states are just a little bit too far.

Edward Snowden's 2013 revelation that the U.S. was monitoring the emails and phones lines of their own citizens and allies was an abhorrent breach of trust not dissimilar to Orwell's dystopia '1984.'

“But, I've got nothing to hide.”

Really? Well you should. We all learnt that the hard way when we first jumped on the Facebook band wagon. Now your new boss checks out your Facebook page before you get the job. Companies really haven't figured out the separation between work and play and nor has the government.

Want another reason? Case law, like in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and the U.K. has the unfortunate propensity to rapidly create more and more laws. There are tens of thousands of pages of laws, both criminal and civil on the books in the U.S. and they are increasing daily. Do you know them all well enough to ensure you are doing nothing wrong. I am sure they could find a crime just for you.

If you have nothing to hide, you would be willing to show the world your bank details, wander the streets on a warm sunny day in the nuddie, tear down your curtains and give me the full rights to all your family photos. Are you willing to do this?

The irony of this, 'I've go nothing to hide,' attitude that the government wants to push down your throat is that they don't practice what they preach. In fact they got quite upset when Snowden blew the whistle on their own secret surveillance operation. Nothing to hide indeed.

I know you're with me on this but don't be a victim. It's time to fight back and take a stand and it's easy.

Tomorrow February 11, 2014, the internet will be taking a stand in protest. Major human rights groups like Amnisty International and Green Peace are supporting this. Companies like tumblr. , reddit and mozilla are also taking a stand. Got to:

The Day We Fight Back

and find out what you can do to reign in the surveillance state laws in U.S. and make an example for the rest of the world.  

The most important thing I learnt from my primary school principal

The people you admire when you are a kid really have a huge impact on your own personal ethics as an adult. One of the people I admired most growing up was my primary school principal.
He truly was a great motivator, but the message I remember most from him was simple:
"Be the best"
Yeah, I know, cliché self-help crap at its best. He was however, good enough to elaborate. He told us that it didn't mater what we did in life so long as we strived to be the best at it. He told us that he didn't care if we became a garbage man so long as we strived to be the best garbage man*.
He was a charismatic man and our ten-year-old minds were sold by his speech and I am sure that we worked just that little bit harder in class that week and did just that little bit more homework.
But the impact of that speech really didn't come home until adulthood. For some reason it niggles at the back of my mind and challenges me to do better even to this day. Especially to this day.
I have had some dodgy dull jobs and I have had some great jobs. My principal's message is always there in the back of my mind telling me to do my best regardless.
I worked in an abattoir where we monotonously slaughtered and prepared animals for the dinner table. I could have shrugged it off as a job not fit for me, something for others. But after a few weeks there, I noticed people who took great pride in the repetitive work of the slaughter house. They were the people I strived to emulate. They became people I admired. I sort to find something to learn from the experience and did my damnedest to be the best at what I did.
I took pride in my knifemanship and keeping a keen edge on my knife. These are skills I still cherish and use today.
I was surprised to find that I got recognised for my hard work and attempt to do my best quickly and was soon moved onto more challenging tasks. When I left for university I was shocked to find out that the foreman's were were quite upset by my departure because they were grooming me to be a foreman.
Teacher, student, pizza boy, pool boy, soldier; I have strived to do my best and people surprisingly respond well to that and you start to quickly earn their respect. Not only that, but you start to enjoy what you are doing no matter the task and you will always have a valuable skill to take away with you.
I think taking pride in my skills and striving to be the best at what I do made me better at what I did. It wasn't some magical force that I would passively gain. It was that little bit of self-competition that urged me on to do a little better each day.
Doing my best also made me more interested in learning the intricacies of my job and observing what my betters did...well...better.
My old principals message is part of my ethos today. Something I am.

*in hindsight this may have had an unfortunate result for the assembly that day. I do recall many a student who proclaimed that the garbage man's life was exactly the career they were now going to be the best at - You win some, you lose some. 

Cutting your losses: a lesson learnt at Fuji Q Highland theme park

It was my first year in Japan and I hadn't really got the hang of how far Japanese folks will go to do something. During Golden Week, the busiest time of year for domestic tourism in Japan, my wife and I decided to hit Fuji Q Highland for some theme park action.
We got there early and the haunted house was just a mere 20 minute wait in line. Cool, I thought. 20 minutes is nothing and certainly worth it considering the size and suggested quality of the haunted house. The good news is, it was. It was worth it completely. The attraction design and storyline was worth the 20 minute investment.
The next ride we lined up for was the classic wooden roller-coaster, the Fujiyama. It towered high in the air just calling us to this monumental ride. My wife and I made our way to the start of the queue far from the designated entrance.
20 minutes transpired.
Another 20...
An hour...
Maintenance men were hurrying to the ride.
Another hour...
Another.

4... and... a... half... hours.... later and we were sitting atop the roller coaster ready to be plunged into a thrilling 40 seconds of shear exhilaration.

That's right. 40 seconds.

I had just spend 4 and a half hours of my life in line for 40 seconds of fun.

A lot went through my mind while I was waiting in line. To the forefront of my thoughts were two things that follow from each other:

1. This investment is not equalling the reward. I mean it is obvious, right? But we have all done this stupid waiting game before whether it is a line in a theme park, for the latest release blockbuster, or even at the bank. The thing is, we just stand there and wait. We tell ourselves that we have already invested this time so we may as well keep waiting so our time investment accumulates and we are less likely to leave the longer we stay.
But this is all just a bit of a fib really. Your investment in time has no more real purpose when your wait one hour than when you wait four hours. The outcome is still the same.
The trick is to look at the goal and work backwards. I ask myself, what am I going to gain from this? What am I willing to invest in it? Once I have decided I know when to walk away and write the whole endeavour off as a bad investment or just not invest in it in the first place. This is why I rarely go to theme parks these days and when I do I invest in some sort of fast pass that will get me to the front of the line and my time is not waisted.
Oh and I always remember to bring my smartphone so I can read a book.
Since that day you would never find me waiting for ages for something. Hey if there is an excessive cue at the bank (after making sure I can't do it online first) I would rather waste 10 minutes writing a complaint to the bank about an excessive cue (you'd be surprised. I may be just what the overworked staff are after to hire more on and you may just find yourself privelagewith an appointment mades especially for you).
2. Why am I paying money for the privilege of acting like cattle lining for the slaughter? Seriously, think about it. Theme parts are roughly 80% waiting and 20% ride or attraction. You are paying top dollar to wait in line! You are paying for the privilege to queue. Anywhere else, you would consider this an outrage.
Anywhere else, you would not have to queue and you would probably have a much more genuine experience to boot. I still have fond memories of sliding down a natural stony slippery slide in a national part near Toowoomba in South East Queensland. I remember the smell, the scenery the fun of the day so much more than my times at a water park. Plus, it didn't cost me a cent. My memories of theme parks, however, are blurred and a mix of fun and waiting for fun.
So why am I enduring most of my day lining up like some product on a conveyor belt. Has the industrial revolution brainwashed me so much?
Cut it out! You're better than this. You've got better things to do!

Challenge yourself: silly things that keep pushing you in your workout.

Just to mix up my usual gym routine I like to set a few silly goals. In Thailand I taught myself to do a human flag. In Japan I manage to learn how to do a half decent planche. The thing is, you don't always have to have a serious goal in order to help drive you to be better or do better. Sometimes silly goals can be quite refreshing and sometimes they can stimulate your creativity.
Yesterday I was updating my location on a bar-workout callisthenics site called MadBarz that I have been lurking on. I decided to look at their monthly challenges and thought, hey! I can do that!
This months challenge was to do a pull up with the heaviest weight you can. Sure, it really has no benefit to my overall gym plan but it was something fun to do and something I can strive for for the month. So below are the results.

This time around I managed 45kg/100lb for one decent rep with chin above bar. The second one I didn't drop all the way down so I don't count it. I will try for more in a few days.
Oh, I really don't know the MadBarz team but they seem to have a really tight site with a beautifully produced set of workout designs and a really friendly community. There are no roid monsters there, just a bunch of girls and guys who take to the bars wherever they find them and heave.