Skeptics, Opportunists, and Nuts. . .

As one's public profile increases, he/she is inevitably exposed to the slings and arrows of outrageous people. I am puzzled as to why one would take the time to look up a perfect stranger's email address and give them shit. Here is some samples of the fan mail I've received as of late - some of it benign, some of it harsh, some unintelligible:

"If NSW continues with coal exports on a business as usual basis we'd better start planting baobab trees now. Is peak oil our only hope? Who joins me in this research?"

"Your negative quote of greenhouse gas and damage to our environment in today's Australian makes it clear that both you and the paper are Howard puppets, the oddity is that Howard only looks after the top 2% of Australia's wealthy people , so how does a paltry scientist fit into the equation and become a Howard mouthpiece? Do you think you'll wake up tomorrow in a chauffer [sic] driven Rolls?"

"Please publicise the fact that animal agribusiness is a major contributor to global warming and the drought. A recent UN report reveals that cattle rearing is worse for global warming than driving cars. Also, the drought is intractable, and animal agribusiness uses great amounts of water compared to other agribusiness. The waterways pollution is also a problem as well as land clearing, not to mention the great cruelty to animals in intensive farming."

". . .you are prostituting science - the NSW, QLD, VIC or other Greenhouse Office or dept. comes along with fistfull of government dollars and you obediently package up a report liberally sprinked [sic] with "may", "might", "could" to suport [sic] their political position - you admited [sic] yourself you modified the disclaimer to disguise the dubious science."

and the same guy:

"You may have noticed a flurry of Global Warming activity - The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching, glaciers are melting. polar bears are drowning etc. etc. It's because its state-of-the-union time for the cult. The Conclave of elders of the Global Warming cult - the IPCC - is about to issue the new doctrine - the fourth pronouncement of faith. It will leaked and then released with great fanfare accepted as a fait acompli and then everyone will duck for cover when the criticism has time to form. Nobody in the cult will debate it - why should they? They hold the high moral ground - why allow doubt? What exactly will happen? On Friday the IPCC will release a summary of the up-coming 1600 page Fourth Assessment Report on climate change. The press will report it as gospel with huge sensational claims and headlines. Meanwhile the panel will sit on the actual science for another 2 months, doctor it up a bit to make sure it all fits the summary and then release it. This will of course be too late for any reasonable debate, discussion, or protest - it will be old news by then.We saw the same process for the now widely discredited Stern Report."

-He's got a whole website of this stuff. . .

Media Circus

Climate change appears to be a popular topic these days. A brochure synthesising information on climate change in the metro Sydney region was released yesterday. The appearance of the words "climate change" and "Sydney" in the same sentence, combined with some dramatic journalism from the Daily Telegraph led to quite a media stir. By the end of the day, I'd done interviews for five free-air television networks (which, in Australia, is all of them), the Weather Channel, the Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Financial Times, and BBC Radio-London, to name a few. At last count approximately 160 reports were filed in media outlets. And the interviews keep coming. . .

Here We Go Again

Well, it's almost 2 February, 2007, which means the next round of the IPCC's periodic assessment reports of all things climate change is almost here. In reality, though not officially available for public consumption, the report has already been with us for a couple of weeks, as information has been leaked to the press on a daily basis. In fact, it's hard to recall anything more leaky than the IPCC and its authors, but hey, they're excited, right? So six year's after the last go, what's new in the world of climate science? The answer - all kinds of stuff, provided you're really into the subtleties. If however, you're looking for dramatic new projections of future climate change, sea-level rise, and global consequences, you'll have to wait another five years (or more). For the moment, it's largely status quo, with the exception of a few minor adjustments here and there and modestly more definitive language regarding confidence in the attribution of observed climate change to human activity.

Now of course, this is not what you'll hear from the media or be reading about over the next few weeks. No, instead you'll be bombarded by stories regarding the "new" findings, showing "catastrophic" consequences, that will "certainly" befall humankind if we don't act "immediately". But unless one does more than scratch the surface, she'll be hard pressed to find the the stuff that actual does expand upon what we new back in 2001.

Pardon me, but there's a Chilean in my soup

On the eve on the Australian Open men's singles final, the Dittmers and Prestons dined in one of our favorite Italian spots along Collins Street. Much to our surprise (and pleasure), the place was calling with Germans, including our waiter. Even more surprising, however, was the entrance a few minutes after our arrival of Fernando Gonzalez, along with his coach and trainer. While the room stared in a bit of awe (most of that awe coming from Uta), they took seats at the next table. We continued with our dinner with a new topic for conversation, and as the night wore on and customers started heading for the door, the man of the hour ultimately had to put up with the usual photos, congratulations, and hand shakes from his admirers. We managed to score a photo of Uta and the would-be champion, which undoubtedly will appear here in the near future. Unfortunately, Gonzalez was unable to dethrone the reigning king of tennis, Roger Federer, at the next day's final. . .

UPDATE: 1/2/07 - And, finally, the proof:

Worst Band Names '06

Check out Kyle Ryan's annual wrap-up of the worst band names of 2006.

A sample:
"Papa Grows Funk
If you put “funk” in your name, you should be smacked. Although nothing may ever touch last year’s Public Display Of Funk for sheer audacity in its terribleness. To wit…
Urban Funk Ordinance
Yes, let’s pass one outlawing this band.
Bandits Of The Acoustic Revolution
Using the word “bandits,” minus 5 points. “Revolution,” another five. “Acoustic,” minus 15. Using them together, minus 1,000 points. They sound like cousins of these guys:
Natives Of The New Dawn
and
Daughters Of The Sun
You can practically smell the patchouli from here. Ditto for these fückengrüven names…
Groovatron
Tye Dye Skye
National Ass Groovin’ Association"

It's Not Football, Mate

The ethnic conflict and violence which has historically undermined Australia's attempts to maintain a viable professional soccer league showed up at a strange venue on Monday - Rod Laver arena. Apparently it was a slow day for hooliganism, and thus rowdy young men clashed at Day 1 of the Australian Open. I say, there's nothing more manly than a punch-up while wearing one's tennis whites. The conflict erupted between large groups of Aussies still harbouring nationalist feelings toward their ethnic homelands in the Balkan peninsula (Serbs, Croats, and Greeks). The police ultimately got it all sorted, but tournament officials are a bit embarrassed.

Armageddon

Temperatures yesterday topped out at 41C(106F)in Melbourne, so needless to say, it was a bit warm. Meanwhile, fires continued to range in Victoria's east, damaging electricity transmission lines, which led to blackouts throughout much of the state, including Melbourne. And most importantly, the high temperatures delayed outdoor play at the Australian Open for much of the day, resulting in some matches still underway at 2:00am. Ahhhh, summer in Australia. . .

Start the Presses

The long awaited book, Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change, is now available for ordering via Amazon. Vicki and I have a chapter within regarding communication by the business community. It's long and a bit pricey for vacation reading, but perhaps one of the most comprehensive treatments of the subject to date.

Book Description (from Amazon):
"The need for effective communication, public outreach, and education to increase support for policy, collective action and behavior change is ever present, and is perhaps most pressing in the context of anthropogenic climate change. This book is the first to take a comprehensive look at communication and social change specifically targeted to climate change. It is a unique collection of ideas examining the challenges associated with communicating climate change in order to facilitate societal response. It offers well-founded, practical suggestions on how to communicate climate change and how to approach related social change more effectively. The contributors of this book come from a diverse range of backgrounds, from government and academia to non-governmental and civic sectors of society. The book is accessibly written, and any specialized terminology is explained. It will be of great interest to academic researchers and professionals in climate change, environmental policy, science communication, psychology, sociology, and geography."

Tracking Victorian GHG Emissions

The Climate Group recently unveiled it's new online tool for tracking weekly greenhouse gas emissions for the state of Victoria.

"The Greenhouse Indicator provides accurate and real time information on the amount of greenhouse gases produced each week in Victoria from energy use. This accounts for about 85% of the State’s greenhouse gas emissions."

West Side Story

A family feud in Sydney's west over the weekend led to massive street brawl. Hey, when you're a Jet, you're a Jet. . .

Dispute between families sparks riot
January 7, 2007 - 2:00PM

"NSW Police Minister John Watkins called on the entire community to help solve the escalating problem of youth violence following an incident in Sydney last night in which 19 people were arrested on riot charges."

Drought Solves More Mysteries

As reported here, the severe drought afflicting southeast Australia has brought quite a bit to the surface. And now this:

Body found in submerged car
January 7, 2007 - 4:50PM

Police believe they have found the remains of a man who disappeared 11 years ago, inside a car submerged in a river in central Victoria.

A police spokeswoman said men fishing on the Loddon River, near Serpentine, 200km north of Melbourne, called police after they spotted the car below the surface of the water last Friday.

The current low water levels had brought the car closer to the surface.

"The vehicle was located six kilometres south of Serpentine, just off the Bridgewater-Serpentine Road," the spokeswoman said.

Police say they believe the skeletal remains may be those of a 38-year-old man who disappeared from Newbridge, near Bendigo, in 1995.

"A coroner's inquest at the time found the matter to be suicide without a body," the spokeswoman said.

Police have spent today investigating the scene and have removed the car from the river.

A New Year's Eve

After returning from Tasmania, we quickly unpacked, cleaned and prepared to host the McKinley brothers as they completed their Australia tour in Melbourne. One of their first activities in Melbourne was to help us ring in the New Year. We kicked off festivities at an afternoon barbie at Jeremy's followed by a gala event at the Riverland Bar on the banks of the Yarra.

As the photos evidence, the night was quite enjoyable but did get a bit messy toward the wee hours of the morning. The fireworks were awesome, particularly since they were being launched from a barge on the river about 75 metres from our location. Our party become scattered as we attempted to make our way home, with some opting to walk (and getting lost) while I tried to herd a couple onto the late-night drunk bus through the somewhat chaotic streets of downtown Melbourne.

New Year's Day was spent licking wounds (at least for those capable of movement).

Tasmania

We spent the week between Christmas and New Year's navigating through the wilds of Tasmania, dodging bushfires, wildlife, and bad weather. We arrived in Devonport after an overnight ferry trip on the Spirit of Tasmania, and immediately headed toward the east coast, where we took a peak at the Bay of Fires, before heading south to spend our first night at the Bicheno Caravan Park. There, we managed to catch the nightly parade of fairy penguins from the cold waters of the Tasman Sea into their roosts on the Bicheno coast. We also met Tim and Cindie, who've spent the past 5 years bicycling around the world and were actively working on editing the second book describing their adventures.

From Bicheno, we continued south, stopping in at the Freycinet National Park, and Swansea and continuing on to Hobart, where we arrived Christmas Eve. We lodged oursleves at the Customs House Hotel on the harbour, and had to search a bit before we could find a find meal worthy of Christmas Eve (quite a few tourists in town for the Sydney to Hobart race). On Christmas Day, we joined the rest of the tourists at Port Arthur, one of the few remaining windows to Australia's more humble colonial beginnings. Christmas Day was cold and rainy, with snow falling on Tasmania's peaks. As a further insult, Hobart pretty much shut down by the afternoon, and so we were forced to find sustenance in the local casino, and we returned to our hotel only to have the electricity knocked out by a gust of wind.

On Boxing Day, we returned to the bush, and headed north into Tasmania's highlands. We spent a night at the Tarraleah power station - formerly a community for Tasmania's hydropower workers - now a quiet resort, complete with accommodation ranging from a luxury lodge, to cottages, to camp sites. We got a taste of summer weather in Tasmania, with temperatures overnight dropping below 10C.

The following day, we continued north into the Cradle Mountain/Lake St. Clair National Park, stopping for a quick peak at Lake St. Clair, before taking the roundabout western roads to get to Cradle Mountain. We passed through some of Tasmania's more rustic communities, including Queenstown (a little village nestled into a mining-scarred landscape) and Rosebery, the latter looking like something out of West Virginia in the 1970s. We arrived at our campground just outside the park in the late afternoon, and proceeded to pray for good weather for the next day.

We woke early to tackle Cradle Mountain itself - a peak the juts out of the highland landscape, famous for its views which are often obscured by nasty weather. Just three days before, the mountain had received snowfall, but we were lucky enough to experience fantastic blue skies. The hike to the base of the mountain along the park's Overland Track (which continues south for days for the intrepid adventurer) was pleasant enough - fantastic views of the surrounding peaks and valleys. The ascent to the summit however was indeed challenging, with the "trail" consisting of a series of metal stakes sticking out of a boulder encrusted mountainside. We scrambled past more than one person who'd decided that this was not what they had in mind when they set out for a hike, but we made it to the top without too much trouble. We returned via Hudson's Lake, a trip that took longer than we expected, over rougher ground, and the trail disappeared toward the end, forcing us to get a bit creative. It all ended well, however, and we called it an early night after about seven hours on the move.

Our final day saw us heading back toward Devonport to catch the ferry home, but we stopped off in the quaint town of Sheffield to check out the famous murals (painted years ago as a means of attracting tourists - it appeared to have worked), and then snuck in one last hike through Narawntapu National Park (previously known as Asbestos Range National Park, but that clearly doesn't sound as pleasant). This coastal park allegedly has the highest density of wildlife of any park in the world. Not sure about that claim, but there certainly were heaps of wallabies and pademelons. Once again, we got a bit side-tracked and lost the path, but eventually back-tracked and recovered.

We boarded our ferry a bit stinky and sailed off into the sunset for the voyage home.

For the feast of photos, go here.

Drought Fights Crime

Drought exposes illegal firearms
Jordan Chong
January 4, 2007 - 3:02PM

Falling water levels might be a nightmare for farmers, gardeners and the community at large, but the drought has helped police recover a number of illegal guns dumped in lakes near Ballarat.

Four weapons, including rifles and a bolt-action shotgun, have been found since November at Wendouree and Creswick lakes, which sit empty because of Victoria's long drought.

Some of the weapons have a history, with one rifle linked to a burglary that occurred in Ballarat about 20 years ago, according to local police.

Ballarat Senior Sergeant Gary Pilmore said many of the firearms had been uncovered by people fossicking through the empty lakes.

He urged people who discoverer guns to contact local police.

"These guns are in very poor condition and some may still have ammunition inside them," Sen Sgt Pilmore said in a statement released by Victoria Police today.

"We are concerned that some people may come across an old firearm and take it home instead of contacting police and handing it in.

"For their own safety and the safety of the community we are asking people to immediately contact us if they find a firearm and we will come and collect it from them."

He said work was continuing to link the found guns to old crimes or return them to their original owners.

A series of gun amnesties in Victoria and the banning of certain categories of firearms may have prompted the dumping of the guns, he said.

Dumb Stuff from OZ

Bank issues credit card to cat
POSTED: 0415 GMT (1215 HKT), January 3, 2007
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- An Australian bank has apologized for issuing a credit card to a cat after its owner decided to test the bank's identity security system.

The Bank of Queensland issued a credit card to Messiah the cat when his owner Katherine Campbell applied for a secondary card on her account under its name.

"I just couldn't believe it. People need to be aware of this and banks need to have better security," Campbell told local media on Thursday.

The bank said the cat's card had been canceled. "We apologize as this should not have happened," it said in a statement.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Typo takes tourist 13,000 km out
POSTED: 1427 GMT (2227 HKT), December 29, 2006

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometers (8,077 miles) away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site.

Dressed for the Australian summer in T-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany on Saturday for a four-week holiday.

Instead of arriving "down under", Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.

"I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States."

Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.

The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.

"I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.