Back to the Arctic

Reduced ice thickness in Arctic Transpolar Drift favors rapid ice retreat

As noted a few posts back, I don't actually rely on melting Arctic ice as proving AGW. However, those who are pointing out that ice cover is reforming rapidly this year (and thereby suggest that an ice free pole is far away) should take note of the above research. It points out that, at least in one section of the Arctic, regular recent testing indicates that the ice is much thinner than it was in 2001. Their conclusion:

The regime shift to younger and thinner ice could soon result in an ice free North Pole during summer.

Kevin Rudd is on the phone now correcting the record

Spotted this headline in BYM Marine Environment News:

Australia. Prime minister Anne Bligh call for tougher action over Great Barrier Reef

Rosie creeps closer

Toyota, Univ of Tokyo unveil robot that does household chores

Toyota Motor Corp and a research body of the University of Tokyo have jointly developed a prototype for what many busy career people have been dreaming of for a long time: A hardworking robot that handles household chores. In a demonstration for reporters last week, the robot cleaned up rooms, smoothly put away dishes from a dining table and picked up shirts and put them in a washing machine.

God knows what it will cost, though. Have a look at the photo at the link: put a dress on it and it does look a little like Rosie from the Jetsons.

The state of comedy in Great Britain

Russell Brand causes outrage after explicit nuisance calls to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs - Times Online

Oh yes, the BBC leads the way in showing us classy taste in comedy:

The BBC has come under fire after comedian Russell Brand and TV host Jonathan Ross made a series of obscene phone calls to the Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs.

The controversial presenters, both notorious for their liberal use of profanities on air, left messages on the 78-year-old actor's answerphone in explicit terms claiming Brand had had sex with his granddaughter, Georgina, and went on to joke that the actor may kill himself as a result.

In the pre-recorded segments aired on Brand's BBC Radio 2 show, the host and Ross, who presents a show on the same radio channel, began making calls after Sachs failed to answer his phone for a pre-arranged interview.

They were also pre-recorded segments, which the BBC cleared to be aired.

More making money from dead bodies

Flayed babies' bodies included in new Body World exhibition - Telegraph

Weirdo Gunther von Hagens has a new exhibit of flayed plasticised bodies on exhibition, and he gets a heap of free publicity, but (as far as I can tell) nothing in the way of criticism.

I posted about this a couple of years ago, and still I seem to be the only person around who finds him and his work irredeemably ghoulish, and can't understand why, having done this once, there is still an entertainment market for weirdly posed skinless dead bodies.

van Hagens claims his exhibitions send "a health message". I find the claims of it being educational for the general public in any significant sense hard to believe.

Moon ice?

The Great Beyond: No ice! No worries - we never thought it was there anyway

As this Nature blog comments:

The question about ice on the Moon is a long standing debate. There are two camps in the world of moon science; one claiming that there is ice and the other, yes, you guessed it, saying “oh no there isn’t”.

So this latest paper seems to be a victory for the non-ice camp, according to the coverage the news has received (MSNBC New York Times, Thaindian News) and a slightly more measured story from the Economist.

But hang on a minute, according to Ben Bussey, from Johns Hopkins University, no-one ever expected surface ice on the Moon anyway. “The absence of the presence of ice is not surprising given all previous data predicts that the ice is buried,” he told me. Bussey claims to be in neither of the aforementioned camps, but does say that he’d like to think ice is there. “The data is tantalisingly supportive”. But be clear – we’re talking about sub-surface ice here.

A nice scenario for a science fiction story might involve lunar "ice prospectors" trying to get rich by discovering large hidden ice deposits. (Such relatively near-future science fiction located close to earth seems to have gone well and truly out of fashion, but I feel there must a lot more stories waiting to be set on the moon.)

Problem is, with all the legal uncertainty about no one really being able to claim lunar resources for themselves, there may never be an incentive for private searches for it, unlike the gold rushes of earth.

Too much too quickly?

Rudd should dip his cap to undo damage | The Australian

Interesting article arguing why the government's bank guarantee was too much too soon.

Kevin Rudd was on Sunrise this morning at his self-interviewing worst, and actually seemed to irritate his pal Kochie by unduly politicising it.

Around Japan

Hey it's Sunday, the world is still a financial basketcase, and maybe I will never be able to afford overseas travel again short of mounting my own version of the Kon-Tiki expedition. So, why not show off a few holiday snaps from a few weeks ago.

Most tourists visiting Japan probably head south of Tokyo, towards Osaka and Kyoto, rather than exploring the northern part of Honshu island. However, there is a lot nice scenery towards the northern end.

This trip, visiting friends, we found ourselves in Hirosaki. It's a pretty town I had never heard of before, but apparently it is well known in Japan for its cherry blossom festive which is held in the very large and attractive grounds of the old Hirosaki castle. There's only one main bit of the old castle left standing, which has a bit of a museum inside:

Here's the Hirosaki version of samurai armour, which is featured in quite a lot of Japanese castle museums, but hey it's still cool looking stuff:



For an evening meal in Hirosaki, I can't recommend highly enough Restaurant Poo:


No one was quite able to explain the name, and I suppose it was just a little juvenile of me to take so much pleasure from reading a menu with "Poo" written on it repeatedly. But we really did eat there, it being close to our friend's house and one of their regular haunts. The food was meant to be Chinese, but it was quite different to your average Chinese restaurant experience (in either Australia or Japan), perhaps because of the Japanese chef. "Poo" was also very cheap, and outstanding value. It served "beer cocktails", one of which was beer and tomato juice. (Ugh). I don't hang around bars in Australia much, but this was the first time I had even heard of the concept of a beer cocktail.

For a day trip from Hirosaki, you can do a lot worse than drive to Lake Towada. This is a large, caldera lake which is quite deep, and (apparently on a fine day) has famously blue waters. From Hirosaki, the road is very windy (two of the passengers were overcome with carsickness). Still, the view from the lookout is great, even on an overcast day:


That little dot you can see to the right of the island is fairly big tourist boat. Pity you don't get a good idea of scale from the photo.

Being quite the fan of "You Only Live Twice", I naturally hope that I will find the Japanese lake which conceals a secret rocket base. However, once you get to the shore, you discover that Towada only conceals the silly swan paddle boats that every Japanese tourist lake provides:


The waters of the lake are exceptionally clear, and there's a pretty little "island" just off the main beach. Lovely:




Being near water, and Japanese, the shops naturally provide fish on a stick as a snack:

Nearby, there's a stream that flows out the lake that provides a very pleasant walk amongst waterfalls and greenery:




A very pretty part of Japan, perhaps even better right now when autumn colours have more fully taken hold.

I can't think of a clever way to end this post: just hope you don't mind the photos. I can bore you with many more.

Strangest idea ever for a pro Obama video?

Found over at Boing Boing, and (as far as I know) not yet noted much in the Australian blogosphere:

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

As many people have said at Boing Boing comments: Andy Griffith is still alive??? And not even in a nursing home, by the looks. For a major 1960's TV star, he sure knew how to keep a low profile for the rest of his life. Even the very liberal Boing Boing notes that the video is (amongst other things) "sentimental" and "horrifying" at the same time. Quite an achievement.

On a more serious note, Ron Howard makes some statement to the effect "I believe that voting for Obama is a chance to vote for someone who will make a truly exceptional president".

Err, I know that is typical political campaign rally talk, but this seems to be Howard's personal video, and how can he (or anyone) really judge how Obama will perform as president? Just because a politician says "We need change and I will be different" seems a slight excuse for believing said politician will be a great President. Especially when, with Obama, you've got so very little history of leadership or involvement in government to judge him by.

Odd

How to be a bona fide hipster

Lisa Prior has this throw away line today:

Hipsters are hard to describe because they are so full of contradictions. But like a toupee or AIDS-related wasting, you know it when you see it.

Even l can see gratuitous offence to people suffering life threatening disease in that.

Typical Labor

Doubt cast over intervention income management legality - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

They try to placate the claims of racial discrimination by agreeing to allow the Racial Discrimination Act to apply to the Northern Territory intervention. Surprise! There is immediately the view expressed that it is impossible to make the current income management part of the intervention non-discriminatory.

It's an invitation by the government to be taken off to the Human Rights Commission and courts for protracted argument about discrimination. Like that'll help the remote communities. (And will the challenge be funded by government money paid to aboriginal advocacy groups?)

Here's a plan, Labor: why don't you make the changes you think make it non-discriminatory, but still avoid the need for argument by leaving in place the revocation of the Racial Discrimination Act? You can then claim the moral high ground without wasting time and effort trying to "prove" it.

Westfield of London - does it have giant faces?

Mega-mall: Is this the future of shopping? - This Britain, UK - The Independent

The report is about Frank Lowry opening a massive Westfield mall-ish thing in London. It's of some interest.

The main point of my post, however, is to ask the question: which advertising/design guru came up with the awful idea of using enormous large prints of beaming, happy people, or alternatively food stuffs and gift items, as a feature on both the outside and inside of shopping centres?

Maybe its day has gone already (I don't drive past the place often), but one prominent Brisbane suburban shopping mall a couple of years ago had a makeover in which gigantic prints of happy people, fruit and vegetables, and assorted other shopping stuff, appeared on the outside of the centre's main building. I have seen something similar appearing in other shopping centres more recently too; it would seem to have suddenly become a favourite idea of the design consultants who shopping centres no doubt engage to freshen up their look.

Another similar problem: cinema complexes in those same malls that feature giant posters of the current movie stars, as at the date they were built. Of course, 15 years later, those same stars may be no longer the box office crowd pleaser they once were, but we still have their mugs up there trying to pull us in.

Most recently, a jewellery shop inside my local suburban mall was refurbished with by large, permanent backlit posters featuring a man and woman in an obvious sexual endeavour. (At its worst, the guy is shirtless in an predatory position above the semi-reclining, jewellery clad, woman, who is of course pleased with the attention.)

(Obviously, this post would be much better if I was able to illustrate this with photos.)

The problem I have with this type of design: it has looked cheap, tacky and dated as soon as it appeared. I can't imagine a look that is likely to date faster. Furthermore, it's just inherently inane: you don't need to drape shopping malls in giant prints of fruit, vegetables and people to let passers-by know that inside they will indeed find fruit, vegetables and people. Trying to tell women that jewellery is somehow associated with a better sex life seems outright dishonest: the number of men in history who have slept with a woman because they were particularly impressed with her attractive pendant could probably be counted on one hand.

Someone needs to taken to task for this. Maybe Councils need their own design consultants to enforce better taste against the shopping centres. And then we will need a Design Court system to resolve disputes, with lawyers who specialise in recognizing good taste. Or just invest me with power to adjudicate. That'll help.

Quick Pixar review

Saw Wall E on the weekend.

Charming enough, but not especially memorable. Like Ratatouille, the reviewers liked it more the public, it seems. Its relatively modest box office (for Pixar) is quite understandable: kids can't be counted on to like dystopia movies (even ones with optimistic endings), and their parents don't like being reminded they are too fat.

Overall, it's a mid-level Pixar. Thinking about the body of work again, I increasing tend to rate the funniest, wittiest script of them all as being in Monsters Inc, although A Bug's Life is full of wit too. (You really ought to rent Monsters Inc if you have never seen it.) The most exciting visually was easily The Incredibles. Toy Story had much charm, and the great advantage of novelty. Ratatouille is still the most adult themed, even if it does feature talking rats.

Finding Nemo remains, to my mind, a bit of a dud, but Cars was the least successful of all.

In any case, the supporting Pixar shorts are always excellent. "Presto," showing with Wall E, is one of the best.

Add to my to do list

How Webby is William Shatner?

William Shatner is apparently posting Youtube digital diary entries. They sound funny, even if it is unclear whether that's intentional.

Must watch tonight.

By the way, re the famous Shatner rendering of "Rocketman": have I mentioned before that I saw that on TV when the science fiction awards show it was featured in was first shown in Australia in 1978? Yes, I realised its glorious inanity as soon as I saw it. It's something to tell the children about when I am older.

Greenwashing

The absurd claims companies make to boost their environmental credentials | Environment | The Guardian

Not a bad article here, listing the ways companies exaggerate or lie in their process of trying to claim Green credentials.

There are many examples given, but I particularly like this one:

...what are we to make of Fiji Water's claims to be cutting the carbon footprint of its water by 25% and offsetting the rest? "Every drop is green," it says. But isn't the whole idea of bottling water on a remote South Pacific island and shipping it to your dinner table just a tiny bit barmy?

High on list of things to do when I become Benevolent World Dictator will be to ban the production of bottled water. (Well, I suppose we can let a little bit into India for the tourists to drink.)

For your McMansion on the Moon

‘Waterless’ Concrete Seen As Building Block On Moon

There are little details in this report, but it says sulphur could be used as the binding agent on lunar concrete. But where does that come from?

Doctors and the "E" word

Erectile Dysfunction Gives Early Warning Of A Heart Attack, Warns Expert

Interesting to note:

...the link between erectile dysfunction and the risk of heart disease is being ignored by doctors, writes Dr Geoffrey Hackett from the Good Hope Hospital in Birmingham.

Over many years Hackett reports regularly seeing patients referred with erectile dysfunction after a heart attack, only to hear that they had developed erectile dysfunction two to three years before—a warning sign ignored by their general practitioners.

This part is amusingly put:

"Continuing to ignore these issues on the basis that cardiologists feel uncomfortable mentioning the word 'erection' to their patients or that they may have to deal with the management of a positive response, is no longer acceptable and possibly, based on current evidence, clinically negligent"

Shut up Sam

What the hell? Sam de Brito, possibly the most undeservingly paid blogger in the world (well, I assume he gets paid something by Fairfax, despite the fact that he uses his blog constantly to promote his own books), confesses recently to spending a $1000 on cocaine on a weekend.

But that's OK, because he then writes how much he regrets it, in the process telling us that he lied to friends and (apparently) partook in some particularly perverse sexual activity. (Oh, why hold back Sam, you're usually talking about men needing to be more sensitive and open, aren't you?)

So, what's the upshot of this? An invitation to talk at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research on some panel about stress, drugs and mental health! He then finds the audience was not compassionate enough to a woman with a rambling question.

de Brito recently said of himself:

I like to think of myself as a New Age Yobbo, someone who knows a bit about books and fashion and sociology, uses some ten dollar words but can also regress to the grubbiest of Australian stereotypes if the situation calls for it.

Like telling us about the time he caught crab lice from a one night stand with a backpacker.

Look, I suppose there may at least be some redeeming value to confessional memoirs written by people towards the end of their life once they feel they have obtained some wisdom from the experience. But it's simply unedifying, and serves no public benefit, to publicise exploits you regret as soon as they have happened, even if you purport to be doing it as a mea culpa.

In particular with any talk about drugs, anything short of painting the experience as horrific almost certainly just has the effect of confirming to the young and impressionable that its worth trying it for themselves, to see what the fuss is about. (And even then, showing a near death from an overdose in Pulp Fiction was said to have caused an increase in heroin use in Australia. The person who claimed this: Phillip Adams, who is not exactly know to be into promoting moral panics.)

I find it a remarkable indictment of modern corporate mores that Fairfax should give this guy the space to run his tedious self-analysis on their pages. I can imagine quite an outcry if his stuff had appeared in mainstream newspaper 30 years ago. By all means, he could do this schtick on Blogger; then, while he may be as annoying and objectionable as he is now, at least it wouldn't be compounded by the fact that he is getting corporate support to share his faults with us all.

And why can't Sam get enough insight to realise that less "sharing" and navel gazing, and more "doing" (of worthwhile, responsible and mature acts) may be the way to become the better person he says he wants to be.

Tipler's back

How to test the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics

Frank Tipler, the physicist who every other scientist thought went over the top with "The Physics of Immortality", only to see him outdo his idiosyncratic application of science to religion in "The Physics of Christianity," has recently published a possible way to test whether the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum physics is correct.

How neat. We may soon know if there are multiple versions of ourselves spread out across the multiverse. Can you imagine the number of books that would be written on the philosophical implications of that? (Well, there probably are quite a lot already, but establishing that it's true would be a philosopher's playground for another century or two at least.)

My hunch, however, given the vigorous debate that already goes on about what quantum physics means, is that most scientists won't accept that Tipler has provided a proof at all. (The fact that he starts using capital letters in one part of the arXiv paper is not too encouraging.)

Still, many years ago on The Science Show (Radio National), I remember someone was talking about a potential way that MWI might be testable in future. I can't remember the details, but it was certainly different to what the relatively simple method Tipler is suggesting.

Tiny nuclear power plants actually coming?

Nuclear-In-A-Box Startup Hyperion Raising More Cash - NYTimes.com

Interesting, the idea of nuclear power becoming very local. (Hyperion says their model will power about 20,000 homes.)

The Greens will love the idea. Ha.