farmdoc's blog post number 650

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

Wednesday – being the anniversary of the day in 1945 when Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated – was 'International Holocaust Remembrance Day' (in the UK, 'Holocaust Memorial Day') [1]. Never forgotten. Never again.

in its response to the Goldstone report, Hamas said it didn’t target civilians while firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli towns; it’s just that its rockets are unguided and they hit civilians by mistake [2]. I’m not surprised or disappointed by this. It’s what I expected from that lot.

Steve Jobs launched the iPad [3]. Some of the iJournalists and iTechies thought it’s the greatest thing since sliced iBread. Others looked down their iNoses at it and labelled it an iDud.

I came across this Queensland Health pdf file titled ‘Tooth friendly foods and tooth enemies’ [4]. It’s worth a quick read.

yesterday the Age published this article titled ‘How to deal with flight delays and travel hassles’ [5]. As it says, in the world of air travel, this is an age of lowered-expectations.

treehugger.com published this superb slideshow of the Passivhaus – which it calls ‘The Real Standard for a Real Green House’ [6]. I think they mean ‘a Really Green House’. But the pics are mouthwatering.

the Lancet published research concluding that in Type 2 diabetes, the most intensive glucose control is associated with increased risk for death [7]. I love research results that are counter-intuitive.

on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Sweetheart Vivienne and I had our annual State of the Union discussions. In diplomatic speak, they were cordial and fruitful. On Wednesday a certain Mr Obama borrowed our idea and gave his State of the Union Address [8a, 8b].

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

farmdoc's blog post number 604

Every week I listen to the This American Life podcast. Each episode comprises a few stories on one theme. Today’s Farmdoc’s Blog post copies that format. The theme’s ‘money’:

I wrote last Sunday that COP15 grinds on. Now, with four days to go, it looks to be inexorably headed toward a stalemate, or an at best meagre agreement. Look at its sponsors. I don’t know of them all, but I see four car makers, an airline and a transport firm. Who the sponsors are mightn’t affect the deliberations of apparatchiks, but it’s unethical and improper for a UN conference – not to mention a climate change one – to have privates sponsors at all let alone this lot of carbon mega-polluters.

Fighting terrorists and terrorism militarily is expensive, and going by recent experience it’s not so effective either. So what to do? As per the old adage, follow the money. The Jerusalem Post reports that 18 months ago a US Federal Court froze US$2B of Iranian money which is at the centre of a legal struggle between US Marine victims of a 1983 Hizbullah terror attack on a Marine barracks in Beirut, and a Luxembourg bank (which I guess is an Iranian proxy or front). Terrorists needs lots of money. So hit ’em where it hurts. In the wallet.

Meantime President Obama and the US Congress are hitting greedy, amoral, unrepentant Wall Street leeches with a host of new measures aiming to rein in their excesses and increase their accountability. Will these measures work? No-one knows yet. But there’s no downside to trying.

Finally I’ve just read here that if Australia’s successful in its bid to host FIFA’s 2018 or 2022 soccer World Cup, it’ll cost A$2.9B. Thank you, but no thank you, FIFA.

farmdoc's blog post number 545

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. I learned that a man’s reason for not attending an appointment with me, was that his daughter had changed their clock’s time for daylight saving, and in error she’d changed the clock’s date too. Daylight saving started on Sunday 4.10.09 [1]. His appointment with me was on Wednesday 7.10.09.

2. a US study found that exposure to nature helps people to value community and relationships more, and to be more generous [2]. I’m not surprised. It’s something I’ve intuitively felt for many years.

3. Professor Ada Yonath, an Israeli working at the Weizmann Institute of Science, was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She’s Israel’s ninth Nobel Laureate [3] – which given Israel’s population and economic and military situation, is a remarkable achievement.

4. darling Jarrah celebrated her sixth birthday with a cupcake party [4]. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.

5. GetUp! released its iCoal 2.0 advertisement [5]. Clean coal’s an oxymoron. It’s never going to happen. It’s an abomination that the coal industry will be compensated in the proposed emissions trading scheme.

6. the Australian Grand Prix Corporation announced a loss of A$40M for the 2009 F1 event [6]. Though the 2009 loss is miraculously the same as the 2008 loss, it’s an absolute waste of public money. It’d fund 400 $100,000 p.a. jobs, or 800 $50,000 p.a. jobs.

7. a comparison was published of the administration of Barack Obama, and that of Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing TV series [7]. Let Bartlet be Bartlet.

8. the invitations went out for Sweetheart Vivienne’s book launch [8]. Also the media interviews began. Her excitement and success are mine too. How very wonderful she is.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

farmdoc's blog post number 285

After Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities, today’s post is titled A Tale of Two Countries. First. the USA: the world’s biggest greenhouse gas producer, and a Kyoto protocol non-ratifier. But with a new President who, according to salon.com, understands the cause and gravity of global warming: ‘Fortunately, Obama clearly gets it. He devoted more of his inaugural address to clean energy and global warming than even the strongest advocate could have imagined…(and)…he has assembled a team with unmatched knowledge and commitment to solve the climate problem’. The USA also has Repower America, an organisation chaired by Al Gore, that aims for 100% clean electricity within ten years. Can America do it? Yes it can – if it really wants to. Now to Australia: the world’s biggest per capita greenhouse gas producer. Until early 2008 a Kyoto non-ratifier. With a Prime Minister who appears not to understand the gravity of global warming, who has not assembled a dream team, who has formulated a pathetically inadequate (5%) carbon reduction target, and who has no vision and no plan and so reportedly has squandered billions of dollars of solar infrastructure investment. Luckily the USA and Australia share the same planet. So I’m hoping upon hope President Obama and his people will pull the rest of the world up by its bootstraps. This is our last chance. It’s now or never.

farmdoc's blog post number 282

What have Napoleon, Michelangelo, Winston Churchill, the Everly bothers, Mark Twain, Rod Laver, Judy Garland, Leonardo da Vinci and Julia Roberts in common? Why they’re all left-handed, of course. Though only about 10% of the population is left-handed, left-handers, also known as molly-dookers and southpaws, are over-represented in just about every field of human excellence. If you’re a doubter, look at this list. Left-handers are right-brain dominant, which somehow this makes them excel, not just in physical activities but in artistic and intellectual ones too. An alternative, or maybe complementary, theory is that in a world where default scissors, chainsaws, guitars, cameras, can-openers etc etc are made for right-handers, lefties have to work harder to assert themselves. Who knows the real answer(s). Last week Barack Obama became President of the USA [POTUS]. The photo tells you his handedness. Fascinatingly, of the last 14 POTUSs, 50% have been either left-handed or ambidextrous, including five of the last seven (71%). Oh, yes, Senator McCain’s left-handed too. This American trend, however, isn’t replicated elsewhere – only two British post-war prime ministers were left-handed (Churchill and Callaghan), and no Canadian PM since at least 1980 has been. Australia? All I know is that John Howard bats left-handed at cricket. Finally I have a theory that lefties tend to use Apple computers. Anyone seen any figures on that one?

farmdoc's blog post number 276

At 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday 20 January 2009 in Washington DC, which is 3:30 a.m. this morning Mole Creek time, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the USA. I’ve mentioned him in three previous Farmdoc’s Blog posts. Whilst today’s post must be about him, I don’t want it to be deep and meaningful, for two reasons: first, because today countless words will be written about him by countless other people most of whom will be more qualified than I to do so. And second because he bears what I reckon is the massive weight of unrealistic expectations, and far be it from me to add to that weight. So here’s some music: To start, the Yes We Can song. Simply inspirational, but is it a knockoff of Bob the Builder’s song? Next, based on the Book of Ecclesiastes, Turn Turn Turn, written by my hero Pete Seeger. Talking of Pete, at the pre-inauguration concert, at the Lincoln Memorial, he sang Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land. And president-elect Obama sang right along. Nice one, Pete. Finally, Mr Obama's journey from Philadephia to Washington for his inauguration sworn on Abraham Lincoln’s bible, retraced Lincoln’s train journey to his own inauguration 149 years ago. One wit called Obama’s train the Abe Train. I wish President Obama success. As every decent person must.

farmdoc's blog post number 251

In Sweetheart Vivienne’s RMIT Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing course, one of the study subjects is Myths and Symbols. Previously I’ve thought it a strange topic for a writing subject. But then I changed my mind – because symbols are extremely powerful. Take Barack Obama. Recently I’ve been thinking about how the world’s currently in such a mess. Or at least a bigger mess than usual. Whatever usual is. And how the people of the US, and maybe the planet at large, are looking to him to lead them out of this mess. So what does he need to do first? I’m no expert, but I reckon he needs to be presidential. That is, statesmanlike. He needs to do it quickly. And the quickest way to do it is with symbols. Evidently he’s already thought of this, because on 20 January he’ll swear his oath of office on Abraham Lincoln’s bible; and he’s promised that the entire Whitehouse fleet will be plug-in hybrids. Excellent symbols, in my view. However Prime Minister Rudd’s initial symbols – ratifying Kyoto, the Stolen Generations apology, the Australia 2020 Summit – have been followed by, well, not much. I expect more from President Obama. Much more. A recent photograph shows his muscular physique. I’m glad his shoulders are broad because, symbolically, the future of our planet rests upon them.