Fantasy Island

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Originally uploaded by BLP.

The honeymoon. . .

Our honeymoon started off, strangely, with a basketball theme - on our flight back to Melbourne, we sat next to Megan Moody, a graduating player from Tulsa's women's basketball team (who'd managed to develop an interesting Aussie/Oklahoma hybrid accent). Then, on our flight up to Queensland the following day, Uta was quite excited to find the 2005 first-round NBA draftee, Andrew Bogut, also on the same flight (or at least that's who she said he was, I find all 7-foot white boys look the same to me - but given that Bogut is Aussie and now quite well-paid, it seems plausible).

We arrived at the Hamilton Island airport in the Whitsundays (which immediately went down at the top of my list of tiny airports), and then we took a ferry over to our final destination of Club Med on neighboring Lindeman Island. Although clearly not Club Med's flagship resort, we found Lindeman Island quite enjoyable - small, plenty of activities, decent food, and we really liked the various trails that run throughout the island (allowing us to catch sight of bats, snakes, and other cool wildlife). That said, we did arrive at a slow time of the year, with staff clearly outnumbering guests, and the high winds made it difficult to get out onto the water. Our trip out to the Great Barrier Reef forced us to endure some pretty hairy boat rides, but the experience was well worth the effort.

We also found a number of people to socialise with, including Diane and Brian from Canberra, Danielle and co. from Melbourne, and Uta's tennis buddy, Hendrik showed up half-way through our stay with his mother and siblings. The resort staff we are generally young and friendly, and happy to gossip about the other guests and/or each other, which provided some entertainment as well.

Once again - quite a few pictures of this as well, which (depending on who you are) may or may not be heading your way.

Never Say Never Again or You Only Marry Twice

UBCH
Originally uploaded by BLP.

We are obviously once again back "home" in Australia, returning from a three week vacation, which featured an encore production of our wedding (this time with novel appointments such as guests and the presence of a family member or two) followed by a proper honeymoon in Queensland's Whitsunday Islands.

Despite being largely planned from the opposite side of the world, the wedding came off without a hitch - no cold feet, no violence, no family feuds. Everyone showed up, behaved well, and enjoyed themselves. Music, catering, etc. was great We did have one genuine wedding crasher (all of about 16 years of age) who managed to sneak past the highly attentive security guard - I managed to unmask the impostor, but only after he managed to score a couple of free drinks: kudos to him.

Unfortunately, due to the numerous demands on our time during the week, we didn't manage to enjoy too much of Atlanta. We did get to visit the new Georgia Aquarium - now the largest in the world - which was freakin' huge and impressive. We also made a run to the outlet mall to stock up on low-cost, tasteful clothing which is a commodity we find in short supply down here (not that I'm necessarily in a position to judge - but Uta assures me this is the case).

More photos of all the action that you could ever possibly care to see will be making the rounds - if for some reason you miss out, drop us a line and we'll send you a link (unless of course you're a total stranger, in which case we may or may not oblige).

Footy: Pies vs. Doggies

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Originally uploaded by BLP.

The raging consultants of Capgemini came together to catch Friday night's match-up between the Western Bulldogs and the Collingwood Magpies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Despite an early show of strength by the Doggies, the Pies eventually took control, claiming victory by a comfortable 34 point margin.

This being our first live AFL experience, we quite enjoyed the atmosphere. The MCG is an impressive venue, and footy makes it toward the top of my list of gripping spectator sports - fast paced, lots of scoring, a bit of the rought stuff, and plenty of obscenties from the adoring fans.

Girls Dinner at Salt

On Tuesday I had dinner with Lisa, Di, Maeve and Ady at a new restaurant in the Docklands called Salt. We had several reasons to catch up:

*My return from vacation/"belated" wedding festivities
*Di's temporary farewell- She is going on a 7 week vacation (Who isn't jelaous?)
*Lisa's upcoming farewell/extended stay in Melbourne? (We are all hoping for the latter one!)
*To make friends with the restaurant owner of "Salt" as Maeve lives right below the place. BTW-The food was pretty good. Hopefully we will be getting free drinks there soon!
*...and Ady's and Maeve's succussful run last weekend (in Apollo Bay)!!!

Last, thanks girls for sharing some of your weekend stories.

Life or Death

The global warming buffoonery appears to be gaining new heights in the U.S., perhaps fueled by the extra money generated by a surging U.S. stock market. New television ads have hit the internet and airwaves, and depending on which one you see, global warming means either life or death.

The Competitive Enterprises Institute votes for LIFE:


While the Ad Council and Environmental Defense vote for DEATH:


Hopefully someone will save both of these for posterity and in 50 years we can decide which group history should praise, and which should be ridiculed.

SurvivaBalls

For more info, go here.

Hard Rock Hallelujah

Another year, another winner in the annual Eurovision song contest. The Finnish heavy metal act Lordi, managed to beat out its would-be competitors with the anthem "Hard Rock Hallelujah" (for a sound clip, go here). Those in Montenegro were so upset at their failure to win, they voted to secede from Serbia, hoping for greater success on their own.

It's the Thought That Counts

"House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Ill., center, gets out of a Hydrogen Alternative Fueled automobile, left, as he prepares to board his SUV, which uses gasoline, after holding a new conference at a local gas station in Washington, Thursday, April 27, 2006 to discuss the recent rise in gas prices. Hastert and other members of Congress drove off in the Hydrogen-Fueled cars only to switch to their official cars to drive back the few block back to the U.S. Capitol." (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

End of an Era

EJ passed along the sad news that Moe of Atlanta's famous Moe's and Joe's passed away on Tuesday. This is somehow fitting, given that Tuesdays are the days when a patron can obtain a cold pitcher of Pabst Blue Ribbon at Moe's and Joe's for only $3.25. I'll certainly be stopping by M&J's next Tuesday to pay my respects to the man, the bar, and the beer.

Fortunately, we still have Horace. . .

Tall Blacks?

As we learned last night, the name of New Zealand's national basketball team is the "Tall Blacks" (or, rather, the "Burger King Tall Blacks"), a name which apparently has nothing to do with the racial composition of the team.

Tequila

What do you get when you mix a bunch of consultants, some frozen margaritas, and a pinata? I don't know, but it was fun.

Lachen und Weinen

Yesterday was the annual holiday of ANZAC Day. Once again, the customary parade marched through the streets of Melbourne and the dawn ceremony took place at Gallipoli. There was some novelty this year, however, as the Australian Papuan campaign against the Japanese along the Kokada Trail during WWII has taken on increased significance in light of a recent movie on the subject.

We celebrated ANZAC Day by watching Sophie Scholl: Die Letzten Tage, part of the Goethe Institut's German Film Festival. And since watching the story of the last days in the lives of members of Munich's anti-Nazi White Rose resistance during WWII isn't exactly a cheery experience, we followed that with dinner at Chocolate Buddha and then caught Dave Wiggins' show (A Yank Down Under) as part of the Melbourne Comedy Festival - lot's of jokes ala "Americans do this. . .", "Aussies do this. . .", and "Kiwis do this. . .". And how true it all was.

80

Queen Elizabeth II turned 80 this past weekend. Go here for the official website of the Queen's birthday.

B56

I finally sucked it up and faced the lines of Australian Immigration to get my visa stamped into my new passport (old one expired last year). I suppose an immigration office can tell you quite a bit about a nation. This one told me that a vast chuck of would be foreign migrants/students to Australia are coming from Asia. It also told me that Australia doesn't go out of its way to accommodate said foreigners, as I'm pretty sure the gentlemen behind the counter, nice though they were, didn't speak anything other than English.

The entire experience was remarkably like trying to get a drivers license at the Arlington County DMV in Virginia, only the Arlington DMV is much larger, one has to wait much longer, and the dominant demographic is Hispanic rather than Asian. Other than that, it's the same old sitting around staring at the little slip of paper with your number on it (mine, in case you haven't guessed by now, was B56), sympathizing with those who for one reason or another are having a tough time navigating the bureaucracy.

While waiting, I did come up with an idea for "Waiting-Room Battleship". I'm sure watching the numbers tick by on the "Now Serving #_" screen would be far more exciting if one knew the next number could spell the end of his destroyer.

Pew Down Below

Last weekend (and yes, by that I still mean the weekend before last), we had the pleasure of the company of Vicki - my former commanding officer from the Pew Center, in town to bring Victoria up to speed on what the rest of the world is doing about climate change. Thankfully, she proved rather impervious to the effects of jet lag, enabling us to drag her around town, down the Great Ocean Road to Lorne, and through the International Flower Show (seen here). She brought me up to speed on all things climate in the U.S., and I hooked her up with a date for some kangaroo sausage (wink-wink), but she bailed out at the last minute.

Business Roundtable

Right - almost forgot - while I was in Port Douglas the Australian Conservation Foundation's Business Roundtable released its report on the case for early action on climate change, to which unnamed persons from CSIRO and Allen Consulting contributed.

There were speeches, parades, etc. I think this captures most of the coverage.

Uta Wins an IPod

Waking up early in the morning to go to boot camps and run around the city apparently pays rewards. She also recently completed the annual Run for the Kids(15k) in 1:18:24.

Move Out

One of our favorite topics of discussion these days: the number of Aussie youths still living with Mom and Dad. So I opted to dig up some statistics:

So my interpretation - A sizeable fraction of Australian youth have opted to forgo having children in favor of indefinitely remaining children themselves.

Big Surf

Monster waves, dude!

What the Bloody Hell Did You Expect

While lunching one afternoon in Port Douglas, I read the following amusing piece in a local magazine on the new Aussie tourism ad campaign .

What the Bloody Hell Did You Expect?
By Diana Abiad

In their infinite wisdom our marketing gurus have hit the nail right on the head. If you’ve never said ‘bloody hell’ before you’ll certainly be saying it when you get to Australia. In fact, potential overseas visitors can start practising in the privacy of their own home when they go to check out the wiz bang web site set up for the promotion. Undoubtedly designed as part of the master plan to acclimatise tourists, the website serves up, in studding simplicity, our lack of finesse in service, timing and communication. Just like our workers, our council, and our politics, et al, the site is slow, keeps you waiting and never delivers.

Experienced travellers understand that Australia is truly a foreign country. Do not be fooled by the similarity of language and appearance. Underneath the veneer of familiarity lies an uncouth character living in blissful denial of history. In the family of humanity, we were the youngest child, naughty and precocious, sent outside as punishment and never allowed to come back.

We never came back because down the backyard was paradise. No Mum or Dad, no having to share, no chores and no rules. We developed our own set of manners, business ethics and social decorum and, while watching the cricket on TV at work, we became hypnotised by our own marketing campaign during the ad breaks.

The trouble with living in paradise is that everyone thinks they’re on holiday. Blessed with some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world and encouraged by the media to get in amongst it, we’ve been fishing, surfing, walking and throwing our prawns on the BBAQ while the government has managed to sell off our assets, stuff up the health system, get us all into debt and tax any incentive out of the workforce. While we were planning the weekend, or the grey nomad trip around the edges of our great land, the government made education so expensive no one went to school. Now e have to import skilled labour and keep our children employed in dead end, low paid jobs that are, luckily, provided by the tourism industry.

And to keep this panacea float, the government finally left the backyard, marched up to the big house and, in its own unique vernacular, invited them all to lunch by asking, “Where the bloody hell are you?”

The humourless Brits, staunch defenders of the English language, have taken offense at our abuse of it. IF they are offended at home, imagine what could happen once they arrive. They’ll expect us to be polite, helpful, informative and politically aware. They’ll probably want to discuss Kyoto, environmental impacts on the Reef and global warming. Bloody Hell. They will not understand why we really don’t give a shit about anything, least of all profanities; and by the end of their holiday they’ll understand that the marketing campaign could have been a lot worse.

Port Douglas

Last week (and by last week, I mean the week before), I ventured to Port Douglas, Queensland for a workshop on climate change impacts in the coastal zone. When initally offered the opportunity, I said, "sure - where's Port Douglas?" So now I know it's nestled up in far north Queensland, north of Cairns. The tiny hamlet caters to tourists (young European couples, wealthy pensioners, rednecks on honeymoons, and various Asian visitors) and a small group (4,500) of locals. Arriving at the tail end of the wet season, temperatures were high and humidity was higher, and due to the lingering presence of stingers (i.e., small jellyfish that kill you), swimming along the beach was confined to a small roped off area. Still - nice little community, although I imagine it's a bit more nutty once the rains stop and the real tourist season starts.

I think there are a few other photos here.

Response to "Stage Right"

In all fairness to Michael Class, I thought I'd call your attention to his lengthy post (and rather blatant self-promotion) in response to my post Stage Right. I took Class to task for his American Values Awards for film (for a list of 2005 winners, go to www.magicpictureframe.com).

Darwin

I was in Darwin last week for the CSIRO-organized event, Sharing Knowledge: A Workshop on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Strategies for Northern Australian Indigenous Communities. First on Darwin - well, I never actually got to see the town itself, but if it's anything like where I was, it's hot, rainy, brutally humid (and that was "good" weather). I'm eager to go back, but during the dry season.

The workshop itself was rather fascinating, primarily with respect to the interaction between the western academics and the Traditional Owners of Indigenous lands. Suffice to say, one is forced to abandon one's customary way of looking at the world, and try to see it through completely different eyes. This is, of course, difficult and at times frustrating, but then I'm sure the Indigenous folks felt the same way. I enjoyed the opportunity to gain some insight into how Indigenous people view their connection with the land, but I'm also hoping that they did, and continue, to get some benefit from the interaction as well.

Footy

It's back. . .

Melbourne GP 2006

Continuing with a string of sporting events in Melbourne, the annual Grand Prix roared into town last weekend, making heaps of noise (audible from our apartment) and cracking up a bunch of cars.

Australia Games

The Commonwealth Games have come and gone (been gone about 10 days now), and the superiority of the Australians (relative to a broad range of developing countries) in sport was thoroughly demonstrated. Australia took home a total of 221 medals, with England trailing with 110 and Canada with 86. At the bottom end were Barbados, Fiji, Mozambique, Samoa, and Swaziland (each taking home 1). Then there was the troubled nation of Sierra Leone, which not only didn't manage to take home any medals, but didn't even manage to take home its athletes, most of which disappeared during the games. Six of them subsequently turned up in Sydney, requesting to remain in Australia. Australians are reportedly looking forward to future games that similarly don't involve winter sports or participants from wealthy nations.

Marathon

We checked out the Commonwealth Games marathon on Sunday, joined by Adrian (aka "Adi", aka "88"), Jurate and Graham. Uta was particularly excited about the opportunity to cheer on her fellow GSU alum, Andrew Letherby, who was running for Australia. Letherby won a bronze at the last Commonwealth Games in Manchester and placed 5th at this year's games (seen here crossing the finish line).


I'm always amazed by the fact that people voluntarily participate in a sport that killed the first guy who ever tried it, and where paramedics follow you around as you're running in case you collapse (e.g., the chick below that went down in front of us). That's hard-core.

Texas Lightning

What the hell is an Australian Band named Texas Lightning doing representing Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest? OK, to be fair, only the singer is Australian, and the band calls Hamburg home. I'm just surprised to see anyone outside of the U.S. voluntarily associating themselves with Texas.

Fantasy Coffins?

As part of the Commonwealth Games, Melbourne is hosting an exhibit of "fantasy coffins" from Ghana. Cell phones, spring onions, chickens, running shoes, lobsters - Ghana seems to produce coffins resembling just about anything you can think of.Click here to see a short video.

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2005 Commonwealth Games occurred Wednesday night. Some of the more interesting aspects included the following:


1) A boy and his duck...


2) Icarus' Sister... (or is that an angel?)


3) A flying tram...


4) Sporty Jesus...


5) Naked chicks...(Ha! Eat your heart out Janet Jackson)


Add all that up, and I have no clue what it means, but for the most part it looked pretty cool - particularly the fireworks:

There's No Place Like Home

OZJet founder Paul Stoddart decided there's no place like home, clicked his heels, and filed for bankruptcy just four months after launching his business class airline. He figured out much too late that running a successful airline requires one key element: passengers.

Sorry, I Thought You Were Someone Else. . .

Two Australians, recently kidnapped in Iraq, were promptly released (with apologies) after it became apparent they weren't Americans. How courteous, particularly since Australia has troops in Iraq itself.

Weekend Visitor

"I Love the Smell of Napalm in the Morning"

Economists - is there anything they can't quantify?

"Petrol sniffing costs Australia $79 million a year, and providing unsniffable fuel across the nation's central areas would save $27 million, a new report shows."

SXSW

Article about Australian acts at this year's South-by-Southwest.

Don't Date Him

I'm happy to see that my name does not appear on "Don't Date Him Girl.Com". What about you?

Grace Park Open

Uta competed in Grace Park's Club Championships over the weekend, advancing to the finals before facing defeat at the hands of Ola Luczak, who's recently returned to Australian tennis after a stint at the University of Central Florida. The two put on a good match, particularly in the second set which come down to a tiebreaker.

Commonwealth Games

The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games kicks off Wednesday night with a gala event along Melbourne's Yarra River. Event planners have been quite active preparing the city for the event, largely in an attempt to assist tourists in parting with their money.

As a citizen of a nation that sent the Brits packing back in teh 18th century, I'm a bit ignorant on the whole Commonwealth thing. So here's a bit more. And here's a list of member countries:

Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Bahamas
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belize
Botswana
Brunei
Cameroon
Canada
Cyprus
Dominica
Fiji
Gambia
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
India
Jamaica
Kenya
Kiribati
Lesotho
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Nauru
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Swaziland
Tanzania
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Kingdom
Vanuatu
Zambia

Queen's in the House!

Much to the chagrin of Australia's republicans, the Queen arrived in Australia over the weekend, stopping off in Sydney on her way to Melbourne to attend the Commonwealth Games which start this week.

Thorpedo Sunk

"Australian swimming star Ian Thorpe has pulled out of the Commonwealth Games after failing to recover from a bronchitis and chest infection."

This won't be good for ratings. . .

Stage Right

The Oscars are now over, and much to the delight of conservatives across America, neither George Clooney nor Brokeback Mountain managed a clean sweep. It seems good old-fashioned racism (i.e., Crash) is as far out on a limb as Hollywood is willing to go with respect to social commentary. It's worth peeking at some of the conservative blogs to see what America's grumpy white men are saying about Clooney these days. Amusingly, the patrons of Ace of Spades HQ hate the entire catalog of Clooney's work (as well as his politics), except for O'Brother, Where Art Thou. Go figure - the one character with which conservatives can identify is an uneducated, crooning, redneck convict.

Meanwhile, as a counter to the immoral fanfare of the Oscars, film producer Michael Class has been promoting the American Values Awards for family-oriented film-making. His picks: Cinderella Man, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Star Wars: Episode III and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yep, nothing says "family-values" like movies about boxing, the proliferation of evil throughout the universe, and witchcraft. After all, it's far more important that Americans learn what drove Darth Vader to the dark side than the intricacies of U.S. econcomic, energy, and foreign policy or the humanity of gays.

That's Not Cricket

"US President George Bush, an avid baseball fan, yesterday tried his hand at cricket - and was pronounced "not bad" for a first-timer."

Having tried cricket, I can testify that it is incredibly hard to not be very bad one's first time out. I'm wondering if he got some practice bowls in down the aisles of Air Force One.

Solar Schools

In an attempt to use an environmental agenda to wrestle power from the Liberal government, Labor Party leader Kim Beazley has announced a long-term plan to equip all of Australia's schools with solar power.

Howard Government Turns Ten

The Howard Government celebrated its 10th anniversary last week. There were lots of parties and protests and stuff like that.

JKA Seminar

Friday night I had the pleasure of training with Sensei Takahashi, who was in town for one of his periodic visits. In addition to being a world class karateka, Takahashi is also a member in the Order of Australia - he was awarded the honor by John Howard himself in 2003, in recognition of his 30+ years as chief instructor for JKA Australia.

Wax the Hoff

Enjoy!

World's Best Boomers

Every two years, teams from around the world compete in the World Boomerang Championships. This year's event will be held in July in Asahikawa, Japan. And if you're wondering who is the best of the best, don't look to Australia. Turns out that since the initiation of international boomerang competition, the sport has been dominated by two countries: the United States and Germany.

Bet on Iraq

Check this out.

Gangland

Like a Martin Scorsese sequel, gang violence appears to be back on the agenda in Melbourne after a brief hiatus. In early February, Mario Condello was shot dead in the suburb of Brighton, on the eve of his appearance in court to answer criminal charges. I guess someone thought he might squeal. Meanwhile, convicted murderer Lee Patrick Torney disappeared last year, and is now believed to be another casualty of war.

Update (8/2/06): Lee Patrick Torney's body was discovered yesterday in a mine shaft in central Victoria.

"Us" vs. "Them"

Australia's Treasurer, Peter Costello, made headlines last week via a speech where he effectively denounced multiculturalism - a bold, and perhaps, assinine statement in a land that is increasingly non-Anglo. And of course, when pressed to single out a group for discrimination, it should come as no surprise that he chose to target Muslims. In his speech, Costello went to great pains to criticise those that come to Australia intent on challenging "the rule of law", and has proposed updating immigration policy to keep undesireables out and revoke citizenship from those that stray from the Australian way. Needless to say, there are heaps of non-Muslim Australians that have trouble with the rule of law, so I'm not sure why Muslims should get special mention (other than they're the people some think its OK to hate these days). Furthermore, anyone living outside the rule of law is generally referred to as a criminal, and I beleive there are already systems in place for dealing with such folks. Dare I say, this seems like an attempt to motivate the conservative base with rhetoric that sounds tough, but is in effect, meaningless. Or perhaps Costello was just trying to outdo MP Danna Vale who, in her attempt last month to rally opposition to the drug RU486, suggested Australia will soon be a Muslim nation, because "we are aborting ouselves out of existence". I'm assuming by "ourselves" she was referring to white/Christian Australians, but who knows? Vale also happens to be one of the MPs who supported recreating Gallipoli in Australia.

Slogan

Tourism Australia has launched a new ad campaign, which, according to some, is controversial and attracts the wrong element, because it employs the catchy slogan: Where the Bloody Hell Are You?. A bit low-brow, perhaps, but so is "put another shrimp on the barbie", and I think Australia did pretty well out of that one.

Here's what Australians think:










UPDATE (3/14/05): The Tourism Australia slogan "Where the Bloody Hell Are You" has been banned from UK television, due to a policy against offensive language (apparently "bloody" is potentially offensive). Visits to the ad campaign's website have subsequently tripled.

Avoid the Salad Bar!

From The Age"
"A woman will face court today charged with planting rat poison in the salad bar at two Brisbane Sizzler restaurants."

The Horror

According to the journal Nature, I'm currently working in a "culture of fear". This in reference to recent publicity and debate (public and private) over the potential censorship of CSIRO scientists by politicians, particularly in the arena of climate change. The story broke via the ABC television program Four Corners (with a segment amusingly entitled "The Greenhouse Mafia"), where various individuals, including current and former CSIRO employees, were asked to comment on the freedom (or lack thereof) of scientists to speak openly on the issue of climate change. This led to various press articles (here and here)and the drafting of many a talking point by various individuals (including Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil fame - now an MP)within both government and CSIRO.

At the end of the day, however, public sector scientists are accountable to the public, and maintaining the objectivity of research institutions necessitates that such institutes go to pains to avoid critique of, or advocacy for, public policy. Furthermore, there will always be a bit of backroom maneuvering, but if scientists here think they've got it bad, they should try spending some time in the U.S.

Kentucky Bourbon

Kentucky, where it is said that many a Preston reside (which has raised the state's status in my book), is unfortunately ground zero for the impacts of global warming. Bourbon, the pillar of the Kentucky economy (and which enables all those Prestons to go through life living where they do) appears to be highly sensitive to climatic change. What will become of Kentucky (not to mention the majority of American frat boys) when the delicate environmental balance that nourishes America's life blood is upset?

Thanks to Josh for calling my attention to this imminent doom.

In other global warming news, the crew from the Stablisation 2005 conference have released their proceedings via the UK's DEFRA. The upshot from the Executive Summary - if we're interested in preventing "dangerous climate change" (something everyone is really concerned about, but no one seems to know what it is), we should have gotten started sometime during the late 19th century. Though the effort shies away from explicitly committing to a particular climate threshold, it makes it fairly clear that we've already bought some pretty significant headaches.

Finally, kudos to Rick Piltz, whose sharp critique in the Dec. 27th issue of Eos highlighted the shortcomings of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program's climate change assessment process. In reference to the CCSP's report series, Piltz stated:

"These prospective reports do not amount to an integrated effort to effectively inform society and policy-makers responsible for dealing with the climate change problem, as was called for in the Global Change Research Act of 1990. In addition, the convoluted bureaucratic process under which these reports are being developed has led to lengthy delays in even the early stages of designing and drafting them."

Right on, man.

Beer Bot

From New Scientist:
"Japanese beer maker Asahi plans to give away 5000 personal bartending bots, each of which can store up to six cans of beer in a refrigerated compartment within its belly. At the push of a button the simple robots will open a can and pour the chilled contents into a glass for a thirsty owner."

Become a Republican!

If you're interested, here's how.

Barrett Firearms

For those of you interested in big game (or big vehicle) hunting this year (or who might need a refresher on your rights under the U.S. Constitution's second amendment), check out the website for Barrett Firearms, the company behind the slightly insane but beloved product of America's gun culture: the 0.50 calibre rifle.

Preston

Ethnic Anglos (as well as those suffering under the yolk of an Anglo name) can now check out the geographic distrubtions of their surnames in the UK at Spatial Literacy.Org.

As an example, here's the distribution of "Preston" in 1881 and 1998.



Doesn't look like the Prestons got up to much over that century. The name enjoyed the ranking of 266th most frequent surname in the UK in 1881. That position fell to 301 as of 1998. So for those of you out there with a grudge against a Preston, take comfort in the fact that we're on our way out.

Prestons appear to enjoy popularity in Leicester, UK; ACT, Australia; Nelson, New Zealand; and Kentucky, USA.

As for given names, according to Seven Levitt's book Freakonomics, "Benjamin" ranks as the #1 most common "high end white-boy name" (among Californians at least, not that they're representative of the U.S. or global population). Um. . .great. . . I guess. . .

Eurobeat?

Preparations are underway for Eurobeat 2006- an Australian spoof on the European cultural oddity known as Eurovision.