What a sad episode of Foreign Correspondent last night, looking at the issue of Chinese kids, particularly in rural areas, left in the care of grandparents (or other relatives) while their parents move away for years at a time to work in city areas. And, of course, this does not always work out.
By the way, is it just me, or does it seem to others too that rancorous arguments within Chinese families sound like some of the nastiest you'll ever hear? It seems that if kid's don't live up to expectations, they'll be really demeaned for it.
Wednesday, September 07, 2016
Testing Prisma 4 - another filter
Tuesday, September 06, 2016
Well, this hardly seems fair...
Is sex in later years good for your health?: Having sex frequently - and enjoying it - puts older men at higher risk for heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems. For older women, however, good sex may actually lower the risk of hypertension.
That's according to the first large-scale study of how sex affects heart health in later life. The federally funded research, led by a Michigan State University scholar, is slated to be published online Sept. 6 in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
"These findings challenge the widely held assumption that sex brings uniform health benefits to everyone," said Hui Liu, MSU associate professor of sociology.
Liu and colleagues analyzed survey data from 2,204 people in the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project. Participants were aged 57-85 when the first wave of data was collected in 2005-06; another round of data was collected five years later. Cardiovascular risk was measured as hypertension, rapid heart rate, elevated C-reactive protein and general cardiovascular events: heart attack, heart failure and stroke.
Older men who had sex once a week or more were much more likely to experience cardiovascular events five years later than men who were sexually inactive, the study found. This risk was not found among older women.
"Strikingly, we find that having sex once a week or more puts older men at a risk for experiencing cardiovascular events that is almost two times greater than older men who are sexually inactive," said Liu. "Moreover, older men who found sex with their partner extremely pleasurable or satisfying had higher risk of cardiovascular events than men who did not feel so."
Fear of not dying
Apeirophobia: The Fear of Eternity - The Atlantic
What a great article here, about people who get all anxious and sweaty at the idea of living forever in heaven.
Just goes to show, there's no pleasing everyone.
The article does go on to explain, however, that it is related to the fear of infinity, or at least vastness, as explained in this paragraph:
But as for heaven: well, I think right from early childhood I've accepted the view that it's a basically unknowable thing: to be experiencing something like life but without the cycles, limitations and uncertainties with which we know it on Earth. Reunion with loved ones (at least initially) has become a widely accepted part of the commonly believed experience of it, and who (or at least, the majority of people who have loving relationships during their life) can object to that idea? As for what goes on for the rest of eternity: who knows; does the ego continue indefinitely, rather than being subsumed into a greater thing sooner or later (or even temporarily.) I don't mind the idea that you can spend a hell of a lot of time observing (or influencing) life on Earth, or in other parts of the Universe. It can all be fun to imagine, but it's unknowable.
As I said recently, this is a positive feature of Christianity, not a bug. Keeping it vague and unclear is actually a good thing, if you don't want people doing all sorts of evil things on Earth with the justification that it'll all be sorted out in the afterlife.
What a great article here, about people who get all anxious and sweaty at the idea of living forever in heaven.
Just goes to show, there's no pleasing everyone.
The article does go on to explain, however, that it is related to the fear of infinity, or at least vastness, as explained in this paragraph:
There shouldn’t be too many atheists who fear of eternity, since theyYeah, I did have a brush with that, once, when I was around 7 or 8. As I recall, a brother who had gone to the Council library when I couldn't borrowed a book for me, and it was one about space or astronomy, but was primarily about galaxies and the vastness of the universe. There were lots of pictures of galaxies. It actually upset me, because it conjured an image of such cold, lifeless, vastness in my mind. My brother was puzzled, saying he thought I liked books about space (and I did - this was the era of Apollo and I followed it very closely in the papers and on the news. I also read kid's science fiction, of which there was a lot - all of it optimistic - in that decade.) But what I liked was the idea of life in the universe, making it home. And I still do.
reject the idea of an afterlife, Wiener says. But that doesn’t mean
that those who aren’t religious are immune to existential anxiety.
Infinity, after all, doesn’t pertain only to time; it can also apply to
space. “I feel that we are all insignificant compared to the universe,”
wrote Jamie Adkins, a nurse and longtime friend of mine, in response to
my Facebook post. “When I start to think beyond our solar system, it is
as if my thoughts automatically stop to protect myself from having some
form of a panic attack. The knowledge of black holes will give me
nightmares for days. The thought of the distance between galaxies is
unbearable.”
She likened the experience to Horton Hears a Who. “We are on this tiny flower and can be blown away any second.”
But as for heaven: well, I think right from early childhood I've accepted the view that it's a basically unknowable thing: to be experiencing something like life but without the cycles, limitations and uncertainties with which we know it on Earth. Reunion with loved ones (at least initially) has become a widely accepted part of the commonly believed experience of it, and who (or at least, the majority of people who have loving relationships during their life) can object to that idea? As for what goes on for the rest of eternity: who knows; does the ego continue indefinitely, rather than being subsumed into a greater thing sooner or later (or even temporarily.) I don't mind the idea that you can spend a hell of a lot of time observing (or influencing) life on Earth, or in other parts of the Universe. It can all be fun to imagine, but it's unknowable.
As I said recently, this is a positive feature of Christianity, not a bug. Keeping it vague and unclear is actually a good thing, if you don't want people doing all sorts of evil things on Earth with the justification that it'll all be sorted out in the afterlife.
Monday, September 05, 2016
Transgender skepticism that's not religiously motivated
I stumbled across this transgender skeptical blog (which mainly concentrates on the issue as it relates to pre-adulthood) some months ago, and forgot to mention it here
Transgender issues are not something I care to devote that much thought to, and the whole problem with complaining about transgender activism is that it's embarrassing to be identified with religiously motivated conservatives and the way they chose to talk about the issue. (As I have posted before, the whole issue of transgender use of toilets is one which I think is massively overblown in importance by American conservatives.)
But, I don't have much doubt that transgender activism has reached an amazing peak of influence, and in particular, the issue of how to deal with children who feel they are the "wrong" gender is a particularly vexed one. Hormonal treatment to delay puberty for a mental conviction that might be strong at the moment, but for how much longer? How do you know that the influence of hormonal changes will itself not lead to eventual change of mind about gender? You only have to read Rupert Everett's (pretty amazing) disclosure that for a long time as a child he wanted to be a girl (and then became a very promiscuous gay man - although he did sleep with the occasional woman too) to be alerted to the fact that some people change their gender identifying views. (A counter view, arguing that the quite large number of children who act out as the other gender who do not transition is not really an argument against "genuine" childhood transexualism can be found here.)
Anyhow, the 4thWaveNow blog was apparently started by a woman with this experience:
There is, though, I must say, some stridency in some material that (unfortunately) smacks of the language of conservative critics.
Interestingly, I see that they do talk about concern that there is presently a significant element of "social contagion" in the experience of teenagers who have never before seemed to have gender identity issues, but who suddenly announce they do. I really suspect that this is likely true, and a subject worthy of some detailed research. But as the blog often complains - transgender activists (often men who transitioned late in life, oddly enough) are usually vehemently opposed to research that seems could question transgender desire as something fixed since birth, effectively.
Anyway, it's interesting to see skepticism on this issue that isn't embarrassing to be associated with.
Transgender issues are not something I care to devote that much thought to, and the whole problem with complaining about transgender activism is that it's embarrassing to be identified with religiously motivated conservatives and the way they chose to talk about the issue. (As I have posted before, the whole issue of transgender use of toilets is one which I think is massively overblown in importance by American conservatives.)
But, I don't have much doubt that transgender activism has reached an amazing peak of influence, and in particular, the issue of how to deal with children who feel they are the "wrong" gender is a particularly vexed one. Hormonal treatment to delay puberty for a mental conviction that might be strong at the moment, but for how much longer? How do you know that the influence of hormonal changes will itself not lead to eventual change of mind about gender? You only have to read Rupert Everett's (pretty amazing) disclosure that for a long time as a child he wanted to be a girl (and then became a very promiscuous gay man - although he did sleep with the occasional woman too) to be alerted to the fact that some people change their gender identifying views. (A counter view, arguing that the quite large number of children who act out as the other gender who do not transition is not really an argument against "genuine" childhood transexualism can be found here.)
Anyhow, the 4thWaveNow blog was apparently started by a woman with this experience:
4thWaveNow was started by the mother of a teenage girl who suddenly announced she was a “trans man” after a few weeks of total immersion in YouTube transition vlogs. (The daughter has since desisted from identifying as transgender.) After much research and fruitless searching for an alternative online viewpoint, this mom began writing about her deepening skepticism of the ever-accelerating medical and media fascination with the phenomenon of “transgender children.”....
I created this site because mine is a viewpoint that is seldom publicly heard: that of a left-leaning parent who is critical of the dominant paradigm regarding transgender politics and treatment. My primary concern is children, teens, and people in their early 20s, particularly girls who are contemplating medical transition. While I may disagree with their views, I do understand that consenting adults have the right to do what they choose with their own bodies and minds.I haven't read many of the posts on the blog, but as far as I can tell, the skeptics who comment there frequently do identify as left leaning, and do not usually sound at all like being religiously motivated.
There is, though, I must say, some stridency in some material that (unfortunately) smacks of the language of conservative critics.
Interestingly, I see that they do talk about concern that there is presently a significant element of "social contagion" in the experience of teenagers who have never before seemed to have gender identity issues, but who suddenly announce they do. I really suspect that this is likely true, and a subject worthy of some detailed research. But as the blog often complains - transgender activists (often men who transitioned late in life, oddly enough) are usually vehemently opposed to research that seems could question transgender desire as something fixed since birth, effectively.
Anyway, it's interesting to see skepticism on this issue that isn't embarrassing to be associated with.
Art apps
Prisma And Artisto: These Apps' Creations Sure Look Like Masterworks, But Is It Art? : All Tech Considered : NPR
I don't spend much time trying apps with photo filters, and the "art" filters usually give less than impressive results. But this Prisma app looks a bit more promising.
Update: see my posts above for my tests of it on a couple of my recent photos from Japan. It really does very impressive "art" conversions....
I don't spend much time trying apps with photo filters, and the "art" filters usually give less than impressive results. But this Prisma app looks a bit more promising.
Update: see my posts above for my tests of it on a couple of my recent photos from Japan. It really does very impressive "art" conversions....
Paleolibertarianism, racism and Trump
Where did Donald Trump get his racialized rhetoric? From libertarians. - The Washington Post
Interesting material in this article that's sure to get some libertarian noses out of joint.
Interesting material in this article that's sure to get some libertarian noses out of joint.
Waterfront on the move
Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun - The New York Times
This is a pretty good article talking about the already increasing coastal flooding in America.
I am very curious as to whether economists with their "future costs of climate change" work can really have any firm basis on calculating the obviously high potential cost of works to hold back the sea. We're not talking little old Holland here, with its puny length of coast line.
This is a pretty good article talking about the already increasing coastal flooding in America.
I am very curious as to whether economists with their "future costs of climate change" work can really have any firm basis on calculating the obviously high potential cost of works to hold back the sea. We're not talking little old Holland here, with its puny length of coast line.
Crime in America
A few crime stories caught my eye on the weekend:
* Anchorage, Alaska, with a population of about 300,000, has had 25 homicides this year, with 9 of them unsolved. The unsolved ones seem to mostly be in parks and trails around the city.
The article says that 25 was the total number of murders they had there in 2015, although going back to 1995, they had 29 in a year.
Doesn't that seem high for a city of 300,000? Looking at a story about Australia murder rates, yes it is:
* The Washington Post ran a lengthy article looking at the only known black lynching that took place on a military base in World War 2. Never solved, it appears clear that people closed ranks, and it once again paints a picture of a black man killed for being too assertive (or perhaps, too friendly to white women.) A depressing story, but worth remember the legacy that current black America carries in living memory.
* Vox's long article about the issue of whether "black culture" is responsible for violent crime in America is very good - and really, it covers more than just that theory - it looks at the whole matter of the uncertainty as to why violent crime has actually dropped dramatically over the last few decades.
* Anchorage, Alaska, with a population of about 300,000, has had 25 homicides this year, with 9 of them unsolved. The unsolved ones seem to mostly be in parks and trails around the city.
The article says that 25 was the total number of murders they had there in 2015, although going back to 1995, they had 29 in a year.
Doesn't that seem high for a city of 300,000? Looking at a story about Australia murder rates, yes it is:
According to the latest AIC figures, the homicide rate for the NT was 5.5 per 100,000 people. This is five times the national rate and almost four times the second highest state, Western Australia, which had a homicide rate of 1.4 per 100,000.So, even compared to recent figures in the Northern Territory, the Anchorage rate is high. I wonder if they have alcohol problems, too?
News.com.au examined 10 years of data from the institute’s National Homicide Monitoring Program and found the NT consistently had a higher rate for murder and manslaughter than anywhere else in Australia. In 2001-02, the NT’s rate was almost six times higher than the national average, 11.5 compared to 1.9. By 2011-12 it had improved significantly to 5.5, but was still higher than the rest of the country.
According to Matthew Willis, research officer from the AIC, the number of actual murders and manslaughters in the Northern Territory is far lower than bigger states such as NSW or Victoria, which both have larger populations. But when those numbers are calculated per (100,000) head of population, the statistics are staggering. Even when compared to smaller states such as Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, the NT is high. All those states sit around the 1 to 1.4 rate.
* The Washington Post ran a lengthy article looking at the only known black lynching that took place on a military base in World War 2. Never solved, it appears clear that people closed ranks, and it once again paints a picture of a black man killed for being too assertive (or perhaps, too friendly to white women.) A depressing story, but worth remember the legacy that current black America carries in living memory.
* Vox's long article about the issue of whether "black culture" is responsible for violent crime in America is very good - and really, it covers more than just that theory - it looks at the whole matter of the uncertainty as to why violent crime has actually dropped dramatically over the last few decades.
Friday, September 02, 2016
Good to hear
JTB, Panasonic, Yamato to test new ‘hands-free travel’ service for visitors to Japan ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
I mentioned in my posts about Japan a couple of months ago how the country has a fantastic luggage courier service. Good to see they are trying making it more accessible to the non Japanese speaking tourist.
I mentioned in my posts about Japan a couple of months ago how the country has a fantastic luggage courier service. Good to see they are trying making it more accessible to the non Japanese speaking tourist.
More on DNA and data storage
I don't recall posting much about this before, but reading about DNA and its great potential for data storage does make you wonder if there is anyone trying to decode human DNA just to make sure that an alien Creator class has not left us a message. Perhaps a contact address for warranty claims?
Here are three relevant articles:
If You Were a Secret Message, Where in the Human Genome Would You Hide? (I see this was published on 1 April 2015, but I don't think its a joke - although I haven't read it carefully.)
An Alien Code May Be Hidden Inside Our DNA!
Quest For The Hidden Alien Message Embedded In Human DNA Continues (OK, it's a flaky looking website, but this article seems OK.)
Here are three relevant articles:
If You Were a Secret Message, Where in the Human Genome Would You Hide? (I see this was published on 1 April 2015, but I don't think its a joke - although I haven't read it carefully.)
An Alien Code May Be Hidden Inside Our DNA!
Quest For The Hidden Alien Message Embedded In Human DNA Continues (OK, it's a flaky looking website, but this article seems OK.)
End this now
Calls for restrictions on Medicare access to IVF subsidies for older women: A decade after the IVF industry defeated the federal government's attempt to restrict Medicare access to older women, the president of its peak body has says there is little taxpayer value in subsidising the treatment after a woman turns 45.If our current Coalition government cannot push this saving measure through now, they're good for nothing.
Statistics on fertility treatment outcomes released on Friday show that 73,598 women started IVF cycles in 2014, the most recent year for which statistics are available, and one in five of them (19.8 per cent) delivered a live baby.
This represented a 10 per cent improvement in the live birth rate
over five years, which has been attributed to better freezing
technology.
But the success rate dwindled to 6 per cent for women aged 40 to 44, and less than 1 per cent for women aged over 45.
Sometimes it pays not to be an early adopter
Samsung Electronics is expected to announce a global recall of the large-screen smartphone Galaxy Note 7 because of faulty batteries that catch fire, South Korea's largest news agency reports, citing an unidentified company official.Link here.
The world's largest smartphone maker will announce the results of an investigation and a plan to deal with the issue as soon as this weekend, according to news agency Yonhap.
As with Apple and its bend-y phone, I'm not sure it is ever a good idea to be in the first rush to get a new model phone.
Telling it like it is
Billionaire GOP Donor Wants Trump's Head Checked | Mother Jones: "As a Republican who has contributed millions of dollars to the party's causes, I ask: Why has our party not sought a psychological evaluation of its nominee?" Fernandez writes in an op-ed published in the Miami Herald on Thursday.
Under the headline "I'm a Republican and I'm With Hillary Clinton," Fernandez attacks Trump as responsible for "a neverending spiral of vulgarity, intellectual dishonesty, invective, abuse, misogyny, racism, intolerance, bullying, ignorance and downright cruelty." Fernandez says he takes particular issue with the way Trump has implied that if he loses, it will be because Clinton cheated.
"This is insanity and dictatorial machinations at best," Fernandez writes.
GMO fanboys, take note
How GMOs Cut The Use Of Pesticides — And Perhaps Boosted It Again : The Salt : NPR: One of the study's conclusions is straightforward and difficult to dispute. Genetically modified, insect-protected corn has allowed farmers to reduce their use of insecticides to fight the corn rootworm and the European corn borer. There is, however, concern that this effect won't last. Corn rootworms have evolved resistance to one of the genes that has been deployed against them.Disclosure: I think organic farming is a crock. I also think that common sense always suggested that GMO for foodstuff resistance to herbicides was always doomed for failure, and was mainly about a company making lots of money in the process of eventually making a biological problem worse.
When it comes to weedkillers, though, the picture gets more murky. For one thing, the effect of GMOs has been different in corn than in soybeans. Farmers who switched to glyphosate-tolerant corn also switched herbicides, and used less total herbicide than farmers did on conventional corn — for a while. In the years since 2007, however, glyphosate-tolerant corn got sprayed with more weedkillers, as measured in kilograms per acre, than corn without that GMO trait.
Farmers who are growing genetically modified, glyphosate-tolerant soybeans, meanwhile, have been using more weedkillers than their non-GMO neighbors. In fact, that gap has been widening in recent years.
Edward Perry of Kansas State University, a co-author of the new study, which appears in the journal Science Advances, says farmers may be using more herbicides on glyphosate-tolerant crops in recent years because they have to fight off an increasing number of weeds that have evolved to become resistant to glyphosate.
A detailed look at white voter demographics
Everyone Gets It Wrong About Donald Trump and White Voters - Rolling Stone
Interesting stuff.
More generally, Trump's non pivot on immigration this week presumably means he has killed off any hope of an increase in his Hispanic vote once and for all; and as for the black vote - isn't he supposed to be turning up in some black neighbourhoods soon? That'll be a laugh.
The basic argument, that there just aren't enough angry, white, poorly educated Southerners to compensate for everyone else thinking he's an offensive dope seems as strong as ever.
Interesting stuff.
More generally, Trump's non pivot on immigration this week presumably means he has killed off any hope of an increase in his Hispanic vote once and for all; and as for the black vote - isn't he supposed to be turning up in some black neighbourhoods soon? That'll be a laugh.
The basic argument, that there just aren't enough angry, white, poorly educated Southerners to compensate for everyone else thinking he's an offensive dope seems as strong as ever.
DNA storage
Interesting feature article at Nature about the potential for DNA data storage. How's this, for this example:
That is one reason why permanent archives of rarely accessed data currently rely on old-fashioned magnetic tapes. This medium packs in information much more densely than silicon can, but is much slower to read. Yet even that approach is becoming unsustainable, says David Markowitz, a computational neuroscientist at the US Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) in Washington DC. It is possible to imagine a data centre holding an exabyte (one billion gigabytes) on tape drives, he says. But such a centre would require US$1 billion over 10 years to build and maintain, as well as hundreds of megawatts of power. “Molecular data storage has the potential to reduce all of those requirements by up to three orders of magnitude,” says Markowitz. If information could be packaged as densely as it is in the genes of the bacterium Escherichia coli, the world's storage needs could be met by about a kilogram of DNA (see 'Storage limits').It also features this graphic:
Some amusing psychology for the day
What your choice of smartphone says about you: Miss Shaw and her fellow researchers conducted two studies of personality differences between iPhone and Android smartphone users. Lancaster University was also involved in the study.Based on what my daughter tells me (she really, really notices iPhones when walking down the street), yes it is true that they are very big with girls/women. I think it's because men are more likely to want to tinker with things, and there's a hell of lot of tinkering that can be done with an Android phone.
In the first study the researchers asked 240 participants to complete a questionnaire about characteristics they associate with users of each smartphone brand.
In the second study they tested these stereotypes against actual personality traits of 530 Android and iPhone smartphone users.
The results from the first study showed that Android users are perceived to have greater levels of honesty and humility, agreeableness and openness personality traits but are seen as less extroverted than iPhone users.
The results from the second study showed that most of the personality stereotypes did not occur in reality, as only honesty and humility was found in greater amounts within Android users.
However, they did find that women were twice more likely to own an iPhone than an Android Phone. When measuring the characteristic 'avoidance of similarity' which describes whether people like having the same products as others, Android Users avoided similarity more than iPhone users. Finally, iPhone users thought it was more important to have a high status phone than Android users.
Thursday, September 01, 2016
Yay for contraception - perhaps
The Pill, the Condom, and the American Dream - The Atlantic
I would prefer that teenagers not be having sex at all; or at least, not without foresight and preparation for the possibility of having a child as a result of it. To put it another way - I'm all for sexually active teenagers using contraception, but I'd prefer that they not be sexually active at all if they can't cope with the prospect that, despite their best effort to avoid a pregnancy, no contraception is foolproof and making babies is kinda what it's really all about, as far as bodies (if not brains) are concerned.
I would prefer that teenagers not be having sex at all; or at least, not without foresight and preparation for the possibility of having a child as a result of it. To put it another way - I'm all for sexually active teenagers using contraception, but I'd prefer that they not be sexually active at all if they can't cope with the prospect that, despite their best effort to avoid a pregnancy, no contraception is foolproof and making babies is kinda what it's really all about, as far as bodies (if not brains) are concerned.
New York at the local level
I very much enjoyed the episode last night (on SBS) of Michael Portillo's Great American Railroad Journeys, (episode 3, I see - dang it, I have missed the first two!) as it wasn't about any lengthy trip at all, but all about the very local rail of New York and (in particular) Long Island.
Here on the other side of the world, we read a bit about Brooklyn and Long Island as areas where a lot of people who work on Manhattan live, and the Hamptons as a place where the uber rich buy mansions and party (I believe even Spielberg has a house there), but any tourist type TV show rarely goes out of its way to show these places.
Well, Portillo's show did, and it was very good to finally see them, and get some of their historical background.
It'll be on SBS on demand for a while, and it seems some people are putting up slabs of the series on Youtube, too.
Here on the other side of the world, we read a bit about Brooklyn and Long Island as areas where a lot of people who work on Manhattan live, and the Hamptons as a place where the uber rich buy mansions and party (I believe even Spielberg has a house there), but any tourist type TV show rarely goes out of its way to show these places.
Well, Portillo's show did, and it was very good to finally see them, and get some of their historical background.
It'll be on SBS on demand for a while, and it seems some people are putting up slabs of the series on Youtube, too.
The "bad passenger" problem
BBC - Autos - Driverless taxis' human problem
So yeah, they are starting to think about how to stop driverless taxis being used for things you don't want passengers using them for:
So yeah, they are starting to think about how to stop driverless taxis being used for things you don't want passengers using them for:
The presence of a taxi driver also dissuades a variety of illicit
passenger behavior, including vandalism, drug use, and, of course,
self-expression of a sexual nature. During NuTonomy's Singapore taxi
test, says the company, an engineer will ride along "to observe system
performance and assume control if needed to ensure passenger comfort and
safety." Eventually, though, it will be just car and passenger. Are the
cars ready for responsibility?
"None of these problems require
particularly high-tech solutions", says Dr Richard Alan Peters, a
professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Vanderbilt
University in the US. Peters, who serves as the chief technical officer
for the artificial intelligence software company Universal Robotics,
suggests that driverless taxicabs could use features like automatic
door closers and cabin sensors to ensure seatbelt use or tattle on
smokers who light up in the car. And some tasks formerly undertaken by a
human driver — discovering a forgotten parcel or a pool of vomitus, for
instance — could fall to customers, "who would then alert the car",
says Peters. The question, therefore, may not be whether the cars are
ready for the responsibility, but whether passengers are ready for it.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
How do Queensland's top judges come up with such decisions?
High court reinstates Gerard Baden-Clay's murder conviction | Australia news | The Guardian
I didn't post about it at the time, as I wanted to: the Queensland Court of Appeal's decision on the Baden-Clay murder conviction just didn't make any sense to me. It seemed that if you took its view, you could virtually never get a murder (as opposed to a manslaughter) conviction in cases where there was no witness to the death, especially if the defendant gave evidence that it was an accident. But it seemed particularly risible in a case where the accused himself had given evidence that there had been no fight of any kind, the jury had clearly rejected it as being untruthful, but then the defence argued effectively on appeal "so he lied, but you still can't find anything more than if he did cause her death, it might have been an accident".
The report of the High Court decision indicates that my instincts on this were right:
Ever since the Pauline Hanson conviction was overturned by theHigh Court Court of Appeal, I have wondered how it is that Queensland's judges manage to make such wrong decisions. (I'm pretty sure that in that case, the appeals court was again unanimous that the trial judge were just obviously wrong.)
How do we manage to get judges here that seem so capable of poor decisions?
I didn't post about it at the time, as I wanted to: the Queensland Court of Appeal's decision on the Baden-Clay murder conviction just didn't make any sense to me. It seemed that if you took its view, you could virtually never get a murder (as opposed to a manslaughter) conviction in cases where there was no witness to the death, especially if the defendant gave evidence that it was an accident. But it seemed particularly risible in a case where the accused himself had given evidence that there had been no fight of any kind, the jury had clearly rejected it as being untruthful, but then the defence argued effectively on appeal "so he lied, but you still can't find anything more than if he did cause her death, it might have been an accident".
The report of the High Court decision indicates that my instincts on this were right:
It noted that Baden-Clay at trial denied fighting with his wife, killingYes: if a jury considers a defendant is lying through his teeth, they are under no obligation to then give him or her the "benefit of the doubt" as to the next most innocent explanation, at least (or especially) where there is clear evidence of motive for intentional killing.
her and then dumping her body, which was found under a bridge at Kholo
creek 11 days after she went missing.
“His evidence, being the evidence of the only person who could give
evidence on the issue, was inconsistent with that hypothesis [of
manslaughter].
“Further, the jury were entitled to regard the whole of the evidence
as satisfying them beyond reasonable doubt that the respondent acted
with intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm when he killed his
wife.”
Ever since the Pauline Hanson conviction was overturned by the
How do we manage to get judges here that seem so capable of poor decisions?
Hi Tech car thieves
Savvy car thieves harnessing new technology ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
I've wondered sometimes about whether, with the right electronics, modern cars can still be stolen. Seems the answer is "yes":
I've wondered sometimes about whether, with the right electronics, modern cars can still be stolen. Seems the answer is "yes":
Even models that utilize electronic keys can be stolen by use of a
so-called key programmer, which can be easily made by modifying easily
available materials.
Earlier this year, police in Ibaraki Prefecture arrested a gang of
car thieves using such a device, which is small enough to fit in the
palm of one’s hand.
“A modified key programmer is used to enter the car’s internal
computer, and then rewrite the program, making it possible to start the
engine,” a police investigator was quoted as saying. “In the past this
required 30 minutes or longer to accomplish, but the newer types can do
it in about 10 minutes. The thieves are able to obtain key programmers
made in China for around 100,000 yen.”
The modified key programmers are unable to open a car’s door, and up
to now the thieves had to break a window to get access to the vehicle’s
interior. More recently, however, new techniques for popping open care
doors have become widespread.
“Using the technique of ‘dempa-jack’ (electronic hijacking), they can
release the door locks from a distance,” a staff member of Protector, a
firm that specializes in car security, tells the tabloid. “They do this
by intercepting electronic signals emitted by the car and copying them,
then transmitting them back. This method is common overseas and
recently has started to be used in Japan.”
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Dealing with the plebiscite
John Quiggin - An offer he can’t accept
JQ's suggestion as to how Shorten could best deal with the attempted wedge on Labor about the plebiscite (really, by a reverse wedge - but one which makes sense) sounds like a good political move to me. I wonder if Shorten will take it up?
JQ's suggestion as to how Shorten could best deal with the attempted wedge on Labor about the plebiscite (really, by a reverse wedge - but one which makes sense) sounds like a good political move to me. I wonder if Shorten will take it up?
Interesting despite one glaring error
The Multiverse Idea Is Rotting Culture - The Atlantic
Well, I suppose magazine editors don't have to know much about science, but I'm still surprised that this article was let through with a paragraph that talks about a laser shooting electrons.
Nonetheless, it's worth a read.
[I'm not saying it's particularly well written, by the way, but it eventually raises some interesting issues. It's getting a drubbing in comments, where I am also surprised to not yet see anyone grinding their teeth on the laser/electron thing.]
Well, I suppose magazine editors don't have to know much about science, but I'm still surprised that this article was let through with a paragraph that talks about a laser shooting electrons.
Nonetheless, it's worth a read.
[I'm not saying it's particularly well written, by the way, but it eventually raises some interesting issues. It's getting a drubbing in comments, where I am also surprised to not yet see anyone grinding their teeth on the laser/electron thing.]
Monday, August 29, 2016
All at sea - The Conspiracy
I strongly recommend this recently published account in Popular Mechanics of a reporter (and her photographer) going on a cruise with a bunch of conspiracy nutters. It turns into a real problem when they become the victims of paranoia.
Most surprisingly - Andrew Wakefield (he of the discredited autism/vaccine link) was one of the speakers, and while he is only a bit player in the article, he really does not come out looking good.
Reading this reminded me of something I perhaps didn't say here before - the absolute worst aspect of the new series of X Files was its incorporation of a secret government vaccine conspiracy (not Scully's unflattering hairstyle.) Yes, even worse that its having a conspiracy broadcaster who actually was onto something, I reckon it's a disgrace to give any encouragement at all, even in fiction, to any dimwit watching (and they are out there) to the belief that vaccines are evil and to be avoided.
Most surprisingly - Andrew Wakefield (he of the discredited autism/vaccine link) was one of the speakers, and while he is only a bit player in the article, he really does not come out looking good.
Reading this reminded me of something I perhaps didn't say here before - the absolute worst aspect of the new series of X Files was its incorporation of a secret government vaccine conspiracy (not Scully's unflattering hairstyle.) Yes, even worse that its having a conspiracy broadcaster who actually was onto something, I reckon it's a disgrace to give any encouragement at all, even in fiction, to any dimwit watching (and they are out there) to the belief that vaccines are evil and to be avoided.
"What - me worry?" Ridley
The prominent lukewarmer Matt Ridley is given a run in The Australian today (reprinting an article from The Times) in which he argues that a completely melted Arctic ice cap each summer wouldn't matter much anyway. Quite benign, in fact.
The article quotes some research I haven't read about, so I'll wait for actual scientists to address that. But clearly, the article relies heavily on reasoning that goes over well with the silly and gullible: that a large climatic change like (relatively?) ice free summers in the Arctic in previous millennia were not bad for the wildlife (and humanity) then, so why would it be so bad for them now? I feel the flaws in such reasoning are so obvious, it is hardly worthwhile putting them down on paper. But someone will, I have no doubt, and I'll link to them instead when I notice it...
The article quotes some research I haven't read about, so I'll wait for actual scientists to address that. But clearly, the article relies heavily on reasoning that goes over well with the silly and gullible: that a large climatic change like (relatively?) ice free summers in the Arctic in previous millennia were not bad for the wildlife (and humanity) then, so why would it be so bad for them now? I feel the flaws in such reasoning are so obvious, it is hardly worthwhile putting them down on paper. But someone will, I have no doubt, and I'll link to them instead when I notice it...
Trump and the Catholics
I always thought that US Catholics would have trouble with Trump, and I'm pleased to see that they emphatically do:
Back in 2012, GOP nominee Mitt Romney lost the Catholic vote by just 2 points, 50 percent to 48 percent. And the GOP has actually won the Catholic vote as recently as 2004 and in 5 of the lastIt's only conservative Catholics who like to engage in the culture wars they've already, by and large, lost who would vote for him for tribal, anti-Clinton reasons alone. (See the conservative Catholics of Catallaxy, for example.) There is nothing Catholic friendly, in terms of consistency with Catholic social teaching, in Trump's threats-which-pass-for-half-baked policy.1011 presidential elections.
But Trump trails among Catholics by a huge margin. A new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute released this week shows him down 23 points, 55-32.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released earlier this month painted an even worse picture for Trump’s Catholic support. He was down by 27 points, 61-34.
About as evil as you can get
Father identifies British boy 'killer' seen executing a captured prisoner in Syria � | Daily Mail Online
Of all the atrocities of Islamic State, I think I find myself most appalled by the ones like this - where they get boys to do executions of what the rest of the world would call prisoners of war. Absolutely shocking and appalling. The links shows photos, but of course, I would not watch the video.
Of all the atrocities of Islamic State, I think I find myself most appalled by the ones like this - where they get boys to do executions of what the rest of the world would call prisoners of war. Absolutely shocking and appalling. The links shows photos, but of course, I would not watch the video.
The Vox alt-right explainer
The alt-right is more than warmed-over white supremacy. It’s that, but way way weirder. - Vox
One thing I have wanted to say about Milo Y: I've only read a couple of things apparently written by him on Breitbart, and I thought they were, from a stylistic point of view, very poorly written. (I see it is claimed that he has minions who do much of his writing for him, and perhaps that explains it.)
I didn't watch his Andrew Bolt interviews, but why anyone would be impressed by him is beyond me...
One thing I have wanted to say about Milo Y: I've only read a couple of things apparently written by him on Breitbart, and I thought they were, from a stylistic point of view, very poorly written. (I see it is claimed that he has minions who do much of his writing for him, and perhaps that explains it.)
I didn't watch his Andrew Bolt interviews, but why anyone would be impressed by him is beyond me...
Monday disease
41 cases of locally transmitted Zika confirmed in Aljunied Crescent cluster, 34 fully recovered, Health News & Top Stories - The Straits Times
I wonder if Singaporeans themselves are surprised, given its general super clean image, that the island state has reported scores of cases of locally transmitted zika disease. It can't be great news for their tourism sector.
See the story above from the local paper, showing great clouds of insecticide being deployed. I would bet there is a lot of that going on over the next few weeks.
I wonder if Singaporeans themselves are surprised, given its general super clean image, that the island state has reported scores of cases of locally transmitted zika disease. It can't be great news for their tourism sector.
See the story above from the local paper, showing great clouds of insecticide being deployed. I would bet there is a lot of that going on over the next few weeks.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
A trilogy of diseases
Time for 3 stories of unpleasant diseases I noticed this week:
* a terribly depressing situation with tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea. Drug resistant TB there continues to spread, and a quarter of cases are in children who, if they survive (it kills one in 10, apparently) may well have life long disabilities in a country with next to no services for them.
* The Guardian reports that doctors are starting to worry about treatment resistant fungal infections. And the resistance may be coming from a surprising source:
* And for this final round of unpleasant thoughts: I guess I had heard before that people can get a gonorrhoea infection in their throat or mouth, but I'm not sure I had realised that it could be carried there, without symptom, for weeks or months, and be transmitted on via that common bedroom activity that's not intercourse. A doctor thinks, based on some early tests, that gargling with ordinary commercial mouthwash might be helpful in preventing its spread, although I don't think he thinks it will kill off entirely.
Gee, I wonder how the Listerine company might cope with that information in advertisements.
* a terribly depressing situation with tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea. Drug resistant TB there continues to spread, and a quarter of cases are in children who, if they survive (it kills one in 10, apparently) may well have life long disabilities in a country with next to no services for them.
* The Guardian reports that doctors are starting to worry about treatment resistant fungal infections. And the resistance may be coming from a surprising source:
More than a million people die of fungal infections every year, including about 7,000 in the UK, and deaths are likely to increase as resistance continues to rise.As for medicines available: there aren't many:
Researchers say the widespread use of fungicides on crops is one of the main causes of the rise in fungal resistance, which mirrors the rise of resistance to antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections in humans.
“There are more than 20 different classes of antibacterial agents. By contrast, there are only four classes of anti-fungal agents. Our armoury for dealing with deadly fungi is much smaller than the one we have for dealing with bacteria.The article also mentions the case of an apparently fungal lung infection that killed a bagpipe player.
“We cannot afford to lose the few drugs we have – particularly as very little funding is being made available for research into fungi and fungal infections.”
* And for this final round of unpleasant thoughts: I guess I had heard before that people can get a gonorrhoea infection in their throat or mouth, but I'm not sure I had realised that it could be carried there, without symptom, for weeks or months, and be transmitted on via that common bedroom activity that's not intercourse. A doctor thinks, based on some early tests, that gargling with ordinary commercial mouthwash might be helpful in preventing its spread, although I don't think he thinks it will kill off entirely.
Gee, I wonder how the Listerine company might cope with that information in advertisements.
The French and toast
My wife made French toast for a Sunday morning treat today (and she makes it very well - using a French stick cut thickly, and the bread soaked in the milk and eggs overnight.)
We eat it with maple syrup, which led to the question - do the French eat French toast, 'cos the syrup makes it seem more like an American meal.
So off to Wikipedia it is, where the French toast entry is not as detailed as I feel it deserves, but it at least tells us the recipe pre-dates France quite considerably. (Basically, it goes back to Roman days, and has been seen in many countries as a good way to make stale bread palatable.)
This entry on the history of the dish at "Today I Found Out" (a site which has a very appealing name for someone like me) is much more readable. The site says this:
We eat it with maple syrup, which led to the question - do the French eat French toast, 'cos the syrup makes it seem more like an American meal.
So off to Wikipedia it is, where the French toast entry is not as detailed as I feel it deserves, but it at least tells us the recipe pre-dates France quite considerably. (Basically, it goes back to Roman days, and has been seen in many countries as a good way to make stale bread palatable.)
This entry on the history of the dish at "Today I Found Out" (a site which has a very appealing name for someone like me) is much more readable. The site says this:
Indeed, the name for French toast in France itself is “pain perdu”, which literally means “lost bread” (it is also called this in Belgium, New Orleans, Acadiana, Newfoundland, and the Congo, among other places). It’s interesting to note, for the naysayers who like to cling to the belief that it came from France, that before the French called it pain perdu, they called it “pain a la Romaine” (Roman bread).And this:
In France itself, French toast is highly sweetened and is served as a dessert item, rather than served for breakfast, as in America and many other places.So, now we know.
The French and swimwear
I can't be bothered working out a position to take on the French attempting to enforce smaller swimwear on women, except to remind people that the country has a history of being very prescriptive about swimwear in a way that leads to foreign men, at least in public pools, also being forced to wear less than they otherwise might in their own country. And, as I noted not so long ago, up until about the 1960's, many boys and teenage guys in many parts of the US were forced by their State school system -or if they were learning at a YMCA - to take swimming lessons nude. Go back further, and England had to ban men bathing nude - at the beach - in the 1860's, and this coincided with bans on mixed bathing, as well.
Yes, I know, both of the first two examples are about alleged hygiene concerns in pools, not the ocean. But just wanted to note that the history of regulation of bathing suits has taken many peculiar turns, in many countries, one way or the other over the years...
Yes, I know, both of the first two examples are about alleged hygiene concerns in pools, not the ocean. But just wanted to note that the history of regulation of bathing suits has taken many peculiar turns, in many countries, one way or the other over the years...
Paging Dr Nick
One of the more amusing things to come out of the Trump/alt right conspiracy mongering about Hillary's health is a re-examination of the Trumpian sounding letter from Trump's doctor.
As I said in comments recently, the letter put me in mind of Dr Nick from the Simpsons (and I bet I'm not the first to think that), and as it turns out, the doctor does at least look a little unconventional. (See story at the link.) The funniest suggestion in the WAPO story is that a "positive" medical test often means something bad..was Trump's doctor trying to tell us something? It's logic worthy of the alt right itself, but pretty funny.
As I said in comments recently, the letter put me in mind of Dr Nick from the Simpsons (and I bet I'm not the first to think that), and as it turns out, the doctor does at least look a little unconventional. (See story at the link.) The funniest suggestion in the WAPO story is that a "positive" medical test often means something bad..was Trump's doctor trying to tell us something? It's logic worthy of the alt right itself, but pretty funny.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Sensitive Tim and gay marriage
Oh, so newly elected walking selfie Tim "Send in the water cannon" Wilson is now taking to re-tweeting rude tweets from lefties? To show up the intolerant Left? Seems a bit rich...
As to the whole same sex marriage plebiscite - what a mess this issue is. While I think a plebiscite is actually not a bad idea for everyone for a major social and legal change, I would expect it to be conducted conveniently (and economically) with an election day vote. But this seemed to have been beyond Turnbull's ken to get going in time for the last election. Do we blame deals with his conservative Coalition base for that? I'm not sure.
Now with the Greens going all "principled" again (they manage to delay a lot of useful things to their side of politics by doing this) it seems there won't be one for years. Actually, I wonder if it's more likely now that we won't have one at all, and gay marriage will just come in via a new Labor government. But I could be wrong.
It's one of those issues where everyone's annoying - gay activists by carrying on too much about how dire it will be for gay teens to hear rhetoric against it; conservatives for going on about how it will be a cultural disaster that will see people locked up for refusing to marry same sex couples. And Tim Wilson for criticising the Greens, when members of his own party are interested in delaying the inevitable, including undertaking not to be bound by the result anyway.
And for the record, again: I would favour civil unions over gay marriage. If the plebiscite had been held at the last election, I would have likely have voted "no", but with the expectation that the "yes" vote would win, and without any great concern that it would end Western civilisation. (Or perhaps, I would just have voted informal on this - that's probably the better line for someone like me to take, given my preferred option is not on the table.) Give it another couple of years of listening to argument about it, though, I might be persuaded to vote "yes" for gay marriage, just so I can stop hearing about it....
As to the whole same sex marriage plebiscite - what a mess this issue is. While I think a plebiscite is actually not a bad idea for everyone for a major social and legal change, I would expect it to be conducted conveniently (and economically) with an election day vote. But this seemed to have been beyond Turnbull's ken to get going in time for the last election. Do we blame deals with his conservative Coalition base for that? I'm not sure.
Now with the Greens going all "principled" again (they manage to delay a lot of useful things to their side of politics by doing this) it seems there won't be one for years. Actually, I wonder if it's more likely now that we won't have one at all, and gay marriage will just come in via a new Labor government. But I could be wrong.
It's one of those issues where everyone's annoying - gay activists by carrying on too much about how dire it will be for gay teens to hear rhetoric against it; conservatives for going on about how it will be a cultural disaster that will see people locked up for refusing to marry same sex couples. And Tim Wilson for criticising the Greens, when members of his own party are interested in delaying the inevitable, including undertaking not to be bound by the result anyway.
And for the record, again: I would favour civil unions over gay marriage. If the plebiscite had been held at the last election, I would have likely have voted "no", but with the expectation that the "yes" vote would win, and without any great concern that it would end Western civilisation. (Or perhaps, I would just have voted informal on this - that's probably the better line for someone like me to take, given my preferred option is not on the table.) Give it another couple of years of listening to argument about it, though, I might be persuaded to vote "yes" for gay marriage, just so I can stop hearing about it....
A funny line about Coulter
The Great Ann Coulter Immigration Bamboozle
From The Federalist, of all places:
From The Federalist, of all places:
“I don’t care if @realDonaldTrump wants to perform abortions in the White House after this immigration policy paper,” Coulter tweeted last August, calling Trump’s immigration plan “the greatest political document since the Magna Carta.” At the time, due to my longtime understanding that Coulter is 85 percent ratings-and-book-sales-related shtick and 15
percent the amalgamated ghosts of old cigarettes, I shrugged and rolled my eyes.
Robot babies
I see that an evaluation of one of those "here, look after this demanding, crying, robot baby and see what a pain baby care is, so you'll know not to get pregnant" programs with teenagers in WA actually ended up with more of the robot carers getting pregnant.
I'm a little puzzled by this. Haven't these programs been tried in the US for many, many years? They've featured in some sitcoms for a long time, I'm sure. Were those programs properly evaluated? Or does it depend on the location of the teenage population (with, for example, teenagers in remote towns with little to do finding that even caring for a robot or real baby is better than being bored?)
I'm a little puzzled by this. Haven't these programs been tried in the US for many, many years? They've featured in some sitcoms for a long time, I'm sure. Were those programs properly evaluated? Or does it depend on the location of the teenage population (with, for example, teenagers in remote towns with little to do finding that even caring for a robot or real baby is better than being bored?)
The Hillary health campaign
The Trump/Guiliani/nutty Right wing conspiracist reliance on ridiculously concocted "evidence" of Hillary Clinton being seriously frail just goes to show what intense gullibility has swallowed up significant sections of the Right in the US, as well as the dearth of genuine good policy they have on which to run. Just as they would prefer to believe that climate change is a self serving fabrication of money hungry scientists and/or socialists of the UN, rather than believe the hundreds of professional science bodies and the evidence of record temperatures before their eyes, they show little in the way of common sense, let alone good policy judgement, and swallow the silliest suggestions whole. I am still inclined to blame the internet for this - I just don't think conspiracies used to get the hold on as large a part of the Western public in the pre-internet decades as they do now.
And it seems to me that the Trump campaign is probably facing a backlash for this - with one poll now showing a 10 point lead for Clinton, and ridicule of the health conspiracy finally making news. Or maybe it's the Trump flip flopping on his populist immigration policy. Who knows.
And why haven't those in the GOP who want their party to have a skerrick of credibility been calling out Trump on this health conspiracy issue? Are they just figuring that the only way the party can rise again is to see it first burn to the ground when the nutty element takes control?
And it seems to me that the Trump campaign is probably facing a backlash for this - with one poll now showing a 10 point lead for Clinton, and ridicule of the health conspiracy finally making news. Or maybe it's the Trump flip flopping on his populist immigration policy. Who knows.
And why haven't those in the GOP who want their party to have a skerrick of credibility been calling out Trump on this health conspiracy issue? Are they just figuring that the only way the party can rise again is to see it first burn to the ground when the nutty element takes control?
Thursday, August 25, 2016
More comedy stylings from the escapee from 1950
Spotted at Catallaxy, from someone who has become the walking definition of hysteria about homosexuality and the matter of gay marriage:
The video, incidentally, shows the weakest "firestorm" of violence since, well, I dunno, readers can up with their own comparison for wannabe violent confrontations that weren't anything to write home about.
The video, incidentally, shows the weakest "firestorm" of violence since, well, I dunno, readers can up with their own comparison for wannabe violent confrontations that weren't anything to write home about.
Providing for the dead
China's ghost weddings and why they can be deadly - BBC News: Police in north-west China have charged a man with murdering two women with mental disabilities, alleging that he wanted to sell their corpses to be used in so-called "ghost weddings".Read the whole thing - it's fascinating.
It has put a spotlight on the ancient shadowy ritual, still practised in certain parts of China, which aims to provide spouses for people who die unmarried.
Yet more on (very odd) Japanese management ideas
The ‘handsome weeping boys’ paid to wipe away your tears - BBC News
This will, no doubt, be the oddest story about Japan you will read today.
This will, no doubt, be the oddest story about Japan you will read today.
Putin and the Noosphere
What is the Mysterious “Nooscope”? Let’s Ask Putin’s New Chief of Staff | Mysterious Universe
Russia has long been the home of crank-ish spirituality; although, as it happens, I'm quite fond of the idea of the Noosphere myself. The possibility of an orbiting nooscope, though? Sounds like something out of Philip K Dick.
What it means for Putin to be elevating someone who seems to take these ideas very seriously is anyone's guess.
Russia has long been the home of crank-ish spirituality; although, as it happens, I'm quite fond of the idea of the Noosphere myself. The possibility of an orbiting nooscope, though? Sounds like something out of Philip K Dick.
What it means for Putin to be elevating someone who seems to take these ideas very seriously is anyone's guess.
More about "Japanese Schindler"
Documentary sheds light on Japanese who helped Jews escape Holocaust | The Japan Times
I've mentioned him before on this blog, way back in 2008.
I've mentioned him before on this blog, way back in 2008.
The problem of regional predictions
Global climate models do not easily downscale for regional predictions | EurekAlert! Science NewsThe problem has been well known for some time, but I guess this is putting some more specific details into it. Also, it makes it clear what nonsense it was for the head of the CSIRO to suggest we could afford to move on from climate modelling work.
Zhang and Michael Mann, Distinguished professor of atmospheric
science and director, Earth System Science Center, were concerned that
the direct use of climate model output at local or even regional scales
could produce inaccurate information. They focused on two key climate
variables, temperature and precipitation.
They found that projections of temperature changes with global
climate models became increasingly uncertain at scales below roughly 600
horizontal miles, a distance equivalent to the combined widths of
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. While climate models might provide
useful information about the overall warming expected for, say, the
Midwest, predicting the difference between the warming of Indianapolis
and Pittsburgh might prove futile.
Regional changes in precipitation were even more challenging to
predict, with estimates becoming highly uncertain at scales below
roughly 1200 miles, equivalent to the combined width of all the states
from the Atlantic Ocean through New Jersey across Nebraska. The
difference between changing rainfall totals in Philadelphia and Omaha
due to global warming, for example, would be difficult to assess. The
researchers report the results of their study in the August issue of Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.
Things you probably didn't know about airplane tires
Airplane Tires Don’t Explode on Landing Because They Are Pumped! | WIRED
The article ends by noting that it's really hard to make an airplane tire explode by overinflating, because they are designed to be so strong. I presume they are better now than tires on Orions in the 1980's - as I am aware that an airman lost his legs due to an accidental overinflation explosion in Adelaide in that decade.
The article ends by noting that it's really hard to make an airplane tire explode by overinflating, because they are designed to be so strong. I presume they are better now than tires on Orions in the 1980's - as I am aware that an airman lost his legs due to an accidental overinflation explosion in Adelaide in that decade.
In other natural disaster news
Giant, deadly ice slide baffles researchers : Nature News & Comment: One of the world's largest documented ice avalanches is flummoxing researchers. But they suspect that glacier fluctuations caused by a changing climate may be to blame.
About 100 million cubic metres of ice and rocks gushed down a narrow valley in Rutog county in the west of the Tibet Autonomous Region on 17 July, killing nine herders and hundreds of sheep and yaks.
The debris covered nearly 10 square kilometres at a thickness of up to 30 metres, says Zong Jibiao, a glaciologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (ITPR) in Beijing, who completed a field investigation of the site last week. The only other known incident comparable in scale is the 2002 ice avalanche from the Kolka Glacier1, 2
in the Caucasus Mountains in Russia, says Andreas Kääb, a glaciologist at the University of Oslo in Norway. That catastrophic event killed 140 people.
I hadn't even heard of these, until now...
Roman earthquakes
Can an Earthquake Bring About the Fall of Rome? - TIME
With news of the deadly Italian earthquake, not all that far from Rome, I was curious about whether Rome itself has ever suffered a lot of damage from a major quake. The answer appears in that Time article from 2012. Seems from historical precedent that the city is not all that likely to ever be reduced to rubble; but sure, it has had some earthquake damage, and could get a moderately large shake again.
With news of the deadly Italian earthquake, not all that far from Rome, I was curious about whether Rome itself has ever suffered a lot of damage from a major quake. The answer appears in that Time article from 2012. Seems from historical precedent that the city is not all that likely to ever be reduced to rubble; but sure, it has had some earthquake damage, and could get a moderately large shake again.
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Man, he's childish..
Just had a look at the Trump twitter feed:
Don't any of his advisers have the gumption to say to him - "Boss, I suggest you stop using these 'people are saying' and 'virtually everyone agrees' lines - they're seen as transparently self serving and a silly rhetorical device"?
Don't any of his advisers have the gumption to say to him - "Boss, I suggest you stop using these 'people are saying' and 'virtually everyone agrees' lines - they're seen as transparently self serving and a silly rhetorical device"?
Money for access
For people who like to accuse the mainstream media of liberal bias, aren't they are little surprised that the New York Times and the Washington Post both have had articles playing up the concern about the Clinton emails and the "access for money" issue they raise?
I find it hard getting too worked up about this: money for access to politicians (via political donations and attendance at exorbitantly priced fundraisers) is so common now that it seems beyond winding back. True, from little I have read, it seems that the Clinton arrangement incorporated an indirect - but only just - wealth enhancement to the Clintons personally (via Bill being paid by his own foundation?), and I can understand why people think this is a bit rich (ha!) But as for how bad it is for good governance - isn't the problem that to get too horrified by it, you have to show that the payment did in fact lead to corrupt and bad decisions? As far as I can tell, so far, no one has pointed to a clearly egregious example of such a decision as a result of donation to the Clinton Foundation, which lead to an email to Hilary, which led to a meeting, which led to a bad decision that would not otherwise have been made. But I stand to be corrected. It seems from the most recent articles that donors who contacted Hilary or her staff for help often didn't get much "value for money"; sometimes getting responses that were more "I dunno. Good luck with that one. Oh, and thanks for the donation, again."
Anyhow, here's the choice: a candidate who has a long history of doing very well personally out of politics and political connections - sometimes in dubious fashion - but who appears basically sound on matters economic, understands foreign affairs (even if you don't agree with every decision she made - but let's face it, it's frequently a case of not being able to win no matter who you support when it comes to foreign policy, especially in the Middle East), and believes scientists when it comes to climate change - the global issue of the century with dire planet wide risks.
On the other hand - a narcissistic flip flopping ignoramus, with terrible judgement as to who to take policy advice from, who still thinks decades later that his being able to use hairspray with CFCs was more important than fixing the ozone hole.
It's just not a realistic comparison.
Update: I think I can say that this BBC summary of the issues with the Foundation over the years supports my general take on the matter.
Update 2: and here's the Slate take on the matter. Pretty much along the same lines - the Foundation was sort of asking for trouble; or at the very least, doubts. Perhaps the best line in this article is this:
And it's not as if people shouldn't have doubts about Trump's ability to remain a cleanskin. If anything, his refusal to be upfront about his tax returns, and the connections with Russian money (that do indeed go to the matter of direct benefit to him and his businesses), as well as his generically self centred, immature attitude to everything, show him to be a fertile field for future corruption and secret dealings.
Update 3: Here's the Michael Yglesias take on the matter at Vox, more defensive of Clinton than other media. Key point:
I find it hard getting too worked up about this: money for access to politicians (via political donations and attendance at exorbitantly priced fundraisers) is so common now that it seems beyond winding back. True, from little I have read, it seems that the Clinton arrangement incorporated an indirect - but only just - wealth enhancement to the Clintons personally (via Bill being paid by his own foundation?), and I can understand why people think this is a bit rich (ha!) But as for how bad it is for good governance - isn't the problem that to get too horrified by it, you have to show that the payment did in fact lead to corrupt and bad decisions? As far as I can tell, so far, no one has pointed to a clearly egregious example of such a decision as a result of donation to the Clinton Foundation, which lead to an email to Hilary, which led to a meeting, which led to a bad decision that would not otherwise have been made. But I stand to be corrected. It seems from the most recent articles that donors who contacted Hilary or her staff for help often didn't get much "value for money"; sometimes getting responses that were more "I dunno. Good luck with that one. Oh, and thanks for the donation, again."
Anyhow, here's the choice: a candidate who has a long history of doing very well personally out of politics and political connections - sometimes in dubious fashion - but who appears basically sound on matters economic, understands foreign affairs (even if you don't agree with every decision she made - but let's face it, it's frequently a case of not being able to win no matter who you support when it comes to foreign policy, especially in the Middle East), and believes scientists when it comes to climate change - the global issue of the century with dire planet wide risks.
On the other hand - a narcissistic flip flopping ignoramus, with terrible judgement as to who to take policy advice from, who still thinks decades later that his being able to use hairspray with CFCs was more important than fixing the ozone hole.
It's just not a realistic comparison.
Update: I think I can say that this BBC summary of the issues with the Foundation over the years supports my general take on the matter.
Update 2: and here's the Slate take on the matter. Pretty much along the same lines - the Foundation was sort of asking for trouble; or at the very least, doubts. Perhaps the best line in this article is this:
You don’t need to believe the Clintons orchestrated some sort of pay-for-play scheme to know that there is something wrong with a dynamic where it is nearly impossible to prove whether they did or did not.But this is still not the same as showing the Clintons were corrupt in any highly serious way.
And it's not as if people shouldn't have doubts about Trump's ability to remain a cleanskin. If anything, his refusal to be upfront about his tax returns, and the connections with Russian money (that do indeed go to the matter of direct benefit to him and his businesses), as well as his generically self centred, immature attitude to everything, show him to be a fertile field for future corruption and secret dealings.
Update 3: Here's the Michael Yglesias take on the matter at Vox, more defensive of Clinton than other media. Key point:
Here’s the bottom line: Serving as secretary of state while your husband raises millions of dollars for a charitable foundation that is also a vehicle for your family’s political ambitions really does create a lot of space for potential conflicts of interest. Journalists have, rightly, scrutinized the situation closely. And however many times they take a run at it, they don’t come up with anything more scandalous than the revelation that maybe billionaire philanthropists have an easier time getting the State Department to look into their visa problems than an ordinary person would.
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Japanese management style
BBC - Capital - Why you don’t give praise in Japan
This all sounds about right, from what limited amount I have heard about the Japanese workplace. It is all rather odd, from a Western perspective:
This all sounds about right, from what limited amount I have heard about the Japanese workplace. It is all rather odd, from a Western perspective:
Traditionally, the Japanese language had no word for feedback because
it just wasn’t something that anybody did, says Sharon Schweitzer, CEO
of Protocol and Etiquette Worldwide, and an expert on how managers can
assimilate in foreign countries. So they had to make up a word, fīdobakku.
Yet, it’s still simply not something that’s done. “If you don’t hear from
your Japanese manager, you’re doing well,” Schweitzer says. “If your
manager asks for an update on your project, that means you’re not doing
well.”
Managers in Japan aren’t likely to ask for an update because
employees are expected to constantly provide them. It’s a process called
hou-ren-sou and it involves subordinates sending their boss
emails, all day long, about when they’re going to lunch, the percentage
of the project they’ve finished, when they’re taking a coffee break,
everything.
For foreign managers, the temptation may be to reply
with accolades, congratulating them on finishing 32% of the project. But
don’t, Schweitzer cautions. “If you reply and tell them good job, you
will lose face and they will lose face. Just say thank you or don’t
reply at all.”
A second series of Adam
Adam Ruins Everything, And For That We Thank Him - MTV
Yeah, I find this show (which was on SBS on Demand for a long time) good and entertaining, even if I don't always agree with his take on things.
Yeah, I find this show (which was on SBS on Demand for a long time) good and entertaining, even if I don't always agree with his take on things.
Monday, August 22, 2016
I prefer my fish cooked
It's been quite a while since I've noticed any article about catching parasitic worms from eating raw fish, but here's one which goes into a lot of interesting detail:
Parasitic Worms Burrow into Walls of Woman's Stomach After Meal: The worms can burrow into the walls of the stomach or the small intestine, though it is much more common to find them in the stomach, Fuchizaki said. About 95 percent of anisakiasis cases are in the stomach, he told Live Science.
When the worms burrow into the walls of the stomach, the symptoms usually develop within several hours of eating contaminated fish, Fuchizaki said. If the infection occurred in the small intestine, however, the symptoms wouldn't start until one to five days later, he said.
Some people may notice the worms even sooner than a few hours after eating raw fish — in some instances, people actually feel a tingling sensation in their mouth or throat while they are eating, which is caused by the worm moving around there, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some people may be able to remove the worm with their hand or by coughing, the CDC says. Vomiting, which is often a symptom of anisakiasis, can also expel the worms, the CDC says.
In most cases, people experience pain and other stomach problems because the worms are damaging the tissue of the digestive tract, Fuchizaki said. But some people may be allergic to the worms, and experience an allergic reaction if they eat them, he said.
Because the worms do not reproduce in humans, they eventually die and cause an inflamed mass, according to the CDC.
A problem unsolved
I see via a Jason Soon tweet that the matter of "shy bladder" in men's public toilets is still the subject of articles, this one in Vox.
I first posted about this topic in 2007, and made the very reasonable observation that, with modern public toilet design for the last few decades going nearly always with the individual ceramic urinal, it is dead easy to give each user a bit of privacy by installing simple, solid dividing screens to the wall between each one. They don't have to be floor to head high; and I would assume that you'd really have to have a very serious aiming problem to ever miss the urinal so far that you could dirty one. On the occasion I have been to a toilet incorporating such a design, I liked the additional bit of privacy, and I'm sure I would not be alone.
But yet, I have noticed over the intervening years that, even with new toilets in renovated shopping centres, this is pretty rarely an option taken up.
Why?
As the Vox article notes, and as any male knows, there is a lot of use of the toilet stalls by men who only want to urinate, causing dirtier toilets because of poor aim, etc.
This is a well known and understood issue, so why is one obvious, useful and cheap design addition to public toilets routinely ignored?
Clearly, this is some bizarre failure of the free market, and it calls for government regulation! (An approach Jason Soon would surely endorse - ahahahaha.)
I first posted about this topic in 2007, and made the very reasonable observation that, with modern public toilet design for the last few decades going nearly always with the individual ceramic urinal, it is dead easy to give each user a bit of privacy by installing simple, solid dividing screens to the wall between each one. They don't have to be floor to head high; and I would assume that you'd really have to have a very serious aiming problem to ever miss the urinal so far that you could dirty one. On the occasion I have been to a toilet incorporating such a design, I liked the additional bit of privacy, and I'm sure I would not be alone.
But yet, I have noticed over the intervening years that, even with new toilets in renovated shopping centres, this is pretty rarely an option taken up.
Why?
As the Vox article notes, and as any male knows, there is a lot of use of the toilet stalls by men who only want to urinate, causing dirtier toilets because of poor aim, etc.
This is a well known and understood issue, so why is one obvious, useful and cheap design addition to public toilets routinely ignored?
Clearly, this is some bizarre failure of the free market, and it calls for government regulation! (An approach Jason Soon would surely endorse - ahahahaha.)
The new opiate of the masses
The Virtues of Reality - The New York Times
Interesting idea put forward here by Ross Douthat - that some of the "old" problems associated with youth (rate of violence, unwanted pregnancies, etc) are getting better because they're happy to live in an internet/cyberworld of games and porn.
And he deals with the theory in a non-panicky way.
Interesting idea put forward here by Ross Douthat - that some of the "old" problems associated with youth (rate of violence, unwanted pregnancies, etc) are getting better because they're happy to live in an internet/cyberworld of games and porn.
And he deals with the theory in a non-panicky way.
She can't handle the truth
Oh look, there goes Judith Sloan having an attack of the vapours because an Australian journalist correctly pointed out that about the only agitation about repeal of s18C Racial Discrimination Act comes from white privileged (usually male) people aligned with the IPA.
Once again, I wonder why she doesn't realise that her continual hyperbole (often in the bitchiest tone possible, especially when it comes to other economists) about, well, everything (she's also upset that swimmers were still in Rio after their competition had finished - yes really) means everyone outside of her tiny circle of fans from Catallaxy and the Australian (and that may be exactly the same, tiny group) ignore her?
Update: by the way, I don't doubt that the QUT s.18C case is pretty ridiculous, but seems to me there is every chance that the judgement might confirm that. I wouldn't get into any frenzy about it until the outcome is known.
Once again, I wonder why she doesn't realise that her continual hyperbole (often in the bitchiest tone possible, especially when it comes to other economists) about, well, everything (she's also upset that swimmers were still in Rio after their competition had finished - yes really) means everyone outside of her tiny circle of fans from Catallaxy and the Australian (and that may be exactly the same, tiny group) ignore her?
Update: by the way, I don't doubt that the QUT s.18C case is pretty ridiculous, but seems to me there is every chance that the judgement might confirm that. I wouldn't get into any frenzy about it until the outcome is known.
Kubo (further in the long series - movies reviews no one is waiting for)
Yes, I did get to see Kubo and the Two Strings yesterday.
Some quick comments:
* While I knew that there would be a heavy emphasis on magic, I didn't realise it would be quite as mythological as it is.
* I wasn't sure while watching the movie, but on checking afterwards, the matter of how it presents the Japanese tradition of welcoming the spirits of dead ancestors (and releasing them again) is entirely accurate - see these entries on the Bon Festival and Toro Nagashi at Wikipedia. (I should explain - while I knew that there were countries that did the river lantern bit, I wasn't sure that it was done in Japan, and in this specific context.)
* I get the feeling that the theme of loss of memory might come from some particular story in Japanese folklore too, but I haven't found it yet. And I could be wrong. As for another explanation, as someone at a Reddit thread said, it seems quite possible that one of the writers may have personal experience with a parent with Alzheimer's.
* There are some story gaps which I would have liked to see filled. For example, the underwater experience - it seems there should be more revealed about Kubo by the experience, but it doesn't happen.
* But overall: yes, the movie looks and sounds great, and is often touching. But I really want to see it again in better viewing conditions (there were a bunch of 12 year old boys completely uninterested in what was going on in the movie some distance in front of us, and they were distracting.) I hate to say it, but I doubt it will be a break through financial success for Laika - the themes are too melancholic for children below about mid-Primary school level, I think; some teenagers (who really should see it) will think they are too cool to do so; and while Laika has lots of adult fans, I'm not sure there are enough to help it make a lot more than $100 million per movie.
* So - even if you think there is a chance you might like it - do so at a cinema now. I'd like to see this art form by a studio with real beauty, heart and soul survive.
Message to Tim: you would like it, I am pretty sure.
Update: here's the top guy at Laika, saying that their next movies will be quite different. He suggests that Kubo is like the end of a cycle. I would say that I could see his point if it weren't for Box Trolls, as Coraline, Paranorman and Kubo all do show a great interest in supernatural, after-life issues.
Some quick comments:
* While I knew that there would be a heavy emphasis on magic, I didn't realise it would be quite as mythological as it is.
* I wasn't sure while watching the movie, but on checking afterwards, the matter of how it presents the Japanese tradition of welcoming the spirits of dead ancestors (and releasing them again) is entirely accurate - see these entries on the Bon Festival and Toro Nagashi at Wikipedia. (I should explain - while I knew that there were countries that did the river lantern bit, I wasn't sure that it was done in Japan, and in this specific context.)
* I get the feeling that the theme of loss of memory might come from some particular story in Japanese folklore too, but I haven't found it yet. And I could be wrong. As for another explanation, as someone at a Reddit thread said, it seems quite possible that one of the writers may have personal experience with a parent with Alzheimer's.
* There are some story gaps which I would have liked to see filled. For example, the underwater experience - it seems there should be more revealed about Kubo by the experience, but it doesn't happen.
* But overall: yes, the movie looks and sounds great, and is often touching. But I really want to see it again in better viewing conditions (there were a bunch of 12 year old boys completely uninterested in what was going on in the movie some distance in front of us, and they were distracting.) I hate to say it, but I doubt it will be a break through financial success for Laika - the themes are too melancholic for children below about mid-Primary school level, I think; some teenagers (who really should see it) will think they are too cool to do so; and while Laika has lots of adult fans, I'm not sure there are enough to help it make a lot more than $100 million per movie.
* So - even if you think there is a chance you might like it - do so at a cinema now. I'd like to see this art form by a studio with real beauty, heart and soul survive.
Message to Tim: you would like it, I am pretty sure.
Update: here's the top guy at Laika, saying that their next movies will be quite different. He suggests that Kubo is like the end of a cycle. I would say that I could see his point if it weren't for Box Trolls, as Coraline, Paranorman and Kubo all do show a great interest in supernatural, after-life issues.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
An app for the day
I have a bad habit of forgetting to turn my android phone ringer back on after turning it off for things like the cinema, or a concert. A day later, I might look at the phone and realise that I have missed a call or two for that reason.
Yesterday, it occurred to me that it would be handy if you could set the ringer off for a certain period, to have it turn itself back on later without my further involvement.
And, indeed, there are many phone ring schedulers out there, which you can use for turning it off for evenings, or overnight, etc.
But the simplest one for the specific purpose I wanted seems to be Shush! Ringer Restorer. Works very simply (just turn your ringer volume to zero and it pops up automatically, letting you assign the restoration in 1/4 hour increments.)
What a neat app (assuming it works, haven't fully tried it yet) for my problem.
Yesterday, it occurred to me that it would be handy if you could set the ringer off for a certain period, to have it turn itself back on later without my further involvement.
And, indeed, there are many phone ring schedulers out there, which you can use for turning it off for evenings, or overnight, etc.
But the simplest one for the specific purpose I wanted seems to be Shush! Ringer Restorer. Works very simply (just turn your ringer volume to zero and it pops up automatically, letting you assign the restoration in 1/4 hour increments.)
What a neat app (assuming it works, haven't fully tried it yet) for my problem.
Friday, August 19, 2016
Trump and racial sensitivity
Charles Blow at the NYT writes with some amusing clarity on the matter of Why Blacks Loathe Trump. An extract:
He erupted like a rash onto the public consciousness on the front page of The New York Times in 1973 because he and his father were being sued for anti-black bias at their rental property.
This is the same man who took out full-page ads blaring the headline “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!” in New York City newspapers calling for the execution of the Central Park Five, a group of teenagers made up of four African-American boys and one Hispanic boy, who were accused and convicted of raping a white female jogger in the park. A judge later overturned the convictions in the flimsy cases and in 2014 the Five settled a wrongful conviction suit with the city for $41 million.
This is the same man who is quoted in the 1991 book “Trumped!: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump — His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall,” as saying:
“I’ve got black accountants at Trump Castle and at Trump Plaza. Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.”
Coalition: "Yes, we were a terrible, inhumane Opposition. So sorry"
Gee, this outburst of blame shifting and quasi-apologies from Liberals for how they acted whilst in Opposition under the then soon-to-be most inept PM in Australian history are coming thick and fast.
First, it was Tony himself musing that perhaps he should have let Labor try deflecting wannabe refugees to Malaysia instead of driving them to desperation in the dead end societies of Nauru and Manus Island. Half- baked, not-really-an-apology-but-thanks-for-the-thought, no doubt not accepted by the people living in tents in the tropics for the last few years, Tony.
Yesterday, Morrison was happy to point out that he was only following orders from Abbott in that matter. Strange how he nonetheless tied his rising star to a level of secrecy and dubious tactics including high seas bribery against refugees that were every bit as questionable as Abbott's self serving painting of Malaysia as the hell hole of Asia.
And today, Christopher Pyne says "well it wasn't me being the unreasonable one":
First, it was Tony himself musing that perhaps he should have let Labor try deflecting wannabe refugees to Malaysia instead of driving them to desperation in the dead end societies of Nauru and Manus Island. Half- baked, not-really-an-apology-but-thanks-for-the-thought, no doubt not accepted by the people living in tents in the tropics for the last few years, Tony.
Yesterday, Morrison was happy to point out that he was only following orders from Abbott in that matter. Strange how he nonetheless tied his rising star to a level of secrecy and dubious tactics including high seas bribery against refugees that were every bit as questionable as Abbott's self serving painting of Malaysia as the hell hole of Asia.
And today, Christopher Pyne says "well it wasn't me being the unreasonable one":
I wonder how the Right wing Murdoch cheer squad for the then Opposition are feeling now that the politicians they supported at the time are now changing their tune.Leader of the House Christopher Pyne has blamed Tony Abbott’s former chief whip, Warren Entsch, for a series of bad calls that resulted in Labor MPs initially being refused leave during Julia Gillard’s hung parliament.Mr Pyne, again touting his credentials as a “fixer”, insisted he overruled Mr Entsch’s hardball tactic of refusing parliamentary pairs for Labor’s Craig Thomson to attend the birth of his child and Michelle Rowland, who wished to care for a sick child.
Still waiting for Kubo
I have the power of overwhelmingly positive reviews (like this one) behind me in convincing the resident teenagers that they will accompany me to see Kubo and the Two Strings on Sunday. (Actually, they've given up putting up resistance.)
Meantime, here's the video clip of the song that plays over the credits at the end (I think I read). I like it (although comments on Youtube indicate Beatles purists may not.)
Meantime, here's the video clip of the song that plays over the credits at the end (I think I read). I like it (although comments on Youtube indicate Beatles purists may not.)
Yay for libertarians (\sarc)
Peter Thiel wants to destroy Gawker. It will be catastrophic if he does.
And I see today that he effectively has.
I become more and more convinced as the years roll on that libertarianism is the most destructive and dangerous political philosophy since the height of Soviet style communism. Even though I didn't read Gawker with any regularity at all, I think Peter Thiel's campaign against it was petty and ridiculous.
But the main objection to it [libertarianism], of course, is the key role cashed up libertarians in the US have had in obstructionism of effective government policy on climate change in that country (and therefore, indirectly, internationally.) Sure, I can't directly blame them for Indian and Chinese obstructionism in past years (well, I don't think I can), but the US has been prevented from unleashing the proper power of capitalism to building clean energy because of libertarian funded objection to proper policy settings.
And, of course, libertarians have been key figures in the climate change policy wars in Australia. I see from recent media that Leyonhjelm tries to avoid sounding as nutty as Roberts on climate by saying his key objection to pricing carbon is that there is no point in doing it until other nations do. Yet this is disingenuous weasel words - his party's platform is clearly that climate change (as a serious issue to be addressed) has not yet been proved to their satisfaction:
And I see today that he effectively has.
I become more and more convinced as the years roll on that libertarianism is the most destructive and dangerous political philosophy since the height of Soviet style communism. Even though I didn't read Gawker with any regularity at all, I think Peter Thiel's campaign against it was petty and ridiculous.
But the main objection to it [libertarianism], of course, is the key role cashed up libertarians in the US have had in obstructionism of effective government policy on climate change in that country (and therefore, indirectly, internationally.) Sure, I can't directly blame them for Indian and Chinese obstructionism in past years (well, I don't think I can), but the US has been prevented from unleashing the proper power of capitalism to building clean energy because of libertarian funded objection to proper policy settings.
And, of course, libertarians have been key figures in the climate change policy wars in Australia. I see from recent media that Leyonhjelm tries to avoid sounding as nutty as Roberts on climate by saying his key objection to pricing carbon is that there is no point in doing it until other nations do. Yet this is disingenuous weasel words - his party's platform is clearly that climate change (as a serious issue to be addressed) has not yet been proved to their satisfaction:
Should the evidence become compelling that global warming is due toSo don't believe Leyonhjelm's attempts to portray himself as just being Mr Pragmatic on this.
human activity, that such global warming is likely to have significantly
negative consequences for human existence, and that changes in human
activity could realistically reverse those consequences, the LDP would
favour market-based options.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Trying hard to maintain his perfect score of "0" (in the category "black Americans who will vote for me")
Donald Trump defends Milwaukee police shooting - BBC News
One would have thought that he might hold back until after video was released to the public; but this is Donald.
One would have thought that he might hold back until after video was released to the public; but this is Donald.
A common problem
In Canada's aboriginal suicide crisis, lesson on protective power of culture - CSMonitor.com
I feel I shouldn't say it, but I'm still not sure that every nation's (or perhaps, every region's) aboriginal culture has the sort of depth to it that enable it to serve this useful purpose.
I feel I shouldn't say it, but I'm still not sure that every nation's (or perhaps, every region's) aboriginal culture has the sort of depth to it that enable it to serve this useful purpose.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
A strange French habit
For French Teens, Smoking Still Has More Allure Than Stigma : Parallels : NPR
Wow, I didn't know this:
I wonder if the tobacco lobby there will be flying Sinclair Davidson in to tut tut about plain packaging. But it's too late.
Wow, I didn't know this:
"They know we smoke at parties; they think it's a social thing," saysIn Australia, incidentally, around 5-6% of teenagers smoke. France's rate is about 8 times higher!
Louise Ferlet, age 16. "But if they knew that on our way to school we
light a cigarette, they'd get mad. I mean, my dad caught me smoking in
my room multiple times. He doesn't react because he went through the
same thing and he knows I'm going to quit one day. And I know I'm going
to quit. Just not today," she says with a laugh.
About 40 percent of French 17-year-olds smoke, according to French government
figures. That's one of the highest rates in Europe. Less than 10 percent of American teens smoke, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a bid to reverse the high rate of smoking, particularly among the
young, France has just introduced some of the world's toughest
anti-tobacco measures, including plain cigarette packs and a ban on
menthol cigarettes.
I wonder if the tobacco lobby there will be flying Sinclair Davidson in to tut tut about plain packaging. But it's too late.
Yes, this is all a bit of a worry
Rise of the critical flops: Suicide Squad takes 360m at box office | Film | The Guardian
The article notes several other films that were big financial successes despite poor reviews. But perhaps I save my biggest indignation for films that get both good reviews and good box office when I consider them immoral trash.
The article notes several other films that were big financial successes despite poor reviews. But perhaps I save my biggest indignation for films that get both good reviews and good box office when I consider them immoral trash.
Waiting for Kubo
I had noticed recently an unusual amount of advertising for the soon to be released Laika feature Kubo and the Two Strings. Given that it is a stop motion animation being released outside of school holidays, I thought that this perhaps indicated a high degree of studio confidence in the film, even though I didn't find the trailers all that impressive.
And, yeah, seems my guess was right: early reviews from America are very, very strong, and I am now keen to see it. [Update: the Rottentomato score is even higher, and the one "rotten" review is from someone unknown at the Guardian, and it reads more as clickbait than a serious review.]
Once again, I will be forced to bribe at least my daughter to see it with me. My son is more easily persuaded to try new movies based on my sales pitch.
Anyway, as I love seeing behind the scenes at Laika, here's a short video showing some of the work on this film:
And, yeah, seems my guess was right: early reviews from America are very, very strong, and I am now keen to see it. [Update: the Rottentomato score is even higher, and the one "rotten" review is from someone unknown at the Guardian, and it reads more as clickbait than a serious review.]
Once again, I will be forced to bribe at least my daughter to see it with me. My son is more easily persuaded to try new movies based on my sales pitch.
Anyway, as I love seeing behind the scenes at Laika, here's a short video showing some of the work on this film:
Trump, Roberts, etc
If you ask me, Brian Cox and the rest of the panel was too soft on Malcolm Roberts last night. While his conspiracy thoughts about NASA got an airing, we didn't hear about Agenda 21 and the European banking families. Still, I can't blame Cox, who is a mere visitor to our shores, for not reading up a bit more on nutty Mal. There are better things to do with your time.
As for Trump - the little bit of his speech I have heard about seemed a bit "meh" - and no explanation as to how "extreme vetting" is supposed to stop the internet radicalisation of Muslim kids who were born in the US. Did he suggest working more closely with Putin? I thought that was the general drift.
As for Trump - the little bit of his speech I have heard about seemed a bit "meh" - and no explanation as to how "extreme vetting" is supposed to stop the internet radicalisation of Muslim kids who were born in the US. Did he suggest working more closely with Putin? I thought that was the general drift.
Monday, August 15, 2016
This'll be interesting...
Trump to lay out plan for combating radical Islamic terrorism - CNNPolitics.com
Although, truth be told, the way Trump is complaining about media bias I think the theory that he will soon "fire himself" (while trying to divert the blame to "the system") is looking more credible than ever.
Although, truth be told, the way Trump is complaining about media bias I think the theory that he will soon "fire himself" (while trying to divert the blame to "the system") is looking more credible than ever.
What a surprise: the blog for angry white males approves of a mock complaint by an angry white male
See here.
Of course, the correct way of seeing Leyonhjelm's complaint is that it's just another example of a Senator with too much time on his hands, playing games.
What's his "nanny State" and wind power enquiries achieved, by the way?
Of course, the correct way of seeing Leyonhjelm's complaint is that it's just another example of a Senator with too much time on his hands, playing games.
What's his "nanny State" and wind power enquiries achieved, by the way?
Monday stuff
* Well, that's weird. Trumpkin tragic Steve Kates from the clown rodeo at Catallaxy yesterday noted an article about the unclear size of the proton-muon combination, and how important this may turn out to be for physics, just after I had read the same day an updated article on arXiv suggesting that the discrepancy can be explained by extra dimensions, and suggesting further experiments that might help confirm it. I assume that this type of experiment does not require high energy and particle acceleration, so it would be ironic if a "table top" experiment turned out to be key to proving the existence new physics when the LHC has not.
* So Tony Abbott now thinks he probably shouldn't have played games with human lives by allowing the Gillard government to legislate for trying the "Malaysia solution"? This poses a bit of a quandary - should he be at least grudgingly admired for coming around to this view, or should we feel greater vindication about his appalling hypocrisy and willingness to advance his career at any cost? I'm leaning strongly to the latter - Abbott is like a bad advertisement for the type of Catholic who takes full advantage of its "get out of jail free" system - you can sin pretty much as much as you like provided you have enough time on your death bed to regret it and receive absolution. Nope, sorry Tony - it was clearly a mere political game you were playing at the time, and you don't deserve sympathy.
* The Olympics - I have my own guilty confession to make - I'm sort of finding Rio's reputation as the most dangerous and bumbling Olympics ever held to be refreshing. I mean, every Games there is panic about facilities not being ready on time, tickets not being sold, and whether visitors will face dangers from terrorism or whatever. But this time, it's all coming true (well, thankfully, with visitors only being robbed and avoiding bullets, but not being killed - I wouldn't be making this comment if that had happened.) It makes a change from the Games all going smoothly after all. Perhaps it will work as incentive to give the games back to poor old Greece permanently, which would seem to be about the only way that country might make a long term economic recovery.
And I would have thought most Australians would be happy enough with the performance of the swim team - I can't stand commentary about "choking" from armchair critics.
So, yeah, I am sort of perversely enjoying these games - and Rio still looks like a very pretty city.
* So Tony Abbott now thinks he probably shouldn't have played games with human lives by allowing the Gillard government to legislate for trying the "Malaysia solution"? This poses a bit of a quandary - should he be at least grudgingly admired for coming around to this view, or should we feel greater vindication about his appalling hypocrisy and willingness to advance his career at any cost? I'm leaning strongly to the latter - Abbott is like a bad advertisement for the type of Catholic who takes full advantage of its "get out of jail free" system - you can sin pretty much as much as you like provided you have enough time on your death bed to regret it and receive absolution. Nope, sorry Tony - it was clearly a mere political game you were playing at the time, and you don't deserve sympathy.
* The Olympics - I have my own guilty confession to make - I'm sort of finding Rio's reputation as the most dangerous and bumbling Olympics ever held to be refreshing. I mean, every Games there is panic about facilities not being ready on time, tickets not being sold, and whether visitors will face dangers from terrorism or whatever. But this time, it's all coming true (well, thankfully, with visitors only being robbed and avoiding bullets, but not being killed - I wouldn't be making this comment if that had happened.) It makes a change from the Games all going smoothly after all. Perhaps it will work as incentive to give the games back to poor old Greece permanently, which would seem to be about the only way that country might make a long term economic recovery.
And I would have thought most Australians would be happy enough with the performance of the swim team - I can't stand commentary about "choking" from armchair critics.
So, yeah, I am sort of perversely enjoying these games - and Rio still looks like a very pretty city.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Password problems
I am getting overwhelmed with passwords, and in particular, with the interaction between Yahoo, Google and YouTube. I think there's less problem if you're not trying to keep a level of net anonymity, but if you are....
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