I'm back, but slowly circling the blog, waiting for inspiration.
There seems to be a fair bit of blogging abandonment by conservative Aussies lately, but my own idiosyncratic corner of opinion (conservative yet taking CO2 seriously, an abiding distrust of horses and cats but a fondness for rats, making sure that the LHC really isn't going to blow up Switzerland) is so certain never to be replicated anywhere else, I feel an obligation to protect this endangered cyber-thing.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
First there was the Urban Sombrero, now..
Urban Camping by import.export
This would have to be the silliest design concept I have seen in a long time.
(And imagine being in the top ten during a thunderstorm. Lightning, please hit me.)
This would have to be the silliest design concept I have seen in a long time.
(And imagine being in the top ten during a thunderstorm. Lightning, please hit me.)
Another dint in the "aborigines lived in harmony with nature for 40,000 years" story
New evidence in giant roo extinction
Researchers have found more evidence that hunting by humans may have caused the extinction of the giant kangaroo.
The giant kangaroo measured two metres in height and was wiped out about 40,000 years ago.
It was previously thought that climate change and land burn-off led to the extinction of the mammal, but researchers at Flinders University say this is not so.
Comparisons noted
AIDS denial: A lethal delusion - health - 22 June 2009 - New Scientist
Here's an interesting article on the history of HIV/AIDS denialism.
The story does have some parallels to global warming skepticism: there are a few scientists out of thousands who believe they have identified the truth, and that everyone else is wrong and just won't admit it because of self interest. Their work is not usually directly in the field of HIV research, rather they critique the work of the "believers".
As I have also said in the past, skeptics should remember the number of engineers and other science types who are 9/11 conspiracists.
And I make this post with my usual reminder that my position is that, even if warming is not proceeding at a dangerous pace, ocean acidification alone is reason to reduce CO2.
Here's an interesting article on the history of HIV/AIDS denialism.
The story does have some parallels to global warming skepticism: there are a few scientists out of thousands who believe they have identified the truth, and that everyone else is wrong and just won't admit it because of self interest. Their work is not usually directly in the field of HIV research, rather they critique the work of the "believers".
As I have also said in the past, skeptics should remember the number of engineers and other science types who are 9/11 conspiracists.
And I make this post with my usual reminder that my position is that, even if warming is not proceeding at a dangerous pace, ocean acidification alone is reason to reduce CO2.
Puffed up outrage, indeed
OK, so Malcolm Turnbull over-reached. But, after seeing Kevin Rudd and him on 7.30 Report last night, I still come away thinking that Rudd's counter over-reach does his image no great help either.
What is wrong with Rudd? Annabel Crabb called his performance "puffed up outrage", as indeed was, but it did seem to me that Rudd was also taking it excessively personally. (Maybe that is an artefact of repeated performances during the day: pretend something long enough and you can really start to believe it.) It had something of a "glass jaw" air about it to me: how dare Turnbull call for my resignation [left unsaid: just because a public servant felt he was under pressure from my office to help someone special to me.]
Turnbull, on the other hand, did not seem to me to be deathly worried about it killing his leadership. He even managed to smile once or twice. (I take it from Turnbull's demeanour that he is not worried about the prospect that his own former adviser created the email, which was the rumour reported yesterday.)
Turnbull clearly comes across as having a barrister's style, which can be off putting at times, but elements of a likeable character seem to come through occasionally. As for Rudd, I still don't think anyone outside of his family likes him. (I guess people could say that Howard did not have seem to have a big circle of friends either, but I would still put him down as having a much more genuine public persona than Rudd.)
I think it was clear that even Kerry O'Brien knew Rudd was over-reacting, and for once, Kerry seemed a tad sharp in his handling of him.
Michelle Grattan's commentary on this seems pretty reasonable. (Short version: Turnbull's attack was not without justification as of 3 days ago.)
Of course, Turnbull's future probably does depend on more revelations about the origin of the email, and whether there were any grounds on the face of it to indicate fraud.
UPDATE: I saw Skynews Agenda program on this last night, with its regular commentators Grahame Morris (old Howard chief of staff) and Bruce Hawker (don't know who he worked for, but he's the Labor guy.)
I am sure it is not just my conservative bias that leads me to say this, but I have always found that Bruce Hawker is a complete bore as a commentator as he only ever recites the current Labor spin. You know exactly what he will say, and he will never, ever, concede harm to Labor in anything they do.
Morris, on the other hand, does show independence of thought, and is always much more open to admitting harm to his side of politics. He comes across as much more than a mere mouthpiece for the party he used to work for.
What is wrong with Rudd? Annabel Crabb called his performance "puffed up outrage", as indeed was, but it did seem to me that Rudd was also taking it excessively personally. (Maybe that is an artefact of repeated performances during the day: pretend something long enough and you can really start to believe it.) It had something of a "glass jaw" air about it to me: how dare Turnbull call for my resignation [left unsaid: just because a public servant felt he was under pressure from my office to help someone special to me.]
Turnbull, on the other hand, did not seem to me to be deathly worried about it killing his leadership. He even managed to smile once or twice. (I take it from Turnbull's demeanour that he is not worried about the prospect that his own former adviser created the email, which was the rumour reported yesterday.)
Turnbull clearly comes across as having a barrister's style, which can be off putting at times, but elements of a likeable character seem to come through occasionally. As for Rudd, I still don't think anyone outside of his family likes him. (I guess people could say that Howard did not have seem to have a big circle of friends either, but I would still put him down as having a much more genuine public persona than Rudd.)
I think it was clear that even Kerry O'Brien knew Rudd was over-reacting, and for once, Kerry seemed a tad sharp in his handling of him.
Michelle Grattan's commentary on this seems pretty reasonable. (Short version: Turnbull's attack was not without justification as of 3 days ago.)
Of course, Turnbull's future probably does depend on more revelations about the origin of the email, and whether there were any grounds on the face of it to indicate fraud.
UPDATE: I saw Skynews Agenda program on this last night, with its regular commentators Grahame Morris (old Howard chief of staff) and Bruce Hawker (don't know who he worked for, but he's the Labor guy.)
I am sure it is not just my conservative bias that leads me to say this, but I have always found that Bruce Hawker is a complete bore as a commentator as he only ever recites the current Labor spin. You know exactly what he will say, and he will never, ever, concede harm to Labor in anything they do.
Morris, on the other hand, does show independence of thought, and is always much more open to admitting harm to his side of politics. He comes across as much more than a mere mouthpiece for the party he used to work for.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Late night wars
Who will have the final say in the clash of America’s TV chat kings?
According to The Independent, Conan O'Brien has lost ratings badly on The Tonight Show.
I haven't seen much of it, but from what I did see, I thought he was making the transition pretty well. Certainly much better than Jimmy Fallon, who I think is hopeless in the O'Briens former, later night, role.
I thought this segment from a couple of weeks ago was pretty funny. (Part 2 is here.)
According to The Independent, Conan O'Brien has lost ratings badly on The Tonight Show.
I haven't seen much of it, but from what I did see, I thought he was making the transition pretty well. Certainly much better than Jimmy Fallon, who I think is hopeless in the O'Briens former, later night, role.
I thought this segment from a couple of weeks ago was pretty funny. (Part 2 is here.)
Oh....
Economist puts dent in optimism: bigger crash is coming - ABC News
I must admit, while I understand little about economics in detail, my common sense take on it all makes me share this guy's skepticism that the worst is over.
I must admit, while I understand little about economics in detail, my common sense take on it all makes me share this guy's skepticism that the worst is over.
Interesting photo
U.S. Fortifies Hawaii to Meet Threat From Korea - WSJ.com
Have a look at the photo in the article of a Boeing floating radar. Looks very suitable as a Bond villain's lair, I think.
Have a look at the photo in the article of a Boeing floating radar. Looks very suitable as a Bond villain's lair, I think.
Questionable fashion
In Venice, Peter Greenaway Takes Veronese’s Figures Out to Play - NYTimes.com
Well what d'ya know, Peter Greenaway is still working, although now (thank heavens) it's only on an arty video installation, and not a movie. The article is perhaps most notable, however, for the photo of Greenaway wearing what appears to be a large pink towel as a scarf or something. Very odd.
While we're talking fashion (and, quite possibly, this is the first time this blog has ever done so,) the NYT also has an article on "innovative" men's fashion from Korea, yet it has no photos. (It does mention a blog called "Your boyhood", which seems a good name to look up at work if you want to be suspected as a pedophile.)
Well that's odd, I just looked at that blog for you, and it features more women than men. Well, I think they are women, anyway.
Finally, David Mitchell has some funny things to say about fashion (and controversy in England over wheelie bins - of all things) in his piece in The Guardian.
Well what d'ya know, Peter Greenaway is still working, although now (thank heavens) it's only on an arty video installation, and not a movie. The article is perhaps most notable, however, for the photo of Greenaway wearing what appears to be a large pink towel as a scarf or something. Very odd.
While we're talking fashion (and, quite possibly, this is the first time this blog has ever done so,) the NYT also has an article on "innovative" men's fashion from Korea, yet it has no photos. (It does mention a blog called "Your boyhood", which seems a good name to look up at work if you want to be suspected as a pedophile.)
Well that's odd, I just looked at that blog for you, and it features more women than men. Well, I think they are women, anyway.
Finally, David Mitchell has some funny things to say about fashion (and controversy in England over wheelie bins - of all things) in his piece in The Guardian.
Cool space suit
Space Suits Past and Future | Space Exploration | Air & Space Magazine
If you want relief from politics, and you're a secret space geek, you could much worse than read the above interview with an 80 year old space suit designer who is still working. (Make sure you go to the video gallery link too and watch him put his 1960's design super flexible suit through its paces. Unfortunately, the suit never flew.)
If you want relief from politics, and you're a secret space geek, you could much worse than read the above interview with an 80 year old space suit designer who is still working. (Make sure you go to the video gallery link too and watch him put his 1960's design super flexible suit through its paces. Unfortunately, the suit never flew.)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The ute, the car dealer, his pals and an email
Tim Blair has all the details covered, but here are some questions unanswered:
* what exactly are the Federal Police going to be investigating if there is no "hard copy" of an email to produce? That someone told News Limited and/or Turnbull that there was an email? Why would the journalist even co-operate in identifying his source? Seems to me to another clear case of a dead-end investigation before it even starts.
* If it is a fake email, what are the odds that it would be faked and then have its existence supported by Godwin? Very peculiar.
* will it come out that (when poor old Godwin Grech is questioned by the Auditor General or the AFP) that he may have mistaken a fax for an email?
* where's the outrage from those like the Larvatus Prodeo crowd over the clear obstructionism of Godwin's boss in the Senate hearing? (See Insiders for compilation of that when they get their video up.) If that had happened under Howard, we would be hearing about corruption of the public service for weeks.
Instead, most LP commenters are running completely with the Rudd line that it is Turnbull who must resign. No curiosity about Godwin's recollection lining up with a "fake" document at all.
* I still suspect that Rudd's overly intense denial in Parliament when this originally came up is due to him knowing that he office may have made unofficial queries regarding Grant, and his relief when they confirmed they had not done it in writing.
* what exactly are the Federal Police going to be investigating if there is no "hard copy" of an email to produce? That someone told News Limited and/or Turnbull that there was an email? Why would the journalist even co-operate in identifying his source? Seems to me to another clear case of a dead-end investigation before it even starts.
* If it is a fake email, what are the odds that it would be faked and then have its existence supported by Godwin? Very peculiar.
* will it come out that (when poor old Godwin Grech is questioned by the Auditor General or the AFP) that he may have mistaken a fax for an email?
* where's the outrage from those like the Larvatus Prodeo crowd over the clear obstructionism of Godwin's boss in the Senate hearing? (See Insiders for compilation of that when they get their video up.) If that had happened under Howard, we would be hearing about corruption of the public service for weeks.
Instead, most LP commenters are running completely with the Rudd line that it is Turnbull who must resign. No curiosity about Godwin's recollection lining up with a "fake" document at all.
* I still suspect that Rudd's overly intense denial in Parliament when this originally came up is due to him knowing that he office may have made unofficial queries regarding Grant, and his relief when they confirmed they had not done it in writing.
Good news for men
Prostate cancer victims cured with ipilimumab - Times Online
TWO men with advanced, inoperable prostate cancer have dramatically recovered after being treated with an experimental drug. Both are cancer-free and have returned to normal life.
The patients, Rodger Nelson and Fructuoso Solano-Revuelta, took part in US trials of a drug called ipilimumab. The researchers were so excited by the men’s recovery that they released details before completion of the tests, which involved 108 men in all.
Before treatment at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, both men had aggressive tumours and neither was expected to survive.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
How to make your guests sick
US couple to have world's first weightless wedding - New Scientist
I guess we'll be seeing footage of this on the news soon.
UPDATE: the wedding photo can be seen here.
I guess we'll be seeing footage of this on the news soon.
UPDATE: the wedding photo can be seen here.
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