Successful cheap Penguins

The "Popular Penguin" titles (with orange and white covers and all priced $10) were mentioned by me here (and on someone else's blog, I think) a while ago, and it's good to see that they have been a commercial success. So successful that another 50 titles will be released in July. Yay.

The 3-D question

3-D movies like Monsters vs. Aliens hurt your eyes. They always have, and they always will. - Slate Magazine

Oh. I was planning on taking the kids to see Monsters vs Aliens this weekend in 3-D version. Now, I'm not so sure after reading the above article.

One interesting thing I didn't know:

Five percent to 8 percent of the population is stereoblind and can't convert binocular disparity into depth information. That means they can't appreciate any of the 3-D effects in a RealD or Imax movie. An additional 20 to 30 percent of the population suffers from a lesser form of the deficit, which could diminish the experience of 3-D effects or make them especially uncomfortable to watch.

How do you know if your kids are within the 20 to 30 %?

And here's something presumably rare, but surprising none the less:

There's already been one published case study, from the late-1980s, of a 5-year-old child in Japan who became permanently cross-eyed after viewing an anaglyph 3-D movie at a theater.

Meatgate

Kevin Rudd losing his temper in spectacular enough fashion to make a RAAF attendant cry is in desperate need of a good "- gate" name. As he was apparently upset at only a meat dish being available, meatgate will do for now.

Journalists have often commented that Rudd, in private, swears a lot, flies into rage with those who he keeps working all night when he perceives they have made a mistake, and is an absolute control freak. Yet it's only the meek, mild Milky Bar Kid image that the public is allowed to see. (Occasional sh*t storm excepted, and even then it was a pre-recorded apparent slip which he or his minders let go through because they thought it wouldn't hurt his image.)

Opinion Dominion predicts: one day, someone (probably from his own side of the political fence) is going to turn up with a recording or video that will show the PM in private acting in a spectacularly unflattering way.

Lack of talent finally recognized

The success of Richard Curtis' output as a writer/director has always puzzled me:

* Four Weddings and a Funeral: why so well received when the romance between the leads happens in such a perfunctory manner? You get a more charming and realistic romance in a fantasy like Groundhog Day.
* Notting Hill: bland romance dominated by Julia's cavernous mouth and Hugh's floppy hair.
* Bridget Jones Diary: ho hum girl's comedy, notable only for an American able to do a British accent. Charmless endorsement of the right of young women to make stupid decisions about who to sleep with.
* Love Actually: haven't seen all of it, but sections seen seem twee and improbable in the extreme. Hugh Grant as PM? Oh please.
* Vicar of Dibley: full of mugging overacting, and simply not funny. Listening to its laugh track is like watching those 1970's black american sitcoms where the audience goes wild while I sit at home wondering what is wrong with them.

As far as I can see, he's never been involved in anything good since Blackadder, and then only as co-writer.

Come to think of it, the decline of Curtis's talent is strangely reflective of the moral and cultural decline of Britain over the same period.

In any case, at last it seems he's come up with a certified failure. Early reviews for The Boat that Rocked are (mostly) very bad. From The Times (I should say Spoiler Warning, I suppose):

The all-male rebels on the boat, plus an honourable lesbian, expend most of their energy on the weekly liferaft of horny Carry On nurses and securing a steady supply of drugs. When it becomes embarrassingly obvious that there is basically nothing worth saving on the ship apart from the fabulous soundtrack, Curtis has the ingenious idea of blowing a hole in the hull and turning his film into a disaster movie. Frankly, it’s too absurd for words.

From Scotland on Sunday:

a truly Titanic film, in the sense that it is a disappointingly wretched thing that takes ages to sink from sight.

From someone commenting at Time Out:

This is truly appalling stuff. Do not touch with a barge-pole. Excruciating throughout. The main jokes are that there's a lesbian on the ship and someone has the surname Twatt. Hilarious stuff eh? Proof that Ben Elton was the funny one behind Blackadder.

Retirement beckons, Richard.

Netanyahu talks about Iran

Benjamin Netanyahu gave an interview for The Atlantic a couple of days ago, and it's well worth reading.

I suspect the Iranians will simply view the "let's just sit down and talk" approach of the Obama administration as buying time to plough ahead full steam with nuclear weapon development. At some point, Israel alone will act, possibly in a strike that is basically suicidal (for the airmen or soldiers involved) but the timing of that is anyone's guess.

China and reciprocity

China and foreign investment | Unfavoured nation | The Economist

An interesting column in The Economist pointing out that, even though Chinese companies meet resistance in their investments in foreign companies, China has been doing exactly the same to foreign companies looking to buy into China. For example:

Anti-investment forces in Australia were emboldened when China blocked Coca-Cola’s $2.4 billion purchase of Huiyuan, a juice producer, using a new anti-monopoly law that increasingly looks like nothing more than an impediment to foreign buyers. Coke’s rejection was unique only in the method used, and the lengths to which the company gone to establish its commitment to China—it gave billions of dollars in investment and support of the Beijing Olympics even when other companies were bailing out.

As for the issues that arise when dealing with Chinese companies, the final paragraph is of note:

Chinalco contends this is a misunderstanding of China’s state-owned enterprises, which operate independently. To some extent this is true—Chinese companies do compete with each other—but it is also false: they follow government policy, have government-appointed management and enjoy privileged access to the vast Chinese market. These issues have been aired before in Asia, most notably in the case of Singaporean companies, but China’s wealth, and scale, and the opacity of its government and laws put them in starker relief.

Home weapons advice

Aircraft could be brought down by DIY 'E-bombs' - 01 April 2009 - New Scientist

I don't think there is anything April Fools Day-ish about this story.

The suggestion is that it would not be too hard for a terrorist to build an "E bomb" device to take down a commercial airliner. I'm a little skeptical of the claim.

However, e-bombs remain this blog's favourite potential weapon. (Particularly suited to attacking nuclear developing nations, in my opinion.)

Because too much debt is never enough

Kevin Rudd plans third stimulus as G20 leaders meet on economic crisis | The Australian

TREASURY is preparing the ground for a massive new burst of fiscal stimulus in next month's budget, declaring that the measures to date have averted a plunge in consumer spending.

A bit like this blog, really

Dezeen - Close encounter by Oscar Lhermitte

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design student Oscar Lhermitte has designed a series of functionless objects that will “fulfil an unpredicted need”.

Feeling better about abortion

Britain's advertising codes are being reviewed, with the possibility that abortion ads may be appearing on TV there. Dana Hovig (a man) of abortion providing charity Marie Stopes, says this would be a good thing:

"The point is not to increase abortions - we want to increase the number of women who are using family planning and taking control of their lives in that way - but there is still a stigma, and if it can go on television then it will help de-stigmatise it."

We wouldn't want anyone feeling as a much as a smidgeon of doubt that might stop them having that abortion, would we?

From the Govenor-General's website

In her civic role as Governor of Queensland, Ms Bryce continued her work with women, families and young people while extending her influence across the State’s broad and diverse spectrum, including the rural, regional, aged, indigenous, migrant, and disability sectors.

As a mother and grandmother, Quentin is a role model and mentor to women at every stage of their lives.

I didn't know that.

Where did her PR writer attend university? North Korea?

Geeky and cute

Tauntaun Sleeping Bag - stay warm without the mess

If you have forgotten what a Tauntaun is, have a lot at the photo in the link.

Thinking like a mouse

Mice And Humans Should Have More In Common In Clinical Trials

An interesting suggestion here about how medical researchers' attitude toward mice is not giving the best results:

... new research shows that the customary practice of standardizing mice by trying to limit environmental variation in laboratories actually increases the chance of getting an incorrect result....

....scientists often use mice that are basically genetically identical and try to limit internal and external environmental factors such as stress, diet and age to eliminate variables affecting the outcome.

Garner said there is no practical way to ensure that all environmental conditions are the same with mice, however, because they respond to cues humans cannot detect. For example, a researcher's odor in one lab might cause more stress for a mouse than another researcher's odor in a second lab with different mice, giving different results. But scientists, unaware of the odor difference, may believe a treatment worked when the mice were actually responding to an environmental cue, giving a false positive.

More details are in the article about why they think mixing up different mice would work better.

Must be something I ate

Heston's Roman Feast

It's been busy at work, but now I'm feeling a bit crook too. It could well be something I ate, but for a truly queasy feeling, no one did dinner parties like the Romans:

The most interesting bit for me was the recreation of the 'Trojan pig'. This is a joking dish described by Petronius in the Satyricon, but known elsewhere in Roman literature. It's a large roast pig stuffed with sausages, so that when the flesh of the pig is slit, what looks like intestines tumble out.

In Petronius, it is a neat joke played on the dinner guests, staged between the host Trimalchio and his cook. The pig is brought in to the banquet, and with it comes the cook -- full of apologies that he has forgotten to gut the animal. Trimalchio feigns anger and orders the cook to strip for a whipping, until the other guests plead for mercy. 'Ok,' says Trimalchio, 'gut it now'. And out come all those sausages . . . and everyone applauds.

Treating a cook like that probably now only occurs in Madonna's household. She would probably also enjoy this:

He [chef Heston Blumenthal, whose TV recreation of a Roman banquest is the subject of this article] had better luck with Petronius' ejaculating cake, which was the centrepiece of his Roman pudding.

A new dessert menu idea for Gordon Ramsay, perhaps?

Detour ahead

Probably won't be posting much for a few days.

Yes, it's a tragedy I know. Tales of despair may be related in comments.

We shall not be moved (til 20 April, then we move)

Rebel priest Peter Kennedy expects congregation to follow him | The Courier-Mail

Won't the Trades and Labor Council take the Gay and Lesbian Choir too?

For your next masked party

Free Masks | News Groper

The instructions on each are the best feature.

Nitschke considered

Column - Nitschke’s troubling trail of death | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

A column well worth reading about Dr Nitschke.

A couple of days ago The Age gave front page publicity to a terminally ill woman who committed suicide with the help of Nitschke's Exit organisation, but gave a lengthy interview to be used to promote changes to euthanasia laws.

As usual, this is an area where it feels too much like tempting fate if one sounds too critical. I watched some of her interview, and she talked about having widespread secondary cancers in her bones, and how this caused much pain.

Yet, at the time of the interview, she clearly was not in any substantial pain, and to all appearances, looked well. (She had no gaunt appearance, for example.)

I do not doubt that bone cancer must be one of the worst ways to die, but to be honest, given the example of Nancy Crick, it would always be good to have independent verification of an illness when it is someone in the Exit publicity machine.

And really, if they do want to make a more compelling case for suicide, can't they at least pick people who look very ill in the videos?

Meanwhile, over in England, a new study suggests that euthanasia as a concept is not so popular amongst their doctors. It is interesting to note that the Dutch medical profession are different in this regard:

The fundamental difference of opinion is important, says Seale, because governments who have passed laws to enable assisted dying have only done so with the support of the medical profession, as happened in the Netherlands.

"The Dutch medical association in the late 1980s and 90s was moving towards the view that euthanasia was an acceptable way of dealing with certain forms of suffering," he said. "Dutch medical opinion was influential with the government."

Going quietly?

Deal struck to end St Mary's priest rebellion | The Courier-Mail

I wonder if there will be some tension within the congregation over this, and whether Kennedy himself will accept it and go peacefully.

An unlikely solution

Condoms to be advertised round-the-clock on TV - Times Online

England has a high teenage pregnancy rate, so how do they solve it? With 24 hour condom advertising on TV, of course.

Um, I wonder just how many British teenagers there are who do not know that they can buy condoms?

The ads will probably run during shows like Shameless and Skins, shows which are full of lower income area teenagers having sex in all its variations.

Something is seriously wrong with that place.