Highlights from today's ABC news

Couldn't resist sharing these gems:

Winner for the Best (or Worst) headline pun Award, for a story on Eddie Izzard completing his Ultra-Marathon:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/16/2687143.htm?section=justin

Winner of the Unintended Irony Award, for providing a phone number to people whose phone connections have been cut off in Sydney CBD:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/16/2687107.htm

Favorite story update

I just found this update from the world's favorite bank robbers (excluding Ronnie Biggs of course).

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/26/2667264.htm

Interesting that the bank teller has now been fired after a second mistake. I guess they won't ever really be able to justify the 'attention to detail' component on their future job applications...

Reason to become a Scientist #1

Reason #1: So you can tell poisonous salad from non-poisonous salad in your local supermarket.

A trained botanist in Hanover, Germany was buying some pre-packaged salad when he noticed the abundance of common groundsel (senecio vulgaris, also known as Ragweed). He alerted the store, who removed all the salad and sent a sample to the University of Bonn for testing.

They detected 2,500 micrograms of poison in 150g of salad (and in a brilliant bit of journalism, Reuter's online points out that this is 2,500 times more than the recommended amount of daily poison).

Scientists 1: Retailers, Farmers and Journalists 0.

Climate change and politics

An open letter to Senator Fielding, the man who supports climate sceptics and willingly gives them an open platform, from Will Steffan, the leading ANU climate scientist and one of the Australian delegates at the Copenhagen talks.

Well worth reading for both tone and information.

http://www.crikey.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/ltr-senator-fielding-22-july-09.pdf

I have a new hero

Lubna Hussein.

If you don't recognise the name, you might know the story. She is a former journalist from Sudan who was arrested a few weeks ago for wearing pants (trousers for those in the UK) in a restaurant. She was with 10 other women also wearing trousers, who were all arrested for indecent dress - the penalty is a whipping.

Unfortunately, while the penatly is pretty well established, the interepretation of 'indecent dress' isn't so it's pretty much up the individual cop as to whether to charge a woman for wearing trousers or not.

In this case, 10 of the women pled guilty to indecent dress and recieved lashes the next day. Lubna is pleading not guilty and has taken her case to court in a test of the law. And what makes this story even more amazing is that to force the issue and avoid any potential backing-out by the authorities in Sudan, she has quit her post at the UN Council and waived any right to immunity as a result. She is putting herself forward as a test case for women in Sudan and their rights - not so much to wear pants (I'm pretty sure that isn't really a right but a fashion statement although no doubt some people would think it was) but to not be subjected to vagarities and inequality in the justice system and to have a right to choice and know the consequences rather than being coerced into choices because of fear or lack of knowledge. Or maybe she is fighting for the right to wear pants because she has thick ankles and can't wear skirts.

Either way, she's pretty damn brave and definately a new hero of mine.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5734IP20090804?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

TED 2009

Another quickie - just wanted to draw your attention to the 2009 TED lecture series. My sister introduced me to TED and I'm rapidly becoming addicted to this site...

Basically it's an website that provides high quality videos of lectures by some pretty amazing people on topics near and dear to their hearts - so you get to hear Dan Gilbert explain what makes people happy, Richard Dawkins on militant atheism or people like Hans Rosling with some pretty amazing and fairly friendly statistics on poverty ect.

Think Stephen Fry, Bill Gates, Gordon Brown and others all have a lecture up there. Definately worth checking out on a lazy afternoon.

www.ted.com

Goodbye Chaser, Goodbye.

The Chaser finale was on Wednesday night. Sob.

I've been reading the obituary (comments) from the ABC website and I think this was my favorite because it managed to slam everyone under the age of 50 while acknowledging a slight flaw in their own reasoning:

Chris Theunissen:
30 Jul 2009 3:54:28pm
Good riddance. They symbolise all that is offensive about Generation Y even if they might be Gen X'ers.
Agree (0) Alert moderator

Nice.

Midwifes and Medicare

There was an interesting question posed on Q and A last night about midwives... apparently Nicola Roxon (the Australian Minister for Health and Aging) is suggesting that midwives who go about their midwif-ly duties in a hospital setting should be able to access the same sort of insurance and benefits to which doctors and nurses are currently entitled. This would not, however, extend to home births with no medical supervision.

Some women are visably distraught and upset about this - for some reason that I can't quite understand they seem to believe that their ability to choose how they have their baby is being taken away from them. I can appreciate that, if that was the case, it would cause distress to anyone facing such a big moment... but the arguement to me seems absolute rubbish. The choice is still open, and as with any choice there are consequences to take into account. These might be financial, health related or social but to expect that the repercussions of your choices should be equal is just ridiculous.

Personally I think the opportunity to choose a midwife rather than a doctor is a huge step forward. While I can appreciate the appeal of a world where giving birth at home and giving birth in a hospital carried the same amount of risk and was therefore a choice on preference rather than medical or financial reasons, that is a little unrealistic and places a huge burden on the rest of society to cater to the whims and fancies of every single individual. Of course, having never been pregnant or given birth, nor being a medical professional I have zero experience in professing my opinion... but I would like to think that one day it is a choice I would have to make and that I wouldn't expect the entire community to shoulder the risk and consequences of my own personal preferences. Just saying.

One small step

In 1969, the Beatles played their final concert on the roof of a shopping mall; the Brady Bunch premiered on TV; the Vietnam War protest stepped up a notch; 32 of the best musicians of the era played at Woodstock...

And man walked on the moon.

Time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first Moonwalk (years before Micheal Jackson). It's happened again a few times since but now that we know we can do that, the focus has been on the international space station, designed as not only an outer space research station but a potential stepping stone towards journeys further into our solar system. Already pychological and physical tests are underway to simulate a journey to Mars, and as our understanding of space and time improve, there is the potential to go wider and further.

Which brings up an interesting debate on the value of space research and exploration - many people would argue that charity begins at home, that the resources spent on space exploration would be better invested in dealing with issues like poverty, climate change and famine.

I personally am a huge supporter of space research and exploration but wonder what reactions to another moon mission would be today in the face of the GFC and climate change...

Why we should all feel incredibly guilty for even reading this blog...

My favorite quote from an online article today:

"We are uninterested, verging on contemptuous, of the marketing strategies that were supposed to pay for us to enjoy online services for free. We've become totally unwilling to pay for them directly, either; we simply figure that someone, somehow, will pick up the tab."

Any guesses regarding context?

Apparently, our desire for free access to global networking sites that rely on content and participation from the community like YouTube is incredibly selfish, ignoring poor, hard-working companies like News Ltd who scrape an honest living out of selling us things like access to information.

Feeling guilty?

Here is the link in all it's 'young generation expect everything for free' glory: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/how-can-youtube-survive-1734267.html

What would you do?

Latest email translated into normal speak:

We want you to ask people whether they would like to come to this event, but we aren't going to tell you what the event is for, what it's about or whether it's actually going to happen or not. And we need your list of invites before you go home.

Everyday Maths

I have seriously underestimated the amount of chocolate I need this afternoon to just stay vaguely sane and happy. When picking from a range of chocolates (all the same price) I chose the four individually wrapped milk chocolates in favour of the tobolarone, thinking it would last longer (possibly even tommorrow).

But now I have eaten all four chocolates. I am not happy with my money-to-chocolate ratio.

This is so sad.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/05/2590294.htm

For those who don't know about homeopathy, it's a belief that water retains memory. So you can place a medical substance in water, dilute it millions of times until it's basically just water again and prescribe it as 'alternative medicine'. Practitioners depend on anecdotal (rather than experimental) evidence and the few attempts to gain scientific credibility through proper peer reviewed, experimental testing has failed miserably as no evidence has EVER been found that it actually works.

The process by which homeopathic 'medicine' (and I am loathe to use that term) is created is called potentization, which involves diluting and shaking the container - there are special implements they use to do this. They have a 'scale' for dilution. All this adds to the percieved credibility of homeopathy (although to me it smacks of showmanship rather than science).

And despite all this, homeopaths continue to argue that they have scientific validity (often falling back to arguing the 'placebo' effect, which kind of suggests that they are knowingly selling things that don't do what they say they will) and are supported by health funds like NIB.

And it hurts people. Read this story and remember it. Please, please, please don't put your faith in this rubbish. I hate seeing what it does to people.

Breaking up is hard to do

The powers that be declared 'let there be two seperate divisions' and it was so, but there was much wailing and knashing of teeth.

Those who had not been consulted asked 'Why Me?' but were told to leave and cross the mighty Lake at the middle of the Kingdom, to set up store in a new place.
Those who were in power but fighting on foreign land came back and were newly crowned a Knight of the Kingdom but was unaware that they had been ostracized and their people were fractitious and unhappy.
The Head of all Divison ran from those who who had been marked and cast to the other side, abdicating responsibility to their sucessor and setting up her own people in their rightful places by her side.

And there was much confusion as to who was responsible for ordering the stationary, or coordinating information and delegating tasks.

The Other White Flu

Well, my brother in law is awaiting his final lab results. Will it be H1N1? Will it be the boring old version of the flu? Will it be a brand new superflu, previously unnamed (and hereby known as Murphy's Flu)?

Time will tell. Here is a snippet from 'New Scientist' that kind of explains what the fuss is all about http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/05/so-is-it-a-pandemic-or-not.html

On an unrelated note, my two favorite bank robbers are apparently living it up in China. The girl's sister facebooked (is that a verb?) her status, enjoying the sun and a local asian beer.

Of course, I'm still not convinced that it's robbery when you actually give someone the money and they run off with it. It's kind of your own fault - I'm pretty sure I couldn't walk up to someone who asked for me for money, give them a couple of thousand and then chase them two hours later with police to demand it back and ask for them to be charged because I was only meant to give them two dollars.

Favorite story of the year nomination #1

The NZ couple who, when a Westpac bank error gave them $100,000 instead of $10,000, put their gas station into recievership and ran for the hills.

Interpol is chasing them - last I heard they were in China/Korea. I can smell a movie deal already!!!

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE54K54520090521?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Poor Simon

Am reading about the libel case in the UK against the British Chiropractic Association... and while on the one hand, it's a pretty awful story, on the other it's made me realise the wealth of information and expertise that people are willing to put on blogs and lend to others, which is kind of cool. It's a whole other universe out there people! Web worlds colliding.

Highlights from Hansard (or 'why am I earning less than these people')

Senator ABETZ—I do not need to know the matters, but do you take it upon yourself to proactively encourage the minister and the government to consider certain matters, or do you
see your role as just responding to requests from the minister?

Senator Carr—Proactively.

Senator ABETZ—I know the previous chief scientist saw that as part of his role. As I understand it, the position is as an independent Chief Scientist. Is that right?

Prof. Sackett—That is absolutely correct.

Senator ABETZ—That is why I think it was not helpful for the minister to intervene in trying to answer for you and I would like to hear from the independent Chief Scientist.

Senator Carr—You are an absolute prat.

Prof. Sackett—I am pleased to answer the question.

Senator ABETZ—Chair, if you want standards in this committee then the minister has to abide by them.

CHAIR—I do not know whether that it is unparliamentary as such.

Senator Carr—You are getting on your high horse. You asked the question whether the Chief Scientist acts proactively and I can assure the committee that she does. She has a standing invitation, which she exercises, to actually contact me and other ministers, which she does regularly.

Senator ABETZ—The independent Chief Scientist should be given the courtesy of being able to answer for herself without a bully boy minister trying to intervene.

CHAIR—Senator Abetz!

Senator ABETZ—Chair, if you allow that sort of description of me then you have got to allow it back the other way. I should withdraw that comment about the minister, and I do, and I would invite the minister to do the same.

*And so it continues. Boring I know. I had to read this stuff for two hours today so though I would spread the pain. I had flashbacks to 'teaching' in London with me being the CHAIR (although those kids probably wouldn't have used the word 'proactively')
** Or the word prat. I can think of a few others they probably would have substituted....

Hey, I've got my new boots on and suddenly everything is alright...

Big thank you to my aunt, who express posted her AirCast boot down from the mountains and saved me in excess of $250 (and to the physio at Woden Valley Hospital (you know the one) who gave me free wedges and a air pump and let me use his phone to call my sister rather than paying at the public phones).

So now am clumping instead of crutching. Looks like a robot foot - almost makes me wish I was working with kids at the moment. What with a robot foot and the ability to blow up stuff and make slime, I would be the coolest adult EVER!

Which leads me to think of some of the other benefits to rupturing your achilles tendon:

• It cuts down on the amount of tea/coffee you can drink unless you are prepared to stand on one leg next to the kettle and skull. It's incredibly hard to carry hot beverages on one leg. I wouldn't recommend trying it, just trust me. It doesn't end well. While this may not seem like a benefit, it's probably a good thing for someone who would otherwise be continually drinking the stuff. Continually.
• The bath vs shower argument gets tipped toward the bath side.
• Instead of chasing after other people, they have to come and get things off you so you have a legitimate reason for telling people where to go.

Budget freedom, sweet freedom

Working in a proper public service job has given a whole new tinge to the Federal Budget announcement. In fact, it's almost exciting... almost. (I'm still a little bitter about the fact I and my sister both miss out on the $900 'thanks-for-being-Australian' bonus because we didn't pay tax in 2008.)

I noticed that science has done ok out of the whole thing, which is nice - and as long as I don't work to hard and earn too much money, my situation won't get any worse. But I think my favorite bit of budget-reporting so far has been a word-image of the Treasurer's speech - especially when you compare it with last year's speech. There are some obvious differences.

Achilles and his tendon

Been without internet for a while after injuring myself in the competitive maelstrom that is Thursday night Social Netball and sitting at home, unable to move. Turns out I'd ruptured my achille's tendon - to fix it, they cut a slit in the back of your calf, gather all the destroyed muscle fibres together and then reattach them back to where they should be. Sounds more painful than it actually was.

Thought I'd do a bit of research before my operation (knowledge being power and all that) and found the statistic that men are 20 times more likely to rupture their achille's than women. That means in a room of 100 people with ruptured achilles, on average only five of them would be female.

Not sure what that really means - I suspect a genetic weakness in my family, seeing how my brother ruptured his achilles playing cricket, my other brother has had continuous problems with shoulders and my cousin had a knee reconstruction in his early 20's... I was doomed from birth.

'False' Science Hurts People

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/23/2550810.htm

Wow.

I've always considered myself a fairly open minded and liberal person. I don't mind what people do generally, as long as they aren't hurting others... like in this story. This is a pretty damn clear case of someone selling false hope to incredibly vulnerable people, something that is pretty close to unforgiveable in my books.

There are lots of opportunities and ways that people sell hope - most natural remedies rely heavily on the placebo effect and it can be an incredibly powerful tool for motivation and healing - but sometimes this hope can come at a very steep cost. In our society, that cost is often financial (homeopaths, who believe that water retains memories of what was in it despite a number of scientific papers to the contrary, and can therefore sell 'medicalised water' to those with too much money are an excellent example) but in this case, and whenever vulnerable people are looking for help or answers, that cost could be health, family or lifestyle.

Take the case of HIV medication - Ben Goldman has done some great research on the impact that vitamen salesman Matthais Rath has had on addressing the massive health problem that HIV poses in South Africa - check out http://www.badscience.net/2009/04/matthias-rath-steal-this-chapter/

I could say more. I think I need to think about it all a bit more and provide a more cohesive arguement agains bloody naturopaths and homeopaths - except to say that if it worked as well as they say it does, we'd all be using it because it wouldn't be called 'alternative medicine.' It would be called 'medicine'.

Phone re-mumbers

When I went to Kindergarten, I took a suitcase with me. Inside was my lunch, pens, books and my phone number and bus number, written on the inside of the lid in permanent texta.

Since I was only five, I can probably be forgiven for not being able to remember my phone number (or my two digit bus number either apparently) but I don't really have that excuse anymore. So now I blame my mobile phone - I don't know my own phone number.

Pretty sad. I think I no longer feel compelled to make the effort to remember numbers because my mobile 'remembers' them for me, which is great until it dies in the middle of civic and I can't ring anyone. That's why pay phones are dying out - not because people don't need them but because when they do, they are incapable of dialing except in random number mashing, constantly trying several random digits in the hope that eventually someone they actually know will pick up. If infinate people in infinate phoneboxes randomly rung phone numbers for an infinate time... well, no-one would pick up because we'd all be on the phone answering infinate phonecalls....

Happy Easter

So what exactly happened to the Easter Bilby? Was he outcompeted by breeding Easter bunnies? Or did has the ACF just given up on trying to change us?

Hope everyone had a happy and healthy four days of freedom and you all had a chance to celebrate Easter in whatever style suits you. Back to work on Tuesday... can't wait... really........

Is that a boardgame in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Spent a 'rainy' Friday morning inside playing boardgames. I always loved playing them as a child but never realised the number of innuendos or sexual connotations that might have been flying above my innocent, catholic-school girl head (and yes, I am aware of the double entendre there). But that seems to be part of the game when you're older. Of course, when you're playing a game that involves having to ask for wood, once they start they are hard to avoid (doubly so when playing with the creators of Pundamonium)

Then again, it's not really that hard to make something seem a bit naughty. It's just getting close to a line when it involves wood, sheep and a hard decision...

Broadband bonanza

For those who haven't heard, Australia is about to enter the 21st century (apparently at the moment we are living in technological squalour).

In an attempt to bring broadband to the masses, K-Rudd has decided that the government will own 51% of a national broadband cable company (the rest to be owned by the private companies that help). It should deliver cable internet at ridiculously fast speeds to 90% of Australian households (and I'm guessing the 10% that don't get it will be the ones living in remote areas who could actually gain a lot from it).

While I'm all for embracing technology and making it accessible to everyone (especially in rural and remote areas) I'm a bit dubious about how successful this venture will be – if we use the suggested 'science communication' model of communicating at with a smart, older person who didn't go to university (thereby using MamaDunkley as a my example), the probable response from most people will go something like 'Whats wrong with what I have now? I only just changed my internet! And I can't afford an extra $25 a month. And my IT-gifted son isn't here to install it for me. And if it isn't wireless, then why would I bother?' (ok, that last muttering was mine).

Worst headline I've seen so far in relation to this story?

"Tas gets first 'byte' at new broadband." Arrgh.

Invention convention

A shout out to some of my favourite inventions today:

1. Post-it flags. Colourful, sticky, and you can write on them. Plus the dispensor design is awesome, alternating left and right and pulling the next flag through, so there's always a post-it at your fingertips.

2. Stove-top coffee makers. It's like watching a little chocolate fountain except with coffee. And I love the use of physics to force water up through the coffee and into the pot (which was explained to me by the ShadowChaser, but I can't for the life of me remember.)

3. Facebook (and to a larger extent, the Internet). After accumluating friends all over the globe, it's nice to have one spot to rule them all, one spot to find them, one spot to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.