1. Ocean acidification measurements across an entire ocean indicate that pH is dropping in a way consistent with modelling.
2. If you burn fossil fuels on a "business as usual" basis for another hundred years or so, even a future (improbably efficient) means of removing CO2 from the atmosphere is not going to help the oceans much.
I think I have summarised both of these correctly.
Tuesday, August 04, 2015
I've been thinking...
...about the next Mission Impossible movie.
Seeing they spend so much time on accessing encrypted information stored in places using the weirdest security systems, can't the writer look into something more realistically at the cutting edge, such as quantum cryptography?
Now, I guess the point of that is to make information genuinely impossible to break into, but there is nothing impossible to Ethan Hunt, as we were told in the last movie. (Perhaps he can be split into a both dead and alive version in a Schrodinger's Cat upscaling. Would that help with quantum cryptography? Who cares?)
Seeing they spend so much time on accessing encrypted information stored in places using the weirdest security systems, can't the writer look into something more realistically at the cutting edge, such as quantum cryptography?
Now, I guess the point of that is to make information genuinely impossible to break into, but there is nothing impossible to Ethan Hunt, as we were told in the last movie. (Perhaps he can be split into a both dead and alive version in a Schrodinger's Cat upscaling. Would that help with quantum cryptography? Who cares?)
Candle viewing
How far away do you think the human eye can see a candle? (I'm assuming we're talking some sort of average size one, too.)
I would have guessed about 1 km, but according to the paper reported here, it's more like 2.76 km.
Your day is now complete.
I would have guessed about 1 km, but according to the paper reported here, it's more like 2.76 km.
Your day is now complete.
Monday, August 03, 2015
Weekend roundup, with Mission Impossible 5
What a nice weekend: beautiful warm late winter sunshine; out to Mulgowie farmer's market for lots of fresh vegetables, fruit juice and caramel popcorn (I did have a 12 year old in tow); a couple of craft beers at the Hoo Ha Bar near Southbank; grilled kipper for dinner (why don't Australians eat more of them?). Sunday I found myself looking in at what seemed to be a very Anglo Catholic Anglican mass in an old church in Fortitude Valley (the amount of incense they used created a cloud that never fully dissipated the rest of the service); a fresh sandwich for lunch with steak slices and hot mustard; and a very successful coq au vin cooked by me for dinner.
Amongst all of that, the family went to see Mission Impossible 5.
It is very good. While the Bond style opening was thrilling, I think the motorcycle/car chase was perhaps the best of its kind that I have seen. (The editing is fast, but not Bourne fast with shaky cam, and it genuinely looks dangerous for Cruise and the stunt team.) The night at the opera segment is, as others have noted, a bit Hitchcockian, but it's enjoyable and (what's the word?) sumptuously staged.
I have to admit that the other set piece is, fundamentally, silly (water and electronics are not known for their friendly intermingling); almost up there with the need for a secret gigantic radio telescope to communicate with a satellite in Goldeneye. But there is still tension in how it is handled, and it is a spectacular setting, that entry point. (What looked like some silly sci fi physics in the trailer wasn't after all.) Yeah, it's true: what I can't forgive in Bond I can forgive in Hunt.
It does have a bit of a feel that it has been written as a series-summarising send off, but as all reviews have been saying, Cruise looks extremely fit and engaged, and it does have a hint of further story in there with the femme fatale, and Alec Baldwin, so that yet another outing still wouldn't seem self indulgent.
In fact, maybe it will go in a new direction, where the IMF being dysfunctional is not the key plot point, like it has been for most of the other movies. (OK, maybe it wasn't in MI2, but I prefer not to think of that embarrassing entry.)
Update: I missed that Cruise has already said that they are planning a sixth, and without as long a gap as with the other installments. The movie seems to have already made more than $100 million worldwide in its first weekend. Good.
Amongst all of that, the family went to see Mission Impossible 5.
It is very good. While the Bond style opening was thrilling, I think the motorcycle/car chase was perhaps the best of its kind that I have seen. (The editing is fast, but not Bourne fast with shaky cam, and it genuinely looks dangerous for Cruise and the stunt team.) The night at the opera segment is, as others have noted, a bit Hitchcockian, but it's enjoyable and (what's the word?) sumptuously staged.
I have to admit that the other set piece is, fundamentally, silly (water and electronics are not known for their friendly intermingling); almost up there with the need for a secret gigantic radio telescope to communicate with a satellite in Goldeneye. But there is still tension in how it is handled, and it is a spectacular setting, that entry point. (What looked like some silly sci fi physics in the trailer wasn't after all.) Yeah, it's true: what I can't forgive in Bond I can forgive in Hunt.
It does have a bit of a feel that it has been written as a series-summarising send off, but as all reviews have been saying, Cruise looks extremely fit and engaged, and it does have a hint of further story in there with the femme fatale, and Alec Baldwin, so that yet another outing still wouldn't seem self indulgent.
In fact, maybe it will go in a new direction, where the IMF being dysfunctional is not the key plot point, like it has been for most of the other movies. (OK, maybe it wasn't in MI2, but I prefer not to think of that embarrassing entry.)
Update: I missed that Cruise has already said that they are planning a sixth, and without as long a gap as with the other installments. The movie seems to have already made more than $100 million worldwide in its first weekend. Good.
Sunday, August 02, 2015
Friday, July 31, 2015
Drinking and conception
Drinking at conception boosts diabetes risk for baby
This finding:
This finding:
Babies conceived by women who drink alcohol around the time of conception face dramatically increased risks of type 2 diabetes and obesity in early middle age, a University of Queensland
study has found.
The discovery was made by School of Biomedical Sciences scientist Associate Professor Karen Moritz during research into how events – particularly alcohol consumption – before and during pregnancy affect the long-term health of offspring.is only based on "laboratory rat model", but still, it does sound a potential worry for humans.
Sharks getting aggro?
Surfer mauled in shark attack at Evans Head
I'm sure I'm not the only person thinking that it seems sharks are getting more aggressive against humans lately, including, unfortunately, many of them around Australia. Have a look at the recent list of attacks in this article, many of which have only given people a fright, but still there are quite a few incidents of aggression that I haven't heard of until now.
I'm sure I'm not the only person thinking that it seems sharks are getting more aggressive against humans lately, including, unfortunately, many of them around Australia. Have a look at the recent list of attacks in this article, many of which have only given people a fright, but still there are quite a few incidents of aggression that I haven't heard of until now.
Adam Goodes noted
Of course, the Australian sport that I have the least possible interest in (well, apart from cage boxing, I suppose) is Aussie Rules Football, but it's impossible not to comment on the Adam Goodes story.
It seems to me that the on the "this boo-ing has gotten out of control" side is every current AFL player, the management of every AFL team, the AFL management itself, every single politician who has commented on it, including Coalition members such as the down-to-earth indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion, the editorial team at The Australian, as well as everyone down to the cleaning staff at the ABC and The Guardian (but the latter is not unexpected, of course.)
On the "Adam Goodes is a sook and ought to suck it up and he started it all anyway" side is a newspaper columnist who lost a court case about race and has spent a decade or more downplaying racism as an issue to a silly extent; an ex AFL player or two; the intellectual giant of cricket Shane Warne; an economist from South Africa who had never even heard of "ape" being used in a racial context; and a group of right wing columnists who are most notable for despising Julia Gillard and not believing in climate change.
I don't know - I got a feeling in my bones about which side on this might have the better "cred".
It seems to me that the on the "this boo-ing has gotten out of control" side is every current AFL player, the management of every AFL team, the AFL management itself, every single politician who has commented on it, including Coalition members such as the down-to-earth indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion, the editorial team at The Australian, as well as everyone down to the cleaning staff at the ABC and The Guardian (but the latter is not unexpected, of course.)
On the "Adam Goodes is a sook and ought to suck it up and he started it all anyway" side is a newspaper columnist who lost a court case about race and has spent a decade or more downplaying racism as an issue to a silly extent; an ex AFL player or two; the intellectual giant of cricket Shane Warne; an economist from South Africa who had never even heard of "ape" being used in a racial context; and a group of right wing columnists who are most notable for despising Julia Gillard and not believing in climate change.
I don't know - I got a feeling in my bones about which side on this might have the better "cred".
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Knickers
I was reading the Courier Mail review for Anything Goes from 14 March 1936, and noticed this ad on the page:
"Knickers" seems to have changed meaning over the years...
Update: a post may be found here giving some details about the fashion for boy's knickers in the first half of the 20th century. Yet I'm still not entirely sure as to what made "knickers" knickers. It would seem to be the length as indicated in this photo:
But the advertisement showing a "knicker suit" in Australia seems to have shorts that aren't below the knee in length.
Update 2: just in case anyone thinks I'm easily confused - yes, I am aware of knickerboxers - which are what the pants in the photo in the update would be called, and (I presume) knickers is a contraction of that. Maybe I'm just confused because the "knicker suit" and "knicker pants" in the Brisbane ad don't look long enough to count.
"Knickers" seems to have changed meaning over the years...
Update: a post may be found here giving some details about the fashion for boy's knickers in the first half of the 20th century. Yet I'm still not entirely sure as to what made "knickers" knickers. It would seem to be the length as indicated in this photo:
But the advertisement showing a "knicker suit" in Australia seems to have shorts that aren't below the knee in length.Update 2: just in case anyone thinks I'm easily confused - yes, I am aware of knickerboxers - which are what the pants in the photo in the update would be called, and (I presume) knickers is a contraction of that. Maybe I'm just confused because the "knicker suit" and "knicker pants" in the Brisbane ad don't look long enough to count.
Herbal remedy with the opposite effect (for some)
Taking St. John's wort for depression carries risks: study
I didn't know this was possible (or at least, to this extent) with St John's wort:
Falling pregnant unintentionally due to taking it can't be good for depression!
I didn't know this was possible (or at least, to this extent) with St John's wort:
Using reports filed with Australia's drug safety agency, the researchers found that adverse reactions to St. John's wort were similar to those reported for the antidepressant fluoxetine—better known by the brand name Prozac.
Those side effects included anxiety, panic attacks, dizziness, nausea and spikes in blood pressure, the researchers reported in the July issue of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology....
The researchers based their findings on doctors' reports to Australia's national agency on drug safety. Between 2000 and 2013, there were 84 reports of adverse reactions to St. John's wort, and 447 reports on Prozac.
But since those are voluntary reports, they do not reflect the actual rate of side effects from either therapy, according to the researchers. And, Hoban said, bad reactions to St. John's wort are particularly likely to go unreported, since the herb is often not even considered a drug.
According to McCutcheon, it's important for people with depression symptoms to see a health professional before self-medicating with St. John's wort. "That will help ensure you have the right diagnosis," she said.
If your symptoms are actually part of a different disorder, St. John's wort may be ineffective—or possibly even risky. For example, McCutcheon said that in people with bipolar disorder, the herb might fuel a manic episode.
But possibly the biggest concern, she said, is the potential for St. John's wort to interact with commonly used medications.
The herb can dampen the effectiveness of birth control pills, blood thinners and heart disease drugs, along with some HIV and cancer drugs, according to the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative
Health.
Falling pregnant unintentionally due to taking it can't be good for depression!
Masculinity and nature
Cecil the lion: Jimmy Kimmel breaks down on air as he condemns animal's killing
Wow. Jimmy Kimmel made his name on "The Man Show", didn't he?: a low brow comedy that joked about masculinity in quite an un-PC, right wing sort of fashion. (The co-host Adam Carolla appears to make a name for himself still by being the favourite comedian of sites like Breitbart.)
Yet Kimmel gets emotional talking about Cecil the lion.
It's pretty amazing how strongly most of the West has turned against trophy hunting, where what was once seen as something a strong man would naturally like to do (up to perhaps about the 1960's, I reckon) is now condemned as sign of inadequacy.
Yet, as this Washington Post story notes, it is still big business in Africa, fed mostly by Americans, and includes those ridiculous cases where captive animals are bred and hunted for fun, or whatever the motivation is for this activity.
There's no doubt there is a very different view of our relationship with nature now, but there is still a strong cultural element about it all - it seems to me that the Chinese are far, far behind the West in having empathy for animal suffering, and the reasons for that I do not know. (I should Google it one day...)
I suspect that this story is leading more people to cast a skeptical eye on the claim that trophy hunting is a good, or valid, way of raising money for animal conservation.
Good.
Wow. Jimmy Kimmel made his name on "The Man Show", didn't he?: a low brow comedy that joked about masculinity in quite an un-PC, right wing sort of fashion. (The co-host Adam Carolla appears to make a name for himself still by being the favourite comedian of sites like Breitbart.)
Yet Kimmel gets emotional talking about Cecil the lion.
It's pretty amazing how strongly most of the West has turned against trophy hunting, where what was once seen as something a strong man would naturally like to do (up to perhaps about the 1960's, I reckon) is now condemned as sign of inadequacy.
Yet, as this Washington Post story notes, it is still big business in Africa, fed mostly by Americans, and includes those ridiculous cases where captive animals are bred and hunted for fun, or whatever the motivation is for this activity.
There's no doubt there is a very different view of our relationship with nature now, but there is still a strong cultural element about it all - it seems to me that the Chinese are far, far behind the West in having empathy for animal suffering, and the reasons for that I do not know. (I should Google it one day...)
I suspect that this story is leading more people to cast a skeptical eye on the claim that trophy hunting is a good, or valid, way of raising money for animal conservation.
Good.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Catholics in retreat
The last Catholic priest in the Antarctic - BBC News
Interesting story about religious services in Antarctica.
I like the penguins on the wall at the back of the chapel:
Interesting story about religious services in Antarctica.
I like the penguins on the wall at the back of the chapel:
For a special weekly dose of climate change pessimism
What Happens If We Don’t Mitigate?
I see that the Climate Change National Forum site, which seemingly had become quite inactive, has been re-formatted and has more recent posts finally up.
The one at the link is a good interview with 3 climate scientists, including one of my old favourites John Nielsen-Gammon. He's always been fair: too fair, in fact, given that he was prepared to help out Anthony Watts with his failed attempt to prove that poor weather station siting was really behind increasing temperatures.
Anyhow, Nielsen-Gammon is well and truly a realist as to what is in store with temperature rises, and this interview is worth reading.
I see that the Climate Change National Forum site, which seemingly had become quite inactive, has been re-formatted and has more recent posts finally up.
The one at the link is a good interview with 3 climate scientists, including one of my old favourites John Nielsen-Gammon. He's always been fair: too fair, in fact, given that he was prepared to help out Anthony Watts with his failed attempt to prove that poor weather station siting was really behind increasing temperatures.
Anyhow, Nielsen-Gammon is well and truly a realist as to what is in store with temperature rises, and this interview is worth reading.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Uncertain meters
Catastrophic Sea Level Rise: More and sooner – Greg Laden's Blog
Greg Laden talks generally about the new James Hansen paper that warns that sea level rise may be more rapid than most scientists think:
Greg Laden talks generally about the new James Hansen paper that warns that sea level rise may be more rapid than most scientists think:
Let me rephrase that to make it clear. We have already causedAustralian Libertarians, meanwhile, are fretting about not being able to get a drink at Kings Cross at 3.30 am after a day of riding their mountain bike without a helmet with their repeat action shotgun slung over their shoulder for killing feral cats with which to make a fur coat for their gay friend's wedding.
something like 14 meters of sea level rise. Like the horrifically sad
words uttered by a movie or TV character who has received a fatal wound
and turns to the killer, uttering “You’ve killed me” (then they die),
we’ve done this. It is just going to take some time to play out. But it
will play out.
A conservative estimate is that likely sea levels will rise 8 meters
or more, quite possibly considerably more. But generally, people who
talk about sea level tend to suggest that this will take centuries. Part
of the reason for that is that it takes a long(ish) time for the added
CO2 to heat up the surface, then it takes a while for that heat to melt
the ice sheets. However, there is no firm reason to put a time frame on
this melting.
A new paper that is making a great deal of news, and that is still in
peer review, suggests that the time frame may be shorter than man have
suggested. We may see several meters of sea level rise during the
lifetime of most people living today.
We don’t really how long this will take. Looking at the paleo record,
we are lucky to get two data points showing different ancient sea
levels that are less than a thousand years apart. There are a few
moments during the end of the last glaciation where we have data points
several centuries apart during which sea levels went up several meters.
We don’t have a good estimate for the maximum rate at which polar ice
caps and other ice can melt.
The current situation is, notably, very different from those periods
of rapid sea level rise. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is
approximately double the Pleistocene average, and the rate at which CO2
levels and temperatures have gone up has not been seen in tens of
millions of years. Whatever rate of sea level rise over the last several
tens of thousands of years must be regarded as a minimum, perhaps a
very low minimum.
An odd therapy gains acceptance?
EMDR Eye Movement Therapy for Victims of Trauma and PTSD - The Atlantic
This short article doesn't really give much detail, but it is interesting to note that this odd sounding therapy hasn't disappeared, as I first suspected it might.
This short article doesn't really give much detail, but it is interesting to note that this odd sounding therapy hasn't disappeared, as I first suspected it might.
Bad news for salmon
Too bits of bad news for fish on the net lately:
* Lakes are warming at a surprisingly fast rate.
And:
* Lakes are warming at a surprisingly fast rate.
And:
More than a quarter million sockeye salmon returning from the ocean to spawn are either dead or dying in the Columbia River and its tributaries due to warming water temperatures.Federal and state fisheries biologists say the warm water is lethal for the cold-water species and is wiping out at least half of this year's return of 500,000 fish.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Odd bit of publicity
I find this rather surprising: The Daily Telegraph, not exactly known for doing any damage to the Abbott brand, runs a puff piece about the PM and his daughter and Peta Credlin having a weekend in the snow.
Given the past rumour mill, one would have thought the Tele would be keen to point out that Credlin was there with her husband or, if not, say something to clear up that this story was not hinting at anything untoward between Abbott and her.
Because, at the moment, those with suspicious minds may well be interpreting this as an exercise in "softening up" the public for a further revelation. And if it is purely accidental that the story comes across that way, I presume Peta has been on the 'phone to the Tele demanding some changes?
Update: To confirm I'm not reading too much into this, I've looked at the story again and can't get over how much it looks exactly like the sort of celebrity are-they-dating-or-not gossip column entry you might see at the Daily Mail (or a women's magazine.) I mean, even the heading:
Now, given that no journalists are hinting at coming "Abbott bombshell" on twitter, I assume that this is an accident. But it's a very weird one, about which I would have though Credlin/Abbott would be very annoyed.
Given the past rumour mill, one would have thought the Tele would be keen to point out that Credlin was there with her husband or, if not, say something to clear up that this story was not hinting at anything untoward between Abbott and her.
Because, at the moment, those with suspicious minds may well be interpreting this as an exercise in "softening up" the public for a further revelation. And if it is purely accidental that the story comes across that way, I presume Peta has been on the 'phone to the Tele demanding some changes?
Update: To confirm I'm not reading too much into this, I've looked at the story again and can't get over how much it looks exactly like the sort of celebrity are-they-dating-or-not gossip column entry you might see at the Daily Mail (or a women's magazine.) I mean, even the heading:
makes it sound like the point of the weekend is to introduce Frances to Credlin as the new part of the household.Snow business as Prime Minister Tony Abbott hits the slopes with Peta Credlin and daughter Frances
Now, given that no journalists are hinting at coming "Abbott bombshell" on twitter, I assume that this is an accident. But it's a very weird one, about which I would have though Credlin/Abbott would be very annoyed.
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