English singer Petula Clark is back 'Downtown' - latimes.com
The 1960's now feels like a long, long time ago, and as with Shirley Bassey, it can be startling to realise a singer from that era is still alive and still working.
It turns out Petula Clark, aged 81, is still at it. I haven't thought about her for a long, long time; but when thinking of "Downtown", I am inclined to join Gerald the Gorilla* and observe that the production on that album is amazing.
Speaking on the big production values of the 1960's, I thought this recent article in The Guardian by Jimmy Webb about the making of Macathur Park with Richard Harris was interesting. (When did Harris die? 2002? Doesn't seem that long ago.)
I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised that famous singer from the 1960's are still with us, given Paul McCartney and the Stones rarely being out of the news. But it's the ones who you don't think of for ages who suddenly turn up still alive who cause the surprise.
* yes, I know, he was talking of Johnny Mathis, who I see is still alive and aged 78. (I am contractually obliged to mention this sketch at least once a year.)
Monday, November 18, 2013
Stoic revival
I see via Mary Beard's blog that the second "Live Like a Stoic Week" is soon upon us, and more detail can be learnt from the "Stoicism Today" website.
Well, I suppose it's just lucky that we don't have any academics into reviving Cynicism by following the example of Diogenes:
Well, I suppose it's just lucky that we don't have any academics into reviving Cynicism by following the example of Diogenes:
From Life of Diogenes: "Someone took him [Diogenes] into a magnificent house and warned him not to spit, whereupon, having cleared his throat, he spat into the man's face, being unable, he said, to find a meaner receptacle."That was from the Wikipedia entry on unpopular house guest Diogenes. I also learn from there the origin of the "cynic":
The term "Cynic" itself derives from the Greek word κυνικός, kynikos, "dog-like" and that from κύων, kyôn, "dog" (genitive: kynos).[48] One explanation offered in ancient times for why the Cynics were called dogs was because Antisthenes taught in the Cynosarges gymnasium at Athens.[49] The word Cynosarges means the place of the white dog. Later Cynics also sought to turn the word to their advantage, as a later commentator explained:Maybe I had read that before, but forgotten.
There are four reasons why the Cynics are so named. First because of the indifference of their way of life, for they make a cult of indifference and, like dogs, eat and make love in public, go barefoot, and sleep in tubs and at crossroads. The second reason is that the dog is a shameless animal, and they make a cult of shamelessness, not as being beneath modesty, but as superior to it. The third reason is that the dog is a good guard, and they guard the tenets of their philosophy. The fourth reason is that the dog is a discriminating animal which can distinguish between its friends and enemies. So do they recognize as friends those who are suited to philosophy, and receive them kindly, while those unfitted they drive away, like dogs, by barking at them.
Big hail
Having suffered some house damage in a hail storm exactly one year ago, I certainly have a good idea how scary it would have been to be in the huge and damaging hail that hit the Sunshine Coast on the weekend.
The biggest hail stones appear to be the of the type which are make up by smaller hail freezing together, but that still makes for a massive chunk of ice falling out of the sky. I think there was a report of one person injured directly by the hail; it's a wonder there weren't more.
The biggest hail stones appear to be the of the type which are make up by smaller hail freezing together, but that still makes for a massive chunk of ice falling out of the sky. I think there was a report of one person injured directly by the hail; it's a wonder there weren't more.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Dubious theory noted
I seem to have missed "biocentrism," as coined by medical Professor Robert Lanza, but it got a run in The Indpendent the other day, in a somewhat confusing article which says Lanza thinks his theory means that there is definitely life after death. It sounds rather like Hugh Everett's idea that he would continue living in another corner of the multiverse - but not quite. (I don't know that anyone has put this "multiple versions of everyone" idea to much philosophical, theological or science fiction consideration yet. It always seems to me that it must be good for some interesting conjecture about God and the meaning of the universe, and it's a topic I often find myself thinking about in the shower. Never with any worthwhile result, however.)
Reddit has an article on it which contains more criticism, and there is a Wikipedia entry too.
Doesn't seem all that promising to me...
Reddit has an article on it which contains more criticism, and there is a Wikipedia entry too.
Doesn't seem all that promising to me...
Captain Shaky
I knew nothing really about the events portrayed in Captain Phillips, even though they only occurred in 2009, and this is an excellent way to have seen the movie yesterday.
It's a very solid film: good acting, pretty good writing, and just a really interesting story. But there are a couple of, not exactly reservations, but at least observations I would make:
a. the US military obviously fully co-operated with the film, and it's no wonder, given they are the heroes of the piece. But the movie does perhaps treat them as so superbly efficient that, on reflection, they seem just about too good to be true. I can't really call this a criticism of the film - the US military probably deserves some unreserved cinematic high praise at least once in a while - but it wouldn't have hurt to shown one military character being a bit more human.
b. Given that I have spent the last decade or so concentrating more on children's movies than adult ones, this was the first film I have seen by Paul Greengrass. David Stratton and others have long complained or at least noted this director's love of hand held camera, or "shaky cam", and I have finally seen what it is like.
It's self evident that the style works best for documentary style story telling, and this movie certainly fits the bill. As I have already indicated, it didn't ruin the movie for me, but I have got to say, it must surely make a director's job a hell of a lot easier to do an entire movie in this fashion. I mean, it's virtually a complete jettison of concern about careful composition of a shot: the actors just need to be approximately where they should be, and the cameraman just has to get them approximately in shot. I would also assume it makes shooting the film a hell of a lot faster.
But given its limitations, it would seem almost a cheat to me if Greengrass got a Director's award for the film, no matter how much critics liked it.
Still, I recommend it.
It's a very solid film: good acting, pretty good writing, and just a really interesting story. But there are a couple of, not exactly reservations, but at least observations I would make:
a. the US military obviously fully co-operated with the film, and it's no wonder, given they are the heroes of the piece. But the movie does perhaps treat them as so superbly efficient that, on reflection, they seem just about too good to be true. I can't really call this a criticism of the film - the US military probably deserves some unreserved cinematic high praise at least once in a while - but it wouldn't have hurt to shown one military character being a bit more human.
b. Given that I have spent the last decade or so concentrating more on children's movies than adult ones, this was the first film I have seen by Paul Greengrass. David Stratton and others have long complained or at least noted this director's love of hand held camera, or "shaky cam", and I have finally seen what it is like.
It's self evident that the style works best for documentary style story telling, and this movie certainly fits the bill. As I have already indicated, it didn't ruin the movie for me, but I have got to say, it must surely make a director's job a hell of a lot easier to do an entire movie in this fashion. I mean, it's virtually a complete jettison of concern about careful composition of a shot: the actors just need to be approximately where they should be, and the cameraman just has to get them approximately in shot. I would also assume it makes shooting the film a hell of a lot faster.
But given its limitations, it would seem almost a cheat to me if Greengrass got a Director's award for the film, no matter how much critics liked it.
Still, I recommend it.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Yet another possible solar/hydrogen "breakthrough"
Researchers create a low-cost, long-lasting water splitter made of silicon and nickel
New proposals for putting together solar power and hydrogen production from water seem to be cropping up all the time. It would be good if one of them ever got to production scale.
I see this article suggests the hydrogen would be used in fuel cells to generate power overnight or when it is cloudy. (Well, hot salt systems seem to work overnight anyway.) I wonder if this is more efficient than just burning hydrogen under the salts to keep them hot?
Some other article I read recently suggested that putting small nuclear reactors at solar power stations could work well too. I can't find it right now, though...
New proposals for putting together solar power and hydrogen production from water seem to be cropping up all the time. It would be good if one of them ever got to production scale.
I see this article suggests the hydrogen would be used in fuel cells to generate power overnight or when it is cloudy. (Well, hot salt systems seem to work overnight anyway.) I wonder if this is more efficient than just burning hydrogen under the salts to keep them hot?
Some other article I read recently suggested that putting small nuclear reactors at solar power stations could work well too. I can't find it right now, though...
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Friends in high places
Gina Rinehart meets Coalition MPs in secret trip to Canberra
Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, invited a small group of Coalition friends for drinks in her private hotel suite, after planning a secret flight to Canberra to visit the Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce.
Some of Mrs Rinehart's closest political friends, the Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and Liberal Party senators Cory Bernardi and Michaelia Cash, were invited to join the billionaire for the intimate gathering on Wednesday night.
The iron ore magnate, who has vigorously supported Prime Minister Tony Abbott's plans to abolish the carbon and mining taxes, suggested the politicians meet for drinks in her Canberra hotel room to avoid media attention.
It is understood the reason for Mrs Rinehart's surprise trip to Canberra was so she could attend Parliament House to watch Mr Joyce's maiden speech on Thursday as the newly elected MP for New England.
It is understood Mrs Rinehart's secretary booked a room in the Hyatt Hotel and organised a private jet to fly from Sydney to Canberra late on Wednesday.
The billionaire had also planned to meet senators Bernardi and Cash and the Speaker, Ms Bishop, for lunch on Thursday after Mr Joyce's speech.
The Kevinburg finale
As I wrote elsewhere last night:
Rudd performed well in initial interviews on his return, but his old policy-on-the-run habit re-asserted itself during the campaign, as well as his vanity. Still, it’s true, I would have preferred Labor to have won this election under him, as I consider Abbott has certainly become a flakey politician with no sign of having good intuitions on anything currently important.
But having lost the election, it is indeed a good thing to see the final end of the Rudd experiment, which in terms of the internal affairs of Labor, was a clear disaster.
Update:
Julia Gillard has wished Kevin Rudd well following the announcement of his resignation from Parliament.
Ms Gillard tweeted her best wishes on Thursday morning to the man who ended her prime ministership.She's obviously not an embittered ex politician. She was always likeable, and remains so.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
High dollar frustration
Reserve Bank should intervene to push down the Australian dollar
Tim Colebatch continues his argument that the ongoing problem for the Australian economy is the high Australian dollar, and it deserves Reserve Bank intervention.
I had thought that the Abbott government would reap the benefit (under false pretences) of an Australian dollar which appeared to be heading down to a permanently lower rate. But it keeps hovering around the mid 90's, which is not good enough. As Colebatch argues:
Tim Colebatch continues his argument that the ongoing problem for the Australian economy is the high Australian dollar, and it deserves Reserve Bank intervention.
I had thought that the Abbott government would reap the benefit (under false pretences) of an Australian dollar which appeared to be heading down to a permanently lower rate. But it keeps hovering around the mid 90's, which is not good enough. As Colebatch argues:
The high dollar cannot last forever. But there is a limit to how long companies can go on losing money while waiting for the dollar to fall. We are allowing a temporary over-valuation to shut down economic capacity permanently. This is not how the successful Asian economies operate.
How many still displaced in Japan
Little hope of evacuee homecoming | The Japan Times
I had been wondering recently about the number of people in Japan who are still displaced as a result of the Fukushima reactor accident, but it's been hard to find current numbers via Google.
The article above gives an indication, however:
When nuclear goes wrong, it is massively disruptive and hugely expensive to clean up.
I had been wondering recently about the number of people in Japan who are still displaced as a result of the Fukushima reactor accident, but it's been hard to find current numbers via Google.
The article above gives an indication, however:
There is still little prospect that nuclear refugees will be able to return to their homes near the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, the government said in a new report.
The report, submitted to the Diet on Tuesday, notes that the reclassification of evacuation zones around the plant has been completed and that the cleanup is continuing.
But the government failed to specify when evacuated residents — some 81,000 as of September — will be able to return to their hometowns.
Challenges cited by the government include the need to ease health worries and stop false rumors about radiation exposure.
According to the report, which covers progress between October 2012 and September this year on reconstructing areas hit by the 2011 natural and nuclear disasters, the total number of evacuees is now around 280,000, compared with about 470,000 shortly after the disasters.So, about 81,000 appears to be the answer.
When nuclear goes wrong, it is massively disruptive and hugely expensive to clean up.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
They chose the wrong typhoon
HotWhopper: Ethically-challenged Anthony Watts is seeking revenge, playing games with tragedy. How low can he go?
I have been meaning to add a link to the Hot Whopper blog, where Sou puts in what is now almost certainly the most detailed and comprehensive critiques of Anthony Watts and his increasingly desperate Watts Up With That blog.
As the story linked above explains, Watts unwisely chose to publish a way-too-early post along the lines of "you see, this typhoon wasn't as bad as the media made out" post.
I'm not sure if they are still updating the number of dead, but the post is one of the most embarrassing things Watts has ever published.
As David Appell and Andrew Friedman note, actual climate scientists are cautious in their comments about climate change and typhoons. But even Lomborg says it would seem the research is pointing towards possibly fewer, but stronger, typhoons in the future. Then he goes on to complain that it is immoral (!) to use this typhoon to argue for CO2 cuts, because adaptation is better! He's become a one track idiot - adaptation to 6 m storm surges in seaside towns and villages in poor countries like the Philippines or Bangladesh? Yeah, sure.
UPDATE: someone in comments wanted me to update this. You can see my response, but I will add an update after all, from a blog post that has a good discussion of why typhoons are particularly destructive and deadly in that part of the world. I thought this part was especially interesting:
I have been meaning to add a link to the Hot Whopper blog, where Sou puts in what is now almost certainly the most detailed and comprehensive critiques of Anthony Watts and his increasingly desperate Watts Up With That blog.
As the story linked above explains, Watts unwisely chose to publish a way-too-early post along the lines of "you see, this typhoon wasn't as bad as the media made out" post.
I'm not sure if they are still updating the number of dead, but the post is one of the most embarrassing things Watts has ever published.
As David Appell and Andrew Friedman note, actual climate scientists are cautious in their comments about climate change and typhoons. But even Lomborg says it would seem the research is pointing towards possibly fewer, but stronger, typhoons in the future. Then he goes on to complain that it is immoral (!) to use this typhoon to argue for CO2 cuts, because adaptation is better! He's become a one track idiot - adaptation to 6 m storm surges in seaside towns and villages in poor countries like the Philippines or Bangladesh? Yeah, sure.
UPDATE: someone in comments wanted me to update this. You can see my response, but I will add an update after all, from a blog post that has a good discussion of why typhoons are particularly destructive and deadly in that part of the world. I thought this part was especially interesting:
There are hints that global warming may be playing a role here: One 2008 study (pdf) in Nature found that the very strongest typhoons in the northwest Pacific seem to have become somewhat more intense since 1981 — by about 20 mph, on average — as the oceans have warmed. Yet making out a clear trend in tropical cyclones over the past few decades is notoriously difficult, and attributing the strength of a single storm like Haiyan to man-made climate change is even harder.Interesting. You have to wonder whether those scientists in the "attribution wars" who always urge caution (to the point of being dismissive) on AGW contribution to an extreme weather event are actually the ones being somewhat prematurely misleading.
Monday, November 11, 2013
In defence of Tom
Tom Cruise did not make widely reported claim that acting is as tough as combat
I saw them talking about this on Sunrise over the weekend - how Tom Cruise had said that making movies was like fighting in Afghanistan.
If you read the above link, in fact poor old Tom was careful to be specifically dismissive of the suggestion.
This was just an appalling bit of mischief making by someone in the media, by the looks.
Tom may be in a nutty religion, but he has made many very good science fiction and action films, and I just want people to leave him alone. (Readers are invited to imagine me overly emotion in a Youtube video making this plea.)
I saw them talking about this on Sunrise over the weekend - how Tom Cruise had said that making movies was like fighting in Afghanistan.
If you read the above link, in fact poor old Tom was careful to be specifically dismissive of the suggestion.
This was just an appalling bit of mischief making by someone in the media, by the looks.
Tom may be in a nutty religion, but he has made many very good science fiction and action films, and I just want people to leave him alone. (Readers are invited to imagine me overly emotion in a Youtube video making this plea.)
Ted Cruz - Student jerk
Ted Cruz was a polarizing figure at Harvard Law, foreshadowing his partisan profile in the Senate - Politics - The Boston Globe
Tea Party "hero" (for leading a campaign that failed and led to the Republican's loss in popularity, but hey, whoever said the Tea Party had smarts?) Ted Cruz is the subject of a not very complimentary story in the Boston Globe about his time at Harvard. An example:
I also see that the Australia Tea Party sub branch known as Catallaxy has commenters who think he is a promising Presidential candidate. I suspect the Democrats would celebrate if he does run.
Tea Party "hero" (for leading a campaign that failed and led to the Republican's loss in popularity, but hey, whoever said the Tea Party had smarts?) Ted Cruz is the subject of a not very complimentary story in the Boston Globe about his time at Harvard. An example:
As they were entering their second year in law school, Melissa Hart agreed to give Cruz a ride from New York, where Cruz was at the end of the summer, back to Cambridge. She didn’t know him well, but he sought her out after she had been given a prestigious award for first-year students.Strangely, he was very keen on acting at that age. The article suggests he still is.
“We hadn’t left Manhattan before he asked my IQ,” Hart said. “When I told him I didn’t know, he asked, ‘Well, what’s your SAT score? That’s closely coordinated with your IQ.’ ”
“It went from, ‘Nice guy,’ ” she said, “to ‘uh-oh.’ ”
I also see that the Australia Tea Party sub branch known as Catallaxy has commenters who think he is a promising Presidential candidate. I suspect the Democrats would celebrate if he does run.
Arty photography made easy
The range of free or cheap apps available on tablets these makes arty photo manipulation ridiculously easy. One effort by my primary school daughter, for a school project, for example:
I am still a little surprised, however, that it is hard to find a photo app that really does everything you can on (say) some PC software. There is usually something I can't do on my Android tablet. Then again, I haven't gone and just got the Adobe Photoshop Touch app, which I see is only $10.
This will probably be my Christmas present to myself.
PS: for anyone who cares what I think about apps, I find Sketchbook Pro is really a very good art app which is very useful for dealing with photos too. It does take a bit of getting used to, though.
I am still a little surprised, however, that it is hard to find a photo app that really does everything you can on (say) some PC software. There is usually something I can't do on my Android tablet. Then again, I haven't gone and just got the Adobe Photoshop Touch app, which I see is only $10.
This will probably be my Christmas present to myself.
PS: for anyone who cares what I think about apps, I find Sketchbook Pro is really a very good art app which is very useful for dealing with photos too. It does take a bit of getting used to, though.
Saturday, November 09, 2013
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