The Entertainer

Lots of amusing online comments on the return of Legend in His Own (and Gina Rinehart's) Mind, Timbo Wilson:

Then Tim himself made a contribution:

Which seems to have to caused one of the fastest cases of buyer's regret ever to be seen, post-election:

This tweeter had similar sentiments:

But for others, it was entirely unsurprising:

Quite a few Labor voters are hoping he runs for the leadership!

Good news for Labor

 They're both awful!

Against assuming the "lab leak" theory has been proven

A bunch of people (mainly on the Right) seem to think that the Covid lab leak theory has been shown to be true, when it hasn't at all.

A new study shows that the first origin story is still very much on the cards:  

In a study published on Wednesday, a team of researchers compared the evolutionary story of SARS with that of Covid 17 years later. The researchers analyzed the genomes of the two coronaviruses that caused the pandemics, along with 248 related coronaviruses in bats and other mammals.

Jonathan Pekar, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Edinburgh and an author of the new study, said that the histories of the two coronaviruses followed parallel paths. “In my mind, they are extraordinarily similar,” he said.

In both cases, Dr. Pekar and his colleagues argue, a coronavirus jumped from bats to wild mammals in southwestern China. In a short period of time, wildlife traders took the infected animals hundreds of miles to city markets, and the virus wreaked havoc in humans.

“When you sell wildlife in the heart of cities, you’re going to have a pandemic every so often,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona and an author of the new study.

You can read the details here.

The article ends:

Dr. Eloit and other scientists agreed that finding an intermediate form of SARS-CoV-2 in a wild mammal would make a compelling case for a natural spillover. Chinese authorities looked at some animals at the start of the pandemic and did not find the virus in them.

However, wildlife vendors at the Huanan market removed their animals from the stalls before scientists could study them. And once China put a stop to wildlife sales, farmers culled their animals.

“There’s a big missing piece, and you really can’t dance around it,” said Dr. Pond.

Stephen Goldstein, a geneticist at the University of Utah who was not involved in the new study, said that the research served as a warning about the risk of a future coronavirus pandemic. Wild mammals sold in markets anywhere in the region where SARS and Covid got their start could become a vehicle to a city hundreds of miles away. “The pieces of these viruses exist in all these places,” Dr. Goldstein said.

 

As I have been saying for years...

Now, of course, you could argue that climate change fence sitting has not stopped the public going for the Liberals before over the last 15 years - but the apparent success of the Teals in two elections now does strongly suggest to me that it has become a key issue for well off Australians based in the capital cities - who would formerly be seen as the Liberal's natural constituency.  

As I'm sure I have written before, Malcolm Turnbull is the one who should have dragged the party into facing reality on this issue.  He should have demanded that those who are going to continue casting doubt on the matter being a real, scientifically verified, issue should leave the party, and make any continuing coalition also dependent on the Nationals not undermining him.   Maybe the Queensland melding of the parties would have made that difficult/impossible - but he should have acted decisively on it, instead of allowing the alternative to Labor to continue looking disingenuous in their strategy of "we believe in it - don't listen to our MPs and Senators who don't - but to keep the doubters happy we will nag continuously about renewables and undermine other action for political advantage."

Update:   it seems still unclear if Tim Wilson will regain Goldstein, but you know, him being one of the few Liberal "wins" out of this generally disastrous election would actually amuse me, given that he is so ambitious that it will be funny to see how little he can achieve by being in such a diminished and talentless Opposition.

Child nutrition in Indonesia

Watching a bit of evening commercial TV in Indonesia last week, one thing that really struck me was the amount of advertisements dedicated to kid's nutrition.  Not just baby formula, but those toddler formula, and other foods, often with emphasis on health and development.

It reminded me that I had read before about the extent to which children in that country were considered to have "stunted" growth due to poor nutrition.  I thought I had posted about it before, but can't find it in my blog search.

 Googling it certainly brings up the stories, though:

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors on June 26, 2023,  approved a program to provide additional support to expand Indonesia’s efforts to improve the delivery and quality of health and nutrition services for adolescent girls, pregnant women, and young children to accelerate the reduction of stunting among children under five.

Stunting, caused by undernutrition and frequent infections, can result in slower growth, cognitive damage, and impaired learning. The World Bank’s Human Capital Project identifies stunting reduction as crucial for countries to reach their full productive potential. Concerted efforts by Indonesia have lowered stunting rates from 31.4 percent in 2018 to 21.6 percent in 2022, and the country’s goal is to cut stunting further to 14 percent by 2024. The World Bank’s Investing in Nutrition and Early Years (INEY) Phase 2 Program will extend the duration and scope of World Bank support to the Government of Indonesia’s National Program for the Acceleration of Stunting Reduction.

This article at the ABC from 2019 has this surprising fact:

The country is classified as middle income by the World Bank, but its stunting rate is higher than those in South Sudan and Somalia. 

The government has responded by implemented a massive free meal program for schools and elsewhere:

 Indonesia has launched a transformative free meal program designed to combat malnutrition and support underprivileged communities.

Championed by President Prabowo Subianto, the initiative aims to provide nutritious meals to almost 83 million Indonesians by 2029, focusing initially on school children and pregnant women.

However, logistical challenges, budgetary constraints and feedback from beneficiaries and experts highlight the complexities of implementing such a large-scale program.

 But, the program is not without its problems:

Nearly 80 students across two high schools in Cianjur, south of the capital Jakarta, fell ill after eating the meals this week. Most of those who ended up in hospital have since been discharged.

This is the latest in a series of food poisonings that have been linked to the programme, a signature policy of President Prabowo Subianto.

Authorities investigating the case say the suspected cause is negligent food preparation. Samples from the vomit of students have been sent for lab testing, and police say they have questioned people handling the food, from cooks to packers to delivery workers....

Across the world, programmes offering free meals to students have proved to be effective in improving health, academic performance and attendance.

But Indonesia's $28bn (£21bn) version - shaping up to be the most expensive of its kind - has become the target of food safety concerns and heated anti-government protests.

In February, when thousands took to the streets to protest at budget cuts, they aimed their ire at the hefty price of Prabowo's free school meals: "Children eat for free, parents are laid off," read one of their protest signs.

 So, I guess it is no wonder that I saw kid's nutrition featuring on TV ads often...

Where did the protein obsession come from?

I've been wondering for ages where the obsession with protein in the diet came from.   This article in the New York Times doesn't fully explain, but notes this:

Protein has been the hot macronutrient for a while now. Longtime readers may recall that I gently mocked my husband for his protein obsession in 2023. He had been listening to health podcasts and social media posts, and various protein powders made their way into our pantry. In the two years since I wrote that piece, protein has become even more widespread. This month The Wall Street Journal noted that “in the year to Feb. 22, the fastest-growing grocery items were those with the most protein per serving — 25 grams or more, according to NielsenIQ data.” Members of the extended Kardashian clan, who never met a trend they couldn’t capitalize on, are in the mix. Khloe Kardashian just announced a new line of protein popcorn called Khloud.

Protein-forward diets are easy to market because they appeal to both men and women. Dieting in general is female coded, but men can focus on protein without feeling emasculated because body builders do it and it comes in the form of literal red meat (hello beef tallow, my old friend) and gym-rat powders.

And:

 I would like to tell you that I moved away from my protein obsession because I saw that it was silly and that, as a person who is healthy and fit, it was an unnecessary tweak. But the truth is, I stopped because most of those protein-packed products tasted like chemicals and sawdust and they caused the kind of gastrointestinal woe I do not need to go into. “Proteinified food is just slightly better junk. Whether you notice the ‘better’ or the ‘junk’ first is a Rorschach test: You see whichever you care about more in the moment,” concluded Chris Gayomali in Grub Street, after he did a deep dive on how protein took over American grocery stores.

Unfortunately, the linked article is behind a paywall.   Guess I will have to look elsewhere.

Into Java

Yes I'm back from the short trip to Jakarta/Yogyakarta.   

Let's start with the photo above of the Hindu (and Buddhist) temple compound at Prambanan, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta.   The amount of reconstruction that had to be done is pretty amazing, putting together the blocks again after eruptions and earthquakes over the centuries.   (It was built in the 9th century, but abandoned for about 900 years.)



On arriving there, this was the first "influencer in the wild" that I spotted on this trip.   A simple photo of smiling and being happy to be at a grand historical site was not enough for her, obviously:

The temples are very impressive, obviously:

As you can see, the inside of each temple has a Hindu god or divine figure (if I remember correctly, the bull is Nandi, Shiva's mount and guardian.)   The interior space in each temple is small and fairly dark, but I like that in an ancient temple!   

We were assured by our guide (well worth paying for one) that all statues were originals.  Some rocks in the temples themselves had been replaced, but not any of the carved panels (which tell Hindu stories).

After seeing the group of Hindu temples, you can take a golf buggy ride (or walk in the heat) to a separate large group of temples at the back of the compound to see the one that is believed to have been Buddhist (and yes, I think the tops look more obviously stupa like than in the Hindu temples above):

As you can see, there remains a lot of reconstruction of the smaller buildings yet to be done - although it is not entirely clear how many they think they will ever get to.   (We also did not have a guide at this part of the complex, but the guardian statues did look new.  Also, the Buddhist statues inside the temple had been lost.)

As with Borobudur, the grounds of this complex are very large.  And it was from here that I first realised how close we were to active volcano Mt Merapi:

(I never found out who it was that were staying in the campsite set up there - they were teenagers in red uniforms, so possibly a school group, or something like scouts?)

Before moving onto Borobudur, the other famous temple complex everyone visits, how was Yogyakarta generally?   

It is obviously beloved by Indonesians themselves - of course Western tourists are around, but it felt like at least 90% of tourism on the street was domestic.   We stayed at a very lovely heritage hotel -  The Phoenix -  which was rather like a mini Raffles and which attracts a clientele of nearly all Westerners for whom, I guess, colonial style still appeals.   Well, who can blame us, really :)

One minor point that surprised me - that courtyard was the main dining area, especially at breakfast, and for some reason, flies were rarely to be seen.   (Even on the street, the street food vendors with their wide variety of meat and innards on sticks waiting for sale uncovered, and unrefrigerated, didn't usually attract flies.   My tentative theory is that it's too hot for them!)

I doubt there are too many hotels from which you can watch an active volcano from your balcony:

(And I swear, that night I did see a brief flash of a of a red dot from lava flow on the left hand side near the peak, before it disappeared under steam.  But no, the lava flow was not strong during this visit.)

The main shopping/tourist street in central Yogyakarta is Malioboro Street, which would probably have to be the world centre for batik clothes, which range in price and quality from cheap to boutique.   Yes, Indonesians really, really love their batik designs.  The male sarong is also popular here, and it did make me that think that it's kind of odd that the West refuses to contemplate adopting any form of male "skirt" as acceptable day to day fashion, despite there being nothing unmanly looking about an Indonesian or (say) Pacific islander wearing it.   (Kilts don't count - they are a bit weird in that they are remarkably unsuited to the climate of the country they come from, and their shortness also makes them impractical.)  

Malioboro street is also extremely lively at night - the shops are open til 10pm, despite the call to prayer being heard at 4.20 am, and people (nearly all Indonesian) mill about, without a drunk person to be seen (given that finding alcohol outside of a hotel bar is not easy.)   

So the next key temple complex to visit is Borobudur, about an hour's drive out of the city.   This place is pretty well managed:  you have to go in a guided group of about a dozen or so, and the numbers on the temple itself are limited to (I think) 150 people for each 90 minutes booked time sessions, so it doesn't get too crowded.  (The first morning sessions, when the day is somewhat cooler, seem to fill up days in advance on the online booking system.)

I've seen some Western visitors on Youtube grumble a bit about the entry price - it was about $45 per person for a foreign visitor to be able to enter and climb to the top of the structure.  But it is a world class site with very well kept grounds; the guide was friendly and able to answer questions; and you can wander around on the grounds as long as you like after the 90 minutes with the guide is up.   I have no complaints at all.  Even the vendors at the souvenir stalls you have to go through to exit were not too persistent.  

Anyway, here's a bunch of photos, very similar (no doubt) to those taken by all visitors:

 

What?  Another influencer in the wild.  (I can assure you the one having her photo taken was not genuinely meditating):

One of the most interesting things about the place are all the carvings, mostly telling about Buddha and related teachings.  I wasn't detailed and quite sophisticated boats to feature too:

These boat reliefs have their own Wikipedia entry, given the apparent controversy of which particular region (or civilisation?) they belonged to.   

Here's the classic photo showing both sides (each over 100 m long):

And a bit closer up to see some of the many, many Buddha statutes still in place:

Many are headless or armless, the guide telling us that this was their weak spot that would naturally break when the statues tumbled due to the substantial subsidence it underwent before restoration.  

As with Prambaran, a combination of political unrest and natural disaster led to this huge temple being abandoned for centuries;  it took decades to restore and although some new stones were needed, the relief carvings and statue are all original.   There is no interior (or so they would have you believe!); it is built on a hill that partially eroded away internally during centuries of rain, leading to the subsidence problem that has apparently been permanently fixed by a new internal drainage system you can't see.

A few years ago, on a visit to Singapore, I found this book about the early 19th century British invasion of Java, the role Raffles played in it.   He was (maybe? - see below) one of the first Europeans to see it after it was uncovered.

As a Asian Art website explains:

He dedicated himself to writing The History of Java, an encyclopaedic, seminal study of Java, contributing hugely to Western knowledge of the East and still used by scholars today. In 1815, undaunted by the 400-mile journey across difficult tropical terrain, he finally arrived at the jungle covered site on the fertile Kedu Plain to find a vast structure built of andesite covered with panels of exquisitely carved relief carvings – the Buddhist temple of Borobudur.

Sir Stamford Raffles was, as Collis writes, ‘captivated by it as a work of art,’ even if he was, as Collis claims, uncertain whether it was Hindu or Buddhist. ‘We are at a loss,’ wrote Raffles, ‘whether most to admire the extent and grandeur of the whole construction, or the beauty, richness and correctness of the sculpture’. Filled with awe, he organised drawing, measuring and recording details about the numinous structure with its rising four square terraces, three circular terraces,1,460 radiant relief carvings, 504 life size images of the Buddha and 72 perforated stupas culminating in a single, large, empty stupa at the top. Dating from the 9th century and the period of the Sailendra (‘Lords of the Mountain’) dynasty in Java, the exquisite narrative carvings form a divine exposition of Mahayana Buddhist doctrine, as later scholarship would reveal, with figures in meditative and graceful movement, sculpted with sublime expressions.

(Yet I note that Wikipedia says Raffles didn't personally visit the site - just that he sent the Dutchman engineer who spent a couple of months digging it out from the undergrowth and - presumably - volcanic ash.  I'm not sure who is right - I haven't got to the relevant part of my own book yet!)

Anyway, it's all spectacular stuff, and as Wiki explains, all built starting around 1,300 years ago:

Hindu clerics appealed to the people of Java for generations, a fact that architect and author Jacques Dumarçay finds first mentioned in 450 AD.^[25] Influence of the Sailendra and Sanjaya dynasties followed. Dumarçay says that de Casparis concluded that Sanjaya and Sailendra shared power in central Java for a century and a half, and that de Casparis traced alternating succession from 732 until 882.^[26] During this time many Hindu and Buddhist monuments were built on the plains and mountains around the Kedu Plain. Buddhist monuments, including Borobudur, were erected around the same period as the Hindu Prambanan temple compound. In 732 AD, King Sanjaya commissioned a Shivalinga sanctuary to be built on the Wukir hill, only 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Borobudur.^[27]

There are no known records of construction or the intended purpose of Borobudur.^[28] The duration of construction has been estimated by comparison of carved reliefs on the temple's hidden foot and the inscriptions commonly used in royal charters during the 8th and 9th centuries.^[28] Comparison of an Indian architectural process across temples, and acknowledgment of who was in power, enabled Dumarçay to approximately date the construction of Borobudur in five stages.^[29] Loosely, the Sailendra began c. 780, and continued stages two and three c. 792 through to an unremarkable fourth stage during their decline c. 824.^[30] The Sanjaya completed Borobudur's fifth stage c. 833.^[30][a]

So, what else about this quick trip:

*  Indonesia (or Java, at least) seems to have a sophisticated, affordable and comfortable train system, with the "Executive" class having big well padded seats with plenty of leg room.   The 6 to 7 hour trip from Jakarta to Yogyakarta is about $70 one way.   There is also a "luxury" class, with seats set up like airline business class, but for around $120 (I think) seems hardly worth it for a relatively quick trip.

Here's the seats, with the incidentally charming child a bonus:

And here are two station photos:  the first is Yogyakarta, the second shows a chill cat in Jakarta's rather busy Gambir station:

* Jakarta:   Well, I was only there for about 40 hours, but it's clearly one of those cities with massive disparities in wealth and lifestyle in different areas.   (On the drive to the airport, the Grab driver avoided some traffic by going through some very narrow streets in some pretty poor looking areas.  But the worst was the glimpse of some shanty slum areas on the train going to Yogyakarta.)

As lots of online commentary says, the city is not exactly very walkable, so working out how to use Grab is essential to getting around comfortably.  (It's pretty easy, and not expensive.)

I reckon Hanoi might be slightly more overrun with scooters, but they are also ubiquitous in Jakarta, making for some apparent near misses on every car ride.    In fact, it occurred to me, it's surprising you don't see more cars with panel damage than what you do - does such dense, weaving, traffic mean speeds are slow enough that car damage is pretty restrained?

The "good" thing for Western visitors is that you don't have to spend a lot of money to stay in luxury.  Yes, another heritage hotel for the last night, The Hermitage, and it was the swankest suite I have ever stayed in:

 

This is the view from the rooftop bar. Live music til 10.30pm.

*   Security was very high in Jakarta:  Grab cars checked with mirrors for bombs underneath, and dogs, was a common feature when entering the hotels.   Up market shopping malls too.   Obviously, the government is taking a long time to relax about the risk of terrorist attack.

 

*   Service in the country was, however, overall friendly and welcoming; both in Jakarta and Yogyakarta.   It's a bit of a pity there is not much to see in Jakarta itself.   (I believe there are some decent daytrips into the adjoining countryside, though, after overhearing a conversation in the airplane.)

*  As for the countryside generally:

 

I have never been to Bali (always sounds like too many Australians behaving badly), so the mountain backdrops, extensive rice paddies and banana and coconut trees everywhere certainly felt exotic to me in a way that perhaps isn't new to those who get outside of Kuta.  It was the end of the rainy season, so it looked probably as lush and verdant as it ever does.   

 

The plains between Jakarta and Yogyakarta are so extensively covered in rice paddies, and Jakarta is so low lying with some rather foetid looking canals and a serious subsidence problem, that the overall impression is that most of the country that isn't mountains is barely above the water table.   I can understand how badly earthquakes can affect the country.  

 

And to finish on a trivial note, this is the biggest avocado I have ever handled.  : 

 

 

I might think of more to add later....

Posting from on high

Well this might be a first for this illustrious blog. 

Qantas wifi might allow me to post during a flight over the vast and soooo empty Australian interior, which is covered in parallel lines for hundreds of kilometres:

Large parts - and I mean enormously large parts - are also currently covered in muddy water from the recent floods:

Where am I going?  I'm off to Yogjakarta, via Jakarta, for a brief visit to some ancient temples.

I do feel extraordinarily lucky that, only a few months ago, I was listening to a writer talking on Radio National (Late Night Live) about how remarkable Borobudur is and it piqued my interest; that I have a wife who was agreeable when I suggested a trip to see it; and that I have  a kind sister who worked for Qantas for decades and has provided us with cheap staff travel opportunities for the last 18 months or so, such that this trip came together very quickly.

Expect more photos...

If there's one thing Trump is good for, it's doomscrolling

Seems to me that the American stock market is actually not taking as seriously as it should the effect of Chinese tariffs.   I guess there is a fair chance that it is because of Trump's constant reversals, or pauses, but it seems to me he is not likely to make a major reversal on several key Chinese exports that are important to American manufacturing and business:

 

The other amazing story going on is Trump pretending it's no problem sending a guy to an El Salvador prison by mistake - in fact, he hopes to be able to do it to American born citizens!

 

The Trump administration insisted Sunday that it has no legal obligation to arrange for the return of a Maryland man illegally deported from the United States, arguing that a Supreme Court ruling last week only requires officials to admit him into the country if he makes it back from a high-security prison in El Salvador.

Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge that they don’t interpret the Supreme Court’s Thursday ruling — that the administration “facilitate” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release — as obligating the administration to do anything more than adjust his immigration status to admit him if El Salvador’s government chooses to release him.

And why exactly is this guy Buekele sucking up to Trump?:

Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters at the White House that the fate of the father of three is now up to El Salvador.

Buekele then said that he does not have the power to return Ábrego García t the US - and that he won't.

Also on the agenda was topics including transgender people in sports, DEI and women, Iran and tariffs and Ukraine and Russia.

Temu Goebbels, as I have seen Stephen Miller called on social media, insists that the deported guy deserved it and it wasn't a mistake, contradicting court filings by the administration.

We're about a centimetre away from being able to declare the US a fascist state.