An open thread, where at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
Don’t mention the war.
I did once, but I think I got away with it.
Baz
Sybil
Oh, let’s mention the war. I read that Lyndee England is out of prison and trying to raise money by the old book and book tour route. And not having an easy time of it. I just find it typical that the only Americans to be punished for torturing people are these backwater kids from West Virginia while the head honchos get off scot-free.
Not a lot of sympathy for England, but the swine who give the orders deserve a lot more then what she and her cohorts got.
If you ever wondered why mainstream media has a problem have a look at the Miranda Devine column in the SMH today. The SMH wants to attract the intelligent readers and then serves up this crap.
I would not recommend you read the whole thing but just look at this: Ms Devine describes Steffen as “Steffen, a research chemist with an interest in “Earth System science”,
Below more than a passing interest it would seem
This link http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/08/12/climate-expert-slams-fielding/ will give you access to his letter.
This column of Devine’s is not just opinion it is dishonest in the extreme She says: “Something stinks in the climate science industry. ” The only stink here is this column.
There is the stink about Carter and his links to coal for one. Really is it any wonder that newspapers are dying when they serve up crap like this.
Professor Will Steffen
Executive Director
ANU Climate Change Institute
(College of Asia and the Pacific)
1975 PhD University of Florida (USA)
1972 MSc University of Florida (USA)
1970 BSc University of Missouri (USA)
Professional Background
Steffen has a long history in international global change research, serving from 1998 to 2004 as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), based in Stockholm, Sweden, and before that as Executive Officer of IGBP’s Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems project. Prior to taking up the CCI Directorship in 2008, Steffen was the inaugural director of the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society. From 2004 he has served as science adviser to the Department of Climate Change, Australian Government.
Research and Teaching Interests
Steffen’s interests span a broad range within the field of sustainability and Earth System science, with an emphasis on the science of climate change, approaches to climate change adaptation in land systems, incorporation of human processes in Earth System modelling and analysis; and the history and future of the relationship between humans and the rest of nature.
Notable publications
Steffen, W., Sanderson, A., Tyson, P.D., Jäger, J., Matson, P., Moore III, B., Oldfield, F., Richardson, K., Schellnhuber, H.-J., Turner II, B.L. and Wasson, R.J. (2004). Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Under Pressure. The IGBP Book Series, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 336 pp.
Steffen, W., Crutzen, P.J. and McNeill, J.R. (2007). The Anthropocene: Are humans now overwhelming the great forces of Nature? Ambio 36: 614-621.
Steffen, W., Andreae, M.O., Bolin, B., Crutzen, P.J., Cox, P., Cubasch, U., Held, H., Nakicenovic, N., Scholes, R., Talaue-McManus, L., Turner II, B.L. (2004) Abrupt changes: the Achilles heels of the Earth System. Environment, 46 (No. 3): 9-20.
Costanza, R., Graumlich, L. and Steffen, W. (eds) (2006) Integrated History and Future of People on Earth, MIT Press, Dahlem Workshop Report 96, 495 pp.
Gordon, L.J., Steffen, W., Jönsson, B.F., Folke, C., Falkenmark, M. and Johannessen, Å (2005) Human modification of global water vapor flows from the land surface.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 102: 7612-7617.
The “head honchos” may have got off scot-free so far, Brent.
But sooner or later some will want to go into politics, or some will have a bitter relationship breakup, some perhaps incur dangerous enemies in business.
Sooner or later, if they are prominent, there will be someone eager to dish the dirt or dig it up. Then they will probably wish that they had “carried the can” when it was there to pick up- rather than being tipped over their heads…
Saw a war game in an X Box shop yesterday. The scenario features a resource war between China and the US. Very surgical. You must not only defeat the Chinese but do so in a way that avoids a full-scale war.
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There’s a certain body of opinion that asserts that the PRC is making strategic inroads into the region with war in mind. It’s generally not thought credible because popular with the likes of Graeme Bird, but I’m not sure it’s entirely spurious.
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Consider for example the PRC’s military expansion. Why do they need aircraft carriers? And then there’S the Chinese relationship with Fiji. A vassal state?
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Fiji is directly north of New Zealand which is the weakest link in the American alliance. This is significant because New Zealand is the site of the key signals intelligence network station operated by the United States NSA, known popularly as Echelon. Think: Pine Gap.
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New Zealand is poorly defended. There’s scuttlebutt that the PRC wants to build an underwater naval base in Fiji. That would be an excellent base from which to launch military operations and exercise control over shipping lanes.
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Why bother, unless…
And not having an easy time of it.
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Hardly surprising she can barely read. And let’s just ask ourselves, if the American justice system is healthy, why aren’t Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld being prosecuted?
Adrien, New Zealand isn’t poorly defended. It has no defences at all.
Its entire defence strategy is summed up in one word: Australia.
It’s 30 years this week since The Life Of Brian was released.
A little while back on the wild and wolly world of usenet, I posted in relation to a spree killing in the US in which some apparently socially marginalised chap in Pennsylvania took out his anomie on a Latin Impact dance class in the way one does this in the US — with a gun or two.
Tragically, as spree killings go, this wouldn’t even make the top ten or top 20 even with a qualification of “the last 25 years”.
I went on to make the usual observations eliciting the usual dance routine that attends such discussions — no need to recap here as most of you will, I’m sure, know them all too well.
One thing did occur to me however. Are there days in the United States when nobody is killed or maimed unlawfully as a rsult of the discharge of a firearm? I’d be surprised (and delighted) to hear that there were such days, but oddly, it seems no such statistics are kept, or if they are, I can’t find them. Here’s a hedaline I’d like to see:
Gun trauma-free days this last five years up to nine! 25-year record broken!
and that even the gun lobby doesn’t think it worth trumpeting. You’d think they would –
“Hey there gun grabbers — no innocents killed or injured by guns today!”
Hmmm
This would be a much more remarkable story. Then again, maybe it never happens.
I dunno, I was recently there [the USA that is, specifically Baltimore, New York, New Orleans, Savannah, Athens GA, Dallas/Forth Worth and Austin] for 5 weeks and didn’t even see a cross word spoken by anyone, except for a bloke in Harlem that told me that folks like me belong ‘downtown’..fair enough, I thought…..I am a bit of an arty-farty-lefty-machiato-drinking-wanker…or I would have been if I could hvve found decent coffee in the USA. I even went to a NASCAR race in Texass, and the rednecks there were more polite than their antipodean kin – they all seem to have matching tupperware for their packed lunches…bizarre.
Interestingly the places I felt most at ease in the US were Baltimore and New Orleans and I think they top the table for violent crime in the USA.
GregM: and, hey, given the strategic situation it faced over the past 40 years, and particularly the past 20, it was entirely rational.
If China starts doing things like building submarine bases in Fiji, entirely different situation.
oops….macchiato, that is.
oh yeah, I was in Atlanta too….worst place on earth – superseding my previous least favourite cities, Sydney and Milan.
Speaking of wars…..
I have heard that the chair of the UQ Student Union Council, Antonio Ferreira-Jardim, was yesterday removed from his post by his own side in a student political war that has exploded out there!
I’m DEFINITELY NOT going to mention the *** but I’d love to find out how the sourdough turned out (1st Saturday Salon). I hope that somewhere someone is shortly tucking into delicious freshly made sourdough and hamburgers. If only we all made sourdough on a peaceful Saturday.
Last weekend’s sourdough was awesome, mediatracker, particularly the hamburger rolls. (Impressed the shit out of my lady friend.)
I’m just about to mix up the dough for this week’s loaf.
ahhh, that’s good to know…I should bookmark that link of yours DI[nr]. may I add my thanks to Hannah’s Dad for recommending the bread-makers shop last week before the Saturday thread turned EPIC. Cheers HD, I’ll check that out sometime.
mmmm, thinks, sell ute, not needed. Make sourdough become chick magnet.
Is there anywhere that discusses or makes recommendations on how to politically handle the rising economic empires of China and India?
Australia really needs to know how to relate to these countries now except it seems we get ‘racist’ from India and the Authoritarian Command Economy from China. At least, that’s how it seems in the case of Mr. Hu et al.
Friend of mine just bought the CWA Cookbook. Quaint photographs, amazing recipes. Might even get it myself.
Damn! Just found something else I’m going to have to try to see when I go back to Tokyo next Saturday.
Google. Old media has itself in a knot and it’s all Google’s fault. I haven’t read Devine’s effort but I doubt it can be any worse than Julian Lee’s Beware the Google Monster! Is this the best Fairfax can manage?
I got two paragraphs into that piece, David H., but was chased away by the bleating annoying advertisement for Macquarie Bank that was embedded in the page.
@terangeree
There are ad-blocker add-ons for most browsers, terangeree. Think of it – not only will you not be annoyed by the bleating adverts, but you also won’t register in their ad-statistics, so they won’t get any income from your visit!
Talking about ad-blockers, on my computer (which probably first came on the market in the Stone Age)that AMP ad slows up scrolling. Just sayin’.
A sign of the impending apocalypse: LOLcats: The Musical
Have you dyed your hair green yet, Paul?
Anyone make a remark in company last night, or blog comment, which didn’t go down very well? Wondering why? This may give you a clue. Essential reading.
terangeree @24 yeah I forgot how annoying the ads can be, tigtog’s right, get an ad-blocker for firefox and read the web in (relative) peace.
GregM,
No. Prefer rthis distinguished grey I already have. Besides, I’m mad enough already.
Ok let’s talk about the war! Why exactly are we there?
I have firefox on my laptop but I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to block ads on an iPhone? and before you accuse me of being a techie-wanker for owning an iPhone it’s because portability rules my life. At work, all my daily needs need to fit in a daypack – which includes tools, camera, communication device, lunch, water, loo paper etc. hehe….I love my job. oh and I love my iPhone [except for the ads].
David H @ 32,
For those pollies who’ve been honest with themselves and us, it certainly hasn’t been to promote genuine democratic values, (which presumably includes the right of women not to be beaten by anyone). When one adds to this the tolerance of opium growing, various other laws impeding people’s, especially women’s, liberties etc, one really does have to ask why the fuck we’re there. We’re not really achieving anything. Could it be one lot supports the US and allies, the other lot don’t, so we’ll stamp out the lot who don’t like us?
Same old reason we always have for having wars, I guess.
fb@33 google is thy friend, I use Adblock 3.01 via Cydia
I’m totally with you on the portability thing.
OK, Paul. Green hair isn’t a goer but will you be dancing naked in your front yard on the night of the next Full Moon, (neighbours permitting), as I suggested?.
It seems the sensible thing to do.
Oh, thanks David H. I’ll do that. I did actually google “firefox for iphone” = nope, and “adblock for iPhone” came up with a few things that seemed decidely sketchy, so I really appreciate the recommendation. cheers.
Greg M – Adrien, New Zealand isn’t poorly defended. It has no defences at all. Its entire defence strategy is summed up in one word: Australia.
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And ours is summed up in three words: Unites. States. America.
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It’ hard to conquer Australia because, after Darwin, there’s thousands of kilometres of hostile territory. But what if you came in from the side?
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One of the ways in which we’ve always been the lucky country is that we’ve enjoyed the protection of the world’s biggest power and our isolation and inhospitable north are a discouragement. But I think perhaps the party will end sometime in the 21st century.
Quite right Adrien (except for the spelling mistake and the grammatical error).
And quite correct about coming in from the side, which is what the Japanese did in 1942 with their bombing of Townsville, occupation of Guadalcanal and sending submarines into Sydney Harbour.
But unlike those pussy cats in Un Zud (PC, should you be lurking, I am referring to benign fluffy felines here) who have effectively disarmed themselves we at least make an attempt at our self defence before the US cavalry arrives and deprives our invaders of all those strategic materials that caused them to invade in the first place.
Invade New Zealand
Well said, Anna.
Adrien, you know it makes sense.
Gregm @ 36,
Not in winter. And, since some idiot tried to set fire to the grass in the horse paddock just up from my flats about a fortnight ago, building a bonfire, ewven at this time of year, so I could dance naked around it might well elicit a severe response very much not to my liking..
I was out at the Londonderry animal shelter yesterday on Doggie Rescue, business and I was again reminded of the sad condition of dogs in contemporary society.
It is the practice at this shelter to accept dogs for boarding but sometimes people who board their dogs are simply choosing a method that is psychologically easier than dumping them in the street. One very nice dog apparently belonged to someone who had gone to Iraq with the military and had returned some time ago but had failed to make arrangements to recover the dog or even square up the bill. In these circumstances all the shelter can do is hand the dog over to the RSPCA whereupon (if it is lucky and a rescue organisation is quick, there’s a chance (after payment of a fee) that the dog may eventually be rehomed. Many never make it and are simply euthanased — with surrenders (as distinct from strays) there is no need to delay and as space is at a premium …
Strays can be in an even worse position of course. Normally, if not microchipped, a stray will be kept seven days, but if the stray has been seriously injured, that can be how long it waits, sometimes in dreadful condition, without treatment, before its suffering is relieved. No point wasting expensive treatment on something that is going to be put down (and of course they won’t surrender the dog in the interim to a rescue service for obvious reasons). Very sad.
One of the more touching moments yesterday was a greyhound (not in the above categories fortunately, but available for rehoming) to which one of the workers pointed me. “Go into the cage”, she said.
I did, and the dog sauntered up to me and in the most delicate way that a dog as large as a greyhound can, placed it’s paws on my shoulders and nuzzled my cheek with its cheek. I must confess that I felt an impulse to shed a tear which I wasn’t quite successful in suppressing. Somebody had loved this dog once and all it wanted was to be loved again — by anyone. How had it come to be here? Nobody could say.
Again, very sad.
adrien @38 not so much an invasion methinks more likely the north just gets overrun with people with not much left to lose.
joe2 @ 19, I have a ute as well. I don’t believe in doing things by halves.
Anna Winter,
You’ve got to be kidding, It would be like visiting a heavily infected website. There wouldn’t be an Australian flag pole left standing a week after the invasion, Australian crayfish stocks would instantly decline, beaches would be crowded with cuzey bros, sheep would all start having strange offspring, and we would all have to come to terms with eating fush n chups. New Zealand is that far from Australia for a reason.
The other reason why Australia would never invade NZ is because there are so many Kiwis in the Australian armed forces that the invasion would be ridiculed for ever as “the working holiday invasion”.
Fran Barlow, there’s a very good Greyhound Adoption Program which for rehoming these beautiful dogs. Perhaps they could be contacted to take him on.
Whenever I read “rehoming”, of these poor unloved and abandoned dogs, it comes out as “rehorning”. Time for a new pair of specs before I make bigger mistakes.
A very moving story Fran, you almost had my tears dripping into the sourdough leaven that I’m making to try and keep up with David Irving (no relation).