Disqus - Friends of millardbaker

Re: H2O Plus Acquired by Goldman Sachs and Cordova, Smart & Williams

Penton Media — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:07:31 -0000

This article was published on Jun 03, 2008.

Re: FDA Sends Warning to Bayer About Drugmaker�s OTC-Supplement Combo Products

Penton Media — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:48:00 -0000

This article was publisher Oct 2008. Since then we have started to add all the dates to our articles.

Re: but she's a girl... » The Stirling Engine: Betamax of the 19th Century

Gnoll110 — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:06:00 -0000

Why would you get a headache?

You have a heat to motion to electric power system, where part of the electric output is feed back into the system to improve efficiency and/or decrease the cost of the total system.

Re: People of Sydney: Tell Us About Your City

Gnoll110 — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:37:21 -0000

Speaking as a Queenslander working in Canberra (that's between Sydney & Melbourne). I find Melbourne a more liveable city.

Melbourne still has its trams, the other state capitals ripped these out in the 50s/60s. Seen Who framed Roger Rabbit?

Sydney biggest asset, its habour, is also its biggest liability. Its make the city just plain hard to get around. Melbourne is a generally flatter city with a general grid network of roads. A lot easier to get around.

Re: Climate Paranoia Strikes Deep

Gnoll110 — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:00:18 -0000

I saw the TV show in question.

It was about the affect of global warning of Australian food production. The latest reports, released here this week, talked about drying in the continent's food bowl (The Marray Basin).

Sen. Heffernan's comments where in the context the need to at least continue current food production levels to:

1 - feed the Australian population and

2 - continue to export food.

The senator was warning that rising sea levels could make millions of Asian people homeless & short of food. That Australia should endeavour to continue to feed far above its domestic population by developing the North without the mistakes made in the South.

The second half of the program was devoted to the best ecologically sound methods that could be used in the North.

Sen Heffernan is a Liberal (centre-right) and a farmer from south eastern Australia (The Murray Basin).

Re: Climate Paranoia Strikes Deep

Gnoll110 — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:43:19 -0000

The above quotes are quotes from the NZ newspaper article, not quotes of Heffernan from last night show. How much is written and spin to sell newspapers, after all, that one of the reason to come here to read stuff.

The transcript are up on the web now. This is not a full transcript. I'm sure mosaic farming got mention near the end of the show, but I can't find it in the text.

Heffernan made two comment that specifically referenced China. Remember this is in the Australian context. China & India are both close & major immigration sources. Florida, London & Paris are half a world away. When ever I hear about Global Warming stuff, I ask, what that mean to China & India. It will be China & India that decide how far over 450 ppm CO2 we will end up going!

The first is the one I referred to above.

SENATOR BILL HEFFERNAN, CHAIR, NORTHERN AUSTRALIA TASKFORCE and LIBERAL SENATOR FOR NSW: There's no question in my view that the price of food will rise. But we will cope. The answer to your preliminary question is, of course we'll feed ourselves and of course technology will enable us to do that. When I grew up, a tonne to the acre was a fair thing for a wheat crop. Three tonne to the acre with a lot less rainfall is possible now. I guess as long as we accept that we've got to found all that on science, as long as we accept that certainly genetically modified technology is part of the future, of course we'll feed ourselves and what's more we'll help to feed those parts of the globe that are not capable or won't be capable, given than in China, for instance, 30% of their production could be lost with a 20-inch rise in the sea water. They'll lose 30% of their production.

The second, for me, was about human nature and why we will pay money for luxuraies and complain about the cost of basics.

SENATOR BILL HEFFERNAN: I have to say three or four years ago I said that any 50-year plan for the Murray-Darling Basin, which is seriously over-allocated, would probably mean that furrow cotton and paddy rice would be a thing of the past in a 50-year plan, not because of, necessarily, the vagary of the science but the marketed work in water - I mean, dairy farmers now are struggling to pay for their water. Funnily enough Australians are prepared to buy bottled China's water with a map of Australia on it and a kangaroo on the map, which is bottled in China; it comes into Australia for $0.38 and retails for between $1.85 and $2.50, but they're only prepared to pay $1.20 for a bottle of milk, so that prices them out of the market. And I have to say what we're facing up to if we're facing between 35 and 11,000 gigalitres, given the vagary of the science reduction of the runoff in the Murray-Darling Basin, obviously, we're going to have to change the way we farm, the technology of farming, we've got to go to root-zone take, get away from the more expansive under-valued water users, and obviously look at new markets and new areas and new opportunities and obviously that's what we're on about in the north.

I suppose it all comes down to weather you believe the senator is a reformed global warming sceptic or not.

I don't like him reliance on GMOs.

The guys a real farmer, and as a real polly, gets to see lots of things. I wouldn't accept or reject his views any more than any other federal senator.

Lots of generalisation flying around. I don't think I'ld say being anti-immigration make you racist. Or the one characteristic of land automatically makes it useless to all forms of farming. One man's desert is another man's Olive grove.

There is not such thing as marginal land, only marginal land uses.

Re: Climate Paranoia Strikes Deep

Gnoll110 — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:15:10 -0000

My mistake, the NZ Herald story is based on a Bulletin story, not the ABC TV program.

Pity the Bulletin story isn't online, guess they got hard copy to sell

Teaser here.

Heffernan denies the Bulletin quotes, and the Bulletin stands by them. See here and here.

The senator does talk about bio security issues on Difference of Option.

Speaking as someone raised in a summer rainfall farming district in Australia. I find it depressing that southerners and city people are quite willing to enforce draconian environmental laws that stifle planning and the introduction of new practices and innovation. There has got to be a better balance than this.

How do you stop another Cubbie Station without killing innovation on the small.

I spent part of the late Christmas holidays reading the 'Code for self-assessable development for taking overland flow water for stock and domestic purposes' and the 'Code for self-assessable development for taking overland flow water using small scale storages'. Personally, I find the use of 'taking' in the title to be rude. Sounds like you're taking government water, not catching your own rainfall. The codes still don't work. I understand the version 3 is currently on the legal drawing board at the moment.

Why develop an ultra long fellow system (like is used in tropical PNG), when you risk the whole thing being classes at remnant vegetation and 'protected'.

Look at all the problems that Peter Andrews had trialing Natural Sequence Farming.

The laws that Peter fought and cost him so much (financial ruin, marriage breakdown and child suicide) still exist and are enforced. Peter only got special dispensation due to his public profile (from the Australian Story coverage). If you're not Peter, there is still all the old bureaucracies to fight.

Its hard watch farming districts die. Any polly who fights for these reforms has my support, not matter how conservative or radical his social views are.

Rant ends ;)

Re: Bodybuilding Community Fails to Support Positive Steroid Documentary

Gnoll110 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:37:15 -0000

Maybe we can make it a cult classic on DVD.

Hope it makes is to the art house big screen here (Australia).

Re: Lost Baby Whale Mistakes Yacht for Its Mother, Later Put Down

Gnoll110 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:22:25 -0000

A whale carcass has washed up on a beach several hundred kms south of Pittwater. The body will be DNA checked to see if it's Colin's mother.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/...

Re: Tolkien’s Spy Past Inspires Hunt for Hobbit, Rings Spooks

Gnoll110 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:29:04 -0000

I will agree with prbird, I also found some of this too mocking.

My understanding is that Tolkien suffered from shell shock (what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome).

It should also be remembers how uninterested Tolkien was in the commercial aspects of his writings. The Hobbit was specifically written for his own children while they where young. The initial version of the Lord of the Rings chapters where written as personal correspondence to one of his sons, whilst that son serving over seas during WWII.

Re Ice Battleships, the stuff is called Pykrete
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: Tolkien’s Spy Past Inspires Hunt for Hobbit, Rings Spooks

Gnoll110 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:16:26 -0000

http://www.iwm.org.uk/serve...

'At the end of October, weighed down by weeks of tension and wretched conditions, Tolkien contracted trench fever and was sent back to hospital in Birmingham. He remained unfit for the rest of the war.'

The records just say trench fever (Bartonella quintana).

There are lots of reference on google saying he had shell shock, including several on BBC pages, but nothing I would call definitive. Shell shock is not something that got written into records, expect in the most extreme and immediate cases.

Thanks for the comment, superkuf. I'ld always read 'trench fever' as a cover all for shell shock and other none specific conditions, not as a specific condition itself. Learn something every day.

The Somme battle did shape Tolkien and his writings. The most obvious place being The Passage of the Marshes chapter (Two Towers), where Frodo, Sam and Gollum pass through the Dead Marshes. This was the chapter that I felt was always going to be the biggest challenge to Peter Jackson & Co's skill in their movie adaptation.

Re: Let's Kill The CPM

Gnoll110 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:34:14 -0000

Just differentiate b/w the content writer & the content publisher.

The publisher is stuck in the CPM/CPA world as it is now, trying to cover costs & make a return in an ever increasing universe of sites & pages.

The writer is spreading his content/meme, in this case a reformer meme.

Two parties produced this page, but that don't mean they are of the same mind.

Re: The Alignment of Asset Reflation and a Collapsed Economy

Gnoll110 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:09:15 -0000

I'm sure we can look to behaviour in the previous Depression for idea. There are lots of differences for sure: peak oil & global warming for starter. Just let me abuse your americanism and say that I'm sure that fresh thinkers will produce fresh playbooks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

How Building Learn has some interesting stuff about the Depression and less developed economies. Thing like when cash can't be trusted for hold value. You 'save' be converting to building materials asap, then build as you can.

Noel
PS Still lots of room left on the West Island

Re: Potty Training Pigs Prevents Water Pollution

Gnoll110 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:03:57 -0000

I'll give $1000 to anyone who can show me how to train cattle to shit in the one spot. Serious implication for global warming, both from reducing methane emissions & renewable energy production angles.

Re: Ask Pablo: Should We Go Back To Using Horses Instead Of Tractors?

Gnoll110 — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:31:39 -0000

From the safety angle, farmer would prefer to stay with the tractors, utes & motorbikes over horses.

Once told be an old farming couple, that in the 'old days', everyone personal knew of two or three local people who had been killed in horses accidents.

Re: China is Tackling Climate Change Better Than the U.S.: Discuss

Gnoll110 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 01:47:42 -0000

China are the biggest hold out.

The Chinese premier, Wen Jinbao didn't even go to the China US meeting. He sent a second-tier official to face Obama and act as a go between, going next door to phone Wen for instruction several times.

China (backed some times by India) systematically removed concrete targets for the COP15 deal in the end game meetings. They even insisted that the targets on other nations (who had accept them) were removed.

The Indian Environment minister affectively boast about China & India blocking any binding agreement in the Parliament of India in the week after COP15 finished.

China & India (apparently Brazil & South Africa) still fear civil unrest due to poverty more than unrest due to warming induced drought, famine & flood.

Earlier this year, in the northeastern city of Tonghua, a Mill boss was beaten to death in a riot over mass lay-offs. So far I've only heard of a few climate protests. No local CCP officials been beaten to death by thirsty & hungry masses yet.

Ultimately it comes down to taxing & regulating cheap energy (petrolium & coal) out of the market. Most people don't even think we need to go that far yet, least of all China.

China says it's emissions will peak in 2030. That means it's currently prepared to wears ongoing global warming for 20 years plus system lags.

This is where I wheel out my #werealldoomedisay twitter hashtag. So no international action leaves us back at individual action. What to do. This comes down to two groups of actions.

1. Resilience. Saving what's worth saving locally. Biodiversity wise, technically & socially.
2. Being ready to cut fossil fuel use to zero when the time. You only need to be READY to cut to zero when agreement is reached (or when civilisation fails). In the mean time you can use some fossil fuels to achieve your resilience measures. You spending* carbon to save a species now is better than the Chinese spending it to build a coal fired power station.

* by 'spending' I mean adding to the biosphere's total carbon load. China etal will act when the total carbon load get too uncomfortable. Unfortunately we will only know what that total carbon load point was after we get there.

Re: Minnesota Slaps North Dakota with World's First Carbon Tariff

Gnoll110 — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:01:14 -0000

Is the Obama gang paying attention? A perfect way to fight the Peg.

to: Premier Wen Jinbao
cc: OPEC

Dear Premier Wen Jinbao.

On 1/1/2012, the United State will be introducing a fossil fuel traffic on products/services imported from any nation without a fossil fuel fee of initially $30/t CO2e. An additional traffic, set at the same rate, will also be imposed of any nation with a currency peg that is not in the national interest of the United States.

Regards,

Barack Obama

Re: Minnesota Slaps North Dakota with World's First Carbon Tariff

Gnoll110 — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:36:00 -0000

The European system and lots of other like the proposed Australian Emissions Trading System are 'Cap and Trade' systems. To date, most have been highly corrupted by exemptions & free permits. This is due to lobbing and a desire to look like you're acting while you wait for everyone catch up.

A Fossil Fuel Traffic (rather than on carbon generally) is an important part of a fully functioning 'Fee & Dividend' system. Fees are levied on fossil fuels at the well head and mine. Imports from all non 'Fee & Dividend' jurisdictions are tariffed at the port of entry. That's the fee side. ALL the collected fees are then paid back to tax payers to compensate them for their increased costs. The tax payer then either continues to pay the higher charges using the dividend, or they can use the dividend to modify their situation. Like by buying solar hot water systems to reduce their increased electricity/gas bills.

The bud bear with all this stuff is what to do for exporters who trade with non compliant jurisdictions.

Re: Oregon's Hardline on Sprawl Holds Back Suburbia

Gnoll110 — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:50:25 -0000

Sprawl is such a loaded negative word.

Shouldn't land development be allowed where it's needed. To get small towns up to long term sustainable populations (said to be 5K in Australia). Big enough to sustain a hospital, schools, a couple of banks etc.

Re: Minnesota Slaps North Dakota with World's First Carbon Tariff

Gnoll110 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:04:07 -0000

Hi Hugo.

Going to disagree with you on the complexity on cap & trade vs fee & dividend.

In Australia, the proposed ETS (cap & trade) will initially be on the 1200 bigest carbon omiting companies, then be expanded to smaller companies later. How do you workout their carbon footprint to know what permits are needed. You can do complex carbon audit annually (expensive) or make simplified assumption (that don't reward improvements within individual companies) or some combination of the two. Real complex and prown to create accounting too.

Then there is all the complexity of working out who can generate credit for their operations. At the state level, the state govt have effectively taken control of vegetation carbon rights. They control the credits on most of the vegetation on most private land, via clauses in state environmental law.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/...
A complex dysfunctional mess.

Fee & dividend invokes a lot simpler set on production volume tracking at the mine/well head. Accounting that is already done for calculating royalties. Oil imports would need to be taxed at point of entry, based on point of origin too, by half-a-dozen companies at half-a-dozen ports/refineries.

Then you distribute the dividend to the citizen/tax payers. In Australia, part of the global financial crisis stimulus packages were done via direct credit to citizen/tax payers. So these system are already in place here (& in most developed countries).

The complexity in Fee & dividend is in collecting the fees on import from non compliant countries. A hassle, but one the decreases as more countries become compliant.

I see Fee & dividend as both less complex over all and as more affective as it targets fossil fuels specifically.

Re: Solar Technology Takes the Salt Out of Ponds on the Cheap

Gnoll110 — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:24:33 -0000

Err, it doesn't say, but I'ld think the pond is built on flat land, at a constant depth. The lake is a saline water souse only.

3 acre feet/acre/ann doesn't sound like much, until you realise its entirely solar powered, no fossils fuels at all.

What are we doing with the salt. Putting it back in the lake would just be the equivalent to increased evaporation, making the lake even saltier!

Re: Taxation: Refugee of the lazy, idea bankrupt scoundrel.

Gnoll110 — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:40:04 -0000

Not as cut and dry as it sounds.

If it was in the US, them I'ld say that your cynicism is likely justified. Also the US is the source of generic cheap content, where commercial operators outsource content from.

If economics is the only driver, then the tax is wrong, it's driving up the cost to the customer.

You know what the French are like, they will probably use the money to finance their own cultural productions. Like they guard their language, they also guard their film & TV content production industries. A way to make sure they got the French language content their media laws require.

This tax will be on Google France's activities. It would raise the cost of contest to French consumers & the rates charged to French advertiser, potentially diminishing Google's revenues from that subsidiary.

French customers will likely benefit from more content & French artists will likely get more work. Assuming it's not a cash grab from a cash strapped national government. The devil is in the detail.

A different angle to consider.

Re: Possibility of EPA Regulating CO2 Has Big Ag & Energy Scared

Gnoll110 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:11:36 -0000

This is all based on the assumption that all carbon is equal. I don't think it is.

'Dirty Energy', that is fossil fuels, are the real problem. They introduce 'new' geologic carbon into the bioshere's carbon cycle. While this 'new' carbon is small be comparison to the natural flows of carbon, it's these additional flows that throw the whole system out of whack. It's this that is increasing the amounts of both atmospheric & oceanic carbon.

Agriculture needs to be watch. Using 'Big' in this context is just an attempt to emote a negative response from the reader. Ag is a problem, in that it's a major user of fossil fuel. But lets understand what agriculture & horticulture are all about. A huge part of the carbon cycle is photosynthesis. So huge, that annual CO2 cycle (caused by the northern greening in Spring followed by the Autumn leaf drop) is much larger that the peak to peak change of the underlying CO2 tend. http://upload.wikimedia.org... Agriculture & horticulture are all about harvesting this natural annual flows for food & fibre.

If you took grassland out of agriculture production, what happens? Other species move in. The flow of carbon, from plant material back to the atmosphere, still happens, just by different species. Instead of cattle & sheep, it's by kangaroo, moose and zebra. The flows change, branch in different way, with different lags, but the end result is basically that same. This means that changes in ag practices will only result a small net changes in how that carbon cycle work. How carbon is distributed between the atmosphere, ocean, soils and biomass will change, but only in small ways when compared to the efforts involved.

Changing land use is something to look at, but only if we still have problems after we have stopped fossil fuels.

Re: Possibility of EPA Regulating CO2 Has Big Ag & Energy Scared

Gnoll110 — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:34:05 -0000

Hi concernedveggie & jj

I don't think either of you are using the term Neoliberal the right way. The term Neoliberal date back to the 1930's and has a specific meaning, it refers to someone who believes in Neoliberalism. Neoliberal economics lies at the heart the right's reform agenda of the last 30 year. By definition neocons are neoliberial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: Scientists Aiming to Breed Sheep That Don't Burp

Gnoll110 — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:39:10 -0000

Come on! This is a diversion from tackling the real problem, burning fossil fuels.

The solution is a Fee & dividend on fossil fuels. Other carbon emissions are part of the carbon cycle.

The carbon that sheep burped today was grass yesterday and photosynthesis out of the air last Spring/Summer! It's called a cycle for a reason.

Leave the petroleum (oil & gas) and coal in the ground.