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  • Newsflash! Gans and Leigh: Still no evidence that women are harming their babies for cash.

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    Back in November 2007, tigtog and I discussed at length the paper on the baby bonus introduction by Andrew Leigh and Joshua Gans, “Born (Again) on the First of July: Another Experiment in Birth Timing”[1]. The paper has now been revised for international publication, this time with mortality data.

    Their thesis back in 2007 was there was an introduction effect “delaying” births around the time of the baby bonus introduction, and their data does show a clear change in pattern.

  • Thursday Cheezburger

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    hoomansneednewcouch

    Runnerup

  • Carnival time!

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    The Third Edition of the Down Under Feminists Carnival is up at Audrey and the Bad Apples! Thanks Audrey, you’re awesome.

  • Jim Beam demonstrates just how much men want to hate us

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    A note to Jim Beam: If you are so embarrassed about these ads that you don’t want anyone to see them, to the point that you’re chasing fair use political commenters from video hosting site to video hosting site with your DMCA heavies, how about issuing a formal, sincere apology instead? A company that doesn’t want anyone actually seeing their ads. Interesting.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    As tigtog said, people are up in arms about the “The Neighbours” commercial from purveyors of bad bourbon and toxic masculinity, Jim Beam.

  • Homosexual panic moment du jour

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    I caught this on Canadian Idol. Sebastian Pigott is the performer, Zack Werner the judge. (Pigott’s performance is here, if you’d like to see it.)

  • LIMIT OF MAPS

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    So. Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ll know that Google StreetView has now indexed Australia. At first I thought it was only the cities – I idly looked up my place (feeling vaguely uncomfortable), and some places I lived growing up, and had a peek at the Perth CBD.

    Then I realised they’ve also photographed a fair whack of the countryside, too. And not just the easy parts. They didn’t stint on crossing the Nullarbor:

  • Books I Want, #923

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    swamphoyden1

    swamphoyden2

  • Got Breastmilk? Californian Milk Board Threatens Batik Artist Mum

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    Remember when Jennifer Laycock of The Lactivist was stomped on by Big Pork for selling a T-shirt saying “The other white milk”?

    “Your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of the National Pork Board’s mark, in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption”,

    the Pork Board whined, with a side serve of insinuation that The Lactivist was a sexual lactation fetish site. (Or were they really, truly freaked out that she is just fine with toddlers and preschoolers breastfeeding, not just infants – and thought that that any association with all that booby malarkey would reflect badly on an organisation that intensively tortures pigs before making them into bacon? We’ll never know.)

  • Troy Buswell to quit at last?

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    Despite recently surviving a series of leadership spills, sleazebag chair-sniffer and sexual-harasser Troy Buswell, leader of the WA Liberal Party [1], is expected to stand down today.

    Buswell has the majority support of the remainder of his motley crew (resignations have been rife these past few months), but his support from the Party as a whole and the WA population is low.

    Stay tuned.

    ETA 12:06 pm: Live press

  • The Great Scrabble Firewall

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    Facebookers have probably been following the saga of Scrabulous, the online game that looks and behaves rather like Scrabble. Scrabulous was well put together, and allowed me to play with my friends all over the globe, in group and one-on-one games.

    Well, it was fun while it lasted. Despite their IP claims being rather, erm, shaky, Mattel-Hasbro seems to have brought down Scrabulous; it’s now only available for people who don’t live in the USA or Canada.

    “Not to worry!”, they bugled. “We’ll bring out our own authentic version for you!”