The dulcet tones return

For those who just can't enough of William Shatner's unique way of mauling a song in a completely unselfconscious fashion, here''s the latest example hot off Youtube:

Whales and iron

Whale poop is vital to ocean's carbon cycle - life - 22 April 2010 - New Scientist

Saving endangered baleen whales could boost the carbon storage capacity of the Southern Ocean, suggests a new study of whale faeces. Whale faeces once provided huge quantities of iron to a now anaemic Southern Ocean, boosting the growth of carbon-sequestering phytoplankton.

So says Stephen Nicol of the Australian Antarctic Division, based in Kingston, Tasmania, who has found "huge amounts of iron in whale poo". He believes that before commercial whaling, baleen whale faeces may have accounted for some 12 per cent of the iron on the surface of the Southern Ocean.

Handy to know.

Considering Heaven, again

Heaven: A fool's paradise - Faith, Opinion - The Independent

Johann Hari review the Lisa Miller book about the history of heaven, about which I have commented recently.

While he is an atheist, he at least gives us more detail of Miller's argument about the Jewish development of the concept. It's interesting, but I don't have time to comment more right now.

A bit out of the blue?

Japan proposes sharp cut in minke whale catch quota in Antarctic Sea › Japan Today

Japan has proposed catching up to 440 southern minke whales each year for what it calls research purposes in the Antarctic Ocean, down from 935 at present, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday. Japan hopes to resume full-fledged whaling in its coastal waters in return for the proposed quota reduction in the Antarctic Sea, the sources said.

How many (and what type of) whales do they expect to catch in their coastal waters?

Way to attract young voters, Tony!

No more dole, Tony Abbott warns the under-30s | The Australian

Six of the attendees confirmed yesterday that Mr Abbott had raised
the idea of banning welfare payments for young people to encourage them
to fill the thousands of jobs emerging in states such as Western
Australia and Queensland.

"He said he was thinking more and more about it, with a view to formulating something on it," said one of the participants, who asked not to be named.

Another recalled: "He definitely said it was something he was considering as a policy."

Maybe Tony is getting kickbacks from the ALP's advertising agency. They come up with their fantasy quotes for the next campaign; Tony then makes them real.

Good question

Environmental Health Perspectives: Will Ocean Acidification Erode the Base of the Food Web?

Strange lack of knowledge

Seoul warns on nuclear talks if North linked to sinking - ABC News

South Korea says it now appears that an external explosion possibly
caused by a torpedo ripped the warship in two.

Seoul is warning that if North Korea is found to have been involved
it will take the issue to the United Nations Security Council for
possible sanctions.

I find it hard to believe that South Korea does not know the truth of how this happened yet.

Bring me the bucket

1 in 10 revelers plan on consuming more than 40 units of alcohol in a single evening | e! Science News

It's all about heavy drinking when out on the town in the UK. The report contains this bit of information that would suggest letting people know their BAC is not a good way to get them to drink less:

Just over half (51%) of the people who reported feeling drunk at interview said they intended to drink more alcohol that night. The researchers also found that when individuals were informed about their blood alcohol level, it was more likely to encourage them to drink (nearly 1 in 4) than to reduce their alcohol consumption that night (less than 1 in 25). Bellis said, "Commercial use of breathalyzers to encourage individuals to drink more has already been attempted in some bars in the UK. As such technologies become more easily accessible there is a real danger it will further increase alcohol consumption."

Oh well. I can always thank a stomach that is more than ready to throw up after its allocated share of alcohol for ensuring I am in absolutely no danger of ever going out to attempt 40 units of alcohol in a night. On the assumption a bottle of wine is about 7 standard drinks, I'm not sure I've even reached 10 or 12 in an evening without vomiting. ( Just thought I would share that with you.)

Fire and ice

Iceland reminds us nature is boss. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

Some interesting background stuff about Iceland here from Hitchens, of all people.

Bad volcano

How an Icelandic volcano helped spark the French Revolution | World news | The Guardian

Interesting article last week in The Guardian giving a short history of the disastrous effects of the big Icelandic volcanic eruption of 1783 - 1784.

What next??

Dinner is the theater as food paparazzi converge - latimes.com

The LA Times has an amusing and surprising report on the trend for people to photograph their food. It's starting to annoy some restaurants so much they have a "non flash only" policy.

But, here's the most ridiculous digital photo development I have heard:

Camera manufacturers are joining the trend. Nikon, Olympus and Sony sell cameras that offer "cuisine" or "food" settings, which adjust to enhance colors and textures on close-ups.

How come they haven't come up with a "shower/bedroom flesh tone" setting for men, then? Would be used more often, I bet.

And now to reveal my hypocrisy: I must admit I have taken a few food photos over the years, but - I think - only in Japan, where it has novelty value and presentation is extremely important. No, that's different from taking photos of food in your local restaurant - honest.

Another explanation of the "missing heat"issue

Tracking the energy from global warming

It's quite a discrepancy they've got going since 2005.  For what's it's worth, my hunch would be that it's a problem both with ocean heat content calculations (being a bit too low) and satellite measurements (being a bit too high.)

All about that coffee

From Dung to Coffee Brew With No Aftertaste - NYTimes.com

This article in the New York Times explains all you would ever need to know about the civet poo coffee business of South East Asia.

I think I'll pass, thanks.

Bad time to be in the vitamin business

Vitamins linked to breast cancer

A major study has revealed that women who take a daily multi-vitamin
pill are nearly 20 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer.

Given the bad publicity that many vitamin supplements have been accruing over the last 5 years or so, I wonder if sales have been significantly affected.

Won't always love you-ou-ou-ou-ah-won't-always etc

Whitney Houston, LG Arena, Birmingham - Reviews, Music - The Independent

It's pretty rare to find such a scathing review of a pop concert, but here it is.

Actually, the Guardian's reviewer from the same concert thinks that there is a bit of an unfair anti-Whitney bandwagon developing, as most reviews said she was OK on some songs. But, there is this:

They say Houston behaved oddly, chatting about nothing in particular for minutes on end, took a 15-minute break only half a dozen songs in, and had trouble reaching some of her high notes.

She does indeed appear to be regularly (see the comments below about the next concert) making a spectacular hash of the famous climax of "I will always love you", as you can see here. It's doubly excruciating because of the long, long break she takes before attempting it, and the whoops and encouragement given by her (not very British sounding) fans.

In fact, if you watch any Youtubes clips of the Birmingham concert, the enthusiasm of the audience is, somewhat puzzlingly in the circumstances, quite high.

The next concert she gave was at Nottingham, and the reviewer writes this:

However, Houston's rendition of the ultimate schmaltz anthem "I Will Always Love You" must have tested even her most loyal followers. It's a challenging ballad, not least if you've been doing extraordinarily damaging things to your upper body for several years. Her voice wheezes and grates through the high notes. There are attempts to plaster over the cracks with octave changes and smiles, but mid-song she stops, sighs and turns around to compose herself. She does finish the number, in a way, but it isn't spectacular and Houston, frozen, knows it. A momentary silence is pierced by the sound of a child crying in the stalls. Quite why left this song to the end is bewildering.

But the on-stage behaviour is perhaps worth seeing on its own:

The songs include moments of genuine bonkersness. During "Saving All My Love for You" she stoops to moisturise her ankles and on several occasions appears to be singing to her shoes.

All a bit sad, in its way.