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Gillard's caucus weekend brainstorming session 'unprecedented' says Terrorgraph. Somehow I don't think so...

2012-01-25T03:17:00.000Z

A pre-session meeting of a government caucus is "unprecedented"? Never, ever happened before? Somehow I don't think so. Love the unattributed negative quotes, too. All the better for the Terrorgraph to spin up something from nothing I guess.

PM Julia Gillard calls in entire caucus for crisis summit | thetelegraph.com.au

THE entire Labor caucus has been ordered to an unprecedented weekend brainstorming session before parliament resumes, as Prime Minister Julia Gillard moves to keep her party on side.

All 102 MPs will workshop policy ideas and strategies, with one saying: "We will be getting the butcher paper and Textas out and solving the country's problems."

The cyclist's side of Shane Warne's whinge

2012-01-20T04:57:00.001Z

Having ridden close to 300,000km in my lifetime I've just about seen everything imaginable, from fiesty kangaroos bent on destroying a peleton to looney drivers determined to rid the road of riders at all costs. As well as, in the majority, careful citizens just getting along. But this Shane Warne whinge is a rare one indeed - complete with tweeting and counter claims, all in the public eye.
And the truth? Who knows. If it wasn't Warnie it'd be just another day in the bike rider's office, dodging cars, trucks and buses and keeping as alert as possible.

Warniegate! The cyclist’s side | Cycling Tips

At this point a pedestrian witnesses were yelling, “Get his rego” and some even yelled out his registration. One woman approached me offering assistance and asked, “Are you OK? Are you going to follow it up? I have the rego ” as she held her phone. I thanked her told her it wouldn’t be necessary – partially because I was in shock but also because I hadn’t yet realised the extent of the damage to my bike and I knew who the driver was anyway.

My girlfriend who had witnessed the whole thing from the adjacent corner now came over to ask if I was OK and what happened. “Shane Warne just ran into me with his car” I replied.

Shane Warne vs. cyclists: registration and number plates — David Johnstone

Shane Warne has managed to get himself embroiled in controversy again. This time it’s with cyclists. Firstly he wrote a series of tweets last week where he called for cyclists to ride in single file, show number plates, and pay registration. Unsurprisingly there were a lot of responses, some of which he retweeted. The classiest of them wasn’t from the wife of a certain famous Australian cricketer suggesting that he “just throw a cricket ball at them if they really annoy u”.

Cyclist hits back at Warne Today's News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

The man alleged Warne “lurched his car forward forcing my bike wheel and almost my leg under the front of his car".

He said following the incident he immediately went to the nearest police station to make a report.

Police have confirmed the man did take his bike to a station and said officers spoke to both parties.

It is believed police advised both parties to take civil action.

A police spokeswoman said due to the minor nature of the event a traffic incident report would not be submitted.

Cyclist hits back at Warne Today's News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

Six-time ironman champion Luke McKenzie accused the cricketer of inciting hatred towards cyclists.

Amy Gillett Foundation spokesman David Lee said it was disappointing Warne was using his profile to inflame cyclist-driver tensions.

"Each road-user group has a requirement to respect the rights of the other, and inflaming the situation, whether you are a cyclist or a driver, doesn't help," he said.

Bicycle Network Victoria spokesman Jason den Hollander said Warne should be aware of the road rules and obey them, just like other road users.

Having it both ways - we want good customer service but take no personal responsibility. A Terrorgraph opinion piece

2012-01-17T01:05:00.000Z

I have my own personal stake in this - my kids just don't take council library threats seriously enough. They are great readers and borrowers but slack returners. I badger and remind them but if I don't take control and induce some action they just let it slide. And the reminder letters come. And finally they feel guilt. Or fear. I wasn't like this as a child (or even now, obviously). I borrowed almost weekly from the council library and saw it as my social responsibility to get the books back as soon as I could. Someone else may have been waiting to borrow them, after all. It seemed natural to think that way, although maybe it was just me. Probably.

Anyway, the Terrorgraph's Susie O'Brien has had a bad experience and is using her media access to have a bit of a whinge about modern society in general. It's "sick", she writes, that a local council calls in a debt collection agency to pursue her child over a book. Well, actually, to pursue her as guardian. (Perhaps that wouldn't sound so sick.) Now painful personal anecdotes like this can illuminate a real issue or simply distract and distort. This one looks like a mix up over library late fees rather than a society-wide crisis. Yes, there should have been a letter sent, and maybe it just got overlooked - perhaps at both ends. Yes, it was unfortunate and over the top. But it could also be a case study in personal responsibility and teaching kids that if you agree to return books on time - you do so. No excuses.

There's the root cause here - a late return. Yep, personal responsibility. There are consequences in life if you choose to ignore or to simply "assume" it'll be OK, no matter how tempting it may be to just let it slide. And whilst the customer service presented here is indeed poor, there has to be some sort of responsibility taken by the consumer. If you borrow and agree to terms, you respect them. Perhaps the poor customer service values represented here simply mirror the lack of respect presented here by the consumer?

The fine and the statement:
It's a fine mess we're all meant to cop | thetelegraph.com.au

THERE is something seriously sick about a local council calling in an international debt collection agency to pursue an 8-year-old boy over a $7 overdue library fine.

The later, umm, correction?
It's a fine mess we're all meant to cop | thetelegraph.com.au

Yes, the letter was addressed to me as his guardian, but it was a pretty heavy-handed way to treat a kid in grade two on his first proper visit to the library.

And then the rant about everything else, loosely tied back to, umm, a library fine?

It's a fine mess we're all meant to cop | thetelegraph.com.au

There is a principle here worth fighting about.

I am tired of cops outsourcing policing to private speed camera operators who make more money by employing more aggressive tactics.

I am tired of having a nice man come to my door and sign me up to an electricity company, only to then have to deal with overseas call centres who put me on hold for my entire lunch break.

Wow. And the principle is? Don't speed and you won't be fined? Don't switch electricity providers without due research? Yes, well, it was an opinion piece after all.

It's the silly season, or SMH wastes space on non-news

2012-01-02T22:30:00.001Z

It must be hard filling space in a newspaper, online or off. But do we really want to read this sort of trivial beatup? A visiting cricket team arrives early - yes, early, ie not on time - to a function and is forced to wait 15 minutes - yes, a whole quarter-hour, in the "baking sun" to meet the Prime Minister of Australia. Imagine the shame of it, waiting a full 15 minutes to see the PM. Sigh. Surely we all have better things to do, he says as he draws further attention to the whole waste of space.

Hot under collar: Test tensions as tourists are made to wait at gates

In scenes bordering on the farcical, cricket luminaries such as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid were made to stand outside the Prime Minister's Sydney residence for 15 minutes on Sunday before being allowed inside.

NSW clamps down harder on wind farms - let's see them do it to miners as well

2011-12-23T22:01:00.001Z

Or any other noisy, ugly polluter for that matter. On one hand I can see what they are getting at - whilst wind farms are an important and relatively clean form of energy (everything gets made in a dirty manufacturing and installation process, after all, it's only 'clean' in final use and concept) they are conspicuously unnatural things that hum and swish in an unnerving way, usually situated where you least expect them. So having to get agreement from the neighbours makes some sense. And keeping the noise down also makes sense. But what about new coal and gas mines? How tough will the O'Farrell government now get on them, or on any other noisy, ugly development proposal? I'd like to see ugly, car-attracting shopping centres covered by a similar approval process, for example... or major road construction for that matter.

Ah, but what about the greater good, you say? Indeed. And wouldn't a wind farm contribute to the greater good?

Wind farm plans put growth at risk

ANYONE living within two kilometres of a planned wind farm would have a right to veto it and delay its development, under strict new state guidelines.

We could all be paying a high price for the Daily Terrorgraph and its bizarre, illogical ranting

2011-12-22T01:25:00.001Z

Yes, we all want Freedom of the Press but do we want a free press that ignores reason and logic and prints just, umm, anything? They have printed a weak piece on smart meters today, blaming the Gillard government and the Greens for something that is actually commercially desirable. Smart meters are the future of power distribution, be it publicly or privately owned. Full stop. Dumb meters and non-variable pricing is just inefficient and wasteful. So why write a slanted "journalistic" article and an opinion piece making out that it's a Green travesty? Is the Terrorgraph just dumb (in the colloquial sense) or do they really think their readers are so ill-informed and mindless as to just blame Gillard and Brown and vote Abbott? (Judging by the majority of comments I'd say "preaching to the converted" applies here.)

But smart meters are coming, irrespective. It's not just a Green thing, it's a sensible, more efficient thing. Why is that so hard to understand?

The Tele said:
We're paying high price for Greens | thetelegraph.com.au

A PATTERN is beginning to emerge. Just over one year since the federal Greens entered into a power-sharing arrangement with Labor, and a few months since the Greens assumed the balance of power in the Senate, we can see a certain theme.

Almost every proposal put forward or championed by the Greens either is or would be seriously damaging to the bank balances of middle Australia.

The Greens largely drove the carbon tax, forcing Prime Minister Julia Gillard to embarrassingly reverse her pre-2010 election promise to not introduce such a tax.

The cost of this new tax to businesses and consumers will be hugely significant, and may yet cost Labor its hold on national government.

And FWIW I say:
Blame the Greens if you want but you and I both know that the electricity distributors will phase out "dumb" meters anyway - and that "smart" meters will be standard issue soon enough. And current demand for artificially cheap peak power is driving up our energy bills. We are all paying for this waste - over-cooled houses and oversized video screens running full bore even when no-one's using/watching/even in the same room. Whereas variable pricing will allow us to choose when and how to use non-essential appliances and encourage non-grid power sources (like home solar). It will shift demand around and ease the need for new capital investment in peak power. So our electricity bills may well be relatively lower with smart meters. Why not mention - and support - that?

And why shouldn't power companies charge more for their product during peak periods of demand? We can all make informed decisions on power use, surely? Is the Tele really saying that Australians can't make smart decisions about their lives? Whilst I'm all for socialism and a fair go we should recognise that this isn't a planned economy and some things make commercial - and environmental - sense. Yes, keep a safety blanket in place for those who really need it but we don't need to publicly-fund more middle-class waste, surely? We should encourage efficiency, fairness and choice instead. Charging a fair - and variable - price for power just makes sense. In part it's the lack of fair, variable pricing that is causing the recent price rises. So what the Telegraph is really supporting is higher prices. Go figure.

Implementing a carbon tax makes sense, too. If we could just let go of old ideas of price control and subsidised over-use and build a better, cleaner and more efficient economy we'll all be better off.

The "journalistic" article:
Smart meter technology to drive up the costs of power | thetelegraph.com.au

THE cost of cooling your home and cooking dinner could double under a new Gillard government power proposal.

Charging consumers more for electricity during the evening peak, and less at other times, is among a raft of "policy options" contained in a discussion paper made public yesterday.

Mind you, this is just a "discussion paper", apparently. And how much does it cost to cook dinner now? A dollar? So it may double to $2? That matters more to some than to others, but wait, there's more...

Smart meter technology to drive up the costs of power | thetelegraph.com.au

Other proposals put forward in the paper include minimum energy standards for appliances, rebates and green building regulations.

So if you choose wisely you could land a cheaper-to-run cooking appliance and get back some of that extra cost. And that "rebate" may be aimed at home cooking, who knows?

Smart meter technology to drive up the costs of power | thetelegraph.com.au

There is also a bizarre plan allowing energy companies to remotely control home airconditioners in high-demand periods in return for a discount at other times - a move experts say would hit western Sydney hard.

So the Telegraph "journos" think this is bizarre, apparently. They may all be unaware anti-tech Luddites, who knows? But if you agree to your smart meter adjusting your air con whilst you cook dinner - it's called "smart" after all - then you may recoup some or all of the extra cooking cost. Frankly that makes great sense. So why is it bizarre? (Yes, I have air-con and on average I use it once a year, just to make sure it still works. Dimming your air con for an hour or so is hardly going to kill you.)

As usual one can only sigh.

Google maps - advertising that works?

2011-12-15T23:16:00.002Z

Make your sign large enough to be seen from Google Maps (or whatever) and get free advertising. Don't know if it works in drawing customers but I saw it and here it is... in the Albert St, St Peters landfill site... formerly a brickpit and/or swamp I would suggest.

Can't spot it? Here's a screenshot...

View Larger Map

NSW Labor blamed for non-publication of selected climate papers. Terrorgraph twists and turns on climate change, but does it sell newspapers?

2011-12-02T00:24:00.000Z

Labor can never win with the Terrorgraph. It's always wrong, wrong, wrong. Even when the link is tenuous, thin and weak - or even unfounded. Doesn't matter, it's just Labor.

So an ex-bureaucrat has seemingly spilled the beans that the NSW Department of Environment Climate Change and Water (not Labor directly but they were in government after all) has chosen not to publish either of 6 or 5 (take your pick, it's a bit unclear if 1 of 6 was published) internal reports contrary to public policy. Were they weak reports, good reports, flawed or just uninteresting? Irrespective. the Terrorgraph suggests just that they were suppressed. So there may be a story there. or not. We just don't know yet.

But from what is presented it's a weak argument anyway. The tone of the article and the comments is somewhat denialist, and you could be forgiven for believing that the ex-bureaucrat Doug Lord is, too, denying anthropogenic climate change. Indeed the Terrorgraph has slapped this in the middle of the article: "Do you believe the science of climate change, or is it all one big con job? Tell us below". Yet in the article itself he documents rising sea levels. And in his published work and on his own company's website he admits to a belief that climate change is both real and that it has a human origin. What Mr Lord draws attention to in particular here is an apparent linear, constant rate of mean sea level rise at one site in Sydney Harbour, whereas many other sites show an accelerating rate. Which is one reason why the accepted sea level rise predictions have a range of values, from low to high. Mr Lord's position as stated is at the lower end of that range. But it's still happening, and if other factors fall the wrong way it may well accelerate.

So do we sit on our hands and just deny, or do we take action to address a clear risk?

It's worth noting that whilst having longitudinal data for one site is good, we have to accept that it may also be atypical. It's in Sydney Harbour after all - and Sydney Harbour has changed a lot in the dataset's 120 years. Whilst I am sure some correction has been made for hydrological changes (it's Mr Lord's area, after all) it's still just one site. Drawing global conclusions from one dataset would be contrary to good science. But it does make for good press, apparently.

Climate change science being stifled by NSW Labor bureaucrats | thetelegraph.com.au

SENIOR bureaucrats in the state government's environment department have routinely stopped publishing scientific papers which challenge the federal government's claims of sea level rises threatening Australia's coastline, a former senior public servant said yesterday.

Doug Lord helped prepare six scientific papers which examined 120 years of tidal data from a gauge at Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour.

The tide data revealed sea levels were rising at a rate of about 1mm a year or less - and the rise was not accelerating but was constant.

"The tidal data we found would mean sea levels would rise by about 100mm by the end of the century," Mr Lord said yesterday.

"However the (federal) government benchmark which drives their climate change policy is that sea levels are expected to rise by 900mm by the end of the century and the rate of rise is accelerating."

Deakin's Universal Motion Simulator

2011-12-01T23:22:00.000Z

Not just a better way to simulate flight but also - by the looks of it - tremendous fun, too.

Terrorgraph spins up big lies in new Carbon Tax terror rant

2011-11-16T07:12:00.001Z

Well this is sad, as it demonstrates how low News Ltd has sunk in its demolition of journalism, but also funny in its over the top bias. The Sydney Terrorgraph has turned a fair and reasonable warning to businesses to not exploit consumers into "another layer of red tape":

Carbon warning to shops on costs | thetelegraph.com.au

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has warned small businesses they must quiz suppliers, analyse bills and make mathematical calculations before blaming the carbon tax for soaring costs, adding a new layer of red tape for companies already overburdened by paperwork.

A journalist wrote that? Hmmm. The ACCC is simply saying that they will be looking out for unreasonable price rises deliberately hidden under the "carbon tax made me do it" banner. If businesses make the claim - as with any product-related claim - they must be able to prove it. Which is a warning to opportunists - and not red-tape at all. It's obvious. But not to the Terrorgraph.

It's unbalanced, distorted reporting, surely? Oh sure, the ACCC gets its say later, but not before the "real" story is trampled over, beaten up and the distortion writ large. But wait, the really funny bit comes next when the (obviously unbiased!) Chamber of Commerce and Industry spokesperson claims that businesses were being coerced into "lying" by the ACCC (as the government's stooge, apparently). So rather than being warned not to lie and make unsupported, unjustified comments (as per the ACCC's statement) instead the business community is being unfairly asked to lie to cover up real carbon tax costs. Huh? So doing the math that you really have to do anyway and simply telling the truth is now tantamount to lying?

What an odd world.

Carbon warning to shops on costs | thetelegraph.com.au

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's director of economics Greg Evans claimed businesses were being coerced into lying.

It's a mobile world, so let's ditch the NBN... well for 5.3% of us maybe that'd work

2011-11-06T22:39:00.001Z

Of course mobile IP is going to grow - we've reached a reported 5.3% after what, maybe 5 years of easily-accessible mobile IP traffic? And it's only in the last 2 years that it's really started to take off. It's early days and it's easy to expect that the mobile world will arrive soon enough, at least to some significant degree. What this survey - which matches my own server data traffic almost exactly - reveals is that the vast majority of IP traffic remains between fixed points, if you count laptops as "fixed", which is a relative thing these days. In essence it's PC traffic, at home or in a place of business. It's servers and laptops, desktops and routers and you-name-it-devices sitting pretty well still for most of the day. And maybe, just maybe, going for a ride home after 5PM. So for those who believe we are already "going mobile", think again.

Why do we assume that we have already taken the plunge into a truly mobile world? Mostly it's smartphone and tablet sales - or at least the hype. These are genuinely hot products and I'm not doubting that the market has shifted more than a little. Tablets are a semi-mobile device that may move around the house a bit and even replace a few laptops, but they aren't yet as mobile - or as numerous - as a smartphone. And smartphones are all the rage. But whilst smartphones are replacing dumb phones that doesn't mean that everyone is downloading huge volumes of data, or that they are likely to do so in the future. And this is where the argument really lies. Do we need a super-fast optical fibre NBN to the home when smartphones are simultaneously driving more mobile connections but at a lower volume of data per transaction? Will the growth in data traffic actually reverse?

If smartphones and similar devices actually grow to dominate the market then the NBN will be under-utilised in many areas and possibly prove to be a lame duck overall. But on the evidence so far whilst smartphones et al are selling like hot cakes they aren't driving IP traffic by nature or in growth. And traffic overall is indeed growing. If you are generating large files at work or downloading big applications or high-definition content then you aren't generally using a smartphone to do it. You are downloading low-res content or small apps instead. And when you want to crunch or share a big spreadsheet or write up your preso or important document you are using a pretty traditional hard keyboard and relatively fixed PC. You may be moving around the office or home a lot more when you do it but you aren't necessarily on the beach or in a bus when you do it either. So in today's world we need the NBN or at least a volume data solution. But tomorrow?

And here's the rub. Truly mobile traffic will grow and more "stuff" will be done on the move. But more people will also work from home or from other unconventional workplaces and our expectations for ever-faster data transfer will also increase. Can mobiles alone handle it? Probably not, although new mobile devices coupled with cloud computing will undoubtedly replace many, many fixed PCs. A smart, mobile device that plugs into a hard keyboard and the cloud could well kill the PC as we know it. But in so doing it also becomes just a little "fixed" too. So why suck data via RF when there's optical fibre on hand? We know also that faster, better mobile connections will come along - but also that RF still, theoretically at least, can't shift data like optical fibre can. So we will need both to play to their strengths. And if the NBN helps make it easier to flexibly, transparently connect whatever device you use into a fast IP network, so much the better.

The next 5 years will reveal far more about where the pieces fit. In the meantime don't get carried away with our overly-hyped "mobile love".

Aussies Love Their Mobile Internet - Channel News

Some 5.3 percent of all Internet traffic by Australian users is now coming from non-PC devices such as mobile phones, tablets, e-readers or games consoles, according to Paul Budde's Budde.com. quoting a survey by US-based comScore.

Prediction: writers will churn out explosive bios on Steve Jobs for Christmas

2011-10-25T00:24:00.000Z

I know, it's easy to predict this stuff. But here it is already, the proof of the pudding. Expect more. Lots more.

Now I can't verify the biographical facts as they are written in the book quoted below - and I don't expect Steve Jobs to come back to confirm or deny - but here are some choice bits anyway.

Jobs brands Bill Gates 'unimaginative' - Strategy - Business - News - iTnews.com.au

Steve Jobs called long-time rival and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates "unimaginative" and not really a product person, according to a biography of the deceased Apple chief executive.

Let's not forget that these guys - Gates, Jobs, Wozniak et al - grew out of the home-brew or kit computer "craze" of the early '70s and were busy trying to firstly make sense of it all, then make something of it and lastly to make a buck. A lot of bright people were in on it and there were ideas aplenty about where microcomputers would go next. Most people could see that there was hobbyist potential and a few - not just Jobs and Gates - saw a broader market. There was luck as well as skill involved in picking the right processor and operating system and betting on what applications would sell best. I would say that almost all of these guys (and they were mostly guys, sadly) were "imaginative". And most of them knew something was going to happen. That Jobs and Gates had ideas and luck is unquestionable. They also ended up with some pretty good products. But for many years it was Bill Gates who tussled with IBM for the lion's share of the software market. Whereas Jobs spent many years fighting for scraps in niche markets - until he had better luck with a late but highly successful run at the MP3 and smartphone markets.

Jobs brands Bill Gates 'unimaginative' - Strategy - Business - News - iTnews.com.au

"Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology," Jobs told author Walter Isaacson.

"He just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas."

Sounds like a bit of guilt showing in that comment. Picking on a guy because he's giving stuff away to help others? Hmmm. Now let's get this comment in perspective. Jobs - if quoted correctly - is partly right. Gates had a lot of luck fall his way when IBM basically gifted him what became MS-DOS. He can thank his lucky stars - or perhaps Digital Research's lawyers - that IBM didn't wait around a bit longer for Gary Kildall to talk with them about CP/M. But Gates also made the most of that luck and leveraged it into a mammoth software enterprise that in many ways dwarfs Apple's efforts by scale and reach - even now. Although MS Windows possibly drew at least some inspiration from Apple's mouse-and-GUI-based operating system, and certainly became embroiled in a legal wrangle with Apple over the design, it can't be said that Apple invented that interface either. Surely we have Xerox to thank for that. So it's hard not to imagine the pot calling the kettle black here in some ways.

It's clear also that whilst Microsoft and Gates prospered Jobs and Apple stumbled. There were product successes as well as failures but big hits were few and far between. Instead Apple wedged itself - with the Mac - tightly into the graphic design and audio niches and hoped for the best. There was even talk of IBM buying the Apple computer business at one stage but - possibly - it was too far gone and a bad fit in a market that was already well matured and likely to decline. Where Jobs finally found his luck - or best design - was with a mass-market MP3 player that used a slick interface and easy-access online content. The iTunes methodology in particular has been a spectacular success at locking in customers. Coupled with great marketing Apple has made a spectacular turnaround on all fronts, Mac included. But Jobs wasn't first with MP3 players, either. Nor even smartphones. Or maybe even Tablets (it's certainly disputable). He even ran into difficulties over the very name of the company, given that the Beatles had already put the name "Apple" out into market place Jobs had to fight a legal battle to share it.

Pot calling kettle back, again?

Whilst there are some genuinely nice ideas incorporated into Apple's products they are rarely, truly, cutting-edge. In many ways Apple has - at least recently, with the shift in emphasis away from their mainstay personal computers into smaller but broader mobile consumer devices - made a late move into each market and simply offered a better, perhaps more charismatic package at a higher price and - get this - sometimes fewer features than the competition. And consequently taken that market over as their own. Wow.

Now that's great marketing, fantastic product leadership and stellar business strategy - but I don't see it as particularly wholesome and wonderful either. But others may not agree!

O'Farrell to ignore a report and pander to unobservant motorists instead. Sigh.

2011-10-17T03:20:00.000Z

Why bother with a report when you are going to pander only to those who have expressed their (apparently baseless) opinion anyway? Well to this state government it's presumably about votes, not safety. They have already turned off speed cameras, even though a report said they were working as a deterrent. (And yes, some were working better than others, but why cull so many?)

And in this latest case NSW has the best and fairest system yet they want to make changes anyway; presumably to win over those who "complained".

What I really like - or loathe, really - is a minister excusing their poor judgement by saying that "we want to ensure motorists can focus on the road". Right! So road signs - designed to advise an appropriate speed for those who lack such judgement and powers of observation for themselves - are not part of the road. As drivers we shouldn't be looking at signs, we should be focused on the road ahead, instead. So presumably whatever signs are left after this should be ignored on safety grounds. Yeah, right. But that's the logical conclusion to this!

And as for pedestrians or cyclists, well they only become of interest when they are on the road itself and what they may be doing on the verge - or what they may do next - is irrelevant. Apparently. What a thinker this minister is!

Don't believe me? Read the SMH report:

Speed zone split fairest in country, says report

THE NSW government should retain 70km/h and 90km/h speed zones and there is no justification motorists have a more confusing speed system than other states, a report reveals.

A report for Transport NSW by consultancy group ARRB has concluded ''70km/h and 90km/h speed limits should be retained as viable speed limit options for use on the NSW road network''.

So what does the state government want to do?

Speed zone split fairest in country, says report

But, despite the findings of his own report, the Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, confirmed last week that a review of NSW speed zoning guidelines had determined that 70km/h and 90km/h zones would be ''restricted''.

''Motorists have complained there are too many confusing speed signs and we have listened to their concerns,'' he said. ''We want to ensure motorists can focus on the road when driving instead of constantly looking at changing speed signs."

Bizarre. So let's spend money fixing a problem that doesn't exist. No surprise really.

Who came first - first MP3 player, first tablet, first GUI. first smartphone. Just to offset the cult of Jobs a bit

2011-08-25T23:34:00.001Z

It's not all about Steve, folks.

And that's Jobs, not his pal Wozniak who got out much earlier and hasn't played the 'Messiah' role quite like the "other" Steve. I'm an admirer of both of these Apple founders, and liked their early pre-Mac products because they helped open up low-cost personal computing. And I don't mind either that they (Apple Computer) made the market larger by embracing the GUI. It's all good stuff. But I find the more recent holier-than-thou Apple marketing spin nauseous. Coupled with a dislike for messianic born-again leaders like Jobs I guess I have to say that I'm not overly impressed with Apple as a company, as sleek and stylish as their products may be. But I do recognise that they have a knack for functional, intuitive design, too. At a price.

And I'm not forgetting Steve's years in the wilderness, his Pixar work or even Next. He clearly had vision, and the cash to see it through.

With all of that in mind, here's a quick and dirty run past some alternative universes where other truths may lie...

Was Apple first to market with the MP3 player? Nope. I can remember the first MP3 files and players (on the PC platform) in the mid to late 1990s and the first portables a little later. There were rumours that a slick new design was being hawked around companies like IBM and HP but that Apple eventually took it up. I've never seen the truth or proof there but Apple certainly wasn't first, nor was it the best. It may have had the best interface, though. And the best marketing.

MP3 Insider: Introducing the world's first MP3 player - CNET Reviews

Ask even seasoned MP3 buffs about the first MP3 player, and they're almost certain to name the Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300. If they really know their stuff, they'll even tell you that it came out in late 1998. They're wrong either way, although you shouldn't be too harsh on them--their mistake is understandable.

Diamond Multimedia Rio? Not Apple?

MP3 Insider: Introducing the world's first MP3 player - CNET Reviews

The Diamond Rio's false status as the first MP3 player is practically cemented in technology lore, so before it's too late, I want to set the record straight. The world's first mass-produced hardware MP3 player was Saehan's MPMan, sold in Asia starting in the late spring of 1998. It was released in the United States as the Eiger Labs MPMan F10/F20 (two variants of the same device) in the summer of 1998, a few months before the Rio.

Eiger Labs, not Apple?

MP3 Insider: Introducing the world's first MP3 player - CNET Reviews

Here comes the irony: In 1998, Compaq's engineers made the first hard-drive-based MP3 player and licensed it to a Korean company (Hango) that didn't do much with it. In 2001, the first iPod came out. In 2002, HP acquired Compaq. In 2004, HP made a deal with Apple to distribute HP-branded iPods. I know I'm reducing the situation, but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assert that the entity now known as HP beat Apple in the race to make a high-capacity portable music player by three years--an eternity in the world of MP3 players--and still somehow lost.

Eh, Compaq and Hango, not Apple?

Portable media player - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The world's first company to announce a portable MP3 player and the attendant system for uploading MP3 audio content to a personal computer and then downloading it onto a personal MP3 player was Audio Highway. Under the direction of founder and CEO, Nathan Schulhof, Audio Highway announced its Listen Up player on September 23, 1996,[5] won an Innovations Award for its Listen Up player and its Listen Up Personal Audio System at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 1997,[6] and began shipping the Listen Up player in the United States in September 1997.[7] The Listen Up player also won a People's Choice Award[8] at the 2nd annual Internet Showcase conference, held Jan. 30, 1998. The device was not mass-produced; only about 25 units were made.[9]

As the lead inventor on three U.S. patents,[10][11][12] as well as co-inventor on another U.S. patent,[13] Schulhof is sometimes referred to as "the father of the MP3 player industry."[by whom?]

Gosh, no Apple here at all. In brief, they were 3 years late to the party with a device that did less but had a funkier, easier way to navigate the files. And better marketing.

What about first first tablet computer?

Again, not Apple. Well it depends, actually. The Apple Newton may indeed have been ahead of the pack but they ditched it. What Apple did later do was take what laptop makers were doing with accelerometers and WiFi and add in some mobile (cell) phone functionality. So they pretty much just up-sized their own smartphone. Which is a cool innovation, sure.

Tablet personal computer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term was made popular with the Microsoft Tablet PC concept presented by Microsoft in 2001.[1] Today, the term tablet is also used to refer to computer-like devices operated primarily by a touch screen but not intended to run general PC operating systems or applications.

Microsoft, not Apple? Oh dear.

But wait...

Tablet personal computer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Following Windows for Pen Computing, Microsoft has been developing support for tablets running Windows under the Microsoft Tablet PC name.[2] According to a 2001 Microsoft definition[3] of the term, "Microsoft Tablet PCs" are pen-based, fully functional x86 PCs with handwriting and voice recognition functionality. Tablet PCs use the same hardware as normal laptops but add support for pen input. For specialized support for pen input, Microsoft released Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Today there is no tablet specific version of Windows but instead support is built in to both Home and Business versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Tablets running Windows get the added functionality of using the touchscreen for mouse input, hand writing recognition, and gesture support. Following Tablet PC, Microsoft announced the UMPC initiative in 2006 which brought Windows tablets to a smaller, touch-centric form factor. This was relaunched in 2010 as Slate PC, to promote tablets running Windows 7, ahead of Apple's iPad launch.[4]

At least the Apple Newton pre-dated Microsoft's efforts, then. Phew.

iPad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apple's first tablet computer was the Newton MessagePad 100,[22][23] introduced in 1993, which led to the creation of the ARM6 processor core with Acorn Computers. Apple also developed a prototype PowerBook Duo-based tablet, the PenLite, but decided not to sell it in order to avoid hurting MessagePad sales.[24] Apple released several more Newton-based PDAs; the final one, the MessagePad 2100, was discontinued in 1998.

What about smartphones?

Smartphone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first smartphone was the IBM Simon; it was designed in 1992 and shown as a concept product[10] that year at COMDEX, the computer industry trade show held in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was released to the public in 1993 and sold by BellSouth. Besides being a mobile phone, it also contained a calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, e-mail client, the ability to send and receive faxes, and games. It had no physical buttons, instead customers used a touchscreen to select telephone numbers with a finger or create facsimiles and memos with an optional stylus. Text was entered with a unique on-screen "predictive" keyboard. By today's standards, the Simon would be a fairly low-end product, lacking a camera and the ability to install third-party applications. However, its feature set at the time was highly advanced.

Oh, so IBM beat Apple both by concept and production. You'd never think that, would you?

Smartphone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Nokia Communicator line was the first of Nokia's smartphones starting with the Nokia 9000, released in 1996. This distinctive palmtop computer style smartphone was the result of a collaborative effort of an early successful and costly personal digital assistant (PDA) by Hewlett-Packard combined with Nokia's bestselling phone around that time, and early prototype models had the two devices fixed via a hinge. The communicators are characterized by clamshell design, with a feature phone display, keyboard and user interface on top of the phone, and a physical QWERTY keyboard, high-resolution display of at least 640x200 pixels and PDA user interface under the door. The software was based on the GEOS V3.0 operating system, featuring email communication and text-based web browsing. In 1998, it was followed by Nokia 9110, and in 2000 by Nokia 9110i, with improved web browsing capability.

In 1997 the term 'smartphone' was used for the first time when Ericsson unveiled the concept phone GS88,[11][12] the first device labelled as 'smartphone'.[13]

OK, so Nokia beat Apple, too. And Ericsson as well. Anyone else?

Smartphone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 2000, the touchscreen Ericsson R380 Smartphone was released.[14] It was the first device to use an open operating system, the Symbian OS.[15] It was the first device marketed as a 'smartphone'.[16] It combined the functions of a mobile phone and a personal digital assistant (PDA).[17] In December 1999 the magazine Popular Science appointed the Ericsson R380 Smartphone to one of the most important advances in science and technology.[18] It was a groundbreaking device since it was as small and light as a normal mobile phone.[19] In 2002 it was followed up by P800, the first camera smartphone.[20]

Gosh, so Apple didn't even win the race to include a camera. Given that there's a heap of Palm, Blackberry and Windows devices yet to come, what exactly did Apple invent here?

Smartphone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 2007, Apple Inc. introduced its first iPhone. It was initially costly, priced at $499 for the cheaper of two models on top of a two year contract. It was one of the first mobile phones to be mainly controlled through a touchscreen, the others being the LG Prada and the HTC Touch (also released in 2007), though the iPhone was the first mobile phone to use a multi-touch interface. The iPhone featured a web browser that Ars Technica then described as "far superior" to anything offered by that of its competitors.[30]

OK, so Apple were again years behind the real innovators but came in late with a better browser and a multi-touch interface. Well that's still innovation, but like all great innovations it was built on previous work. And it was a slick device made even slicker with the later App Store functionality. In many ways that easy-to-use shopping function was the clincher. Add in great marketing and whammo, success.

What about the GUI? Apple was first there, surely?

History of the first GUI

When the Macintosh was introduced in 1984, it represented something altogether new to the public – an affordable Graphical User Interface (GUI) on a computer with a mouse. Suddenly, while others were typing commands like “del index.com,” Mac users were dragging and dropping the image of a file into the image of a trash can. Users had a computer with an interface that made sense (intuitive).

Phew. New to the public. So they invented it, right?

History of the first GUI

But although Apple was the first to successfully mass-produce a GUI, they were not its inventors, nor were they the first to market it.

The honor for producing the first working GUI goes to Doug Englebart – at the time an employee of Stanford Research Institute. Englebart and colleagues created a program called the oNLine System in 1965-‘68. This program used the first mouse, a windowing system, and hypertext, and was based on a description of a system called “memex” proposed by Vannevar Bush in 1945. The name “mouse” comes from this period. The mouse used in oNLine had three buttons on one end and the line coming out the other end. Apparently, the buttons for eyes and nose, plus a cord for a tail, reminded the users of a mouse and the name stuck.

Oh, so Apple didn't actually invent it. But their messianic leader Jobs, presumably, had the vision to take over other people's ideas and package them in a way that sold. Are you seeing a pattern here?

There's plenty more to this story but you have the gist of it. What I wanted to offset was this "Jobs - the man who changed the world" sort of media spin, which doesn't recognise at all that many other people at other companies and institutions "innovated" just as hard - if not harder - before Apple added their unique and very stylish 'extras'. In some cases Apple took bits out before others, like disk drives, and in other ways produced something that felt better in the hand or looked better to the eye. Or they came up with a better interface, or a better way to access extensions like Apps. Now I see that as icing rather than the cake itself. What do you reckon?

But it's not just about me, either. So here is another, more celebratory view:

Thanks to Steve Jobs, we all think differently | FP Tech Desk | Financial Post

There’s a reason Mr. Jobs was named “CEO of the Decade.” Never has a CEO meant so much to one company or been as inextricably tied to a single brand identity. Indeed, there will be much to read about Mr. Jobs, his life and his legacy in the near future.

What matters is that in a very real sense, Steve Jobs changed the world.

Thanks to him, we all think a little bit different than we did before.

Dabbling in audio recording on your PC? FWIW I use Ableton + Reaper + Mixcraft and get by...

2011-08-25T01:38:00.001Z

I've tried just about every Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) there is and whilst I'm no expert - or even musician - I do have enough knowledge to get by, and to form an opinion. So here it is!

Oh, and I use PC hardware, either under Win7 or XP SP3. You don't need to buy an expensive top-range machine or an even more expensive Apple product, IMHO, but lots of RAM, lots of storage and good audio-out will help immensely. (OK, get the best processor you can afford but mid-to-high range is OK). All of the software I've tested has worked with the well known free ASIO driver (sometimes after a struggle) and USB cables leading to either or both of a plain and ordinary Fender Strat or a MIDI controller (usually with no problems). They have all worked with 99% of the VSTs and VSTis I've tried, too, but yes there have been quirks!

FWIW Ableton Live 8 is my all-time favourite - I have a "Lite" version courtesy of my M-Audio MIDI controller/keyboard (i.e. it came on a CD with the hardware) and it's a powerful, intuitive DAW loaded with features and cool tools. It rarely if ever crashes on my 3-year old XP SP3 box and is just the best product I've used. It's high quality. It's also a bit different to work with at first but once you have it in your head, it works well. Alas the Lite version is crippled and almost useless - almost, but not quite - and the full version is too expensive for my budget. So I tend to use it as just one option among several. Oh, and even the "Lite" version is huge - in that respect it probably looks and feels more "serious" and capable. Whether it actually delivers on that promise is another thing, but it sure looks cool!

But in fact my first choice day-to-day is Mixcraft 5. It's easy, obvious and well-featured. It has a wealth of packaged VSTs and VSTis to play with and it handles videos, too. It crashes too often but recovers automagically, usually. It has most of the features you want, or need (maybe 85%?), and if it lacks at all then there's Reaper, isn't there? I use it as my first choice because it just about does everything and I've become so used to it that I probably do a quicker job, better. It's not a gargantuan download like Ableton or the other "name" brands and extends itself gradually as you download more of the free loops. Oh yeah, it was that library of samples that probably swung it for me.

But I did mention Reaper, didn't I? Well it does maybe 95% of what I'd want (including video) and it's also pretty easy to use. For a long time it was neck and neck between Mixcraft and Reaper, at least in my view. And if Mixcraft falls over then Reaper is my backup (although it easily be the other way around!). If I want something sonically cooler I go up to Ableton Live Lite, do the job and come back to finish it in Mixcraft or Reaper. It's more about familiarity and comfort than anything else, although there are procedural differences in how these programs work that may drive a better conclusion sometimes. Oh, and Reaper is also cheap, relatively speaking.

I also like FL Studio a lot. In another universe I may have chosen FL (or Fruity Loops if you like) but my money only stretched so far....

And I won't disparage the others, they all worked well. If I started my DAW habit all over again from scratch, did the research and had a larger budget I imagine my choices would be entirely different. But the above is what I prefer, for the reasons given.

What's the best DAW in the world today? | MusicRadar.com

It's been well over a year since MusicRadar users crowned Reaper as the best DAW in the world today - now we're asking you to vote for your favourite digital audio workstation all over again.

O'Farrell's carbon scaremongering revealed (again)

2011-08-24T22:16:00.000Z

I think we've worked this out by now, but a sober, fair assessment of the carbon tax would reveal O'Farrell, Abbott and the various vested interests banding together these days to be shonky charlatans peddling mistruths. And so it goes.

At least the SMH is running a more academic line of reasoning lately:

Carbon scaremongering to make even dishonest advertisers blush

The penny finally drops for HP as it prepares to drop the PC business

2011-08-20T02:30:00.001Z

It was inevitable that one day HP would tire of the high-volume but low-margin PC hardware business, and now that day has edged a little closer. By shoring up software and services it is following IBM's lead, however it should be noted that IBM - who started the whole "IBM-compatible PC" market in the first place - got out of the mass market for PC hardware years ago. HP will keep making printers but I suspect the lower-value consumer printers will slowly disappear, too, as HP looks for higher margins. But brand pride's at stake as well - so who knows what will happen, or when. HP will certainly look to divest itself of any left-over low-margin hardware or software and ditch any poorer-performing niche products. Why throw more money away when you have already thrown away a lot? So expect a few HP cut-and-run announcements from here, especially in areas where it doesn't really affect the HP brand itself. A prime driver behind these decisions has to be longer-term protection of the brand.

As for PCs overall, they remain a huge if slowly-declining market. When HP leaves the gap will be closed and life will go on. Whilst competition now takes many forms (smart phones and tablets for starters) there remains a need for the traditional big box and monitor, but at low-cost and low margin. We should also expect to see further aggregation into a smaller number of PC makers catering for the mass market as well as a continued splintering into smaller, more profitable niche markets at the top end.

HP exploring PC spinoff, buying software company | thetelegraph.com.au

The purchase of Autonomy, which was founded in 1996 and makes software for companies to search and manage huge databases, fits the strategy of "building a successful software business," he said.

"Autonomy brings to HP higher value business solutions that will help customers manage the explosion of information," he said.

"Autonomy has an attractive business model, including a strong cloud based solution set, which is aligned with HP's efforts to improve our portfolio mix."

Technology analysts said HP's decision to abandon its PC unit recalls that of US computer giant IBM, which sold its PC business to China's Lenovo in 2004 for $1.25 billion.

Gartner analyst Mark Margevicius cautioned, however, that "we're not in an era when the PC is dead.

"The PC market is flat but it's still a huge business," Margevicius said.

It remains HP's largest single revenue generator, but it "just doesn't produce all that much profit," he said. "The PC market has transformed into a tactical, commoditized business.

"HP, as a vendor, has many, many things within its coffers to sell to its customers. It sells services, it sells online stuff, it's got networking stuff, it's got software," he said.

"It's got all kinds of other things that from a business point of view make far better margins and profit than does the PC business," Margevicius said.

"If the PC business was a business that generated 20 percent margins, HP's not dumping their PC business," the Gartner analyst said.

O'Farrell's grand plan for fiscal contraction revealed - cut research jobs. Short sighted? Will lead to economic slowdown? You bet

2011-08-18T22:20:00.000Z

Well he promised us the axe and here it is... but it won't stop here, either. This cut is obvious enough - forestry researchers are hardly visible to most voters - and O'Farrell will keep to that tactic of hidden public service job losses. Look out also for sleight-of-hand, where the state government will offer sensible reform (perhaps, say, greater autonomy for school principals) as a bait but on the other hand conveniently "forget" to transfer enough admin staff to go with the reform (thus centralised admin jobs are removed but fewer new local admin jobs created). Whilst a trimmed-down state bureaucracy sounds good and many of the retrenched workers will find alternative jobs it hardly builds confidence, nor does it promote long-term sustainability or productivity in the areas affected. In the long-term it simply hurts the community.

Nor does it cost nothing as the state budget takes a redundancy hit before any savings kick in. And overall whilst it may balance out over a few years we'll still see a dampening of economic performance in NSW: which would be counter to another promise, of course. Unless O'Farrell has a rabbit in his hat.

Scientists first out as O'Farrell axes jobs

THE Barry O'Farrell government has embarked on its first round of public-service job cuts, announcing it will slash the number of positions at a research facility within the Department of Primary Industries by more than a third.

Staff at the Forest Science Centre, which is associated with Forests NSW, were told yesterday that 11 of their 31 positions would be abolished.

Ah Fairfax, you've done it again. Nice car, shame about the journos and their unsound "affects" #pedantry

2011-08-18T11:40:00.001Z

Yes, yes, I know, I'm overly pedantic. I also shouldn't read this rubbish. (But if you do hanker after a selfish yet frugal sports car then a 1.6l engine in a light body is a good start.)

What actually caught my eye was yet another rendition of the "affect" vs "effect" saga:

Lotus's new Club Racer

The Elise's steering is not power assisted in any way, so every input you make using the steering wheel is instantly affected by the front wheels.

Affected? You could possibly, maybe, make a case for the front wheels affecting steering response but in this particular context surely the language-challenged Fairfax journo meant to write that each individual steering input is effected - ie put into effect - by the front wheels. Surely.

I mean, is it really that hard to correctly choose between effect and affect?

Excited, speculative article on a production rear-transaxle GM Commodore... great, GM catches up to 1898 tech

2011-08-14T18:37:00.001Z

I have no particular interest in GM's Commodores - too fat, heavy, big, overpowered, subsidised and just plain wasteful for me (I simply prefer small cars and bicycles, always have) - but it's nice to see the Aussie GM brand catch up technically (and only maybe, as it's just speculation) with the 1898 De Dion Bouton or even the late 1970's Alfa Romeo Alfetta sedan/coupe design. Yes folks, this exciting rear-drive-transaxle "race technology" has not only been around for yonks but has already been made available in reasonably-priced road-going Italian sporty sedans and coupes - and even a Skoda or 2.

Of course the rest of the world has moved on a tad and is now going for packaging efficiency and fuel economy... but it's good to see Aussie motor-noters still getting worked up about expensively re-worked oversized conventional 3-box designs. And that's fine, it's a free country. I'm just glad I don't pay their fuel bills.

Next Holden HSV m,ay adopt racing technology

HSV'S performance line-up is gearing up to soon blur the line even further between racetrack and road, with the brand believed to be working on a rear-mounted gearbox similar to the next-generation V8 Supercars.

Transaxle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Front-engine, rear-wheel drive vehicles tend to have the transmission up front just after the engine, but sometimes a front engine drives a rear-mounted transaxle. This is generally done for reasons of weight distribution, and is therefore common on sports cars. Another advantage is that as the driveshaft only spins at engine speed it only has to endure the torque of the engine, instead of that torque multiplied by the 1st gear ratio. This design was pioneered in the 1934 Škoda Popular, and then in the 1950 Lancia Aurelia, designed by the legendary Vittorio Jano.

Since this placement of the gearbox is unsuitable for a live axle (due to excessive unsprung weight), the rear suspension is either independent, or uses a de Dion tube (notably in the Alfa Romeos). Rare exceptions to this rule were the Bugatti T46 and T50 which had a three speed gearbox on a live axle.

Shhhh, don't tell the anti-NBN crowd. Data transport via optics saves power and offers immense scope for tech advancement

2011-08-09T03:15:00.001Z

It's not directly about optic fibre data to the home, no, and it will take time before it filters into the real world - but here's another interesting use of meta-materials. Of course the researchers are biased when they say that the 'trend in telecommunications is definitely optical'. The anti-NBNers would have us playing with thermionic valves again instead ;-)

Manipulating light at will - Duke metamaterials strike again

"The trend in telecommunications is definitely optical," Rose said. "To be able to control light in the same manner that electronics control currents will be an important step in transforming telecommunications technologies."

OK, OK, it's nice to have real valve-driven amps, too, but I plug my guitar directly into my PC and just simulate the sound profile instead. What a killjoy ;-)

What Miranda Devine believes in: a year-8 reader unable to choose between telcos

2011-08-04T23:50:00.001Z

Somehow opinionated Terrorgraph columnist Miranda Devine has contrasted private "social values" research by Quantum Market Research to the Gillard government's decision to implement a Carbon Tax and in so doing "proved" that Julia is simply out of touch. The basic premise here is that as family values are at the heart of what Australians believe in, there is no room for a Carbon Tax as well. They are mutually exclusive, apparently, and discrete entities with no interaction. The fact that we are getting one anyway (a Carbon Tax, I mean) proves that the Gillard government just isn't listening. Another nail in the coffin for Julia.

I suppose it also means that a government should only follow, never lead. It probably also means that a good government will only concentrate on supporting programs that enhance these core "family values". And if climate change erodes our shores, floods coastal towns and threatens our food supply then it's of no consequence to our "family values" and should be ignored.

All very readable and logical. I can see why she has a following.

What really caught my eye was that she even manages to explain a few more things with her exemplary research:

What Australians really want | Daily Telegraph Miranda Devine Blog

The average Australian has year 8 reading skills and feels “disempowered” by an increasingly complex world. Something like choosing a mobile phone company just becomes too difficult.

Now I understand. Not only should the government give up any pretence to leadership, it should dumb everything down, make it dead simple and speak s-l-o-w-l-y. We are dealing with children, after all. (And therefore I do wonder how the 2000 'average Aussies' sampled by Quantum were able to give accurate answers to the complex self-assessment questions posed. Perhaps they just took a stab at it and went out to play in the backyard instead?)

I'm sure Miranda's loyal readers are well above average. of course.

Optimism abounds in High Speed Train proposal for Bris-Syd-Melb

2011-08-04T03:26:00.001Z

I'd love to see a high speed train running down the east coast of Australia - I really would - but I doubt that the numbers actually stack up. My instinct is that it'll be too expensive to build and require endless subsidy. The only way that a fixed, slower and essentially more expensive and inflexible rail service will out-compete an airline over the same route would be by legislatively hobbling the airline industry, or by a catastrophic cost impact on air travel (like a long term failure to source an economically sustainable low-carbon fuel). Of course that catastrophic cost blow out may be just around the corner... or it may not.

Having said that, a shorter more focused HST route, say Sydney - Gosford- Newcastle, may actually work. So there's a crumb of optimism for you.

Now you'd think that Melbourne to Sydney (and vice versa) being the '4th most busy' air link in the world would be a good start, but does that ranking really mean anything? OK, yes, it does mean that over 9.3 million seats were offered on that route by the competing airlines in 2010. Most of which were probably filled. But how many of those seats (and hopefully passengers) could be lured onto a train in lieu of a plane? Well this latest report - and I haven't seen the whole report as yet so bear with me here - seems to suggest 50%. Which is a lot. A whole lot.

The airlines won't be happy.

But let's unpack it all a bit. The 50% assumption relates to projected patronage in 2036 - yes, 26 years from now. Underlying that must be some impressive, sustained growth in the total travel market, from under 10 million seats in 2010 to some 50 million in 2036, or an average annual growth rate of some 17%. But that's not the total market in 2036, if we are to believe the newspaper reports. No, that's just 'half the number of plane journeys that would have otherwise taken place between Sydney and Melbourne'. So I take that as meaning that the HST takes 50% and the airlines also keep half. Which gives us 100 million seats a year between Sydney and Melbourne. Wow. (Hopefully there's more detail released soon on the numbers.)

So we are being asked to believe that 100 million seats will be available on that route alone, based on a population assumption that must - surely - be around double today's. Let's say 40 to 50 million total in Australia and say 8 to 10 million in each of Sydney and Melbourne. Wow again. So much for keeping a cap on population growth (not that we were ever likely to do that).

If you were hoping that a HST would be a "green" initiative, think again. Just to meet these traffic assumptions you must surely have a bigger market, or a more mobile population, or both. If transportation is a major contributor to fossil fuel consumption (and it is) then here we are ramping it up. Of course we would be hoping that a HST takes cars off the roads and (as projected) removes some aircraft from the skies. But when the overall market grows this substantially the savings are only relative to what "may" have been. In other words it may have been worse - but it'll still be bad.

Not to mention yet another scar down the east coast, cutting native animal populations into ever more isolated groups. At least aircraft fly over wilderness rather than through it. OK, it's more likely that we'll lose farmland or dig long tunnels, but inevitably there's an environmental impact. It's land locked up. And concrete and steel, laid in a long line. Just so we can get between our capitals - fast. What's wrong with a phone call? Or a virtual reality link using the NBN? (At least the NBN services all of Australia, not just east coasters.)

But enough of that churlishness.

It's an insurance policy against the day when air travel becomes unsustainable, isn't it? Well yes, it is. But is a (worst-case) $108 billion insurance premium a relative bargain? Or not?

The assumptions that must underpin any such long-term assessment and expenditure are fraught with risk, and these risks are too numerous to mention. But here I go, anyway:

Economic growth remains strong (subject to policy, planning and a lot of luck)
Political will continues across many governments for many years (subject to everything, really, but currently it looks good)
Population growth continues unabated (subject to immigation policy but again likely as not)
The fares proposed are sustainable, or can be happily subsidised by a willing electorate
People still want to live in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne (and a few regional cities along the route) and not elsewhere (subject to planning policy and cultural shifts)
People still want to travel (subject to who-knows-what, including cost and available alternatives like virtual reality communications)
Fossil fuel and alternative fuel costs rise sufficiently to make rail relatively attractive despite airline efficiency gains (fuel costs will certainly rise, but airline seat-mile costs may still fall)
Environmental impact can be minimised at a reasonable cost (subject to policy and implementation)
New technologies won't overtake whatever HST technology is selected (subject to good, informed decision making and a lot of luck).

And so on.

If I was to summarise the case for an HST down the east coast it would be as an insurance policy or "back up" to air travel should that at any time fail, and as additional competition to the existing and future airlines. It would also free up the current train lines for improved freight services. If effective it could help cut greenhouse gas emissions when compared with other transport modes. It would also be a significant infrastructure project driving job creation and potentiating wealth creation along the chosen route. And it may also make us feel good and proud.

And the case against? Well it's a lot of money, even spread over 26 years. So that's opportunity cost to pay. It may also prove to be economically unviable and subject to continual subsidy, especially if it is to be competitive with discounted airline fares. It has an environmental and land-use impact that's hard to pin down but has to be huge, especially during the construction phase. It also locks us into just one east cost route, i.e. it assumes that Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne plus selected regional stops are the bee's knees. Sure we can expand later but for now you are either on the plan or lobbying hard to get on it. Or if you are in the west or centre of the continent, forget it. Whereas an airline can change it's route virtually at will. And you can bet they will.

But will we do it, anyway? I'm sure this will bubble away, just like it has bubbled away for the past 30 years...

Sydney to Melbourne rail trip in three hours

But the study, nevertheless, anticipates plenty of demand for a line, which would help keep ticket prices down. Passengers would be expected to make more than 50 million trips on a high speed line by 2036, about half the number of plane journeys that would have otherwise taken place between Sydney and Melbourne.

But we can't leave Wollongong out.

Sydney to Melbourne rail trip in three hours

The study, conducted by a consortium including KPMG, Sinclair Knight Merz and Grimshaw Architects, puts a total price tag of between $61 billion and $108 billion for a network linking Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

The cost depends, in part, on what routes were selected. It would cost more to link Sydney and Canberra via Wollongong than it would to link them via the current Hume Highway corridor.

It would also cost more to develop stations at Central or Redfern than it would to build stations at Parramatta or Homebush. A station at Central could be built for an estimated $13.8 billion, a station at Parramatta for $9.5 billion, and a station at Homebush for $7.8 billion.

Let the lobbying begin.

O'Farrell admits Carbon Tax will actually work! NSW coal growth cut! Isn't that a good thing?

2011-08-04T00:52:00.001Z

I know he's just an amiable stooge for Tony Abbott in this anti-Carbon Tax malarkey (and I mean that in the nicest way) but surely even he can see that 'proving' that the coal industry in NSW will only grow by 60% of what it would have done without a tax isn't very helpful to the anti-action denialist cause?

Firstly it's still growing, but its predicted growth is simply reduced by 40% (yes, that's loaded with assumptions and a timescale, too, so a large grain of salt is needed). Whereas if you take Tony Abbott at his word he expects the coal industry will be killed off completely. Now to my mind when something's dead it ain't growing at all. Whereas this coal mining beast is apparently still alive and kicking! And secondly, given that we will still consume energy and by all expectations grow in population to boot, it proves the tax works. Yes, coal declines and (here's the flipside) resources are successfully diverted to the renewables sector. I thought Tony said it did nothing at all except create a money-go-round? How can Barry contradict Tony like this!

And I note that jobs created in the renewables sector aren't mentioned at all. Bravo to the SMH for asking the question. There must be some jobs created to meet the gap created.... surely?

Carbon tax 'will cost' 31,000 NSW jobs

Mr O'Farrell said the tax would reduce the NSW mining industry's growth to about 60 per cent of what it would have been.

Carbon tax 'will cost' 31,000 NSW jobs

The NSW government did not respond to the Herald's questions about why the Treasury modelling appeared not to include potential jobs gained through the development of renewable technology.

Note also that "confidential" seemingly doesn't have the meaning it once had:

Carbon tax 'will cost' 31,000 NSW jobs

The confidential cabinet document shows the federal tax will result in the loss of 1850 jobs in the Hunter region and 7000 fewer jobs would be created in the Illawarra. The central west would lose 1000 jobs.

Compare and contrast the Herald's more balanced reporting with the Terrorgraph's slanted, opinion-laden and more colourfully-worded "report":

Julia Gillard's power pledge an empty promise | thetelegraph.com.au

THE carbon tax will inflate electricity prices by up to $200 a year more than Julia Gillard promised, demolishing claims her compensation package would ensure most people were hardly affected.

A NSW Treasury review into the carbon tax ordered by Premier Barry O'Farrell found electricity prices would go up by 15 per cent - not the 10 per cent predicted by the Prime Minister. That would mean an increase in a high-usage household of $498 a year, $300 for a medium-usage household and $183 for a low-usage household.

The Terrorgraph even manages to throw some mud at the French as well! Perhaps 'proving' that Gillard favours the French and the Victorians over the poor old New South Welsh-men and women? Or do we simply have cleaner, blacker coal and must therefore pay the price for our foolishness?

Julia Gillard's power pledge an empty promise | thetelegraph.com.au

The report found that while the French government would receive $800 million in compensation as the owner of a power station in Victoria, no NSW power generator would be compensated.

Need I say more?

GM turns on the marketing spin for dual-engined Volt. Turns me right off I'm afraid

2011-08-04T00:05:00.001Z

The GM/Chevy/Holden Volt is a nifty idea - a primary electric engine running off batteries that are topped up as needed by a secondary, smaller, petrol engine. It's not so much a hybrid, where the 2 engines are more fully integrated and deliver power in concert to the wheels, as an adaptation of an aviation idea: the ground-running power supply that supports an aircraft's systems pre-takeoff. You'll see and hear that little beast in the tail of a Boeing 747, happily whining away as the aircraft is prepared for its next journey. It can run the electricals and even start the main engines, giving a beast like the 747 a greater degree of independence on the ground. It's also like diesel-electric locomotives. So it's hardly new, is it?

However, in any case, in an electric car it again brings increased independence and even security - in a similar way to a hybrid - by extending the vehicle's electric-range and removing the "oh-my-god I forgot to charge my battery" fear. So it's a good thing, even if it doesn't completely rid us of the infernal combustion engine.

But GM's marketing spin is deliberate and perhaps misguided. Presumably looking for an edge, a differentiator, or to simply distance itself from any coming 'green backlash' they have gone for "best technology" rather than "most green". In so doing they seek to leverage - get this - that most slick of marketers, Apple. As far as GM-spin would have it the Volt is up there with the iPhone and iPad as techno-masterpieces that get people queuing out the door. Hmmm. It's arguable whether Apple products actually represent the cutting edge of technology, although they do tend to follow up the real innovators with a smoother, shinier package that hides the insides better than most. (Maybe there is a connection here after all?) And Apple products generally have their appeal as easier-to-use and decidedly pricier icons of technology. So you can see their point. But will truly techno-savvy buyers actually buy this connection? It certainly doesn't appeal to me - why would I want to associate with what appears to be a queue-all-night sheep mentality? Especially when I know I'm going to pay dearly for my addiction to a brand?

I'll wait for the Chinese clone, thanks. It'll be cheaper, more easily modded and simply better.

Holden targets Apple buyers | Volt electric car

Instead, its maker says, the car will attract those most switched on to technology. US-based Chevrolet Volt communications manager Rob Peterson took time out of his schedule organising the Australian launch of the car this week to speak to Drive about plans for launching the battery-powered car using a petrol engine generator as a back-up, and admitted the car's buyers were not what the company expected.

"Initially the competition [to the Volt] was perceived to be the Toyota Prius, and then the Nissan Leaf entered into the space," Peterson says. "What's happened is that people have now been exposed to the [Volt] and they've recognised it as the most technologically advanced vehicle on the road.
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"So you're beginning to see a group of people who want to have the latest and greatest technology - the people who wait out the front of the Apple store to get the iPad 2, the iPhone 4 ...

"[Volt buyers] have two reasons to be purchasing. They're the most technologically advanced, so it fits their personality, but they're also buying for environmental reasons," he says.
"It's not the primary reason why they're buying it, it's a secondary reason.

38 "hated" cameras switched off - "not improving road safety" yet "overall... improve road safety". Populism?

2011-07-27T04:13:00.001Z

You'd think there was a contradiction here... the auditor finds that overall speed cameras work yet the bottom 38 - the least effective and possibly "most hated" - are to be switched off "immediately". Hmmm. Sounds odd. So they do work but we'll switch 'em off anyway 'cause we made a populist promise before the election. So much for good government and fact-based analysis I guess. Let alone bothering with an "audit".

At least the old line that they are a "cash cow" can be put to rest - but I imagine those who get pinged by a camera from here on in will still reject their part in their own downfall.

I note also that a whole bunch of cameras will be turned off up here on the Central Coast. The Bateau Bay camera has few friends and there is indeed a case to be made to turn it and many others off (basically because people - often schoolkids - don't usually cross just there and it could be better sited instead). But what about Woy Woy Road? At Kariong? Do they mean the camera just before that downhill plunge along the ridge? Is there another one, further up the road? Go and check it out, anyway. If it's the one I'm thinking of then dear oh dear... let's see how long before a speeder misreads the tight right-hander after that long straight and... well you can imagine who will be cleaning up the minister's mess. (Not the minister, obviously.)

Even when poorly sited these cameras make a difference. The one on Manns Road at West Gosford slows the traffic, allowing people turning right out of side streets an even break. If you have ever tried to go right just there you'll know that it matters. Otherwise you'll get the odd nutter going 80+ and the careless just hurtling along, oblivious to others.

Of course you could site them better. Of course it's populist. Of course it'll be a vote winner. That's what matters, surely?

Speed cameras: minister orders 38 to be switched off

NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay has ordered that 38 speed cameras across the state be switched off immediately after an audit found that they were not improving road safety.

Mr Gay instructed the Roads and Traffic Authority to turn off the cameras after receiving a report from the state's Auditor-General, Peter Achterstraat, this morning that identified the most hated cameras in NSW.

Mr Achterstraat's report found that "overall, speed cameras change driver behaviour and improve road safety" and concluded there was no evidence that they were simply cash cows for the government.

The wonder of online polls - 88% of Terrorgraph readers prepared to pay more to support Gillard's Carbon Tax. Huh?

2011-07-19T06:41:00.001Z

Well, opinion polls are only as good as the questions asked and the answers given, but as questions and answers go this poll is a doozy. Along with a slew of similarly skewed, slanted and disgracefully unprofessional mini-polls about the carbon tax there's this jolly little effort (see below for link and text). It's craftier than it looks and a real trap for the less vigilant Terrorgraph reader, of whom by the way 88% (at this point in time) believe that the compensation measures are "disgraceful". Presumably they mean unnecessary or perhaps inadequate, although only 2% actually said "inadequate", so what these 88% are bitching about is a little unclear. Badly worded question, I guess.

But what really gets me interested is that when asked if the tax will change their energy consumption (which if you have been following closely will surely rise in cost) almost 65% say "no". Hmmm. What are they thinking here? Well the Terrorgraph muddied the waters by tagging "no" with "climate change is a myth" but let's ignore that muddiness for now and take "no" as "no". After all it can't really be a "yes", can it? Anyway, logically we can presume that these thoughtful respondents are prepared to pay more for electricity and other carbon-taxed energy sources "just because". They aren't thinking they'll actually be well compensated, no, as only 11% picked that option. They just want to pay more for the heck of it. Well that'll make a difference, eh?

OK, they could have just been fooled by the incredibly biased wording, but hey, I like to think that they are just prepared to pay through the nose in order to guzzle dirty power no matter what it costs. And that's their right, of course. Ironically if they do follow through on this cussedness they'll continue to line the pockets of the polluters whilst simultaneously boosting carbon tax revenues! You'd think they'd go the other way and deprive the hated Gillard government of tax revenue but no, these proud Aussies are going to fund the very compensation (and renewables) package that apparently they find so "disgraceful".

Ah, Terrorgraph readers, like that paper's "journalists": so predictable, yet not quite thinking it all through. Bless them.

Julia Gillard digging herself a deeper hole over the carbon tax | thetelegraph.com.au

Results: Your say

Thanks for voting!
Will the carbon tax change your energy consumption?

Yes, I’ll make cuts to save money 15.18% (3055 votes)
Yes, green is the way to go 8.98% (1808 votes)
No, I’m being compensated – why change? 11.04% (2222 votes)
No, climate change is a myth 64.79% (13038 votes)

Tunnel vision in more than one way - SMH reports buses 'clog streets'

2011-07-16T05:34:00.001Z

Every weekday morning, the state government says, buses carry more than 11,500 passengers each hour from the north to the south end of Sydney Harbour Bridge - more people than travel across the bridge by train. But the buses are clogging the streets and the need to accommodate them is leading planners to think about new ways of directing them to the edge of the city, possibly even going underground.

Tunnel vision: old tram links could free city streets

Yes, they do - and they don't. You'd think that buses take up more space than cars yet it's also true that more people fit in a bus than a car... thus alleviating rather than worsening the traffic problem. To say that "the buses are clogging the streets" is, ahem, at best misleading and at worst just plain... wrong. Now the SMH journo (Jacob Saulwick) is presumably just reporting what he's heard and has either reported it verbatim or has simply chosen a poor turn of phrase, but it's important to understand what's being proposed here.

Firstly, yes there are unused tram tunnels running from Wynyard to the eastern side of the Harbour Bridge. Yes, they run to a current carpark and unused platforms at Wynyard. And yes, you could probably engineer a method by which buses branch off the bridge and dive into the tunnels - but you can't easily bring them to the surface or turn them around at Wynyard, either. The trams could simply stop and go back on a parallel track but the buses can't, unless (as the article suggests) you revert to a completely reserved 2-way public transport pathway on the eastern side of the bridge - ie a tramway but with buses instead. If you don't do that then a new tunnel would be needed, looping over or under the current underground railway to deliver buses to the western, north-bound side of the bridge. Either way it's do-able but...

The buses will still cross the bridge, after all. Perhaps as suggested it would ease traffic around Wynyard, especially so if an extended, complementary underground bus network is designed... but is this really what we want? Why not just slap a bigger toll on cars entering the city, if reducing CBD congestion is what we want to achieve?

Alternatively just bring back the trams and restore their right-of-way over the bridge and their termination at Wynyard railway station. There was also a full on tram station on the northern side of the bridge plus an overpass and a link to North Sydney Station. If we are going to blow money on infrastructure we could do worse than go back in time a bit and squeeze a few more cars off the road.

At least the Terrorgraph is consistent: Sydney wins again - "hardest hit" by carbon tax. Yawn.

2011-07-11T00:22:00.001Z

Does this sort of tainted, slanted "reporting" actually sell papers? I must admit I haven't bought a Terrorgraph for decades and it's only in the online world that I get to see the wretched thing, but surely people don't buy it for the biased, negative journalism. Or do they?

Apparently it matters to Terrorgraph readers who gets "hit" the hardest. Unsurprisingly it's Sydney! Congratulations Sydney!
Hardest hit by carbon tax is Sydney | thetelegraph.com.au

Hardest hit by carbon tax is Sydney

But not just Sydney-siders, it's the struggling ones in particular that will do the heavy lifting for us all, apparently!

Hardest hit by carbon tax is Sydney | thetelegraph.com.au

Struggling Sydney families will bear the brunt of the tax

Confusingly those same struggling Sydney-siders will presumably miss out on the "spending spree". Perhaps they all drive trucks or earn over $80K pa.

Hardest hit by carbon tax is Sydney | thetelegraph.com.au

The government will embark on a $15 billion spending spree today

But no, the Terrorgraph has worked out exactly who will miss out and thus be confined to penury:

Hardest hit by carbon tax is Sydney | thetelegraph.com.au

the sting comes for almost two million households which will end up out of pocket, being only partially compensated for a 0.7 per cent increase in the cost of living - or receiving no assistance at all.

The compensation package will leave a double-income family in Sydney with two children earning $120,000 of combined income $400 a year out of pocket after tax cuts due to cost of living rises of about $700 a year.

Dual-income $150,000 families with two kids will be $506 worse off under a carbon regime.

A single-income family on $65,000 a year with a child under five will also end up worse off.

And apparently, despite the renewables package and the $23 a tonne disincentive to pollute the whole thing achieves nothing:

Hardest hit by carbon tax is Sydney | thetelegraph.com.au

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said millions of Australians would be worse off under the tax: "You have to ask yourself, what is the point of all of this? It will drive up prices, threaten jobs and do nothing for the environment."

So by that logic Tony Abbott's renewables package is also a crock. Who'd a thought?

Tiger Airways faces extinction in Australia over safety fear | Plane Talking

2011-07-02T02:40:00.001Z

I'd like to say I was surprised, but... I'm not. Read the entire article to get a feel for the serial safety infractions alleged by CASA and keep in mind that endlessly pushing for lower-cost fares does put the squeeze on operating costs, including staff salaries, training, maintenance and so on. In theory however a high-cost carrier could still plunder training and maintenance budgets to increase margins, so it's not as simple as low cost = higher risk.

Anyway, immediately below is the most pertinent and informed comment I could find... but click below for the full story in any case...

15 klms north of Avalon is right in the marked GA transit lane (in class G airspace). Single-engine NVFR propeller planes with PPL pilots could quite easily have been there at the same time. To see and evade the traffic the Tiger pilots would have had to pick out the other plane’s navigation lights against the background of Geelong’s city lighting. Even if they did see and avoid, the turbulence created by such a heavy jet would be difficult to handle in a typical GA aircraft at night so close to the ground. Serious turbulence at night must be handled by reference to the artificial horizon because the natural horizon is not visible.A lot of errors must have been made for this to occur. This is indeed an imminent threat to air safety. I imagine the Tiger crew were lost and thought they were closer to Avalon than they really were. That creates a MAJOR risk of a CFIT accident at some aerodromes in Australia.

Tiger Airways faces extinction in Australia over safety fear | Plane Talking

Broad 5 year plans for NSW infrastructure includes prime mover role for attracting private sector investment - watch this space

2011-07-01T00:27:00.001Z

Rumblings? Concerns? Should we be surprised? Nah. The O'Farrell opposition promised us that in government they would sort the infrastructure mess out whilst simultaneously getting rid of the backroom deals betwen mates and fixing the shonky state of finances. And we all know that's code for replacing one set of mates and deals with another somehow more transparent set, going forward. It's always going forward, never backward in this game. And no matter how transparent the process it's always going to be as much about who you know as what you know. That's called business connections and networking. Going forward, of course.

Sidenote: the higher-quality yet leaner SMH crew managed to turn a simple plural into possessive case as well, as in "the submission's" below. Can't help myself, can I?

O'Farrell on the spot after rail privatisation rumblings

''Paint the picture, get the five-year plans, lock them into forward estimates, view the submission's coming forward and make sure they are delivered efficiently,'' Mr Broad said of Infrastructure NSW's responsibilities.

''We would be a prime mover in bringing the private sector into those investments,'' he said. ''We want us to be a point of call for them [private sector].''

Mr Broad said another aspect of his job would be to provide reports that could act as guides for governments to follow. ''Our reports will be published,'' he told the Herald this week.

''If you think of the Industry Commission type reports, which become reference documents … I think that's a very powerful arm.''

Stating the obvious: world continues to warm as governments - and individuals - sit on their collective hands

2011-06-29T00:31:00.001Z

Having watched the evidence roll in over the past 37 years or so it's no surprise to me that the world is warming or that sea levels are rising. That was settled 20 years ago. Nor is it surprising that anthropogenic carbon emission is the likely cause. That became obvious enough 15 years ago. So as each new report comes in my surprise diminishes exponentially. After all, what is more likely? That we can extract and burn increasingly massive quantities of fossil fuels without any consequences, or that there is indeed a negative side-effect of some kind? To believe that we can burn away these resources (whilst simultaneously clearing and burning forests and disrupting food chains) and expect that the planet's "automatic stabilisers" will just deal with it is a big, big gamble resting on nothing more than hope. Time to deal with root causes and stop frittering away time.

State Of The Climate Report: World Continues To Warm, Making Extreme Weather Events 'More Likely'

The world's climate is not only continuing to warm, it's adding heat-trapping greenhouse gases even faster than in the past, researchers said Tuesday.

Indeed, the global temperature has been warmer than the 20th century average every month for more than 25 years, they said at a teleconference.

"The indicators show unequivocally that the world continues to warm," Thomas R. Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center, said in releasing the annual State of the Climate report for 2010.

"There is a clear and unmistakable signal from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans," added Peter Thorne of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, North Carolina State University.

Carbon dioxide increased by 2.60 parts per million in the atmosphere in 2010, which is more than the average annual increase seen from 1980-2010, Karl added. Carbon dioxide is the major greenhouse gas accumulating in the air that atmospheric scientists blame for warming the climate.

Picky old me. The language is dire but the point is that Final Cut Pro has been "automated"

2011-06-22T05:50:00.001Z

OK, point is that it's a new version of Final Cut Pro. That's cool, in a way, but I don't use it. And I'm not altogether sure what Matthew Lentini is on about with his choice of words here. Surely one can choose to flaunt something "good" that you yourself have (should you be so ungracious as to do so, of course) but how can you (or a company such as Apple) be "flaunted" for some apparent quality? Know what I mean, Matthew? Steve Jobs or Apple may choose to flaunt their software's simplicity in some ostentatious display of Apple-ness but you can't say that Apple (or Jobs) is 'flaunted for it'. At least not in my book!

'Vaunted' wouldn't work very well either, so perhaps it was "praised" or "lauded" that you were looking for?

New Apple Final Cut Pro X Goes Automatic - Channel News

While Apple is flaunted for its software’s simplicity

flaunted - definition of flaunted by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

v. flaunt·ed, flaunt·ing, flaunts
v.tr.
1. To exhibit ostentatiously or shamelessly: flaunts his knowledge. See Synonyms at show.
2. Usage Problem To show contempt for; scorn.
v.intr.
1. To parade oneself ostentatiously; show oneself off.
2. To wave grandly: pennants flaunting in the wind.

Now that's journalism for ya: Terrorgraph pursues Keneally over a holiday and a dental appt

2011-06-21T00:33:00.001Z

You'd think they'd have moved on by now but no, the Daily Terrorgraph can't help itself. Not only is former Premier Keneally cast as an "American" in this shabby piece but they go out of their way to spin it up as some sort of dire dereliction of duty. Sure, she should be in parliament, it's her job; but she did check first and is in any case keeping a commitment to her family. It's not as though her vote will be crucial in the coming days. (NSW State Parliament sits this week but is off for the following month.)

Kristina Keneally, an American in Paris, leaves ALP baggage behind | thetelegraph.com.au

She's travelling through Europe to get over it - when she should really be in parliament.

But that's not all, is it? Oh no, she's picked her son up from a dental appointment as well! What was she thinking?

Kristina Keneally, an American in Paris, leaves ALP baggage behind | thetelegraph.com.au

She also took leave to pick up her son from a dental appointment - all leading to speculation she could retire from her Heffron seat before her term is out.

It seems that in the Terrorgraph's world sitting members are precluded from having family. Whilst MPs are definitely a perverse crowd of workaholics, I can't recall this sort of nonsense having been written about male parliamentarians, so I guess it just never happens with them, does it? Presumably in the Terrorgraph's world male MPs have wives to do that sort of thing. How will we ever achieve equity for women in our society when the tabloid media actively undermines female MPs like this?

Local Aussie media obsession with 'Price gouging' is getting a bit lame. Or 'so what' to media exaggeration

2011-06-18T00:40:00.001Z

No one wants to be ripped off, but surely it's a seller's right to charge what they want? If the price is too high, just look elsewhere. Of course if there are no alternatives - and especially so if the product is something essential in our lives - then the situation becomes more substantial. And that's why we have set up regulatory bodies to oversee competition and pricing on many things.

We still fret over big oil 'gouging' us mere cents on petrol prices (despite having the power to swap to smaller cars or public transport) yet cheerfully ask - and often get - ludicrously high prices when we sell our real estate. All of those home sellers out there gouging the buyers not only get let off without public scrutiny but the highest sales actually get celebrated! Whoopee, another record price! Now housing is even less affordable! Yes!

I can't talk, I doubled my money in real estate in the late '80s (and spent it all in the '90's). But I don't whinge about the price of minor consumer items, either.

Why, for example, is setting a recommended price of $129 on a range extender such a big deal that it gets touted as 'price gouging'? Did someone's eye get taken out? This is, after all, a recommended price only. I'm sure you could buy one for way less than RRP. It's just an example - a small one, admittedly - by which we trivialise and demean our language and our lives. It's exaggeration, and it's par for the course.

Netgear Price Gouging With 54% Mark Up On New Wi Fi Gear - Channel News

US networking company Netgear is asking Australian customers to pay 54% more for a new consumer home network repeater called the Universal Wi-Fi Range Extender, than what they sell the same device for in the USA.

Made in China, the new device which is designed to boost a Wi Fi signal around the home is being sold in the USA, with a recommended retail price of US $90 (A$84). The same device is being sold by Netgear in Australia for $129.

Drunk driver using mobile takes out an LA group ride after midnight! Absolutely horrific

2011-06-17T04:37:00.001Z

Expect the unexpected, especially at 2AM.

It's horrific, avoidable, awful. I've ridden after midnight and it can be the weirdest, most beautiful time to ride. With empty streets a bike rider can almost 'own the road' - and cars can easily be heard coming, too. It can be unnerving though and I was always hyper-aware and alert forhalf-awake drivers. This bunch - unfortunately stopped - must have realised too late that the driver wasn't looking ahead. She was just coming, irrespective. I won't prejudge what's happened but do hope that the primary cause is pinned squarely on a failure to observe the road and its obstacles, irrespective of what the riders were doing (which seems to have been half on sidewalk, half on road - at 2AM I can imagine this happening). It's a sad and probably contributing factor that the riders were not mobile (ie they should all have gotten off the road if they were just waiting) but I don't get the impression that a moving bunch would have been somehow more visible or avoidable. That the driver was suspected as DUI and using her mobile as well as not looking at the road seems a catastrophic combination at any time of day or night. Hope there are some speedy recoveries from this accident. Take care.

Driver slams into group of bicyclists, injures 11 | abc7.com

BALDWIN VILLAGE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A suspected drunken driver was taken into custody after plowing into a large group of bicyclists in Baldwin Village early Thursday morning. Nearly a dozen people were hurt.

"It was as simple as a bowling ball knocking out a few pins," said witness Fred Armstead. "There was no attempt to stop. So she just went one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and just kept going."

Authorities said the female driver, 27-year-old Christine Dahab, told police she was looking down at her phone when she crashed into the bike riders on the 5900 block of West Jefferson Place just before 2 a.m.

The bicyclists, organized by Midnight Ridazz, ride together regularly and were on a routine ride. The group of bicyclists was waiting for friends below the Baldwin Hills scenic overlook at the time of the accident.

High speed rail is no done deal in the US, either. But is it all just to do with being in the Tea Party?

2011-06-16T01:26:00.002Z

I'm not so sure about the business case for intercity high speed rail. My heart says "yes" but my head says "whoa". For example I'd like to see a fast train service from Sydney to Newcastle via Gosford - that route just about looks do-able and makes sense on several fronts, even allowing for the inevitably massive on-going subsidy. Plus I'd probably use it. But adding on Canberra, later? Hmm, not so likely. Melbourne? Well I can smell a white elephant in the room somewhere I'm afraid.

The positives sound good indeed. Rail is fast yet greener than even faster, higher-flying airline operations that drop their particulates and condensates at high altitudes, doing bad things (and maybe some good things, it depends) to our atmosphere. One imagines that greener must be cheaper, too, but maybe not for a while given construction costs. And fast new trains are obviously better than slow old trains, so clinging to 19th century infrastructure and ideas just looks old fashioned and silly. We don't want to look silly and old fashioned, do we?

OTOH fast new trains need a whole new track. A straighter, flatter track, too. Yes, they have more momentum and can climb really well but we are doing this to save energy, not prove ourselves masters of our planet, so the less climbing the better. Which means a sensibly straighter new rail line - or 2, really, as we'd surely double track it - plus new stations and maintenance yards and sidings and whatnot is on the menu. Lots of construction work to drive-up the cost of labour, too. And fast things are noisy, even if they are 'only' trains, so noise amelioration will mean sub-optimal deviations and noise containment, massive tunnels and a decent amount of reservation either side. For the whole distance.

That's a lot of land resumption just to go "green". We may even have to use national parks, or go under them. And wildlife will need plenty of concrete tunnels through which to pass under the fast rail. If you imagined a 150m wide strip of land from Sydney to Melbourne taken over for green infrastructure you wouldn't be too far off the mark. It may be narrower in one place and wider in another. It may be a tunnel from (say) Liverpool to Sydney's Central Station and something similar in Melbourne.

Remember, this is just so we can still go fast (for that's the point, right?) yet feel a bit better about it 'cause it's "greener" than flying.

It'll still need electricity, of course (from coal-burning power stations or maybe - just maybe - huge solar arrays) and maintenance crews and all the rest. Plus lots and lots of really green and lovely (not) concrete and steel. Yet it remains somehow a no-brainer "green" project, at least in certain media eyes. Personally I mildly (not wildly) support it as a national project that potentially offers a long-term alternative to air travel in a changing world, but I think the downsides should be thoroughly explored and understood. For instance I'm uncertain that people would actually use it unless it was highly subsidised - and I don't think that it's as green as it could be (that may not surprise you if you've read this far). Simply going slower would be greener.

What if we revamped existing rail lines, starting with those high-usage commuter routes? Would that make more bang-for-buck sense? Why obsess about the big picture and looking good when what is under our noses hardly smells of roses.

Yet other people leap at the idea, as I suppose I did once as well, 20 or so years ago. Indeed I'd still love to see it in a way; but I doubt I'd use it. I may have used it 20 years ago, and maybe if I had a pressing need to go to Melbourne (which I currently don't) I'd consider it in the future. Especially so if petrol prices soar - as they will. So there's some demand in the future, sure, if it is priced - read subsidised - right. Otherwise airlines will just win, again and again. Faster, cheaper, less infrastructure needed. Or why not just use the even-faster NBN-provided internet and stay at home? Surely virtual travel is even greener.

With all of that in mind, this piece on the US right-wing knocking back "green funding" on ideological grounds only is probably more truth than fiction. But there may be big, bad business cases out there that we just don't see... until we look!

Letter from America: The choo-choo blues - Ethical Corporation

Other than unions, possibly the biggest black mark against rail travel here – if you have a Republican world view – is its greenness. Politicians influenced by the Tea Party like to bundle rail subsidy with action on climate change, renewable energy support and the introduction of electric cars. Their ideological reasoning is that rail will increase the deficit or lead to higher taxes.

That this is also true for roads, bridges, ports and huge government subsidies to the oil and agriculture industries, is something they conveniently ignore.

What is so sad about the dominant anti-green political mood is how it is aiding and abetting this great country’s technological decline. If I were a conspiracy theorist I’d say that China is funding the Tea Party and fiscal conservatives who now sing the dominant political tune in Washington.

Compelling video and opinion - climate change and extreme weather

2011-06-09T00:42:00.000Z

It's only an opinion overlaid with appropriate images, and in some ways the "facts" are arranged and exaggerated for impact, but as someone who has been watching the science unfold over the last 35-odd years I can only agree that it's both a compelling argument and more reality-based than most denialist diatribes. If you disbelieve that anthropogenic carbon pollution is impacting the Earth's climate then it won't sway you, unfortunately. But if we continue to wait and delay acting to change our habits then we do so at great risk. I don't like the odds myself. I'd rather act.

Fans of Charge Parity and Time Symmetry will be thrilled to know that CERN has trapped anti-matter H atoms for 1,000s

2011-06-07T03:18:00.001Z

Can't tell you how fascinated I am with this... but maybe that's just me. Why is it important? Well first of all we may discover where much of the anti-matter went and hid after the big bang, which would be useful to know; and secondly if anti-matter behaves in the symmetrically theorised way suggested then we'll have confirmed something about the arrow of time and its relationship to matter that we have been uncertain of, which could be of use when we invent a machine that reverses time. Or it may open up a new can of worms. Who knows?

CERN traps antimatter atoms for 1,000 seconds

Researchers involved in the ALPHA experiment at Switzerland's CERN complex announced yesterday (June 5) that they have succeeded in using the facility's antiproton decelerator to trap antimatter atoms for 1,000 seconds - or just over 16 minutes. This was reportedly enough time to begin studying their properties in detail, which has been the goal of ALPHA since the project began in 2005.

CPT symmetry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Consider a Lorentz boost in a fixed direction z. This can be interpreted as a rotation of the time axis into the z axis, with an imaginary rotation parameter. If this rotation parameter were real, it would be possible for a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of time and of z. Reversing the direction of one axis is a reflection of space in any number of dimensions. If space has 3 dimensions, it is equivalent to reflecting all the coordinates, because an additional rotation of 180° in the x-y plane could be included.

This defines a CPT transformation if we adopt the Feynman-Stueckelberg interpretation of antiparticles as the corresponding particles traveling backwards in time. This interpretation requires a slight analytic continuation, which is well-defined only under the following assumptions:

The theory is Lorentz invariant;
The vacuum is Lorentz invariant;
The energy is bounded below.

When the above hold, quantum theory can be extended to a Euclidean theory, defined by translating all the operators to imaginary time using the Hamiltonian. The commutation relations of the Hamiltonian, and the Lorentz generators, guarantee that Lorentz invariance implies rotational invariance, so that any state can be rotated by 180 degrees.

Since a sequence of two CPT reflections is equivalent to a 360-degree rotation, fermions change by a sign under two CPT reflections, while bosons do not. This fact can be used to prove the spin-statistics theorem.

Don't want to alarm you but... new record minimum set for Arctic sea ice extent

2011-06-04T00:39:00.001Z

Not that it means anything at all, as why would a shrinking ice cap concern anyone? Who lives there anyway? Hmmm. Of course this is all part of a natural cycle we can't do anything about, isn't it? Despite that fact that all other evidence (solar cycle, ice cores, pollen analysis you-name-it) points to what should be a cooling trend, we are magically going in the other direction. Now it may be that we just don't understand natural cycles well enough, or it could be that we are burning lots and lots (and lots) of fossil fuels and clearing lots of land and releasing lots of carbon via primary production. But we are too puny and the Earth too vast, surely? Gosh, how could 7 billion human beings possibly alter a whole planet's climate? Who could imagine that. Gosh indeed.

I live on high ground, I suggest you think about it.

Climate Change: The Next Generation: NSIDC: Arctic Sea Ice Extent, June 2, 2011

Just in case you all were wondering, 2011 Arctic sea ice extent is now below the record low of 2007.

Old guard mass media is co-opted by big auto and oil to deliver pro-H message, yet again

2011-06-02T23:26:00.001Z

Hydrogen is a great fuel, as fuels go, and fuel cells hold tremendous promise for many uses - but I do wonder why the mass media keep on spruiking the advantages of H over EVs, even when the technology and infrastructure falls way short of the mark. Yes, it sounds great - just water out of the tailpipe, as it were - but what's actually in it for the car industry? Why not just improve EVs?

It's plain that no one thing will replace fossil fuels. What will probably happen is that different niches will be filled by different solutions. And on top of that we will change our behaviours over time, nudged along by availability and price. Where today we just jump in a car and expect to go at least 500km before topping the tank, tomorrow our expectation for a refuel or recharge could be somewhat less. We will adapt, as we have always done. In the medium term oil will still be around, so long trips may be performed in a traditionally-driven (or hybrid) car and shorter journeys by EV. Or EV battery technology will improve and the limitation will go away. Indeed there are so many variables - including the cost of oil - that the timescale could vary enormously. And somewhere in the mix of possible futures s is H.

You'll note in the lengthy story at the link below that little attention is paid to the downsides of H. It's a positive piece that puts EVs in an unchanging capability box and presses home its point about a renewed "trend" towards improving H-cars. Whilst it's largely true, in a sense, it doesn't give a full account either. The article glosses over the fact that it takes energy to make H, just as it takes energy to compress, store and distribute it. It doesn't gush out of the ground like oil, it has to be made. Be that by current, energy-rich methods or by solar and biomass innovation, it still has to be made, stored and shipped around. So you are using a lot of energy just to make, umm, energy. Whilst EVs have an energy cost, too, they remove some of these penalties and make savings by simplicity, re-use of existing (but revamped) infrastructure and lower ongoing maintenance cost.

Whereas for H just about every part of the current petrol delivery system would need to be upgraded - read 100% replaced - to cope. Whilst it's do-able it doesn't sound cheap, either. Even after having been made it needs to be compressed into a denser, more transportable liquid form. We may be used to the idea of pipes, pumps and tanks but that doesn't mean we wouldn't like to be free of them, too. Let alone beefing them up to cope with compressed H.

Nevertheless H production cost (ie energy input) will definitely improve over time; but right now - and into the medium term - it still carries multiple - and crippling - energy efficiency penalties. So why do car companies - and perhaps the oil industry as well - keep on at it? Well my best theory is that it casts a "greener glow" over the industry, something they need desperately. H is also a palatable prospect in that it doesn't change much of the scenery - the car companies keep their competitive advantages largely intact and new entrants are discouraged. Oil companies can upgrade their distribution infrastructure and offer H side-by-side with petrol. And being a (admittedly highly compressed) liquid kept in tanks we remain "familiar" and "comfortable" with the whole idea. It's a behaviour-change minimisation strategy, in a nutshell.

So for the incumbents they basically keep things as they are. Liquid fuel burnt in an engine - that's what they know best. They continue to build a complicated beast that needs to be fed, cooled and lubricated under a strict maintenance schedule. It will run cleaner and last longer but the whole model remains intact. Whereas an EV is a simpler alternative that needs next to no maintenance, engine-wise. The parts list is more than halved and the maintenance requirements shift mainly to battery replacement and wear and tear on the tyres, bearings and electronics. And crucially - with the high-tech combustion technology no longer required - it opens up the car game to new entrants. And why would they want that?

Not so surprising then that the incumbents want to sell H-cars. And once again the entrenched, old guard mass media just lap up the gushing press releases about H taking on EV. Well, there's some truth there - and a heck of a lot of spin.

Electric blue | hydrogen-powered vehicles | zero emissions

Are electric cars losing their spark as hydrogen-powered vehicles make a late charge in the race to zero emissions?

The car industry’s well-publicised love affair with electric vehicles could be losing its spark before it’s properly consummated.

SMH backs Cate against Gina whilst whacking the Terrorgraph. Can't say I don't agree. Then they print more baseless denial

2011-05-30T01:05:00.002Z

Something good and thoughtful in the SMH? Unreal. But the Herald can be as venal and base in its own sweet way as the more blatantly populist Terrorgraph. It's just about picking your market demographic and playing to it, isn't it? Forget about fact-checking, it's baseless opinion we want. Whatever will sell your newspaper in this virally sensationalist age.

But first the good, thoughtful comment (wrapped up in an attack upon a rival, of course)...

Cate Blanchett Exposed For 'Crime' Of Speaking Up On Carbon Tax

Australia's richest woman says hard working mums and dads trying to keep their suburban small business afloat should pay more tax so she can pay less.

Presumably Blanchett has nothing to gain from a carbon tax. Rinehart had a lot to gain in derailing the mining tax.

The lesson in the Telegraph world?

No good deed goes unpunished.

And now the flip side. The fair-minded and utterly balanced (well they'd say so, anyway) Herald also lets this sort of upside-down and utterly parroted, thought-free "logic" grace its pages... from Ross Cameron, ex-Lib MP...

Debate over climate change science must continue

The risks of making predictions about complex systems on the basis of computer models was graphically illustrated by the Club of Rome's famously discredited 1972 work The Limits of Growth, which argued that linear growth in food resources and exponential growth in population would lead to Malthusian famine and war. The model completely failed to account for the subsequent 400 per cent increase in agricultural productivity.

So yes, we can be wrong and there are risks involved on both sides. So how long do we wait to clarify the data before acting on anthropogenic climate change? It's been over 30 years already...

Debate over climate change science must continue

Remember Y2K? In 1999 governments spent millions enriching computer scientists for advice on how to manage the threats to our national security from the millennium bug.

Another popular argument along the lines of "there was no ozone hole in the first place". But how can we be sure that we didn't actually fix Y2K (and the ozone hole) because we took action? Is there a parallel world we can run these experiments on? Nope. Unless you count computer modelling of course, which Ross Cameron apparently doesn't. FWIW I have personal experience with the work done to manage the Y2K issue and (a) it was real and a lot of code was fixed and (b) things still fell over. Because of the sensitive nature of the "things" that fell over - that utterly stopped working - it was fell upon instantly and fixed. Some of these were commercially sensitive and never made known outside the companies and organisations concerned. To say that Y2K remediation was wasted money is naive, innocent and ignorant thinking. Just like denying climate change simply for the sake of it.

Ross Cameron parrots more unsubstantiated - and plain wrong - "facts" in what seems to be a transparent mismash of umpteen denialist websites. How useful.

When will we ever climb out of this dark pit of stupidity?

Pete Townshend interviewed in The Economist? Wouldn't have happened in the 60s

2011-05-29T22:38:00.001Z

Reasonably interesting piece on 66 year old mod/rocker Pete Townshend... but in The Economist? What's the New Musical Express printing these days, futures trading critiques?

The Who: What's Pete Townshend up to these days? | The Economist

ROCK music in 2011 is not quite what it was in the mid-1960s. For one thing, it is full of challenging coincidences, such as the one reported by Pete Townshend in a recent e-mail. “I was supposed to be sailing in the St Barth’s Bucket Race on March 24th,” he wrote. That’s right: the writer of “My Generation”, “Substitute” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” now spends part of his time as a yachtsman in the Caribbean. “This was arranged last August,” he added. “In a challenging coincidence Roger Daltrey will be performing ‘Tommy’ on that very day for Teenage Cancer [Trust] at the Royal Albert Hall.”

Rosling's BBC doco on stats - 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes

2011-05-23T23:29:00.000Z

Some nice visualisation happening here - wasted on an old-style TV program though. It needs to be interactive so I can mouse-over and check out the individual stats as I please. Worth looking at though...

Interesting that Gittins, Irvine, Verrender and the SMH in general seem to be warming to Gillard, Swan again #media

2011-05-15T22:54:00.001Z

Much of the old guard or "mass" media engages in a dangerous game, playing along with petty politics and generally promoting the reckless and intolerant knee-jerkers over the prudent and sensible analysers. They write - and promote - what they think "sells". They give time - too much time - to empty words said forcefully. They join with the self-interested bullies on tax, refugees and reform. And they tuck their more moderate writers away, out of sight.

So it's good to be able to catalogue some of the more sensible, thoughtful and balanced views that sometimes seep through the cracks....

Gittins: Critics give silent treatment when government gets tough in the budget

The reaction to last week's budget offers a good example. On budget night every pet shop galah was complaining it wasn't tough enough - a ''missed opportunity'', the last Julia Gillard will get before the next election.

Gittins: Critics give silent treatment when government gets tough in the budget

You get the feeling Labor cops more criticism for its slowness to roll back middle-class welfare than Howard got for putting it there ( economist Saul Eslake is the honourable exception). Certainly, the smaller-government brigade is a lot tougher on the government for its supposed timidity than it is on the opposition for its blatant populism and inconsistency.

Gittins: Carping about the budget? The record says Labor isn't doing too badly

IF YOU listen to the economists and commentators complaining the budget wasn't tough enough and involves budget deficits higher than earlier expected, you could easily conclude it's a weak effort that does little to keep the economy on the right track. But you'd be misled.

Gittins: Deep cuts may inoculate against future pain

It could have been more excruciating - economists are hard to please when it comes to inflicting pain - but it's tougher and more courageous than all but the first of the 12 budgets the now-sainted Peter Costello delivered.

Irvine: Numbers belie fear of asylum seekers

But the report notes that despite this, asylum levels in Australia remain not only below those observed in 2000 (13,100 claims) and 2001 (12,400 claims), but also below those recorded by many other industrialised and non-industrialised countries.

Indeed, Australia ranks below 13 other rich nations for the number of asylum-seeker applications lodged here. We rank even lower - 17th - for the number of applications per population.

Verrender: Hey, big spenders, it's time to worry about all that foreign debt

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, and his finance man, Joe Hockey, jumped all over it. And with good reason. It is an easy mark for an opposition attack, certain to stir unrest and indignation within the electorate. Unfortunately, they are picking on the wrong target.

Verrender: Hey, big spenders, it's time to worry about all that foreign debt

The simple explanation to this conundrum is that the Treasurer was only talking about government debt, the loot he's responsible for borrowing. At about $120 billion, it's certainly a lot bigger than the $38 billion debt in the first year of the Rudd government. But despite the theatrics from Tony and Joe, government debt is negligible compared to the size of our economy and barely makes an impression when calculating who owes what to the rest of the world.

The real culprits in the foreign debt splurge are you and me.

Verrender: Now more than ever before do we need a sovereign wealth fund

Unfortunately, many of those now championing the sovereign fund idea let the nation down badly right at the starting post. They stood meekly by when the mining giants rode roughshod over the federal government's plans for a resources rent tax. Many of them openly opposed the tax and then ridiculed the watered down version.

In doing so, they compromised our future, economically and politically, helping shift the power dynamic from elected officials to a triumvirate of hugely powerful but publicly unaccountable corporations.

Bravo to all. At least they have their thinking caps on and are prepared to speak their minds rather than automagically fall into line with the populists.

Portrait of a butterfly at rest

2011-05-09T23:14:00.001Z

Butterfly_1048a, a photo by gtveloce on Flickr.

It may be the wind, or the sudden colder weather but large Lepidoptera are landing in our Central Coast garden on an almost daily basis. Unlike yesterday's huge unidentified moth, I am pretty well certain this is Papilio aegeus (the Orchard Swallowtail). This one is a bit battered but is feisty enough and managed to fly away after a rest.

Fungus on a tree after a week of rain

2011-05-02T04:35:00.001Z

Fungus_1104, a photo by gtveloce on Flickr.

Wet, warm and fungally... just the ticket for some close up fungal fun! (In my garden, of course.)

Retail lobby peddles more scare stories, blames Aussie dollar and Federal Govt - but what is the truth?

2011-05-02T00:05:00.001Z

Love these scare stories by vested interests. Like the row over a fair and just super-profits tax on miners which was sunk by narrow self-interest at the expense of the greater community. (After all it's OK for miners to charge whatever they like for what they dig up, but it's apparently wrong for the actual owners of these use-once resources to charge what they want too, isn't it? Ugh.)

Internet shopping to cost 50,000 Australian jobs in next five years - National Retail Association | News.com.au

THE surge towards internet shopping will strip Australia of about 50,000 jobs over the next five years, according to the National Retail Association.

Of course Internet shopping will change things. It already has. Face-to-face retailers have to offer something better - or at least different - in order to win a sale. Price alone won't cut it. But in many cases they have the advantage of personal service, immediate in-stock delivery, no added freight charge and bulk-buying power - if they have set themselves up to operate in that way of course. And they can always go online themselves (although they may be 10 years late to the party.)

But 50,000 jobs? How robust is this? Was it a quick "what do ya think" ring around the mates or a careful analysis? And what about jobs gained as the Internet-based operations grow locally? Whilst not employing face-to-face retail staff they are still employing local people to maintain websites and manage the business, provide a service line and operate distribution to pack and deliver goods. It's a boon for couriers and the postal service, too. Did they net out the gains from that nice, round 50,000 figure? Nope, apparently not.

Internet shopping to cost 50,000 Australian jobs in next five years - National Retail Association | News.com.au

An industry survey found about 2000 jobs had already been lost nationally because of the trend, which was sparked by the increased value of the Australian dollar. This had made buying overseas on the internet a cheaper alternative to buying goods locally.

Ah, so that 50,000 figure is actually just made up, presumably based on an 'industry survey' reporting 2,000 jobs 'already...lost'. Nice to know that they didn't waste time on careful analysis. But they have also identified the stronger Aussie dollar as the culprit. So what they are really saying is that the stimulus package that gave the retailers a leg up during the GFC is now a bad thing as it made the Aussie economy - and dollar - look comparatively stable and strong, and that the mining boom that is driving up further demand for Aussie dollars is killing us (or them, anyway). So by extension they'd have preferred a recession and a mining collapse, I guess. Bizarre.

But wait, if the stronger Aussie dollar is encouraging individuals to buy more stuff from overseas, why isn't it helping local retailers to do the same thing? Whilst there would be a delivery lag, it's not that the Aussie dollar has only just gotten stronger - it's been strengthening for yonks. The big retailers especially should be reaping the benefits, buying in bulk, saving on shipping costs per item and offering better service than the local and overseas Internet e-tailers. But apparently not. Did they all make a mistake in their forward planning? Are they lumbered with old stock that they can't afford to sell off cheaply now? Are they lazy, or logically blinded in some way?

Well maybe they should've managed their forward planning and stock control a bit better. (Admittedly small retailers will struggle with this but they struggle with the competition from large retail chains anyway. They have to be better and smarter in their operations just to survive.)

Internet shopping to cost 50,000 Australian jobs in next five years - National Retail Association | News.com.au

The collapse of the Borders bookstores in Australia, which cost about 1000 jobs, was blamed on the trend to online shopping.

Yeah, right. I think others have questioned that one, even if partly true.

Internet shopping to cost 50,000 Australian jobs in next five years - National Retail Association | News.com.au

Under current rules, offshore companies do not have to pay the goods and services tax or import duty on purchases of less than $1000 and Mr Black said Treasury had already estimated that would cost $460 million a year in forgone revenue.

Wow, that's a lot of foregone revenue... but I think even Treasury would admit that the cost of recovery is greater than the money collected. That doesn't mean we shouldn't do it - but it's a bit lame to quote a figure and just leave it out there as some sort of "proof".

Internet shopping to cost 50,000 Australian jobs in next five years - National Retail Association | News.com.au

"That's a lot of money and it's rapidly rising and we have a Federal Government that is asleep at the wheel on the issue," Mr Black said.

OK, so it's not that most of the bricks and mortar retailers have missed the boat on e-tailing, or that they haven't leveraged their advantages or even seen what was happening with the strengthening Aussie dollar, it's just that the Feds are asleep, even when it's been referred to the Productivity Commission. Apparently after 10 years or more of total blind ignorance it's suddenly an urgent issue. Yeah, right. I'm convinced.

Internet shopping to cost 50,000 Australian jobs in next five years - National Retail Association | News.com.au

"When you see the trends, the 50,000 jobs is not an extravagant claim.

"The community will feel this. A lot of kids get their start in retail and it will be the mums who do a few hours work and the kids working after school who will feel it."

If all else fails make an emotional plea to save the jobs of the mums and kids. That'll work.

Democracy means rule by mediocrity. Farrelly states the obvious but it's worth repeating

2011-04-21T00:25:00.001Z

To read the comments after Elizabeth Farrelly's piece in today's SMH (or the National Times if you prefer) is to only confirm what she is saying: that the process of modern democracy lends itself to short-sighted popularity contests rather good long-term decision making. This is not news of course but you'd imagine it was from the rabid commentary. Indeed I would suggest that most people don't think analytically about the bigger issues that confront us as a society, rather they engage emotionally in a knee-jerk reaction to "protect their patch". Often the more "enraged" commentators miss the point completely and simply regurgitate the last thing they heard from Tony Abbott or Joe Hockey. Or Barnaby Joyce, perhaps. (Actually just the other day on ABC radio Senator Joyce repeated his assertion that a politician's job is to reflect the opinions of the electors. Which doesn't leave much room for being analytical or even logical in your decision making, does it? As long as you are popular you are doing a good job. So much for leadership.

Democracy Is Blocking Intelligence

Everything is dose related. Whether it's arsenic in your diet or radioactivity in the sea, small amounts now and then are OK, even beneficial, but large amounts, repeatedly, are bad and even terminal. It's the same with almost everything else - cars, houses, chocolate, holidays, even happiness.

For one person to live in an acre of grass and trees is perfectly harmless, even lovable. But for the numberless hordes to do it means an end to wilderness, clean air and polar bears.

Democracy Is Blocking Intelligence

Democracy is very close to our hearts. So close that we go to war in order to impose it on those too weak or benighted to grab it for themselves. But democracy, the tyranny of the majority, may yet prove an own goal for humanity, mainly because of the weird trick it does with scale; allowing us all to pursue our own happiness as if we were the only ones on the planet. Allowing us to act like a vast family of solipsistic only children, steadfastly voting for lower taxes and higher services.

OK, they didn't act cool enough. Maybe they are just cashed-up backpackers? But 'recklessly' dealing?

2011-04-20T02:05:00.001Z

Interesting tale here I'm sure but what gets me is that they were charged with "recklessly" dealing with the proceeds of crime. Recklessly? Apart from being a bit uncool and splashing it about a bit, they dared to be reckless with the purportedly ill-gotten cash as well? And that's so much worse than taking good care of your (allegedly) stolen loot. Now a careful, astute robber would think it better just to put that in a cash deposit for a while, as after all the owners may want it back.

Train of events led police to two men allegedly carrying $2m

Li Wang, 26, from Sydney, and Yu Xiang, 25, from Auburn, yesterday appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court charged with recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime.

Mass marketing and corrupt mass media: or how to completely lose perspective

2011-04-15T03:28:00.001Z

This otherwise innocuous travel article really sums it up for me, plainly illustrating the corrupt interconnection between traditional mass media and its self-serving, uncritical promotion of mass consumption. Yeah, OK, I'm on my soapbox again, but hear me out.

It's blindingly obvious that travel writers will promote travel, and in that simple way thus promote themselves and their livelihood. On the surface that's fine - it's how the world turns after all - but for the fact that it's rarely a balanced account, rather it is simply a gushing, glowing encouragement to consume. In this example it's along the lines of 'let's keep air travel cheap, perhaps stupidly cheap' and never go back. Now travel can be useful, wonderful and enlightening or just another tick-in-the-box consumerist urge. What keeps it in check - and provides a balance - is price coupled with convenience, or a lack of it. Bigger planes and terminals and less service helps cut the seat cost, and the convenience factor is often pretty well equal across all airlines. So price usually wins the day, especially if you shop online. But if we simply drive down the price for the sole purpose of increasing consumption we are really just removing a natural barrier to over-use of our finite resources. After all, if we all did it we'd have the cheapest air fares imaginable, but the maximum degradation of our planet. Is that ultimately good for tourism?

Which is not to say that we should return to elitist super-high-price air travel as we want fair access for the maximum number of people. But we also want to strike a fair balance between cost, access and resource use across the greater economy. To me current super-cheap airfares don't look realistic or sustainable. I suspect that we have subsidised air travel infrastructure and simultaneously run down alternatives like rail to artificially make Aussie air travel look and feel a bit like the US air travel market but less volatile. But in so doing we are also not recouping the real environmental cost of air travel. At some point - probably quite soon - there will be a reaction where hidden subsidies will fall and real costs will rise. Even if you just looked at aviation jet fuel prices alone it's obvious that prices will rise.

That's my viewpoint - but what does this SMH travel writer suggest?

Australian airlines | Who are we flying with? | Travellers' Check

There was a time in the 1990s when flying was a choice between tweedledum and tweedledee – two of the most expensive, non-competitive airlines in the developed word. The cheapest return air fare between Melbourne and Sydney was $239 and, if you travelled at the witching hour on Wednesday night you might be able to get a return ticket to Perth for under $500 if you booked a month ahead.

Now let's look at this statement for a moment. Set aside the issue of a lack of competition - something that really goes waaay back to the earlier and long-standing 2-airlines policy rather than simply the 1990s - and look at those fares: $239 return between 2 cities some 800km apart by air. Or $500 to get right across the continent. And ask what would be a fair price to shift yourself and some luggage that distance. Compare it with driving or rail or even riding a push bike if you like. Those prices don't sound that unrealistic to me, especially given the convenience and time saved. In fact those prices look and feel quite sustainable, even if we imposed greater charges on the airlines to more fully recover public infrastructure, air navigation and safety bureaucracy costs (it's not just airport infrastructure after all). If you see those prices as too high, what would be a fair price?

Australian airlines | Who are we flying with? | Travellers' Check

In 2011, I have to say, it's difficult to imagine that loathsome travel era returning. There's now a choice of no fewer than seven niche and mainline brands providing full-service for both holiday and business travel and no-frills low-cost right across domestic and international networks.

Now the SMH travel writer has a far different view to mine, clearly. That high-cost era is, to him, not just more expensive but actually quite "loathsome". Quite a powerful word to use in this context. Of course we are better off with more competition and we don't want to return to the 1990s per se but perhaps - given peak oil and a growing user-pays mentality - a reality check is in order as well.

Australian airlines | Who are we flying with? | Travellers' Check

Clive Dorman is one of Australia's most experienced travel journalists.

Apparently so.

Don't agree with everything Elizabeth Farrelly writes but she makes some good, broad and colourful points...

2011-04-13T22:39:00.002Z

Worth a read.... although personally I don't think you can so easily - so glibly - stratify society into common viewpoints, it's far more complex and interwoven than that suggests. I don't see some sort of unintelligent scum floating on top of a civilised, informed society, for example.

Nor can I support the idea of labelling people by profession - even politicians - via simplistic one liners ('professional liars', etc). Tempting though that may be.

Nor can I ignore the intransigent old media that in many ways still runs the show. It's too easy to overlook the split and conflicting roles of the paid media, as neutral documenter of a changing society via such things as births, deaths, marriages and raw, unbiased reporting on one hand and as an active participant in the mass marketing of products, ideas and opinion on the other. It's this deep, dark and ultimately corrupt conflict between simply reporting the facts and actually publishing what sells that so often distorts our received view.

We may know (say) 10 people really well and tap into the views of 25 or more in our daily lives, but we are presented at the flick of a switch or turn of the page with the sensational, distorted accounts of thousands more in the wider media. These dire, desperate views of vested and ill-informed interests are presented with little indication of scale or perspective; indeed the more dire and desperate the better in many cases.

By looking only at the old media we cannot really know what people are thinking. We have to bypass the vested interests - not just the mining companies or clubs or whatever but the media itself - and go and speak with the greater community to do that.

Clubs Launch Anti-Pokies Restrictions Campaign

That's why I'm thinking Clubs Australia may be right, in its pro-pokie campaign. Maybe it is un-Australian to oppose a regime that has always sought the little guy's blessing to thieve from the poor and give to the rich. Less lions led by donkeys than galahs led by wombats.

Big deal news. Plane lands safely. SMH manages to misuse "effect" for "affect", lands awkwardly

2011-04-12T23:33:00.001Z

I hate, loathe and detest those "were you on the plane?" questions that the old media insert in their reportage these days. In this case it's as if a plane landing safely is so ultra-newsworthy that we need an eye witness account to confirm the terror of it all: "So, did you see the valve itself? Was it stuck open or closed or in-between? Or was it a fault in the monitoring system? Did everyone look for parachutes as the ordeal unfolded?". Yawn.

OTOH it's so exciting to see that the esteemed SMH is unable to distinguish between "effect" and "affect". Perhaps they don't care anymore? Luckily they don't run an airline.

Priority landing: Qantas flight lands at Sydney Airport after fuel valve problem

A spokesman for Sydney Airport said no other services have been effected and everything is operating as normal.

OMG - it'd be nice if the SMH could read a dictionary and define acronym correctly #losing battle

2011-03-26T22:46:00.000Z

I know, I know, English is a changing language and everday use has morphed over the last few decades. Even so I expect better from the so-called "quality" media. Personally I (just about) gave up fighting against this spurious, lazy use of 'acronym' for any abbreviation some time ago. It's a battle (seemingly) lost. But - hesitatingly - once more into the breach dear friends...

SMH please note: QANTAS is both an abbreviation and - because it's actually said as a fully-fledged word - an acronym as well. Whereas OMG is just an abbreviation or initialism (unless you somehow say "ommmguh" or similar). Is it too late to fight this?

The Offender - the Sydney Morning Herald:
OMG, acronym fever sends a text to the OED

OMG, acronym fever sends a text to the OED

What Acronym actually means:
Acronym | Define Acronym at Dictionary.com

a pronounceable name made up of a series of initial letters or parts of words; for example, UNESCO for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

What is acronym? - A Word Definition From the Webopedia Computer Dictionary

In everyday speech, the term is also used to refer to initialisms, which are combinations of letters representing a longer phrase. For example, CRT is an initialism for cathode ray tube. The difference is that an acronym is pronounced as if it were a word rather than just a series of individual letters.

A wonderful, creative short vid on digital camera modes... funny

2011-03-07T03:33:00.000Z

Sutton wins Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne classic - Final 6 km video

2011-02-27T22:06:00.000Z

Sutton clearly wins but the Belgian commentators are somewhat surprised and take a while to be certain. Boonen wastes himself in a bold attack but is brought back. And fun and games as riders miss the roundabout and find a photographer instead (4km to go mark).

Remember, you are only as useful as your next tweet

2011-02-23T21:24:00.001Z

I love this stuff, but it's next to useless. A lot of people will put a lot of faith and money into it and follow it all the way up the garden path. And if it's a broad enough path they'll make some bucks. Perhaps big bucks. Starbucks in this example. So why is it next to useless? Well firstly the "analysis" is only as good as the data in and the parameters set. For example whilst it's good that twitter profiles are filtered and partials dropped, how strongly correlated to "fact" are these profiles? Do we even know? How broad is the twitter "church" anyway? Or, if you like, how representative and meaningful is it across the 3 years of data?

And the reference tweets themselves - what analysis has been done to uncover their "real" meaning? Does the mere mention of a target word register as a positive in every case or is some measure taken to rate it within context? (It may be part of a blisteringly negative comment - so have we looked for negative keywords as well and tied them to the target words? How do we recognise and scale negativity, or sarcasm, or pure wit? Do we bother?) Of course you can fix all - or at least most - of this, but it takes time and money.

And even then, what does it tell us that we couldn't have figured out from customer surveys and sales trend data? Can it really be used to detect underlying sentiment and predict behaviour? I guess we need to correlate this work against all of the other work to "prove" its value. Wonderful, more money in the pockets of the analysts amongst us.

But it looks great. And it will get better as it becomes more understood.

Blog - PeopleBrowsr

ReSearch.ly visualizes the interest graph, and also provides the ability to search within the search to sort activity by demographics and psychographics, sentiment, bio data, profession, and the list goes on. Essentially, it’s a product that anyone can use to learn about what’s really taking place on Twitter to better understand behavior and earn greater relevance by making more informed decisions.

As an example of audience profiling or competitive intelligence, we used ReSearch.ly to review the followers of @Starbucks, one of the most celebrated brands actively using Twitter today. We started by extracting 1 million follower profiles, sorted by follower count. The results were then further filtered to include only those who published a complete profile. ReSearch.ly provides the option to then organize the resulting information any number of ways, which in this case, we sorted the accounts by bio, location, and gender.

Oil painting photographed and worked over in PS

2011-02-21T22:14:00.001Z

DAR012c
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

I painted this scene - an old mine in Sunny Corner near Lithgow, NSW - a few decades ago. Whilst I have digitised it a few times I really got stuck into it this time around. Layers and filters, as per usual.

Another photomanipulation to ponder

2011-02-15T04:50:00.001Z

abstract_s00003
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Well it started somewhere and it ended up here.. no longer recognisable at all. So that to me makes it an abstract!

Just one of a crazy bunch of abstracts I made using a digital pen and various software, including LiquidPaint, PS and FilterForge.

It's a bit technical but worth the read... how fast are we warming? Real fast

2011-01-22T11:53:00.001Z

Surely it's getting difficult to deny? The comments below the blog post (in the link below) are interesting, too, if lengthy. In summary, though, we have a consistent global warming trend that persists after accounting for solar cycles, vulcanism and so on. When do we stop arguing and splitting hairs - and start acting?

How Fast is Earth Warming? | Open Mind

Another interesting point is that in the adjusted data sets, all 5 sources have 2010 as the hottest year on record. In fact, 4 out of 5 (all but NCDC) also have 2009 as the 2nd-hottest year — quite the 1-2 punch. Of course all trends are statistically significant — strongly so. The conclusion is inescapable: the globe is warming, and shows absolutely no sign whatever of stopping or even slowing its warming. Any talk of “cooling” or even a “levelling off” of global warming over the last decade is absolute nonsense.

I'm not sure what Armstrong is agreeing with here... is he admitting something? You decide

2011-01-21T06:47:00.002Z

Now I'm confused. Lance Armstrong denies all, that I understand. Yet he just tweeted "spot on" in response to :

@lancearmstrong Lance Armstrong

@tpletch the piece was spot on.

Or did he?

When you read "the piece" at that link, it includes:
"Is there anyone over the age of 10 who truly believes that a multi-cycle chemo patient with one nut is steaming all over the Alps without some sort of "unnatural" help?"

and

"We know that 15 of the last 23 Tour de France winners, counting Armstrong, have "doped" in one way or another. So when Sports Illustrated asks, "Was the miracle a mirage?" it's indulging in a lot of sham naivete about the essential nature of Armstrong's sport (and about sports in general)."

Did Armstrong read that before agreeing? Is that what he meant, or just to agree with the rant against Jeff Novitzky?

The first part of "the piece" claims that cycling the Alps day after day is as unnatural as taking PEDs - a big call I should think. After all, what is unnatural about human endurance? That is a hallmark of our species. Watching TV is probably a whole lot more "unnatural" than cycling long distances over mountains. The article paints a picture of cycling as the pre-eminent doping sport with an ingrained and long history of substance abuse. Fair enough, it must run close, but does that mean we give up all hope of a fair, level playing field? Or what does it mean? I have no problem with proposing alternative solutions, like legalisation and monitoring, but none seem to be suggested here. It's simply: 'here it is, how naive are you - or Sports Illustrated - to believe or hope otherwise?'

And it disses Jeff Novitzky, endlessly.

So does Armstrong agree with the article completely, or only in parts?

The Case Against "The Case Against Lance Armstrong"

Maybe you've heard about Sports Illustrated's exciting new Lance Armstrong feature. At bottom, it's a story about a corrupt man who gets away with cheating because the people who'd ordinarily police it have decided to look the other way.

Which is to say, it's a story about Jeff Novitzky, federal drug warrior.

Before we get to that, let's remember that the history of the sport we're talking about here is more or less the history of doping. From the end of the 19th century to the present day, competitive cyclists have injected, swallowed, or otherwise consumed for the purposes of performance enhancement wine, brandy...

UK Telegraph's Christopher Booker blames "warmists" for Aussie floods. Sigh.

2011-01-21T04:04:00.001Z

There's no fighting these people, is there? Everything has to be blamed on someone else, nothing is ever attributable to themselves or their own beliefs. Or even left as "nature" simply doing its thing. No, it's the "warmists" who did this.

Armed with their own unerring personal self-belief, climate change deniers can turn any weather event into an irrational argument of support for "doing nothing", even when actually arguing that "something should have been done". As in something should have been done to prepare for flooding but for those rotten "warmists" getting in the way and leading us astray.

Except the deniers don't actually propose to do anything since - after all - it's not happening, anyway.

Indeed when a singularly major flood event occurs in Queensland it can be simply and quickly blamed on a non-existent state "prime minister" (I think he meant 'Premier') who was somehow blinded by the Greenies to believe that "non-existent" anthropogenic climate change means only drought, and never flooding rains. Well that's a surprise, since almost everything I read about the warming climate suggests more volatility, ie bigger variations and - gosh - maybe even flooding rains as well as drought.

It really is appalling reading, but read on anyway...

What was the role of warmists in the Queensland flood disaster? - Telegraph

Ever more alarming facts are emerging to show how Brisbane’s floods were made infinitely worse by cockeyed decisions inspired by the obsession of the Australian authorities with global warming. Inevitably, the country’s warmist lobby has been voluble in claiming that such a “freak weather event” (as the BBC called it) is a consequence of man-made climate change. But far from being an unprecedented “freak event”, the latest flood was nearly a foot below the level of one in 1974 and 10 feet below the record set in 1893.

Forcing cats to work for IKEA - how it was done

2011-01-20T03:43:00.000Z

I hope they got got Equity rates.

Cats sucked into IKEA vortex, slaves to marketing

2011-01-20T03:40:00.000Z

Fun to watch, kinda.

2010 - seemingly the hottest, wettest and weirdest year since 1880. What will 2011 look like?

2011-01-13T00:22:00.000Z

I scoffed in 1974, but inwardly admitted that it was "possible, if unlikely". By 1989 I had converted to "on the balance of probability, this is happening" and warned my parents not to buy a house too close to the water. But I did little more than continue to drive small cars and ride my bike a lot. Life went on. Now in 2011 I'm more certain than ever that gross, uncontrolled human pollution - read carbon emissions - is the root cause of a warming trend that will wreak havoc with the planet and its inhabitants. And still I'm not doing a lot. OK, I hardly drive at all, and when I drive it's a small petrol car. I still ride my bike. I minimise electrical over-use and generally think about keeping my footprint small - but it's not going to be enough, is it?

NOAA: 2010 Tied For Warmest Year on Record

According to NOAA scientists, 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year of the global surface temperature record, beginning in 1880. This was the 34th consecutive year with global temperatures above the 20th century average. For the contiguous United States alone, the 2010 average annual temperature was above normal, resulting in the 23rd warmest year on record.

NOAA: 2010 Tied For Warmest Year on Record

A negative Arctic Oscillation (AO) in January and February helped usher in very cold Arctic air to much of the Northern Hemisphere. Record cold and major snowstorms with heavy accumulations occurred across much of eastern North America, Europe and Asia. The February AO index reached -4.266, the largest negative anomaly since records began in 1950.

NOAA: 2010 Tied For Warmest Year on Record

From mid-June to mid-August, an unusually strong jet stream shifted northward of western Russia while plunging southward into Pakistan. The jet stream remained locked in place for weeks, bringing an unprecedented two-month heat wave to Russia and contributing to devastating floods in Pakistan at the end of July.

VW eyes Alfa Romeo, FIAT says "no", but... well... ummm

2011-01-13T00:05:00.001Z

Why would FIAT divest itself of Alfa Romeo? Because it can't turn a profit at the traditional (low) Alfa sales volumes and can't see it getting any better? Because it overlaps at the top end with Ferrari and Maserati? Because it overlaps in the middle with Lancia? Or because it overlaps with FIAT itself in the middle and lower end of the market? Or all of the above?

Why would VW want to buy Alfa Romeo? Because they can see profit if they leverage Alfa's name across their global marketing machine? To inject some style, cachet and a real slice of motoring history into their otherwise, ummm, practical and arguably style-free product range? To gain some control over a current competitor and neutralise it? Or all of the above?

With FIAT working hard to Chrysler around it doesn't make sense to hang onto a basket case like Alfa. OTOH Alfa is a brand that previously worked well in the US and has been touted as a key plank of the FIAT/Chrysler cross-branding effort.

Who knows - maybe money will talk. But I can't see it working.

Fiat Interested in Volkswagen's MAN, Scania Stakes as VW Eyes Alfa Romeo - Bloomberg

VW, Europe’s largest carmaker, has been eyeing Alfa Romeo, with Fiat repeatedly saying the brand isn’t for sale. VW CEO Martin Winterkorn told reporters at the Detroit auto show yesterday Alfa Romeo is a “nice and interesting” company. Fiat Industrial, based in Turin, Italy, makes Iveco trucks and CNH Global NV tractors.

Excellent cover by Automatic Slim of Doctor Feelgood

2011-01-10T22:05:00.000Z

Isaac Asimov on the Greenhouse Effect - 1989

2011-01-10T03:41:00.000Z

Asimov on Asimov's recollection of when he first spoke about the Greenhouse Effect. Can't dispute this at all, I heard about the theory in the mid-'70s (at high school) and it has had a steady run in the science mags ever since. Why it took so long to get any traction is a puzzle. Why it continues to lack political will is more bizarre again. So why exactly are we waiting?

Another pic of an Eriophora at sunset

2010-12-11T05:39:00.001Z

Eriophora at sunset_0591a-sm
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

Am I getting carried away with my spider images? Such a beautiful sunset yesterday, I went spider-hunting in the gathering gloom... as you do.

On Scruby, Tomalaris, bikes and stats...

2010-12-10T03:39:00.001Z

I support the Pedestrian Council, I really do. I admire Mr Scruby. I even - kinda - like Mike Tomalaris. But I don't think it's as simple as saying that since fewer NSW cyclists are infringing that the police have "backed off" because they are "scared" of the all-powerful "bike lobby". Far from it. We could investigate further if we wanted, but just throwing anecdotes around doesn't help us identify the problem - if there is one. So is there a problem?

Long ago I can remember Gary Sutton getting pinged for speeding on his bike - in an 80-zone from memory - but that doesn't tell us that bike riders are speeding all over NSW right now, or that they did it more frequently in the late '70s. Few bike riders can break the speed limits - even the lowest - but all of us can take the bell off or forget our helmet (well I wouldn't but some obviously do) and get included in the stats.

Anecdotes can help us understand that bikes and riders are different from cars and drivers in so many ways - and that they have to be understood in their own contexts. Granted, where it gets messy - and dangerously so - is when each mode of transport mixes with the others. But fining to 'enforce' compliance may not actually work, if it doesn't address root cause.

It's not as simple as a pedestrian advocate decrying the falling rate of cyclist infringements - and drawing conclusions way beyond the scope of the stats presented. We can't flick an "infringement switch" and expect to see the problem - if there is one - go away.

Agreed, we don't want infringing cyclists to be ignored by the police but we should also recognise that groups like the NRMA or the Pedestrian Council have an axe to grind. They don't need - or deserve - more media attention than the so-called "powerful cycling lobby", especially when that publicity is at the expense of cyclists of all ages and abilities and taps into a festering resentment of two-wheeled human-propelled traffic.

We should be careful when we "somewhat agree" with groups that offer instant "analysis" tied to their attempt to leverage media attention for their "cause". We don't really know from what has been released why cyclists in NSW are seemingly less infringing, only that the absolute number has fallen. It could simply be that police are prioritising some laws over others - perhaps chasing fewer non-helmeted riders and looking out instead for more red-runners. If 74% of infringements are helmet-related it doesn't take much de-emphasis on a personal-safety law like helmet-wearing to see a swift overall decline in absolute numbers. It may be that the higher numbers were an outlier, an aberration and we are settling back into more realistic yearly statistics. We just don't know.

And anecdotal evidence of red-running by cyclists is no more or less compelling than anecdotal evidence of jaywalking by pedestrians or speeding by motorists. We know it happens - sure - but what is the actual non-compliance rate by each discrete sub-group, by trip and by mileage covered? What is the actual safety impact by accident rate? And what is the root cause? Sheer bloody-mindedness? Frustration at the delay when agile bikes are stopped by over-sized cars? Despair when once again forced to sprint like crazy from a standstill to maintain momentum - and a safer gap - in a car-dominated world?

We shouldn't neglect the need for the police to target what really matters first and prioritise the remainder in a sensible, sustainable and managed way. Declining absolute infringement numbers tell us nothing more and simply raises scope for further, deeper analysis. We shouldn't draw any more conclusion than that.

It may also be worth noting that perhaps non-ferrous bikes are still not being detected at traffic lights, raising the "apparent" incidence of red-running by bikers over "normal" non-compliance. Pedestrians and motor-vehicle drivers have no such excuse - yet they still do it, anecdotally and in raw infringement numbers. Why, and what is Mr Scruby doing about that?

SBS: Cycling Central : Sydney's easy riders

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald on December 9 with the attached headline "Cyclists getting an easy ride" had me thinking.

At first glance, I assumed it was another token opinionated attack on bike riders who choose to use two wheels as a form of transport or recreation, rather than get behind the wheel of their car.

It suggested cyclists are a law onto themselves when it comes to obeying general rules of the road.

The report claims an overwhelming majority of of riders have been issued for offences such as not wearing a helmet, riding on footpaths and running red lights.

Fine For Riding Without Helmet, Light / Running Red Light In NSW

The documents obtained by the Pedestrian Council under freedom of information laws also show that in the past five years there have been no fines issued for most bicycle-related offences.

These include not stopping at a school crossing, approaching crossings too quickly to stop, not using the cycleway on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and riding more than two abreast on the road.

The chairman of the council, Harold Scruby, said it appeared the government was going soft on cyclists.

''The government is turning a blind eye because they are scared of the powerful bike lobby,'' Mr Scruby said.

Just an ad but a very good one - The Man Who Walked Around The World

2010-12-08T22:24:00.000Z

I don't drink the stuff and have no shares in the company but it's somehow compelling to watch an actor walk, talk and coordinate all the props so well. More words of explanation here.

It's just funny - Driscoll Middle School Trick Play

2010-12-02T04:24:00.000Z

Someone tell Tony Abbott to unchain his PC - he can have WiFi at home if he wants. Groan.

2010-12-01T01:36:00.001Z

Funny how this anti-FTTH-broadband report comes out now, seemingly from nowhere. Very funny. Funny also that Tony Abbott doesn't get the home WiFi idea. Now he's obviously a guy who understands technology, why not let him call the shots?

Labor downplays critical report on NBN - Yahoo!7

Tony Abbott: "I certainly want my computer to work effectively, but I'm far from convinced that the people of western Sydney, for instance, think that putting a wire into their house so that their computer is chained to the wall, so to speak, is more important than fixing up the transport mess."

How to write a rubbish report on the NBN and get noticed | Out out damned Blog!

The report goes on: “These technologies didn’t fail because they weren’t superior, but because the demand wasn’t there, or was insufficient to justify cost. Concorde (if it hadn’t retired) would still be the fastest passenger aircraft today, having first flown in 1969. At the time it was being developed, supersonic passenger flight was expected to become ubiquitous. It turned out that the incremental benefits of speed to most customers was not worth the extra cost.”

Well that’s also quite unsupported. There are many who believe that Concorde, for one, was politically as well as technically hobbled. It was noisy, dirty and strangled (possibly quite rightly) by legislation. It was often not allowed to supersonically overfly populated areas due to the sonic boom generated, thus robbing it of key markets. It was too small and there was insufficient political will to develop the product, especially given the fuel cost spike in the 1970s and the concomitant US push into larger airframes and lower per-seat-mile costs. It simply isn’t as simple as faster is always better or the consumer simply not being willing to pay a premium. It got political and it stayed like that right to the bitter, cruel end. And it has nothing to do with laying fibre.

John Quiggin » The wonders of the Internet

From my hotel room in London, I read this SMH report, headlined “NBN benefits ‘grossly overstated’” which in turn refers to a report by “British telecommunications consultant Robert Kenny and Charles Kenny from the US Centre for Global Development” released (in London, as it happens) a couple of days ago.

The NBN, is it worth the cost? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Robert Kenny says the evidence that basic broadband has made a big difference to economic growth is not particularly strong and for super fast broadband it is likely to be even more difficult.

"Because so much of what is good for the economy can be done with basic broadband. Things like email, things like home working, online trading up to and including eBay. All these things can be done with basic broadband," he said.

"And if we are having trouble finding real hard evidence that those have made a big difference to the economy, it is going to be even harder to make the case for fibre because the faster speeds just don't make that much difference."

Beware media beatups and over-zealous reports - massage destroys relationships, gets hyped as a medical miracle

2010-09-30T23:43:00.001Z

Hmmm, don't want to turn you off massages but the original research here doesn't back up everything that is claimed in the NYT; which is not unusual for media reporting in general, is it? As always, beware media and blogger hype!

The danger signs here are over-simplification and exaggeration. Par for the course, I know. There is no hint that the results are complex or contradictory, only the seemingly unequivocal "good news" that massage is potentially a "medical necessity", at least in the words of the blogger quoted. Contrast the "good news" for massage message with the original source report that states in its conclusion, "preliminary data suggest that a single session of Swedish Massage Therapy produces measurable biologic effects. If replicated, these findings may have implications for managing inflammatory and autoimmune conditions." As you'd hope it is a measured, careful statement of just "biologic effects", not convincing evidence of positive benefits.

So what is "the truth"? First up, read the report itself. (Note: I didn't spend $49 getting the full paper, I just used the abstract. If you really want the full story, buy the full research report.) Nevertheless, if you want my opinion, read on...

Firstly the Swedish massage was only compared to "light touch" as a control, there was apparently no comparison with rest or alternatively light activity. So what it "proves" is limited to either a full-on Swedish massage or "light touch" - whether just resting is better or even different is unknown. It needs to be widened in scope and the result replicated, as the conclusion stated, before valid conclusions are drawn.

Secondly the Swedish massage caused "a large effect size decrease in AVP", which is to say that vasopressin levels dropped. Vasopressin essentially helps us to conserve water and avoid dehydration. It conserves water by concentrating our urine and as a by-product raises blood pressure, all good things whilst normal, healthy people are exercising. Assuming that you have just finished exercising and are no longer concerned with conserving urine then this is 'probably' a good thing, but be aware that it will potentially accelerate dehydration. Drink before, during and after massage, perhaps? It's worth noting also that vasopressin appears to be linked also with pair bonding, so reduced AVP levels would presumably be a disincentive for massage if the formation of long-term attachments is important to you. "Massage destroys long-term relationships" is a headline the NYT missed!

It has also got to be asked if you just stop exercising and replenish your fluids in the normal way will your AVP levels fall anyway? Of course they will. Not sure if the researchers filtered out those who had just exercised or not, categorised them or even considered that AVP levels may have been falling anyway, irrespective. If they didn't, or didn't correct for differing levels of exercise exertion then they should have.

Thirdly there is a reported "small effect size decrease in CORT, but these findings were not mediated by OT." So Swedish massage may have a small role in decreasing cortisol levels when compared with "light touch" but that any such small difference is not linked with oxytocin release, which was the massage industry's hope. Again, cortisol falls anyway when the stimulus (stressor) is removed or reduced. Rest does that, too, but here we see a "small difference" between full-on massage and light touch. What would rest or sleep do in comparison?

Fourthly "massage increased the number of circulating lymphocytes, CD 25+ lymphocytes, CD 56+ lymphocytes, CD4+lymphocytes, and CD8+ lymphocytes (effect sizes from 0.14 to 0.43)." Again, this needs to be corrected for pre-massage exercise levels as well as compared with a valid control. (I haven't got the full report so I can't be certain.) This is important - indeed crucial - to the "increased immune response" claim. It's also probably something that those with auto-immune diseases probably don't want, too. Increased immune response, no thanks.

Fifthly, "mitogen-stimulated levels of interleukin (IL)–1ß, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, and IFN-γ decreased for subjects receiving Swedish Massage Therapy versus light touch (effect sizes from −0.22 to −0.63). Swedish Massage Therapy decreased IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, and IL-13 levels relative to baseline measures." Decreased? OK, it gets a bit confused or contradictory here as decreased interleukin levels suggest less communication, coordination and stimulation of the immune response. So if we can unravel the seeming contradiction - increased immune response despite lower levels of immune stimulation - this could be good news for those with auto-immune diseases. For the rest of us it doesn't stand out as a plus for massage. It does stand in seeming contradiction with point four above and needs to be explored.

So whilst it's intriguing news it's not actually a full-on endorsement of massage, either. Beware media spin (even mine), it can lead you astray!

Is Massage a Medical Necessity? | The Outside Blog

Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles recruited a group of 53 healthy adults to get massages. Some got a Swedish massage and the rest got a light massage. All of the adults had their blood tested before and just after their massage. The results?

The Swedish massage group experienced significantly lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, and an increase in their immune systems' disease-fighting white blood cells. The light massage group also experienced increases in oxytocin, the contentment hormone, and decreases in the hormone that triggers the release of cortisol.

If a massage seems like an expensive way to fight off stress and disease, consider looking up massage colleges in your area, where hour-long massages by masseurs-in-training often cost $25-$30--half the cost of a massage at a spa.

Vital Signs - A Good Massage Brings Biological Changes, Too - NYTimes.com

Volunteers who received Swedish massage experienced significant decreases in levels of the stress hormone cortisol in blood and saliva, and in arginine vasopressin, a hormone that can lead to increases in cortisol. They also had increases in the number of lymphocytes, white blood cells that are part of the immune system.

Volunteers who had the light massage experienced greater increases in oxytocin, a hormone associated with contentment, than the Swedish massage group, and bigger decreases in adrenal corticotropin hormone, which stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. - The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine - 0(0):

Results: Compared to light touch, Swedish Massage Therapy caused a large effect size decrease in AVP, and a small effect size decrease in CORT, but these findings were not mediated by OT. Massage increased the number of circulating lymphocytes, CD 25+ lymphocytes, CD 56+ lymphocytes, CD4+lymphocytes, and CD8+ lymphocytes (effect sizes from 0.14 to 0.43). Mitogen-stimulated levels of interleukin (IL)–1ß, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, and IFN-γ decreased for subjects receiving Swedish Massage Therapy versus light touch (effect sizes from −0.22 to −0.63). Swedish Massage Therapy decreased IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, and IL-13 levels relative to baseline measures.

Whacky Airbus 'invisible fuselage' design opens door to freaked-out passengers and trauma claims

2010-09-19T23:18:00.001Z

They may think this 'invisible fuselage' idea is cool and demonstrates their creativity, but I suspect more than a few travellers wouldn't want the fuselage to suddenly vanish beneath their feet (or above their heads for that matter). As a party trick on a sightseeing flight, maybe it makes sense. Maybe. On a scheduled passenger flight? Hmmm, looks like a long way doooowwwwn. Ugh. It does demonstrate that the designers are off their heads, though, and that Airbus marketing needs to rethink what they release to the media.

Airbus to build invisible passenger plane | News.com.au

The extraordinary design would allow travellers to look down on cities and landscapes thousands of feet below or gaze up at the heavens, giving them the sensation of floating unassisted through the sky.

Modern marketing: Clarkson reveals the true horror of the Stig's unmasking: he was writing a book! Yes, a book!

2010-09-14T01:22:00.001Z

Imagine the deceit and unbridled conceit of the man (whoever he is) actually writing a book whilst pretending to be a real person playing a mystery car tester. Imagine. Literary pretensions and all - can't have that. (And yes, I realise it must have been horrible for poor Jeremy to have been deceived in such a callous way.)

What wonderful publicity on both sides!

The Stig ‘sacked’ from Top Gear | carsguide.com.au

"It was such a shock. It was horrible actually because I liked him and he came round to my house and had drinks and all that time he was writing a book," he said.

Carsguide reviews a Citroen with a 'host of engines', including an armrest. Huh? Do they check what they write at all?

2010-09-14T01:15:00.001Z

It's always a laugh a minute at the Aussie old media websites. They are simultaneously stuck in the past and grasping at the future with both knees - or something like that. For example I just love this carsguide.com.au review of the Citroen DS3 which comes with 'a host of engines', one of which is a centre armrest! I hope they don't rewrite it, it's perfect as it is!

Citroen DS3: first drive | carsguide.com.au

Our car was kitted out with a host of engines, and the first one we would have crossed off the list was the centre armrest, which you have to flip up and out of the way to comfortably use the manual shifter.

'Man glassed after aletraction at Kincumber' - aletraction? Man ends in traction after ale?

2010-08-31T22:52:00.001Z

They'll eventually read this and change it but I thought 'aletraction' such a wonderful new word invention by the Express Advocate that I'd preserve it here ;-)

Man glassed after aletraction at Kincumber pub - Crime - News - Express Advocate Gosford Edition

Man glassed after aletraction at Kincumber pub

Chickenhawk, sparrowhawk, goshawk... whatever. Big, grey, sharp-beaked meat eater!

2010-08-26T06:07:00.001Z

Accipiter_ 0218
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

This lovely raptor was sitting on our chicken coop like a grey ghost, in plain view. When it realised I had a camera it jumped up onto the fence. When it further realised that chicken was no longer on the immediate menu it hopped into the next yard. I thought "Chickenhawk" or Accipiter cirrhocephalus, the Collared Sparrowhawk. The chickens were hiding under bushes thinking "death on wings" and there was evidence of a scuffle with a pigeon. A scuffle that can't have ended nicely for the pigeon.

Alternatively it's a Brown Goshawk but I'm going with Sparrowhawk for now, they are very similar but with a more rounded wing and meaner expression.

Image of a lorikeet invasion

2010-08-25T05:33:00.001Z

Lorikeets_0086
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

There's a story here. We have our "regulars", the lorikeets who come every day and use our wild bird mix to supplement their diet, and then there is "the flock" who arrive unexpectedly, like blow-ins crashing a party. Our regulars were quietly feeding on seed when my 4 year old son Liam threw some bread down onto the grass below our deck. Within minutes the flock sensed a fast-food treat (we rarely provide bread, just slightly healthier wild bird mix) and pounced en mass. As in about 15 to 20 noisy birds. And then as quickly as they arrived they were gone in a spectacular display of synchronised departure.

Liam loved it, thought it hilarious that they somehow communicated "now" and "that-a-way" as though they were one interconnected nervous system. A couple of birds flew at head-height past us as they shot off, leaving just the 2 of us and a solitary pigeon looking around wondering "where did they go?".

Saratoga garden reveals deadly Krefft's dwarf snake - deadly to skinks, anyway

2010-08-23T23:20:00.001Z

Krefft's dwarf snake_0154
Originally uploaded by gtveloce

This is our 2nd snake find in our Central Coast garden. Although we have seen many 'nearly legless lizards' (a seeming cross between a skink and a snake) this Krefft's dwarf snake is a rarer find. This one was lurking under a plastic clamshell sandpit. I happened to move said sandpit and the tiny (15cm long) elapid leapt at me. It seemed a bit dazed and confused and its aim was poor (I should say the fangs are tiny and unlikely to work on a human target anyway). If I had been a skink however I think I would have been dinner.

So our small suburban Saratogan garden has so far (in the last 7 years or so) revealed 2 Krefft's dwarf snakes, several geckos, 1 blue tongue lizard, a bandicoot, umpteen skinks and semi-legless lizards and a host of birdlife. Beats my old Marrickville haunt by a gazillion, although inner-western Sydney is getting some wildlife back I hear.

An interesting video variation on "WorkChoices" from the Australian Sex Party...

2010-08-17T05:48:00.000Z

Driving behaviour and a sharing society - plus a fairly meaningless survey or 2

2010-08-16T06:08:00.001Z

Surveys rarely tell us anything other than what the survey was designed to show. Often the questions asked are loaded, they offer only those choices that lead you one way or the other according to the surveyor's bias. So it's no surprise that they "find" what they want to find. With such poorly designed or outright biased data it's often nigh on impossible to make any sense of the data, let alone draw any valid conclusions. I suspect we have another one here. Oh, and here as well.

You'll notice that there are always vested interests at work in these media-savvy releases. The old media behind carguide.com.au want you to read on and click some links, if not outright buy their tacky work - so they write what they think will "sell". And what they write is fed to them in the form of press releases announcing the results of "surveys" by car makers and insurance companies keen to drum up mindspace and, yes, sales. And the findings are always "shocking" or "surprising", even when they are quite obvious. Finally it's rarely the driver's fault - they are after all impeccable, independent judges of what's wrong on the roads. Instead it's always the pedestrian's - or bike rider's - fault, isn't it? Too bad they just want to cross or ride along the road but are impeded by speeding, tailgating, swerving, unaware drivers who leave no safe gaps for them to do so. So much for sharing the road. It'd be less stressful just to get rid of everyone else, at least in the classic "stressed driver" world-view.

What about speeding itself - notably absent as a "stressor" in the road stress survey - but probably underpinning much of the tension, tailgating and driving stress. That's an odd exclusion. The faster you go, especially around pedestrians and bike riders, the more awake and aware you have to be. Everything comes at you faster and you need quicker, more precise reactions. Too many objects to track in a limited time and your stress level goes up. If it doesn't affect you like that then you may have become complacent and unaware of the raised risks. Indeed, some of those identified as tailgaters in the survey will simply be drivers who are unaware of their gap, or lack thereof. Whilst others may be those wanting to speed and have closed up on purpose, to intimidate.

These intimidators - bullies, if you like - may have said in this survey that they are annoyed with drivers who are "too slow" or "too slow in the fast lane". Perhaps they are actually expecting to go "too fast"? By speeding (either in excess of the speed limit or prevailing local conditions) you close up on the traffic ahead and guess what - you compress the traffic ahead of you and create a traffic jam.

There's a flip side to every view, including those of the pedestrians who are dangerously "flirting with death" as they just try to cross a road. And maybe just understanding why your fellow motorist has slowed down - perhaps to allow others to share the road - will ease the stress overall. There may indeed be a good reason to just slow down - too much stress!

Who are the worst drivers | carsguide.com.au

The Buzz CEO Jacki Johnson says road rage, offensive gestures and general impatience are making motorists' lives miserable. "The study shows there's a lot of bad behaviour on our roads. Whether it's dangerous or impatient behaviour, it's putting the safety of Australians in jeopardy," she said.

The most commonly experienced bad driving behaviours are: drivers changing lanes without indicating (97 per cent); tailgating (96 per cent); talking on mobiles or listening to an iPod (96 per cent); cutting in on lanes (95 per cent); and motorists holding up traffic by driving too slow (95 per cent).

Impatience is also rife on our roads. Of those surveyed, 88 per cent had seen drivers queue jumping, 87 per cent had spotted motorists running a red light, and the majority (91 per cent) had witnessed pedestrians crossing the road in a dangerous manner.

"There's a lot of inexperienced drivers, families and elderly people on our roads and we need to modify our driving behaviour to ensure we are not placing any undue stress on drivers," Ms Johnson says.

Pedestrians risking death | carsguide.com.au

Media spokesperson for vehicle insurer AAMI Mike Sopinski said their research shows two in three pedestrians admit to jaywalking. This comes as 200 pedestrians were killed on the roads around the nation last year.

Pedestrians risking death | carsguide.com.au

"I see it all the time... pedestrians stepping out into traffic in their own little world with their MP3 players and mobile phones in their ears," he said. "What I'm concerned about here is that we have a great number of noiseless electric vehicles about to hit our roads. It's a recipe for a growing number of pedestrian deaths."

Interesting use of crowdsourcing, mad scientists and data mining

2010-08-16T05:43:00.001Z

Mining Human Behavior At MIT - Forbes.com

Late last year the Pentagon's mad-scientist research wing, Darpa, announced the Network Challenge, a $40,000 prize for the first group to find and report the locations of ten red weather balloons that the agency would set aloft one day in secret locations around the country. Most of the thousands of groups that signed up quickly realized that crowdsourcing was the way to find the 8-foot spheres. So, naturally, they offered bounties to balloon hunters.

Another report. The world warms and still we sit on our hands. Anyone for a BBQ?

2010-07-29T01:15:00.001Z

Unlike the crackpot, loony conspiracy theorists and the conflicted, self-interested right-wing old-media columnists I tend to believe the numbers, especially when they come from so many sources over so many years. In fact it just becomes more obvious that things are a-changing, climate-wise. Open a window and or a door and see for yourself. Even if you doubt that humanity is to blame (and there's plenty of evidence to say it is) we still have to do something. Soon. Like right now.

I've been following this subject (global warming theory) since the mid-70's and although I didn't rate it a pressing issue at the time (I may have scoffed, to be honest) the evidence was pretty convincing by the end of the '80s. And it was even more compelling by the end of the '90s. Coupled with the coming of "peak oil" it was quite obvious that we should rein in our fossil fuel dependence, cut down on resource waste generally and look as a global society towards a more sustainable way of life.

And now another 10 years have passed and we are still tied to coal, gas and oil. Indeed we (in Australia at least, if not the developed world in general) allow the big miners free rein to lobby, bully and coerce our Governments to do anything but the right thing. Are we collectively blind, or plain stupid? No matter how you look at it the time for action is here, if it isn't already too late...

Weather News - Climate check-up 'screams world is warming'

A report on the world's climate has confirmed that 2009 was one of Australia's hottest years on record and provides more evidence of global warming.

Three hundred scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association compiled the report, which the association's data centre chief Deke Arndt says paints a compelling picture.

"It's basically the annual check-up that looks at the year that ended in a climate perspective and so you can kind of think of that as we all go to the doctor for our annual check-up," Mr Arndt said.

"But because 2009 was the end of a decade we wanted to take stock of a longer-term view."

The list of last year's extreme weather events includes a flood in Brazil that left 376,000 people homeless, heavy rainfall in England that damaged 1,500 properties and three intense heat waves in Australia, one of them coinciding with the Victorian bushfires that killed 173 people.

South Australia and New South Wales had their warmest year on record as la nina conditions changed to el nino.

Maximum temperatures were generally above normal throughout Australia, adding up to the second hottest year since temperature started being record in 1910.

Mr Arndt says the signs of global warming are undeniable.

"Each of the last three decades has been substantially warmer than the decade before it," he said.

"On a decade scale, that is very clear. The 1980s was the warmest decade on record as of December 31, 1989, but every single year in the 90s was warmer than that decade's average temperature."

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA: Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries

Based on comprehensive data from multiple sources, the report defines 10 measurable planet-wide features used to gauge global temperature changes. The relative movement of each of these indicators proves consistent with a warming world. Seven indicators are rising: air temperature over land, sea-surface temperature, air temperature over oceans, sea level, ocean heat, humidity and tropospheric temperature in the “active-weather” layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface. Three indicators are declining: Arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the Northern hemisphere.

Global Warming -- Research Issues

The increase in greenhouse gases caused by human activity is often cited as one of the major causes of global warming. These greenhouse gases reabsorb heat reflected from the Earth's surface, thus trapping the heat in our atmosphere. This natural process is essential for life on Earth because it plays an important role in regulating the Earth's temperature. However, over the last several hundred years, humans have been artificially increasing the concentration of these gases, mainly carbon dioxide and methane in the Earth's atmosphere. These gases build up and prevent additional thermal radiation from leaving the Earth, thereby trapping excess heat.

Now this is real policy action. Gillard denies Helen Reddy suggestion and declares herself a non-singing voter

2010-07-21T03:29:00.001Z

This is what we want from our leaders - a commitment they can stick to. I hope.

Federal Election 2010 Rudd Griffith

Ms Gillard denied reports that Australian-born performer Helen Reddy would sing her 1970 number one hit I Am Woman at the campaign launch.

‘‘And I can absolutely promise ... you won’t hear me singing, I am a member of possibly the only non-singing Welsh family on the planet.’’

New face of economic reform - Abbott pledges to extend rebates to cover music lessons and non-Govt schools. Groan.

2010-07-21T03:24:00.001Z

Tax rebates used wisely reinforce good social policy and can enhance productivity by encouraging investment and associated behaviours that favour our country's strategic direction. And then there are tax rebates that just distort a market place in order to win votes or reinforce an ideological position. The latter verges on a corrupt, self-serving practice. Oh hey, here's Tony 'Small Government' Abbott handing out money that he and Joe Hockey just told us we don't have. So much for tightening the belt, those cuts must be aimed elsewhere, eh?

Yes, yes, we are all pro-choice and it's a free country and all, but do we really have to extend education rebates paid for by everyone's taxes to cover those who choose to opt out of publicly funded education? Isn't this the opposite of free choice? Oh yeah, it sounds nice and helps pay the bills for struggling families; and it even reinforces a few voters who want to save some cash but don't want their kids going to a government school. Bonus for Tony and team. But is that a good enough reason to effectively splash more of our cash on private schools? It's a clear signal from Abbott that under his rule government school funding will again be compromised in favour of the Liberal/National party voting demographic.

Thanks, Tony, that's an economic reform we had to have, isn't it? Why not just outsource public schools to the private sector and be done with it?

As for covering music lessons, I have no problem there. We should have more music training and the music training industry clearly needs the subsidy. Here, just take my money. If we are going to distort every market we may as well be thorough. Tony Abbott for socialist of the year I reckon.

Federal Election 2010

"A very, very large percentage of parents at government schools these days face what are called voluntary fees," he said.

Under the coalition's policy, the current 50 per cent rebate will be lifted to $500 dollars a year for each primary school student and $1000 for each high school student - and extended to private schooling.

Federal Election 2010

Mr Abbott said the rebate would cover more than laptops and could be used for school fees and other costs such as tuition and costs incurred for children with special needs.

Possibly the state of the art in electric motorbikes - imagine what Cancellara could do with this hidden in his seat-tube!

2010-07-16T06:28:00.001Z

Kidding about Cancellara, he doesn't need any help in riding fast. This new model Brammo is an interesting motorbike, though - 160km/h performance and 160km range. Coupled with an electric motor's "instant-on" torque delivery it would be more than tempting, I should think. If you didn't want to stick with pedalling, of course.

Brammo's second-generation electric motorcycle: the Empulse 10.0 streetfighter

"We thought, well, the average commute is 26 miles, so a 42 mile range should give you comfort. Well it turns out that when it gets to half full, people fill it up. Some people like me take it all the way down to the end. We're finding with electric vehicles that people are more conservative."

Despite range concerns, the bike became a modest success – but Brammo never expected it to find an audience among the petrolhead community. "We kinda thought the Harley guys and the Ducati guys would not be that crazy about it," says Bramscher, "Turns out they loved the Enertia, they just want a little more."

The 2011 Brammo Empulse

And more they will get. "The driving force around this vehicle was some new technology we've developed in the powertrain," says Bramscher, "which is an all-around system that includes a more efficient battery and a more efficient controller, a more efficient motor and then our own vehicle control unit. So it's really a full Brammo drivetrain. And that, in combination with the battery technology, gets us all the way up to a 100-mile average range.

The immediate future for car engines? FIAT's MultiAir 900cc turbo 2 cylinder

2010-07-15T02:46:00.001Z

Well I'm all for it myself. Never loved big cars and big engines myself - it seemed a bit odd to ride around on a lightweight bike yet invest in an overweight, oversized motorcar - so I have so far kept the feisty four-cylinder faith. But this turbo twin from FIAT looks like both a blast from the past and a peek at the future. Fast and fun yet frugal. Can't beat it, I reckon. Until we ween ourselves off petrol (and other liquid fuels) completely here's an effective answer: downsize the car and the engine whilst squeezing out ever-better performance and efficiency.

Fiat 500 TwinAir two-cylinder turbo review | evo

It’s a Fiat 500. Not the sort of car that normally gets us excited. But like so many things in life, it’s what’s inside that counts. In this case, because it has the Italian firm’s new 900cc single turbo two-cylinder engine under its retro bonnet.

Bike Clothing Review: SKINS baselayer and compression knicks - the C400 series

2010-07-14T06:23:00.002Z

I have to admit that I've worn out a lot of cycling clothing over the last 30 odd years. Sometimes - luckily - it's just been good old fashioned wear and tear. Less luckily I have managed to write-off valuable gear on even just the first or second ride, by the application of unintended deceleration. Memorably I wrote off a pair of shoes by the simple expedient of snagging the right-hand shoe on the large chainring - something I've done just once in over 250,000km of serious riding and never got near to doing again. I can't even work out how I managed to do it! The shoe simply ripped apart. Mind you bike riders are apt to do strange things when training at 04:30 in the morning. Like most riders I have also written-off a few jerseys and knicks by testing their ability to slide over asphalt and gravel.

Anyway, the nice people at SKINS (thanks Matt!) have given me a set of their compression gear to test and I'm keen to wear these out rather prosaically by actually keeping upright and not testing their road adhesion. Whilst I haven't paid for 'em they (ie SKINS) and I have agreed that I should be fair and honest and pull no punches in my assessment. So that's what I will do.

What I am testing right now (well not right this minute as I'm at the keyboard) is a C400 men's mesh tank baselayer undershirt (well I call it an undershirt, anyway) and a pair of C400 men's compression BIB shorts. I am hoping to get a sample jersey to test as well. The size is medium and it's a fine - if snug - fit on my 1.69m and overweight 73kg body. I like snug. I can't fault the undershirt at all (only the body underneath, frankly) and the BIB shorts (I really only wear the BIB style, it's the only way to fly) are well made and a good fit.

First impressions of the compression shorts (or knicks, if you prefer) are of something akin to the "Russian Rubber skinsuit circa 1980" feel - a sort of elastic "springiness" that almost helps bring the upper leg back up. It's a very slight effect but noticeable. I like it, it brings back good memories of when I was younger and fitter...

The 'compression' certainly leaves its mark on my pudgey body, though. There's a faint but visible reddish outline on my upper legs that becomes apparent only upon removal, post-ride. And no, it's not a rash or other skin irritation. It's also not uncomfortable at all and the mark disappears quickly - it was a surprise to see it, frankly. It's not like the sort of mark tight elastic leaves, rather a broader, wider fabric 'impression' that suggests surface blood flow. It may well be a sign of improved circulation - I can't be sure. The chamois is also comfy and I have had no issues with badly-placed seams or other possible pain-points. If anything after 3 short rides in this gear my incipient saddle sores have markedly improved; but again I can't be certain that's because of the SKINS product. It might be, though. The chamois in any case is broad and deep, ideal for my purposes, and caused no chafing or rubbing in any sensitive spots - unlike some brands.

Both products ooze quality and compare well with anything I've used in the past, be it a premium brand product or something quite cheap that I got for Christmas (in many ways the best knicks of all are free). I did think that the packaging is superb but tending towards overkill, however my 4 year old son has taken a liking to the boxes so perhaps they are re-usable after all ?

This is a long term test, and I'll post regularly on progress with both pics and data (I'm logging power, speed and heart rate and looking for improvements that can be attributed to clothing alone - a challenge I know but I have a standard protocol in place and my spreadsheet awaits my command). To paraphrase the words of Eddy Merckx, all I have to do now is "ride lots", I guess.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from gtveloce's posterous

More on Tesla's Musk - broke and divorcing after "losing" $1.5B. Well that explains something

2010-07-07T02:15:00.001Z

It's not just Tesla that needs to rethink its strategy and cashflow - it's founder has seemingly and conveniently gone through $US1.5B in just a few years. Nice to have big dreams and deep pockets, eh? If only, if only.

Elon Musk's Financial Car Wreck - Forbes.com

But Musk, who sold his previous company, PayPal, to eBay ( EBAY - news - people ) for $1.5 billion, now says he's broke.

"About four months ago, I ran out of cash," he wrote in a court filing dated Feb. 23, and first reported by VentureBeat, a Silicon Valley blog. Musk, whose other business interests include SpaceX and SolarCity, said he's been living off personal loans from friends since last October.

Of course, Musk's disclosure came in a filing as part of his divorce from novelist Justine Musk, so perhaps it is advantageous to be out of money at the moment.

HDBaseT to carry power as well as HDMI over Fast Ethernet. Sounds cool, but I don't want cables thanks

2010-07-07T02:07:00.000Z

Yes, I see the point of it and it adds another option to the PC-to-TV interface at the very least - but do I need it? I'm already so far behind the curve yet another option is just overkill. I can't keep up, or just don't want to. What I have works fine. I just switch between TV and PC at source and they share an old analog screen. Some storage hanging off it plus WiFi from a newer "main" machine works fine. Sure, HDMI is nice, BluRay is great; but nothing here - yet - is a must-have. Forgive me for my sins but I don't need HDMI and power over Ethernet just yet, or the worry of getting the power into the cable or of picking which Ethernet cable is "live".

OTOH whilst I don't need it and I don't want it - I'd still like to try it!

Super Cable Carries Data, TV And Electricity - Forbes.com

Meet Super Cable. It looks like a standard Ethernet computer networking cable, the sort that runs between your computer and your router. It carries computer data, of course, but also the high-definition TV and audio signals that now require those expensive HDMI cables used between your BluRay player and your TV display. But SuperCable can also handle electrical power, much like a standard household extension cord--enough to power a 100 watt light bulb. And best of all, it can be up to 320 feet in length.

The cable's real name is HDBaseT, and specifications for it have been released by a consortium that includes Samsung, Sony ( SNE - news - people ) and LG. It's meant as a replacement for HDMI cables, and backers hope it will start showing up in TV sets next year. While the new system will require new electronics inside TV displays, as well in the devices linking with them, it will be able to take advantage of standard "recent vintage" Ethernet cables to do the actual connecting. Ethermet cables are a fraction of the price of HDMI connectors.

Terrorgraph distorts and disgusts with low blow to Rudd on "pension" beat up

2010-06-30T06:33:00.000Z

This isn't journalism, this is slime. It's bad enough that we treat a Prime Minister with such disdain and contempt that his party dumps him, but now just days later the Sydney Terrorgraph beats up a highly speculative non-story about what may happen if Rudd were to retire after 'x y and z' happen and he lives to 85. Not that 'x y and z' are guaranteed to happen, of course. But the Tele adds up all of the trappings of being an ex-PM, including 30 business class airflights a year, an office and a staff of 4 plus the actual pension of (a paltry!) $118,346 a year, or $145,987 if he makes it back onto the front bench for a year, to get a headline "pension" of $600,000. With all of that flying around and public disgust raised by this sick story he's hardly likely to survive to 85 anyway, is he?

Who'd want to be a PM, or especially an ex-PM at that. No wonder Howard fought so hard and stayed so long... I wonder what his pension is like, eh? Whatever it is, he - and all PMs - deserve it. Thankless, craven media "journalists" deserve nothing.

Deposed Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd's $600,000 a year pension | The Daily Telegraph

Deposed Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd's $600,000 a year pension

* By Nick Tabakoff
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* June 30, 2010 12:00AM
* 181 comments

Think Rudd, Gillard, Hockey or the Mad Monk can spin? Try the SMH for this effort

2010-06-28T02:11:00.001Z

Wow, according to Peter Martin, an "economics correspondent" with the SMH, people are actually fleeing NSW. Makes it all sound so dramatic, doesn't it?

Yet we read on to discover that NSW still grew by a "desultory" 1.64 percent. Sounds so haphazard, unplanned and laggardly against the presumably non-desultory 2.13 percent growth in vibrant Victoria.

And if projections are correct, and if we select the right projections at that, and are prepared to add 2 smaller states or cities together then we can get numbers a shade larger than Sydney's projections. But wait, Sydney still ends up massive anyway, despite all of the fleeing.

And what to make of all this? Well Peter tells us that Sydney's lower rate of population growth will see us "left behind".

Groan. And they say politicians can spin.

Fleeing locals ease population pressure on NSW

Fleeing locals ease population pressure on NSW...

By contrast NSW, South Australia and Tasmania grew a desultory 1.64, 1.32 and 0.89 per cent....

By 2021 Queensland and Western Australia combined will be bigger than NSW. And by 2051 Brisbane and Perth combined will be bigger than Sydney....

But by then Sydney will be big indeed. According to the bureau's ''medium'' projection, Sydney will be a city of 6.7 million by the middle of this century, up from the present 4.5 million. The high projection has Sydney exceeding 7.2 million residents. The low projection has it reaching 6.4 million...

NSW will be left behind partly because its residents are leaving, partly because its traditionally high share of migrants is shrinking and partly because, with South Australia, its population is having babies at the slowest rate on the mainland.

So-called super tax breeds super whingers and misinformation - Gerard Noonan puts another side

2010-06-28T01:53:00.001Z

What surprises me most about the vocal over-reaction to the resources super-profit tax is that so many people are prepared to ignore the clear, obvious and well documented facts and blithely comment against the tax, without any apparent understanding of the issues. They are almost marching in the streets over it, if you believe the old media. But it's a fair tax on excessive profit made from our shared resources, not a pressing social issue at all. The social issue here is only that the mining barons think they can hoodwink the people of Australia. Do we really want to protect big miners at all costs? It seems bizarre to me that so many people think it's worth siding with the profit-takers when they are so clearly biased against the greater good. Are they all shareholders and/or Liberal/National voters? Do they really believe that making the miners pay a fair rate of tax will force them to close mines?

The tax is not new and it's not a surprise at all. It taxes inputs and credits outputs but at a lag - which is the real issue here. The uplift used to "correct" for this lag between incurring a cost and gaining a credit is lower than they'd like. It's hardly worth the drama at all, but it's been spun so hard no-one seems to understand what the details are anymore. What has caught the ire of the mining lobby is perhaps that final detail of the uplift rate, which is not exactly what they would prefer. They should get over it.

Sovereign risk? No, superannuation is at risk, thanks to mine bosses

So it was something of a shock to return to Australia recently to find all anyone could talk about was executives of very rich mining companies bleating about a tax that they themselves had asked the Henry tax review to impose. The miners had argued to Henry that they preferred a profit tax to the crude royalty system that each state imposes on the amount of minerals they dig up and sell.

Don't fancy implanted sensors? How about medical-grade sweat-analysis via your underwear?

2010-06-23T01:15:00.001Z

Not so sure about this one. One for the underwear-obsessed, perhaps. Imagine your undies emailing your GP to make an appointment. The mind boggles.

Chemical sensors printed on elastic could lead to ‘smart’ underwear

As the technology to support wearable electronics advances, researchers are investigating new ways of making our clothing more "intelligent" – from smart shirts for theater ushers to the development of clothing that can respond to the wearer’s emotive state. So would it surprise you to learn that your humble underpants could one day save your life? A new study has shown that printed sensors on the elastic band of your underpants could monitor biomarkers in your sweat and tears, make autonomous diagnoses and even administer life-saving drugs.

What happens when you adapt airline-grade physical flight-simulation tech to race and rally car dynamics?

2010-06-23T01:11:00.001Z

If I was 21 and over-endowed with ridiculous wealth this place would suck me right in. Actually, I'd want one at home.

I-WAY World - not your average motor racing simulator

There are racing simulators – and then there’s I-WAY World. Designed by French architect Cyrille Druart and taking four years to complete, the striking concrete and glass complex in Lyon offers a restaurant, alcohol-free bar, conference and fitness rooms and a store selling merchandise from the likes of Porsche and Tag Heuer. But of course the main attraction amongst the aesthetics are the 18 fully equipped racing simulators, which on paper at least, certainly look to deliver the goods.

How about an implantable HRM rather than a strap and watch?

2010-06-23T00:46:00.001Z

Whilst the idea below is for general health readings and the (rather creepy) suggestion is that employers may wish to monitor staff health, one early-adopting group could be athletes. Imagine having your fitness level and cardio performance plus a GPS unit implanted into your body. You may still have a display unit on a watchband or handlebar but the 'guts' of the monitoring system is in you. Fancy going that far? I reckon it's not that far away.

Implantable & wearable monitoring devices for the tech-savvy generation

Jarno Riistama from Tampere University of Technology (TUT) believes that an increase in health problems as a result of modern living will encourage us to be more health conscious. However, he estimates it will be another ten years or so before implantable measurement devices for human use are commercially available because of the rigorous testing and approval processes.

In addition to the implantable devices, researchers at Tampere have developed wearable 'strips' that measure functions such as EKG directly from the skin. The signals, which are comparable to those produced by existing measurement devices such as pulse counters, are sent wirelessly from the device, removing the need for cumbersome cables.

The last time I raced Coonabarabran to Gunnedah and Gunnedah to Tamworth.... just 10 years ago

2010-06-22T07:04:00.001Z

It was a mere 10 years ago, that's all. I did better on Day 2, staying with my bunch all the way, just lacking the legs in the sprint. The Day 2 course had changed to the 'nouveau route' via Werris Creek which included some hills, and whilst they weren't mountains they were lumpier than the short, direct route we took in the '80s! At 100km it was longer as well. So 2 x 100km races in 2 days - can't ask for more, surely? And there was a dirt section or 2. There always is!

Of special note is the presence of former professional rider Olivia Gollan, waaaay down the grades. I guess whe was just starting her road racing career - but it's strange to think she was just starting 10 years ago - and has already retired!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Skaife urges ban on amateur driving lessons - but no way to avoid parents modelling bad driving habits?

2010-06-22T03:38:00.001Z

I have no problem with mandatory professional driving lessons - I think I only had 1 or 2 'lessons' with my father in any case, the rest were with a driving school. (And interestingly my driving instructor was a private pilot - and he coincidentally knew my flying instructor... which was a bit spooky.) But it wasn't just the lessons that set me up for a fairly safe start on the roads.

Luckily my dad was generally a safe, law-abiding and careful driver, so I picked up fairly good habits just by watching. I've already hinted that there's more to it than just that. My first "love" was flying - and learning to fly before learning to drive taught me - if nothing else - how important safety concerns are. Sure, it also teaches you how to have fun, but within a safe context. You don't take un-calculated risks in an aircraft. (Having said that my driving instructor managed to roll a VW Beetle on Bankstown Airport's then-gravel perimeter road, so he was "human" as well.)

But that's not all, because another thing I got from my dad was a bike. So before I had done anything in a car I had learnt the basic road rules, fixed something mechanical (bikes force you to understand something about machines, even if it's just how to fix a flat) and picked up the nuances of navigation.

So even if professional driver training was mandated I wonder how effective it would be, especially if some of these other factors were left out? You could ditch the flying training, sure, but what about bike riding? And what if professional training was set against 16 or more years of poor behaviour modelling? If your parents have a bad driving attitude then you may well not "unlearn" that easily. Whilst you may well get good training it means nothing if it's forgotten the day after you pass the test. I wonder what the retention rate is for professional driver training?

But wait, there's more. Although I rushed out and started flying training (never finished, by the way!) at 16, I didn't get a driving licence for another 3 years. So I was not only more road-experienced than most people - being an active cyclist - I was also more mature and a bit more cashed up. Which meant I could afford a small but reliable and "safer" car - a VW Golf. But wait, there's more. After getting my licence I sat on it and didn't drive for almost a year. Then I got the car and finally started practicing my driving - it was almost a 'cooling off period'. But that was both good and bad. I should have kept practicing some of the car-only skills required, so that was a negative - but I was also a fair bit older again before finally getting behind the wheel. That maturity made a big difference, I think.

So to summarise, maturity + safer car + professional training + good positive behaviour modelling + prior on-road experience (ie cycling) = someone with a better than average chance of remaining "safer" on the roads. I followed that up with a defensive driving course as well and joined a car club to boot (so I worked out my driving "angst" on a closed racetrack, not just the road). Whilst I'm not average - no-one is - I feel that somewhere in that mix are some key learning elements that may be missing from the background of many current drivers.

So bravo Mark Skaife but hey let's have mandatory bike riding as well!

Skaife urges ban on parents teaching | Review | carsguide.com.au

"With the best intention in the world, too many parents pass on their own bad habits. We have to avoid that, which is why I believe we need to move to professional driver trainers in Australia," Skaife said yesterday. "We don't like hearing the truth on some things, and this is one of them. Proper education on driving is a big part of the road safety puzzle.