Gropers beware

Tokyo police launch weeklong anti-groping campaign on trains

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department launched an anti-groping campaign on Monday, with some 200 high school girls handing out fliers and tissues at Ikebukuro station and plain-clothed officers being posted aboard trains on lines which run through Tokyo.

Just in case you are wondering, the handing out of tissues has nothing to do with the private habits of the gropers. Free pocket tissues, for advertising anything from mobile phone deals to English language schools, are commonly handed out in Japanese cities.

Harassing for respect

Gee, people sometimes have the hide to complain about how Australia treats visitors and residents from Asia. Have they read the Jakarta Post recently?:

Dozens of NGO activists dubbing themselves Relawan Ganyang Malaysia (Anti-Malaysia Activists) Tuesday conducted a raid on a street in Central Jakarta in a hunt for Malaysian nationals until the police halted their activities.

Starting from 10 a.m., about 40 activists, sporting red-and-white attire and paraphernalia, stopped pedestrians, motorcyclists and cars in front of their office on Jl. Diponegoro in the plush area of Menteng.

They asked them to show their ID cards or passports to prove they were not Malaysian citizens.

No Malaysian citizens were caught in the raid.

And from another report last week, perhaps referring to the same incident:

Dozens of activists from the Ganyang Malaysia (Crush Malaysia) Volunteers conducted a street sweep against the neighboring country’s citizens on Jl. Diponegoro, in Central Jakarta, on Tuesday...

One of the volunteers, Aji Kusuma, said the group initiated the sweep as they were disappointed with the government's slow response to Malaysia’s repeated claims on Indonesian cultural heritage.

Last Saturday, and the idea is spreading:

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s call for an end to excessive reactions against Malaysian nationals has fallen on deaf ears as a Betawi (Jakarta native ethnic) group reportedly plans to harass citizens of the neighboring country.

Barisan Muda Betawi (BMB) activists said they would conduct an ID check targeting Malaysians in a show of protest against the government’s failure to take tough measures against Malaysia’s disrespect for Indonesia.

And the cause of all this:

The harsh reaction against Malaysia was triggered by last month’s Discovery Channel’s TV advertorial program Enigmatic Malaysia that featured Balinese Pendet dance as a Malaysian art form.

Both the Discovery Channel and the Malaysian Tourism Ministry have apologized over the polemics.

The world is sinking beneath the waves

Credit crunch signals end of The World for Dubai’s multi-billion dollar property deal -Times Online

It's about Dubai; it's about failure. Of course I'll blog about it.

The showerhead of doom

Daily bathroom showers may deliver face full of pathogens, says study

It's not surprising to find pathogens in municipal waters, said Pace. But the CU-Boulder researchers found that some M. avium and related pathogens were clumped together in slimy "biofilms" that clung to the inside of showerheads at more than 100 times the "background" levels of municipal water. "If you are getting a face full of water when you first turn your shower on, that means you are probably getting a particularly high load of Mycobacterium avium, which may not be too healthy," he said.

Just lucky this research wasn't done while Howard Hughes was around to hear it.

Engineers and terrorism

September 11 Reflections: Terror and Technology - Edward Tenner

Edward Tenner reminds us that engineering has figured pretty prominently as the career of choice of several Islamic terrorists.

Well, anyone who has worked with engineers knows that they are often, shall we say, a bit of a worry.

Unintended consequences

Elton John wants to adopt Ukrainian orphan who 'has stolen his heart' - Times Online

The international children’s charity EveryChild yesterday condemned Sir Elton’s plans, claiming that they could result in more youngsters being abandoned. Anna Feuchtwang, its chief executive, said research showed that news of adoptions by wealthy foreigners encouraged mothers to place their children in care in the hope that they would get a better life. “The actions of celebrities such as Madonna, and now possibly Elton John, could be actually increasing the number of children in children’s homes in countries like Ukraine,” she said.

Mind you, any international adoption from countries with serious levels of poverty, even by run-of-the-mill Western parents, runs the risk of initiating abandonment of children. Foreign Correspondent has a story tomorrow night about this happening in Ethiopia , and it goes on in India too.

I'm not sure the answer is clear, although not giving aging pop stars publicity about their adoption intentions would be a good place to start.

Germany gets the "no-nuclear" wobbles

Germany's energy debate: Nuclear power? Yes, maybe | The Economist

As the Greens think Germany is an outstanding example of a nuclear nation vowing to go non-nuclear, it's good to see that its plans look likely to fall into disarray.

How true

Hey, I do believe xkcd is satirising Ender's Game, which I only read a few years ago and came away utterly puzzled as to why it is held in high regard by many science fiction fans. It was, in my view, just awful.

All the popular topics

Sex in space could be the key to the survival of humans | The Japan Times Online

Here's an article made for this blog: it features rats, sex, space flight, and the future of humanity.

I didn't know this:

In 1979, the Cosmos 1129 space mission, also known as Bion 5, was a joint collaboration between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was primarily a biomedical program, and on this particular mission male and female rats were sent into space and allowed to do what comes naturally.

Whatever problems there might be with having sex in microgravity, floating in space, the rats managed it. I'm not surprised really. If you've ever dissected a male rat in biology class you'll have noted the size of their testicles: I'm sure that given a sniff of a female, even a rat floating in orbit round our planet would try to get it on.

Two other species were on board Bion 5, by the way: the Japanese quail, and some carrots. But my concern here is with the rats. When they returned to Earth, the female rats were examined. Two had become pregnant, but they did not give birth. Apparently the space-embryos were reabsorbed.

The concern is that humans may not reproduce well under less than 1 G.

Observations

Currently reading: A Wrinkle in Time (last read in primary school - it's even more Christian than I remember), Julian Barne's quasi-memoir Nothing to be Frightened Of, and that book about Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome (it can be picked up and put down with gaps of weeks at a time without losing track.)

Currently sick of: politics. I find nothing of interest really going on in Australian Federal politics at the moment. I feel much better about it whenever Kevin Rudd is missing from the TV screens for any length of time. (If he disappeared entirely for 3 months, I am sure his approval ratings would be even higher.) I find Lindsay Tanner the most likeable Labor politician. Tony Abbott has a strange sense of public decency for a serious catholic: the more "s*it" he speaks, the less likeable a significant section of the community will find him.

Current movie viewing plans: see Up. Probably next weekend.

Current problems: work. Too busy, yet I want to check this blog and the internet about 12 times a day.

Something currently feeling vindicated about: my brother who is a semi-regular visitor at St Mary's in Exile in South Brisbane acknowledged it seems to be "losing its way," and attendances are probably down. (The last few sermons I have watched on the internet certainly indicate the place is still in intense navel gazing mode, and is just as dull in its own way as any "traditional" parish with an old priest who re-reads sermons from 30 years ago.)

Learn something

'Inside of a Dog - What Dogs See, Smell, and Know,' by Alexandra Horowitz - Review - NYTimes.com

You will probably learn something you didn't know about dogs if you read this book review.

A late cartoon

Regrets

Mighty Mouse takes off – thanks to magnets - New Scientist

Sometimes I really wish I had become a scientist:

With the aid of a strong magnetic field, mice have been made to levitate for hours at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The floating rodents could provide a valuable insight into how astronauts are affected by extended spells in zero gravity.

Refer to Peter Singer

Mind Hacks: Brain scanning unborn babies

Scientists can now do MRI on unborn babies. Peter Singer, who now just seems to bang on about social justice, but presumably is still of the view that even newborn babies "do not have the same right to life as a person", should read it.

Ocean acidification update, part whatever..

Some recent studies report:

* subtropical corals showing a net loss of calcium carbonate under decreased ocean pH:

These experimental results provide support for the conclusion that some net calcifying communities could become subject to net dissolution in response to anthropogenic ocean acidification within this century.

* the results of experiments on a couple of planktonic foraminifera (which are a small critter that produces calcium carbonate shells) do not like more CO2:

At the [CO32−] expected for the end of the century, the calcification rates of these two species are projected to be 6 to 13% lower than at present conditions, while the final shell weights are reduced by 20 to 27% for O. universa and by 4 to 6% for G. sacculifer. These results indicate that ocean acidification would impact calcite production by foraminifera and may decrease the calcite flux contribution from these organisms.

* bivalves in Antarctic waters (the first predicted to suffer increased ocean acidification) don't take it well either:

After 5 weeks the shells and thallus of the coralline alga had suffered significant dissolution when compared to controls. Moroever, one of the shells of the bivalve L. elliptica in acidified seawater became so fragile it fragmented into multiple pieces. Our findings indicate that antarctic calcified seafloor macroorganisms, and the communities they comprise, are likely to be the first to experience the cascading impacts of ocean acidification.

* Pteropods, and important fish food, show significantly reduced calcification at pH levels predicted for 2100:

This result supports the concern for the future of pteropods in a high-CO2 world, as well as of those species dependent upon them as a food resource. A decline of their populations would likely cause dramatic changes to the structure, function and services of polar ecosystems.

Remember, boys and girls, reducing CO2 is not just about warming.

All about hoki

An Unlikely Star Among Seafood Causes a Row - NYTimes.com

I knew about orange roughy, but until now, didn't know anything about hoki, despite it being a pretty popular fish in the freezer compartment of the supermarket.

Well, now I know.

Just ridiculous

Astronauts could reach Mars in 2020s, panel says

Apparently, it is being suggested that it may be a worthwhile thing to not bother developing landing vehicles for Mars, but just send a crew to orbit around the planet and get close to its moons.

(Or alternatively, go and doodle around an asteroid.)

Is there no limit to the silliness of suggestions that are being put up at the moment?

Using current rockets, a manned trip to Mars is going to be long and tedious, as well as dangerous due to the unresolved issue of how to provide adequate protection from radiation. That you would even think about doing it just to provide more pictures from orbit is about the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard.

If you aren't going to land on the planet, moon or asteroid, you just wouldn't seriously contemplate it.

Naughty names

Teachers believe Callum, Connor and Jack are the naughtiest boys in class - Telegraph

Researchers also found that teachers keep a close eye on those called Chelsea, Brandon, Charlie, Courtney and Chardonnay.

A study of 3,000 school teachers formulated the 'Teachers Pet and Pest Name Chart' which showed that more than a third of teachers expect children with certain names to be more trouble than others.

Just lucky I didn't go ahead with plans to name my daughter Pinot Gris, then.

AIDS and belief in Africa, and related notes

The New Atlantis - AIDS Relief and Moral Myopia

This article is a great read that I can't recommend highly enough. It paints a very convincing picture of how the typical African "world view" of the importance of the spiritual world, and the nature of sexual relationships, means that Western faith in the condom as the solution to the spread of AIDS just doesn't work.

In fact - oh horror, it's just like the Catholic Church likes to say - behavioural and psycho/social change in that continent is ultimately the more important issue.

The article is also interesting in that it seems to suggest that the Pentecostal Churches, which psychologically are more "in tune" with traditional African belief in witchcraft and routine miracles, is not helping much.

Anyone interested can go back and look at my earlier lengthy post prompted by criticism of the Pope's comments on Africa and AIDS earlier this year.

In another AIDs story of interest, The Age ran a long article about a nun in New Guinea who has had a major role in limiting HIV spread in that country. (And she makes it clear she has no problem with condom use for the infected.)

Finally, in Australia the number of new HIV infections every year is still roughly 1,000. 64% of that are men who have sex with men. Obviously, warnings are not being heeded.

Mind you, on the heterosexual side of the ledger, the same article points out that there are 58,000 new cases of Chlamydia annually, mostly in the young, which is a number heading in the wrong direction. Condoms don't appear to be too popular in the youth demographic, then, despite sex education presumably being more widespread and detailed than ever before.

On pointless challenges

How can I resist commenting on the misfortunes of Jessica Watson, the 16 year old who wants to be the youngest person to sail around the world, but has trouble avoiding large freighters before her boat even gets to the (metaphoric) corner of the block?

The public reaction is interesting. Apart from the armchair sailors debating maritime right of way (kind of an academic point if your boat starts sinking, I would have thought,) the comments in the Courier Mail (see at the end of the above link) are split between those who think:

a. she's clearly too young and inexperienced, and what the heck are her parents doing encouraging her to do this anyway; and

b. she's an inspiration, living her dream, seizing the day, full of courage, etc, and all you naysayers should be ashamed.

I note that within category b is one prominent politician:

Premier Anna Bligh urged Jessica to continue her "big dream" once she has recovered from the accident.

Ms Bligh said Jessica was "a determined young woman" who would almost certainly continue her quest.

"There's been a lot of discussion about whether this young woman is up to it; I think she is".

One suspects that there's a bit of "Girls can do anything" motivation there that would not be present if she were a he.

I can't say that I have spotted any comment that reflects my position, which is:

1. People, at least if they are adults, should be free to set themselves whatever pointless personal challenges (PPCs) they want to in life and attempt them. (Subject to their not expecting inordinately large public costs to be incurred in rescue services or medical treatment.)

2. PPCs are, however, indeed pointless.*

3. The undertaking of a PPC is therefore rarely worthy of admiration. Maybe some are technically interesting, but not admirable. "Following your dream" is rather overstated as a sensible motivation in life.

4. Indeed, being the youngest by a few months or a year to achieve something inherently dangerous and which has been done before by umpteen others is probably the most pointless form of PPC possible.

Sorry, but Jessica has negative admiration in this corner of the woods. As for her parents - I find it hard to fathom their mindset. If she comes to harm, I guess they'll run the "died while doing something she loved" line.

* To clarify: personal challenges which involve an actual or potential income, such as striving for sporting excellence, are not entirely pointless. Nor is being the first person to explore a corner of the earth - who knows what you may find. But being the first to do something that has already been done, just in a more difficult way; that's pointless.