Various comments on CO2

Clean coal: Miracle or mirage? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Four Corners devotes an entire show tonight to the issue of "clean coal" and it would appear from the preview at the link that it will confirm all my suspicions that it is not going to work.

Meanwhile, in the Australian this morning, the much derided Bjorn Lomborg makes the point again that concentrating on CO2 targets without putting adequate investment into new technology is going to ensure the targets are not met. (I would also add that concentrating on a establishing a system which has a built in incentive to invent phoney offsets - such as an ETS - is not going to help either.)

He appears to advocate a very low initial carbon tax but (if I read him correctly) all of the money thereby raised would be going into new technology development. I guess the problem with this is that it would be a case of governments trying to pick winners out of a range of potential useful technology, which has its own risks of failure. But if the problem is urgent, I don't know that we have much choice.

Besides, to a significant degree, we already know one thing that would help - ramping up nuclear power. And my inclination - much repeated here - is to go with small systems that can be quickly deployed. The next generation of big reactors, which do have their advantages, can follow through later.

Fran Barlow has been making comments a lot at John Quiggin and LP about nuclear power. Like Barry Brook, she appears to be a lefty (well, I assume Brook is - he is a scientist who believes in AGW, after all) who has become completely convinced of the need for nuclear to be involved in reducing CO2. Yet, she thinks it is pointless to politically promote this in Australia.

I made a comment at an LP thread about this a couple of weeks ago, to which I think no one replied. I'll make it here then:

I must say I am somewhat puzzled with the attitude that seems to be “sure, we know nuclear would be good, but we may as well forget it as we can’t get it through politically in the foreseeable future.”

Seems a very defeatist attitude towards changing Labor Party policy from a bunch of people who are (I presume) Labor supporters! Of course, you’ll never get the Greens on side, but if you actually had Labor policy change you’re not going to have a problem with the conservative side of politics. That would then render Green control of the Senate irrelevant.

So the crux of the matter is getting Labor to accept the inevitable sooner rather than later. What percentage of sensible Labor Party members do you need before they’ll have the temerity to challenge Labor policy on this?

Barlow's big concern is that, even with the Liberals and Labor both "on side", enough Labor voters will desert to the Greens to be a major problem. But surely not enough to prevent a government being formed in the House of Reps, and to allow for a combined conservative and Labor Senate vote to get it through there?

So when will prominent Labor identities start the push to get their policy changed? Dithering around on blogs about how it is needed is not going to be enough.

UPDATE: if anything, I thought the Four Corners show last night was a little too soft on clean coal. For example, there was very little talk of the practical challenges of how many places around a country are geologically suitable for carbon sequestration, and how you get the CO2 to those spots. I think it could have had more detail on that and other aspects.

UPDATE 2: As I have a rare link here from LP, I'll point people back to this previous post about clean coal from 2007, which may be of interest. This post was pretty worthwhile too, if I do say so myself!

A touch of Dubai in Australia

It would appear that practices common in Dubai have been given a run in Sydney. (Namely, exploiting immigrant labour.)

Presumably, we'll be a bit quicker to do something about it.

(By the way, I was talking to some Australian Dubai residents recently, who claimed that a lot of exploited migrant labour there was used by "reputable" foreign companies that would never try it in their home countries.)

As expected

Bryan Appleyard (who seems to have gone walkabout from his blog without explanation - he does that from time to time) warned in July that a silly public art idea in the middle of London (people get to stand on a plinth and do whatever they like and call it art) was "an invitation to the exhibitionist streak in the British public".

How true. The BBC reports some bloke just took the opportunity to strip off and stand there for his allotted time. He wasn't the first.

The BBC story then sidetracks into what it is that determines whether or not public nudity is prosecuted as an offence. It seems fair to say that it's all just "a vibe" sort of thing. Claimed artistic intent appears to count for a lot, even in the centre of a public space like Trafalgar Square.

Yet, as the BBC notes, a nutty naturist who goes hiking in the nude, not particularly seeking attention, will cop a fine.

Maybe it ought to be decided not on the basis of offence, but rather annoyance, caused to others. That is, I suppose, why no one objects to streakers during important sporting matches getting prosecuted. And it would also provide a basis for artist exhibitionist gits in the middle of London to face the law too.

By the way, that Appleyard post is well worth reading in its entirety for what he says about the "art is what I say it is" movement.

A death noted

Popular ABC radio conservationist Ric Natrass dead at 60

I guess this won't mean anything to any reader outside of Brisbane, but I was sad to read that Ric Natrass had suddenly died. He was mainly known through radio over the years, where he would take calls about about all types of local wildlife and its behaviour. Extremely knowledgeable, entertaining and with a distinctive and cheery voice, he will be missed.

Mystery ship explained

Missing channel pirate ship carried Russian arms for Iran - Times Online

Natural shielding

Earth could shield Moon colonists from radiation | COSMOS magazine

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?

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.”

That's encouraging.

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.

Modern toilet trends

'Urinating' Queensland cop shocks onlookers

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.

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.

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.

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:

"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:

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.

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:

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.

"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."

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?"

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:

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?

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:

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.

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?

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:

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 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 sensible teacher who observed abuse is obviously important, but claims of hypnotism being used in any criminal endeavour tweak my scepticism antenna somewhat.

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?