The death rate from extreme weather has dropped dramatically since the 1920s.

New Japanese satellite finds that the developing world is generating more CO2 emissions than the developed world. The country which recorded the biggest drop in carbon emissions 2008-2010 was the US: the sixth biggest was Australia. Study finds no increase in the ( Read more... )

Amazing varieties of bacteria found in belly buttons.

A soft-drink/soda bottle, some filtered water, some bleach, a little installation and you have a solar light bulb.

An engineer builds a box with corners, and changes the world.

A nice discussion of why “neurobabble” (getting all excited by brain activity studies) is not anything like a ( Read more... )

From a 28 September letter to the editor in The Washington Post:
The Sept. 24 front-page article “Faster than light: Revolution or error?” was remarkable. After more than 100 years, a potential flaw in Albert Einstein’s unifying theory has emerged through experimentation. However, it is what did not happen that is more important. No “relativity ( Read more... )

Presentation by Israeli physicist on solar effect on climate and the evidence that climate sensitivity is low (i.e. no significant positive or negative feedbacks). A post by him explaining this further:
Last, given that the CRF/climate link is alive and kicking, it naturally explains the large solar/climate links. As a consequence, anyone trying to ( Read more... )

So we move quicker to a world where nobody else cares what the monotheist barbarians of the Middle East think or want.

Murry Salby is a climate scientist at Macquarie University. Given his recent presentation at the Sydney Institute (prelude to a forthcoming book), no doubt character assassination will follow from the usual suspects.

Unless the preferred strategy is to simply ignore him and hope what he says goes away.

A lovely medley of movie kisses.

Suggesting the anti-hunting push comes from Bambi

Elizabeth Taylor arranged things so she could be late to her own funeral.

RedLetterMedia reviews Avatar, part one and two.

Looking at the life and career of Michael Moorcock and his friendship with J G Ballard.

Appreciating Zulu.

The Washington Post takes the ( Read more... )

I read about the tsunami and loss of life in Japan from an intense earthquake. After the immediate "isn't that awful!" responses, it immediately popped into my mind "and some idiots will blame this on global warming".

I would have preferred to have been wrong. But I wasn't. (A more intense response here.) Off they went, every disaster an ( Read more... )

Imre S. proves to be a very bad, but very funny, man.

Before and after pictures of flooded Brisbane: a fairly mild indicator of the devastation across Queensland.

Evidence of medieval warm period in Antarctica.

According to Greenland ice core data, only 9,099 years of the last 10,500 were warmer than 2010. (There is a reason “the Little Ice Age ( Read more... )

It is mid-December in Melbourne and I have been wearing long sleeve tops and a jacket in the middle of the day to keep warm. (Changing from 'global warming' to 'climate change' was clearly an excellent PR move, even if apparently not enough to maintain public support.) Australia is currently wet and cold. I know it is the traditional Australian ( Read more... )