By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID (AP) – 11 hours ago

WASHINGTON — From Grimm's fairy tales to Harry Potter, the cloak of invisibility has played a major role in fiction. Now scientists have taken a small but important new step toward making it reality.

Researchers at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology report they were able to cloak a tiny bump in a layer of gold, preventing its detection at nearly visible infrared frequencies.

Their cloaking device also worked in three dimensions, while previously developed cloaks worked in two dimensions, lead researcher Tolga Ergin said.

The cloak is a structure of crystals with air spaces in between, sort of like a woodpile, that bends light, hiding the bump in the gold later beneath, the researchers reported in Thursday's online edition of the journal Science.

Speaking on ABC Radio National today, the former Labor prime minister gave a scathing assessment of Mr Abbott's performance, saying he had consolidated the right-wing "nutters" behind him.

And he took exception to Mr Abbott's criticism of Indigenous acknowledgment and welcome to country ceremonies at official functions by calling him a "little John Howard".

I have to say its all a bit silly really. We have now seen, not only the electorate, but now former politicians, forget about left and right.

I do it all the time, remind people that is, no, you're other left! For too long the media outlets in this country have pandered to the left of politics and this has resulted in a false sense of what is truly 'left' and what is truly 'conservative' politics.

Abbott is a conservative. Well duh! Thanks Paul for sharing!

And being called a 'little John Howard' - well apart from the irony - I think its probably a good thing, after-all, Howard did lead this country for a long time Paul, remember? And he did develop our nation into a competitive and profitable place, remember?

Onya Keating, you never fail to amuse me, still.

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Video: Rudd's approval rating continues to slide (The Midday Report)

When we say "anything would be better than Rudd" - the alternate, FantaPantsGillard is not really who I had in mind!

It has become obvious, even though she continues to be a puppet like the rest of the KRuddKrew, that she will be the next one in the Labor camp hot-seat. In fact I'd be surprised if he makes it to the next election the way things are going. Move over Mark Latham, we need some more space on the booted-seat!

 Either way, he will be gone. He has done the job Labor needed and now its time to move on. Still, it does give the Coalition more hope than they probably should be getting, but, thats politics.

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According to the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995, refused classification covers publications that:

 

• describe, depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified; or
• describe or depict in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult, a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18 (whether the person is engaged in sexual activity or not); or
• promote, incite or instruct in matters of crime or violence.

The fundamental argument by the current regime, Conroy and co., is the application of the above to the notion of internet website content.

At present, the Classification Act 1995 does not include the notion of the web. It defines publications and currently this does not include web content.

The introduction of a national web filter would require change to the Classification Act 1995 to incorporate and extend the definition of 'publication' to include 'website content'.

This could have further ramifications that could well be unexpected.

All of a sudden, depending on the proposed definition of course, ALL web content could be considered a 'publication' under the law. Even your blog, your social networking stream, the comments on an online newspapers website.

Just think, www.news.com.au could be filtered from Australian's based on the comments posted by a person who doesn't even live in Australia. Four Corners on the www.abc.net.au website results in its filtering due to a story that focuses on abortion or incest. www.ninemsn.com becomes filtered due to comments left on the A Current Affair website on the topic of suicide bombers and terrorism. Really? Yes, really!

If Conroy and co. do not amend the Classification Act 1995, then it cannot be used as the reason for the filter. Simple. Careful how you tread Senator. Don't insist on change for change sake and forget the flow-on impacts of your intentions.

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Polish women served male sushi A restaurant in Poland serves up a treat on Women's Day -- sushi served on a male model. (01:07)

The Federal Labor party is set to vote on whether or not mandatory filter plans become legislation within the next two weeks, according to Government Senator, Kate Lundy.

“What I’m trying to achieve is putting up sensible ideas within my own party to change our policy,” she said. “It will be up to a vote on the floor of Caucus as to what that final policy looks like and I’m anticipating legislation will come forward in this sitting fortnight.”

The move puts Senator Lundy up against Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, and the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, both of whom have publicly backed the filter.

This Government is intent on NOT ALLOWING YOUR REPRESENTATIVES to have a 'conscious vote' on subjects like this. They are determined to insist on YOUR REPRESENTATIVE 'toe-ing' a party-line. Find out what YOUR REPRESENTATIVE is going to do and ask them WHY. Ask them to explain it to you. Ask them if they actually understand WHAT IT IS they are voting for!

Senator Conroy is known to be a strong advocate and has rejected public protests as well as political opposition from Independent Senator Nick Xenophon and the Australian Greens.

Prime Minister Rudd has also made public declarations of support for the filter and sees the filter as a method of stopping “awful material” from reaching the public.

I am getting very tired of this "will someone think of the children" attitude! No, I don't have children. Yes, sexual-abuse and paedaphilia is a terrible thing. Internet CENSORSHIP is NOT GOING TO FIX IT! Get real! Seriously! 

You WILL suffer for this. YOU WILL pay the premium as they bump on the cost to ISP's. YOU WILL have NO CHOICE and NO fall-back position. YOU WILL NOT have a say! They will continue to compare it to TV, Videos/Movies, Books, Video Games. Its NOT THE SAME. 

Make them ENFORCE existing laws, not create more government jobs, up taxes and politicise what is essentially a service YOU PAY FOR! Electricity kills children. Pools kill children. Buses and Cars kill children. How do they resolve that? Think about it!

But despite their heavy hitting support, Senator Lundy is leading a move to add an opt-out option for Internet users.

The Federal Opposition says the public has the right to see a study that examines the viability of the Government's $43 billion National Broadband Network (NBN).

The Government received the final report from the $25 million implementation study late last week.

It is understood to provide the Government with advice on how to design and fund the network.

The Opposition's communications spokesman, Tony Smith, says Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has an obligation to make the document public in the interests of transparency.

"For him to have that report commissioned, for him to spend $25 million or so of taxpayers' money, for there to be nine months of work go into it - it's not his report, it's the Australian public's report," Mr Smith said.

"He hasn't had a cost benefit analysis of any sort and this will outline how the NBN would actually work, the one thing he and [Prime Minister] Kevin Rudd never thought of when they announced it."

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says the Government has only had the document a short time and its contents have not lessened the Government's enthusiasm for the project.

"We remain committed to our policy and we are going to keep pushing to ensure that Australians can get genuinely super-fast broadband that will revolutionise Australia's productivity and economy in the longer term," Mr Tanner said.

He says the information contained in the study is sensitive.

"There's a number of issues that are dealt with there that are obviously commercially sensitive," Mr Tanner said.

"We are dealing with a government-business enterprise that will be delivering services in a commercial environment and potentially competing with other commercial players.

"So we have got to assess all of those elements before making a decision about what to release publicly."

Tags: government-and-politics, federal-government, information-and-communication, internet, science-and-technology, computers-and-technology, internet, australia

Sensitive huh? Well, lets have it Senator Conroy...or would you rather it was "filtered" first?

Sylvestor

An elephant calf which was believed to have died during its mother's labour at Sydney's Taronga Zoo has been delivered alive.

Mother Asian elephant Porntip gave birth to the male calf this morning, zoo spokesman Mark Williams said.

On Monday, staff at the zoo said ultrasounds showed the calf was in an upside-down position, making it impossible for the mother to give birth.

Zoo staff previously believed the calf had died in the womb on Sunday night, but now admit they were mistaken.

"Remember you are dealing with a three-tonne animal. It's very hard to get absolutes," Mr Williams added.

The male calf was delivered at 3.27am (AEDT) this morning.

Zoo director Cameron Kerr said the baby was in a very delicate situation.

"Her dedicated keepers reported the amazing news early this morning that the calf had been born and was showing signs of life," he said in a statement.

"Taronga's veterinary team immediately rushed to the elephant barn to assist Porntip and the calf."

Mr Kerr says the vet team is working to support both mum and baby.

Previously, after six days of intensive labour by Porntip, keepers and veterinarians had found none of the five vital signs that would have indicated the calf was still alive.

The zoo's senior veterinarian and world-leading expert on elephant births, Dr Thomas Hildebrandt, said on Monday it would be a "miracle" if the calf was born alive.

Today Mr Kerr said the possible effects of the protracted labour on the calf were yet to be determined, and it may not survive.

"While this is incredible news, the young calf still has a long way to go," Mr Kerr said.

"There are no guarantees of its long-term survival at this early stage but we hope that its birth against the odds will stand it in good stead."

-AAP

Tags: human-interest, animals, australia, nsw, sydney-2000

That is good news.

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Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says a deal was struck to to force a vote on her same-sex marriage bill, but that it was between Labor and the Coalition and not her party.

The Marriage Equality (Amendment) bill was voted down after only 30 minutes of debate and there was widespread speculation a deal had been done to force the proposal to a vote.

The senator finally agreed to talk after Sydney Star Observer last week published claims substantiated by multiple sources that the party had struck the deal to force the vote.

Hanson-Young said the Greens had only three opportunities a year to have private members bills.

“I pushed in my party room that I was to have the February spot, because we didn’t know if we would be allocated another one before the next election,” Hanson-Young said.

“Private senators time happens on Thursday afternoon and can happen any time before but no later than 4.30 as a general rule.

“Our private members time was to be allocated that afternoon [so] I came out quite strongly in the week leading up to make people know that was what I was intending to use that time for, I could predict both major parties would not want to discuss this issue.

“I was fearful that if I just brought forward the bill … there would be a movement of the agenda, an agreement of the major parties to squash that bill coming forward because it’s controversial and obviously they don’t want to deal with that.”
Hanson-Young said the issue became too publicised for the major parties to simply block discussion.

“What ended up happening on Thursday [was] both major parties realising that I had been so public in saying this bill was going to be discussed that they couldn’t quietly squash it and remove it from the agenda … so they gave us as limited time as possible — it ended up being just over half an hour, and they brought it on straight away once they had come to the agreement,” she said.

“Because neither of the major parties, particularly the Government, were prepared to put forward more than one speaker, it did only happen within that short amount of time and the vote was called before the normal 4.30 cut-off.

“In the lead-up to all of this, I had been saying … that there are members on both sides of the major parties who obviously want to be able to speak out on this issue but don’t feel they have the ability to because they’re told to toe the party line.

Recently there was quite a stir at comments made by Abbott on the 60 Minutes program in relation to equality for same-sex oriented couples enjoying the same rights of heterosexual couples.

The gay and lesbian community - whoever they are?!?! - were quite scathing at the comments by Abbott. Frankly, it is to be expected. He is a conservative and holds true to the conservative line.

It is important to realise that the issue is NOT with our opposition and Abbott; rather, it stands with our current Government. They went to the last Federal election with a platform of 'equality' and removing discrimination on the basis of sexual-orientation. The only moves made have been surface level. When it comes to the crunch, they, shake in their proverbial collective boots and don't want to cause a stir.

Frankly its a bit shameful that in this day and age that these sorts of topics still warrant discussion.

Will Kevin Rudd say "sorry" to us? Unlikely. He has already "come out" and stated that he, personally, does not support true equality across sexual-orientation.

And since Rudd IS the Government (come on, isn't anyone else representing the country and the people???), that will be their party-line until he has gone.

Don't be fooled! Labor. Liberal. It won't make any change to anti-discrimination of same-sex oriented Australians. Don't let them make it a political agenda for the upcoming election. Its a lie and they will not make the change! Guaranteed!

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