Explorer Royale

A new journey of exploration for Michael Palin - The Independent

Palin is the new head of the Royal Geographical Society.

It is entirely appropriate that the man who first went Across the Andes by Frog should receive this honour.

Nuts

Husband and wife share home with pythons that roam freely - Telegraph

Fortunately, they have no children.

Reasons to become a priest

The Sci Fi Catholic: Deej to Seminary, Part 2

Sci Fi Catholic, who is currently a young archaeologist, has decided to train for the priesthood. He has quite a funny explanation as to why, at the above link.

Odd weather

Drought alert as El Nino works up double whammy | The Australian

Brisbane is having its wettest winter for ages (I heard that rain of up to 50 to 100mm may be expected over the next couple of days,) and its dams are up to 77% full, yet all the warnings are that an El Nino is forming, with drought on the way.

Not that I wish it for this reason, but a repeat of a 1998 El Nino hot spike would at least stop the current wave of triumphal-ism amongst the AGW skeptics.

Under the kilt problems in Scotland

Gay minister inducted at service

The background:

Mr Rennie, 37, a divorced father-of-one, was minister at Brechin Cathedral but was appointed to Queen's Cross earlier this year, where he is expected to preach his first sermon a week on Sunday.

He has been open about his relationship with his partner and plans to live with him in the manse in Aberdeen.

Some sections of the Church of Scotland feared Mr Rennie's appointment could cause the greatest divide since the Disruption of 1843, when part of the Kirk broke away to form the Free Kirk.

Just noting the story...

UPDATE: If a minister is divorced and was wanting to live with (as opposed to marrying) his new girlfriend in the manse, I would have thought that would be a major problem. (You really want your ministers just shacking up with their girlfriends?) If you say "well, the problem for this guy is that he can't "regularise" this relationship by marrying, even if he wants to, so we shouldn't penalise him," then isn't the issue to do with the Church's understanding of marriage? In other words, if the Church does not permit marriage as a sacrament for gay couples, how can it say this Minister's relationship is not a problem?

Where's the outrage?

Israel has right to hit Iran: Biden

Can you imagine how quick the outrage would be at Huffington Post if this had been said by a Vice President Palin?

As far as I can see, no Huffpo post on it yet. (Lots and lots of talk about Palin quitting though.)

Lucky for Andrew Sullivan

'Denial of pregnancy is not classified as a psychiatric illness' France 24

What will he do if Palin doesn't keep a high profile? He'll have withdrawal symptoms, I have no doubt.

Adelaide revisited

By virtue of some very cheap airfares from Tiger Airways, (I find them a good, no nonsense airline) my family and I had a long weekend in Adelaide last week. Here's my list of good things about Adelaide:

1. North Adelaide. I don't think any other city in Australia has such a concentration of impressive 19th century mansions, houses and public buildings as Adelaide does in North Adelaide. I had lived in Adelaide for about 2 years in the 1980's, so I knew North Adelaide was a nice area, but I had forgotten just how impressive the buildings are. (Have a look at this Flickr set which contains quite a few from the suburb.) This visit, we in fact stayed in North Adelaide in a little 1870's cottage which, sad to say, had a hot water system which suited its era, and an airconditioning system which did not keep the living room warm. But still, it was in a great location and is without doubt the oldest building I've ever stayed in Australia, so that counts for something:


Doesn't seem to be haunted, either.

2. Eating. We enjoyed a great tapas style dinner at Sparrow Kitchen and Bar in North Adelaide. It's only been open since Christmas, apparently, but it seems terribly popular, and justifiably so. I can't recommend it highly enough - at least for tapas and its Spanish wines.

3. Cheese. Look, even Queensland does cheese well now, but we did particularly enjoy the cheese from Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley. Our favourite: a washed rind goats cheese from the Barossa Valley Cheese Company which is gooey straight out of the fridge, with that powerful, hard to describe washed rind flavour.

4. The Adelaide Hills. Seems to have a lot of wineries now, and is a significantly prettier drive than the Barossa. Here's a shot of cows in the mist, at least showing how green it is at the moment:


My photos of the Barossa don't look all that different, I guess:


But trust me, much of the Barossa is more like an open plain, and it's hard to see how it ever got the name "valley" attached to it:


I know from past experience that, in summer, those baked brown plains are not particularly attractive. Barossa Valley towns are also nothing special to look at. Angaston is probably the pick. (And it has that cheese.)

5. The South Australian Museum: it shows up how inadequate the Queensland Museum is. I've been meaning to do a whole post on this topic, but the Queensland Museum is just terribly inadequate. For example, it devotes just about a whole floor to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island stuff, but it feels mostly empty. The Adelaide Museum has a much better indigenous section, where you can actually learn things, although the lighting is keep extraordinarily dark and "moody" for some reason. In the oldest part of the museum, they have a very old PacificIsland section with such fun bits like decorated skulls and talk of headhunters. Yes, children can learn the lesson from a museum like that their modern Western culture is a considerable improvement over some of it predecessors!

They have some interesting science stuff too, including a mini cloud chamber which lets you watch radioactive particles zipping by in front of you. But the only photo I'll include is one of a space suit Australian astronaut Andy Thomas wore on one trip. Not that you can tell from the photo, but he must be pretty short:


6. A new airport. Gone are the days of it being an overgrown shed. It's really quite a lovely airport now.

7. Coffin Bay oysters. They seem pretty cheap and plentiful. Maybe a bit too big for my liking, but not bad.

So, even though I really disliked living there in the 1980's, a short visit in the 21st century proved to be quite enjoyable.

Update: I forgot to mention:

8. Smoked fish. There seems to be a big interest in smoked fish in Adelaide; much more so than in Brisbane. We picked up some (cheap) smoked tuna in a fishshop in the Adelaide Central Markets, and were suitably impressed. (But let's face, I like just about anything smoked. Shoe leather probably tastes good done that way.)

9. Adelaide Central Markets: well, I've been talking about food so much, you probably already knew that I went there and liked it. One practical feature I admired: a big carpark with cheap fees adjoins it.

Now, there must be something to get this list to 10. I'll put my mind to it...

Speaking of bargains...

Anyone with an interest in visiting Japan can do so at the moment at incredibly low cost. It would appear that the Jetstar "two for one" sale is still on 'til tomorrow, which promises two people can get there for under $400. (Whether you can find a flight back at the same cost is perhaps another question.)

But even with one person travelling, it looks like you can still get there for about $800 return, if not cheaper.

Even JAL has got a Sydney to Tokyo sale fair of $907.

I can tell you, it's been a long, long time since you've been able to get to Japan so cheaply.

Must visit bottle shop....

Australian wine prices driven lower than water | Business | News.com.au

Major wine retailer Dan Murphy's is currently selling cleanskins for $1.99 a bottle - cheaper than some bottled water - due to the oversupply crisis that has led to some vineyard owners leaving grapes to wither on the vine.

Deep thoughts for a weekend

Philosophy Now | Kant By Default

Here's a summary by the author of what his book is about:

The central question is whether morality can be understood apart from the outcomes we expect to ensue from our actions. ... The consequentialist says that whatever results, intended or not, decides the morality of what you did. This is why, for example, theft is morally wrong: the relative net results of theft are usually negative, that is, worse than not stealing. The nonconsequentialist demurs: theft could be wrong even if the relative net results were positive. And why is this? In other words, if not consequences, then what does make something right or wrong? The answer depends on which kind of nonconsequentialist one asks. A Divine Command Theorist would claim that God’s commandments make something right or wrong. A Kantian, such as myself, would claim that the criterion of morality, or ‘categorical imperative’, is whether anyone (including an animal) is treated merely as a means: if they are, then the action is wrong, and otherwise not. But whether it’s God or the categorical imperative that is calling the shots, the actual outcomes don’t affect the moral quality of the action. Thus, if following God’s commandment or avoiding treating someone merely as means led to a catastrophe, it would still be the right thing to do, according to these views.

He then says:

Laid out in that abstract fashion, one or the other of the opposing positions may strike the reader as compelling. I think that both are compelling for all of us, but at different times and to different degrees.

This is too deep for Saturday morning thoughts, but the switching between the two different views makes some sense, I think, even from a Catholic perspective which has to be (at the meta level) nonconsequentialist.

For example, sexual infidelity may be clearly immoral, but if you decide to have the affair anyway, surely the consequentialist argument that it is better to limit the possible negative consequences by using a condom makes sense.

The problem is, the Pope doesn't want anyone to sin, so he doesn't want to talk about preferable ways to sin. But really, I can't see the sense in not being a consequentialist as to the consequences of sin.

Looking forward to the day you can refuel the car at home

Producing hydrogen from urine

Interesting...

Israel sends subs through Suez Canal | Israel | Jerusalem Post

IDF sources said the decision to allow navy vessels to sail through the canal was made recently and was a definite "change of policy" within the service. In 2005, then OC Navy Adm. David Ben-Bashat decided to stop sending Israeli ships through the canal due to growing threats in the area.

However, the Dolphin-class submarine sailed through last month to get from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Israeli officials said it passed through the canal above water, and that it was not done covertly.

That's the second biggest robot rat I've ever seen

Robot rescue "rat" feels its way through rubble - video

I like robots, I like rats, so put them together and I'm bound to be impressed. Well, more or less. (Needs more cuteness.)

Australian ex-pats killed

It's the tragic, and largely unknown, story of hundreds of Australians living in Nevada, of all places, being senselessly slaughtered in a raid in 2003.

Mind you, it appears many of them were being fed cow manure, probably completely without their knowledge, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.

Reading recommendation

I have my doubts that Andrew Bolt goes off looking for rebuttal of climate skeptics' statements, but if he did, he should visit this one at Real Climate regarding Roger Pielke Snr's recent claims, to which AB was happy to link.

The truth about Al Franken

I get the feeling that the Weekly World News does not get the attention it deserves. People just get sick of too many poorly photoshopped "alien meets President" photos, I guess, and read The Onion for parody now instead.

But some of the writing still seems to me to be pretty funny, such as this piece (even if it does have a distinctly Colbert ring about it):

In a private ceremony involving robes and jasmine scented aromatherapy candles, Franken was sworn in as a Democrat with his right hand placed on the original hand-written Communist Manifesto, and standing atop a Bible. While waving olive branches, the assembled Democrats watched as Nancy Pelosi branded him with the words “Peace at Any Cost.”

Now Al Franken will have all the perks of the upper echelons of the Democratic Party. He will have access to the Democrat Library, which includes all the war plans of Jimmy Carter and the actual Kenyan birth certificate of Barack Obama. He also received a Democrat Decoder Ring, which also gives him a 20% discount at Pottery Barn.

As a Senator, Franken will now be instrumental to the Democratic Party. His presence grants them a filibuster-proof “Super-Majority.” Franken’s win in the Minnesota Courts places the Democrats even closer to pushing through strong reforms they’ve been looking forward, to like European-style Socialism, sex education in kindergarten and mandatory gay marriage.

When asked for comment, Franken said, “I’m glad that my presence will help turn America into what it needs to be: Europe.”

On a more serious note, the Christian Science Monitor points this out:

It's better for Democrats than 59. But a Senate supermajority didn't much help the last president to have one: Jimmy Carter.

Novel way to avoid Jehovah's Witnesses

Frogs found living in elephant dung

Convenient for the man, that is...

Gulfnews: Controversial marriage proves convenient option

In a misyar marriage, the wife willingly waives the rights to live with her husband in a house provided by him and to get alimony when they are divorced.

This marriage complies with the basic pillars of marriage in Sharia, said Mahmoud Ashour, a Muslim cleric at Al Azhar....

Historically, misyar was adopted as an option for men who travelled extensively.

Part of the problem

I know nothing about anthropologist Peter Sutton, who appeared on The 7.30 Report tonight discussing indigenous community problems. It was hard to avoid the impression that he has at least a little bit of guilt about the role he and his like-minded baby boomers played in encouraging remote area aborigines to not assimilate (oh, sorry, we don't say "assimilate" now, we say "modernise") which has led to the disastrous situations they find themselves in today. Here's a key section:

KERRY O'BRIEN: How have you changed your views in 40 years? How dramatically have you changed your views in 40 years?

PETER SUTTON: Quite dramatically because I was of that generation of people living in remote communities who aided and promoted and took part in things like decentralisation back to outstations in the bush, who promoted cultural traditionalism and supported it where they saw it, took on interest in it, recorded it, filmed it or whatever. And there was a sort of an army of baby boomers, really, who spread out across the outback from the late '60s onwards who I think played a fairly significant role, among other people of course, and I was one of those, that cadre of people who were involved in that. For us, culture was absolutely central, cultural preservation and preservation of knowledge of the bush and of places was absolutely central.

Now, I really think we have to start with three-year-old children, what's essential for them. If it works for them, that's the way to go. If it doesn't work for them, no matter how much it might be about keeping some cultural practice going, the practice needs to be questioned and people need to work out whether they're going to drop it or not.

By the way, do anthropologists like him only feel "safe" to espouse views which common sense conservatives have held for years when there is not a conservative government in power? (The reason being that they don't want to face the criticism of their mates that they are siding with something like the Howard government?) Just a theory...

Only works if everyone owns a mobile phone

Germany's Green Idea: Streetlights on Demand - TIME

Every night at 11 p.m. the village of Dörentrup in central Germany is thrown into total darkness. For the past few years, the village's cash-strapped local council has been switching off all the streetlights in the village each evening until 6 a.m. the following morning. In most places, a nightly blackout would provoke outrage as residents find themselves fumbling and stumbling their way home through the dark. But in Dörentrup, they have seen the light, with a new scheme that allows residents to turn on streetlights on demand — anytime, anywhere — using just their cell phones.

Sort of a neat energy saving idea, except my dislike of mobile phones means I don't like schemes that only work if you have one.

Helps explain vampires' longevity...

Biological 'Fountain Of Youth' Found In New World Bat Caves

More than you needed to know

Pedophiles, Hebephiles, and Ephebophiles, Oh My: Erotic Age Orientation: Scientific American

Well, Michael Jackson would presumably not be pleased to see that his death has led to a detailed discussion of pedophilia in Scientific American.

The column is by Jesse Bering, who is gay and tends to spend a lot of time writing on issues of sexuality, always with a gay sympathetic viewpoint, of course.

I for one did not know there were so many possible names for sexual interest in those of certain ages:

If Jackson did fall outside the norm in his “erotic age orientation”—and we may never know if he did—he was almost certainly what’s called a hebephile, a newly proposed diagnostic classification in which people display a sexual preference for children at the cusp of puberty, between the ages of, roughly, 11 to 14 years of age. Pedophiles, in contrast, show a sexual preference for clearly prepubescent children. There are also ephebophiles (from ephebos, meaning “one arrived at puberty” in Greek), who are mostly attracted to 15- to 16-year-olds; teleiophiles (from teleios, meaning, “full grown” in Greek), who prefer those 17 years of age or older); and even the very rare gerontophile (from gerontos, meaning “old man” in Greek), someone whose sexual preference is for the elderly. So although child sex offenders are often lumped into the single classification of pedophilia, biologically speaking it’s a rather complicated affair. Some have even proposed an additional subcategory of pedophilia, “infantophilia,” to distinguish those individuals most intensely attracted to children below six years of age.

The column is of interest, as it notes there is currently controversy in the psychiatric profession as to whether hebephilia should be counted as a medical disorder.

In that context it talks about one of those studies where the male subjects' sexual response to certain stimuli is tested by "phallometric testing":

Because this technique measures penile blood volume changes, it’s seen as being a fairly objective index of sexual arousal to what’s being shown on the screen—which, for those attracted to children and young adolescents, the participant might verbally deny being attracted to.

I don't know: this type of study has always sounded to me like it could have a very large "false positive" rate. At least for younger men, there's going to be some instances during the test of "increased blood volume changes" which are not necessarily related to the particular stimulus.

Anyway, according to the research:

...it’s possible to distinguish empirically between a “true pedophile” and a hebephile using this technique, in terms of the age ranges for which men exhibited their strongest arousal. They also conclude that, based on the findings from this study, hebephilia “is relatively common compared with other forms of erotic interest in children.”

Bering makes the point that it probably makes evolutionary sense that older men should have some attraction to pubescent teenage girls. Yet, he does admit that the reason some older gay men are attracted to teenage boys is harder to fathom.

Anyhow, some comments following the article think that Bering is setting up excuses for those with an interest in sex with youngsters. I don't think he necessarily is, even when he points out that it seems that society will forgive the artistic type for their sexual activities with youth more readily than they will if the guy is an unkempt lower class loser with the same interests.

All interesting reading, in any event.

UPDATE: readers wishing to conduct their own phallometric test are recommended to visit here.

Not convinced

Technology Review: Carbon Trading on the Cheap

This article about the inadequacies in the US carbon trading scheme (yet to pass the Senate) probably doesn't make any new points that haven't been canvassed elsewhere, but it's not a bad summary.

I remain somewhat puzzled as to why so many economists think it's a great idea when the system in its trial European version showed so many problems.

Yet everyone from John Quiggin, Harry Clarke and even Monbiot (sorry, no time to provide the links yet) have come out saying it's a good thing overall. Monbiot's attitude is perhaps the oddest, as he spends the first half of the article completely rubbishing its ineffectiveness.

Still, the attitude seems to be "it's better to have at least the bones of a system in place, it can always be improved in the future". In other words, they think it is good to have the gesture, even if everyone knows it won't make a real difference. But what is the evidence that such improvements will ever be politically "do-able".

I am not convinced at all. As the Technology Review article says:

Surveys of business leaders suggest that they will not seriously reconsider the way they use energy until the price of carbon exceeds 30 euros per ton. The late Dennis Anderson, a professor of energy and environmental studies at London's Imperial College, concluded in 2007 that significant change will come only when carbon prices "move to the upper end" of a range that he put at 40 to 80 euros per ton. Anderson estimated that the 40-euro threshold would have to be met to make onshore wind farms and nuclear power a better investment than natural-gas or coal-fired power plants, while prices would have to approach 80 euros to make carbon capture and storage worthwhile. Even higher prices would be needed to make solar and offshore wind economical.

Economists at the International Energy Agency have recently calculated that holding global warming to a reasonable level would require an annual investment of $1.1 trillion per year. And it would require a $200 per ton price on carbon, said the IEA, to drive the necessary innovation.

And the current price:

Global recession is now undermining the second phase of the trading system, which started last year. The European Union set the cap for the 2008-2012 period at 6.5 percent lower than the cap for the trial period. Trading volumes initially exploded, according to Point Carbon. But the rally proved short-lived. The EUA price slid to an average of just 11 euros in the first quarter of 2009, as manufacturing slowed in the face of the recession.

The faltering trading scheme may be doing real harm.

11 euros is about $15 US dollars.

I know the ability of the market to determine the price depending on economic circumstances is sold as a benefit. But it's a funny kind of market if you have to keep fiddling with how it works to get it to realistically reflect the price that is really needed to drive investment in new power production.

As I said, not convinced...

Newly revealed hazard

In an Online Opinion article today, which is mainly a complaint about Catholic attitudes towards the Gardasil vaccine, this interesting bit of information appears:

Research presented this month at the American Society of Clinical Oncology has confirmed that HPV-16 does not only cause cervical cancer. It also causes throat cancer in both men and women. This means that Gardasil may play an important role in preventing cancer in male populations.

Researchers led by Farshid Dayyani at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas, found that people who tested positive to HPV-16 were 58 times more likely to have throat cancer compared to those who had no history of having the virus.

Research has also shown that the virus is transmitted through fellatio and cunnilingus, and that both men and women who have performed oral sex on five or more partners (of either sex) are at a significantly higher risk of developing throat cancer. So much so, that they are considered to be at more risk than those who smoke or drink heavily.

I'm surprised I haven't read this elsewhere. I need to use Google alerts more, although it would be slightly embarrassing to set one up for the terms needed to catch this story.

Slate ponders Japan

Why does Japan, the world's most efficient economy, have so many elevator operators and gas station attendants?

This article talks about one contradictory thing (amongst several, I suppose) that is very noticeable about Japan.

I like this joke in particular:

Late last week, I visited Toyota's astonishing Tsutsumi auto plant, near the car company's headquarters in Toyoda City. With a capacity of 400,000 vehicles per year—this is where the Prius is made—it's clean, bright, full of erector-set conveyer belts, and thinly staffed. The welding shop is like a scene from The Terminator—a thicket of robots extend their arms, moving large pieces of metal and blasting them with shots of heat. (The section where robots stamp "Obama '08" and "NPR" bumper stickers on the hybrid vehicles must have been around the corner.)

Plimer's oceans (and why salmon matter more than you think)

When it first came out, I was led to believe by a radio interview that Ian Plimer's "Heaven + Earth" did not address ocean acidification in detail.

It turns out that was a mistake. Someone at Marohasy's blog, where I occasionally enter the fray, pointed out that Plimer had a section of about 8 pages (from memory) on the topic.

Over the weekend, I was in Adelaide (travelogue post to come) and was able to browse quickly through Plimer's book in the Museum of South Australia bookshop. (!) Indeed, he does address the topic, but from my quick look, I am certain that a very thorough Fisking of that section could easily be done by anyone who has actually read things such as the Royal Society 2005 paper.

However, there's no way I am forking out $40 for the privilege of doing that.

If anyone knows how I could get my hands of those pages from the book, I would be happy to hear from you.

[Now for my attempt to be "fair and balanced", just like my favourite TV news network. (Well, I do like quite a lot of it.) It is definitely the case that popular media reporting of ocean acidification is increasingly using terms which suggest that the ocean will actually become acid in future. This is completely misleading and inaccurate, but it gives Plimer a straw man to complain about. (By the way, I could see from my quick browse of his book that Plimer spends a lot of time repeating what he briefly says in that link, namely, that the oceans can't go acidic. Yes, Ian, we know that.)

The scientific concern has never been that humans burning carbon can turn the oceans' .pH from the alkaline side of the scale into acid. Rather, the reduced alkalinity alone has sufficient effect on the ocean's carbonate chemistry to have effects on its ecology. There's no way the ocean is going to go completely sterile, but the worry is that pretty damned big changes are underway, as has happened in the past.*

I can understand Plimer and the skeptics being annoyed at the way the media is reporting it, but by the same token, it is disingenuous of him to spend time arguing how the oceans cannot "turn into acid" when that was never the issue.]

* I heard for the first time, in a recent nature documentary on the ABC about the salmon breeding cycle in North America, about how the massive number of salmon that die far inland after spawning are now believed to provide a lot of the nitrogen that the huge conifers there need to grow. So, it would seem a reasonable assumption that, if future acidification reduces salmon food and decreases that population, the coastal forests of North America are going to suffer in the long run too. It's a good example of why it is prudent not to just take the attitude that the ocean ecology will sort itself out and we don't have to worry about it.

Back, but....

I'm back, but slowly circling the blog, waiting for inspiration.

There seems to be a fair bit of blogging abandonment by conservative Aussies lately, but my own idiosyncratic corner of opinion (conservative yet taking CO2 seriously, an abiding distrust of horses and cats but a fondness for rats, making sure that the LHC really isn't going to blow up Switzerland) is so certain never to be replicated anywhere else, I feel an obligation to protect this endangered cyber-thing.

End of financial year madness

I get busy this time of year. Back on about 30 June.

First there was the Urban Sombrero, now..

Urban Camping by import.export

This would have to be the silliest design concept I have seen in a long time.

(And imagine being in the top ten during a thunderstorm. Lightning, please hit me.)

Another dint in the "aborigines lived in harmony with nature for 40,000 years" story

New evidence in giant roo extinction

Researchers have found more evidence that hunting by humans may have caused the extinction of the giant kangaroo.

The giant kangaroo measured two metres in height and was wiped out about 40,000 years ago.

It was previously thought that climate change and land burn-off led to the extinction of the mammal, but researchers at Flinders University say this is not so.

Comparisons noted

AIDS denial: A lethal delusion - health - 22 June 2009 - New Scientist

Here's an interesting article on the history of HIV/AIDS denialism.

The story does have some parallels to global warming skepticism: there are a few scientists out of thousands who believe they have identified the truth, and that everyone else is wrong and just won't admit it because of self interest. Their work is not usually directly in the field of HIV research, rather they critique the work of the "believers".

As I have also said in the past, skeptics should remember the number of engineers and other science types who are 9/11 conspiracists.

And I make this post with my usual reminder that my position is that, even if warming is not proceeding at a dangerous pace, ocean acidification alone is reason to reduce CO2.

Puffed up outrage, indeed

OK, so Malcolm Turnbull over-reached. But, after seeing Kevin Rudd and him on 7.30 Report last night, I still come away thinking that Rudd's counter over-reach does his image no great help either.

What is wrong with Rudd? Annabel Crabb called his performance "puffed up outrage", as indeed was, but it did seem to me that Rudd was also taking it excessively personally. (Maybe that is an artefact of repeated performances during the day: pretend something long enough and you can really start to believe it.) It had something of a "glass jaw" air about it to me: how dare Turnbull call for my resignation [left unsaid: just because a public servant felt he was under pressure from my office to help someone special to me.]

Turnbull, on the other hand, did not seem to me to be deathly worried about it killing his leadership. He even managed to smile once or twice. (I take it from Turnbull's demeanour that he is not worried about the prospect that his own former adviser created the email, which was the rumour reported yesterday.)

Turnbull clearly comes across as having a barrister's style, which can be off putting at times, but elements of a likeable character seem to come through occasionally. As for Rudd, I still don't think anyone outside of his family likes him. (I guess people could say that Howard did not have seem to have a big circle of friends either, but I would still put him down as having a much more genuine public persona than Rudd.)

I think it was clear that even Kerry O'Brien knew Rudd was over-reacting, and for once, Kerry seemed a tad sharp in his handling of him.

Michelle Grattan's commentary on this seems pretty reasonable. (Short version: Turnbull's attack was not without justification as of 3 days ago.)

Of course, Turnbull's future probably does depend on more revelations about the origin of the email, and whether there were any grounds on the face of it to indicate fraud.

UPDATE: I saw Skynews Agenda program on this last night, with its regular commentators Grahame Morris (old Howard chief of staff) and Bruce Hawker (don't know who he worked for, but he's the Labor guy.)

I am sure it is not just my conservative bias that leads me to say this, but I have always found that Bruce Hawker is a complete bore as a commentator as he only ever recites the current Labor spin. You know exactly what he will say, and he will never, ever, concede harm to Labor in anything they do.

Morris, on the other hand, does show independence of thought, and is always much more open to admitting harm to his side of politics. He comes across as much more than a mere mouthpiece for the party he used to work for.

Late night wars

Who will have the final say in the clash of America’s TV chat kings?

According to The Independent, Conan O'Brien has lost ratings badly on The Tonight Show.

I haven't seen much of it, but from what I did see, I thought he was making the transition pretty well. Certainly much better than Jimmy Fallon, who I think is hopeless in the O'Briens former, later night, role.

I thought this segment from a couple of weeks ago was pretty funny. (Part 2 is here.)

Oh....

Economist puts dent in optimism: bigger crash is coming - ABC News

I must admit, while I understand little about economics in detail, my common sense take on it all makes me share this guy's skepticism that the worst is over.

Interesting photo

U.S. Fortifies Hawaii to Meet Threat From Korea - WSJ.com

Have a look at the photo in the article of a Boeing floating radar. Looks very suitable as a Bond villain's lair, I think.

Swiss suicide service - open for all

Suicide clinic challenged over patients who could have lived 'for decades' | Society | The Guardian

Questionable fashion

In Venice, Peter Greenaway Takes Veronese’s Figures Out to Play - NYTimes.com

Well what d'ya know, Peter Greenaway is still working, although now (thank heavens) it's only on an arty video installation, and not a movie. The article is perhaps most notable, however, for the photo of Greenaway wearing what appears to be a large pink towel as a scarf or something. Very odd.

While we're talking fashion (and, quite possibly, this is the first time this blog has ever done so,) the NYT also has an article on "innovative" men's fashion from Korea, yet it has no photos. (It does mention a blog called "Your boyhood", which seems a good name to look up at work if you want to be suspected as a pedophile.)

Well that's odd, I just looked at that blog for you, and it features more women than men. Well, I think they are women, anyway.

Finally, David Mitchell has some funny things to say about fashion (and controversy in England over wheelie bins - of all things) in his piece in The Guardian.

Cool space suit

Space Suits Past and Future | Space Exploration | Air & Space Magazine

If you want relief from politics, and you're a secret space geek, you could much worse than read the above interview with an 80 year old space suit designer who is still working. (Make sure you go to the video gallery link too and watch him put his 1960's design super flexible suit through its paces. Unfortunately, the suit never flew.)

The ute, the car dealer, his pals and an email

Tim Blair has all the details covered, but here are some questions unanswered:

* what exactly are the Federal Police going to be investigating if there is no "hard copy" of an email to produce? That someone told News Limited and/or Turnbull that there was an email? Why would the journalist even co-operate in identifying his source? Seems to me to another clear case of a dead-end investigation before it even starts.

* If it is a fake email, what are the odds that it would be faked and then have its existence supported by Godwin? Very peculiar.

* will it come out that (when poor old Godwin Grech is questioned by the Auditor General or the AFP) that he may have mistaken a fax for an email?

* where's the outrage from those like the Larvatus Prodeo crowd over the clear obstructionism of Godwin's boss in the Senate hearing? (See Insiders for compilation of that when they get their video up.) If that had happened under Howard, we would be hearing about corruption of the public service for weeks.

Instead, most LP commenters are running completely with the Rudd line that it is Turnbull who must resign. No curiosity about Godwin's recollection lining up with a "fake" document at all.

* I still suspect that Rudd's overly intense denial in Parliament when this originally came up is due to him knowing that he office may have made unofficial queries regarding Grant, and his relief when they confirmed they had not done it in writing.

Good news for men

Prostate cancer victims cured with ipilimumab - Times Online

TWO men with advanced, inoperable prostate cancer have dramatically recovered after being treated with an experimental drug. Both are cancer-free and have returned to normal life.

The patients, Rodger Nelson and Fructuoso Solano-Revuelta, took part in US trials of a drug called ipilimumab. The researchers were so excited by the men’s recovery that they released details before completion of the tests, which involved 108 men in all.

Before treatment at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, both men had aggressive tumours and neither was expected to survive.

How to make your guests sick

US couple to have world's first weightless wedding - New Scientist

I guess we'll be seeing footage of this on the news soon.

UPDATE: the wedding photo can be seen here.

Sorry, but JJ Abrams just cannot direct for a big screen

Three years ago, I complained about JJ Abram's claustrophobic direction style in Mission Impossible 3. I just got back from the Star Trek movie, and I reckon Abrams hasn't learnt a thing. Everything I said in 2006 still stands:

It seems he is inordinately fond of close to medium length shots, where it looks like the camera is no more than a few meters from the actors.

This is fine for some sequences, where it can help rack up the tension, especially in the opening scene. But after 30 minutes or so, I really found myself wondering why this movie was shot so tight for so long. Especially during the action sequences, I longed for wider shots to make better sense of what was going on around Cruise.

There is also a quasi-handheld sort of style for all of the action sequences. It's not exactly jittery, but I did start longing for smoother camera movement in many sequences, and less choppy editing.

The point is, he simply seems to insist on composing shots like he's shooting TV (in fact, for TV of 20 years ago before it went all supersize and widescreen.) Longer shots are never held for very long before it's back to giant faces filling the screen. I swear, any actress with concerns about the size of her pores ought to avoid working him at all costs.

Why do so few critics seem to notice this? Why doesn't crap editing of action sequences (again in abundant evidence here) get up more noses? Full marks to Jim Schembri in The Age though for saying it clear:

... Star Trek sports some of the worst cinematography ever featured in a blockbuster as crash zooms, swish pans and epileptic-like editing reduce many of the action scenes to indistinct blurs.

Did I enjoy it despite this? Well, it was just OK. The actors did pretty well, but sadly I did not find the story particularly innovative or touching. (Bryan Appleyard found himself tearing up during it. I am sure medication could help.)

But the main lesson is: keep Abrams away from that widescreen format.

Nice

New Narnia film to be shot in Qld - ABC News

I can become the world's oldest Narnia groupie, hanging around outside the studios waiting to see Reepicheep arrive.

Actually, if the live action Peter Pan movie of a few years ago is any guide, the Queensland studios are definitely up to producing big budget, good looking films. (It really was very good in all respects, that version of Peter Pan.)

Carbon capture skepticism

CCS is in the same league as fusion power : The Energy Grid

Not exactly consistent with Marxism

McDonald's Europe seeks to raise farming standards | Green Business | Reuters

Restaurant chain McDonald's Europe launched a farming program on Thursday which could lead to cows getting weekly foot baths...

"Would Madam like a buff and polish too?"

Opportunity spotted

Editor quits after journal accepts bogus science article | Education | guardian.co.uk

The article raises the issue of the quality of "open access" yet (allegedly) peer reviewed on-line journals. It ends with this:

Alex Williamson, a former publishing director of the British Medical Journal – partly open access and partly run on subscriptions – said: "There is a whole range in the quality of journals. Some that are open access are extremely good. There are a lot of awful ones, and these are probably more likely to be open access journals. Any idiot can start a journal on the web."

I'm now open to suggestions for titles for my new on-line, pay-to-be-published, peer-reviewed-by-someone-who-emails-me-a-copy-of-their-diploma journal.

Possible proof of Intelligent Design

Observatory - A Plant That Thrives When Used as a Toilet

...Nepenthes lowii, a pitcher plant found in Borneo...gets its nutrition not from insects but from tree shrews, which use the plant as a toilet....

You have to see the photo in the article to get the full idea, but I like this comment too:

Tree shrews visit the plants to eat nectar that oozes from the bowl’s open lid, positioning themselves directly over the bowl. “Form follows function,” Dr. Moran said. N. lowii’s bowls “even look like toilets,” he added, “though we were too polite to say that in the paper.”

Fig leaf solar

Solar Credits – just bad policy! � BraveNewClimate.com

It's all rather hard to follow, but the point of this post seems to be that people are being entirely conned if they think going solar is, under the current Government system, doing anything at all to reduce greenhouse gases.

Animatronic newsreader leaves

Broom sweeps through Channel Nine as Bruce Paige quits | The Courier-Mail

I'll again abandon the usual wisdom of not saying anything if there's nothing nice to say, but I just wanted to comment that Channel 9 in Brisbane seems to have an exceptional ability to find incredibly dull, robot-like newsreaders, and then keep them on the payroll for incredibly long periods.

Remember Don Secombe anyone? I don't think there has been a blander, more somnolent looking newsreader on the face of the earth, yet he was just there at 6pm every night for decades.

Now, his close-to-equally-dopey-eyed successor is finally retiring.

They make you wish for a Ted Baxter.

An unusually explicit and long post

What're the chances I would like an art-house film by a gay director featuring graphic, there's-no-faking-that depictions of various forms of sexual activity, a significant proportion of it being gay or bisexual and much of it in group scenes? If you guessed "next to nil", you would be right, but last week I tested the waters of modern film critical zeitgiest by watching Shortbus when it turned up on cable TV.

The movie got a significant number of good reviews from credible critics, including our very own David Stratton. A lot of those reviews commented favourably on the liberal attitude to sex. (Stratton and Pomeranz commented on the "exuberance" and lack of inhibition, and called it "lovely". Would they give an X rated DVD high marks for the same qualities?)

But of course, from the Cynics of Greece to Catherine Deveny, there are always people who think that everyone else is just, you know, too hung up about sex. At least the 21st century can be thankful that Deveny hasn't taken to living on the street in a barrel and engaging in self pleasuring when the feeling arises. Not yet, anyway.

Of course, those who are the most forthright advocates against sexual jealousy and continence are usually the ones who leave behind them a bitter trail of unhappy and used former partners. (Bertrand Russell, Sartre and a whole swathe of poets come to mind.) Or if they are like the late politician/old age hippy Jim Cairns, their alleged belief in "honesty" in sexual relationships does not extend to being above lying about their sex life in court to make a profit.

Anyhow, I slightly digress. I didn't see every minute of the film; I missed the first few but still saw the one extremely graphic and icky sex act that didn't really seem to make any sense in terms of later plot at all. Here are some other thoughts about it the movie:

1. It's appallingly bad. Just had to get that out of the way first.

2. What is wrong with critics these days? As far as I can see, none of them question any more whether real sex should appear in mainstream cinema. It's true, quiet a few said that the sex in this one did not make it into a good movie; but few seem to question the wisdom or practical consequence of having actors having sex on screen when the product is not intended to be pornographic.

Because, let's face it, when the average audience sees the sex is real, it inevitably jars them out of the normal experience of watching a story.

It's a bit contradictory that this happens, I suppose: if you want an audience to really believe in a fictional sexual relationship, it's best to fake it on screen. But for nearly everyone, there's a natural tendancy towards modesty about the act - and breaching that for the mere sake of storytelling just seems an inadequate excuse. (People forgive porn stars more readily - at least that purpose can only be served by the immodesty.)

The cinematic real-sex taboo was broken a long time ago, most famously by In the Realm of the Senses in the mid 70's. (The plot of that film screams art-house with a capital "A".) But I see there is a Wikipedia entry listing every "mainstream" movie which has featured the real thing. That's handy, because it helps me make the point that there is not, it would seem, any significant audience for explicit real sex in mainstream film. So why do it?

Should I allow for the fact that some viewers say that they have been strongly emotionally affected by a fictional movie involving real sex? (I recall that Margaret Pomeranz went all incoherent once when trying to explain how strong her reaction was In the Realm of the Senses.) Well, if cinema involving acted sex had never been emotionally affecting, they might have a point, but that's clearly not the case.

No, I say: get over it, art-house lovers; you don't need to see real sex. Public sex is hardly dignified, otherwise I assume you'd be doing it yourself. Fake sex is at least a bit more dignified than real. Just because the ground's been broken doesn't mean it has to be done again. In fact, most movies featuring it have been far from critical or commercial successes.

3. Let's ignore the real sex issue for a while and look at the logic of the story itself. The main plot-line is probably the one about a gay couple having a relationship crisis. One of the guys has been depressed for a long time. Unknown to both of them, a gay man in the adjoining building has been longingly watching them have sex through the window for months too. (Despite New York gay couples usually having a high disposable income, it would seem they cannot afford curtains.)

The couple together try having sex with another young guy they meet at this orgy saloon known as Shortbus. (I actually missed the reason that the couple were attendees at this place. But then again, it never really made sense why any of them were there. I can't help but imagine that a venue with lots of public sex taking place while others sit around clothed, chatting or listening to music would be anything other than a smelly, unpleasant place to be with more than its fair share of somewhat scary clientele.)

Anyway, threesome sex with the young guy doesn't cure the sad one's depression. At some point, we learn he (the depressed one) used to be a young male prostitute.

On making a suicide attempt, the voyeuristic neighbour rescues the depressed guy who soon ends up in his rescuer's apartment. The depressive says he can't feel the love of his partner. It "stops at his skin." (So far so logical: it is not surprising that an ex-prostitute should have self esteem issues which makes it hard for him to "feel" loved.)

Yet, how do you think our hero will find his apparent cure? If you said "by having (for the first time) receptive anal sex with the kindly voyeur neighbour that he has talked to for 10 minutes" you would win some kind of award for being able to guess stupid gay libertine plot resolution devices. (Thankfully, though, this is one point where the sex is not explicit.)

As a plot device, it reminded me a little of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, where the young guy is temporarily cured of his stuttering by losing his virginity. I still find that a pretty risible, corny idea. But that's got nothing on a gay man who's had umpteen orgasms with heaps of lovers just having to have the right type of sex with a virtual stranger to be able to love his partner.

It is, I suppose, a uber-gay idea if ever there was one.

Anyway, our "hero" is better now, goes back to his boyfriend, where they make yet another trip to the local orgy salon for some groping in public again, relationship cured. (And then the movie ends with a ridiculous finale that involves a song with the line "we all get it in the end" and a band marching in amongst the writhing bodies. It was sort of like a Benny Hill version of Queen's "I want to break free" video clip.)

I don't care what your sexual orientation is: if that's not trite, implausible psycho-sexual storytelling, I don't know what is. I was so glad all the sex on screen had a worthwhile moral. (Sarcasm, that last line.)

Catholics get criticised all the time for worrying too much about sex. At least they don't (or shouldn't!) put it on the silly quasi-Freudian pedestal that this storyline indicates gay liberals believe in. (We also like to remember that it has something to do with reproduction.)

4. The other main storyline is about a female sex therapist who cannot achieve orgasm with her husband, despite his best efforts. Guess what. (No prizes for this one.) By the end of the film she's on her way to sexual happiness by leaving her husband and entering into the new world of bisexual casual fun at the orgy venue.

This woman's character never struck me as particularly sympathetic or pleasant. In the middle of the movie she is involved in an extended bit of ostensible comedy (I won't bother describing it) that was simply stupid and puerile.

5. Another subplot involves a somewhat sympathetically played dominatrix who doesn't like her work anymore. Yet, if I am not mistaken, she's the one left hanging at the end with no obvious resolution of her unhappy situation.

If you ask me, the entire movie is based on a liberal wish fulfilment fantasy in which innovative sex with nice strangers will cure most psychological/emotional ills.

I reckon sensible people of all persuasions, particularly if they have known someone who has actively pursued a highly libertine lifestyle, know this is just about 99% crap, but the idea of sex as therapy is one that keeps getting revived over the years, probably because sex is physically enjoyable and people like to imagine justifications to have lots of it.

That a gay director and bunch of exhibitionist actors may believe this is one thing: that a majority of movie critics don't call him out on it is another.

The only redeeming feature of such a film is that not many people will have seen it. I think I actually get more upset by Sex in the City by virtue of its capacity to do harm to the population's attitude towards sex en masse.

Yet, when you visit IMDB, you'll see lots of comments praising the film to death (although a fair smattering of loathing turns up too.) This is another useful function such a picture serves: it's sort of a barometer for being able to tell which people have exactly a 180 degree opposite world view from yourself. That's assuming, of course, that you're prepared to say over a beer to the bloke you've just met at a party "geez, what did you think of that gay movie Shortbus, what a crock, hey?" Mmm, might not work so well after all.

Mini-golf made useful

Golfing Through the Stratosphere - NYTimes.com

Go have a look at the coolest looking, physics-teaching mini-golf course in the world.

Large Hadron Collider delays

Experimental HEP News - Not Even Wrong

Hmm. Sounds to me like there is a distinct possibility that the LHC is not going to have its teething issues sorted by the end of this year after all.

My pet theory that this was sabotaged from the future still stands.

Meanwhile, in Bahrain

Gulfnews: Bahraini woman jailed for kissing in public

A Bahrain woman was jailed for 20 days after she kissed a Bahraini man in public and got into an argument with the police.

The couple was caught by a police patrol as they were getting intimate inside a car, according to the court papers. However, when the police wanted to arrest them for "indecent behaviour in public", the woman shouted at one of the officers, saying that what she and the man were doing was "none of their business".

She was eventually arrested and the Lower Criminal Court convicted her of public indecency and insulting a policeman carrying out his duties. The Bahraini man is being tried separately.

I hope they report his sentence.

Do not just read Bolt on climate

Oh dear. Andrew Bolt has recently taken to citing (alleged) cooling oceans as a reason for not believing in AGW.

If you are inclined to convinced by this, you should at the very least read this recent post at Skeptical Science which addresses the issue in detail and gives the "big picture" that skeptics like to leave out.

Skeptical Science is (fortunately) active again, and is an excellent resource for checking up on the claims of Bolt, Marohasy and their mates.

Personal parasite update

Are urban tapeworms on the rise?: Scientific American Blog

This story combines two of my interests: parasites and Japan!:

Once the bane of rural Japanese villagers, a paper in the June issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases reports on the spread of the the salmon tapeworm Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense. The parasite, which can reach lengths of 39 feet (12 meters), has been steadily increasing its global distribution and prevalence – mostly among yuppies with a hankering for sashimi and ceviche.

One hospital in Japan reported 14 cases last year, up from 3 cases in 2000. And starting in 2006, the tapeworm has been popping up for the first time in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, farm-raised salmon from South America have been plagued by a closely related tapeworm that normally infects perch and other freshwater fish.

An easy solution: cook your fish.

Speaking of parasites, my daughter came out of the toilet at McDonalds last week and announced loudly "There was a worm in my poo!" When I expressed doubt, she told me its head was moving and it was really true. She was not particularly bothered by the discovery; she was pretty excited in fact.

I am not sure what to do about this. I think it more likely to be a case of mistaken identity. The most common kid's intestinal worm in Australia is the threadworm, but I believe they are not so obvious, and she has none of the classic signs.

We are awaiting another sighting, this time at home.

Readers will be informed if positive identification is made. (I bet you're glad you read this blog....)

Hitchens on Iran

Don't call what happened in Iran last week an election. - Slate Magazine

A good column by Hitchens here, with this interesting anecdote:

Mention of the Lebanese elections impels me to pass on what I saw with my own eyes at a recent Hezbollah rally in south Beirut, Lebanon. In a large hall that featured the official attendance of a delegation from the Iranian Embassy, the most luridly displayed poster of the pro-Iranian party was a nuclear mushroom cloud! Underneath this telling symbol was a caption warning the "Zionists" of what lay in store.

Update: There was a very funny election analysis on The Daily Show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Irandecision 2009 - Election Results
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Newt Gingrich Unedited Interview

A must read review on Plimer

Heaven + Earth - review by David Karoly - Science Show

I reckon this is the most convincing anti-Plimer review that has come out thus far. Andrew Bolt and his followers should read it. (By the way, when I say "anti-Plimer," I mean against his arguments. The review is free of ad hominem attack.)

The fine Japanese tradition of .... sausage art

Ninja Sausage | kimonobox.com

Found via Japundit. The sausage flowers are particularly unfortunate.

Viewing recommendation

Engineering Connections, currently showing on SBS at 7.30 on Saturday evenings, is proving to be very enjoyable. Last week's episode covered everything you never thought to ask before about how they build the most gigantic North Sea gas rig. Have a look at a very short version here.

Oh. I see there is only episode left. Pity, for those of you who have missed it.

Best ever excuse for an embarrassing death

Carradine: Killed By "Kung Fu" Illuminatus?

The Return (details pending)

I am currently contemplating possible topics for a return post. It will either be about sex, engineering, Japan, the Illuminati, Kevin Rudd, ocean acidification, religion or the weather; or a combination of two or more of those themes*. Back soon.

* Tim. Exercise your creative skills and come up with a poem touching on all of those topics. Chop chop.

Just stop it

I need to stop posting for a while. Work is busy, some stuff will be happening at home, and I need to know that that I can exercise self control for a change. (I'm finding it really hard not to post lately, even though I know I should be spending more time catching up on work.)

I have also just passed the 4 year mark with this blog. Time does indeed fly.

Not sure how long this will take, but I absolutely, positively will not be posting for 14 days; that is, unless Kevin Rudd is caught in flagrante delicto with a member of cabinet, in which case I will come back here to laugh.

The modern Gnostics of St Mary's (in exile, not due back any time soon)

I should really stop watching the services from "St Mary's in exile", but they hold a sort of morbid fascination for seeing how far the self delusion of Peter Kennedy and his followers can go.

This is, remember, a congregation which thinks it's terribly unjust and unfair that they should be told by their Archbishop that they are outside of the Catholic Church.

Yet, in today's homily, (not in written form on their website yet, you have to watch the video from the 10 minute mark) we learned from Peter Kennedy that:

* "the jury is still out" as to whether Jesus really existed or not. If he did exist, he was nothing like the Catholic Church has traditionally told us he was like. But anyway, it doesn't really matter if he existed or not. Because:

* the early Christians were all Gnostics who didn't see Jesus as a real historical figure, but only as a metaphor for "awakening" (the awakening being that God is all, All is One; you know - that sort of mystical mystery stuff.)

* that Constantine and the Council of Nicea is what stuffed up the church by going all anti-Gnostic

* modern scientists say there are billions of galaxies (true) and billions of universes (highly speculative)

* that the term "relational matrix" is a cool one for "God"

* that the power of goodness keeps coming out of creation. (I suppose the "relational matrix" sees to that, but it certainly makes it rather unclear as to what Kennedy thinks of animal suffering and evolution.)

As I've said before, I'm no university educated expert on theology and the history of Christianity, but I know enough to be mightily irritated by Kennedy and Fitzpatrick's modus operandi, which is to take a grab bag of whatever bits and pieces of revisionist history, scriptural exegesis, modern physics and speculative science they have found of interest over the last 20 years, and preach it to their congregation as if it were not academically controversial, and not a clear repudiation of Catholic doctrine and teaching.

Every homily contains statements which are exaggerations, over-simplifications, or simply misleading; but if it appeared in one of Peter or Terry's favourite recent authors, they'll repeat it anyway.

I still can't work out Peter Kennedy. I don't understand why his congregation think so highly of him. While this may be unfair, he comes across to me as probably an overly emotional man (with this aspect accounting for what some people describe as his "spiritual" nature,) but a not particularly bright one who is easily swayed by whatever radical re-assessment of Christianity he has read last. It remains my conviction that he should have just left the priesthood early in his career and led a normal life, instead of just having the ersatz family he found by living with a priest who had a son.

But instead, he seems to have decided to make a career of deliberately encouraging people to follow into his mystical, Gnostic, quasi-Eastern mystery-based replacement religion for Catholicism, under the pretence that this was clearly the way of all early Christians before it was corrupted. Perhaps I am being unduly charitable in suggesting that it's all because he is not so bright; maybe there is an element of dishonesty in there too.

Surely some in his congregation are going to start saying to themselves soon "gee, I don't really know that we are Catholic anymore," or even "perhaps I should read some counterclaims to a lot of this stuff Peter goes on about." We can only hope.

UPDATE: I see that the St Mary's blog has linked to this post. Welcome, gnostic heretics!

I note that, since this post was written, there was a later sermon in which Peter Kennedy claimed that a lot of his recent ideas were from books that his congregation had suggested he read, so that it was more a case of the congregation had led him to these radical ideas, rather than the other way around.

Well then, my characterisation of Kennedy as leading his group into Gnosticism may be wrong, but it makes no difference to my key point that it is rather ridiculous for them to claim they are upset that the Archbishop should say they are not Catholic if their position is that the physical reality of Christ himself (not just his resurrection!) is neither here nor there.

Visitors may also be interested in my recent post regarding Karen Armstrong's new book on God. After all, someone has probably already handed a copy of it to Kennedy to read.

What's that big yellow thing in the sky, then?

Forecasts of 'barbecue summer' for UK come with health warning | UK news | The Observer

According to the Observer:

Temperatures could today reach their highest so far this year and Britain can expect to bask in the heat until Wednesday, say forecasters.

But doctors have warned that the spell of hot weather - which is likely to return throughout much of the summer, according to meteorologists - could ultimately trigger a rise in numbers of skin cancer cases unless care is taken by sunbathers.

And what exactly constitutes a spell of hot weather there?:

Yesterday, the Met Office said it expected temperatures would reach at least 23C (73F) throughout most of Britain.

"There is just a chance that it could top 26 degrees, which we experienced on Friday, and so make Sunday the hottest day of the year so far," added forecaster Andy Hobson.....

"The high temperatures and sunshine should last until Wednesday, when clouds will begin to build up over Britain," Hobson added.

Oh, from an Australian perspective, that's pathetic!

Please, donate to find a cure for Tim

This is pretty funny. As I noted earlier this week, Tim of Will Type for Food fame did not like Samson and Delilah, a new Australian film. Found it quite boring and tedious, and could not understand the critical acclaim.

Shortly after expressing this view, it won a prize at Cannes. It was Tim against the world.

Well, we all thought, Cannes is full of left leaning critics who, just like David Stratton and our local crowd, would warm to a film about the social problems plaguing Central Australian aborigines.

But today, conservative Andrew Bolt writes a kind of review praising the film too. In fact, he says it is "impeccably paced," yet the pacing seemed to be exactly the thing that Tim criticised.

Clearly, Tim is suffering from some unusual form of cognitive deficit. He needs treatment.

Given sufficient funds, I can imagine a sort of reverse Clockwork Orange treatment: strapped in a dentist's chair, eyes pried open, but this time injected with some pleasure inducing substance while re-watching the film, until he gets it, just like the rest of the world.

Either that or I should just go see it to reassure Tim that he is not wrong. I love pre-hating Australian films, after all.

Update: Alternatively, I suppose there could be a sort of failed critic's gulag set up, presumably in some location that is extremely boring so as to ensure that, when they are allowed to watch a tedious film again, it seems thrilling by comparison. Readers are free to suggest the most appropriate Australian location for such a camp. I'm thinking parts of South Australia, myself, although even the quietest town there still has the thrill of avoiding acid barrels.

How to get arrested in Dubai

Dubai dream jobs turn to nightmares | Business | News.com.au

Just work there.

JD's dating strategy

The bit about shared allergies really made me laugh:

Everyone needs a hobby...

While looking around for any blogs commenting about Peter Kennedy and this week's Australian Story, I found a Melbourne blogger who has this as the first line in his blog sub-title:

"My most present concern to-day is the denounciation of the extremes of pornography,i.e., BESTIALITY."

His occupation is "lay-theologian". Keeps him occupied, I guess.

"A slow motion time bomb"

Arctic thaw could prompt huge release of carbon dioxide : Nature News

It's all about what happens when permafrost stops being being permafrost:

Scientists have long debated how the global climate might be affected by thawing of the Arctic's permanently frozen soils, known as permafrost. When permafrost melts, microbes decompose organic matter in the soil, producing greenhouse gases. But when plants have access to warmer, deeper soils, they grow faster and take in carbon dioxide....

The study by Schuur and his colleagues, published today in Nature¹, shows that after 15 years of thaw, plants initially grow faster and take in more carbon than is released by the melting tundra, so the ecosystem is an overall carbon sink. But after a few decades, the balance shifts and the ecosystem becomes a source of carbon.

"The plants are growing faster, but after a few decades the rate of carbon loss from the soils is so high the plants can't keep up," says Schuur.

It's estimated that permafrost soils store about twice as much carbon than is currently present in the atmosphere², and the stores of carbon are unlikely to run out any time soon. "It's a slow-motion time bomb," says Schuur.

The end result:

Extrapolations of the experimental findings to the whole Arctic region suggest that CO₂ emissions from future permafrost thawing could be roughly a billion tonnes per year — of the same order of magnitude as emissions from current deforestation of the tropics. Burning of fossil fuels releases about 8.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ a year.

Note that the experiment also does not look at the release of methane, a much more powerful greenhouse gas, from ex-permafrost.

Polar ocean acidification on track?

Rate of Iceland Sea acidification from time series measurements

I haven't read any commentary on this bit of research into the measured drop in ocean pH around Iceland, but it sure sounds like it is in line with predications made about how the polar oceans will suffer first under ocean acidification from CO2. Here's the conclusion to the paper (bold is mine):

The anthropogenic increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide affects the Nordic Seas both at the surface and at depth. In the surface, the pH has decreased from 8.13 to 8.08 between 1985 and 2008, and the aragonite saturation (Ò), which is naturally low 10 anyway, decreased from 1.6 to 1.5 between 1985 and 2008. In the deep water, the pressure effect adds to the low temperature, and above the depths of about 1500 m, the aragonite saturation horizon is shoaling at a rate of about 4myr−1. This shoaling results from extensive vertical mixing which transmits atmospheric signatures to waters as deep as 1500m (Messias et al., 2008). Large areas of the benthos are thus 15 undergoing a rapid transition from being exposed to waters that are supersaturated to being exposed to waters that are undersaturated with respect to aragonite. There is an urgent need to clarify the effects of these changes on associated benthic ecosystems, especially at shallower depths, where the population of carbonate forming benthic biota are much greater.

Labor State loves coal

Clive Palmer announces Galilee Basin coal mine funding | The Courier-Mail

I'm sure I heard the Queensland Treasurer praising this new massive coal mine (on line in 2013) on the radio yesterday, but I can't find a link right now.

All about that dream (no, not that one)

Oxford don Mary Beard writes of her "great lecturing disasters", although they really don't seem so spectacular to me.

Of more interest is the fact that she opens with this:

Students (and ex-students) dream about exam disasters. I still occasionally wake up with the horror that I've just arrived in an exam room to find that it's the wrong paper (I've revised for Latin Literature, but it's Greek philosophy on the table).

I not sure to what extent I had previously realised that such dreams really are ubiquitous. Certainly, it seems that I'll have one of them a couple of times per year, but I don't recall ever talking to anyone else about them.

One of the comments refers people to this XKCD comic on the topic, which really captures the dreams perfectly. (Especially the line "I thought I had finished my requirements already." I know that used to be a common thought in my exam failure dreams.)

It seems rather curious that the sleeping mind keeps going back to this theme. Then again, leaving the house without pants doesn't seem a dream worthy of repetition either. Funny things, brains.

Update: incidentally, mine are always about tertiary education, never high school. For people who don't go to university, do they have these dreams about their last year of high school for the rest of their lives? Or are they free of them?

About Guantnamo

Guantanamo is not the hell-hole we imagine | Tim Reid - Times Online

A pretty interesting article here on Guantanamo by a guy who's seen it recently.

Chu catches up

It was noted at this very same vastly under-read blog you are now reading about 2 years ago, but Obama's "climate guru" Steven Chu has caught up with me and suggested that a lot can be achieved simply by painting roofs white. (OK, I was just reporting someone else's promotion of white, but all the same....)

Fuel cell for your home - available soon

CFCL_BlueGen_Launch_

Some time ago I had some posts about domestic fuel cells in Japan, which use natural gas. (I might even have mentioned this Australian company before too, but I don't have time to check right now.)

But while stumbling around the web today, I found the above link to just published marketing stuff about a new, Australian, modular fuel cell.

It certainly seems to make sense to me. Why do they never get much attention?

Great headline...

Jesus has doubts about his relationship with Madonna

Some interesting commentary on North Korea

And by "best possible response," I still mean a less-than-stellar response | Daniel W. Drezner

Try this article from Foreign Policy too.

Extreme vice-regal-ness

Canadian governor asks for tasty treat – raw seal heart

The Queen's representative in north America was visiting an Inuit community in Nunavut, in the Arctic, when a couple of dead seals were laid out before her in ­symbolic defiance of a looming EU ban on seal products. With an ulu blade, a traditional knife, she bent over one of the freshly killed seals and cut along its body. After firmly slicing through the flesh and pulling back the skin, she turned to the woman beside her and asked for a taste. "Could I try the heart?" she said.

A chunk of the organ was duly cut out and handed to Jean, who took a few bites, chewed on it and pronounced it good.

"It's like sushi," she said, according to the Canadian Press news agency. "And it's very rich in protein."

When Quentin Bryce does something like that, my respect for her will increase.

The Sistine Chapel - brought to you by Weber

Humans, the Cooking Apes - Review - NYTimes.com

“Catching Fire” is a plain-spoken and thoroughly gripping scientific essay that presents nothing less than a new theory of human evolution, one he calls “the cooking hypothesis,” one that Darwin (among others) simply missed. Apes began to morph into humans, and the species Homo erectus emerged some two million years ago, Mr. Wrangham argues, for one fundamental reason: We learned to tame fire and heat our food.

However, I'm not sure that we should be so keen on a theory if it means Gordon Ramsay is at the pinnacle of human evolution.

By the way, the book apparently does an excellent take down on the "raw food" movement:

He cites studies showing that a strict raw-foods diet cannot guarantee an adequate energy supply, and notes that, in one survey, 50 percent of the women on such a diet stopped menstruating. There is no way our human ancestors survived, much less reproduced, on it. He seems pleased to be able to report that raw diets make you urinate too often, and cause back and hip problems.

Dubai is Number 1

Report: Dubai Leads World in Price Declines - NYTimes.com

Dubai prices have dropped 32 percent in the last year and 40 percent in the last quarter, according to the latest edition of the Knight Frank Global House Price Index, released today.

Heh, heh, heh. Couldn't happen to a nicer country built on the back of poorly treated impoverished migrant labour.

Mind you, it appears they are (finally) doing something to help ensure workers get paid. Have a look at this link for a wage protection system that looks like it was designed by Barry Jones.

The wisdom of Hollywood (sarcasm mode)

Brooke Shields Regrets Not Losing Virginity Sooner - Brooke Shields : People.com

Oh yes, this is just the message young women need to hear: you don't like your body much? Have sex earlier, that'll help.

Thanks Brooke, but haven't you got something else to do?

A good news medical research story

Scientists cure paralysis in mice (ScienceAlert)

The research is from Western Australia, and indicates a possible cure for "floppy baby syndrome", which is one of those tragic diseases where the child is paralysed and usually dies while still a baby.

Spinning games

How Rudd spins the gallery | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Bolt is right: where's the lefty complaint (from the likes of David Marr) about the Rudd government intense manipulation of the media?

(More than one journalist on Mediawatch last night complained it was worse than the Howard government.)

In other Bolt related commentary: I find Gerard Henderson's defence of GG Quentin Bryce a little puzzling. The overtly political role of her African trip seems to me very different from other GG's visiting nations to support Australian activities. (I know there was some of that in Africa, but damn little as far as I could see.)

Henderson even calls Bryce a successful Queensland State govenor. Funny, but from up here, she attracted plenty of negative attention. It's worth remembering this quote, which was repeated in The Times:

"She's a control freak. She's all sweet and understanding in public, but in private it was a whole different ball game," one disgruntled former staff member told The Australian newspaper.

No wonder Kevin Rudd likes her!