I wouldn't say I'm the world's biggest Wes Anderson fan, but I really liked Fantastic Mr Fox. I see that he has a new film out soon, with Bill Murray (again), Bruce Willis (!) and Tilda Swinton (!!), and it looks very eccentric indeed:
UPDATE: Surprise! It's getting good reviews.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Cat attack on your eyes
New funding for research on parasitic eye disease
People who read about science over the last few years would have heard about toxoplasma gondii (which you can catch from your cat's litter box, amongst other places) and its odd behavioural effects on rats and (possibly) humans. I don't recall reading about this before, though:
People who read about science over the last few years would have heard about toxoplasma gondii (which you can catch from your cat's litter box, amongst other places) and its odd behavioural effects on rats and (possibly) humans. I don't recall reading about this before, though:
Brooke Anderson-White, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in pathology, has received a grant from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation Inc. for research to develop vitally needed new treatments for severe eye infections caused by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite.
The parasite infects as many as a billion people worldwide, many of whom have no symptoms. However, it can cause severe problems in those with weakened immune systems or in infants infected during pregnancy, leading to the condition toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis. Infected children can develop severe vision impairment and blindness as a result of retinal scarring caused by the disease. Toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis is a major source of visual impairment in the United States.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Not sure what it means
Once again, there is talk from scientists about whether a quantum wave function is itself "real".
I'm not sure of the importance of the debate. The brief discussion of it at the link above suggests it helps solve the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment, and as we all like our pets to be either dead or alive (not in a fuzzy in between state) that could be a useful outcome.
Anyway, I need some better explanation of this...
I'm not sure of the importance of the debate. The brief discussion of it at the link above suggests it helps solve the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment, and as we all like our pets to be either dead or alive (not in a fuzzy in between state) that could be a useful outcome.
Anyway, I need some better explanation of this...
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Carbonara considered (more than you thought possible)
How to cook the perfect spaghetti carbonara | Life and style | The Guardian
I'm quite partial to a good pasta carbonara myself, and perfecting it is a bit tricky.
Little did I know that there are many different approaches to this recipe, and this l-l-long blog post about the variations certainly goes into a lot of detail.
I'm quite partial to a good pasta carbonara myself, and perfecting it is a bit tricky.
Little did I know that there are many different approaches to this recipe, and this l-l-long blog post about the variations certainly goes into a lot of detail.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Steganography appears again
Al Qaeda suspect's porn film found to contain treasure trove of secret documents
Once again, the topic of steganogaphy (software that secretly hides information within what appears to be ordinary media files) being used by real life terrorists is in the news. My interest in this is just an adult version of an interest in invisible ink, I guess, but we can all have our fun imagining being a spy (not so much a terrorist):
Once again, the topic of steganogaphy (software that secretly hides information within what appears to be ordinary media files) being used by real life terrorists is in the news. My interest in this is just an adult version of an interest in invisible ink, I guess, but we can all have our fun imagining being a spy (not so much a terrorist):
The researchers from the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA), spent many weeks examining the hidden pornographic video* found on suspected Al Qaeda member, the Austrian Maqsood Lodin, when he was arrested in Berlin after returning from Pakistan. The video, called “Kick Ass,” was stored in a password-protected folder and within the video they found a file called “Sexy Tanja.” Further analysis of this file eventually revealed that it contained more than 100 concealed unencrypted documents describing Al Qaeda plans and operations.
A video file has ample room for concealing documents, and would be relatively easy to distribute. In Maqsood Lodin’s memory stick, the porn video contained hidden terrorist training manuals in pdf form in English, German and Arabic, along with numerous documents detailing planned future Al Qaeda attacks, and lessons learned from previous operations.* the comedy sketch writes itself.
Minimizing grid use
Novel battery system could reduce buildings' electric bills
I don't know what to make of this, but in some places (like all of Australia from about Sydney up), it's easy to imagine that domestic large scale batteries to store excess electricity generated by solar panels during the day could mean a house uses very little electricity off the grid. If, say, an extra $10,000 on a new house build could give a very large saving on electricity use both during the day and night, would it make more sense to do that rather than having solar panels that feed back into the grid? It would at least avoid the problems to the grid that feed in solar panels can cause.
I don't know what to make of this, but in some places (like all of Australia from about Sydney up), it's easy to imagine that domestic large scale batteries to store excess electricity generated by solar panels during the day could mean a house uses very little electricity off the grid. If, say, an extra $10,000 on a new house build could give a very large saving on electricity use both during the day and night, would it make more sense to do that rather than having solar panels that feed back into the grid? It would at least avoid the problems to the grid that feed in solar panels can cause.
Discouraging ocean predictions
Equatorial refuge amid tropical warming
From the link:
The article goes on to explain that there might be some compensating upwelling which will cool certain Pacific Islands, but even so the temperatures will be up. Just not as much.
Sounds like a hot time for many coral reefs.
In another article in Nature Climate Change, some researchers think that increased CO2 will hurt, not help, phytoplankton, contrary to what you might expect:
From the link:
Upwelling across the tropical Pacific Ocean is projected to weaken in accordance with a reduction of the atmospheric overturning circulation1, enhancing the increase in sea surface temperature relative to other regions in response to greenhouse-gas forcing. In the central Pacific, home to one of the largest marine protected areas and fishery regions in the global tropics, sea surface temperatures are projected to increase by 2.8 °C by the end of this century2, 3, 4. Of critical concern is that marine protected areas may not provide refuge from the anticipated rate of large-scale warming, which could exceed the evolutionary capacity of coral and their symbionts to adapt5.I am, like George Costanza, no marine biologist, but that does sound like a heck of an increase in sea surfaces temperatures in waters that are already pretty warm.
The article goes on to explain that there might be some compensating upwelling which will cool certain Pacific Islands, but even so the temperatures will be up. Just not as much.
Sounds like a hot time for many coral reefs.
In another article in Nature Climate Change, some researchers think that increased CO2 will hurt, not help, phytoplankton, contrary to what you might expect:
Carbon dioxide and light are two major prerequisites of photosynthesis. Rising CO2 levels in oceanic surface waters in combination with ample light supply are therefore often considered stimulatory to marine primary production1, 2, 3. Here we show that the combination of an increase in both CO2 and light exposure negatively impacts photosynthesis and growth of marine primary producers. When exposed to CO2 concentrations projected for the end of this century4, natural phytoplankton assemblages of the South China Sea responded with decreased primary production and increased light stress at light intensities representative of the upper surface layer. The phytoplankton community shifted away from diatoms, the dominant phytoplankton group during our field campaigns.So how does the increased light happen in future? This seems to be explained in the last part of the abstract:
Future shoaling of upper-mixed-layer depths will expose phytoplankton to increased mean light intensities5. In combination with rising CO2 levels, this may cause a widespread decline in marine primary production and a community shift away from diatoms, the main algal group that supports higher trophic levels and carbon export in the ocean.Well, there you go. More news of the giant climatological and ecological experiment that is underway, and that serious people should take seriously.
Extremes
BBC News - Gaia creator rows back on climate
Climate change deniers (as they have adopted "alarmists" and "warmenists" as a matter of routine, I'm not going to worry about using "denier" any more, although I have a soft spot for "fake skeptics") were all excited about Lovelock's recent interview where he said he had been too alarmist in his previous talk about how climate change would only leave a handful of breeding humans in the Arctic, and that "no one knows" what the climate is doing.
As I tried to tell the selectively stupid at another blog, it's not as if Lovelock was ever "mainstream" on the topic. My sentiments were summarised by a climate scientist quoted at the BBC (link at the top):
That said, nearly everyone still likes listening to Lovelock. He is a very interesting character with lots of good work behind him. It's just that he has been well out on his own in terms of pessimism on climate change.
But does this wash with the selectively stupid will take his current view as indicating that everything is so uncertain that nothing should be done about CO2 emissions? No, of course not.
Climate change deniers (as they have adopted "alarmists" and "warmenists" as a matter of routine, I'm not going to worry about using "denier" any more, although I have a soft spot for "fake skeptics") were all excited about Lovelock's recent interview where he said he had been too alarmist in his previous talk about how climate change would only leave a handful of breeding humans in the Arctic, and that "no one knows" what the climate is doing.
As I tried to tell the selectively stupid at another blog, it's not as if Lovelock was ever "mainstream" on the topic. My sentiments were summarised by a climate scientist quoted at the BBC (link at the top):
One IPCC scientist, who said he didn't want to be drawn into a personal argument with Dr Lovelock, said: "Jim exaggerated the certainties of climate change before, which wasn't helpful then. His recent comments aren't helpful nowJames Annan is also happy to point out that he and others called out Lovelock's extreme pessimism at the time, including Tim Lambert in Australia.
"They will be seized on by people who argue that science is too uncertain to inform policy - and that's absolutely not the case. He's blown too hot, now he's blowing too cold."
Prof Hans von Storch of the Meteorological Institute at the University of Hamburg told BBC News: "Lovelock certainly exaggerated in 2006. It seems that the extreme position on both sides are losing ground, and that is good."
That said, nearly everyone still likes listening to Lovelock. He is a very interesting character with lots of good work behind him. It's just that he has been well out on his own in terms of pessimism on climate change.
But does this wash with the selectively stupid will take his current view as indicating that everything is so uncertain that nothing should be done about CO2 emissions? No, of course not.
Dream knowledge
Shortly before I woke up, I was having a dream which was set in a sort of fantasy RNA Show (the Ekka, if you're from Brisbane.) I think it was Dick Smith who was walking around with me. (Don't ask me why - apart from the fact he was recently on some TV promo for a current affairs program giving away money to people.)
It ended up at a table where Bob Geldorf and, I think, some other famous person, were drinking with Dick Smith and me. There were nuts on the table being eaten as a snack (I remember walnuts in particular - toasted walnuts are perhaps my favourite nut) and Bob made the comment that he used to lead an unhealthy lifestyle in which the only thing he ate was nuts. I asked whether he knew that peanuts were not actually a nut. Then the person sitting next to Geldorf said "that's right, they're a legume."
When I woke up, I couldn't quite recall whether that was right (the bit about being a legume, I mean.) The Peanut Institute confirms it is.
Some people dream of winning lottery numbers, or solve scientific puzzles. My subconscious is quite a bit more useless.
It ended up at a table where Bob Geldorf and, I think, some other famous person, were drinking with Dick Smith and me. There were nuts on the table being eaten as a snack (I remember walnuts in particular - toasted walnuts are perhaps my favourite nut) and Bob made the comment that he used to lead an unhealthy lifestyle in which the only thing he ate was nuts. I asked whether he knew that peanuts were not actually a nut. Then the person sitting next to Geldorf said "that's right, they're a legume."
When I woke up, I couldn't quite recall whether that was right (the bit about being a legume, I mean.) The Peanut Institute confirms it is.
Some people dream of winning lottery numbers, or solve scientific puzzles. My subconscious is quite a bit more useless.
Monday, May 07, 2012
The dangerous tub
The Japan Times has an editorial on an unusual topic:
An investigation into one of Japan's favorite pastimes — bathing — has found a startling statistic: 14,000 people a year die during bath time. That's nearly three times more deaths than from car accidents, 4,612 people....
Bathing seems such a comforting and pleasant activity that it is hard to associate it with danger. However, the deaths come from several different problems. Some deaths resulted from drowning when bathers fell asleep. Other causes were heart attacks, subarachnoid hemorrhages or strokes from the sudden shift in temperatures. Dehydration and injuries resulting from slipping were also among the causes.
Researchers at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine found last year that the danger of heart attacks is nearly 10 times greater in winter than in summer — and much higher than the risk of cardiac arrest during exercise. The rapid blood pressure drop that happens when getting in the bath stresses the heart more on a cold day, which can lead to a number of complications.
Trying out the macro
My wife bought a new little digital, and readers would know I love how digital cameras, even the cheapies, do macro pretty well:
Not bad. I must try and track down a bug now...
Not bad. I must try and track down a bug now...
An interesting analysis
We need to talk about energy, not rates - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Alan Kohler is upset that badly needed investment in electricity in Australia is being stalled due to uncertainty, caused in large part by the Tony Abbott "must revoke the carbon tax" policy.
I'm sure Kohler is not alone in this view. But where are the economists who feel this way? Are they just going to sit on their hands, or wait until an election is looming and then say that dismantling the governments carbon pricing scheme, and replacing it with Abbott's second rate "direct action" really doesn't make sense?
Anyway, here is Kohler's depressing conclusion:
Alan Kohler is upset that badly needed investment in electricity in Australia is being stalled due to uncertainty, caused in large part by the Tony Abbott "must revoke the carbon tax" policy.
I'm sure Kohler is not alone in this view. But where are the economists who feel this way? Are they just going to sit on their hands, or wait until an election is looming and then say that dismantling the governments carbon pricing scheme, and replacing it with Abbott's second rate "direct action" really doesn't make sense?
Anyway, here is Kohler's depressing conclusion:
If they're all thrown out, as promised, then the new minister will have to start the process all over again. By the way, the shadow minister is Ian Macfarlane, who came within a bee's willy of negotiating an emissions trading scheme in 2009 with the then minister, Penny Wong.
Presumably he no longer believes in that crazy stuff.
Anyway, aside from whatever carbon abatement costs are imposed by either political party (they both have the same reduction target of 5 per cent by 2020), electricity prices are already set to double by 2017 because of chronic under-investment in east coast transmission and distribution over previous decades.
This price increase cannot be avoided – it is already locked in. In fact, it will be greater than that if the 20 per cent renewable energy target is to be met because renewable generation is always further away, so that transmission costs more.
The only antidote to the huge, looming increase in the price of electricity, not to mention the possibility of brownouts caused by the lack of investment in base load power, including nuclear, is energy efficiency.
Unless urgent action is taken, the rising price of power will destroy manufacturing and retail businesses far more effectively than the internet and the currency, which has a tendency to go down as well as up.
Japanese tornado
God really seems to have it in for Japan at the moment.
A compilation video of yesterday's tornado, looking very much like footage we more commonly see from the middle of America, can be see here.
Of course, people interested in climate change will be curious as to how rare this is. As the Wikipedia knows all, it indicates that tornadoes are indeed pretty rare, but not unknown, in Japan. Other odd places that have had tornadoes on that list include Moscow in 1904. I guess that wherever you can get a storm, a tornado may be possible.
A compilation video of yesterday's tornado, looking very much like footage we more commonly see from the middle of America, can be see here.
Of course, people interested in climate change will be curious as to how rare this is. As the Wikipedia knows all, it indicates that tornadoes are indeed pretty rare, but not unknown, in Japan. Other odd places that have had tornadoes on that list include Moscow in 1904. I guess that wherever you can get a storm, a tornado may be possible.
Sunday, May 06, 2012
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