WA drought 'could be worst for 750 years'

CHALPAT SONTI

February 8, 2010 - 10:35AM

Scientists have made a surprising link between climate patterns in Australia and Antarctica.

 

Since the 1970s, there has been a decline of up to 20 per cent in winter rainfall in the South-West and, though the cause of the drought remains unclear, others have pointed to land-use changes, ocean temperatures, air circulation changes and natural variability.

But its severity has been hard to calculate, with weather records going back only about 100 years, and the oldest tree-ring record, 350 years, from a site that has not been affected by the drought.

Yes, lets not get too overly dramatic Chalpat! 750 years huh? Nice way to sensationalise a story!

Will those people that advocate for climate change politics please stick to facts? They expect everyone else too!

Sylvestor

ROSSLYN BEEBY

February 5, 2010

The global carbon market has been crippled by a cyberscam allowing fraudsters to steal and sell more than 250,000 carbon permits valued at about $5 million.

The cyber-criminals launched a ''phishing attack'', sending thousands of emails to companies around the world including Australia and New Zealand involved in the European Union's carbon trading network.

The emails claimed online security needed to be upgraded urgently.

They asked companies to re-register their trading details with the German Emissions Trading Authority, which records all carbon credits and transactions for the EU market.

Those who fell for the ploy were directed to a fake emissions registry website with the authority's logo. The scam allowed the cyber-criminals to capture security codes and passwords needed to gain access to company accounts, enabling them to steal carbon permits and resell them through trading accounts registered in Denmark and Britain.

See, nothing good comes from Carbon trading!

When online criminal groups begin targeting a web service, then you know for sure its about money. This just goes to show once again that money is the root of the 'so-called-solution'.

Sylvestor

Greens propose interim carbon tax
 - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

By Alexandra Kirk for AM

Posted Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:03am AEDT
Updated Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:17am AEDT

Interim scheme: The Greens want carbon to be priced at $20 a tonne for two years (freefoto.uk)

• Audio: Greens push interim carbon scheme to break ETS deadlock (AM)

The Greens are attempting to break the political deadlock over emissions trading by suggesting an interim two-year scheme with a fixed price on carbon.

Greens Senator Christine Milne is writing to the Government and the Opposition proposing a carbon price of $20 a tonne.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott will soon unveil his plan to cut greenhouse gases without a trading scheme or carbon tax and there is little, if any, prospect of the Government getting its legislation through the Senate.

Senator Milne says a temporary scheme would cut emissions by about 2 per cent and give political parties time to negotiate long-term targets.

"The Greens are proposing as an interim, two-year measure, starting in July this year, that we introduce a $20 carbon price. Now that is what Professor Garnaut argued when he released his report, saying that you could do this for an interim period.

"It would give us the breathing space to be able to negotiate a rigorous target, to negotiate some of the aspects of the emissions trading scheme that we don't agree with the Government on."

There is no global climate deal and the Federal Government's legislation appears doomed. Just before it is put to the Senate again, Mr Abbott will reveal how he would cut emissions without putting a price on carbon.

That would set the election battleground, but that is about all.

Senator Milne says someone has to get things moving.

"We are living currently in a political environment where nothing is happening in Australia in terms of a carbon price and our domestic emissions are rising," she said.

"Based on the modelling done to date, the Greens believe that [the carbon price] would halt the growth in emissions, turn it around and reduce emissions by a small amount, probably in the vicinity of 2 per cent."

The Greens say their plan would generate $5 billion to compensate households, with the same amount for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Unlike Kevin Rudd's scheme, it would be in surplus from the start and there would be no compensation for the coal and electricity sectors and less assistance for high-emitting industries.

Senator Milne says she hopes Ross Garnaut, who was the Government's key climate change advisor, will endorse the strategy.

The Australian Government will not back-away from the fiasco that is 'climate-change'. Certainly it won't happen in the near future. So why, in the last ten years, has this topic become the issue of contention for ours and many other first-world-nations political agendas? Its all about money of course, it always is!

Whether or not you believe in said 'climate change', the whole shamozzle of the last three years, which has seen a laughable amount of money, tax-payer and not, a massive hypocrisy established (yes, fly 114 Aussies to Copenhagen for a farcical get-together), and the threat of world destruction unless we pay more money...umm..that one still stumps me!

Its business folks. Politics, business and money. Its always about politics, business and money. Wong may have the best interests of the climate and the planet in mind, but she doesn't have mine. Milne and Brown may feel that, as a 'Green' political party they must be seen to do something - and as the governing party wants taxation, of course they will follow suit - least path of resistance.

Well I resist.

Pricing carbon, even for the big-polluters, or taxing industry, simply shifts money around the economy. I end up paying more so that they can happily burn more Coal. And I promise you this, if you are like me...in a relationship, no children, relatively good income, no state-level financial support; you and I will be hit hard. We already are. Middle Australia will pay, and pay through the nose.

If our Government truly wanted to make a difference to GLOBAL warming - then why is our country embracing the multi-tens-of-billions of dollars in new contracts to supply the rest of the world with Coal and Natural Gas? Milne is disappointed, so where is your legislation to block this behaviour? Yep, you wouldn't dare!

Environmentally-friendly-politicians? I wouldn't want you to be my friend!

Don't accept responsibility unless you are responsible when next you offer your opinion on this whole farce. I am going out now to plant a few more trees...when did you last plant a tree Wong? Milne? Brown? Rudd? Abbott? Turnbull? Yeh right, give me a break!

Sylvestor

January 29th, 2010

BEFORE AND AFTER: Google planned to use the Aboriginal flag as part of a redesigned logo (left) to mark Australia Day but the finished article (right) bore no flag

THE Territory man who designed the Aboriginal flag says he stopped online behemoth Google from using it because they were "disrespectful" in the way they approached him.

Google planned to use a drawing of the flag as part of its redesigned logo to mark Australia Day.

The design, depicting the letters of Google as Australian animals against a night sky with the Aboriginal flag forming one O, was created by 11-year-old Jessie Du from NSW, who won a competition to feature on the search engine's homepage.

But Google caused an online furore when it posted the design - without the Aboriginal flag.

This week Harold Thomas, who lives in Darwin's rural area, said negotiations "just broke down" over his copyright to the flag.

"I'd be tickled pink to have Google use my design on their logo," he said.

"It's customary for anybody using it in a commercial situation to (pay) a fee component.

"It's not about what I wanted. It's about the process.

"The prizes had been issued before I'd been contacted - that put me on the back foot, in a defensive manner.

"They were just niggling and did not want to respect me as an artist.

"They didn't make me an appropriate offer."

He said he was later offered "a pittance" but would not say how much.

Google public relations manager Annie Baxter said the company refuted Mr Thomas's claims.

"Knowing that the flag was copyright, it was imperative to us that we had the copyright holder's permission before displaying it on the homepage," she said.

"While we were hopeful that we would be able to show Jessie's beautiful image in its original form, unfortunately we weren't able to reach an agreement with the copyright holder, despite definite efforts to do so."

She would not say how much Google offered Mr Thomas.

Like me, wouldn't you just love to know how much Google offered Harold Thomas for use of the flag image in the doodle? I still find it quite amazing that for the purposes of displaying a child's artwork - and to celebrate our National Day - the 'edits' were simply the result of a 'money deal gone wrong'.

At least that's how I see it! Shame really, since now its just about getting some media attention. Outback, Australian artist versus the monolithic multi-national organisation. Sad really.

I wonder if News Limited has paid Mr Thomas a fee for displaying the flag image in their news stories? I guess that's different...isn't it? ;)

Sylvestor

An art enthusiast accidentally ripped a Picasso masterpiece valued at $130 million (£80 million) during a class at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

The woman made a 6in (15cm) tear in the lower right-hand corner of Picasso’s The Actor, an unusually large 6ft (1.8m) x 4ft canvas of an acrobat striking a pose. “A visitor attending a class lost her balance,” the museum said in a terse statement.

The Actor, painted in the winter of 1904-05, marks Picasso’s shift from his Blue Period, of images of tattered beggars and blind musicians, to his Rose Period of paintings of costumed acrobats. The painting was donated to the museum in 1952 by the car company heiress Thelma Chrysler Foy and has been prominently displayed ever since.

Immediately after the accident on Friday, the painting was taken to the Metropolitan’s conservation studio for repair. “Fortunately, the damage did not occur in a focal point of the composition, and the curatorial and conservation staffs fully expect that the repair, which will take place in the coming weeks, will be unobtrusive,” the museum said.

FAILURES in basic airport security checks for domestic flights mean it may be only a matter of time before Australia suffers its first terrorist attack on an aircraft, an aviation expert has warned.

''Unfortunately, security at many airports is a facade, and simple steps to ensure passenger safety are not being carried out,'' he told theHerald.

These concerns are shared by the Australian and International Pilots Association. Its president, Barry Jackson, said: ''Without September 11 we would still be doing things the old way as it takes something like that for people to assess what's going on. Let's hope it doesn't come to that here, but until something happens there seems to be no imperative for change.''

At present there is no legal requirement for passengers to produce photo identification, meaning airlines can never be sure who is on their planes, and there are no restrictions on taking liquids on to aircraft.

Experts also say the domestic network is undermined by the absence of security at many regional airports. The guidelines require that only passengers boarding jet aircraft go through screening measures such as metal detectors or having their bags scanned for weapons. This means many turbo-propeller planes - such as the Bombardier Q400, which can carry 80 people and is an integral part of the Qantas fleet - regularly fly to major cities without passengers having been security checked.

''If we had a turbo-prop run into Sydney's Centrepoint Tower, I dare say we'd have screening at every regional airport tomorrow,'' Captain Jackson said.

Mr Carmody, a former army officer who now runs a security consultancy, believes such commuter flights would be an attractive target for terrorists.

''Unfortunately, the Government, airports and airlines seem either naive or nonchalant in appreciating the threat against them. In the hands of a terrorist a plane, even a smaller regional one, becomes a bomb that can be used against targets on the ground.'' Last month a white paper called for the introduction of security checks on propeller aircraft but these measures would not be brought in for most domestic aircraft until 2014.

Among the measures Mr Carmody wants introduced are cross-referencing of all passengers' identities to their checked luggage and names on tickets, and the introduction of security screening at regional airports.

''Combining this profiling with a system where passengers interact with staff trained to spot suspicious behaviour at an airport counter would provide the best level of security and could be supported with improved technology.''

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government did not return the Herald's calls.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

via watoday.com.au

Australian Aboriginal Flag

Australian Aboriginal Flag

The Australian Aboriginal Flag was first raised on 12 July 1971 at Victoria Square in Adelaide. It was also used at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972.

The top half of the flag is black to symbolise Indigenous people. The red in the lower half stands for the earth and the colour of ochre, which has ceremonial significance. The circle of yellow in the centre of the flag represents the sun.

The Australian Aboriginal Flag is displayed at Aboriginal centres and is well recognised as the flag of Aboriginal peoples of Australia. It is flown during NAIDOC Week to celebrate and promote greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and culture and during National Reconciliation Week in recognition of 27 May as the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum which removed from the Constitution clauses that discriminated against indigenous Australians and 3 June as the anniversary of the High Court decision in the Eddie Mabo land rights case of 1992.

Colour references for the Australian Aboriginal Flag are:

• Red PANTONE® 179
• Yellow PANTONE® 123

Mr Harold Thomas from Northern Australia designed the flag.

The Australian Aboriginal Flag was proclaimed on 14 July 1995.

Permission is not required to fly the Australian Aboriginal Flag.

The Australian Aboriginal Flag is protected by copyright and may only be reproduced in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 or with the permission of Mr Harold Thomas. Contact details are:

Mr Harold Thomas
PO Box 41807
CASUARINA NT 0810

Personally, I would have thought, the representation of the flag on Google's - Doodle-4-Google, Australia Day doodle (again, well done Jessica! - see previous post!) would be considered 'fair dealing' under the Australian Copyright Act. Surely! The intention is that of a positive and favourable representation and, IMHO, does not promote a commercial or profiteering outcome!

I guess it just demonstrates to us, in Oz, the fear of the litigious nature of the US....too scared to do it! That's not very Australian. Celebrate Australia on Australia day! And if Mr Harold Thomas says NO then he is not being very Aussie, IMHO!

This year's winner is Jessie Du from New South Wales, congratulations Jessie!

Let's continue to see Jessica's original drawing...Onya Jessica!

Sylvestor

Doodle 4 Google - My wish for Australia

At Google, we like to reflect the ever-changing world of our users through the logo designs on our homepage. These ‘doodles’ celebrate different people, events or special dates and are designed by our original Doodler, 30-year-old Dennis Hwang.

For the second time, we asked young people from across Australia to design their own doodle. This year’s theme was ‘My wish for Australia’. We were curious to learn how young people want the future of Australia to look like.

The best doodles were voted on by the public, and the overall winner will be shown on the Google Australia homepage on Australia Day in 2010, to be viewed by millions of people.

This year's winner is Jessie Du from New South Wales, congratulations Jessie!

The image used by GoogleAU is an edited version of Jessica's original drawing. This is the real image. You will notice the dfference pretty quickly. If not, visit www.google.com.au on January 26 and you will see.

I have noticed a few conversations on the net criticising Jessica's doodle. Most of these comments ask why there is no indigenous Australian references. Well, as you can clearly see, there was. But as this has been edited by Google, claiming it infringes copyright, the doodle loses a great deal of intention. Its a flag - does Google edit our imagery of all flags? No. So Why?

Information on the change is located at: http://google-au.blogspot.com/2010/01/happy-australia-day.html - but I did notice that the image shown on this blog is still the edited version.

*You may have noticed that the Google Doodle on the homepage today is slightly different to Jessie's original entry, because that one contained copyright imagery that we weren't able to publish on the homepage today. However, I think you'll agree it's still absolutely beautiful, and inspires lots of wonderful ideas about the Australia of our future.

Anyway, beyond all that, well done Jessica, YOUR doodle looks great!

Sylvestor