The Concatenate

[G] EA Sports
Reviewed on Xbox (also available on PS2, GC, 360, PS3, Wii, and everything else…)

The Madden NFL franchise is one of EA’s longest running series with some seventeen titles released on numerous platforms. It has even been around long enough to develop something of a curse. The latest version, Madden 07, continues to offer the high-quality game play that fans have come to expect from the series as well as doing something that I find important – providing a robust multiplayer experience for those who don’t follow the sport.

Madden’s ongoing evolution has resulted in a huge amount of detail being incorporated into the game. Character management, statistics and complex plays fill the different game modes, allowing for a real test in the Franchise and Hall-of-Fame challenges. Though this, alongside EA’s typically slim manual, makes for a steep learning curve for those who don’t follow the sport, exhibition, situational and multiplayer matches do provide less complex, more accessible fun.

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In Parliament today Government members have been having a go at the ALP over Sheik al-Hilali’s permanent residence.

The reason they give for the conflict within the ALP 15 years ago is that Al-Hilali was delivering ethnic branch stacks for the NSW right, enough to get permanent residence over the objections of the various Ministers for Immigration at the time.

If true it would explain a lot.

AAP, via News, have reports that the Australian Federal Police’s Commander Steve Lancaster in East Timor is not convinced that “dirty ice” is to blame for recent violence there. He pins the blame on a more prosaic source:

“I think there’s more to blame, (it) is the availability of palm wine and there’s no regulation of the alcohol either. I think that is a major contributing factor, probably much more major than the drug”

Sadly the demon drink is a less popular place to sheet home blame at the moment.

The West Australian is reporting that the British Medical Journal has published research questioning the value of flu vaccines. The vaccines are rolled out every year at immense public cost.

“Dr Jefferson said most studies were of poor quality and showed evidence of bias. Because influenza viruses changed every year it was difficult for scientists to study the precise effects of vaccines. He said there was no proof that influenza vaccines had any real effect on factors such as hospital stay, time off work or death. There was also surprisingly little evidence on the safety of the vaccines.”

AAP, via News, have a story on declining electoral enrollments as the Australian Electoral Commissions’s (AEC) technique of sending nagging letters through the post becomes less effective at securing updates from the public as to their whereabouts.

“We are running into the situation where we are getting caught up in antipathy or antagonism towards mail. Are we being considered to be a junk mail?”

Let us hope that Joe Hockey’s ID card doesn’t become the solution to this problem.

AAP, via News, reports on an excellent start to the budget estimates season for the ALP.

This time they’ve discovered that the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had somehow overlooked about half of the Government’s advertising budget when preparing their Annual Report.

“The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) said the spending increased from $137.7 million in 2004-05 to $208.5 million in 2005-06… PM&C first assistant secretary Greg Williams said yesterday it was obviously a mistake that the latest figures were left out of his department’s annual report.”

Whoops.

Reuters have a story on researchers off the coast of North Carolina who believe they’re working on the wreck of Blackbeard’s ship “Queen Anne’s Revenge”.

“The team has found cannons, a bell, lead shot of all sizes, gold dust, pewter cups and medical devices, like a urethral syringe used to treat syphilis with mercury”

Now there’s a thought with which to enrich your morning. The story is complete with a picture of the syringe which might, just, have graced Blackbeard’s old fella.

The Australian is a little miffed that dressing like Steve Irwin, complete with stingray barb, is proving to be very popular this halloween in the USA.

“Too soon? Hell, no. If Irwin’s eight-year-old can get her own Discovery Kids television show, you can certainly make sport of her nature-loving pop’s freaky demise.”

Cue talkback outrage.

African News Dimension reports that the former Chilean Dictator, Augusto Pinochet, has been charged for torture crimes and placed under house arrest.

“Two court officials notified Pinochet at his suburban Santiago mansion of the decision by Judge Alejandro Solis, who on Friday had charged Pinochet with one homicide, 35 kidnappings and 24 cases of torture at Villa Grimaldi, one of the most infamous detention centres in the early years of his 1973-1990 dictatorship”

Pinochet is now 90 and reportedly in poor health.

For those who’ve been wondering what sort of place Werribee is (after the infamy of its DVD sales) I would recommend the town’s very own blog.

Not a pretty picture.

[With thanks to Spins Starts Here for the head's up].

Back in June we noted the bizarre and alarming things that can be done with a combination of diet coke and mentos, particularly by the Eepybird team in conjunction with a killer soundtrack. If you missed it you can still see the video.

Well now they’ve had another go with a bigger rig needing less manual intervention (and another soundtrack by AudioBody). If it lacks some of the manic intensity of the original it remains an excellent way to sponge some time and bandwidth from your employer.

al-Hilaly

The SMH reports that Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly has stood down from his preaching duties at the Lakemba mosque. Showing a worrying tendency to kick a man when he’s down, Peter Costello says it’s a decade too late. Meanwhile The Australian can’t believe its good luck with Melbourne’s Sheik Mohammed Omran accusing Australia’s judges of being unduly harsh with Muslim rapists.

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Stern review

The Age is worried that the UK’s influential “Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change” is predicting reduced water supply in Australia as a result of ongoing global warning. The real point of the Stern Review, that if economic cost can be placed on pumping waste into our common atmosphere the market will produce the best solutions, isn’t fashionable with climate change jeremiahs.

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Housing affordability

The West Australian is carrying research by BIS Shrapnel that there’s going to be a housing shortage over the next five years with skyrocketing rents. The Daily Telegraph notes that rental auctions are taking off.

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Welcome back to another round of Question Time fashion wraps. Email readers will need to click the story link to view the pictures, which are all courtesy of the ABC’s Question Time broadcasts.

The long-shot of the chamber today shows almost everyone in dark suits with just four women standing out in white.

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It’s come to my attention that we have some extra readers who are getting the email forwarded to them by friends.

As a new player this is, in its way, flattering.

I also appreciate that people willing to go to this length are likely to become subscribers in due course when you tire of your friend’s unreliability and breaks in coverage when that friend isn’t near a computer. Possibly you’ll get bored of having to wait four hours to see a story with pictures in it on the free site.

But I would ask that you consider at least trialling a subscription as without your support it’s going to be a difficult show to keep on the road.

Thank you.

We now return you to your usual programming…