For about seven days a month, the Moon’s orbit carries it inside the protective cocoon of Earth’s magnetic field, where it is partially shielded from the Solar System’s turbulent space weather. Could future colonists use this to their advantage?That's encouraging.A new study suggests that space agencies could use this natural radiation screen when constructing lunar bases or planning the moonwalks of future astronauts.
“The terrestrial magnetic field provides a significant amount of shielding for energetic particles incident on the Moon,” said Robert Winglee, a physicist at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. “An astronaut, especially if he was far off from base, would be very well protected.”
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Natural shielding
Earth could shield Moon colonists from radiation | COSMOS magazine
Talking of whales
There's an interesting article in Japan Times talking about whaling history in Japan.
"The Cove", the critically successful documentary about the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, gets a mention too.
One thing that interests me about this is the number of people who seem to never have heard of this event until now. The Japan Times article linked to above points out it has critically reported on this event many times over the years.
Indeed, this little blog first posted on the Japan Times articles it in August 2007, and linked to a Foreign Correspondent program on it which appeared in 2005!
Yet on ABC Radio, Phillip Adams on Late Night Live said he had never heard of it, and Fran Kelly on the breakfast show seemed to be just as surprised.
Hey, Radio National folk: read this blog, or even try watching your own current affairs programs. You might learn something.
"The Cove", the critically successful documentary about the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, gets a mention too.
One thing that interests me about this is the number of people who seem to never have heard of this event until now. The Japan Times article linked to above points out it has critically reported on this event many times over the years.
Indeed, this little blog first posted on the Japan Times articles it in August 2007, and linked to a Foreign Correspondent program on it which appeared in 2005!
Yet on ABC Radio, Phillip Adams on Late Night Live said he had never heard of it, and Fran Kelly on the breakfast show seemed to be just as surprised.
Hey, Radio National folk: read this blog, or even try watching your own current affairs programs. You might learn something.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Modern toilet trends
'Urinating' Queensland cop shocks onlookers
I meant to review that restaurant at the time, as the food was disappointing, the service inadequate, but the toilets were worth talking about.
Apart from the glowing translucent urinal, for the toilet stalls, there was a unisex area, and the door and wall to the toilet cubicle were clear glass until you went in and locked the door, whereupon it went (sort of) opaque. (I had read about this glass before. I think turning or off an electric current changes it from clear to opaque.)
But the problem was it wasn't completely opaque. Men or women sitting in this open area (I think there was a sort of lounge to sit on in the middle if all the stalls were full) could still make out the outline of a person sitting on a toilet through the magic glass.
This is clearly inadequate to anyone wanting complete privacy, and would be particularly inappropriate for any rugby league player who had just met some women he liked at the bar.
A QUEENSLAND police officer is being investigated after allegedly being caught urinating on a poker machine inside a Sunshine Coast nightclub last night.Well, I blame all those fancy-smancy urinal designs you get in modern clubs or restaurants now. No wonder a man gets confused when the real urinal might be a glowing, colour changing part of the wall, as it was in a restaurant I went to a few months ago.
I meant to review that restaurant at the time, as the food was disappointing, the service inadequate, but the toilets were worth talking about.
Apart from the glowing translucent urinal, for the toilet stalls, there was a unisex area, and the door and wall to the toilet cubicle were clear glass until you went in and locked the door, whereupon it went (sort of) opaque. (I had read about this glass before. I think turning or off an electric current changes it from clear to opaque.)
But the problem was it wasn't completely opaque. Men or women sitting in this open area (I think there was a sort of lounge to sit on in the middle if all the stalls were full) could still make out the outline of a person sitting on a toilet through the magic glass.
This is clearly inadequate to anyone wanting complete privacy, and would be particularly inappropriate for any rugby league player who had just met some women he liked at the bar.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
A long debate at The Economist
Europe and Islam: A treacherous path? | The Economist
Wow. After a somewhat favourable review for a book worrying that Islamic migration is changing Europe, there are 790 comments. No time to plough through them now, but might be worth a look.
Wow. After a somewhat favourable review for a book worrying that Islamic migration is changing Europe, there are 790 comments. No time to plough through them now, but might be worth a look.
Japanese solar
Solar power's bright future in Japan: Land of the rising subsidy | The Economist
The Economist reckons that the Japanese solar panel industry is well placed to weather the glut of solar power panels that is driving down the price. Good.
The Economist reckons that the Japanese solar panel industry is well placed to weather the glut of solar power panels that is driving down the price. Good.
Hamas and its little, tiny problem with history
Hamas Objects to Possible Lessons About Holocaust in U.N.-Run Schools in Gaza - washingtonpost.com
You have to laugh at the broad sweep of this statement, made in response to the suggestion by the UN that maybe they could talk about the Holocaust in the schools they run in Gaza:
You have to laugh at the broad sweep of this statement, made in response to the suggestion by the UN that maybe they could talk about the Holocaust in the schools they run in Gaza:
"Talk about the holocaust and the execution of the Jews contradicts and is against our culture, our principles, our traditions, values, heritage and religion," Jamila al-Shanti, a Hamas legislative official, said in a statement distributed Tuesday after a meeting among elected leaders of the radical Islamist group and the head of the Hamas-run Education Ministry in Gaza.Found via First Things.
Immunisation dills
There was a worrying story on last night's 7.30 Report on the very low immunisation rates for whooping cough (and other childhood diseases) in parts of Australia.
The anti-immunisation campaigner who was shown giving a talk inside a church (which, incidentally, should take more interest in the harm the use of their premises may be contributing to a healthy society) came across as real dill, dismissive of serious medical research and doctors generally. How's this for a self serving statement:
I had thought, obviously incorrectly, that government here had really forced the hand on immunisation by requiring it for child care benefits and other reasons. Obviously, however, it doesn't work well enough in some areas of Australia.
The anti-immunisation campaigner who was shown giving a talk inside a church (which, incidentally, should take more interest in the harm the use of their premises may be contributing to a healthy society) came across as real dill, dismissive of serious medical research and doctors generally. How's this for a self serving statement:
MERYL DOREY: Just because someone is a doctor doesn't necessarily mean they're an expert on every area of medicine, and unless they've actually done some independent research into vaccination they may not know more than the average parent who's read a few articles and a book or two about vaccinations.Yet I thought the response to her from the doctors was really too mild. I wanted them them to be far more incendiary in their attack on her organisation.
I had thought, obviously incorrectly, that government here had really forced the hand on immunisation by requiring it for child care benefits and other reasons. Obviously, however, it doesn't work well enough in some areas of Australia.
Quite right
Survival rests on social revolution | The Australian
Greg Sheridan's discussion of Japan's survival problem seems spot on.
Greg Sheridan's discussion of Japan's survival problem seems spot on.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
A stepping stone to the green cheese
SPACE.com -- Mouse Hotel Opens on Space Station
Hey, why isn't this getting more publicity? The current shuttle trip to the International Space Station has delivered a half dozen rodent residents who will stay there for 3 months:
NASA must have video of mice in space already:
We can only hope that one or more of them will escape during their sojourn on the ISS. That would gain a lot of publicity for NASA.
Hey, why isn't this getting more publicity? The current shuttle trip to the International Space Station has delivered a half dozen rodent residents who will stay there for 3 months:
The mice are living in a special experiment drawer delivered to the station late Sunday by astronauts aboard NASA's space shuttle Discovery. The drawer is split into partitions to give each mouse ample living room.It is hard to imagine how a little mouse brain reacts to permanent weightlessness. Do they just cling motionless to the screens for the first 48 hours thinking "what the hell?"
"Each mouse is in its own little compartment," Robinson told SPACE.com. "The compartments have screens around them so the mice can hold on with their feet so that they're in control of their environment...so they're not stressed out."
NASA must have video of mice in space already:
Mice have flown in space countless times before, even on space shuttles headed for the International Space Station. But the critters always stayed aboard those shuttles and returned home, said NASA's space station program scientist Julie Robinson. The longest any mouse has lived in space has been about 30 days, and that was while flying on an unmanned satellite, she added.However, the only video I could find on the 'net is from a 1950's science fiction film, where they view what appears to be real footage of mice having a parabolic ride on a missile. As expected, the mice looked somewhat alarmed.
We can only hope that one or more of them will escape during their sojourn on the ISS. That would gain a lot of publicity for NASA.
Philosopher gets comic treatment
Bertrand Russell: The thinking person's superhero - The Independent
Some amusing quotes from this favourable review of a comic book treatment of Bertrand Russell:
Some amusing quotes from this favourable review of a comic book treatment of Bertrand Russell:
His bitterly lonely childhood (he contemplated suicide) was enlivened, he said later, by thoughts of sex and glimpses of a totally logical world available through Euclidian mathematics. But even Euclid's maths rested on shaky assumptions and unproven "axioms", so how could it lead to certain knowledge of the world?
Through GE Moore at Cambridge, he discovered Leibniz and Boole, and became a logician. Through Alfred Whitehead's influence, he travelled to Europe and met Gottlob Frege, who believed in a wholly logical language (and was borderline insane) and Georg Cantor, the inventor of "set theory" (who was locked up in an asylum) and a mass of French and German mathematicians in varying stages of mental disarray. Back home he and Whitehead wrestled with their co-authored Principles of Mathematics for years, endlessly disputing the foundations of their every intellectual certainty, constantly harassed by Russell's brilliant pupil Wittgenstein. ...
Doxiadis and his team make us feel how cataclysmic was the moment when Kurt Godel, the mathematician, in a lecture, announced: "There will always be unanswerable questions," and proved that arithmetic is "of necessity incomplete" – pulling the rug from under the study of logic. ("It's all over," remarked Russell's friend Von Neumann at the conference, meaning the whole of philosophical reasoning.)
The sinking tax haven
Bankruptcy threat brings new concept to the Cayman Islands … taxes
Oh, forgot to collect taxes, diddums?
Oh, forgot to collect taxes, diddums?
A very peculiar suggestion
New Scientist has finally run an article talking about a recent proposal as to why the arrow of time always seems to move forward, rather than backwards as the laws of physics would allow.
The idea is that things do happen "backwards", it's just that in so doing, quantum mechanics if applied on a big enough scale means they leave no information behind that they have happened.
I keep trying to work out how this relates to the "tree falling in a wood with no one to hear it" question. Of course it still makes a sound; the lack of observation doesn't stop that. In the same way, I suppose, just because a "backwards" event can't be detected might not mean that it hasn't happened.
On the other hand, any scientist who believes this idea doesn't have much right to be a ridiculing atheist who criticises believers because they can't prove their God exists.
The Guardian's explanation of the idea, which apparently quotes the author of the paper directly, makes it sound a much more implausible idea, as it would appear to allow for memories to be created but subsequently erased:
The idea is that things do happen "backwards", it's just that in so doing, quantum mechanics if applied on a big enough scale means they leave no information behind that they have happened.
I keep trying to work out how this relates to the "tree falling in a wood with no one to hear it" question. Of course it still makes a sound; the lack of observation doesn't stop that. In the same way, I suppose, just because a "backwards" event can't be detected might not mean that it hasn't happened.
On the other hand, any scientist who believes this idea doesn't have much right to be a ridiculing atheist who criticises believers because they can't prove their God exists.
The Guardian's explanation of the idea, which apparently quotes the author of the paper directly, makes it sound a much more implausible idea, as it would appear to allow for memories to be created but subsequently erased:
Yes, the Guardian's headline for the report appears most apt then: "Is quantum mechanics messing with your memory?" But are they quoting him accurately?He argues that quantum mechanics dictates that if anyone does observe an entropy-decreasing event, their memories of the event "will have been erased by necessity".
Maccone doesn't mean that your memories will never form in the first place. "What I'm pointing out is that memories are formed and then are subsequently erased," he tells me.
When you observe any system, according to Maccone, you enter into a "quantum entanglement" with it. That is, you and the system are entangled and cannot properly be described separately.
The entanglement, Maccone says, is between your memory and the system. When you disentangle, "the disentangling operation will erase this entanglement, namely the observer's memory". His paper derives this conclusion mathematically.
Drunk hamsters
How Alcohol Blunts Ability Of Hamsters To 'Rise And Shine'
Big surprise! (That was sarcasm): the more hamsters drink, the more it disrupts their circadian cycle.
Hamsters like their alcohol:
Big surprise! (That was sarcasm): the more hamsters drink, the more it disrupts their circadian cycle.
Hamsters like their alcohol:
The animals were divided into three groups, differing only on what they drank. The control group received water only. A second group received water containing 10% alcohol and the third group received water containing 20% alcohol. Hamsters, when given a choice, prefer alcohol, which they metabolize quickly.I would kind of like to see how a drunk hamster acts, but the researchers aren't into such voyeurism. Anyway, there's a cute hamster photo at the link.
Hmm...
This will no doubt be an interesting trial as it progresses, as the claims being made sound, at least in part, a bit like the repressed memory ritual child abuse cases:
A sensible teacher who observed abuse is obviously important, but claims of hypnotism being used in any criminal endeavour tweak my scepticism antenna somewhat.A FORMER school teacher has emerged as a key witness to the alleged sexual assaults of students, amid allegations that paint a picture of ''rampant pedophilia'' at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst.
The allegations, including that students were forced to have group sex and were hypnotised to have sex with teachers, were heard during a bail review for Brian Joseph Spillane, a former chaplain at the school.
A problem long identified
Lay off the linguistics to address English lag | The Japan Times Online
Another suggestion is offered as to why Japanese language teaching is ineffective (teachers have to study linguistics, which is more about analysing a language rather than how to teach it.)
But really, this is just part of the basic problem that has long been identified: they have an obsession about teaching the technical rules of English rather than the its practical application.
Yet nothing much seems to change. Maybe a new government will actually let some fresh ideas blow into all corners, including this one?
Another suggestion is offered as to why Japanese language teaching is ineffective (teachers have to study linguistics, which is more about analysing a language rather than how to teach it.)
But really, this is just part of the basic problem that has long been identified: they have an obsession about teaching the technical rules of English rather than the its practical application.
Yet nothing much seems to change. Maybe a new government will actually let some fresh ideas blow into all corners, including this one?
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Trouble ahead
UK could face widespread seventies style blackouts - The Independent
Actually, in some recent stormy summers in Brisbane, we've had a lot more than an hour-long power cut in a year.The UK faces widespread power cuts for the first time since the 1970s, according to the Government's own predictions.
Demand for electricity from homes and businesses is set to exceed the available supply within eight years....
The latest figures cast doubt over the Government's pledge that renewable sources can make up for lower output from nuclear and coal.
They were slipped out in an appendix to the Low Carbon Transition Plan, which was launched in July. The main document set out a target for "clean" technology - such as wind, wave and solar - to supply 40% of the country's power by 2020.
But the extra section suggests that there will be a shortfall by 2017, when the "energy unserved" level is predicted to reach 3,000 megawatt hours per year...
By 2025 the situation is expected to worsen, with the shortfall hitting 7,000 megawatt hours per year.That would be equivalent to an hour-long power cut for half of Britain over the course of a year.
Yurts for all
Why a yurt is better than a country cottage - Times Online
Here's an article in the Times about a family that uses a yurt as its holiday home. The kids have to find firewood to boil the kettle, and there is no toilet, which is getting just a little too "back to Nature" for my taste.
Still, reading about yurts reminds me of my widely ignored thought that maybe the neverending problem with providing adequate housing for remote aboriginal communities is due to the inappropriateness of trying to provide permanent housing for remote aboriginal communities.
When I read about the current controversy over the cost of a current program to improve housing in the Northern Territory, I can't help but feel I was onto something with my half-baked idea. According to that last linked news report, some people think that it is going to end up costing $1 billion to provide 750 new houses, 230 "rebuilds" and refurbishment to 2,500 other existing houses.
Let's see: a company in Bangalow will sell a 10 metre diameter yurt with a heavy canvas cover for around $20,000.
Let's be generous, and allow another $20,000 for changes in design, some sort of decent flooring, etc. (A clan's bunch of yurts could share a central, simple ablutions block, but admittedly I have no idea how to estimate the cost of that.) Maybe $10,000 to get it there and put it up? Rough figure - $50,000 per yurt. Pretty expensive for a tent, but...
If you assume the 750 new houses will take 1/2 of the billion dollars that may be spent on the current program, you can get ten thousand $50,000 yurts for that price. Let's say that my back of the envelope figuring is way out - surely 5,000 is still in the ball park.
At that rate, it hardly matters if you have to replace them every five years.
Maybe I should start the Yurts for All Party as a way of publicising this idea.
Here's an article in the Times about a family that uses a yurt as its holiday home. The kids have to find firewood to boil the kettle, and there is no toilet, which is getting just a little too "back to Nature" for my taste.
Still, reading about yurts reminds me of my widely ignored thought that maybe the neverending problem with providing adequate housing for remote aboriginal communities is due to the inappropriateness of trying to provide permanent housing for remote aboriginal communities.
When I read about the current controversy over the cost of a current program to improve housing in the Northern Territory, I can't help but feel I was onto something with my half-baked idea. According to that last linked news report, some people think that it is going to end up costing $1 billion to provide 750 new houses, 230 "rebuilds" and refurbishment to 2,500 other existing houses.
Let's see: a company in Bangalow will sell a 10 metre diameter yurt with a heavy canvas cover for around $20,000.
Let's be generous, and allow another $20,000 for changes in design, some sort of decent flooring, etc. (A clan's bunch of yurts could share a central, simple ablutions block, but admittedly I have no idea how to estimate the cost of that.) Maybe $10,000 to get it there and put it up? Rough figure - $50,000 per yurt. Pretty expensive for a tent, but...
If you assume the 750 new houses will take 1/2 of the billion dollars that may be spent on the current program, you can get ten thousand $50,000 yurts for that price. Let's say that my back of the envelope figuring is way out - surely 5,000 is still in the ball park.
At that rate, it hardly matters if you have to replace them every five years.
Maybe I should start the Yurts for All Party as a way of publicising this idea.
Good TV
Last night's Australian Story was a nice one about competitive paper airplane throwing (and a brain tumour.) Happily, the subject recovered from the latter, and has many years of competitive paper plane folding and throwing ahead of him. (I did get the feeling, though, he would be a bit annoying to live near, as your yard or balcony would always be littered with paper planes.)
The episode can be watched here. (After this week it will be archived as "Fly with Me".)
Last Friday's documentary on the Last Day of World War One was also good. Michael Palin makes an good narrator of serious material, and he recounted many stories of soldiers who were, with great pointlessness, ordered on the battle field in the 6 hours or so between the announcement of the ceasefire agreement being signed, and the time it came into effect (at 11am on 11/11.)
It would seem that the full documentary can be viewed via the link here.
The episode can be watched here. (After this week it will be archived as "Fly with Me".)
Last Friday's documentary on the Last Day of World War One was also good. Michael Palin makes an good narrator of serious material, and he recounted many stories of soldiers who were, with great pointlessness, ordered on the battle field in the 6 hours or so between the announcement of the ceasefire agreement being signed, and the time it came into effect (at 11am on 11/11.)
It would seem that the full documentary can be viewed via the link here.
Another African problem?
Interesting claim made here that pornography is behind a lot of sexual violence (and lack of safe sex practices) in Africa.
Occasionally there is talk of the similar effect of pornography in remote aboriginal settlements, but the problem never seems to get detailed reportage.
Occasionally there is talk of the similar effect of pornography in remote aboriginal settlements, but the problem never seems to get detailed reportage.
More notes for future reference
Study debunks daily aspirin to guard heart | The Australian
I think I would average 5 to 7 standard drinks a week, so I trust I'm OK.The study on alcohol, carried out on 8830 people in Britain, Scandinavia and the US, found those who drank the equivalent of 10 standard drinks a week - about 15 units - had an 80 per cent higher risk of having an irregular heartbeat diagnosed within five years.
And the study of aspirin found that healthy adults who took a daily aspirin for up to eight years did not significantly reduce their risk of a heart attack or stroke, but did increase their risk of stomach bleeding.
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