This appeared last week – and the cathedral is now open again! Architecture Notre Dame review – glorious resurrection is as close to time travel as it gets Five years since it was gutted by fire, the soul of Paris is about to reopen its doors. Our critic is wowed by the buttery stonework, gleaming lead and gawp-inducing gilding Oliver Wainwright Sat 7 Dec 2024 00.05 AEDT With France plunged into political turmoil, and president Emmanuel Macron’s approval ratings at an all time low, the country might be thankful to have a distraction of epic proportions this weekend. All eyes will be on Notre D ..read more

This appeared last week! Marge’s computer wouldn’t turn on. Then IT support offered ‘help’ By Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon December 7, 2024 — 12.30am On the morning of September 4, Marge was faced with a completely blank computer screen. A few attempts to turn it on – and a few panicked minutes – later, a message from “IT support” popped up. It offered to help. Marge had to ring a certain number to connect with a technician. Then: “I was told by someone to do nothing and to wait for someone to call me, which happened after about 30 seconds. “This, I have found out, was the beginning of many unauth ..read more

Frankly I do not! Here is the recent article…. Trump’s revolution is coming for the health technocrats Peter Ridd 5:00AM December 05, 2024 Of all the creatures in the US bureaucratic swamp, environmental and medical science organisations have the most to fear from the return of Donald Trump. The science behind claims of catastrophic climate change, and many environmental and medical issues, finally will be subject to scrutiny. Trump clearly is not a believer in catastrophic climate change, otherwise his favourite phrase would not be “Drill, baby, drill”. Like most Americans and his right-hand ..read more

This popped up last week: Australia’s economic problems have been brewing for years We are in the most prolonged downturn since the 1991 recession. It’s time for a treasurer to do something about it. John Kehoe Economics editor Dec 6, 2024 – 2.56pm The stagnant private sector economy and deterioration in living standards exposed in the national accounts this week have been years in the making. Labour productivity has failed to improve since 2016; business investment is languishing close to 1990s recession levels; there has been no serious economic reform; undisciplined government spending is i ..read more

This appeared last week: We feared rising antisemitism would lead to violence. Those fears came true Gabi Kaltmann Rabbi December 6, 2024 — 7.00pm Last week, I stood alongside other faith leaders and the minister for multicultural affairs in the city to announce the state government’s new anti-racism strategy. As a rabbi and multifaith leader, it was a privilege to participate in this vital initiative. But on my way home, an incident shook me to the core. As I stepped off the tram on Burke Road in Camberwell, a man I had never seen before spotted my skullcap, came up to me and shouted, “F---in ..read more

Here are the results of the poll. Does The Use Of Facial Recognition Technology Need Clear Disclosure When Being Used For Commercial and Surveillance Purposes? Yes                                                                      19 (86%) No    &n ..read more

Just what is happening when the Government thinks it can insist ordinary law-abiding citizens manage the use of social media among those who can read enough to understand it but who are not adult? It will be a struggle! ‘Black Friday sale on VPNs’: Social media ban faces early obstacles Tess Bennett Technology reporter Nov 29, 2024 – 12.48pm Passing the world-first laws that restrict Australians under the age of 16 from accessing social media may have been the easy part. Enforcing them is another story altogether. From Monday, Australia’s online safety regulator will pressure social media plat ..read more

This popped up last week and posed a rather existential question! The Observer Artificial intelligence (AI) If AI can provide a better diagnosis than a doctor, what’s the prognosis for medics? John Naughton Studies in which ChatGPT outperformed scientists and GPs raise troubling questions for the future of professional work Sun 1 Dec 2024 03.00 AEDT AI means too many (different) things to too many people. We need better ways of talking – and thinking – about it. Cue, Drew Breunig, a gifted geek and cultural anthropologist, who has come up with a neat categorisation of the technology into three ..read more

This appeared a bit over six years ago! Hidden conflict: My Health Record boss privately giving advice to health firms By Esther Han November 15, 2018 — 12.00am The chairman of the agency responsible for the bungled My Health Record rollout has been privately advising a global healthcare outsourcing company. The Herald discovered the relationship between the UK based government contracting giant Serco and the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) chairman Jim Birch after obtaining internal documents that detail the board members' conflicts of interest. The revelation comes as federal Health ..read more

This appeared a few days ago: Why Victoria’s privacy chief is so worried about facial-recognition technology By Kieran Rooney and Carla Jaeger November 30, 2024 — 7.11pm Victorian gambling venues are increasingly using off-the-shelf facial recognition technology to help identify problem gamblers, prompting concerns that sensitive data is being put at risk. The state’s information commissioner this week said some government contractors were not being held to strict privacy laws, and admitted several data breaches of government bodies it had not investigated. Community Clubs Victoria chief execu ..read more