Death in (or near) the bedroom

Some months ago, before leaving on a holiday, I bought one of those automated insect spray machines (like this example, although the brand is different) that squirt a bit of spray in the air every so often. (You can vary the timing: I set it for about every 30 minutes.)

This is supposed to kill all hapless insects within a considerable range of the machine. I bought it for the walk-in robe that separates the bedroom and the ensuite toilet. Silverfish like it in there, and they were the main target.

One problem I have found with the device is that it makes a bit of a whirring sound every time it goes off. It seems to know when to do it to maximise surprise, such as the other night as I was passing through the robe to make a mid-morning visit to the toilet. I know I can turn the thing off at night, but never think to. Besides, insects are active at night.

The other thing is, given the small amount of stuff it squirts out, I have been very sceptical that it can possibly be effective, unless the bug happens to be within a very small radius of the device. In fact, I was going to do a post about my suspicions that, as a class of product, they might be a great con job. Had any consumer organisation actually tested their effectiveness? (I still haven't looked up that point.)

But then this morning, I found a large, dead cockroach in the ensuite. I assume the spray was the cause of death.

This is enough to make me keep using it, although I still feel I am being unscientific, and it continues to enjoy making me jump at quiet times when I am near it.

That's all I wanted to say.*

* This is officially rated "APoLC." (A Post of Little Consequence).

Oz as economic allegory?

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Secrets of the Wizard of Oz

I hadn't heard this theory before, but it's kinda interesting:

...the story has underlying economic and political references that make it a popular tool for teaching university and high school students - mainly in the United States but also in the UK - about the economic depression of the late 19th Century.

Read the rest of the article to get the details. It does seem odd, however, that no one published the idea until 1964.

I just always thought that the story was quite anti-religion, with its strong themes of self reliance and the revelation that the Wizard has no clothes, so to speak. Sort of a gentler expression of Philip Pullman's themes.

Which leads me to note that a Pullman interview was recently in The Times. There is one comment he makes that I have some sympathy with:

When people talk of his books and about those characters of his who carry their daemons like visible souls, they talk also of spirituality. They may know less of his views than of his creations, but it is a good job he can't hear them as this is what he says of the S-word: “I never use it. I never know what it means. It could mean any one of a whole raft of things, from vague feelings of emotional uplift...and then you're off into the realms of the ‘intense inane', as Shelley called it. I find it almost unbearably stupid when people talk about exploring their spirituality because I don't know what the f*** they mean. I think they mean ‘I'm no end of a fine fellow and you ought to respect me because I've got a higher dimension than you material people'.”

I also tend to be rather leery of the usage of "spirituality" these days, but I don't have well thought out views on this, so it will have to await another post.

Gold flush

Japan's sewers paved with gold - Telegraph

This story appeared in the news last month, but it was dealt with on Radio National's AM this morning (no link available yet.)

Seems the gold in Suwa is either from the gold plating industries, or from the water from the local hot springs, as there used to be a gold mine in the area.

But the main reason to post about it to have fun with a pun.

This is Modern Art - Part IV

What has art got to do with beauty these days? | Roger Scruton - Times Online

A good article here by Roger Scruton, although I must agree with one comment that follows it that the meaning of one sentence is obscure.

I have been intending to write about my own conflicted feelings about modern art, after being prompted to think about it by a a couple of visits to the new-ish Gallery of Modern Art in South Brisbane. It's a fine building in a great location, and together with the adjoining Queensland Art Gallery, State Library and Queensland Museum, it's a very impressive precinct indeed. (My criticism of the museum will have to wait for another post, however.)

GOMA pretty much becomes a playground for children during the Christmas school holidays. While many of the activities are fun for them and their parents, their connection to art can be extremely tenuous, to say the least. These last holidays, for example, one installation invited kids to take a quiz on a touchscreen about pretend aliens, with success giving you an alien embassy swipe card. The card activated some video machines sited throughout the building. The videos featured the artist, who appeared to be aboriginal and sounded gay, talking cheerfully about what aliens like, with someone dressed up as a silly green alien dancing around and kids also featuring in the short videos. As I say, fun for kids under about 9, but connection with art? (No kid is going to cotton on to the aboriginal/gay/alien connection which I assume was at least partly its inspiration.)

In any event, as is usual in modern art, even the "adult" exhibits and installations are often more about simply attracting attention to themselves as a high brow concept, rather than displaying particular skill in their creation, or (as Scruton writes) having much in the way of connection with beauty.

The initial reaction can therefore justifiably be cynical. But on the other hand, the "gee, even I could have done that" thought can be taken in a positive, democratising sort of way: everyone can be an "artist" if they think about what they are making and create anything with forethought. It may not be particularly fair that some can make a living out of mere concept separated from any particular skill, but there will always be the unjustifiably rich and successful in the world.

The result is that I find it hard to resent the modern art I have seen at GOMA, and even if I think a particular installation is a waste of space, I still enjoy the ironic amusement derived from wondering how the artist has managed to receive recognition for their dubious work.

There are lines to be drawn, however. I will still object to the outright ugly as a legitimate form of conceptual art. (The dissected animals of a British artist, for example, or the digestion machine designed to make fake human excrement.) Conceptual art can become mere ugly tosh, there is no doubt about it.

But conceptual art in moderation, when it avoids mere ugliness or the incredibly facile, can be kind of fun:



Update: speaking of grotesque attention seeking as "art", the blood cooking guys from England (where else) are on their way to Melbourne.

Quentin's listening tour (and a grumble about sport)

Here's how Governor General Quentin Bryce recently described her African trip:

I’ll be taking a message of goodwill and renewed engagement, letting African countries know that Australia is ready to listen and learn from them, as well as to contribute to their progress and prosperity.

I await her report in the coming months on what Australia has learnt from Africa via Her Excellency's ear.

By the way, in another recent speech, the GG lavished praise on women's cricket, saying this:

This is a great achievement for cricket and will mean a lot to the 650,000 females playing cricket around the world. In Australia there are more females playing now than ever before – 70,000 – this has increased significantly over the last 4 years.

650,000 females around the world play cricket? This must only be if you count schoolgirls, as the BBC was reporting in 2001 that there were 640,000 girls playing cricket at school in the last 12 months, but only 4000 who played "at club level".

Quentin also claims:

I have observed that many successful achieving women have played cricket. It’s a sport that develops character.

Yeah? I reckon she's just buying into a generic sport's stereotype there: that it's inherently "good for character".

I've never quite understood that. When anyone thinks about their high school experience, for example, how many can honestly say "yes, all those jocks on the football team pretty clearly had the best character of all the people I knew." From my observation, they were in fact more likely to be the one showing their 15 year old girlfriend that they had a condom ready in their pocket for the evening's date, as well as being the most likely to be drinking underage and underperforming academically. They could be mocking of people with no sporting prowess (yes, that's me!) and although they could be reasonable people to meet again as adults, it was only with the additional maturity that they became reasonable conversationalists.

For every famous sportsperson of apparent good character, there is always someone you can find one who is the opposite. Seems to me to be self evidently, at best, a neutral influence on character.

Taking part in any group activity makes people feel well socialised and less isolated, so if I had a teenager who dressed as a Goth and spent most of his time in the bedroom writing poetry, I guess I would be happier if he was playing cricket. (Only just.)

But honestly, any group activity that didn't involve drugs would have the same effect.

Doctor behaving badly

A Medical Madoff: Anesthesiologist Faked Data in 21 Studies: Scientific American

The article notes that it took 12 years before a routine auditing of his studies revealed widespread fabrication.

The article makes a makes a good point at the end:

In hindsight, Anesthesia & Analgesia editors Shafer and White admit that it should have been a "red flag" that Reuben's studies were consistently favorable to the drugs he studied.

Theological question of the week

As posed by daughter (in Grade 1) last Sunday: "why can't I see God? Is it because he's camouflaged?"

(She also occasionally claims that God is not real because he doesn't give her every toy she prays for. Oh for a good Presentation sister to set her right in her religion instruction!)

It's off to court we go

The barristers will surely have little in the way of pleading precedents to rely upon as they draw up the application to have sacked but immobile parish priest Peter Kennedy taken to court in order that the Church can physically get St Mary's back.

According to the report, it's gone this way because Kennedy will not take part in the mediation the Archbishop proposed.

I happened to drive past St Mary's last weekend. As expected, a couple of tents have sprung up right in the front, occupied (I expect) by Sam Watson or other aboriginal figures who want to buy into the dispute. Or I could be wrong; it might be Raelians.

Speaking of Peter Kennedy, this week's "Q&A" on ABC television features him on the panel, together with Tony Abbott. (I hope they are separated, as Abbott seems to be exactly the robust kind of Catholic who might be tempted to lash out and hit him.)

And just so it's not all religion and politics, they also have sex covered too, in the form of panelist Bettina Ardnt. Thus it is covering every topic which it can be unwise to raise at a dinner party with people you've only recently met.

It's one episode I don't want to miss.

The real slippery slope

If harvesting embryos is OK, how about fetuses? - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine

This story seemed to have much more limited coverage than it deserved. (And oddly enough, it seems it was the more "down market" media such as the Daily Mirror and Melbourne's Herald Sun which ran this story. Searches I've done on The Guardian and The Times appear to confirm they haven't mentioned it. What the hell's wrong with them?)

The story is that at a conference, Oxford professor Richard Gardner made it clear that he has no particular issue with the idea of using aborted fetal tissue to grow replacement kidneys or livers in adults who are awaiting organ donation. It works in mice, apparently.

The Daily Mirror quotes another professor, Stuart Campbell, as saying he has no ethical objection either:

He said many babies were aborted quite late, 'and if they are going to be terminated, it is a shame to waste their organs'.

As the First Things blog said "Slopes don't get much slipperier".

Although this would not be the first use of fetal cells in attempted treatments, the idea of directly using their partially formed organs (if ever adopted) would surely mean that the scale of fetal organ tissue harvesting would be massively increased.

Ethicists (if that is not too kind a word for it) like Peter Singer have been musing openly for quite a while that there is no real problem with the suggestion. But now it seems the doctors are getting enthusiastic about the idea too.

The culture war is are going to get more sharply defined as this century goes on.

Needlework defended

The British Medical Journal group is taking over publication of "Acupuncture in Medicine", and the doctor editor makes these interesting comments:

"One of the major problems facing medical acupuncture is preconceived notions. The perception is that acupuncture is all about chi and meridians.

"In the past, it was easy for scientists to dismiss acupuncture as highly implausible when its workings were couched in these terms. But it becomes very plausible when explained in terms of neurophysiology. Unfortunately, the scientific approach just isn't as sexy."

Scientific evidence had been building for 30 years showing that acupuncture stimulated the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, releasing "feel good" chemicals such opioids and serotonin.

Research also showed that needles placed outside of the traditional meridians also had an impact. Studies comparing needles placed according to traditional teaching and those placed randomly have shown similar effects.

"Points don't have any magical properties. They are simply convenient locations to needle," Dr White said.

I wonder why tiny needles stimulate that reaction in the brain? Does it happen with any perceived injury? But hitting your thumb doesn't make a sore back feel better, does it?

Unexpected

Jimmy Fallon Ratings Win: "Late Night" Tops, Besting Conan Average

I haven't seen much of it, but from I have seen, I thought he was awful in this format.

Meanwhile, here's an amusing clip from Colbert Nation this week (featuring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad):

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Mahmoud's Non-Consensual Endorsement Deal

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

Send a crate load to Hoyden About Town

Lady tester › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

I told you there was something seriously wrong with England

Michael Jackson's 50 London concerts sell out - News, Music - The Independent

How to over-analyse

Soccer Is Ruining America - WSJ.com

Look, I find soccer pretty boring to watch too, and don't really understand the appeal of a game where the scoring of a "good" match is so low. (Incidentally, basketball has the opposite problem: too much scoring means too little drama til the last few minutes.)

But this column is still a severe case of over-analysis (with little sign of any sense of humour). For example:

...soccer is a liberal's dream of tragedy: It creates an egalitarian playing field by rigorously enforcing a uniform disability.

More than having to do with its origin, soccer is a European sport because it is all about death and despair.

Soccer penalizes shoving and burns countless calories, and the margins of victory are almost always too narrow to afford any gloating. As a display of nearly death-defying stamina, soccer mimics the paradigmatic feminine experience of childbirth more than the masculine business of destroying your opponent with insurmountable power.

Hence, it is un-American.

God knows what he would make of cricket.

Pigs and drug resistant Staph

Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health - NYTimes.com

Here's something new to worry about over the weekend. (But the story is to be continued in Sunday's NYT.)

Black holes at CERN - a short update

This recent post noted a paper (by credible physicists) indicating that mini black holes that might be created at the LHC might live for minutes, rather than the previously popular suggestion of minuscule fractions of a second. They still did not think that there could be danger from such micro black holes (they still could not start serious accretion).

I see that the authors of the paper appear to have revised it to make it sound more emphatically safe than the wording used in first version indicated. (One suspects on the suggestion of physicists at CERN?)

This led me to wondering what Rainer Plaga was up to, given that he had defended his early "danger warning" paper from criticism that he had made a fundamental mistake in the formula he had applied.

So, I emailed him. (Gotta love the internet.)

He responded saying that he is working on a further appendix to his paper, which will refer to the Casadio/Fabi/Harms paper about the minute-long black holes. He says they use basically the same approach as him, and he notes that the Mangano/Giddings safety paper did not refer to this approach at all. (Remember Casadio and co acknowledge discussions with Plaga in their paper, indicating that he definitely has credibility.)

So, more to come yet on the issue.

The BBC on ocean acidification

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | 'Coral lab' offers acidity insight

Go to the link to find a series of pages which provide a quite balanced treatment of the issue of ocean acidification.

As usual, the news is nearly all bad. (There are a couple of quasi-dissenting scientists noted, but still no one who seems to think the oceans and reefs are going to be OK.)

Something I didn't know

France moves to raise drinking age to 18 - International Herald Tribune

The drinking age in France varies depending on the type of alcohol involved and the place of sale. But anyone 16 or older can order beer and wine in bars.

French teenagers who suddenly find themselves underage may grow jealous of neighboring countries such as Germany or Italy where the legal drinking age is still 16 for beer, wine or liquor. Europeans overall take a more liberal view of alcohol than, for instance, the United States, where the legal drinking age is 21. In most of Western Europe, it ranges from 16 to 18.

And yet it is the British with the worst reputation for drunken yobs on the streets. So how do the French teenagers manage:

A study of French 16-year-olds showed an overall rise in regular alcohol use from 1999 to 2007, going from 8 percent to 13 percent. In 2007, almost one in five boys, and one in 10 girls, reported at least 10 drinking episodes during the month, according to the French Monitoring Center on Drugs and Addiction.

I don't find that too shocking, compared to what one imagines what would happen in Britain if the drinking age was lowered to 16.

I like the reaction from businesses in France:

Café owners complain that they cannot play the role of the police, checking everyone's identity. Some with a large under-18 clientele say business will suffer.

"Ten-year-olds, 12-year-olds, I agree. But to forbid 16-year-olds? You can't take people for idiots," said Anais Chettrit, owner of the café Le Molière in eastern Paris.

Chettrit said that 60 percent of the clients at her busy café, near two high schools, were under 18 and that it was "certain" raising the drinking age would cut into business.

Obviously, I need to spend more time in France observing society.

Better left unsaid

Doctor apologizes for saying people should smoke themselves to death › Japan Today

A doctor has apologized after saying that people should smoke themselves to an early death to save the country money on elderly care, according to his hospital. “It is clear that medical costs will increase if non-smoking spreads,” the doctor said last week, according to Ida Hospital in Kawasaki City. “It’s better that people smoke a lot and die early.”

Maybe he was an economics student before he did medicine.

In any event, did you realise how popular smoking still is in Japan?:

Japan’s overall smoking rate is declining. The rate for men was 39.5%, still high among developed countries but half of the rate of four decades ago, according to a 2008 survey by Japan Tobacco Inc. The rate for women was 12.9%, down from 15% in 1968.

I see that Australia was at that rate for men in 1980. (In 1945, 72% of Australian men smoked.) We're currently at about 22%. Japan has some way to go.

Prediction: Labor in Queensland gone

Clean oil spill by hand or stop, Sunshine Coast council told - ABC News

In case you hadn't heard, there's quite a big oil spill off the Queensland coast, affecting first Moreton Island, and now some of the nicest beaches on the Sunshine Coast.

You can't blame the Labor government for that, but I suspect the very slow and bureaucratic reaction to the clean up is quite likely to be the final nail in the coffin of the Anna Bligh government at the forthcoming election:

The Sunshine Coast Regional Council on the south-east Queensland coast has been ordered to stop the clean-up of 8.5 kilometres of beaches that have been coated in fuel oil that leaked from the ship Pacific Adventurer.

The ABC has learned that Maritime Safety Queensland has told the council it is inappropriate to use machinery on the beach to clean up the oil slick and that staff should use hand tools.

Sunshine Coast Mayor Bob Abbot says he can not understand the ruling.

"We're just thinking that's a bit ridiculous," he said.

Indeed.

Mark Bahnisch says today that Labor is in deep trouble. That's good. There really was no way that Labor deserved to win the last election, but a hopeless performance by the Liberals in particular just meant that people couldn't bring themselves to vote for the Opposition.

The timing of this election for the LNP is good. The awful situation in the Bundberg public hospital with wildly over-enthusiastic surgeon Patel, although known before the last election, is in the news again thanks to his commital trial. The Health Minister made himself sound a completely insensitive idiot by saying he should be the one receiving an apology following a long delayed report on how one of his nurses came to be raped. (The core security problem is also still to be fixed!) The police minister Judy Spence has always looked and sounded incompetent. The 30 year old Treasurer Andrew Fraser might be a smart guy for all I know, but it's not a good look to be in that position just as your State's finances take a nosedive, no matter whose fault it is.

Anna Bligh is trying to keep all the attention on herself, but she doesn't have the same roguish appeal of Peter Beattie. (Although, that said, it's hard to imagine him being able to overcome the "it's time" factor of this election either.) Her appearances with Prime Minister Rudd, who manages to maintain popularity by sending voters large cheques every 3 months, do not seem to be doing the trick.

A surprising number of people that I know who generally appear to be Labor inclined have said that they don't mind Lawrence Springborg. (In fact, they seem to like him more than I do.) I think he just has to pretty much keep his head down and he's in.

I suspect that most people will vote with the attitude that the LNP could not do any worse, and it is time for a break from Labor. It's not an unreasonable way of looking at it.

And it is, of course, always a delicious irony that it's Labor that keeps putting up women Premiers who promptly go on to lose government as soon as they have to face the electorate. (Maybe they will eventually cotton on that they should put one up as leader of the Opposition first and let them get into power that way.)

People of Queensland: let's keep up this proud Australian tradition. It is fun to annoy electioneering feminists, after all.