After the first victory by the computer, that was the reaction as AlphaGo defeated grandmaster Lee Sedol for the second time. Continue reading Saturday salon 12/3
The release of the national accounts the other day provided unexpected good news. GDP was barrelling along at a healthy rate of a 3 per cent increase per annum. Paul Syvret took a look behind the headline figures and discovered the ugly truth. We are in an income recession. Continue reading Living in an income recession
There’s been a story around that February was the hottest single month ever, and I think the ABC segment quoting Professor David Karoly may have added to the confusion. They spoke of:
Continue reading February 2016 the hottest (satellite) month
As we head towards an election Huffington Post reports that the Minor Party Alliance convened by “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery formulated a plan on the weekend to mount an assault in the lower house on marginal Coalition and Green seats.
Druery said it was a series of skirmishes rather than war, as they lack the resources for a full-scale assault. Continue reading Minor Parties declare war series of skirmishes
Cyclone Winston, which hit Fiji with winds of almost 300 kph, was the second strongest to make landfall, the strongest being Taiphoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013.
Jeff Masters lists the 13 strongest cyclones by windspeed to make landfall using 1-minute averaging: Continue reading Climate clippings 165
Everyone seems to have an opinion about Cardinal Pell’s evidence in Rome to the child sexual abuse royal commission. Most opinions are damning in various ways. I’d recommend ABC RN’s report on their PM program for a detached report, which is not unfairly selective in the pieces it quotes.
Radio National also covered the victims before and after they met with Pell.
Some of them, including David Ridsdale, were positive about the meeting, and Pell agreed to help them further their case for changes in the Catholic Church. Continue reading Saturday salon 5/3
In this post I’d like to identify a few technologies that are under development which go beyond the standard wind and solar. However, first I’ll link to a Climate Institute report prepared around the time of the Paris climate talks last year, which showed that in 2013 for the first time more new energy capacity was created in the form of renewables, rather than coal, gas, oil or nuclear. Back in 2001 renewables only accounted for 19% of new capacity. Now the proportion has reached 58% and is climbing steeply: Continue reading Clean power for the future
Last week Newspoll with a 50-50 two party preferred vote looked like an outlier. This week it has been joined by the Essential Report.
The Essential Report averages the past two weeks for its new result each week. Last week it had the LNP ahead 52-48, which indicates a strong underlying shift may be at play. Continue reading Poll stuff: is the worm turning?
At the Paris climate conference a surprise result was for the world to aim to hold “the increase in … temperature to well below 2°C … and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C”.
Fred Pearce in the New Scientist now takes a look at what some are saying needs to be done. Continue reading Saving the planet
Trump looks unstoppable. In South Carolina he scored 32.5% to Rubio’s 22.5 and Cruz’s 22.3. The rest were in single figures and Jeb Busch dropped out. Never has anyone spent so much to achieve so little in preselection politics as Jeb did.
In Nevada Trump aced them with 45.9% ahead of Rubio with 23.9 and Cruz with 21.4.
It looks as though the Republicans are going to serve up the dipstick outsider for the election. Continue reading Saturday salon 27/2
The Brisbane company Tritium manufactures a range of products including the award-winning Veefil electric vehicle fast charger right here in Brisbane. Tripling production in a new facility it exports Veefil to the world including Europe and America. Continue reading Climate clippings 164
This time last year Cyclone Marcia destroyed 350 homes in Central Queensland (pictures here). This year Cyclone Winston, said to be the strongest ever in the Southern Hemisphere, ripped through Fiji. I think no-one is claiming these cyclones were caused by climate change, although their intensity could be linked.
In January, however, there was a huge blizzard that dumped record amounts of snow on the east coast of North America. Blizzard Jonas, said to be the fourth largest in history, is being linked to climate change in ways that are quite specific. Continue reading Slowing Gulf Stream brings blizzard(s): extreme weather and climate change
