A plea for emancipation!
counter protest – image raju sharma
Archive for the ‘Trivia’ Category
Counter protest
September 1, 2014Climate modelling: Study shows that without access to water fish will die!
August 21, 2014I am sure all the forecasts based on climate models applied to hydrological models and extrapolated to 2050 are all quite clever. But it is no evidence of anything.
I am not sure why their conclusions are confined to Arizona. I suspect it may be a profound and universal truth that: Without water fish will die!!
My reading of this study (which I put under Trivia):
If the climate develops as we have modelled,
and if the surface water flows are reduced,
and if the connectivity of the water streams is reduced as we have modelled,
then some fish will lose access to water,
and some of those fish will die.
K. L. Jaeger, J. D. Olden, N. A. Pelland. Climate change poised to threaten hydrologic connectivity and endemic fishes in dryland streams. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1320890111
Significance (In other words an abstract of the abstract)
We provide the first demonstration to our knowledge that projected changes in regional climate regimes will have significant consequences for patterns of intermittence and hydrologic connectivity in dryland streams of the American Southwest. By simulating fine-resolution streamflow responses to forecasted climate change, we simultaneously evaluate alterations in local flow continuity over time and network flow connectivity over space and relate how these changes may challenge the persistence of a globally endemic fish fauna. Given that human population growth in arid regions will only further increase surface and groundwater extraction during droughts, we expect even greater likelihood of flow intermittence and loss of habitat connectivity in the future.
(my bold)
The University of Ohio goes to town with its Press Release : Climate Change will threaten fish…
Fish species native to a major Arizona watershed may lose access to important segments of their habitat by 2050 as surface water flow is reduced by the effects of climate warming, new research suggests. …..
“If water is flowing throughout the network, fish are able to access all parts of it and make use of whatever resources are there. But when systems dry down, temporary fragmented systems develop that force fish into smaller, sometimes isolated channel reaches or pools until dry channels wet up again.”…….
Offending a thesis
August 12, 2014Another evocative one from xkcd.
If only ……
Thesis Offense from xkcd
You can defend against an offensive but offending against a defensive is not so easy.
IKEA shopping bags provide “efficient” storage for 500 year old skeletons
August 10, 2014It would be just as easy to consecrate an IKEA shopping bag as a shrine or a piece of turf – so I don’t see anything sacrilegious or anything to be much indignant about. This story from The Local:
The Kläckeberga church is using Ikea bags to store the remains of around 80 people who were once buried under the floorboards. The macabre collection, which is almost overflowing from a set of large blue Ikea bags, was found by local woman Kicki Karlén.“There were around 80 skeletons,” she told The Local.
Ikea bags stuffed with 80 skeletons – photo The Local
“I was on the team called in to dig out the bones five years ago,” archaeologist Ludvig Papmehl-Dufay told The Local.“Our mission was to document and rebury the bones, which may be as much as 500 years old. But the reburial was delayed and I have no idea why. The plan was to rebury them as soon as possible, but that’s up to the church. The county board said they couldn’t leave church ground, and it became complicated.”He explained that the bones were likely reburied in a secondary deposition many years ago in what he called a “bone house”. The collection is mostly skulls and longer bones, he added.While Papmehl-Dufay denied storing the bones in the Ikea bags himself, he admitted that it sounded like an efficient storage technique.“It’s not standard practice, definitely not for archaeologists, but the Ikea bags aren’t actually that bad. They’d be great for stopping the moulding process. But it can’t be that good to have them in the basement for so long.”
But what will future archaeologists and anthropologists make of the bags (which may well survive) when they are rediscovered in a few hundred years time. Possibly of the existence of an IKEA cult (which would not be so far from the truth)? With strange burial rituals? or perhaps that the Swedish church was a department within IKEA?
The very model of a modern individual
July 21, 2014I can never find a political label that fits me or a label that I would like to be fitted to.
(some edits on 24th July to try and improve the scanning)
(With apologies and thanks to Gilbert and Sullivan)
I am the very model of a modern individual,
I am well informed on matters social and political,
I know the his-tory of Man and of theories philosophical,
Of apes and Denisovans and matters anthropological.
I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand the flow of heat in a manner thermodynamical.
About politics and sociology, I’m up-to-date with all the news,
On any subject under the sun, I have opinions and decided views.
Of science led by politics, I tend to be suspicious,
My views on global warming verge nigh on being scandalous.
On matters social, economical and all that is political,
I am the very model of a modern individual.
I know our myths and legends from time ages immemorial,
I can tell the tales of Duryodana, of Beowulf and Galadriel.
I can quote from the songs of Omar Khayyam and from the sonnets of the Bard,
Verses from the Bible, the Koran or from the Vedas do not come so very hard.
I am familiar with the post-modernists and privy to all the schisms,
Between environmentalism, and feminism and even conservationism.
I could hum you an air from Bach or Mozart or even a Shankar raga,
And even sing along with you the many hits of Abba.
I am quite familiar with the works of Marx and Paine and Friedman,
I can And debate with you the ins and outs pros and cons of abortion or execution
In short, in matters social and political,
I am the very model of a modern individual.
I don’t know what is meant by “God” and by ridiculous “Religions”,
As if w‘re e are still stuck in the dark depths of the Spanish Inquisition.
I have little time for Islamic jihad or rampant Zionism,
I only have contempt for Christians killing Christians.
I find I’m simultaneously, conservative and socialist,
And when I’m not a fascist, I can even be a communist.
Nationalism and patriotism seem to me quite artificial,
Since Nation States are merely accidents geographical.
As a conglomeration of matters contradictory,
There is no better modern individual than me.
I don’t know what I don’t know, or even all there is to know,
But I will know all that I can know, before it’s time for me to go.
In short, in matters social and political,
I am the very model of a modern individual.
Tattooed ladies on Drottninggatan
July 16, 2014So we were in Stockholm with some guests from the UK and engaging in typical tourist activities. The sun was shining with a light wind and the program was to walk down Drottninggatan to Gamla Stan and wander around the Old Town and the Royal Palace for a few hours. But my knees were playing up and it was decided that my services as a tour guide were not really either necessary or useful. I would be better employed – we concluded – in watching the tourists rather than being a tourist.
I took up station at an outdoor cafe sometime before noon. I chose my table carefully to maximise my time in the sun. I was well armed with a large coffee and a small Danish. And the world went by. (I have no doubt that every one who visits Stockholm does – at some time – walk down Drottninggatan and past my observation post).
image: http://www.hufvudstaden.se
The analogy was of watching water flowing in a river – but in both directions simultaneously. The passers-by moved in little waves, in ripples, in eddies swirling about and in large waves. Sometimes they trickled by, at times they surged past and sometimes they surged and receded and surged past again. Some determined individuals strode by with clear direction and objectives, others merely loafed by with a general sense of direction of flow but with no great urgency. Some weaved from one shop window on one side to the next on the other – but still generally forward. Some few clumps moved first in one direction, then reversed course and moved back as they caught sight of something they fancied. Kids milled around, lost sight of their parents and then found them again. Large waves of tour groups (one Chinese, one Japanese and one which sounded Russian) flooded past. But there were no collisions.
It was time for some anthropology.
Two individuals, one male and one female, went past – separately – fishing out aluminium cans from every rubbish bin. The female – by dress presumably Roma – was equipped with a trolley for her collection, wore plastic gloves and left the rubbish bins pretty much as she found them. No fuss, no muss. The man used plastic carrier bags but left a trail of candy wrappings behind him. No fuss but much mess till the street sweeper also came by.
Inevitably one sat and watched the girls go by. Some were dressed for a Caribbean beach. Others for an Arctic winter. Nineteen out of 225 had visible tattoos (the count ended at 225 since I needed to refill my coffee). Maybe not universally representative but just under 10% of those surveyed had visible tattoos. Tattoos on arms and legs were the most common. Tattoos on ankles, a few on the face and on the back of the neck were also apparent and no special efforts were necessary to make them visible. Some were on shoulders and thighs and stomachs and chests. Here clothes – or more accurately a lack of clothing – had been chosen to make the tattoos clearly visible. Of course the number of tattooed ladies with hidden tattoos cannot be commented upon. Generally the tattoos were in shades of black but some use of reds and greens and yellows was also evident. It was a lovely day but fairly breezy and not quite warm enough for the level of undress on display. It seemed that every lady silly enough to walk bare-shouldered or bare-stomached or in a bikini top, had chosen to do so because she had a tattoo to display.
(I just note in passing that those men I observed who had bare shoulders or chests also inevitably had some tattoo to display and triceps or abs struggling to be admired).
But the tattoos were all – every single one – ugly and disfiguring to my eyes. Not one added to the attractiveness of the subject. The already pretty girls sought to enhance their attractiveness – and failed. Attention was diverted from their inherent attractiveness to their ugly tattoos. The not so pretty ones seemed to be using exhibitionism to attract attention (as an alternative to being seen as attractive) – and also failed. The eye was drawn to the ugly tattoo and only reinforced the shortfall of “attractiveness”.
Why do people get tattoos? My less than scientific study leads me to the following “conclusions”. Like jewelry or piercings or articles of fashion or hair-styling, it can only be to attract the attention of those around. Attracting attention itself can only be for the purpose of being “admired” or of being seen as “different” or “unique” or as a “badge”. It cannot – usually – be for the purpose of attracting contempt (though it could be for being seen as a “rebel” where some contempt is then accepted as collateral damage). Fundamentally it is for the narcissism in us, for satisfying the “Look at Me” syndrome or for the “I am Special” syndrome.
After 3 cups of coffee I needed some beer and so I had to move. But some things were clear. Tattoos are a disfigurement and are all ugly. And whatever the narcissistic aims of the tattooed ladies, they were counter-productive.
A perception of collective nouns
June 21, 2014A quest of scientists
A babble of psychologists
A gaggle of poets
A rabble of (……….) – according to personal preference authors/actors/priests/…….
A fusion of physicists
A smell of chemists
A bushel of metallurgists
A parliament of speakers
An invasion of neocons
A cohort of politicians
A harem of coalition partners
A mamillion of mathematicians
A brothel of journalists
A twitter of modistes
A facebook of friends
A hack of spies
A matrix of nerds
A pride of gay people
A tick of lawyers
A bill of consultants
A cancer of bureaucrats
Noted in passing on Midsummer’s eve
June 20, 2014Midsummer’s Eve in Sweden and we have a bright sunny day (so far) but rather cool (with a high of 16ºC expected).
View from my kitchen window – Midsummer’s Eve 2014
The forecast is for sun in the south and some snow in the north. Snow at midsummer is unusual but not at all unknown in the north of Sweden. No sign of either global warming or of an impending ice age.
Emotional contagion by Facebook could be a new disease. A case of the medium creating the new disease! Heightened emotions can apparently be transmitted by Facebook. The researchers find that “emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness”. And emotional contagion is what turns a crowd into a mob. And as this work from MIT shows, “Good people can do bad things. Belonging to a group makes people more likely to harm others outside the group.”
The wealth of bones found at the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain) are revealing more about the predecessors of Neanderthals. A new paper now suggests that “the hominin-bearing layer could be reassigned to a period around 430,000 years ago. The sample shows a consistent morphological pattern with derived Neandertal features present in the face and anterior vault, many of which are related to the masticatory apparatus. This suggests that facial modification was the first step in the evolution of the Neandertal lineage… “. Initially these fossils were dated to around 600,000 years ago and thought to be related to homo heidelbergensis. But it is now believed that these fossils are younger, from the direct lineage of Neanderthals and a link to homo antecessor who lived in Europe around one million years ago.
Poor Ed Miliband. As if his failings were not enough, he has now taken to a new “owlish” policy for free owls for everybody. This is giving photo-shoppers new opportunities but is creating panic among the Uk’s mouse population.
Saudi Arabia has warned the US and the UK not to interfere in Iraq and oppose the largely Saudi funded ISIS. (Saudi Arabian funds have supported and are still supporting more terrorists than almost any other country. Saudi funds are also well represented in supporting some of the radical preachers around the world). “Hands-off Obama” has obliged by holding off with any air strikes and restricting US involvement to the supply of 300 advisors. But be assured that he is asking very “hard questions”!!
The mysteries of water are still being unravelled. This time it is the low temperature properties of water. Between supercooled water and “glassy” water, there is a region of great mystery (a “no-mans” land). Researchers have now suceeded in making some measurements at -46ºC.
Just a few days ago the vast amounts of water deep in the earths mantle – some 600 km below the earth’s surface – were reported. Here the water is at high temperatures (over 1000ºC) and very high pressures as hydroxyls trapped in the mineral ringwoodite. “There is something very special about the crystal structure of ringwoodite that allows it to attract hydrogen and trap water. This mineral can contain a lot of water under conditions of the deep mantle.”
Science needs some scienticians
June 18, 2014Physic gave rise to physicians long before physics was practiced by a physicist,
Mathematics gives mathematicians, but who would trust a mathematist.
A practitioner of an “ology” has an honourable profession,
So biologists, oncologists, archaeologists and geologists can be numbered by the million.
Without the richness of an “ist” modern politics would be barren,
A politicist has a murky trade but he is not a politician.
We have leftists and rightists and socialists and you can even find some libertarians,
But for all the mayhem in the world, you will not find any extremians.
Environmentalists and conservationists are politically very fashionable,
But their devious methods have now become – rather questionable.
Philosophy was where it started but we rarely refer to philosophists,
And many of the scientists of today are little more than sophists.
It was only in 1840 that scientists were one of Whewell’s inventions,
But they are now two-a-penny, and we could do with a few scienticians.
It should be quite clear that I think that there are far too many who claim to be scientists though they do no science. It then becomes useful to distinguish the real scienticians from the rabble. And perhaps the same could apply to the real economians among the multitude of clerks who call themselves economists.
Noted in passing on the ides of June
June 15, 201415th June 2014.
Five hours time difference to Brazil makes for very late nights and little time for blogging.
Poor little rich Tony Blair. He is desperately trying to defend his part in the Iraq invasion of 2003. With his gold tinted glasses his view of the world reveals that the present problems in Iraq are due to the world not following his advice on Syria. In any event – he protests – he did not cause the Iraq crisis.
I don’t usually expect the Huffington Post to print anything that even faintly deviates from “political correctness” but this opinion piece by John Tirman on how do-gooders do more harm than good comes as a breath of fresh air. “The human-rights lobby has been at the center of the Arab Spring fiasco, egging on the rebels and feeding the media narrative of despicable despots that needed deposing. .. The same thing happened in Afghanistan 13 years ago, when prominent feminists argued for war to liberate Afghan women. ….. war for human rights is increasingly being exposed as an oxymoron.”
Cambodian orphanages have provided new business opportunities and are more brothels than orphanages. Cambodia’s most famous activist, Somaly Mam, who has been feted indiscriminately in the US has proved to be a fraud. But she has made enough money to keep her quite comfortable for the rest of her days.
Another “politically correct” do-gooder which has been hijacked by the loony left since 1991 is Greenpeace. In India they are being asked to justify their foreign funding as “the ministry of home affairs served a show cause notice to the international NGO on Friday asking why its permission to get foreign funding under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) should not be withdrawn”.
Humans separated from chimpanzees about 6 – 8 million years ago. But the chimpanzees of today are not the chimpanzees we diverged from. “The offspring of chimpanzees inherit 90% of new mutations from their father, and just 10% from their mother, a finding which demonstrates how mutation differs between humans and our closest living relatives, and emphasises the importance of father’s age on evolution.”
Unsettled science. Neither the Carbon cycle nor the water cycle on earth are as well understood as some would like to claim. There is more evidence that vast amounts of water are locked up in rocks in the depths of the earth’s mantle. And we have not the slightest inkling of how water is exchanged between the surface and the deep mantle by volcanos and earthquakes.
The sun is the only significant source for our energy (with nuclear reactions in the earth’s interior – even if they are ongoing – paling into insignificance). It is not fashionable to say so but the sun, through the oceans, controls our climate and carbon dioxide has no significant role to play. A new paper gives further evidence of the link between the oceans and the climate.
Last Friday was not only the 13th of June but in Sweden, with a full moon also present, was considered particularly unlucky – apparently. It will not happen again till 13th August 2049. The top 9 Swedish superstitions.
Sepp Blatter (who never played football) is turning to attack as the best form of defence over the Qatar 2022 World Cup curruption scandal. He – and his underlings – are trying to muddy the waters and flailing around looking for scapegoats. So they have banned Beckenbauer for 90 days!! Time for Blatter to step down and for Qatar to be stripped of the World Cup.
The k2p blog 