Tuesday, October 14, 2014
How many Australians are now imagining the G20 meeting....
Monday, October 13, 2014
Lead poisoning revisited
Look, we've all read about the sorry history of lead poisoning, but this lengthy BBC magazine article still manages to contain some stories I didn't know about concerning the various ways it has sickened people. (The wine poisoning aspects I had either forgotten or didn't know much about.) http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29568505
Potential weird physics refuted
Old textbook knowledge reconfirmed: Decay rates of radioactive substances are constant
I'm pretty sure I must have noted here before a study which indicated that radioactive decay was weirdly connected to the seasons. Appears it was a measurement problem, which is a bit of an anticlimax, as so many weird physics suggestions turn out to be.
I'm pretty sure I must have noted here before a study which indicated that radioactive decay was weirdly connected to the seasons. Appears it was a measurement problem, which is a bit of an anticlimax, as so many weird physics suggestions turn out to be.
Eating crustaceans considered
They don't seem to appear in the frozen section of all Woolworths, but several months ago, my wife and I independently noticed that at one we visited they were selling boxes of frozen, raw scampi. (We both tend to look at the seafood section of the supermarket when we are in a new one.)
These interesting crustaceans come from somewhere in the North Atlantic, and we don't have anything very similar in Australian waters. I am very fond of Moreton Bay bugs, which have a lot more meat in the tail, but they are so ridiculously expensive I pretty rarely eat them.
In fact, Australia has a pretty limited range of affordable crustaceans. Sure, farmed prawns are now very reliable in terms of taste and often quite affordable. But our blue swimmer crabs, the type most often available, tend to be somewhat watery and weak flavoured. Mud crabs have a better flavour and can be nice, but tend to be expensive and I've never tried to cook one at home. They tend to be an occasional treat from an Asian restaurant. The lobsters from Tasmania we saw on holiday there can be enormous and (from little we ate of them) tasty, but again, they are really expensive.
So, I quite like eating crustaceans from other parts of the world, and when on holiday. It's been a long time since I had one, but I remember being impressed with the gigantic prawn like thing served in Singapore. When in Japan, it is definitely worth eating their crabs. My wife believes that crabs from colder water are always tastier, and I think the Australian experience with blue swimmers backs that up. I see that some supermarkets here now sell sections of the huge spiky crabs from somewhere cold - I've never tried them, as I am generally not so keen on defrosted, cooked, crustaceans. (I'll take defrosted raw prawns though; they seem to do OK in the process.)
So, what about the scampi? We had some in a soup some months ago, and they seemed OK, but their flavour was not all that obvious.
This weekend, we split some down the middle and grilled them, before serving them on a paella. Well, this went quite well - it seemed quite clear that the meat (what little of it there is in each tail) was distinctly sweet and flavoursome. The claws contain some meat but are very hard to get into. Still, they were a pleasant surprise.
Only a week ago, I had been watching some SBS cooking show (Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Island Feasts) when he was on Mallorca (aka Majorca) and eating a local, very expensive, species of prawn which was famous for its sweetness (and also for being very red straight out of the sea.) I thought it odd that a prawn should be "sweet", but this seemed definitely to be the character of the scampi meat too.
So, what about scampi generally? I see via that authoritative source, the Daily Mail, that deep fried nuggets of what is called scampi have become a popular British pub food, after they were introduced as a way of dealing with (what appears to be) the unwanted catch when they were trawling for white fish. However, the cheapest versions of pub scampi are apparently like our "crab sticks" (who on earth actually buys those?) - a small amount of the actual crustacean with heaps of "extender" added.
Scampi thus seems to have followed the reverse culinary trajectory of oysters in Britain: the latter went from being food for the working class until they were all dredged up (the English seem to have long been keen on fishing methods which scour the sea bed) to something for more exclusive tastes; scampi have become a food that apparently is still only eaten on special occasions in Spain and Portugal but is mere "pub food" in England.
Anyway, they were nice, and now I know more about them...
These interesting crustaceans come from somewhere in the North Atlantic, and we don't have anything very similar in Australian waters. I am very fond of Moreton Bay bugs, which have a lot more meat in the tail, but they are so ridiculously expensive I pretty rarely eat them.
In fact, Australia has a pretty limited range of affordable crustaceans. Sure, farmed prawns are now very reliable in terms of taste and often quite affordable. But our blue swimmer crabs, the type most often available, tend to be somewhat watery and weak flavoured. Mud crabs have a better flavour and can be nice, but tend to be expensive and I've never tried to cook one at home. They tend to be an occasional treat from an Asian restaurant. The lobsters from Tasmania we saw on holiday there can be enormous and (from little we ate of them) tasty, but again, they are really expensive.
So, I quite like eating crustaceans from other parts of the world, and when on holiday. It's been a long time since I had one, but I remember being impressed with the gigantic prawn like thing served in Singapore. When in Japan, it is definitely worth eating their crabs. My wife believes that crabs from colder water are always tastier, and I think the Australian experience with blue swimmers backs that up. I see that some supermarkets here now sell sections of the huge spiky crabs from somewhere cold - I've never tried them, as I am generally not so keen on defrosted, cooked, crustaceans. (I'll take defrosted raw prawns though; they seem to do OK in the process.)
So, what about the scampi? We had some in a soup some months ago, and they seemed OK, but their flavour was not all that obvious.
This weekend, we split some down the middle and grilled them, before serving them on a paella. Well, this went quite well - it seemed quite clear that the meat (what little of it there is in each tail) was distinctly sweet and flavoursome. The claws contain some meat but are very hard to get into. Still, they were a pleasant surprise.
Only a week ago, I had been watching some SBS cooking show (Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Island Feasts) when he was on Mallorca (aka Majorca) and eating a local, very expensive, species of prawn which was famous for its sweetness (and also for being very red straight out of the sea.) I thought it odd that a prawn should be "sweet", but this seemed definitely to be the character of the scampi meat too.
So, what about scampi generally? I see via that authoritative source, the Daily Mail, that deep fried nuggets of what is called scampi have become a popular British pub food, after they were introduced as a way of dealing with (what appears to be) the unwanted catch when they were trawling for white fish. However, the cheapest versions of pub scampi are apparently like our "crab sticks" (who on earth actually buys those?) - a small amount of the actual crustacean with heaps of "extender" added.
Scampi thus seems to have followed the reverse culinary trajectory of oysters in Britain: the latter went from being food for the working class until they were all dredged up (the English seem to have long been keen on fishing methods which scour the sea bed) to something for more exclusive tastes; scampi have become a food that apparently is still only eaten on special occasions in Spain and Portugal but is mere "pub food" in England.
Anyway, they were nice, and now I know more about them...
Sunday, October 12, 2014
My path to creative riches ruined by advancing science
Study: Frozen poop pills may make fecal transplants simpler and safer - LA Times
Curses! My proposed television series based on time travelling, fecal transplanting doctors (the scene involving Hitler plays particularly well in my mind) has already, probably, been made redundant by medical science.
It's been reported that taking the healthy poop by way of oral frozen capsule might work just as well as the tube in the butt method.
My path to riches is foiled again...
Curses! My proposed television series based on time travelling, fecal transplanting doctors (the scene involving Hitler plays particularly well in my mind) has already, probably, been made redundant by medical science.
It's been reported that taking the healthy poop by way of oral frozen capsule might work just as well as the tube in the butt method.
My path to riches is foiled again...
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Galaxy song 2014
I'm glad I am not a big enough Monty Python fan to have paid to see their London farewell show livecast at the cinema (I think they did that here?) seeing it turned up on SBS a couple of weeks ago.
I just watched most of it online. Some dubious sketch choices early on, I thought, and I have to say that in the current world of porn at the touch of a keyboard, the main theme of Gilliam animations (riffs on dirty old men wanting to see nudity in any form) is well beyond redundant. (He did have a weird imagination though.)
But the highlight for me was the cameo at the end of the Galaxy song. Most amusing:
I just watched most of it online. Some dubious sketch choices early on, I thought, and I have to say that in the current world of porn at the touch of a keyboard, the main theme of Gilliam animations (riffs on dirty old men wanting to see nudity in any form) is well beyond redundant. (He did have a weird imagination though.)
But the highlight for me was the cameo at the end of the Galaxy song. Most amusing:
Friday, October 10, 2014
Would be good if the Korean problem was suddenly resolved
The Koreas: Till Kimdom come | The Economist
Hmmm. Young Kim hasn't been seen for more than a month, and while he's gone, 3 powerbrokers turn up to shake hands with South Korea? Seems a potentially good sign?
Hmmm. Young Kim hasn't been seen for more than a month, and while he's gone, 3 powerbrokers turn up to shake hands with South Korea? Seems a potentially good sign?
The stupidest heritage move ever?
Northbourne redevelopment in doubt after public housing registered by Heritage Council - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The biggest, most embarrassing, eyesore in Canberra has a provisional heritage listing? This is such a ridiculous idea, I think the offices the Heritage Council work from will need a listing to prevent people from burning them down.
The biggest, most embarrassing, eyesore in Canberra has a provisional heritage listing? This is such a ridiculous idea, I think the offices the Heritage Council work from will need a listing to prevent people from burning them down.
Now that's a trailer
I was recently dissing Nolan fanboys for their excitement over the mundane trailer for Interstellar.
Now this is a teaser trailer that really gives a thrill:
As Brad Bird is the director, I am really looking forward to this.
Now this is a teaser trailer that really gives a thrill:
As Brad Bird is the director, I am really looking forward to this.
Thursday, October 09, 2014
He probably doesn't know that it's mental health week on the ABC
My oh my. Is it just me, or does Sinclair Davidson seem to be skirting close to sounding paranoid when he writes today about Media Watch?:
As it happens, I am sympathetic to the criticism of the potential effect of the legislation on journalists. But the trouble with the IPA and Davidson being effective critics of it is that they were so over the top about the free speech consequences of both s18C of the Race Discrimination Act, and the Finkelstein report on beefing up media self regulation, that they now sound like the Think Tank That Cries Wolf with respect to legislation that has actual serious free speech implications.
As for the title of this post, I don't know if he is being entirely serious or not, but Davidson has for a long time claimed that he barely watches ABC, certainly not for its political journalism, and seems to get most of his political TV news from Sky News. I've always found this a very surprising claim by someone who (presumably) wants to be taken seriously by politicians, as I expect few of them would deny that the ABC political coverage is detailed and serious, and if you want to be well informed, you don't ignore it.
Update: if SD's complaint is that Media Watch has only criticised the Act now, after it has been legislated, can he also please explain why he isn't outraged that one of Murdoch's strongest supporters of everything Abbott (especially his security and defence actions), Greg Sheridan, has only today come out with a column attacking the legislation?
The thing is this: Media Watch – part of a government agency – exists to monitor and intimidate the private media. That is their sole function and they do it well. I suppose we should welcome the fact that in Australia the government does this in plain sight – many other countries would have a division within the secret police undertaking these functions.And he writes this in a column in which it is acknowledged that Media Watch has criticised the government's national security legislation? (I also see that the show has added a highlight to its website to note that Leyonhjelm did vote against the legislation.)
Media Watch is part of the state apparatus that keeps tabs on journalists and journalism and so undermines the ability of the fourth estate to expose government misbehaviour and creeping statism. With some, very few, honourable exceptions within Fairfax, News Corp Australia is the only media organisation holding government to account and that is why Media Watch focusses on them.
As it happens, I am sympathetic to the criticism of the potential effect of the legislation on journalists. But the trouble with the IPA and Davidson being effective critics of it is that they were so over the top about the free speech consequences of both s18C of the Race Discrimination Act, and the Finkelstein report on beefing up media self regulation, that they now sound like the Think Tank That Cries Wolf with respect to legislation that has actual serious free speech implications.
As for the title of this post, I don't know if he is being entirely serious or not, but Davidson has for a long time claimed that he barely watches ABC, certainly not for its political journalism, and seems to get most of his political TV news from Sky News. I've always found this a very surprising claim by someone who (presumably) wants to be taken seriously by politicians, as I expect few of them would deny that the ABC political coverage is detailed and serious, and if you want to be well informed, you don't ignore it.
Update: if SD's complaint is that Media Watch has only criticised the Act now, after it has been legislated, can he also please explain why he isn't outraged that one of Murdoch's strongest supporters of everything Abbott (especially his security and defence actions), Greg Sheridan, has only today come out with a column attacking the legislation?
Peak "Mistress"
You may have noticed I have been a bit busy for much posting this last few days.
But, while you miss me, I trust you haven't missed this startlingly clear computer generated head:
This reminds me very much of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", in which the revolution's "leader" is a talking head generated by the moon colony's gigantic computer, which still has to stop doing other things to concentrate on the graphics.
Isn't it weird the unexpected ways technology evolves? Just as with Heinlein's use of slide rules on spaceships, the idea that you would have an advanced lunar colony run by a computer which has gained consciousness but can barely cope with realistic graphics illustrates what a tough job it is for science fiction to be correct in the details. (And another great example of anachronistic technology being used alongside futuristic stuff we are miles away from realising: the way the characters in Mote in God's Eye are using what we now take as routine - tablet like devices connected by wireless to the ship's mainframe - when they are on an interstellar planet. Mind you, Pournelle has also been keen in his other science fiction on implants which allow direct communication with a computer, but as far as I know, there is still no idea at all about how you would do the neural connections for that to work. Well, OK, I guess cochlear implants give us some idea, but I still wonder whether this is a science fiction idea too far to ever be practical.)
But, while you miss me, I trust you haven't missed this startlingly clear computer generated head:
This reminds me very much of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", in which the revolution's "leader" is a talking head generated by the moon colony's gigantic computer, which still has to stop doing other things to concentrate on the graphics.
Isn't it weird the unexpected ways technology evolves? Just as with Heinlein's use of slide rules on spaceships, the idea that you would have an advanced lunar colony run by a computer which has gained consciousness but can barely cope with realistic graphics illustrates what a tough job it is for science fiction to be correct in the details. (And another great example of anachronistic technology being used alongside futuristic stuff we are miles away from realising: the way the characters in Mote in God's Eye are using what we now take as routine - tablet like devices connected by wireless to the ship's mainframe - when they are on an interstellar planet. Mind you, Pournelle has also been keen in his other science fiction on implants which allow direct communication with a computer, but as far as I know, there is still no idea at all about how you would do the neural connections for that to work. Well, OK, I guess cochlear implants give us some idea, but I still wonder whether this is a science fiction idea too far to ever be practical.)
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Karen Armstrong on religion and war
Religion does not poison everything - everything poisons religion - The Spectator
A sympathetic review here of Karen Armstrong's latest book "Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence."
A sympathetic review here of Karen Armstrong's latest book "Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence."
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