Global warming ad

A chaser style ad done by our british bretheren. Queenslanders will appreciate this one given one third of the state is flooded. They will definitely have to change their image : no longer perfect weather!!

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Digital Nativity Story

Happy Christmas everyone!
Looks like it will be nice and sunny in Melbourne for Christmas.


THE DIGITAL STORY OF THE NATIVITY
Uploaded by ExcentricPT. - Click for more funny videos.

Online Shopping

I've been a bit peeved lately by the endless comments about online shopping and how the retail industry is suffering. It seems the Australian population has learnt a little about the GFC and decided to keep their discretionary spending under a little control.(I'm not a big fan of the growth mantra)
I have been buying Christmas presents online for several years now. This is due to having family in 3 countries and being too miserly to pay excess Australia Post fees. Book Depository has been a great find with low prices as well as free delivery. I have used this site to obtain books for the kid's VCE studies as well as general presents etc. (Most of my books however come from the library and I am lucky to be able to buy some of these for the library collection)
However, this year past, I have for the first time bought a couple of more expensive digital items online and at some discount compared to the physical shops nearby. I have used the nearby shops to physically handle the items before doing a search on best prices. A bit like using Choice Shopper or my Union Shopper facility which on occasions I have also used. I normally choose an Australian online website and get an Australian warranty and return address. The service has been good, the couriers dispatched quickly and the item received in full without problems.
I think many of the Aussie stores have been far too slow to develop good online web presences. For example, I tried to get a particular book recently. It was published in Australia and not available in Book Depository or several other OS bookstores. But getting it from an Australian online store to my relative overseas was impossible. I can do this easily at Book Depository so why can't I do that with the online Aussie Bookstores??? (PS try Booko.com.au - great site)
So I hope the Government enquiry keeps some of the current rules and gives the retailers a boot up the proverbial for not getting the possibilites of Internet and eBusiness. However, online book buying shows the stupidity of the current book publishing rules, even if the authors and publishing industry here are sticking their heads in the sand. Customers like myself are voting with their wallets. I'd spend it here in Australia if I could get a similar price & service.

More on Jeremy Grantham

While we are discussing Jeremy Grantham its also worth noting his prediction on the Australian Housing market
"Housing market a 'time bomb', says investment legend"
""The price of housing typically trades about 3.5 times of family income and in bubble it goes to 6 or . . . 7.5 (times).

"Australia is having one now. You are at near 7.5 times family income . . . which suggests you are twice the size that you should be."

So I wonder when the bubble is going to burst! That's the hard part to predict. Then we may find we have got the Governments we deserve!

Climate Change and Investors

My eldest introduced me to Jeremy Grantham's Quarterly Letters recently. Jeremy Grantham is a fund manager and  noted investor, particularly interested in predicting bubbles. He is known for an investment philosophy of "reversion to the mean" - ie all investments eventually adjust to long term mean values - leading to bubbles and busts. His Quarterly Letters (QL) hold numerous humorous and serious observations on current goings on in America and range over topics as wide as "Everything you need to know about Global Warming in 5 minutes" (QL July 2010) to Aging Populations, Pensions and Health Costs to  "Night of the Living Fed: something unbelievably terrifying" (Oct 2010).
The Global Warming Topic reads like a primer for those who know little and understand less. It should be basic reading for every Australian politician!
I liked the comment " The biggest cost of all from Global Warming is likely to be the accumulated loss of biodiversity. This features nowhere in economic cost-benefit analysis, because its hard to put a price on that which is priceless".
The recent Cancun climate talks (29 N0v - 10 dec) however, is trying to do this. By establishing a green fund and paying 3rd world nations to keep their rainforests, instead of burning them for palm oil plantations and beef raising, we are attempting to price that which is priceless and hopefully saving some biodiversity.
This fits in with James B Moody's prediction that adaptation to climate change and monitoring/measuring using ICT will be the next big investment boom - The Sixth wave.
Lets just hope its not quickly followed by the inevitable bust!

Reading Diary - Arsenic bugs, Food, Cities and Sixth Wave

As Christmas duties have suddenly reached their peak I have found my reading and other activities taking a back step. But the discovery of Arsenic life forms by NASA has reawakened the reading habit.
Recent titles & web info include:

• NASA announces Arsenic based bacterium (note to Tony: "Stop the arsenic bugs!")
• The coming famine : the global food crisis and what we can do to avoid it by Julian Cribb.(Interesting and informative)
• Lifeboat cities by Brendan Gleeson (didn't like this one)
• American Grist Website - Climate change info. (Don't try the article on Chesapeake Bay chicken factories!)
• New Inventors James H Moody "The sixth wave" - intro interesting, so need to read more!
• "Love and the Platypus" by Nicholas Drayson for my book club!

So that's more than enough to keep me busy for quite a while, especially since its started raining yet again!

Electricity prices, solar power and cost benefits

A couple of articles have recently caught my eye. The weekend Financial Review article "Will the lights really go out?" by Angela Macdonald-Smith (Nov 27-28) argues that there is only a short window of time before the lack of investment in power generation has unfortunate effects - blackouts! "With or without a carbon price the bills are heading skywards". As someone who can't stand the heat, I've invested both in air conditioning and solar power so my electricity bills will probably increase. But if the lights go out (blackout) then so will my rooftop electricity generation capacity.
I'm one of the "lucky ones who have solar panels on their roofs" according to Macdonald-Smith a "technology that costs 10 times as much as other emission reduction initiatives!"
The recent review by Andrew Macintosh  on the Federal Governments Solar PV Rebate Program also questioned its cost effectiveness. It was interesting to read that "during the mid-2000s, BP Solar produced around 35 to 42 MW of PV cells and 8 to 12 MW of PV modules at a plant in Sydney. The cells were manufactured from imported wafers and most (roughly 80 per cent) were exported. Similarly, around 50 per cent of BP Solar’s modules were exported. In March 2009, BP Solar closed its Australian operations." Since all the wafers were imported it means the much vaunted target of manufacturing in Australia is a bit of a smokescreen.
The report concludes "The program was a major driver of a more than six-fold increase in PV generation
capacity and output in the 2000s" and "it is reasonable to assume that the PVRP-SHCP (solar scheme names) had some impact on community attitudes". It also concludes the rebate prior to the Rudd government created "uncertainty and lack of investment". Whilst the blow-out in costs under Rudd showed the program flaws.
Given that solar PV is costly it will be interesting to see if  major PV production increases by China plus further research will drive prices down enough to make PV affordable and cost effective without public subsidies. Then we can revisit the cost effectiveness debate.

Pike River Mine Disaster

I know many Australians have links to New Zealand and the outpouring of sympathy for the tragic loss of 29 miners in the Pike River Coal Mine shows this. I too have family roots coming from that area of New Zealand and loved the wild and rugged country when I visited.
So here is a poem being posted in memory of the miners and their families. My condolences to their families and all involved.

"The church bells rang 29 times so we knew it was final and the end of the line. Now 29 miners are at heavens gate with coal silt dirty faces 
asking is it 2 late? When god replies with half a grin, " no my children come on in". They place their mining lights gently on heavens floor when 
...god said "job well done" leave your boots at the door.

RIP!

Real Estate Game: CrackShackOrMansion.com

Real Estate Game: CrackShackOrMansion.com

Try this game - see if you can guess whether these prime pieces of real estate in Vancouver, Canada are sold as "Mansions" or are "Crack shacks". I;m sure you get the idea. A recent study by Demographia charts the rise of Housing unaffordability throughout the world. Vancouver comes in first place, closely followed by Sydney, with Melbourne coming 7th. - eg Table ES-3 Severely Unaffordable Housing Markets, Ranked by Severity of Housing Unaffordability.

Now aren't we lucky!!

New Toy & Recycling the Old

As a Librarian I feel I need to keep up to date with some of modern technology. So this year  I have updated a number of  objects. I'm now the proud user of an Android based Smartphone and am having fun learning how to use it.
My old mobile phone will get passed down to another member of the family, so it won't need recycling as yet. The "old" Motorola is >4 years old now - a whole generation of phones has been and gone while I've had it. But the dilemma of discontinuing a perfectly good piece of technology for something new has always been a problem with me.
"Waste not, want not" was my Grandma's watchword. My mother lives without mobile phone or computer. But as I am exposed to the effects of the digital age, I feel I have to keep up with the new. Each time I've thrown out an old piece of technology, I look for some recycling service.
At least now there is a Mobile Phone recycling box in all the libraries I work in. And occasionally, someone actually deposits an old phone there. I hope the materials do get reused as the amount of eWaste is now enormous.
I have had at least 4 computers at home since starting to use them more than 20 years ago. Each time I've managed to hold onto the old technology for a bit longer than I would have at work, by adding extra RAM and other devices. My current PC is 5 years old - it has taken me that long to fill it up with 5 years of Digital Photos, applications and games from the kids. The last time I bought a new PC, I couldn't find anyone close by willing to take the old one. So I dismembered the CPU and put it out in the hard rubbish, where even the scavengers thought it too old to take. I gave the old bits leftover (RAM, CD, PI cards) to a young teen just starting to experiment with computers. He now has his bedroom filled with my stuff as well as ebay second hand stuff. Good luck to him and I hope he passes his stuff to someone else again!

My Spring Carnival

My Spring Carnival this year is rather tame. One member of the family has been studying for exams the last 5 years each Melbourne Cup weekend, so they are focused inwards. The "other half" runs his own business and never takes the Monday off. Quite often I have been working the weekend before Melbourne Cup. So yesterday, I watched the rain fall from the "comfort" of a busy library. Wiping rain soaked book covers and laughing at people huddling drenched outside the doors when we closed.

Our rain gauge at home has now measured more than 65mm from Friday night - Sunday morning. A decent soaking - so much so that I wondered whether we would have some minor flooding. However, the agee pipes have done their job well.
I was on holiday in outback NSW recently. While visiting the Menindee Lakes I met several hardy souls camping beside the lakes. As one does in the outback, we stopped to have a word or two. The Murray Darling Basin plan had just been released and people were concerned and outraged. With the Lakes full many expressed total disbelief in any "Climate Change" theory. And the recent rains here in Melbourne will just accentuate this view.

But time will tell. After all one year of weather, does not climate make. Whether or not the scientists are right, moving towards a low carbon economy will have great benefits.

But not for everyone. Some will lose livelihoods and more. It happened when my parents moved from their small town to a small city whilst seeking a better life.

Monday Night TV

Last night's TV was a wonderful mix of programming on ABC 2. Four Corners "The Deal" was a fascinating (though not too in-depth) look at those long days after the election when the Independents decided who to back to make a government.. The telling comment by Rob Oakeshott is " Look I think both where our guts have been the last few days is the right call for the nation in the full knowledge that it's a blister on both our arses."
Damned no matter which side they chose.


Paul Barry's Media Watch expose on the Woman's Day article followed this as hilarious, light relief, though the subject is really very serious. Anyone with half a brain these days can mock up photos and report on things which haven't happened. Does anyone out there actually believe these magazine articles?


Of course the night was not complete without QandA with a great panel of "Dangerous Thinkers". Describing these people as Dangerous Thinkers is somewhat over the top, but that seems to be what we all want these days. Tariq Ali, Geoffrey Robertson and the feisty, worst Mum in America- Leonore Skenazy were great TV.


However, I then just had to catch some swimming action in Delhi, which featured fish-netting the floating thingy's from the pool before Australian won the Relay Gold. Go Aussies Go!

Grand Final Day @ the Library

Last Saturday I enjoyed a quiet day working at my library. It was quite unusual to have time to shelve books, complete online ordering and rip through the outstanding Inter-Library Loan work. The other staff were quietly shelf-reading, returning collections and doing other necessary work. The customers were quiet with only an occasional remark on  the progress of the AFL Grand Final. When I got home there was a short period of rowdiness (from my menfolk!) before all hell broke out following the last minute goal resulting in a drawn game.

Of course it was the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who jinxed the game. Not only is she presiding over a hung parliament but she also expressly mentioned a drawn game earlier in the day.

So this Saturday am I looking forward to another quiet day at the library? Yes, I am working, but at a different place. The Grand Final Replay will be shown on the large screen TV set hanging from the ceiling. Something placed only in the last couple of years. Now our customers can stand/sit in the library and follow the game (quietly or not so quietly in some cases) and the staff can "enjoy" this as well. This library is buzzing on a Saturday. Queues are long, borrowing is brisk and tidying-up several times a day in the children's section a necessity as books get left lying around.

This library is not going to disappear in the next few years as RFID, eBooks and downloadable information make further inroads to traditional library services. This library serves as a community hub, a place of lively discussion and use by adults, teens, elderlies and children.

May it remain this vibrant. I for one will need the work for a fair few years yet!!

Hanrahan - "We'll all be rooned"

J O'Brien's Poem - Hanrahan - see more information on the poet at Australian Dictionary of Biography

Shaky Times

I have been rather busy these last few weeks - planning holidays, working followed by more work and occasionally getting out into the garden to try and bring order into post winter chaos.
The extra wet spring has been welcomed though now both my lawn and garden are totally saturated and the water tanks completely overflowing through most of the last few months. We have the main set of tanks hooked up to one toilet but were unable to do more owing to house slab constraints.
The Christchurch earthquake caused a bit of a stir with the geologist in the family bringing out his "Geology of NZ" book given to him by a great aunty. There is a great website visualisation of the quake and >700  aftershocks suffered by the people of Canterbury since the quake - check it out at http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/.
I've been in NZ when a 5.5 quake hit and it was quite an experience. Trying to put your clothes on while the earth shakes is difficult (the quake hit at night like this recent one) and scary. Christchurch residents described the sound as like a train going through their living room.
Like other quakes and extreme rain events in New Zealand questions will be asked regarding building standards and development of unsuitable land. Some of the worst hit housing was on estuarine silt land which liquefied once all shook up.
But the earthquake is probably the only >7 Richter scale earthquake not to result in loss of life, which is an enormous achievement. New Zealanders can be proud of their building standards as well as their quick response to the crisis. If the same quake hit here in Melbourne, more than 4 million people would be homeless and I would suspect a very large death toll. Newcastle, NSW, is a warning that the earth does sometimes throw up the odd quake.

SBS Insight: Climate Skeptics Program

It was good to see Insight last night on SBS. Stephen Schneider faced a vocal group of climate change skeptics and discussed with them the reasons for the scientific evidence for global warming. Much of the debate exposed a number of issues including the small scientific knowledge of much of the audience.
An example of this included the pH scale and acidification of seawater with dissolved CO2. Wikipedia has a couple of fine entries on these topics - and I quote: 
"Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by their uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.^[1] Between 1751 and 1994 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.179 to 8.104, a change of −0.075 on the logarithmic pH scale which corresponds to an increase of 18.9% in H+ (acid) concentration.^[2][3] By the first decade of the 21st century however, the net change in ocean pH levels relative pre-industrial level was about -0.11, representing an increase of some 30% in "acidity" (ion concentration) in the world's oceans."
My geologist son then whipped out his calculator ( far more complex than the basic ones I used at school) and proceeded to verify this figure using the appropriate logarithmic calculation, and came to a very similar conclusion using the numbers on the show.
A general lack of scientific knowledge in the community is understandable.  Having 2 practicing scientists at home now makes me very wary of how my discussions are framed. I know (even with my own science degree) how much I've forgotten over the years and how much more experimentation and evidence has been gathered. Hence the need to get good and detailed evidence when framing these debates, not belief.
Watch the program at : http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/index/id/302#watchonline

Green Voters & Chaser Boys

So the Chasers are parodying the Green Voters tonight in "Yes we Canberra". From the promo I heard, the targets are inner-city, non-business running, non-farming background, drugged hippies looking to score girls or other things.
Like all parodies there are elements of the truth here. Comments I have heard from my friends include the concerns echoed by Mad Hatter Katter regarding regional issues. Several friends come from farming backgrounds but are living and working in the city as they did not want to continue life on the land. I come from a family where coal mining was a major occupation in the "home country". Members of the family have moved on since then and now enjoy a whole range of jobs. Life moves on and so do opinions! Greenies have some points of view worth listening too also!
So lets enjoy the parody of the Chaser Boys, pick-up on the issues and try to strive for some sensible policies. Vote 1 for the Chaser Boys holding a mike under the nose of a cow! And lets see whether the independents can show some greatness of spirit and get the country running again.

PS: How about both Julia & Tony for PM. Malcolm & Penny, Costello & Swan. Just like a marriage made in Heaven!

Election Hangover!

And I thought today it would be over. The Election I mean. After all the weeks of campaigning and hot air, I was hoping for some result that would mean the best "person/party" would win. But now we have what threatens to be a hung parliament with a few independents being able to wield enormous power over the rest of the population.
It was so interesting to see how different each state was in terms of the way the people voted. Australia really is made up of differing countries inside the one island.
The high informal vote just added to the surreality of it all. Perhaps Latham & "Yes we canberra" picked up on the feelings of many. Art informing life informing art!
Obviously, the major parties will have to have a long hard look at themselves and see what went wrong.
The issues are complex, there isn't one simple solution, and we all think differently about the proposed solutions- that seems to be the message the public is saying. But I found the campaign profoundly negative.
While working at the library, my number one query was "where's the closest polling booth?"
At least they got an answer.

Green Action Stories

Are You In? from Environment Victoria on Vimeo.

Deakin Lectures and Future of Libraries: Good to watch & listen to

My "Reading Diary"
RN Book Show on the"Future of Libraries"
Good show to listen to.
Deakin Lectures 2010 available for downloading from the Wheelers Centre.
Try this one
"Prosperity without growth" By Tim Jackson

No Junk Mail!

For many years I have had a "No Advertising Material" sign on my letter box. However, large amounts of glossy material has made its way into said box over the last few weeks. So I have added yet another sign - a very large, white-n- black "No Junk Mail". This has stopped the catalogues and other advertising material until..................
The Federal Election was called!!!
So now I am back to receiving so called election material. The letterbox is filling with "Meet my Federal (and State) member", electoral role info addressed to the "Voter" and other stuff.
The radio is filled with comments by Julia, Tony & Bob, plus comments on the comments from endless political commentators.

But its winter and cold enough for me to enjoy some of the speeches and promises. I have been around long enough to know that interest rates are controlled by the Reserve Bank, not Tony. I have met and worked with enough migrants to know Migration is a thorny issue and won't be solved in a day, in spite of Julia's speech mentioning Timor. The migrants, whether boat people or not, are people who deserve to be treated humanely but numbers must be controlled in some way.

Could someone please promise, and more importantly deliver, on pricing carbon in a climate change policy, good transport infrastructure and lower house prices.
Please, Please, Please!!!

Time of Use Electricity Tariff

The autumn-early winter electricity bill arrived recently. This one had an extra $109 for a "service truck" visit in June. On querying this item, it was as I suspected, a cost for the service visit when the meter changed over in January. It has taken 6 months for the distribution company to bill the retail company.
While talking to the helpful operator I queried the low solar buyback tariff and got switched to their solar division.
To my surprise, I found that there may be a way to receive Victoria's higher 60c buyback rate for my generated electricity as well as keeping the peak/off-peak rates. This is now called the Time-of-use tariff and the rates compare well with my current tariff.
So now I will try and navigate the maze of forms and possibly appeal processes to see if we can action this. It seems this change has occurred recently following confusion between distribution companies, smart-metering roll-out and possibly other factors.
So although my bill is less than at a similar time last year, showing the effect of the solar generation, the buyback increase will also affect the overall costing.
Anyone who lives in their own home, has a reasonable north-facing roof and a couple of thousand dollars spare would be well advised to go solar. The economics, with the current REC's system and increasing competition in the industry, is obvious.
So if you still have the $1800 bonus the government have given us, why not invest in your own solar generation system?

How does my garden grow?

July is one of the coldest months in Melbourne. The mid-winter solstice has passed and now we can see the result. On one of the few sunny days this July my solar electricity system generated 3KwH. This is better than I expected, but then again most of June and now July consisted of grey overcast days with negligible generation.
My son came out of hiding in his room yesterday to dig over part of the vegie garden. It has been overtaken by weeds growing as a result of a poor choice of mulch. Consequently the bok choi, cauliflower, coriander, lettuces etc have suffered. Never mind -the rest will do the garden good.
The Lime, Lemon and Lemonade trees have been fruitful. Even though the trees are small, the citrus is very welcome at this time of year for hot lemon green tea and other sweeter delights. The Tangelo is absolutely laden as per usual, but the fruit is still quite tart and full of seeds. I normally leave the fruit on the tree until Aug-Sep and use them for juice.
My Camellia's are still blooming beautifully as well as a couple of azaleas. And the jonquils provide another spot of cover. All this to help lighten the mood in a grey, cold and now windy winter. The Magnolia buds are starting to bloom and there are still a couple of roses blooming.
Now is the time to prune them and watch the new growth begin again.
Thus the circle of life continues.

NZ Book Council video

Surgical strike in progress!

Wow - fast moves on the part of Julia Gillard. In an hour or so we will know if she will be the first woman Prime Minister in Australia. Peter Costello, eat your heart out!
But, if she has the numbers, will she get the voters? Its one thing to win an election and be made PM, its another to (possibly) oust the tottering PM with surgical precision and then win the hearts and votes of the people. Something the factions may not know too much about!
Abbott is probably laughing all the way to the Advertising Bureau.
Too bad about World Cup Soccer!

The Deepwater Oil Spill

I came across this NT times Graphic on the Oil Spill in the Louisiana Gulf recently. So far BP and associated entities have been unable to completely seal off the spill resulting in enormous damage both to the environment, livelihood as well as BP's reputation and share price.
A number of news reports and blogs talking of less than best practice in the well engineering & implementation as well as the inability of the company to fix the leak has lead to the grilling of BP's Chief Executive Tony Hayward being grilled by the US Congressional enquiry yesterday. According to the Australian ABC report "Mr Hayward has been accused of evading questions and ducking responsibility for what has become America's worst environmental disaster."
Yesterday we hear Mr Hayward has been moved aside and will no longer manage the oil spill. Private industry can move swiftly when it wants and needs to lift its public image.
Accountability of large corporations has always been problematic in our current democracy. With their large power base, earnings and multinational base, evading social responsibility has been the norm and our laws are made to allow the transfer of these too hard problems onto governments.
Thus the public again pick up the costs - monetary, environmental, social problems.
We will see if President Obama has the ability to call BP to account. It will also be interesting to see if the "no drill" rhetoric lasts much beyond the immediacy of the spill.
But when will the oil stop leaking???

My Electricity Bill Arrived

A brown recycled paper envelope appeared in the mail last week. Yes the long awaited Electricity Bill arrived. Yeah!! The first bill since the installation of the Feed-In Meter for my Solar Panels. On opening the bill a number of questions were immediately answered.
1. Was the Bill accurate?  - Yes it seemed to be as we had taken various readings throughout the months - amount of electricity generated, used from the grid and exported to the grid.
2. Did we retain our Peak/Off-Peak Tariff? Yes indeed we did - with a charge of 26.381 c/ KwH Peak, and 9.818 c/KwH for Off-Peak.
3. Did we get the 0.66cents Feed-In Tariff promised by our suppler. No!! This created some consternation which was satisfied by reading the fine print on our suppliers web page. It seems that the 66 cents Feed-In Tariff  needed to be gained by signing a contract which, on reading, indicated we would lose our Peak/Off-Peak rates. As we had asked to keep these we don't get the 66 cents rate. The billed Feed-in rate is 23.5 c/KwH instead.
4. How does this affect the yearly electricity costs?? Out comes our Excel sheet and using the figures from 2009 winter usage and the meter readings for Jan - Mar 2010, we are ahead by almost $100 by keeping the off-peak.
5. Can we negotiate having the best of both worlds? 66c and Peak/Off-Peak. I will try, but am not sure the supplier will come to the party. I'll keep you posted on that.

So more calculations will come to develop an accurate cost & usage picture for the year.

GFC Mark 2 effects

Last year I completed a survey on the effect of the GFC on myself and my family. At that time there had been little immediate effect. I was still working, my partner's business still operated and the rest of the family and friends seemed also relatively unaffected.
Lately, however, this is starting to change. While I am still employed and the partner still successfully running his business, others in the wider group are starting to suffer. Several workmates are now the sole providers of their households, with retrenchment of partners occurring suddenly.
Members of the wider family unit in England are also suffering from businesses going under and job loss. The imminent belt tightening in the English public sector will also have a flow on effect on companies who have used Government contracts to buffer the GFC effects up until now.
Closer to home, the more highly leveraged friends and family are feeling the pinch with several forced house sales occurring as banks call in out-of-control loans. Many of these are mature aged people who have lived well under the growth as usual scenario. It will be sobering to see how they cope with reduced circumstances particularly as Melbourne's housing bubble shows no sign of bursting.
However, I have also been amazed at how long our society continues to dance with debt. When will we have to pay these billions back and to whom? I run my household with a surplus, sometimes very small, sometimes a little larger.
Seeing the debt burden shift from private companies to the government means that we all will be paying for the profligacy of the few.

eBook Readers

I just received my Choice Computer magazine in the mail today so immediately opened it to page 16 for the eBook Reader test titled "Virtual Bookshelves". The article tested 6 eBook readers from Eco Reader, BeBook Mini, Sony Reader to Amazon Kindle. While I found the Computer Choice article informative it was lacking some in-depth discussion on Digital Rights Management issues as well as the likelihood of Australian content appearing in ePUB (or other) formats.

Unfortunately, only a mention was made of the Apple iPad as it has not been released as yet in Australia. 28th May is the release date according to this Computerworld article

I have heard rumours that the new Apple iBookstore app will be selling books at an inflated price in comparison to the US store. Certainly the local pricing of the device itself is higher than the direct international price conversion so it will be interesting to see how fast the device will sell-out and how many new Australian books it will have available.

Choice mentioned "its a good idea to get some hands-on time with each model on your wish list so you can get a feel for it ". It would be nice to see whether this can happen - for example who sells Kindle readers here in Melbourne?? Let me know please!

But I am looking forward to seeing my readers start to purchase these devices. With WiFi connectivity I'm sure I will be asked to assist in setting up the device to use with the Library WiFi service and then asked to show users how to download the iBooks. So thanks Choice for an informative beginners article!!

BP Litigation and Gulf Oil Spill

A few months ago I watched an interesting documentary on the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound,  Alaska. The documentary exposed the tactics used by Exxon to reduce the damages inflicted by the American Court system, down to what was a ridiculously low level considering the damages inflicted to the livelihoods of the people.
It also showed the environmental effects of the oil still lingering 25 years after the spill.
Now with the current disaster afflicting BP and the Louisiana coast, it will be salutary if similar issues arise. This linked article argues that with 200,000 litres of oil a day spilling from the well head, this current spill may be larger than the Exxon spill. I hope not after watching the 3 month delay is capping the recent West Australian spill.
Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico is a less pristine, more populated and probably economically more important to the US and other countries than Prince William Sound. So for their sakes I hope the clean up and capturing oil technology is not only better, more efficiently employed and the toxic effects less long-lived in a tropical system.
Lets also hope BP (Beyond Petroleum) is a better corporate citizen than Exxon. I doubt it, as the legal system goes into full swing once the spill is under control, though there are suggestions the legal system may up the damages amounts
A Youtube Video show some of what has been happening in Alaska

ETS and Government Backdown

So is anyone out there in Australia surprised by the Federal Government backdown on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)?? After sending it to the Senate and having the Liberal Opposition Party Leadership revolt on the issue, it was obvious that nothing would happen. I'm not surprised, only sorry that nothing is going to happen on the issue of climate change at a country level. Looks like the State Governments and private initiatives are all that can be counted on. I wonder what effect this will have on fledgling solar, wind, biomass and geothermal power industries - not good I would imagine.
Having experienced several increases in costs of household electricity and water over the last few years, I am skeptical that not having an ETS will save me any money.

Having just read Clive Hamilton's book "Requiem for a species" I am inclined to agree with him that the population will find this issue too hard to deal with. His website says "It is a book about the frailties of the human species: our strange obsessions, our hubris, and our penchant for avoiding the facts. t is the story of a battle within us between the forces that should have caused us to protect the earth, like our capacity to reason and our connection to nature, and our greed, materialism and alienation from nature, which, in the end, have won out."
Greed and alienation from nature are things I also have observed, as well as the rise of the consumer society. After all my household now has 3 laptops, 1 desktop computer and I have discarded several older ones over the last 15 years. And the teenagers hardly ever visit the real wilderness of nature.
Lets hope the debate doesn't go away in light of further European economic problems. Perhaps a carbon tax will be simpler to implement as mentioned in the link to the ACF.  I'm sure we'll find out at the end of the year in the coming election.

Electricity Bill & Rebate

This month has been a good one financially. Not only have tax refunds come from the ATO (without the delay forecast by our tax agent) but also the rebate from the Federal Government from the Solar Homes and Communities Plan.
The only thing that hasn't come is my electricity bill, though the direct debits are occurring monthly. So I called my Electricity Provider and they have promised to send the bill within 10 days. It also looks like the Off-Peak Tariff is not happening - though without the bill I can't be sure.
Complicating the bill is the change is electricity costs in January which will make the bill a computational nightmare. Thanks goodness I have a computer and mathematically inclined offspring.
Today is a lovely fine autumn day so we are still generating 4KwH on these days.
Yesterday was an entirely different story with < 1 KwH only generated. However the water tanks are full, the garden growing as is the weedy lawn and the birds drinking the nectar from the flowering camellia's.

Peak and Off-peak -will this tariff remain under smart meters?

When getting the new electricity meter installed we encountered the peak/off-peak tariff issue. We were asked by our electricity retailer, who promotes solar systems, to get a time switch installed so we could keep the off peak electrical boost to our solar hot water. This tended to suggest the peak/off-peak tariff is intact.
The installers of the PV system didn't know and veered off the issue when I talked to them. But this was before a large number of installs and changeovers to smart meters had begun. so I hope they might be more familiar with the issue now. The electricity company representative seemed to be the most knowledgeable and helpful over the issue, particularly in getting the smart meter installed after "discovering" the off-peak issue.
The Department of Primary Industries Smart Meters & My Electricity bill information indicates that some off-peak tariffs will remain  until time of use rates become available "Once time-of-use rates become available, all energy used in off-peak times can be charged at off-peak rates. Currently, only specific appliances can benefit from off-peak rates."  Hopefully Solar Hot Water is a specific appliance or my other half is going to lose his temper (again!).
BUT time will tell and it will be very interesting getting the first bill, for a number of reasons!
One of my colleagues received her bill recently and has generated $100 excess over the electricity used. She has a 1.5 KWh system with a smaller household (and possibly much greener) so we will be comparing notes over billing and performance.

Earth Hour 2010 This Saturday 8.30pm : Renewable Energy News

Earth Hour 2010 This Saturday 8.30pm : Renewable Energy News

Remember to join the fun and sit in the dark playing cards, or something interesting!

Solar Power and Solar Hot Water

Since getting my 1KWh Solar PV system installed late last year I have been watching how well it performs. We have reasonably ideal conditions for the system. North - NNW facing roof, high enough pitch to match the latitude and a light colour, thus hopefully providing cooler conditions on the very hot days.
So far the system has averaged 5KWh per day until very recently.
Lately the generation has started to fall off somewhat. On good days we were getting over 6KWh/day whereas now its struggling to reach the 4.5-5 area. As the equinox has just past and the hot weather is still continuing, conditions which reduce the solar gain, so we will have to see how the system goes in the later part of the year, when the spring equinox arrives in September.
It has also been quite cloudy so on these days we struggle to reach 2-3 KWh.

I am still awaiting my federal government rebate and also still awaiting my electricity bill. So far we seem to have put a reasonable amount of electricity back into the grid, enough to halve the electricity bill. But having a very warm summer also has meant more than usual use of air conditioning (easy since we didn't have it last  year!) so at least some of the watts and $$ generated have been used to keep us cool.
I am hoping my new meter is also set up to keep the off-peak tariff that we used to have before the installation of the solar power. Time will tell as to how efficient my electricity provider is in the billing side, and whether I can  figure the bill out!

CO2 Video

I came across some interesting climate science information recently:
Why CO2 levels lagged temperature rise in previous warming cycles
Why Deniers attack Climate Science & Scientists
And lastly a CO2 Youtube video.

Keeping Rudd warm

The Insulation debate continues with the heat being turned on the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. It will be interesting to see if he is forced to reveal correspondence with Peter Garrett re tightening the home insulation rebate rules. This is where the true issue of the debate is. Not that there are shonky dealers but how well the process was handled through the government system of minsters, parliamentary secretaries and officers. Other links to the story include Insulation inquiry: more alarming stories emerge by Sabra Lane.
By now it should be apparent that the Opposition is out for blood. Whether they get it remains to be seen.
Other Climate change news includes reporting of the speech by Economic department deputy director  Xie Zenhua - Climate Change is a fact. While China may blame the west (quite rightly) for man-made climate change it only has itself to blame for its environment degredation and handling of energy policies.
And finally the IPCC will have its independent review, not of the science, but of its procedures. At least the review means there is a process in place to check for apparent biases or suppositions unsupported by facts. Unlike the Climate Change deniers who exercise very little control, no humility and actively misrepresent or cherry-pick the facts.

Hailstorm hits Melbourne

A tropical storm hit Melbourne yesterday. It caused chaos in a wide band through the Melbourne CBD and suburbs. We weren't in its path but nearby suburbs reported heavy damage after golf ball sized hail and lashing rain hit cars, windows and flooded streets. Enjoy!

More insulation debate information

A couple more media articles have emerged discussing the insulation debate/rebate/debacle rationally and with some statistical precision. Though difficult to be exact about the numbers these 2 articles make interesting reading.
First look at:

Did the insulation program actually reduce fire risk? by Possum Comitatus , Pollytics blog on Crikey.com on Feb 24. Complete with figures and reasoned arguments.

Secondly look at :

Insulation fire risk was worse before rebate by John Watson in "The Age" today, 4 March.

I agree with his comments - "If the program has proved anything, it is that Australia abounds with shonky businesses, ''she'll be right'' tradesmen, hypocritical politicians who habitually sacrifice workplace safety on the altar of business-friendly policy, and careless, pack-hunting journalists. That, I'm afraid, is not much of a revelation at all"

I hope soon to hear of successful prosecutions of shonky insulation dealers. However, the sensationalist reporting of these issues by many in the media are of just as much concern. Who can govern well with such insidious attacks and misrepresentations? And what are most people exposed to - reasoned arguments or hysterical mis-representation??

Another take on the insulation debacle

After watching the savaging of Peter Garrett over the home insulation program I was pleased to see Kevin Rudd taking responsibility for part of the problem. We all knew the program had been rushed ahead with several other stimulus packages to cope with the GFC.
I was starting to get confused with all the attacks into thinking the points made by Garrett in his defense were perhaps overstated. However, in todays Financial Review (AFR- page 3) paper I have found a well reasoned article "Insulation fears: more hype than actual fires" by Geoff Winestock which has restored (somewhat) my faith in the ability of media to actually discuss facts rather than emotional hysteria as well as restored some trust in the Minister.

I would be the first to admit that if I had lost a son in an industrial accident, I would be extremely emotional, even hysterical.

However, the AFR article points out "based on data from fire brigades for NSW, Queensland, South Australia and metropolitan Melbourne...has found there were 115 house fires in 2009 attributed to faulty insulation. ...It was only slightly higher than the 75 house fires caused by faulty insulation in 2007... In the meantime about 1.15 million houses have been fitted with insulation, ..compared with an average of about 60,000 installations in 2007" So in terms of fires per installation the risk has fallen dramatically.

It would be extremely interesting to see if the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) or some other proper statistical agency, can confirm these numbers as it does back up Peter Garrett's claim to have introduced training and standards into the industry.
The Financial Review had a number of excellent articles - on page 30 "Flawed model, muddled message" by John Breusch on the problems with selling the Emissions Trading Scheme, and page 21 "Safe as houses" by Andrew Cornell which details why I would not be able to keep up with the housing market on a librarians salary!

So thanks AFR for an informative lunchtime read.

Climate science - vicious attacks and deniers

 I have just finished reading an interesting article by Clive Hamilton on "Bullying , lies and the rise of right wing climate denial" I find it quite interesting when journalists start writing a series of moderately in depth stories such as this. I too have noticed a considerable increase in the stridency and aggressiveness of tactics from climate change deniers. Having attended lectures with David Karoly and other climate change activists I'm not surprised they are receiving vicious emails etc. I too feel that the debate has degenerated into attacking the person and climate change scientists are also able on this regard. However, so far as I have heard, their attacks have been in the nature of semi-humourous pokes at the deniers and often include rebuttal to the science of the anti-climate change deniers.
I will be reading Clive Hamilton's next piece on who is behind the attacks with interest. As a librarian I know that even public places such as library computers are monitored by a variety of mechanisms. So although these vicious, swearing and orchestrated attacks will be difficult to trace, I hope the culprits are caught and prosecuted. Such type of debate is not needed in our society.
Overwhelming internet facilities with avalanches of attacks is not new in Cyberspace as Google recently found out in China. Even innocuous sites such as libraries can succumb to such disgusting tactics. 
I wonder whether politicians will have to develop stronger measures to fight mass email and other lobbying tactics (vicious or not) to find the true feelings and values of a population.

Solar Power and Rebate

Currently I'm awaiting my rebate from the Federal Government under the Solar Homes and Community Plan. While waiting I thought I would check the stats on how many Solar Power systems have been installed. The Dec 2009 stats show some 67,472 sites installed with a total of 78,961,534 Grid connected Watts and 4937279 SAPS Watts (off grid systems). Of interest is the number of sites per state. You can find this information and download the Excel sheets at http://www.environment.gov.au/sustainability/renewable/pv/history.html

 

From another chart you can see the effect the Solar Homes and Communities rebate has had - a hockey stick of explosive growth. It will be interesting to see the effect now that the Governments REC's scheme is well on the way but anecdotally, my Solar Installer say they are still extremely busy.

So I have great sympathy with Peter Garrett and the Insulation Rebate debate, particularly the problem exposed in the installation of Metal Foil, with subsequent deaths of contractors and hazards to home owners of incorrectly installed insulation. The overwhelming fault is with the dodgy, inexperienced installers but I think Minister Garrett did need to act faster to remove the Foil Insulation from being covered by the rebate.

My home was insulated from construction, but there were problems even then. The builders chose to use Fibre Fill instead of the specified Batts and the downlights were not kept separate from the fill, leading to a number of problems. This has now been sorted with products covering the downlights, reflecting the heat back into the house and separating the loose insulation from the hot lights. 

Of course all this happened in the days before rebates and so far no-one has been killed (in  my house at least). But who is responsible?? - the home owner, dodgy contractors, safety inspectors or Ministers making regulations and administering schemes?? 

At least Peter Garrett has his heart in the right place unlike the get rich quick, rip-u off merchants who always jump onto these bandwagons. So fair go - give the Minister a swipe but prosecute the installers!

(BTW:  As I own most of Midnight Oils albums you can see where my bias lies!)

Black Saturday - one year on

Last Sunday was the 1 year anniversary of the devastating bushfires in Victoria. Several memorial services were held and televised along with a number of documentaries (Inside the Firestorm on ABC TV) detailing the timeline of the events occurring that day. I found the ABC documentary compulsive viewing and was interested to note my recollection of events was not the same as the detailed timeline provided.
The major difference was the time I remember hearing that Marysville and Kinglake had been destroyed. I remembered driving down the Eastlink Freeway at 5pm that day listening to very bad news about the fires and subsequently driving through the bush burnt by fire in the previous week . Afterwards we watched the unfolding news events on TV and were aghast at the devastation.The next day I took several photos of the fiery sunset engendered by the smoke generated. And I thought we knew about Marysville and Kinglake destruction earlier than what was mentioned in the documentary. Just shows how malleable memory is.

It is with great relief that we can see the reconstruction of the towns is now starting.  It has taken much longer than anyone would have thought and there is still an enormous amount of work to do. Reconstructing peoples lives and futures will take a lot longer. The stories of courage and resilience are very inspiring.
This week, 1 year after the fires, we are looking forward to storms and rain. The Bureau of Meteorology yesterday warned of flash flooding in Melbourne which happened while the power authorities are dealing with outages in the northern suburbs after Wednesday's storm. Such a city of extremes.

As Dorothea McKellar (1904) so eloquently declaimed: 

"I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, 

Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror- the wide brown land for me!"

Apple iPad- Yes please

Expect The Apple iPad In Australia Mid-Year

While I have managed to look the other way while young friends show off their Apple iPhones, this iPad gadget is going to be much harder to resist. E-Book readers seem to be the coming thing this year, and I have already had a request at the library for such a device. Apple seem to have a gift for elegant design and convergence so the device seems to be what is wanted by the public who will read, show photos to their friends, wifi to the internet and see videos.

But how much will it cost and will the iBookstore have our Australian authors! Lets wait and see. Remember Choice gave a shonky award to Apple one year. Lets hope the iPad lives up to its promise.

(But I still want one!)

Credit Card Fraud & Passwords

Credit and EFTPOS card fraud featured on tonights TV news. After using the Internet and Credit Cards safely for many years I was struck with fraudulent use on the credit card I use for internet and overseas purchases. The card is not linked to any of my accounts so it was easy to cancel and have a new one reissued. Luckily for me my bank quickly picked up the unusual transactions and stopped the card; unluckily just as I was purchasing books in England for the OS relations!
A letter  from my bank (Which Bank?? Yes that one!) has relieved me of another purchase that slipped through the initial fraud scan, so all is well. Thanks go to the bank staff for quickly picking up the transactions.
The news tonight indicated that EFTPOS machines are being stolen, rigged to save customer data which is then used to make false EFTPOS cards. This is a much more serious threat as potentially thousands of dollars can be quickly removed as most cards have daily limits up to $1000.
Today Tonight Reporters suggested changing passwords and PIN numbers monthly! Most people I meet in the library cannot remember more than a couple of passwords and PIN numbers so how will they manage to change their numbers regularly?
Perhaps the digital revolution and creative criminality means we will have to go back to carrying cash! On travelling to Europe a few years ago this certainly seemed to be the custom.
Another solution must be developed soon - its sooooo convenient to access the "hole in the wall"! Perhaps the Random password generating dongle attached to key rings that is used with a business account!  I want my money kept in my account!!

Belated Happy New Year

After what seems like an eternity I am back from holiday and starting to get used to the new year. I had a holiday this year before and during Christmas and set myself a goal to leave the computer behind and concentrate on relaxing and letting the festive season wash past without stress.
2010 will be  quite a year for me on many different fronts - work, family and hopefully personally. My perennial NewYear resolution - to lose weight and exercise more is looking promising, so long as the weather stays reasonably mild.
I have now gone back to work, pool and exercise bike. But still the christmas cake effect lingers around the waist and hips.
I have instituted family meetings to try and bring some sort of order into the doings of the family. All these targets and requests will need some work to succeed but perhaps the idea of setting goals may create a sense of getting things done and family spirit. Thats the idea anyway.
My garden produced a ton of beans over the Christmas period. They are now finished but soon we will be inundated with zucchinis and cucumbers.(so long as they survive the hot weather). And as the rain fell in large amounts up til the end of December our water tanks are again full and being used instead of Melbourne's precious water supply. The kids wondered how I could eat beans directly from the garden - nice sweet, crunchy beans - can't beat them!
My Solar Panels are installed and working well. We are surprised at how much power is generated on cooler, lightly cloudy days. However, to be truly effective we would need double the generating capacity - something that is not likely to happen again soon.