see…

so the saga of mike rann’s sex life continues – i haven’t seen this much news out of south australia… ever.

anyway, more to the point – its clear that rann is lying, hence no lie detector test, but can’t he just admit that he was a single horny middle aged man that rooted a co-worker? its happening every second of every day – storage cupboards, photocopiers, desks, smoko rooms, toilets on the plane…

there is no shame in being australian!

On Friday, news broke that a hacker had broken in to the computer systems used by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Britain, obtaining more than 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents. The material, which covers a period of more than a decade, has led many to conclude that climate scientists associated with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and various government agencies have been cooking the books to make the case for man-made global warming. Among the most damaging is one which appears to suggest using a ‘trick’ to massage years of temperature data to ‘hide the decline’. The email suggesting ‘hiding the decline’ is purported to be from Phil Jones, the unit’s director.

Here is a sampling of some of the exchanges.

- From Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University, to Ray Bradley, Michael Mann, and Malcolm Hughes, three U.S. scientists who have produced the controversial “hockey-stick graphs” that purport to show rapidly increasing temperatures in recent decades. Nov, 16, 1999.

“I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (i. e. from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.”

- From Kevin Trenberth, a lead author with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to Michael Mann, on Oct 12. 2009. The email, titled “BBC U-turn on climate,” laments a BBC article that reversed its long-held position on man-made global warming.

“The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. … Our observing system is inadequate.”

- From: Michael Mann, Oct 27, 2009

“Perhaps we’ll do a simple update to the Yamal post… As we all know, this isn’t about truth at all, its about plausibly deniable accusations.”

- From: Edward Cook, June 4, 2003

“I got a paper to review (submitted to the Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Sciences), written by a Korean guy and someone from Berkeley, that claims that the method of reconstruction that we use in dendroclimatology (reverse regression) is wrong, biased, lousy, horrible, etc. … If published as is, this paper could really do some damage … It won’t be easy to dismiss out of hand as the math appears to be correct theoretically (…) I am really sorry but I have to nag about that review — Confidentially I now need a hard and if required extensive case for rejecting.”

- From: Tom Wigley, Sep 27, 2009

“So, if we could reduce the ocean blip by, say, 0.15 C, then this would be significant for the global mean — but we’d still have to explain the land blip. I’ve chosen 0.15 here deliberately. This still leaves an ocean blip, and i think one needs to have some form of ocean blip to explain the land blip (via either some common forcing, or ocean forcing land, or vice versa, or all of these).”

- From: Phil Jones, Feb 2, 2005

“The two MMs [Canadian skeptics Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick] have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I’ll delete the file rather than send to anyone.”

- From: Phil Jones, May 29, 2008

“Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise. He’s not in at the moment -minor family crisis. Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don’t have his new email address. We will be getting Caspar to do likewise.”

- From: Keith Briffa, Sep 22, 1999

“I know there is pressure to present a nice tidy story as regards ‘apparent unprecedented warming in a thousand years or more in the proxy data’ but in reality the situation is not quite so simple. We don’t have a lot of proxies that come right up to date and those that do (at least a significant number of tree proxies ) some unexpected changes in response that do not match the recent warming.”

- From: Michael E. Mann, Mar 11, 2003

“I think we have to stop considering Climate Research as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal. We would also need to consider what we tell or request of our more reasonable colleagues who currently sit on the editorial board.”

- From: Tom Wigley, Apr24, 2003

“Mike’s idea to get editorial board members to resign will probably not work — must get rid of von Storch too, otherwise holes will eventually fill up with people like Legates, Balling, Lindzen, Michaels, Singer, etc.”

- From: Phil Jones, July 5, 2005

“If anything, I would like to see the climate change happen, so the science could be proved right, regardless of the consequences. This isn’t being political, it is being selfish.”

Climate change skeptics have hailed the material as proof that research data has been skewed and suppressed. “Climategate”,  the hoax of global warming is brought to public light.

Click On Links:
Copenhagen Climate Treaty Summary
Obama Failed Climate Change; Lied to Europeans
Barack Obama First Year Presidential Actions
The World’s Most Powerful People
Obama Promises One Year Later
Obama/House Passes Climate Change Bill
Obama Cooling Air To Fight Global Warming

…and again we have another hillsonger taking over the oz idol stage – kudos to the hillsong community for their efforts in christianizing (is that a word?) australian idol – it could be worse :/

look, lets start off – i’m a whole-hearted liberal party supporter – our mate kevin07 is doing an alright job, but ultimately i want to see the libs back… but lets get to the point, turnbull stuffed everything up when he jumped the gun on the ozcar scandal… now we’re left with a liberal party that has fallen apart – please mal, just step aside, let someone fresh take over – you had the potential – but you blew it!

If you search on for Michelle Obama in Google Image Search you will see a image a chimpanzee. Google removed the image but not its back. This time, Google bought a search ad explaining why the result is there and why Google cannot remove it:

Explanation:

Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries. We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google.

Search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. A site’s ranking in Google’s search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page’s relevance to a given query.

The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results. Individual citizens and public interest groups do periodically urge us to remove particular links or otherwise adjust search results. Although Google reserves the right to address such requests individually, Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it. We will, however, remove pages from our results if we believe the page (or its site) violates our Webmaster Guidelines, if we believe we are required to do so by law, or at the request of the webmaster who is responsible for the page.

We apologize if you’ve had an upsetting experience using Google. We hope you understand our position regarding offensive results.

Sincerely,
The Google Team

What do you think about a Chimpanzee representing Michelle Obama on search engines? Don’t bring in your racist opinions George Bush has the same images floating around search engines also. Why do we suppress creative art related to the OBAMAS

Click On Links:
Michelle Obama Hula Hoop
Big Bird And Michelle Obama On Sesame Street
Michelle Obama Called Ghetto Girl
Michelle Obamas Weight Problem
Michelle Obamas Pot Belly
Mayara Tavares
Michelle Obama Ruffle Collar Blouse
Obama, Looking at woman in Italy
Michelle Obama’s Arms
Michelle Obama’s Short-Shorts
Michelle Obama’s New Hair Style
Michelle Obama Wax figure
Michelle Obama’s Fashion
Michelle Obama Touches Queen Elizabeth
Michelle Obama On The Cover Of Glamour Magazine

Sometimes I suspect my perfect friend is just around the corner. I go speak to him. Perhaps I’m being too kind or what-not and he thinks me too fucking gay. It’s too weird. In SG friends ask if I’m gay and then in Oz, the girls insist I’m straight. And I never know what to think.

Especially when, I don’t find much to envy nor admire in SGreans. Because my dream as an art student was to create an island to create what I wanted. In that sense, it was very LKY. And whosoever beneath him in SG, I only greet with egalitarianism. If they thought they were better because they had better grades, I always shot them down.

And then I go to Melbourne to study, and there I notice the builders and electricians speak well with the academics.

Or basically, with me – the very dumb looking NUS graduate who’s studying in RMIT.

Got locked out twice. Spoke with the locksmiths.

Never knew what to think.

Spoke with the school counsellor and he told me something about people having different sides and that being “late” meant that I already had certain sides developed whereas others didn’t, and so my job was to garner what I didn’t have.

Huh?

Eat sleep sit.

“I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words bother me.”

“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”

“To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise.”

Do you think the topic of my article is a bit harsh? It might be, but I would be lying if I denied asking myself this question. I thought I would be over being let down, again, regarding work here in Australia, but that would also be a lie if a claimed I am okay at the moment.

The plan was to sit down and look for work today, but I got an offer from the university today. I am asked to take one year to get the demanded credentials to study a bachelor; but that too has not worked  out as I thought it would. Instead of starting school in February I start late June; and from what I can understand I can not deduct that from the bachelor degree, as I was told I could do. That means I might be spending at least four years studying.
As I do not start until June it gives me more stress about money. I kind of hoped to start in February as then I would at least get some student loan money to live of if I still have not been offered a job.

It seems like the only accomplishment I have managed to pull off is getting a learners license after just living here for one month. Other than that I have just been meeting resistance after resistance. When I have managed to climb one wall, I am met with another wall that needs to be climbed.

The only thing I can do is to just hope to get a job and send out my resume like crazy, but I have been doing that for a while now and I am starting to lose patience and motivation.
Even if I could join the armed forces I would not do it now, as I refuse to lose me EU citizenship. It is not until now I understand how good that is. I can freely move around in EU. Hopefully we will be back within five years.

Hopefully everything will eventually work out for me too.
At the moment it just seems a bit hopeless.

I exist, that is all, and I find it nauseating.
- Sartre

Coming home from Apollo Bay I took a detour through Colac, along the shores of the huge Lake Corangamite and up to Mount Elephant near Derrinallum. The breached scoria cone of Mount Elephant is open to climb on the first Sunday of each month from 1pm-4pm. I was waiting for better light on the rim of the crater but it was not to be – still an interesting location though. I intend to climb a few volcanoes in Sumatra and Java soon, so I thought to try and learn a bit about them.

Mount Elephant is a steep, isolated scoria cone rising almost 200 m above the flat surface of the surrounding lava plain. It is a single eruption point with an irregular rim caused by directed fire fountaining. The rim is breached on the north-eastern side giving an opening to a dry shallow summit crater with minimum enclosure of 20 m. The breach may be the result of collapse or removal of part of the rim during a small lava flow late in the eruption history of the volcano. There are few natural exposures on the mountain but several operating and abandoned pits at the base provide sections into the ejecta. This consists entirely of magmatic material (i.e. without phreatomagmatic) in the form of scoria, blocks and bombs without abundant xenoliths and megacrysts. These occur both in basalt rocks and scoria. Occasional small angular blocks of partially melted granitic bedrock also occur as xenoliths. Source

Transit police in California are facing questions over use-of-force after another controversial video surfaced. The video does show a Bay Area Rapid Transit ,BART, officer remove Michael Joseph Gibson, 37, from a train and forcefully push him towards a nearby wall. After a crash, glass shatters onto both men in the West Oakland station. The officer has been placed on paid “industrial leave” – meaning he is unable to perform his duties because of injuries. The officer has worked for BART since May. Before that, he was a Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy for six years. He has not been involved in a use-of-force case during his BART tenure, transit agency officials said. Records show Gibson was booked on suspicion of two felonies, battering a police officer and resisting arrest, as well as a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.

On New Year’s Day, 22-year-old Oscar Grant was fatally shot by an unidentified BART officer. It happened after grant and some buddies got into a scuffle while riding a train. A bystander captured what went down on her cell phone. At 3:03 you hear the gun shot. Grant was in fact cuffed at the time he was shot; he was definitely pressed to the ground by the officer.

Have we lost trust with the Policing System, or Have the Police lost trust in Us?

Click On Links
Man Eats His Bank Robbery NOTE While Being Frisked
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Profile
The World’s Most Powerful People
The Race Card
Rev. Jeremiah Wright “Home Of The Slave”
CNN Reporter Detained For Showing Communist Oba Mao T-Shirt
Mental Stress On U.S. Soldiers
Child Dies In House Fire, Aunt Concerned About Her Food Stamps

When I wrote about Christmas Island several days ago,  I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was about this story that upset me. Unlike when I write about human trafficking, there was no immediate and overwhelming sense of outrage or adrenaline to do something, anything, to ameliorate an intolerable situation.

My concerns about Christmas Island were more subtle and they were in part due to the readjustment in my mind of what Australia represents. To the mainstream casual observer, someone who doesn’t spend much time thinking about Australian politics and its nuances, Australia has a pretty carefree image.

It’s all about kangaroos and koalas, surf boards and beer on the beach, rugby matches and cricket series, with a thought or two spared for the actors and actresses like Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe or the late Heath Ledger that have made it big in Hollywood.

Naturally, there isn’t a country on earth that is that simple or superficial.

I remain a distant observer, quite probably oblivious to the many complexities of Australian society. But when I logged onto the BBC website and read that violence had broken out at Christmas Island, I was uneasy.

Uneasy in the way any observer might be watching a situation that seems on the brink of veering out of control.

Forty people were injured in the clash between 150 Afghan and Sri Lankan refugees and Australian authorities admit that tension levels at the camp are on the rise. The current plans to increase the center’s capacity in order to deal with the increasing number of refugees and asylum seekers are not likely to defuse the atmosphere.

Christmas Island appears, albeit from a distance, like a ticking time bomb.

And if tensions do boil over and that bomb does explode, not only won’t the nightmare be over but the inevitable wake up call will be brutal.

It’s butterfly time.  : )

Liputan6.com, Eromanga: Para ahli paleontologi Australia mengumumkan penemuan spesies baru dinosaurus di sebuah peternakan domba di negara bagian Queensland. Fosil berumur 97 juta tahun tersebut berasal dari mahluk pemakan tanaman besar berleher panjang sauropoda. Tulang tersebut ditemukan di dekat situs di mana dinosaurus terbesar Australia ditemukan pada penelitian sebelumnya.

Spesies baru sauropoda yang berarti kaki kadal ini adalah salah satu temuan pentingnya. Sebagian besar temuan tersebut terlihat muncul di permukaan tanah dan penggalian lanjutan sudah dijadwalkan. Dinosaurus ini memiliki leher yang sangat panjang, berkepala kecil, dan bergigi tumpul.

Para ilmuwan memandang mahluk ini kemungkinan adalah nenek moyang unggas dan punah karena pengaruh peningkatan suhu bumi. “Ini adalah temuan yang menakjubkan karena kembali membuat Queensland menjadi pusat temuan dinosaurus Australia,” kata ahli paleontologi Museum Queensland, Scott Hocknull seperti dikutip BBC, Kamis (27/8).

Herbivora kuno tersebut tepatnya ditemukan di dekat Kota Eromanga yang terletak di antara pinggiran laut besar masa cretaceous dini. Para peneliti menggambarkan daerah tersebut sebagai kuburan massal dinosaurus dan diyakini ratusan kerangka lain masih terkubur di sana. “Kami menemukan dinosuarus di semua bagian Queensland. Australia benar-benar menjadi pusat temuan dinosaurus. Di bawah tanah masih terdapat ratusan kerangka,” ujarnya.

Dinosaurus terbesar Australia ditemukan di peternakan domba yang sama pada 2004. Panjangnya hampir 30 meter dan merupakan spesies baru titanosaurus.(AND)

[AUSTRALIA] The Victorian Premier, John Brumby, has called on the former head of the state’s public service, Elizabeth Proust to review Victoria’s integrity bodies. Proust will review the Auditor-General, Ombudsman, Victoria Police, Local Government Investigations and  Compliance Inspectorate and Office of Police Integrity. In the past Brumby has resisted the establishment of an anti-corruption commission like those that operate in other Australian states.

Acabo de leer la última crónica. De eso hace ya cinco meses. Fue desde Vanuatu. Ahora me vuelvo a enfrentar a esta “hoja en blanco” y a intentar ordenar cronológicamente mis recuerdos. Es difícil. Han pasado demasiadas cosas y entre ellas, un viaje de ida y vuelta al otro lado del mundo.
Vanuatu. Ahí quedaron despedidas de dos barcos: Nerissa K que volvió a Canadá

y de Adaggio que continuó rumbo a Australia para finalizar así su vuelta desde Florida.

Nosotros, después de un mes descubriendo las islas del sur de este país, esperamos desde su capital (Port Vila),

un buen parte que nunca llegó, para dirigirnos a Nueva Caledonia. Fueron días duros de mucho viento en contra. Noches inacabables donde pequeñas roturas hicieron la vida un tanto desesperante y agobiante.
Días grises donde el principal protagonista era el aullido del viento y la salpicadura de sal en la cara.
Momentos que no se acababan pero que finalmente, acabaron. Llegamos a la isla de Mare ya en territorio francés. Descansamos dos días. Estábamos extenuados.
Finalmente, y todavía con bastante viento, nos dirigimos a Noumea (capital de Nueva Caledonia) donde llegamos un atardecer a la marina de Port Mouselle para hacer la entrada oficial a este nuevo país.
Aún no habíamos colocado todas las amarras, y ya estaban ahí la familia Mali Mali. Lourdes y Enric  dejaron BCN hace 8 años. Ese día ya eran cuatro.
Hablábamos y hablábamos compulsivamente. Tanto que oír y contar. Después de todos esos años, volvíamos a estar todos juntos y esta vez en nuestro propio barco.
Al día siguiente, Cuarentena vino a recoger a Suri. A pesar de mis súplicas, Suri tuvo que irse con dos señores y en una furgoneta para ser desinfectada y examinada. No me lo esperaba pero bueno, al menos, el mismo día que partía para España (cinco días después), por la mañana, nos la trajeron y nos acompañó a Joan Antoni y a mí al aeropuerto.
Ahora, 4 meses después, recuerdo ese trayecto como un espejismo. Iba callada. Odio coger aviones. Es mi fobia particular. Además, intentaba imaginar todo aquello a lo que me iba a enfrentar allá, a 35 horas de vuelo y de esperas. No podía. Debería esperar y darme tiempo para tantas emociones y experiencias,
desgraciadamente, duras y tristes aunque otras, de reencuentros, de nerviosismo y de estar allí como fue la boda de mi amiga Elena a tres días después de haber llegado. Un auténtico maratón para mi cabeza y cuerpo que estaban más acá que allá.
Intento recuperar las experiencias de una forma objetiva y clara pero no puedo. Todavía está todo aquí dentro sin ordenar y clasificar. Debería hacerlo pero duele un poco.
Objetivamente está la llegada a BCN. Viajo con mi hermana a Tarragona después de casi un día entero de espera por parte de ella en el aeropuerto. Llego a la casa de mis padres. Mi madre abre la puerta. Está tan guapa como siempre. El resto lo dejo ahí, en la habitación de mi padre.
Un día y medio después, me voy a BCN. El tren lleva retraso. Me entero de los problemas de RENFE y del AVE.  Otro reencuentro. Veo a Adriana con su barrigota. Esta vez van dos y Lola en el cochecito.  A 50 metros, aparecen Carlitos y Patricia. Nos tomamos una cañita rápida en el bar de enfrente. Nos miramos y
nos reímos. Me siento cómoda. Quedo con la novia para que me deje ropa. Llego a su casa antes que ella. Está totalmente invadida. Me siento más rara que un perro verde. La/los veo. Lleva casualmente, un jersey verde.
Hay nervios por todas partes. La tensión es inevitable. Pasa todo muy rápido. Son las 11 de la noche, y estoy en Pg. de Gràcia. Intento levantar la mirada y saludar a la Pedrera . Cuando lo pienso, ya la he pasado. Voy demasiado ensimismada conmigo misma.
Pensaba que sería más fácil, cómo la otra vez pero no, está vez  ya son más de 20000 millas a mis espaldas y ese peso cambia definitivamente.  Cada milla es un cuarto de hora de soledad, de recogimiento, de murmullo suave o de rugido agudo, de susurros y voces imaginadas, de color azul o negro, de Joan Antoni o de
Suri, de comidas fabricadas en un equilibrio precario, de estados de aletargamiento, de yo con yo y con más de yo. Pero sigo pensando que todo va muy rápido; que no me impaciente, que ya llegará el momento en que estaré ahí con todos ellos.
Y así fueron pasando los días, llegaron las fiestas de Navidad, otra vez el adiós rompedor, 6 de enero, autobús hacia el aeropuerto con Carlitos (gracias por estar tan pendiente de mi) y 35 horas más de vuelo hacia mi casa: Talula.
Allí quedaron  muchas noches de insomnio y de dolor. De una familia perdida ante la enfermedad, de unos amigos que han vuelto y otros que se han ido, de unos novios  situándose en su nueva faceta y de otros, batallando con nuevos proyectos empresariales o vitales. Y de millones de detalles que están rondando por aquí ahora y que formaron parte de esos casi dos
meses de estancia en España.
Ahora ya vuelvo a estar aquí. Las vueltas también son raras. Otro tiempo más para situarme. Estaremos en Noumea hasta mayo, que es cuando se acaba la época de ciclones en el Pacífico para reemprender nuestro viaje siempre al oeste. Y mientras tanto, estudiando francés, trabajando con barcos que hacen charters en estas islas y Joan Antoni, forrando ruedas y lo que se precie.  Ya hemos ahorrado casi lo que necesitamos para sacar el barco del agua de aquí a tres semanas, comprar un pequeño fueraborda  y unas baterías para el Talula.
Hoy es el tercer día de lluvia. Aún quedan como mínimo dos más. Nos está cruzando una depresión tropical. Al menos, esta vez es débil y no hay posibilidades de que se convierta en ciclón. Digo esta vez ya que hace un mes y medio, estuvo de muy poco que nos cruzara un ciclón (huracán en el Caribe o tifón en el Pacífico norte). Tuvimos que trasladarnos a un río de manglares y amarrarnos bien a ellos. Así pasamos tres días, oyendo los partes cada 4 horas, vaciando la cubierta, intentando mantener la calma y pensando en todo lo que se debía de hacer en caso de que llegara.
Pero hubo suerte y no cruzó Noumea. Lo celebramos con un arroz de cangrejos y un alioli en el Mali Mali volviendo ya a la ciudad y haciendo un alto en una bahía muy bien protegida y llena de montañas “infectadas de pequeños ciervos” que aquí son cómo los conejos en Australia, una plaga.
Empieza a oscurecer y me cuesta ver las letras en el teclado; nunca estudié mecanografía. Así que por hoy dejo ya de rasguñar los recuerdos que han quedado aquí dentro.
Antes de cerrar el ordenador y de decir hasta la próxima, sólo quiero decir adiós a mi padrino Juan. Lo reencontré un día en Caracas. Era el mismo de las fotografías  color sepia con puntos amarillos. Sólo fue un día. El resto, a través de internet: jaleo64.  Ahí, en la carpeta “padrino”, quedan sus palabras
cariñosas, alentadoras y revitalizantes. Para siempre. A él también le digo hasta la próxima. Aunque no sé dónde ni cómo.