Dreamer Easy

Monash University tackles global warming sceptics' arguments.

The full document is here: Responses to Questions & Objections on Climate Change

Australian judge: it's OK to rape an unconscious woman. SMH columnist defends him against mean old feminists. Peachy.

Let's have some cheering crap:

Advice on finding a lost cat

Via fritters, here's a baby deer washing a very happy cat.

The exact link between obesity and diabetes may have been found - a protein secreted by fat cells.

More helpful science on teenagers' brains. "You constantly hear parents saying to their teens, 'What were you thinking?' but the truth is, they're not thinking at all. They are controlled by the emotional part of their brain. The frontal lobe, which is responsible for rational thought, is under construction. The limbic system, which is responsible for emotional thought, is running the show. That's why teens are moody and why they take risks and engage in excessive behaviour. They simply can't put the brakes on." We mock and sneer but the truth is we couldn't really help it.

The Catholic Church in Australia is auditing its carbon footprint with a view to reducing it. (I typed that as "crabon footprint", which is probably what New New York has to audit.)

Leaked documents confirm resident's fear of foul pulp mill: "The chemicals in pulp mill odours are some of the most objectionable smelling compounds known to science. The worst is methyl mercaptan, which smells like stale sewage. When we got out of the minibus in the car park [at a Swedish "world's best practice" pulp mill, Resource, Planning and Development Commission head] Julian Green very quickly became distressed - he couldn't breathe. I found the odour intensely objectionable, and within a matter of minutes, Julian Green was gasping and saying: 'For God's sake get me out of here.'" (The environment and neighbouring businesses aside - people are supposed to *work* in that?)

Double-blind review favours increased representation of female authors: when authors' names are removed from scientific papers being considered for publication, more women end up being published. (Thanks, dameruth!)

Can Psychiatrists Really "Cure" Homosexuality? "Masters and Johnson claimed to convert gays to heterosexuality in a 1979 book. But did they?" (In related news, Z and Vielpunkt are now proud gay parents.)

The first forty seconds of Zero Punctuation's review of a video game called "Too Human" outlines the case for the inherent superiority of polytheism. *smug*

In the name of the father - MPs flock to Jesus: "A new study shows federal MPs are invoking Christian beliefs with increasing frequency to justify their policies and articulate their personal values and visions for the nation." I question the researcher's apparent conclusion that 9/11 resulted in "erosion of the traditional view that political decision-making should be based on rational arguments rather than on religious faith or doctrine", though, as these are not mutually exclusive. I'll try to get hold of the journal article to get more specifics. In the meantime here's a sort of summary thing by the researcher.

Find My iPhone works, and it is awesome. A guy and his friends use GPS to recover his iPhone from a thief.

Letter in the TWT this week referring to "the extravagant claims made by a section of the screaming popularist (sic) media", ie, the fact of global warming, which has been "exposed by a prominent Australian geologist, David Archibald". As far as I've been able to find out, Mr Archibald works for the oil exploration industry; his theory that sunspot activity means the weather will be getting colder has not been published in any peer-reviewed scientific journal, but in the climate sceptic front journal Energy and Environment, in what appears to be a vanity-pressed book, and in various places online. "I am no expert on climate", admits the letter writer; it appears Mr Archibald isn't, either.

ETA: Sun 'not to blame' for global warming

I've buggered up my wrist, so I can't get much housework done today, so you're about to be spammed with all my backed up links. Plus I'm in a rubbish mood. Duck and cover.

Recent postings suggest that lj Doctor Who fandom may be beginning to reclaim itself from the shipwarriors and other obsessives. Huzzah.

Australia's gag rule will soon be lifted. "[Foreign Minister Stephen Smith] Mr Smith said the focus of Australia's foreign aid would remain on avoiding abortions by providing better family planning education, as he pledged to boost funds for preventing maternal deaths by $15 million over four years."

Saith Gordon Brown: UK, US 'aiming for nuclear-free world', with Britain making some reductions to its nuclear arsenal and offering to go further if the US and Russia will.

Are bad sleeping habits driving us mad? "Take anyone with a psychiatric disorder and the chances are they don't sleep well. The result of their illness, you might think. Now this long-standing assumption is being turned on its head, with the radical suggestion that poor sleep might actually cause some psychiatric illnesses or lead people to behave in ways that doctors mistake for mental problems."

Guantanamo guards "take their last revenge"

Carbon dioxide is good, so more carbon dioxide is better! Unless you're a foram and can't make a shell because dissolved CO₂ has acidified the ocean. Oops.

A problem with freedom of the press is that, if you happen to own a press, you're free to say whatever bullshit you please. Case in point: the editor of a local Sydney rag, The Weekly Times, John F. Booth, who regularly rants about the "Climate Change Scam" on his own front page:

"[Australia's state and federal governments] are teaching our children utter lies about the danger of CO2 which the Australian Oxford Dictionary tells us is 'a colourless odourless gas occuring naturally in the atmosphere and formed by respiration'.

Indeed, CO₂ is quite harmless... in the right amounts. (Like that other familiar compound, H₂O.) But John, just you try breathing them. Seriously, mate. Seriously.

"Yet they continue to show scary pictures of power stations supposedly spewing out dangerous CO2 into the atmosphere when the 'smoke' is really clean steam dissipating in the air."

Never mind the confusion between government and media; at this point I fear we cross from mere nonsense into either wilful ignorance or deliberate deceit. Anyone with access to Google can quickly discover that the 'smoke' is a mixture of carbon dioxide, water vapour, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide. After (effectively inert) nitrogen gas, CO₂ is the largest component of the emissions, hardly surprising given that 99% of the carbon in coal is converted to CO₂. (You've got to wonder: what the hell does John think coal is made of?)

John quotes Sydney's Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, who as of April last year continues to maintain that global warming is merely a "bandwagon" and that climate change is over. His reference? An article in New Statesman - subsequently debunked in New Statesman (and for more debunkage, check out New Scientist).

It's pretty clear neither of these gentlemen have bothered to do any research into the subject. Instead, they rely on half-understood soundbites from "climate sceptics", aka the fossil fuel industry. Given their power to sway public opinion, this is unforgiveable.

Nellie is an elephant. Planes are a major contributor to greenhouse. All elephants are pink. Nuclear power produces less greenhouse. Therefore, Nellie is pink. And nuclear powered passenger planes are a good idea.

It looks increasingly like the Gunns paper mill in Tasmania is doomed - despite the company's notorious attempts to smother opposition. Want to help it give it the final push over the edge? Pop over to the Wilderness Society site.

Our new PM has ordered up a White Paper on the 100,000 homeless Australians, emphasising prevention. Insufficient crisis accomodation an urgent problem: more than half of those who seek it are turned away, including families with children; the guvmint has pledged $150m for additional accomodation.

Yay for democracy: the Police Commissioner proposed media blackouts during terrorism trials and was swiftly rebuked by all and sundry, including the PM. The President of the Law Council of Australia said: "The price the police must pay for assuming greater powers is an increased level of public scrutiny." The SMH drily noted: "Mr Keelty's call to ban media comes after the well-publicised bungling of the Mohamed Haneef case."

Folks in a nearby Sydney suburb have discovered they're living next to an unmarked radioactive waste dump. (Hilariously, the contaminated land is owned by the Department of Health.)

Oh, and Australian strawberries are contaminated with pesticides and fungicides. (I feel less foolish for spending the extra $ on organic now.)

Maxine McKew claims victory in Bennelong

Law will recognise gay unions: "...Labor is unlikely to block a proposal by the ACT to legally recognise same-sex couples - a plan that was repeatedly stymied by the Howard Government."

UN report points finger at Australia: "If every person on Earth created as much pollution as the average Australian, we would need another six planets to cope, a United Nations' report says."

Greenhouse gases: we are among worst polluters: "New research shows our power stations are the world's highest per capita producers of carbon dioxide."

But! It's hard being green and lean: "The average household won't have a lot of trouble making adjustments to their homes, by insulating them and switching to renewable energy sources, such as gas or solar hot water. But people on low incomes will. They can't take advantage of government grants, for solar hot water systems for example, because the capital expenditure that's required is still beyond their capacity."