Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A surprise from Garret
Wow. I never knew he had it in him. Good on him. I still think he's a pretty pathetic environment minister, but slightly less so now.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Still not good enough.
So William Calley is sorry for the My Lai massacre.
He says "I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry.'' Note the passivity in his description. He doesn't say "I apologise for the fact that I am a mass murderer," he is just expressing regret for the fact that something bad happened. Well anyone can do that. He is sorry for the American soldiers involved; you know, the ones who took evident delight in killing hundreds of old people and children.
This is not good enough. The man's punishment was 3 and a half years of house arrest. That was not good enough. The absolute least he could possibly do is go back to Vietnam, meet the relatives of those he murdered, douse himself in petrol and go from house to house asking for someone to strike a match. Even then he wouldn't have paid his debt.
He says "I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry.'' Note the passivity in his description. He doesn't say "I apologise for the fact that I am a mass murderer," he is just expressing regret for the fact that something bad happened. Well anyone can do that. He is sorry for the American soldiers involved; you know, the ones who took evident delight in killing hundreds of old people and children.
This is not good enough. The man's punishment was 3 and a half years of house arrest. That was not good enough. The absolute least he could possibly do is go back to Vietnam, meet the relatives of those he murdered, douse himself in petrol and go from house to house asking for someone to strike a match. Even then he wouldn't have paid his debt.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Question Time
I know I know, I shouldn't waste my time. But when I have a shower, I usually turn on the radio, and if question time is on, that's what I listen to. I mean, I can hardly change the station can I? I have wet hands.
Lately they have been talking about renewable energy. I would in all seriousness like to know how many members of parliament have completed high school physics.
One guy (didn't catch the name, or the party) was talking up the prospects of Mackay Sugar's co-generation plant. "It produces 266 000 Megawatts a year" apparently.
Another person (from the Opposition), was warning about the cost of solar and wind energy. "Coal fired electricity costs 3c per kilowatt hour (at least this guy was dimensionally correct), whereas solar and wind cost between 5-8c per kilowatt hour. Therefore, if we switched entirely to wind and solar, electricity costs would go up by 100-200 %. Can the working families of Australia really afford that?" Well that's very interesting, because working families currently pay between 10-12c a kilowatt hour. The difference comes from the fact that there is a lot more to the electricity grid than simply production. Transmission, billing, marketing and general business administration-not to mention profits- all have to take their cut. All these costs are likely to be the same (or possibly less for transmission due to local production) under a renewable energy regime. I don't think the guy was being disingenuous mind you, just ignorant.
Lastly there was July Bishop claiming that solar hot water systems were not "an energy generation system," but merely "an energy efficiency-displacement measure" and hence should not be regarded in the legislation, or included in the renewable energy mix. Does July Bishop actually understand the difference between electricity and energy? If she doesn't, then does she claim that gas fired water heaters are also merely energy efficiency-displacement measures?
Now, I don't usually like to be a pedantic nerd about physics errors, but in cases like these it really matters. The people running our country don't understand how the natural world works and this is a big problem. Solar hot water is the most economically efficient carbon displacement technology we have and its prospects are being endangered by someone who doesn't understand science.
I should really spend less time in the shower.
Lately they have been talking about renewable energy. I would in all seriousness like to know how many members of parliament have completed high school physics.
One guy (didn't catch the name, or the party) was talking up the prospects of Mackay Sugar's co-generation plant. "It produces 266 000 Megawatts a year" apparently.
Another person (from the Opposition), was warning about the cost of solar and wind energy. "Coal fired electricity costs 3c per kilowatt hour (at least this guy was dimensionally correct), whereas solar and wind cost between 5-8c per kilowatt hour. Therefore, if we switched entirely to wind and solar, electricity costs would go up by 100-200 %. Can the working families of Australia really afford that?" Well that's very interesting, because working families currently pay between 10-12c a kilowatt hour. The difference comes from the fact that there is a lot more to the electricity grid than simply production. Transmission, billing, marketing and general business administration-not to mention profits- all have to take their cut. All these costs are likely to be the same (or possibly less for transmission due to local production) under a renewable energy regime. I don't think the guy was being disingenuous mind you, just ignorant.
Lastly there was July Bishop claiming that solar hot water systems were not "an energy generation system," but merely "an energy efficiency-displacement measure" and hence should not be regarded in the legislation, or included in the renewable energy mix. Does July Bishop actually understand the difference between electricity and energy? If she doesn't, then does she claim that gas fired water heaters are also merely energy efficiency-displacement measures?
Now, I don't usually like to be a pedantic nerd about physics errors, but in cases like these it really matters. The people running our country don't understand how the natural world works and this is a big problem. Solar hot water is the most economically efficient carbon displacement technology we have and its prospects are being endangered by someone who doesn't understand science.
I should really spend less time in the shower.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The UN racism forum
"UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said she was "shocked and deeply disappointed" by the boycotts" of the US, Australia, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada. The UN argument is that countries that refuse to participate in this debate must not take the issue of racism seriously, or are passing up the chance to take on rogue states within the normal UN process.
I disagree with this. There comes a point when UN bodies like the "Human Rights Tribunal" or the "UN racism forum" become such Orwellian caricatures of themselves that the entire body must be abandoned and left to die. Any group that attempts to pass declarations requiring countries to outlaw criticism of religions has lost all relevance or moral claim.
The danger is that this is happening on a much larger and more important scale with the UN security council. With amoral, undemocratic countries wielding their veto pen whenever they feel like it- as China does whenever it's Sudanese clients are threatened with condemnation- the United Nations itself is slowly dying of irrelevance. Ban Ki Moon is right to say that countries should debate these issues, but he is wrong when he thinks only the UN is capable of hosting such a forum.
I disagree with this. There comes a point when UN bodies like the "Human Rights Tribunal" or the "UN racism forum" become such Orwellian caricatures of themselves that the entire body must be abandoned and left to die. Any group that attempts to pass declarations requiring countries to outlaw criticism of religions has lost all relevance or moral claim.
The danger is that this is happening on a much larger and more important scale with the UN security council. With amoral, undemocratic countries wielding their veto pen whenever they feel like it- as China does whenever it's Sudanese clients are threatened with condemnation- the United Nations itself is slowly dying of irrelevance. Ban Ki Moon is right to say that countries should debate these issues, but he is wrong when he thinks only the UN is capable of hosting such a forum.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Plot device for a detective novel
I noticed in the maths lift the other day that on an LED screen a "2" is a mirror reversal of "5." I feel sure this could be be used in a whodunnit thriller of some kind. Perhaps the murder victim took a photo moments before he died in an elevator, the picture seeming to show that he was on level 5, thus granting an alibi to someone (known to be on level 2 somehow) who would otherwise be a suspect. Let's say it was a double murder, with the other victim (not the photographer), partly visible in the shot. Near the end of the book, the strained detective (possibly suspended from the force by his no-nothing lieutenant (or if a private investigator, fired by the victim's newly wealthy heiress(which may or may not be a red herring))), suddenly discovers upon closer inspection that the wedding ring of the other victim is on the wrong hand, and thus, that the entire shot is actually of a mirror opposite to the lift door. I could weave in some subtle hints about mirrors throughout the book, so much so that an avid reader would, upon conclusion of the mystery, grasp her head in her hands and exclaim "Of course, the answer was staring me in the face all along!" But I can't write that novel now. I've just given away the ending in a blog post
In which I watch commercial television
So I was watching an ad the other day from the Queensland government. It told me that I should be eating more vegetables. At the end of the ad it said something like "Queensland (something to do with health) association. Working to ensure that Queenslanders are the healthiest people in Australia." Now maybe this says something about my personality, but surely the easiest way to accomplish this is to simply detonate radioactive dirty bombs in the major cities of all the other states? Or as Chris points out, at least run ad campaigns in the other states encouraging junk food and binge drinking?
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
I for one, have no illusions about which Indiana Jones character I most resemble
You want to find Sam? Forget it. He's already got a day's head start, which is more than he needs. He's got friends in every village from Melaka to Sa-Pa, he speaks a dozen languages, he'll blend in with the crowd, disappear; my guess is you'll never see him again
Thursday, January 29, 2009
In which i am at uni after midnight
Chris has some weirdo christian on gmail complaining that bloggers only produce silly, unlettered rants that don't add anything to considered opinion or mainstream society. To counter this I offer my thoughts on a few salient issues.
The Rebel Alliance seems pretty racist. Not as bad as as using the death star to blow up Alderaan mind you, but compared to us, they are not very evolved.
"Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?" That, ladies and gentlemen, I call snide. I guess it just reflects the evolving moral zeitgeist (from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away).
On the other hand, the Mon Calamari do seem to be the only ones commanding starfleets these days. Maybe its a rare example of the dominant culture rather condescendingly "giving" the under culture one cool trait that apparently only they can do well. You know, like man "Humans, can't command starfleets." Maybe they could make a movie with that as their title, or even a whole series of Calamarixploitation such films. Of course inevitably we would witness the rise of so-called "Hulamaris," rich kids that, much to their parents chagrin, reject the traditional, WASHish pursuits like lightsaber duelling, and instead only want to command enormous
fleets of organically shaped hyperdrive equipped capital ships like those no-good ne-er-do-well's who always ask them for money on the street.
The only upside to all this is that we could eventually look forward to another movie about a particularly talented Hulamari, rising from humble, human trash beginnings, butting his head against an entrenched establishment of Mon Calamaris, with their own set of prejudices, and their own little club blocking ascension to those deemed "not fish enough" -oops sorry, did I offend your liberal sensibilities? I forgot that use of the `f' word was a faux pas now, in the politically correct straitjacket of a world in which we are now imprisoned. Anyway, such a movie would really make one think. And it can't be worse than the prequels.
In other news, Kim and I are going to Malaysia tommorrow. This time we will try to keep the weight down.
The Rebel Alliance seems pretty racist. Not as bad as as using the death star to blow up Alderaan mind you, but compared to us, they are not very evolved.
"Will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?" That, ladies and gentlemen, I call snide. I guess it just reflects the evolving moral zeitgeist (from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away).
On the other hand, the Mon Calamari do seem to be the only ones commanding starfleets these days. Maybe its a rare example of the dominant culture rather condescendingly "giving" the under culture one cool trait that apparently only they can do well. You know, like man "Humans, can't command starfleets." Maybe they could make a movie with that as their title, or even a whole series of Calamarixploitation such films. Of course inevitably we would witness the rise of so-called "Hulamaris," rich kids that, much to their parents chagrin, reject the traditional, WASHish pursuits like lightsaber duelling, and instead only want to command enormous
fleets of organically shaped hyperdrive equipped capital ships like those no-good ne-er-do-well's who always ask them for money on the street.
The only upside to all this is that we could eventually look forward to another movie about a particularly talented Hulamari, rising from humble, human trash beginnings, butting his head against an entrenched establishment of Mon Calamaris, with their own set of prejudices, and their own little club blocking ascension to those deemed "not fish enough" -oops sorry, did I offend your liberal sensibilities? I forgot that use of the `f' word was a faux pas now, in the politically correct straitjacket of a world in which we are now imprisoned. Anyway, such a movie would really make one think. And it can't be worse than the prequels.
In other news, Kim and I are going to Malaysia tommorrow. This time we will try to keep the weight down.
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