Jesus Freaks

A recent poll (described in Science) has attempted to examine national differences in public acceptance of evolution. Respondents from the United States, Japan, and a range of European countries were asked to rate a statement as True or False: "human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals." Not surprisingly, the U.S. lies at the top of the pack in rejecting evolution, compared to the more secular Europeans. What is surprising, however, is that the percentage of Americans rejecting evolution has increased over the past 20 years. Go Fundamentalism! As always, Americans can't help but consider themselves special.

The 50 worst Australian band names of all time

Check out Jack Marx's take on Australia's 50 worst band names.

Border Security

As of July of this year, Australia's top rating television show was Border Security - a show that presents customs officials busting traffickers in airports, confiscating boats of illegal fishermen, and detaining illegal migrants. The only other show that comes close is another reality show featuring celebrities "dancing" (i.e., falling down) on ice.

JKA Results

The JKA World Cup has come and gone, but what a great experience. The best of the best from 40 odd countries all competing in one place. . .a karateka's nirvana. What does it take to secure victory at that level? Well, apparently it helps to be Japanese, given members of Japan's team took first place in all individual and team events (but then, they always do). I personally found the highlight to be watching Japan's kata team compete - really, really impressive. But one's got to give credit to the other strong competitors - Australia and South Africa always make a strong showing, and the Aussie women in particular did their country proud in individual and team sparring. And based upon some of the men's team from Brazil and Argentina, South America is rapidly making inroads into international competition. Anyway, here are all the results from the adult competition:

JKA World Cup

I'm off for the weekend to Sydney for the 2006 World Karate-Do Championships. Word. Don't worry mom - I'm only a spectator.

Asian Cup

The Socceroos qualified for the Asian Cup this week, defeating Kuwait 2-0, despite the absence of almost all of the players that contributed to Australia's relatively successful World Cup appearance - absences which have earned the team the label, "Soccerwhos".

Terror Indeed

Of all the evil tricks that terrorists have up their sleeves, I can think of nothing more irreverent or cruel than boob bombs.

Cease Cease Fire

I'm glad to see the folks at Washington Post.com have a sense of humor. Or maybe they're just idiots.

The Imperfect Storm

Chris Landsea et al's recent paper in Science reveals some interesting information regarding the climate change and tropical cyclone debate, which challenges recent high-profile papers arguing for strong upward trends in tropical cyclone intensity.

According to Landsea,
"...tropical cyclone databases in regions primarily dependent on satellite imagery for monitoring are inhomogeneous and likely to have artificial upward trends in intensity. Data from the only two basins that have had regular aircraft reconnaissance—the Atlantic and Northwest Pacific—show that no significant trends exist in tropical cyclone activity when records back to at least 1960 are examined."

In short, Landsea offers evidence suggesting that our methods for estimating cyclone intensities during the early-70s to late-80s tended to underestimate actual intensities. When those data are subsequently combined with more recent observations, the result is an artificial upward trend. Should this argument hold, it will certainly raise questions regarding the cadre of scientists that has been so quick to attribute recent cyclone events to global warming (and the journals that have been so quick to publish their analyses), and provide more fodder for the climate skeptics. Here's hoping that in potentially making a mountain out of a molehill, we didn't just simply dig a hole.

Meanwhile, NOAA has revised (downward) it's hurricane forecast for 2006.

Not that kind of Tribe

William and Mary, aka "The Tribe" (and my alma mater), has hit a brick wall over an ongoing dispute regarding the political correctness of the insitution's iconography. Managing to squeak by with the moniker "The Tribe", it's trademarked logo (seen here) as nevertheless been banned by the NCAA because the inclusion of the feathers may "create an environment that is offensive [to native Americans]."

Can't say I was ever fond of "The Tribe" label (it's kind of dopey), but c'mon.

Alternative Energy

The World Turned Upside Down

If you've been wondering whether the world in which we live has slipped into an umpredictable, topsy turvy kind of chaos, here's the proof:

United Passes Test, Ties Real Madrid

Falls Creek Appendix

As an aside, while enjoying a quick coffee at the base of one of Falls Creeks runs on Sunday morning, we shared a table with some of the resorts staff members, and I couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. The three stereotypical, grizzled AUSSIE ski dudes started discussing the weather (well actually they started off bitching about safety regulations and what a pain it was to have to wear helmets on snow mobiles, but I'll skip that), the increasing brevity of Australia's snow season, and commented that it was "obvious" that the weather was changing. One summed it up as follows, "In 30 years people won't be skiing here". Now one would like to think that these gentlemen were savvy consumers of climate change information and had thoroughly studied CSIRO's assessment work which basically arrived at the same conclusion, but it's more likely that these gents had just been around long enough to see the changes with their own eyes.

The topic of climate change came up again as we were checking out - one of the staff asked if we were coming back later in the season if there was another good snowfall. We inquired as to whether another snowfall was likely, to which she responded, "probably not - things are already starting to bloom." Huh, well, OK. Guess I'll just unpack the boardies and hit the beach then. . .

The Alps

Yodel-aye-he-hoo!!!
The weekend was spent in the company of the CapGemini consultants, skiing in Australia's Alps at Falls Creek resort. This, for those you unfamiliar with Australia's topography, is a miraculous experience as there's not much in Australia that can pass for a mountain, and even less at sufficient altitude to offer the cold temperatures and snowfall necessary for skiing. Australia's ski season lasts about 3 months and about 10 weeks of that are marginal at best.

Our arrival at Falls Creek was marred by yet another winding Australian road, which was sufficient to bring most of us to the verge of upchucking (and some that shall remain nameless went way beyond the verge and refunded their spleens). At the end of the winding road, one was forced to pay a park entrance fee of $26 per day per vehicle, and then we had to dish out another $30 per head in order to stand around for half an hour waiting for a snowcat to transport us to our accommodation. (It was at this point that an adventurous mother attempted to jump the line citing her "9-year old" as a justification - her pleas fell on unsympathetic ears and I believe it was Uta who waved goodbye as we lurched off).

Despite the rough start, our housing was top-notch (for which we paid top-dollar): jaccuzi, heated floors, leather furniture, and lots of other post-modern, dead-tech, alpine goodies. Saturday's skiing was awesome, due to the blue skies and warm weather (13C). The post-ski drinks were consumed at a pub called The Man, which didn't make much sense to me until we returned there later in the evening (it being pretty much the only lively watering hole in the area), at which point it became clear that The Man was called The Man because apparently women have too much sense to enter such a dive. Uta and I lasted until about midnight, although other more intrepid souls stuck around to see what dawn at The Man looks like (but they don't remember).

Uta and I hit the slopes early on Sunday, and eventually caught up with a couple of others (one lying prostrate in the snow) as our wounded comrades eventually rallied from the previous evening's festivities. Return trip started with another long wait for a snowcat (ours being usurped by a group of Japanese tourists) and another long ride through Spew Lane (although this trip was sans spew). Good trip, some photos here, and now we can look forward to a weekend at home.

The Woman in Black

Caught the Woman in Black last night at Melbourne's Comedy Theatre - quite entertaining and clever, although the plot foreshadows the protagonist's fate one too many times.

American in Thailand

Newley's latest post (with accompanying video) regarding one of his adventures in Thailand is worth a laugh.