A few readers have reminded me that tomorrow's edition of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's venerable current affairs program Four Corners will be all about the Firepower saga.
You probably won't even have to wait for someone to rip it off and make a torrent, as the ABC lets you download whole episodes of many shows, including Four Corners. I don't think they've got any annoying geographic IP checking that'll stop foreign readers from watching, either.
UPDATE: Here's the episode, wittily entitled "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire".
21 July 2008 at 12:18 am
Huzzah!! Did they contact you for a comment, too? Seeing as your the resident expert and all...
21 July 2008 at 12:39 am
Yes, the Four Corners journos are among the many who've asked me stuff. I don't have much to tell them beyond what I've already written on the blog, though.
I think I've actually gotten more out of them than they've gotten out of me. There are some gossip-tastic tidbits I've been told on condition that I not tell the world (and thus other journalists...); I don't have a problem with that, since none of that stuff is actually in the public interest, even if it all turns out to be 100% true. The take-home message - that Firepower were and are a bunch of swindlers from top to bottom - comes over pretty well without the extra information that this Firepower executive likes to sit on kittens and that one's actually a reptilian vampire.
(Note: Above examples are fabricated. It's actually only one guy.)
21 July 2008 at 2:02 pm
You know you've made the big time when you get your own show on Four Corners.
For better or worse...
21 July 2008 at 9:21 pm
WTF!! Jeebus, I can't believe there were people who gave away $500,000 of their money because some dude told them his product was good. If I'm going to invest $500 of my money I will make sure I know as much as I can from DIFFERENT sources.
Then again, maybe this is just one of the new evolutionary pressures. We surely need some, otherwise humankind will just become stupider.
22 July 2008 at 1:07 am
The narrator on that show must've taken oratory lessons from Captain Kirk. Do all news readers talk like that in Australia?
-An American
[Comment moved to correct thread - I think you probably didn't mean it to be here. -Dan]
22 July 2008 at 3:17 am
I didn't find anything peculiar about Liz Jackson's presentation. Perhaps I've been corrupted by Vegemite, utes and gum trees.
Personally, I'm waiting for a hard-hitting documentary voiced entirely by Robbie "Adult themes..." McGregor in sexy mode.
24 July 2008 at 11:49 am
Heh. As I was watching the episode, I had a browser window open at both Dan's blog and his main website. Practically every milestone mentioned in the program about the downhill road of Firepower's demise would roughly correspond with a post Dan made around the same time. Too bad Dan didn't get any credit, as I'm sure his efforts would have increased the public's awareness of the story.
29 July 2008 at 6:40 am
@4: You Aussies are lucky -- here in the States, there'd be a bill in Congress to reimburse the poor ickle "investors" out of Uncle Sam's pocket. We seem averse to letting people learn Important Lessons like this.