More Mars deep skepticism

Mars Missions Are A Scam - BuzzFeed News

I have argued for years that the priority for off planet colonisation should be establishing the true extent of ice water on the Moon, and figuring if you make that work.

Emulsified

Widely used food additive promotes colitis, obesity and metabolic syndrome, research shows

Hmmm. A mouse study testing a couple of widely used emulsifiers in processed food suggests that they make changes in the gut microbiota which are not good for us.

Most interesting comment in the report:

While detailed mechanisms underlying the effect of emulsifiers on metabolism remain under study, the team points out that avoiding excess food consumption is of paramount importance.

"We do not disagree with the commonly held assumption that over-eating is a central cause of obesity and metabolic syndrome," Gewirtz says. "Rather, our findings reinforce the concept suggested by earlier work that low-grade inflammation resulting from an altered
microbiota can be an underlying cause of excess eating."

Storms noted

I don't know what an average summer there is like, as it is one Australian city I have never lived in for any length of time, but it really seems Sydney has had an unusually large number of big storms this summer. 

Brisbane, on the other hand, has been hot but seems to have had fewer storms than average.  (Although the billion dollar hail storm was a big one.)

Cold beer

BBC News - Why Iceland banned beer

Here's quite a long article on Iceland's odd history of alcohol control, including full strength beer being banned for most of the 20th century.

For amusement, here are some more peculiar drinks from the island:

• Brennivin - a clear schnapps, made from fermented grain or potato mash and flavoured with caraway; also known as Black Death, which one Icelandic blogger
  says "explains a lot". She continues: "Many Icelanders never touch it,
  and a majority of the ones who drink it only do so when feeling
  patriotic, such as... when trying to impress foreign visitors."
• Whale beer - the Icelandic micro-brewery
  Stedji has produced a number of ales flavoured with different parts of
  whale, including Hvalur 2, a brew infused with dried whale testicles; Stedji's beer has proved popular in Iceland, although the company has been criticised by conservationists

Mixed emotions

Well we seem to be in one of those anomalous polling periods.   A couple of polls have indicated something of a move in voting intention back towards the Coalition, even taking into account the spectacularly ugly attacks on Gillian Triggs last week.   Just as with Kevin Rudd's popularity, there is sometimes no accounting for what is going on in the mind of the swinging voter.  (Is it tough talk on security, or the abandonment of a couple of budget measures that is doing the trick?  Some even suggest people are already factoring in a new leader, given that Abbott still has such a low approval rating, and they don't expect him to last to the next election.  Who knows...)

One thing I feel certain about, though - those who already disliked Abbott before the last fortnight have had the intensity of their feeling against him greatly enhanced last week.  I mean, probably half of his backbench feel that way too.

I presume this deflates the rebels in his own party who want him replaced.  Which, for those who want to see the entire party lose next election, is almost certainly a good thing.   Still, he does deserve to be turfed out after an embarrassingly short run - he really does...

Update:  I forgot to mention Chris Uhlmann's comment on  Insiders yesterday that Four Corners are doing a story around Parliament House, with rumours that they have documents that will be very embarrassing for Abbott regarding a deal to buy Japanese submarines.   Hope it's true...

When libertarian idealism hits reality

Krugman recommended this article about how Silk Road began with libertarian inspiration but imploded.  Here's the key paragraph that sums up what it's about:

Ulbricht built the Silk Road marketplace from nothing, pursuing both a political dream and his own self-interest. However, in making a market he found himself building a micro-state, with increasing levels of bureaucracy and rule‑enforcement and, eventually, the threat of violence against the most dangerous rule‑breakers. Trying to build Galt’s Gulch, he ended up reconstructing Hobbes’s Leviathan; he became the very thing he was trying to escape. But this should not have been a surprise.

It's a good read.

Still charming to read comments from a real von Trapp

BBC News - The truth about the Sound of Music family

I think most people know by now that the film bears scant resemblance to the way the real life story unfolded, but the family was not terribly unhappy with the way it was portrayed.  They wished the father had been shown differently, though:

Far from being the distant rather domineering father of the Sound of
Music, Johannes says he was "a very charming man, generous, open, and
not the martinet he was made out to be both in the stage play and in the
film. My mother did try to alter that portrayal for the film, but she
was not successful."

Is it really that bright?

'Bright Spot' on Ceres Has Dimmer Companion | NASA

I have been wondering whether the intensity of the bright spot(s) on the photo of Ceres is at least partly due to image processing.  They do say that the brightest spot is "too small to resolve with our camera".

It certainly looks odd. 

Possibly the stupidest Comment is Free column I have ever read

Give me cheap beer, or give me sobriety. Just stop this craft beer 'revolution' | Eleanor Robertson | Comment is free | The Guardian

I think it's just clickbait, actually.   No sensible person regrets the arrival of interesting variety in beer.  (She's right about the hops, though.)

Gift comparison

What Gillian Triggs has received in her office...

What George Brandis deserves in his:

(Nice bookshelf, incidentally...)

A tale of Tims

One of these commissioners from the Human Rights Commission was conspicuously at the Senate Estimates inquisition hearing this week behind Gillian Triggs in what was clearly a supportive role.

One of these Commissioners was appointed by George Brandis directly into the job, and went to the Opera with him in January this year.

One of these commissioners, according to one of his close friends, would become acting President of the Commission if Triggs were to resign.

George Brandis is claiming that he had information from inside the Commission that Triggs was considering resigning and wondering if the government would give her another job.  Triggs categorically denies instigating inquiries as to that possibility.

All very curious....

If Freedom Boy makes a clear denial of any involvement in this, I am happy to publish it...

Update:  it remains possible that this has all been a comedy of errors, with someone clearly supportive of Triggs within the Commission talking to Brandis about her feelings and accidentally giving the impression to him that a job offer would be welcome.   But it speaks a lot to Brandis' competency that he would in fact authorise any proposal be put to her before she resigned, because of how incredibly damaging it would look if it was rejected and leaked, but also, even if it was accepted it would raise eyebrows.   

And as for Wilson - I don't see why journalists should not be asking him to clarify, as a known friend of Brandis, whether he has been acting as his Deep Throat* from inside the Commission.    

* sorry, irresistible historical quasi pun.  No implication of actual, you know, intended...

Update 2:  Triggs has issued an emphatic denial of the version of events being circulated by Brandis, Bishop and their News Corp lickspittle Chris Kenny in the Australian this morning.

Brandis' statement at the hearing was this:

"I was informed on condition of anonymity, by numerous sources within the Human Rights Commission that that was so, and that Professor Triggs was taking counsel from individuals about her position and about what she should do. In particular, I was told that she was concerned and had raised concerns with an individual about the reputational damage she may suffer if she resigned or stood aside as president of the commission." 

Frankly, this does not sound all that plausible to me - that several people from the Commission would be telling Brandis what was going on in the Commission, on condition of anonymity.   The former Disability Discrimination Commissioner was on the radio today (and in the press) putting the boot into Brandis - and given the way Wilson was parachuted in, I would think it very likely that everyone who works there (apart from his opera guest) holds the AG in moderate to high disdain.     

Something weird is going on,  that's for sure.   Oh for access to some metadata, hey?

And here's Andrew Bolt, joining us yet again on the topic of Malcolm Turnbull as possible Prime Minister

Another Thursday, another Savva attack on Credlin

Isn't it fun watching Niki Savva explain in more and more explicit detail why Peta Credlin has caused deep unhappiness within the Abbott government? 

Something's got to give, Captain Australia.   Preferably, you and Peta.

Back to the 70's

Men's shorts are getting shorter and should be worn with pride

Apparently, men will be wearing short shorts again, everywhere, soon.

It puts me in mind of how short Stubbies were in the 70's and into the 80's.  It's funny how what looks normal in fashion at the time looks weird and embarrassing 20 years later.

What next?  Women to deem chest carpet sexy again? 

Would love to know if this is true

TRUSTED SOURCES have stated to me that Wilson was actually promised the presidency several years ago as an inducement to leave his role as a director of the Institute of Public Affairs, often described as a conservative think tank by some, a non-think tank by others.

That promise was also allegedly more recently affirmed in secret discussions held at the behest of the Attorney General George Brandis, himself acting on direct instruction from besieged Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Problem is, I certainly don't trust Independent Australia as being the most reliable publication for matters like this.

Still, I do note that Abbott has not answered the question in Parliament as to whether he knew the offer was being made to Triggs.  I think it certainly likely it was discussed with Brandis, in which case the role of Wilson may well have come up.
 

Some commentary on "inducement"

Gillian Triggs 'inducement'? George Brandis, Chris Moraitis probe

I think Moraitis should simply have refused to pass on such a legally dangerous message in the absence of his boss.

As for the commentator in the article who says that Brandis will now ignore everything that comes from Triggs:  what difference will that make?  The government is completely ignoring everything from Tim Wilson too.

A very good Last Dog

Last Dog on the Moon's take on the Triggs matter is particularly funny.  I like the accurate depiction of Peter Dutton:

The asterisks besides "No need to call the police"  lead to "Call the police" at the bottom of the cartoon.

On a more serious note:  the Abbott government attack on Triggs in Senate Committee and under parliamentary privilege is a truly sickening act of a shockingly bad Prime Minister.   He genuinely has become repulsive.  

Last chance to nude up

Well, looks like if I go mad and want to turn this into a exhibitionist's porn blog, I only have a month in which to do it.  Although, it does seems I could still appear if tastefully nude. 

I think a certain other blogging style service starting with T has cornered the market for pornography anyway, hasn't it?   This is good - stopping pornography on certain domains helps with filtering.   If you ask me, the world should all agree to shove adult, explicit pornography off to a special .xxx domain.   Both the porn industry and Stephen Conroy (Labor's most gormless Minister in the last government) oppose it, so it is almost certainly a good idea.

As I have said before - people would take a dim view of Adult shop style porn magazines being on open display at the newsagent or supermarket checkout next to New Idea.   The internet is now just as an essential service as the local supermarket, even for kids, and just as you don't want them stumbling across copulating couples at Coles, the internet should be set up to make it easy to filter it such material too.  Nothing to do with preventing adults seeing it - just a sensible bit of organisation.

Some history to remember

Exxon-Mobil, Bush, and global warming.

Just a reminder to anyone who thinks the IPCC Pachauri scandal is all a Lefty affair (so to speak):  Pachauri was the favoured pick of George W Bush for the job, with some suspecting at the time that it was because Exxon thought he would not be effective.

In other "libertarians who fail to impress" news

I don't think it is really worth anyone's effort to watch Helen Dale's video of a speech she gave to the recent, widely ignored, LDP conference (from which I gathered that the party's plan is to ensure that all married "queers"* who want to carry a gun for self protection can do so), but if you do, I defy anyone to claim she made a legitimate point about gun control and suicide.

She made a ridiculous connection between those who want gun control (partly) out of concern of an increased suicide rate from guns with a desire to made suicide illegal.

A patently absurd suggestion.   People do not want to see gun suicide because, nearly all of the time, suicide is an act (often implusive) by people who are depressed or falsely believe there is no alternative, and which devastates the deceased's family and friends.   Guns provide a particularly easy way to act on an impulse.  I have linked before (although I cannot find it now) to articles about how research shows that reducing people's ability to act impulsively on suicidal thoughts reduces suicide.  Indeed, Helen says that there is "some" evidence that tight gun control does have an effect on suicide rates.

It's common sense - and it obviously has nothing at all to do with any thought that it would be a good idea to make suicide a criminal act.

*  Incidentally, I note that Helen self identifies as such now.  Not entirely sure what that means in practice, but whatever.