A really clear video here explaining why the surface temperature record is way more robust than the satellite record. Information totally lost on the highly dislikeable Ted Cruz, of course.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Sounds promising
10 Cloverfield Lane Reviews - Metacritic
The story sounds a bit Twilight Zone-ish, and I think I want to see it. (I've always liked John Goodman, too, so it's nice to see him being a lead actor with a lot of screen time.)
The story sounds a bit Twilight Zone-ish, and I think I want to see it. (I've always liked John Goodman, too, so it's nice to see him being a lead actor with a lot of screen time.)
Runs in the family
Second Wachowski Sibling Comes Out as Transgender Woman - The New York Times
OK, surely we must be at Peak Transgender?
No, wait on...
When Donald Trump becomes President, and then uses an Address to the Nation to declare he cannot hide the truth behind his unmanly tiny hands any more, and he will forthwith be known as "Ms President Donna Trump" - then we will have reached the peak.
OK, surely we must be at Peak Transgender?
No, wait on...
When Donald Trump becomes President, and then uses an Address to the Nation to declare he cannot hide the truth behind his unmanly tiny hands any more, and he will forthwith be known as "Ms President Donna Trump" - then we will have reached the peak.
Noooooooooooooooooo!
By rights, I should refuse to publicise this study. On the other hand, out of respect and love for the work of Steven Spielberg, I have been thinking of having an "ET on a flying bike" tattoo, positioned so that my butt can look like the moon it's flying over:*
There's no known cure for the common cold, but receiving multiple tattoos can strengthen your immunological responses, potentially making you heartier in fighting off common infections, according to research by a trio of University of Alabama scholars.* I may not be being serious.
Weird blindness of the Right
What fun it is to watch the outrage of frustrated Abbott lovers (and Turnbull haters - he believes in global warming, after all) over the Niki Savva book. (Which, it would seem, has been selling like hotcakes. I'm even tempted myself.)
Rowan Dean, about the most obnoxious of right wing warrior commentators in Australia at the moment, is quoted by Bolt as writing:
And, quite frankly, your average person might think it is a pretty damn good reason for a writer not to bother asking them about an affair, especially when the claim in the book is not even that there were having one, but that a large slab of their own party thought it looked that way and that it was causing problems within the government. (And Abbott's - and I think Credlin's? - denials to the messenger is in the book too.) Working up indignation about her not asking them is therefore just piffle.
As for the hypocrisy of all of this - a word Bolt is flinging around with his lack of insight - I thought Righties considered it an outrage when Gillard did her nut at The Australian for running a Milne piece which contained a claim that had previously been nixed by their lawyers as defamatory. We don't know if she asked for his sacking, but he got sacked, and then this was supposed to be the biggest outrage to freedom of speech ever.
Now, clear evidence that Credlin (and possibly Abbott) was specifically telling Mitchell to sack Savva for her reporting unfriendly stories, and we're supposed to feel sorry for Peta??
Gillard, as her reward for being uppity about a report she didn't like, got a plethora of Right wing purely politically motivated witch hunting lasting years over allegations involving her love life 20 years ago, which had already been aired and denied about (I think) 12 years ago, and which Bolt chose to help re-publicise. The end result was always predictable - if none of her internal enemies had evidence 12 years ago, they were hardly likely to turn it up now. And the relevance of this to how she was doing her job now - precisely nil. (The relevance of the Abbott/Credlin relationship - huge within his own party, right now.) The only good thing to come out of it was the utter humiliation of Michael Smith.
The right wing pundits are absurd. (Oh, and to be fair, so is Bernard Keane on this. He's way off mark on this.)
Rowan Dean, about the most obnoxious of right wing warrior commentators in Australia at the moment, is quoted by Bolt as writing:
Moreover, in interviews Ms Savva has repeatedly trotted out the claim that Ms Credlin attempted to have herself and Peter van Onselen fired from the Australian (an irrelevance given they are both still there), as an excuse for not following the normal procedure of putting allegations of an affair to her two subjects prior to publication.Um, it's more than "a claim": in the Australian this morning she has the communication from then editor Mitchell confirming that not only had Credlin demanded it, but Abbott was on the case too!
And, quite frankly, your average person might think it is a pretty damn good reason for a writer not to bother asking them about an affair, especially when the claim in the book is not even that there were having one, but that a large slab of their own party thought it looked that way and that it was causing problems within the government. (And Abbott's - and I think Credlin's? - denials to the messenger is in the book too.) Working up indignation about her not asking them is therefore just piffle.
As for the hypocrisy of all of this - a word Bolt is flinging around with his lack of insight - I thought Righties considered it an outrage when Gillard did her nut at The Australian for running a Milne piece which contained a claim that had previously been nixed by their lawyers as defamatory. We don't know if she asked for his sacking, but he got sacked, and then this was supposed to be the biggest outrage to freedom of speech ever.
Now, clear evidence that Credlin (and possibly Abbott) was specifically telling Mitchell to sack Savva for her reporting unfriendly stories, and we're supposed to feel sorry for Peta??
Gillard, as her reward for being uppity about a report she didn't like, got a plethora of Right wing purely politically motivated witch hunting lasting years over allegations involving her love life 20 years ago, which had already been aired and denied about (I think) 12 years ago, and which Bolt chose to help re-publicise. The end result was always predictable - if none of her internal enemies had evidence 12 years ago, they were hardly likely to turn it up now. And the relevance of this to how she was doing her job now - precisely nil. (The relevance of the Abbott/Credlin relationship - huge within his own party, right now.) The only good thing to come out of it was the utter humiliation of Michael Smith.
The right wing pundits are absurd. (Oh, and to be fair, so is Bernard Keane on this. He's way off mark on this.)
Filming has started
Star Wars redux: Send in the Clones . . . to Donegal
It would appear that the filming for the next Star Wars has started on the island where the last one ended.
How unusually chronological of them, for movie makers...
It would appear that the filming for the next Star Wars has started on the island where the last one ended.
How unusually chronological of them, for movie makers...
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
Good Lord! Another columnist I wouldn't normally recommend...
...is Miranda Devine, but her take on the matter of Credlin/Abbott/various Lefty, feminist commentators' complaint that this is a matter of sexist attack is actually pretty good. Also a bit funny (unintentionally, I think) in part:
Anyhow, the bits I more-or-less approve of:
She has denied the rumours and that should be the end of speculation based on evidence amounting to no more than Credlin feeding Abbott off her fork, buying them matching Tumi luggage, holidaying together, and various other tidbits, mainly unsourced, which have swirled around Canberra for years.Yes, because a male boss and his female chief of staff holidaying together with matching luggage is never a reason to suspect something going on...
Anyhow, the bits I more-or-less approve of:
Savva’s book documents the avoidable trajectory of his downfall, with on-the-record recollections which fill in details about Credlin’s questionable behaviour and dominance of Abbott.
Despite the damage she was doing, Credlin remained in her job. Her response to criticism was to play the gender card. Abbott’s indulgence of this nonsense was surreal as he castigated his colleagues as sexist. “Do you really think that my chief of staff would be under this criticism if her name was P-e-t-e-r and not P-e-t-a?” he asked the ABC in 2014.
The week after Abbott was dumped, Credlin spoke at an Australian Women’s Weekly event and also blamed criticism of her on sexism. She also made the extraordinarily self-aggrandising claim that she “got them into government, from opposition I might add.”
Credlin’s harshest critics were women, not because they are self loathing misogynists, but because men are cowed into silence by exactly the arguments she mounts. Criticise a woman and it’s sexism. Criticise a man and it’s criticism.
Credlin continued to play the gender card yesterday in a column, saying she wasn’t the first woman to be attacked about the “nature of her professional relationships, and sadly I doubt I will be the last”. Abbott’s not the first man either, so it’s hardly a gender issue.
What a farce
Turnbull heckled by own party as NSW Liberals vote for climate debates - 9news.com.au: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reportedly been heckled by parts of his party at a meeting where NSW Liberals voted for his government to conduct public debates about climate change and whether the science is settled.I am reminded of John Quiggin's "Parallel Universes" post of yesterday, too.
An overwhelming majority voted in favour of the motion at the party's state council meeting on the NSW central coast following a speech by Mr Turnbull at the weekend, revealing the persisting level of climate change scepticism among the party, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
I think the right side of politics here is caught in the sort of credibility crisis that Labor suffered in the 50's and 60's, when (if I understand history correctly), it was hard to support a party that harboured too many with an intellectual sympathy to communism.
The climate change skeptics have to be purged before the Coalition can regain true credibility for political judgement. As many of them are IPA influenced, and the nearest party to that mob is the LDP, they should be told to go join Leyonhjelm's outfit and follow him into electoral oblivion.
A Trump comparison
Boy, it's been many a year since I've recommended a Bret Stephens piece from the Wall Street Journal, but I think he makes many good points in this anti-Trump piece "The Return of the 1930s", which starts this way:
But - and here's the big but - why doesn't Stephens then go onto to acknowledge that the Republican's own hyperbola about the economic crisis Obama was allegedly causing was not well founded, and it is their own behaviour that has caused the rise of the Trump base?
In temperament, he was “bombastic, inconsistent, shallow and vainglorious.” On political questions, “he made up his own reality as he went along.” Physically, the qualities that stood out were “the scowling forehead, the rolling eyes, the pouting mouth.” His “compulsive exhibitionism was part of his cult of machismo.” He spoke “in short, strident sentences.” Journalists mocked his “absurd attitudinizing.”
Remind you of someone?
The description of Benito Mussolini comes from English historian Piers Brendon’s definitive history of the 1930s, “The Dark Valley.” So does this mean that Donald Trump is the second coming of Il Duce, or that yesteryear’s Fascists are today’s Trumpkins? Not exactly. But that doesn’t mean we should be indifferent to the parallels with the last dark age of Western politics.Stephens then goes to note how the current period of economic problems do not go anywhere near matching those of the 1920's and 30's. In fact, he goes on to point to the positives in the American economy, as a way of deflating the Trump fanbase's feelings that the country needs a new, quasi-fascist, style of leaderhsip.
But - and here's the big but - why doesn't Stephens then go onto to acknowledge that the Republican's own hyperbola about the economic crisis Obama was allegedly causing was not well founded, and it is their own behaviour that has caused the rise of the Trump base?
Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Typical Razer
Razer on Peta Credlin, Niki Savva and primordial female horror | Daily Review: film, stage and music reviews, interviews and more
This somewhat hyperbolic review of merely the extracts of Niki Savva's book displays all the qualities that I dislike in Helen Razor's writing style. She's not even entertainingly bad, though: she's just a self indulgent bore whose clumsy sentences and allusions have to be re-read a couple of times to even try to follow her argument. (Only to find it wasn't worth the effort.)
This somewhat hyperbolic review of merely the extracts of Niki Savva's book displays all the qualities that I dislike in Helen Razor's writing style. She's not even entertainingly bad, though: she's just a self indulgent bore whose clumsy sentences and allusions have to be re-read a couple of times to even try to follow her argument. (Only to find it wasn't worth the effort.)
Does sound unusual for March
Mildura set to swelter - so supplier cuts power for scheduled maintenance work: Almost 200 households in Mildura will be without power on Tuesday thanks to scheduled maintenance work, despite temperatures forecast to hit 40 degrees for the eighth day in a row.
Age expired
I see that John Stone still writes trying to influence Australian politicians to cut, cut, cut:
He seems to have been old forever, and indeed, I see that he is now 87. Sorry, according to my rule of thumb, that is past the age where anyone is worth listening to. (I'm really going to regret this age-ist approach when I'm 87 and still blogging - but by then I'll have had therapies that will mean 87 will be the new 67. I hope...)
Anyhow, to stop being offensive about our elders, I suspect a 5% company tax reduction phased in over 5 years is probably OK. But apart from that - the insistence that there is to be no new tax increases of any kind - that's just ideology put above good management.
I wonder what he would have to say - if he was worth listening to - about the abject failure of the Laffer-isation of Kansas's finances. That's working a treat.
That "fiscal path" comprised four components. First, "all ministers should now be put on notice that there will be no room for new spending proposals, no matter how 'worthy'". Second, existing spending needed to be cut hard. "The problem is not the absence of targets for cutting, but the government's faint-heartedness in approaching that task". Third, any and all tax increases should be firmly ruled out. Finally, as one carrot among these sticks, the government should legislate for a 5 (or preferably 10) percentage point cut in corporate taxation, introduced in five equal yearly stages beginning in 2015-16.
He seems to have been old forever, and indeed, I see that he is now 87. Sorry, according to my rule of thumb, that is past the age where anyone is worth listening to. (I'm really going to regret this age-ist approach when I'm 87 and still blogging - but by then I'll have had therapies that will mean 87 will be the new 67. I hope...)
Anyhow, to stop being offensive about our elders, I suspect a 5% company tax reduction phased in over 5 years is probably OK. But apart from that - the insistence that there is to be no new tax increases of any kind - that's just ideology put above good management.
I wonder what he would have to say - if he was worth listening to - about the abject failure of the Laffer-isation of Kansas's finances. That's working a treat.
Hedonism in the news, again
The poppers ban: will it criminalise gay users? | Society | The Guardian
I maintain my conservative line: the self indulgent hedonism of artificial stimulation to increase the sensation of sex is not good for the individual or society overall.
I maintain my conservative line: the self indulgent hedonism of artificial stimulation to increase the sensation of sex is not good for the individual or society overall.
Dealer needed
Can very small doses of LSD make you a better worker? I decided to try it. - Vox
I see from the article, written by a man with a lot of previous drug experience, that all I need to beat an internet addiction is to "microdose" with LSD. Huh.
Mind you, the article is probably best read to learn about some of the over the top pro-drug claims that are still made by later day versions of Thomas Leary.
I see from the article, written by a man with a lot of previous drug experience, that all I need to beat an internet addiction is to "microdose" with LSD. Huh.
Mind you, the article is probably best read to learn about some of the over the top pro-drug claims that are still made by later day versions of Thomas Leary.
The future of agriculture and climate change
Here are two stories that show how it's really hard to be confident as to what will happen to agriculture and climate change:
1. A study looking at South America gives some concern:
PS: don't tell the numbskulls at The Australian about that second one....
1. A study looking at South America gives some concern:
The study, published in Nature Climate Change, focused on the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, an emerging global breadbasket that as of 2013 supplied 10 percent of the world's soybeans. The researchers used variations in temperature and precipitation across the state over an eight-year period to estimate the sensitivity of the region's agricultural production to climate change. Those historical comparisons can help in making predictions about the sensitivity of agriculture to future climate change.2. An Australian study, on the other hand, notes some possible compensating effects:
The study found that, if the patterns from 2002 to 2008 hold in the future, an increase in average temperature in Mato Grosso of just 1 degree Celsius will lead to a nine to 13 percent reduction in overall production of soy and corn. "This is worrisome given that the temperature in the study region is predicted to rise by as much as 2 degrees by midcentury under the range of plausible greenhouse gas emissions scenarios," said Avery Cohn, assistant professor of environment and resource policy at Tufts, who led the work while he was a visiting researcher at Brown.
Elevated atmospheric [CO2] can dramatically increase wheat yields in semi-arid environments and buffer against heat waves
PS: don't tell the numbskulls at The Australian about that second one....
Transgender caution
Obviously, the politically correct name for sex change surgery is now "gender affirming surgery".
Still, the article at that link is worth reading to see that a guy/woman who has had it noting that it is not the cure all that some hope for.
Still, the article at that link is worth reading to see that a guy/woman who has had it noting that it is not the cure all that some hope for.
Just what the Liberals don't need
I've been meaning to comment on the Liberals selecting the IPA's James Paterson for its top Victorian
Senate seat.
For a party that likes to rubbish career politicians with no "real life" work experience outside of politics on the Labor side (Young Labor, university student politics, brief stint at Union or political staffer, politician), how on Earth do they justify the exact equivalent on their side as being a good idea? (See this short article about him at The Australian.*)
What's more, haven't they learnt from recent experience that the drier than dry right wing economic views that come from the IPA aren't actually that popular in the electorate?
I don't really recall seeing Paterson on TV all that often, but I have the feeling what times I did see him I found him rather dull and overly earnest. Chris Berg by far is the most personable of the IPA kiddy crew, but as I have said before, you can't really trust the ethics of anyone who is willing to be paid by a mob out to deceive the public on climate change and supporting the tobacco industry to make more money.
* I see that he is married already, too. As is Berg. Why do the heterosexuals who work for the IPA seem so keen on youthful marriage? Not that there's anything wrong with that! Just a bit odd...
Senate seat.
For a party that likes to rubbish career politicians with no "real life" work experience outside of politics on the Labor side (Young Labor, university student politics, brief stint at Union or political staffer, politician), how on Earth do they justify the exact equivalent on their side as being a good idea? (See this short article about him at The Australian.*)
What's more, haven't they learnt from recent experience that the drier than dry right wing economic views that come from the IPA aren't actually that popular in the electorate?
I don't really recall seeing Paterson on TV all that often, but I have the feeling what times I did see him I found him rather dull and overly earnest. Chris Berg by far is the most personable of the IPA kiddy crew, but as I have said before, you can't really trust the ethics of anyone who is willing to be paid by a mob out to deceive the public on climate change and supporting the tobacco industry to make more money.
* I see that he is married already, too. As is Berg. Why do the heterosexuals who work for the IPA seem so keen on youthful marriage? Not that there's anything wrong with that! Just a bit odd...
Flood infrastructure beware
Global warming already driving increases in rainfall extremes : Nature News & Comment
Interesting study reported here.
I see that The Australian remains committed to climate change scoffing by claiming this paper shows a climate modelling fail in the headline: "Deserts in a for a drenching as theories of climate change again", which is a ridiculous way to spin the study. (And, as is often the case in the Australian, the body of the report tends to undermine the way it is headlined.)
Interesting study reported here.
I see that The Australian remains committed to climate change scoffing by claiming this paper shows a climate modelling fail in the headline: "Deserts in a for a drenching as theories of climate change again", which is a ridiculous way to spin the study. (And, as is often the case in the Australian, the body of the report tends to undermine the way it is headlined.)
Peta speaks!
Well, that's funny. All of The Australian's stories on the weekend about Niki Savva's book were able to be read via the old "Google around the paywall" trick, but none of the Peta Credlin response stories today were accessible that way. (To me, anyway.)
But, it would appear that she (though not Abbott) has in an interview denied emphatically an affair with Abbott.
But, to be forensic about it, only her answer appears*, not the question, and she does use the line:
Thus I'm not giving up on my theory - that there is something further back that has prevented them from outright complaining about the affair rumour and innuendo (or threatening defamation) until now. (Though, granted, the way Savva has dealt with it does not leave open a defamation action against her.)
* I actually brought a hard copy of the Australian to confirm - sorry to have spent money on Rupert.
Update: and, by the way, I am aware of another rumour involving Abbott that does not involve Credlin. Mind you, nearly all politicians are subject to such rumour, but with Abbott's behaviour and famously "blokey" demeanour I make special dispensation for him for believing there is fire behind the smoke.
Update 2: Michelle Grattan's take on the whole matter is really quite harsh (on Abbott/Credlin), but fair.
Update 3: Credlin's actual opinion piece in The Australian today (which doesn't contain the express denial) is really awful - it actually is so close in parts to what Abbott said yesterday that you have to wonder whether she wrote his response for him!
But, it would appear that she (though not Abbott) has in an interview denied emphatically an affair with Abbott.
But, to be forensic about it, only her answer appears*, not the question, and she does use the line:
The idea that my relationship with the prime minister was anything other than professional is completely falsewhich leaves open the possibility that her comment is limited to the time he was PM.
Thus I'm not giving up on my theory - that there is something further back that has prevented them from outright complaining about the affair rumour and innuendo (or threatening defamation) until now. (Though, granted, the way Savva has dealt with it does not leave open a defamation action against her.)
* I actually brought a hard copy of the Australian to confirm - sorry to have spent money on Rupert.
Update: and, by the way, I am aware of another rumour involving Abbott that does not involve Credlin. Mind you, nearly all politicians are subject to such rumour, but with Abbott's behaviour and famously "blokey" demeanour I make special dispensation for him for believing there is fire behind the smoke.
Update 2: Michelle Grattan's take on the whole matter is really quite harsh (on Abbott/Credlin), but fair.
Update 3: Credlin's actual opinion piece in The Australian today (which doesn't contain the express denial) is really awful - it actually is so close in parts to what Abbott said yesterday that you have to wonder whether she wrote his response for him!
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