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....
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cs videos??
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iwilltryit video..
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thepartyline
jfaughnan 28/04/2006 10:25AM
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.............
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......
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hamasonline defunct
4Jul06

14 June 2008

Rafael Correa, Kanadahar prison, Allen Telescope

Taliban fighters have attacked the main prison in Kanadahar, southern Afghanistan, blasting through its entrance and engaging in a gun battle with police.
Nearly all of the estimated 1,150 prisoners, including some 400 Taliban, have escaped, Afghan officials have said.
aljazeera

Just how badly is USAusBrit loosing this war ?
Not mentioned in MSM here
Whare were the 'look Down heat seeking cluster bombs' and other fancy technology?
[ps: NYT (not on front page of site) says motorbikes were used,
thermal signature to small in urban situation?]
pps: A large 100? attack on USA/Karzai forces earlier in the day may have diverted the smart bombs





unep
African climate change atlas (Past, not predictions???)

I havnt seen this but it might be interesting



I have just watched DVDs of 2 historic movies:
Our Man in Havana Director: Carol Reed 1959 (Alec Guiness, Noel Coward from book by Grahame Greene
The Tailor of Panama (2001) Director: John Boorman (an evident homage to the earlier film)
from novel by John le Carré (novel)
Cast Pierce Brosnan Geoffrey Rush Jamie Lee Curtis

Despite stellar casts and directors (Boormans "Point Blank" the best Gangster|Noir in colour)
I wasnt satisfied by either film. I dont mind black farce (FishCalledWanda was great Curtis was funny)
Something about the unbelievability of the farces grated.
Is seems my standards of seriousness for LAtinAm may be too high:
aljazeera:
Ecuadorean police have arrested four men for allegedly plotting to kill Rafael Correa, the president, security officials say.

Washington Pesantez, Ecuador's attorney-general, said security officials uncovered the plot by the men, who included three Colombians, on Thursday.
But Correa himself cast doubt on the plot.
there is a strong probability they were just scam artists.

"We have dozens of cases like this every month".

Correa said last year that unidentified groups tried to buy rockets to kill him.

Brosnan predictably failed to carry the bad-guy role, but not my that much, and Rush chewed the scenery, which was more fun in Quill.
Aro Video in Wgtn has a decent range of Classic Videos
- Bressons 1962 Joan of Arc was surprisingly bad, despite using actual transcripts. Bresson may be the father of the Nouvell Vague, but I wont watch any more of him
Dreyer's 1928 Silent Joan remains in my memory as a Masterpiece...
______________________________________________________________________________
artnet
Cretan bull
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Aiens Arrayed:
space
if aliens had a farm that was 15 miles on a side consisting of a collection of rooftop TV antennas spaced every 10 feet, and receivers as noise-free as those we build for our radio telescopes, they could pick up our TV carriers in two minutes of listening from 50 light-years away. That, incidentally, is where the earliest episodes of "I Love Lucy" are hanging out now.
The carrier would tell them we're here ..to actually watch Lucy drive Desi nuts, they'd need an antenna farm 150 times bigger in each direction. That's a large herd of antennas, approximately the size of the United States



...About one percent of the cosmos lies within a quarter-degree of the path of the Sun through the sky, and any galactic neighbors who happen to be situated in that lucky stripe could ...detect Earth's transits (they last up to 13 hours) taking place every year.... they might send us a ping timed to arrive during the half-day or so when this mini-eclipse occurs.
... we could make ourselves receptive to such deliberate pings by simply aiming our SETI antennas in the direction opposite to the Sun. That means pointing to the east right after sunset, and tracking the sky to the west by dawn.

Allen Telescope Array [$25M from the computer guy]
... 42 dishes have begun making observations at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, 290 miles north of San Francisco, and the array will include 350 antennae at completion.
...
They can further refine their search by focusing on where the ecliptic intersects the plane of the Milky Way galaxy, home to most of the galaxy’s 100 billion stars.
The two great planes intersect near Taurus and Sagittarius...
SKA, Australia hopes to build it (will they come?)
skatelescope
skatelescope
Phased Array, PA at focii, IC chip detectors?
2009??
LAR also planned (Canada?



effectmeasure
Why the Right Wing attacks science
CTTs, Conservative Think Tanks, a network of paid consulting groups supported by multinational corporations and foundations bankrolled by wealthy far-right ideologues like Richard Mellon Scaife. Examples include the American Enterprise Institute, the Hoover Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, and many others.


, ,

13 June 2008

Masajuki Yoshinaga, Pablo Neruda, David LaChapelle

From my old tblog, which hasnt lost too many pic links...
tblog

Alberto Rojas Jimenez Come Flying by Pablo Neruda

Between terrified feathers, between nights
and magnolias and telegrams,
between southerly winds and winds from the sea blowing West,
you come flying.

Under grave-plots and ashes,
under the ice on the snail,
under the remotest terrestrial waters,
you come flying.

Deeper still, between girls under fathoms of water,
blind plants and a litter of fish heads,
deeper, still deeper, among clouds once again
you come flying.

Further than blood or the bones,
further than bread; beyond wines,
conflagrations,
you come flying.

Beyond vinegar's sting and mortality,
between canker and violets,
in your heavenly voice, with the wet on your shoes,
you come flying.

Over drugstores, committees,
over lawyers and navies, wheels
and the reddened extraction of teeth,
you come flying.

Over cities with roofs under water
where notable ladies uncouple the braids of their hair
with lost combs in the span of their hands
you come flying.

Close to the ripening wine in the cellars,
with hands tepid and turbid, quiet,
with gradual, wooden, red hands
you come flying.

Among vanishing airmen
by the banks of canals and the shadows,
beside lilies now buried,
you come flying.

Among bitter-hued bottles,
rings of anise and accidents,
lamenting and lifting your hands,
you come flying.

Over dentists and parishes,
cinemas, tunnels, and ears,
in your newly bought suit, with your eyeballs effaced,
you come flying.

Over that graveyard unmarked by a wall,
where even the mariner founders,
while the rains of your death fall,
you come flying.

While the rain of your fingertips falls,
while the rain of your bones falls,
and your laughter and marrow fall down,
you come flying.

Over the flint into which you dissolve,
flowing fast under time, under winter,
while your heart falls in droplets,
you come flying.

You are no longer there in that ring of cement,
hemmed in by the black-hearted notaries
or the horseman's maniacal bones:
you come flying.

Oh, sea-poppy, my kinsman,
bee-clothed guitarist,
all the shadows that blacken your hair are a lie:
you come flying.

All the shades that pursue you, a lie:
all the death-stricken swallows, a lie:
all the darkening zone of lament:
you come flying.

A black wind from Valparaiso
spreads the charcoal and foam of its wings
sweeping away the sky where you pass:
you come flying.

There are mists and the chill of dead water,
and whistles and months and the smell
of the rain in the morning and the swill of the fishes:
you come flying.

There's rum, too, between us, you and I and the soul that I mourn in,
and nobody, nothing at all but a staircase
with all the treads broken, and a single umbrella:
you come flying.

And always the sea, there. I go down in the night and I hear you
come flying, under water, alone,
under the sea that inhabits me, darkly:
you come flying.

I listen for wings and your slow elevation,
while the torrents of all who have perished assail me,
blind doves flying sodden:
you come flying.

You come flying, alone, in your solitude,
alone with the dead, alone in eternity,
shadowless, nameless, you come flying
without sweets, or a mouth, or a thicket of roses,
you come flying.

- Pablo Neruda




Time to post some pics and up the Uniques count
aaa
really a Masajuki Yoshinaga pic?



aaa
capa




David LaChapelle

aaa
pamela
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Photobucket seem to have neglected to censor this account


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aaa
Richard Dadd
British, 1819 - 1886
The Haunt of the Fairies
circa 1841


, ,

12 June 2008

CDM, Emissions Trading , Douglas Goodyear

Emissions Trading (ET)
or Carbon equivalents
or CDM Clean Development Mechanism
(why does 'Clean' make me uneasy, feel like I'm being conned?)

Some developments that make ET seem to smell bad:

Radio NZ 'Nights' had Mark Gregory on the air: 11June08 8:15pm MG is from BBC One Planet
radionz
bbc the podcast

MG gave several examples:

One was CFC-23 incineration in India. This stuff is a by-product of refrigeration coolant. Heaps of Indians now can afford fridges. It is said that CFC-23 is 12,000 times worse than CO2 (!!).
The CDM provides for rich 'North' countries who are already 'efficient' to send money to poor 'South' countries where the same money will produce more Carbon equivalent savings. I think the figure I heard was $6Billion. I guess thats from NEurope to India| China, as USAus havnt ratified Kyoto (check this?)
The entire idea rests on "Additionality" - its of benefit only if the recipient wasnt going to do it anyway. Turns out that the CFC-23 would have been incinerated anyway, at 1/600th the cost of the CDM credits. Those credits may amount to $500,000 over 10 years, so its big , if it is a waste.

CDM described as a "Dangerous diversion" and a futile attempt to "Buy our way out" of ClimateChaos

Another example given was Hydro dams financed by World Bank loans before Carbon Credits had been considered. The loan was in, so no 'additionality'
'Additionality' is a Story, often impossible to prove.



My Unease about Emissions Trading is increasing

In New Zealand ET has been delayed on Agriculture. Meaning methane eructations of herbivores (Cow burps chiefly)
Because NZ has 70%Hydro generation of electricity in a good year, Cow burps are a major portion of emissions.
Because of ET delays, in 2004 NZ went into a "major deforestation." (Yes thats DE)
- This is contentious - its from a radio talk by Nick Smith, the opposition National Party carbon spokesman.
NS says:
deforestation began in 2004, has got worse since, Carbon Credits "a complete mess": None in 2004, then Planting credits in 2008, but Harvesting penalties are a worry. NS says a "Complete Collapse of Planting", Lowest ever...
1/3 of deforested areas not replanted ( 13,000 ha converted to other uses..)

The trees were cleared for Dairy Farms. It seems that the tiny percentage of nouveau middle class in India | China amounts to a huge boost to Dairy prices. When you get that car with air-con, you just gotta have a Cheese-Burger to go.

This "Land Use Change" is not penalised., despite the switch from trees to Methane.

The Govt Forestry Minister Jim Anderton then spoke, but didnt clear the confusion. Jim said that 80% of NZ forests are 'harvested Exotics' (pinus radiate, eucalypts) - which is in itself a scary percentage.
He seemed to imply that these are being replanted as cut.

The clearing for Dairy farms comes from the 'remainder' - This seems to state that Native Forest is being cleared, I hope Jim meant something else. The phrase "5 years of deforestation" was used (not by Jim?)

Forest & Bird Kevin Hackwell said a Carbon Tax would have solved this problem, and that Dairy has massive subsidies in the form of their Methane and polluted waterways not being sheeted home.

John Stulen(?) said that the forest clearings were being done in large part by the Govt Land Corp (was it really him that said that?)

With Audio only, no transcripts, the debaTEs are becoming ephemeral, hard to grab the stats...
radionz deforestation_debate
radionz 2007_worst_for_deforestation_in_nz
forestry_decline_continues radionz


The official NZ forestry site seems to say that tree planting has fallen way down, but not actually into net negative (They may be talking about exotics only, its all rather confusing) What is clear is that Carbon Equivalents are zooming skywards.

Also, with SouthEastern Droughts, the Hydro lakes are low, and NZ is firing up oil and gas thermal . That 70% must be down. ClimateChaos predicts the East will get drier, so hydro may go. (NB in NZ we say "power stations" not "power plants")

New Zealanders have a sentimental attachment to their hills, so decade long delays in Wind Turbine construction have resulted from aesthetic whingers.

Meanwhile, The Taranaki offshore oil field estimate has zoomed from 30Mbbls to 47Mbbls (About half a day's world supply)
This oil is exported immediately , with less than 50% of the revenue going to NZ, so its a half-joy. And now the wellheads are burning off large amounts of methane, because the Govt never insisted on a gas pipeline to shore.


The whole Emissions Trading" thing is a monster.
Direct Regulation or Taxation would be a far finer mechanism.
ET is an attempt to create a Market
The real Market, that wonderful unchained beast that rules us all. Can it be imitated by a mere creation?
Artificial Market sounds like a machine to transfer huge amounts from the gullible to the glib.

I agree that a few Billion transferred from North to South isnt such a bad thing, but sending it to a few arbitrary industries is a trick. we are being sidetracked from the task of halting ClimateChaos. German Power stations are permitted to continue to pollute, albeit in global best practice manner. Ho Hum, maybe that'll have to do.



Douglas Goodyear, who had been chosen to run the 2008 Republican convention, said he was resigning ... ... DCI Group, a lobbying firm, represented Burma until last year. Mr Goodyear, its chief executive, "was paid $348,000 in 2002 to represent Burma's military junta,
..
The McCain campaign links between DCI and Burma and the Republicans were first reported in Harper's magazine some months ago, but it became a toxic issue after the Burmese government mishandled relief efforts



Obama the mild Black man
We are being primed to accept.
No Slavery chip on his shoulder.
"Change', without specifying what change, prepares us for minor tinkering around the skirts of Capital

Now Obama has told (Aipac) Jerusalem "will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided".
...
[Israel has occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem since the 1967 war, a move considered illegal under international law.
Jerusalem's status as part of Israel is also not internationally recognised - AlJazeera]

My feeling about Obama is that "Change" is a content-less phrase - 'Change' could mean anything from More War to a Caliphate.
I felt the same way about the NZ "Values" party in the 1970s - which was actually the first 'Green' party but the title could mean anything. Or that a certain leftish group expected Equal Rights and Justice? or Sustainability against Free Market Capital? - If you dont specify, expect very little substance


, ,

08 June 2008

Greg Clydesdale, Alan Hart, Stirling Engine, Solar Thermal

Here under Tinakori hill its hard to get a good drying day.
thistle

thistlep
Thistle Inn July 1951 (Winter , I have just moved to this street, and have undoubtedly just started talking in sentences)

I heard radio nz Kim Hill yesterday morning (7Jun08) [how fine Kath & Kim, the radio nz women!(Kathryn Ryan)] interviewing Greg Clydesdale, the infamous "underclass" chap (from Ardmore/Massey??) who blames Islanders [Pacific people, Polynesian immigrants, chose your own favourite term] for not getting ahead once they get here.

What an odious creep. I must admit to a bias, he pronounces 'with' as 'wiff' which I believe is a class thing, not a speech impediment. Also he says skill as 'skool'.
So as I criticise his racist view, he might criticise my classist views.
('muddle east' is apparently a place on earth somewhere)

His main contribution to human discourse seems to be the phrase "team fit" which it seems is the excuse given for not hiring Tongans et al. because they dont fit in. So 'creativity' is endangered. 'creativity' here taken to be ideas for novel business productions.

Now use of the term "Team fit" doesn't prove racism, it is, however, just what a racist who is endeavouring to hide, would say. So go figure.

Greg insisted that 'peer review' meant the 2 business chappies who had accepted his paper, and that the various Anthropologists, Sociologists etc who bucketed his work dont count.

Evidently he confounded immigrant and residents, ignored 2006 census, etc, I haven't bothered to read him or his critics, I treat this as a media event.

The odious Greg then blathered on about how 'diversity is overrated for creativity'
and has the audacity to instance the Beatles as some kind of example. There oughta be a law against types like him mentioning John Lennon's name. Greg apparently has produced a 'simplified' (fewer black notes) version of Bach's cantatas, which may well sell well. Is there no end to this fellows vileness?

Radio NZ then carried on with an interview with Alan Hart a geologist based in Nelson. AH does some work for oil companies, and gave one of the best short presentations on Peak Oil I have heard. One of the big constraints is the scarcity of skilled geologists, existing ones are chiefly boomers, it seems, GenY all went into computers, he reckons

How fine it is to have decent radio (Aus also does quite well in Radio)

[Radio NZ is poorly served , ie takes ages to load, but the MP3s are there]
clydesdale
alan_hart


Efficient Food
I propose humans eat more cold-blooded creatures, because they use food vastly more efficiently than birds and mammals.
Insects and reptiles make better use of feedstocks. (Crickets, Crocodiles?)
They would require warm climates for optimum growth, but thats where the hungry are, and where we're heading.


sciencenews
Insects (the original white meat)

...edible insects can forage on a far wider range of plants than do traditional meat animals.., bugs can tap food sources normally worthless in conventional meat production, such as cacti, bamboo shoots, mesquite and woody scrub brush.

What’s more, insects turn more of what they eat into tissue that can be consumed by others. For crickets fed diets comparable in quality to the feed given to conventional Western livestock,. diet conversion efficiency is about twice as high as for broiler chicks and pigs, four times higher than sheep and nearly six times higher than steers, DeFoliart reports. Insects’ quick reproduction and high fecundity makes them look even more environmentally attractive. For the crickets, DeFoliart has calculated, this translates into “a true food conversion efficiency close to 20 times better than that of beef.”



Ramos-Elorduy, Julieta. 1998. Creepy Crawly Cuisine: The Gourmet Guide to Edible Insects.
Gordon, David George. May 1998. Eat-A-Bug Cookbook. 136 pages

RP:
Several related orthopteran species are eaten. The nymphs are called lukton and the adults balang. Locusts.. In a sample of 300 locusts of the genus Acrydium, the average weight per locust was 1.67 g with the edible portion (body and head) comprising 81%. 59.6% moisture, 24.1% protein 7.9% fat

I havnt seen a lot of insects on sale in RP. In Thailand they are popular. Thailand has commercial farmed insects, so would be the place to visit to see how its done. (feed types, pathogens etc)
Hint: remove the legs from deep fried crickets before chruncing them, the spurs & spines are not that pleasant.

I reckon a small, household scale Cricket production could serve a poor family well.

Stirling Heat engines rock

the dish-Stirling system works at higher efficiencies than any other current solar technologies, with a net solar-to-electric conversion efficiency reaching 30 percent. Each unit can produce up to 25 kilowatts of daytime Stirling Energy Systems and utility Southern California Edison are building a 500-megawatt solar power plant to open in 2009. The plant will be the first commercial application of the Stirling Solar Dish (a smaller prototype is shown here at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.).

aaa


The cost for each prototype unit is about $150,000. Once in production SES estimates that the cost could be reduced to less than $50,000 each, which would make the cost of electricity competitive with conventional fuel technologies.

A solar dish farm covering 11 square miles hypothetically could produce as much electricity per year as Hoover Dam, and a farm 100 miles by 100 miles in the southwestern U.S. could provide as much electricity as is needed to power the entire country.

He notes the dish-Stirling system works at higher efficiencies than any other current solar technologies, with a net solar-to-electric conversion efficiency reaching 30 percent. Each unit can produce up to 25 kilowatts of daytime power.

1M = (1000000 / 25000 ) * 50000 = $2M ($50,000 is the [presumed price after mass production)
$6M - $2M per MWatt (cf Nuclear Power $5B++ for 1.7GWatt??)

bbc
geotimes


Consersatives worth reading:
alternet
exile
Brecher
takimag
Taki

This might be interesting:
Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, Patrick J. Buchanan,


, , ,



PS
Yesterday 7June 1848 Birthday of Paul Gauguin, Death day of Alan Turing 1954