Blog / Articles
Not a lot of writing here, of late, due to podcasting becoming my chosen avenue for elective publishing. However, the muse is stirring.
Is this thing on? A week on a comedy TV set with nine other aspiring comedians
Is this thing on could easily be restated as when will this thing be on. We have just wrapped an intense week of doing a stand up comedy course while also being filmed documentary/reality tv style with cameras everywhere and surprise challenges to ram home lessons...
3 bleak ideas that lead to life
I have been mulling over 3 bleak ideas that lead to life for me, and I have decided to capture them in words to help me digest them further. If you find them helpful, that is a superb bonus to me. The 3 bleak ideas are these: We take more care nurturing something when...
The Interview: North Korea, Religion, and the brainwashing dilemma
I've had my first experience of a comment hanging in the air for what seemed like a whole minute, during a conversation with friends this month. The comment, damning of religion, was uttered by a delightful person who also happens to be a fervent Christian. It all...
Flawed Dad
A poem for Alexandra and Caitlin This flawed dad Chimes 'I love you' aloud on the hour Like some frenzied, benevolent cuckoo (When not hidden in 'busy work') This flawed dad Is yearning for some magic balance before the spring goes flat This flawed dad Sitting in...
Intimacy: A Glass Half Full
In relationships there are three primary factors that need to be balanced to achieve happiness: income earning, domestic duties, intimacy. Just like the three constraints of project management, time, cost and quality, it always seems that success requires some...
LEAKED: Brenton Bock’s next ‘big idea’ for Adelaide
I caught the story last week that Brenton Bock, a local advertising executive, had floated a new 'big idea' for Adelaide: a giant maze with restaurant in the south parklands. I wouldn't mind wandering through the maze, especially if its layout was easily changeable to...
Hypocrisy thy name is modern journalism
My wife calls it getting on your 'high moral horse' and I call it hypocrisy. Whenever somebody poses in a holier-than-thou manner while at the same time remaining embroiled in dark, dirty practices, I think we are right to call them on it. And today it is The...
The unbearable truth about death: Life goes on
This short reflection has emerged in the wake of a few deaths in my family and social circles this week. The litany of loss The night before last I lost my last grandparent as she died peacefully in her sleep a few short months away from racking up 100 years of life....
Why I’m proud to be a Skeptic
Three things this week confirmed to me that skepticism is a noble, genuine, honest and helpful worldview to live by. The events were: An admission of flawed thinking The welcoming of someone holding a contrarian position The baseless claims of a frustrated snake oil...
When did the gulf grow so wide between The Advertiser and The ABC?
The beauty of consuming news from a smartphone, is that you can get a quick overview of the main topics of the day and then choose to dive deeper into the stories that interest you most. I've noticed lately that the ABC has recently upgraded its smartphone app,...
Thanks Foxtel, thanks Free-To-Air TV, I’ve gotten my life back
A big thank you to the programmers at Foxtel for making it such an easy family decision to cancel our pay TV contract recently. Not only are we now saving money, I'm finding more time to be productive AND enjoy other forms of recreation, like reading. Here's what...
The Frankenfish Fallacy: How interest groups suck us in
Have you seen in Facebook recently, the links to a petition entitled, Stop The Frankenfish Attack? It is worth a read if you want to study propaganda creation. There are so many underhanded communication tricks and so much misinformation that we should create a new...
The car washing causes rain fallacy: Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Have you ever thought about washing your car and then seen that it is about to rain? Recently, one of my sisters popped over and mentioned how typical it was that it was about to rain because she had just washed her car. While this is a common form of logical fallacy...
An library of skeptical enquiry
The most attractive thing I find about being part of the skeptical movement, is the unquenchable sense of curiosity that inspires skeptics to understand the 'reason' behind various claims and beliefs. I am also greatly attracted by the focus on critical thinking...
Global Social Media Day 2012: Social Media Relationships
On Social Media Day 2012, Adrian Morgan and I (Steve Davis), sat down over some coffee and whiskey to think about social media and its impact on relationships. We go back a long way as friends but these days our jobs draw us into social media in professional...
ANZAC Day 2012: Remembering the fallen, scarred and damaged from all wars
A simple post today to mark ANZAC Day, a day for paying tribute to the men and women from Australia and New Zealand who served in World War One. These days, many of us take the opportunity to use ANZAC Day to reflect deeply upon all of us who are, who have and who...
Spare Key: Your ticket to a home away from home
Welcome to Spare Key Spare Key is a new service using the power of Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and Google Maps, along with your social graph, to provide you with a home away from home, no matter where you are in the world. Entering the world of Spare Key membership...
A call to giggling: Middle-aged men unite
Kelly Noble, editor of the fashion and events magazine, Glam Adelaide, stated in a blog last week that there is 'nothing great about middle aged men giggling'. For the record, it was a tongue-in-cheek post, I think, and she didn't say they were not allowed to giggle,...
The Guardian Three Little Pigs video reveals truth about Big Bad Media
The Guardian's two-minute commercial, Guardian open journalism: Three Little Pigs advert - video (view below), attempts to tell the story about how wonderful news coverage is in this age of social media. However, it actually reveals more ugly truth about the media...
Clean Up Australia from the inside: Advance Australia Dry
Happy Australia Day! Today I will be drinking a toast to Australia with its rich and complex history at the cricket test match at Adelaide Oval. And then I will stop. Stop drinking that is. As of January 27, I am embarking on a dry zone until the end of February. I...
The value of friendship: 83 minutes that might have saved my life
I have long been an 80-hour-a-week kinda guy. I have been lucky enough to love my work with all my heart whether it was radio, journalism or, now, marketing. If you analysed my 'weekends' for the last 15 years, I think you would struggle to find more than 15 days of...
Every Generation needs every generation
Later today I am performing the role of MC for an Every Generation event held by Adelaide City Council. The event will focus around the screening of Babies, a documentary about the first year of life of four babies on four different continents. As part of my plan to...
Social Media Day in Adelaide 2011
Today was Social Media Day, a virtual event organised by Mashable, the online magazine of all things Web 2.0 and Tech. In Adelaide, the key 'gathering' was an online converstation using Twitter and the hashtag #socadl. (NOTE: Using hashtags immediately before words or...
White lies and social networks – a perfect match!
Just caught the promo for Life At Five, a documentary about human development by the age of five. One of the outstanding findings of the various "experiments" was that almost all children by age five have learned to lie. This was demonstrated by putting children in a...
Christmas cards die slow death – good riddance
Had a chat with Glen Ridge on Melbourne Tonight (Radio MTR) this evening in the wake of a Herald Sun report that only one in three Gen Ys and about half Gen Xs will bother sending physical xmas cards this season. The theory is that social networks will carry the cheer...
Crowdsourcing our daughter’s name: The baby name poll
This post was originally published at Social [Media] Butterflies on the story behind the baby naming poll being run at babydavisblog.wordpress.com. Social Media Butterflies should practice what we preach and a simple way to demonstrate my social media involvement is...
Extras Christmas Special right on target
If you get a chance to watch the Extras Christmas Special, please do. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have produced one of the most exquisite and searing critiques of our celebrity culture I have seen. The beauty of this show is that it is largely bereft of laughs...
Media Mirror
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Contact Steve Davis
The best way to contact me is through email - sd@stevedavis.com.au - or by using the form below. Alternatively, try Twitter, my favourite social networking channel: @stevedavis