Harmless fun drug (sarcasm)

BBC NEWS | Health | Warning over cannabis lung harm

The report notes that a couple of small studies appear to confirm the suspicion that cannabis use on a regular basis is dangerous for the lungs. It notes:

[a] study of 10 patients who were treated for chronic respiratory problems at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.

All admitted intense cannabis use for at least a year. They had developed bullous lung disease, a condition where air becomes trapped in the lungs, at an average age of 41, compared to 65 for tobacco smoking patients.

While we are talking drugs, I note that the rumours of Heath Ledger being a significant drug user are appearing more and more likely to be true. I had forgotten how oddly he had acted in some interviews in recent years, but somewhere since he died I saw a snippet of the studio interview in Australia throughout which he peeled an orange. I have heard mention again, too, of how he turned up to some media things in the States dressed looking like he had been living rough on the streets.

All this supports my scepticism of the often repeated claim that many regular illicit drug users have a well hidden habit which would surprise their co-workers and friends.

It is, I reckon, more often the case their friends and family certainly notice strange behaviour, and do suspect drug use, but are too polite to bring it up.

Send in the psychologists

China suffers food shortages as snowfall continues | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Have a look at the video in the above story. China without trains in the run up to the holidays looks like hell.

Oddly, some parts of the government respond with this:

The municipal government of Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang, set up a team of 16 psychologists as tempers frayed among workers anxious to get home before new year celebrations begin next week.

Zhao Guogiu, the in charge, was urging passengers not to cry and encouraged them to find other transport home.

Yes that will help. Somehow, I don't expect much subtlety from a Chinese trained psychologist.

The report also notes that the snow has brought big disruption to food supplies, including to Beijing.

It seems a pretty fragile place, China.

The U shaped life

Stephen Moss: It's official: happiness resumes at 50

It's a short article suggesting why a recent survey indicates that happiness peaks "when we are 20 and 70, but slumps in the middle":

In your 20s and 30s, you think there is some big secret that is being withheld from you. But there is no secret. No one has a clue what they're doing or why. By 44 you are distressed to discover there is no secret and that life's glittering prizes are made of tin. But then comes the getting of wisdom. As Oswald observes, "When you get older, you've learned to accept yourself."

Well, that's something to look forward to, then.

Still skeptical

Aerogenerator could help UK meet wind energy target | Technology | guardian.co.uk

This article talks about a new proposed wind turbine that is vertically mounted like a rotary clothes line; rather than horizontally like the current type. It does seem that there is a good case for changing the design, but I still wonder how the structure will go in a strong gale in the North Sea.

How to build windfarms at sea

Use ships on legs, of course. (Article contains photo worth viewing.)

The therapist wins

Modern Japanese women: dealing with sex, lies and the dried-flower syndrome

This is a review of a book painting a very depressing picture of life, particularly the sex life, of modern Japanese women.

That many Japanese women often put up with their husband's infidelity and endure a sexless marriage is nothing new. I suspect that the longer working hours, the drinking with co-workers until late in the evening, and the expectation that husbands will take unaccompanied posts in other towns to further their career, all work to encourages affairs.

But here is something that I had not heard before:

Finding the right lover is not so easy, but we learn that at leastwomen can avail themselves of a clinic that offers them intimate encounters with sex volunteers. Women can select their volunteers from a catalog brimming with intimate details, and, yes, size does seem to matter. The clients say they are grateful for the service while there appears to be no shortage of male volunteers; money isn't everything.....

OK, in the West you occasionally hear of women who are unpaid "hands on" sex therapists for men, but can't say that I have ever heard of the service being provided for women. Back to the review:

So what's life like as a male sex volunteer helping women reach orgasm? Ironically, Hideo has a sexless marriage, but finds psychological fulfillment in helping sufferers of "dried-flower syndrome." He says the women are grateful and tell him that the sex rejuvenates them.

Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?

Another interview subject admits that she slept with seven "volunteers" in six months because she could not find love, but still wanted sex. It's her hope, however, "to graduate from being someone who can only relate to men through sex."

Hmm. Ceasing to avail herself of the services of that clinic might be a good place to start.

Illegal kidneys

Kidney Thefts Shock India - New York Times

Kidney theft is a much bigger issue in India than I would have expected:

Although several kidney rings have been exposed in India in recent years, the police said the scale of this one was unprecedented. Four doctors, five nurses, 20 paramedics, three private hospitals, 10 pathology clinics and five diagnostic centers were involved, Mohinder Lal, the police officer in charge of the investigation, said.

“We suspect around 400 or 500 kidney transplants were done by these doctors over the last nine years,” said Mr. Lal, the Gurgaon police commissioner....

He said a team of criminals he called kidney scouts usually roamed labor markets in Delhi and cities in Uttar Pradesh, one of India’s poorest states, searching for potential donors. Some prospects were asked outright if they wanted to sell a kidney and were offered $1,000 to $2,500.

A car equipped with testing equipment was often on hand so that potential donors could be checked immediately to see whether their kidneys matched the needs of prospective patients.

Letters and e-mail messages from 48 foreigners inquiring about transplants were discovered in Dr. Kumar’s office, Mr. Lal said. Five foreigners — three from Greece and two Indian-born American citizens — were found in one of the clinics during the raids. The police suspected that they were about to receive kidney transplants, Mr. Lal said, but they were allowed to return home because the evidence was insufficient to detain them.

Foreigners supporting this industry should be ashamed.

The confusing Pill

The long-running saga of health claims about the pill. - Slate Magazine

Interesting article that summarises all of the contradictory evidence about the health effects of the contraceptive Pill.

Meanwhile, in other contraceptive news, it turns out that Australian women keep re-discovering that no contraceptive is foolproof. This finding is especially prevalent amongst younger women.

Here's a conservative Catholic thought for you: if you are a young woman (or man) who is not certain enough of the relationship as to know whether you would be happy having a baby together yet, try not having sex. (OK, allowing for sinful nature, I'll amend that to: stop continuing to have sex.) Except for the odd case involving the intervention of God, it is guaranteed to work.

Super cool

Airbus A380 - cockpit | p a n o r e p o r t a g e | g i l l e s v i d a l

All readers with even the slightest interest in aviation must immediately click on the link to have a look at this very, very cool panoramic picture of the inside of a new Airbus A380 cockpit. You can zoom in close enough to read many of the buttons up on the overhead panel. You can look behind the seats. You can marvel at the joystick and other weird thingee that they evidently use to fly this gigantic plane. Hey, are they cupholders I see? (Probably not, but who knows.)

Love it. Thanks to CNET for the link.

Let's hope the garage remote doesn't interfere

Sperm 'tap' planned for reversible vasectomy - tech - 28 January 2008 - New Scientist Tech

From the story:

A radio-controlled contraceptive implant that could control the flow of sperm from a man's testicles is being developed by scientists in Australia.

The device is placed inside the vas deferens – the duct which carries sperm from each testicle to the penis. When closed, it blocks the flow of sperm cells, allowing them to pass again when it is opened via a remote control. The valve could be a switchable alternative to vasectomy, the researchers say.

Some time ago I posted about the issue of ongoing pain sometimes caused by vasectomies. Given that it is believed that the type of vasectomy which seals off the vas deferens on the "supply side" of the cut is more likely to cause pain, I expect that any implantable plug within the vas is also at risk of having higher rate of pain.

About Gaza

No easy solution while Hamas keeps warring - Opinion - theage.com.au

A decent enough commentary on the Gaza issue in The Age today.

Tennis fun

Sparks fly in Serb's big victory | Herald Sun

Even as a person who only watches a handful of sports programming every year, I found the Australian Open final last very enjoyable. (Although the wild upset of a Tsonga win would have been even better.)

I was curious at the end as to how much Tsonga got as the consolidation prize. Now I know: $685,000. Not bad, hey.

Calm down, Paul

No country for bad screenplays - Opinion - smh.com.au

Paul Sheehan holds a diametrically opposite view to mine about the current state of Hollywood:

We really are living in a golden age of cinematic literature and film is the literature of our age. We are a fifth-generation cinema culture and it shows. Filmmaking is imbued with the experiences of several generations and more good and knowing and ironic films are being made than ever before....

It is surely a golden age when the Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, are making film after glorious film, when eccentrics like Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch are pumping out movies for cult followings, and when a new generation of talented filmmakers has dominated the Academy Awards.

I was under the distinct impression that Wes Anderson and Jarmusch no longer attract success of either the critical or popular kind, and the Coen brothers are pretty hit and miss now too. While I like some of the Coen movies, I have never quite gotten over Fargo, which was the biggest case of the cinematic emperor having no clothes I have ever seen.

Paul Sheehan is probably of the same school that saw the early 70's as a exciting period of Hollywood artistry, whereas all I could really see was a string of dark films with depressing themes, basically reflecting a the political malaise in the West at the time. Pretty much the same thing is going on now.

Mercury in fish questions answered

Biggest and best tuna tend to have the most mercury, experts say - International Herald Tribune

My questions raised earlier this week about mercury in fish are largely answered in the above article.

Here are some points worth noting:

The higher the fish in the food chain, the more it collects mercury. Sharks often have levels of mercury over 2 parts per million, but their meat is rarely consumed in the developed world.

Except in Melbourne suburban takeaways, of course.

As to where this mercury in fish flesh is coming from:

Since tuna spend most of their time far out at sea, scientists believe that most of the mercury they absorb occurs naturally and is dispersed in the oceans by historic volcanic activity. Close to land, industrial sources can emit mercury as a pollutant. And since tuna spawn in shallow waters, local industrial pollution could have some influence on contamination of tuna flesh.

This answers my question about how orange roughy, a deep sea fish, acquires mercury in its body.

As to how dangerous the levels of mercury in tuna are:

The ill health effects of mercury in tuna and other large fish are a topic of active debate in the global scientific community, and many scientists caution against an exaggerated response - noting that fish is generally more healthful than red meat. In high doses, mercury is a neurological toxin.

But the health risks are greatest for pregnant women and nursing mothers who may pass mercury to their infants. When it comes to adults, "I think there is a little scare-mongering here," said Dr J.J. Strain a nutritionist at the University of Ulster who has been studying the health effects of fish-based mercury ingestion on young children in the Seychelles. "Fetal brain is at least ten times more sensitive than adult brain, so the health risk, if any, relates to pregnant women, not other adults."

And there is another complication to take into account too:

Research also suggests that the toxic effects of mercury is canceled out if it is ingested alongside selenium - and most ocean fish contain both elements. There's now a lot of evidence to suggest that "excess selenium over mercury equals healthy food; excess mercury over selenium equals potentially harmful food," Dr. Kaneka said.

"We shouldn't focus just on the negative risk of eating fish - yes, there are these contaminants, but there are also huge benefits. This is a work in progress and it's a very complicated risk/benefit analysis," Valdimarsson said.

Well, glad that's all sorted out. Or not, as the case may be.

Good reading

JG Ballard reminisces on his boyhood years in Miracles of Life - Times Online

Especially if you have ever seen or read "Empire of the Sun", this extract from (what I assume is) a forthcoming autobiography by JG Ballard makes for fascinating reading.

Rock history you never knew

Bill Wyman rolls on - Times Online

This part of the above generally amusing interview with ex-Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, is rock history that is news to me, at least:

“Do you know what the biggest problem is for most musicians on tour? Getting your laundry done.” That’s what killed Buddy Holly, he tells me, catching a doomed overnight flight because he wanted to sort out the washing.

How the classics used to be

What Music Has Lost - WSJ.com

I've heard a bit about this topic before: how the modern way of listening to classical music does not bear much resemblance to how it was performed in the days the work was created.

This review of a book on the topic gives a bit more background:

There was a whole tradition of "concert improvisation." The young Franz Liszt would improvise on themes offered by concert-goers to such effect that his listeners were left in a state of delirium. Audiences in the 19th century, themselves less rigidly bound than audiences today, got into the spirit by voicing their enthusiasm when a passage moved them -- interrupting with applause or shouts and sometimes demanding, mid-concert, a reprise. They applauded between movements as well.

Much of the blame for the stifling formality of performance today is, apparently, the fault of a prominent later figure in music:

Mr. Hamilton shows how much of our present performing etiquette derives from Felix Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann, whose antipathy to interpretative license (and to Liszt, its exalted practitioner) bordered on the pathological. "It is inartistic, nay barbaric, to alter anything they [composers] have written, even by a single note," said Mendelssohn. His style demanded strict meter, the avoidance of expressive ritardandos, utter fidelity to the page and minimal pedal. No wonder, as Mr. Hamilton drily notes, that on the wall of the Leipzig Gewandhaus (where Mendelssohn played and conducted) was Seneca's apothegm: "Res severa est verum gaudium." That is: "True joy is a serious business."

So much for the evil Howard agenda...

Mundine urges death to permit system | The Australian

Well there you go. An Aboriginal leader with impeccable Labor credentials thinks Labor should not be re-instating the permit system removed by the Howard government.

Will this make the latte Left re-consider their position that the Howard move was the true evil purpose behind the Northern Territory intervention, and that there was no way it was connected to improving aboriginal life? I seem to recall lots of people at Larvatus Prodeo were running this line.

Bloody songs

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Reviews |

Not being sure that I have ever heard a Sondheim song or bit of music that I particularly liked, I am in no rush to see a movie that combines his musical oeuvre with Tim Burton's Goth sensibility and lots of blood. Peter Bradshaw (above) has this to say in his review:

Depp stars in Tim Burton's screen version of Stephen Sondheim's neo-Victorian horror panto Sweeney Todd, for which critical superlatives more appropriate for the Sistine Chapel ceiling have been lavished. I have to admit to being agnostic; for me, Sondheim's music, though forceful and fluent, slides through the mind leaving me with a faint hankering for the vulgar satisfactions of memorable tunes.

And Anthony Lane wrote:

So, how do you rescue the hell brew from absurdity? The answer, for Sondheim, is dexterity: the unstinting sophistication of his wordplay and his flirtatious harmonies—forever hinting at the sweeping show tune, only to duck away into discord and off-key fretfulness—is a riposte to his silly plot.

Hmm. It seems a fairly common assessment that much of Sondheim's music is clever, but not "hummable", and people expecting a memorable show tune often feel "cheated". The Wikipedia entry about him is interesting: he's had his fair share of failed musicals, and there is this odd line:

The failure of Merrily greatly affected Sondheim; he was ready to quit theater and do movies or create video games or write mysteries.

A video game by Stephen Sondheim?

The other mystery about his Wikipedia entry is that it says nothing about his adult personal life. Looking at some other websites indicates that the issue of his sexuality has been pretty complicated (one site says he didn't come out as gay until he was in his 40's, and even then he didn't fall in love with a man 'til his 60's. He also nearly married actress Lee Remick when he was younger.) So why is there is absolutely nothing in his Wikipedia entry about this part of his life?

Despite it getting a very high rating on the Rottentomatoes scale, I think I'll give Sweeny Todd a miss. (It's taken nearly $50 million at the US box office after a month, which suggests most people have decided the same.)

A musical interlude

Last month, I mentioned that I had seen the 1999 DVD version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and was very impressed.

Since then, my clever wife found it at Target for about $12, and it is currently on high rotation still with the kids. I am still finding it exceptionally enjoyable after repeat viewings.

Have a look at the Pharoah's Song, which is always viewed as the highlight of the show. Even if the pastiche Elvis song doesn't immediately impress (it is pretty catchy, though), perhaps you will see why I admire the editing and the way the whole thing is done:


I also think I have a middle age crush on Maria Friedman (the narrator).