Why yes, I have done that
Ever tried to do a press conference at Southern Cross station and compete with a locomotive for the microphone? Don’t try. Locos 1. Me 0.
– Kevin Rudd PM on Twitter
Amusing.
It occurred to me that there’s not very many people who would be qualified to reply in the affirmative to that, so even though I know the man himself probably won’t read it, and it was a rhetorical question, I thought I’d pipe up:
@KevinRuddPM Yes actually, I have done that. Speak loudly and clearly and hope the microphones pick you up!
– danielbowen on Twitter
I’m sure he’d already figured that out for himself.
Speaking of…
A few quick things…
This Daily Show segment about Obama’s inauguration was mucho funny.
Speaking of Obama, as with Rudd before him, I’m still getting used to the words “President” and “Obama” in one sentence.
Speaking of Rudd, clearly he needs to do more on education, as the misused apostrophe in one of his Twitter posts proves: KevinRuddPM Join Australian’s in 1 minute twitter silence @ 4pm today in memory of those who lost their lives in Vic & QLD #bushfires
Speaking of, erm, things from the last few days, this is the favourite card design I’ve ever given for St Valentine’s Day (to Marita last year, I think):
Free at lunchtime?
Free at lunchtime and not too far from Parliament House?
WHAT: Stop the Brumby Government riding roughshod over our rights.
WHEN: Tuesday 3rd February Arriving at 11.30 am. Speakers begin at Midday.
WHERE: Parliament House, Bourke + Spring Sts, Melbourne.
WHY: Bring back democracy.
A joint protest on water, climate change and public transport for the opening of parliament.
If it doesn’t put you off, they’ll be handing me the loud hailer for a few minutes.
Five percent?!
Letter of note in yesterday’s Age:
IT IS interesting to note the objections and opposition to the Government’s climate plan, particularly from more affluent groups and individuals. They see it as up to industry, particularly the power industry, to lower consumption of energy and reduce emissions.
What effort are these people prepared to make to reduce their use of energy and to lower carbon emissions? In fact, what sacrifices are they prepared to make, other than changing light bulbs or installing a more efficient shower head?
It is highly improbable that many would consider markedly reducing their reliance on climate control devices (such as air-conditioning), or even buying a smaller or more efficient car. Have you noticed how many four-wheel-drives there are on the road? Would they be prepared to walk to shops, rather than drive? Of course not! Any and all fault lies solely with others. Certainly not with the mass over-consumption lifestyle and expectations that have become, to a large degree, the entitlements of suburban culture.
Unless and until people are prepared to alter this unsustainable culture, it would appear we are headed towards a dangerous climate, with continual depletion of resources.
Philip Brown, Ormond
Firstly, it’s not just about what I do as an individual. It’s about lots of individuals — as many as possible — the vast majority of the population — doing the right thing, and making sure that the government enables those people to do the right thing. And, significantly, it’s about making sure that profit-driven companies do the right thing too.
I walk and use PT a lot and drive less half the distance than the, um, average Australian. But I’m lucky enough to have easy access to PT for some of my trips. What about all the people who have nothing but an hourly bus service? What about those in suburbs where there are no shops within walking distance? Are these people expected to resign from the human race?
I buy green power and have solar hot water. So do lots of other people. But some people can’t afford it. I can’t figure out why the subsidies which will go to our filthy brown coal power stations don’t just go to buy everybody green power and solar panels.
Secondly, until the government forces the power generators to switch, they’ll keep churning out the emissions, as long as it’s profitable to do so. As The Australia Institute pointed out:
The problem for households keen to ‘do their bit’ to reduce climate change is that if they have shorter showers or put solar panels on their roofs, all they will do is reduce their personal demand for electricity. If less coal is burned to provide households with electricity, the coal-fired power stations won’t need as many permits and they can then sell their ’spare’ permits to the aluminium or steel industries so that these polluters can INCREASE their emissions.
And that really gets at the problem with Mr Brown’s argument.
Sure, he makes a good point about over-consumption (something to remember, especially around this time of year). But you can’t expect everyone (people and companies) to change their behaviour if the right carrots and sticks aren’t applied.
That’s why Rudd’s 5% reduction target is so disappointing. It appears the compensation scheme will be so generous that it won’t actually encourage a move to low-carbon alternatives.
I’m not the first one to draw the analogy between GHG emissions and smoking, but I reckon if a 20-a-day smoker said they would cut down to 19, it would be rightly viewed as having little effect. In that context, cutting back by 5% would make no difference to that person’s health, nor in influencing others to quit.
I suppose I was hoping for more from Kevin ‘07. Shame.
Who to vote for, part 2
This survey of candidates was not on behalf of the PTUA.
I’ve got responses back from four of the council candidates for Tucker ward in Glen Eira.
All four responded positively when asked about transport (in particular public transport) issues. A number of them highlighted the issue of a lack of direct bus service from Bentleigh/McKinnon to Southland, which is interesting. I’d rather see Southland Station built; knowing how Melbourne’s typical bus services end up, it would provide a quicker link, more frequent services and longer operating hours than just about any Melbourne bus service would. I might talk to each of them about that.
They all highlight bus as well as train issues, thus showing an awareness of issues that aren’t getting the mass media spotlight. They all agree with the 68% of Melburnians who surveyed by The Age recently said PT investment should take priority over roads. Hardly surprising I suppose; Glen Eira already has a very mature road system, and space for widening/freeways doesn’t exist, not without bulldozing homes.
Theo Giantos is quite obviously more annoyed than the others by the lack of state government action. But there’s actually little else to separate these four, and based on these responses, I’d happily vote for any of them, subject to looking at their other policies and their How To Vote cards to work out if any of them are “dummy” candidates.
There are three vacancies, so I hope three of them get up over the others, whose lack of response makes their positions unclear to me.
I’ve summarised their responses below.
Read more
Who to vote for?
This Saturday is local council election day. Only nine councils are doing voting in person — all the rest have switched to postal voting.
I’m lucky enough to be voting in person. Oh sure, sending in an envelope might be more convenient. But I’ll be getting to peruse the cake stall and buy a sausage. So who’s laughing now?
In Tucker Ward we have 11 candidates for 3 positions. The only problem is I don’t know any of them, or what they stand for. So I don’t really know who to vote for.
So today I emailed all 11 candidates with a set of questions. (Their addresses are Predictably for me, I concentrated on transport issues. I’ll post later in the week when I get some responses (one back so far).
And I’d encourage everyone to similarly think about the issues that matter to you, and email your local candidates to see if they are worthy of your vote.
- For those interested in transport issues in the City of Melbourne: PTUA Scores Lord Mayor Candidates
CO2 isn’t so bad
A full-page advert for the coal industry in The Age caught my eye the other day. I just love this bit (quoted here from their web site):
Carbon dioxide in our daily lives
Carbon dioxide itself is not a danger in our everyday lives. In fact, all life on the planet depends on carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is also used in many everyday activities. For example, carbon dioxide is used:
- for the bubbles in your beer or soft drink
- to decaffeinate coffee
- in fire extinguishers
- to make ‘dry ice’
- to create the ‘fog’ effect in concerts, theatres and on movie sets
- in welding, sandblasting and construction
- to make flavour additives for food
- as a propellant in aerosol cans
Next time you drink a beer or soft drink, remember that the bubbles came from a natural underground source of carbon dioxide. Geosequestration is the same process, just in reverse.
See? CO2 isn’t so bad. More CO2 for everybody!
Of course they don’t literally claim CO2 is good, or that climate change doesn’t exist. No no, that would flag them as skeptics. But they are trying to flag themselves as good guys. They’re trying to flag themselves as 21st century (”New Gen Coal“) rather than a polluting dinosaur industry from the 19th.
And they’re trying to claim that clean coal is the answer… Of course clean coal, when it all comes down to it, isn’t actually developed enough yet to be viable — and may never be.
Next thing you know they’ll be making TV adverts like this:
(Yeah, I’ve posted that video before. It’s still great.)
Half-finished posts
It’s time for a clearout.
Here’s a bunch of posts I wrote but never got around to posting. In some cases I intended to research them a bit more before publishing, so beware they may be a little half-arsed.
Backwards
There were claims and counter-claims during the Kororoit byelection campaign (June 2008). I suppose Les Twentyman was unlikely to get up, given it’s such a strong Labor seat, but you’ve got to wonder about some of the accusations flying around.
The Libs gave Twentyman their preferences. Twentyman gave his preferences to Labor.
Brumby’s translation of this: Asked how he could say a vote for Mr Twentyman was a vote for the Liberals, Mr Brumby said: “Because if his (primary) vote is higher than the Liberal Party vote, he has every chance of being elected courtesy of Liberal Party preferences.”
So in fact, it’s not that a vote for Twentyman was a vote for the Liberals. It was the opposite. A vote for the Liberals was a vote for Twentyman.
Is your patent scalable?
I’m wondering if we should re-design the patent system worldwide, to consider:
- Is the invention scalable? If it spreads worldwide, what are the consequences? For instance, does it pollute in a way that doesn’t matter for a single unit, but which causes big problems if there are millions?
- What is the ultimate likely market size for the invention?
How would you enforce it? How about making the patent run out when 20% of your expected total units have been made?
Apple vs Microsoft
Apparently Microsoft’s Vista advertising is costing US$300 million.
Apple’s latest advert pokes fun at this, but I wonder how much their campaign has cost?
Stupidly, Apple’s web site doesn’t let PC owners who don’t have Quicktime even see the adverts. Way to miss your target market, dudes.
Beds
A theory of mine: It’s only an extreme pessimist or a monk who as an adult chooses to sleep in a single bed.
Not a futurist
Joel Spolsky proves I’m not the only one who thought eBay was a dumb idea.
Not news
Sadly we’re getting to the point where American mass shootings are no longer news. They’re happening with depressing regularlity, but outside the US I suspect most of us are at the point where we roll our eyes at their gun laws and get on with our day.
The Bulletin
The Bulletin closed after 128 years of publishing. Not that I ever read it, except when in the barber’s shop waiting for a haircut, but they did talk to me for an in-depth piece on blogging a few years ago (which would have made a good cite for the unsubstantiated claim in Wikipedia that my blog is one of the oldest around).
Location
Why do some people pay over the odds to live in areas with good public transport, then not use it?
In the case of home-owners, I guess because they know it’s a better investment.
Though I once met a bloke living a stone’s throw away from Glenhuntly station in a rented flat who appeared to drive everywhere.
Spending
Sometimes one has real hope for the world. Sometimes not:
The world spends US$780 billion every year on maintaining its military and buying new weapons —that’s $2.1 billion every day. Dr Oscar Arias estimates that if just 5% ($40 billion) of that annual $780 billion were channeled into anti-poverty programmes over the next decade, the whole world could have basic social services. A further 5% over ten years could provide everybody on the planet with an income above the poverty line. UNICEF estimates that spending just $7 billion a year for the next decade could educate every child on Earth. — Source (via Cam)
Getting old
Maybe I’m thinking about this too much, but I’m increasingly aware of getting old, and I wonder if those who share my Gen-X status are thinking about it too. And Tony’s foot incident a while back reminds me that it’s no more obvious than when I consider my general physical and mental fitness: I’d swear my typing is slowing down. My mouse hand hurts sometimes. At one stage I noticed my right knee hurts like hell if I kneel down on it for too long. And jeez… the grey hair!
When did this happen? Is it the start of a long slow descent into old age, or are there things I should be doing to keep up my level of fitness? My usual answer is “More walking!” which I’m determined to do anyway, but I wonder what else.
Perhaps I should go ask the doctor for a complete physical.
