Japan's Foreign Minister makes an understatement about an overstatement on whaling

From an interview with The Australian and ABC on 11th December 2009:
"When I met with your Foreign Minister Mr. Smith, I said to him when I described the situation: 'For the Japanese, whaling is equivalent to the Australian beef". I may have overstated, maybe I shouldn't have said that."
Yeah, talking up whaling in that way is definitely an overstatement - whale meat is getting harder to sell to the general public in Japan and beef consumption is on the rise over there with imported beef dominating the market - and "I shouldn't have said that" gets my prize for understatement of the month.

Climate 1 Stop website should settle some of those arguments about climate change impacts

Climate 1 Stop is a new search tool which "provides a single location to access proven climate change tools, resources and information, with a primary focus on adaptation in developing countries.The Climate 1 Stop is a partnership of southern and northern organizations working at all levels, from grass roots to global.
We envision a just and equitable world, where learning and collaboration overcome climate change barriers to development. To that end, we seek to build climate resilience in all sectors. We are open to all and driven by user needs."

The Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology appears to be acting as webmaster and information co-ordinator for a diverse group of twenty partners which include the United Nations and NASA.

This site is still evolving and it would be nice to see it live up to claims that it is a one-stop shop for climate change information for those vulnerable nations and island groups in the developing world.

Just for the sheer joy of it. Pictures of Antarctica

Emperor Penguins from the UK Telegraph photo gallery:

Extreme diver Norbert Wu's journey into the Antarctic underworld

Coalition super-duper accountant's obsession with China

Nats senator and Coalition front bencher Barnaby Joyce has become a trifle obsessed with the ol' yellow peril it seems.
If you believe this former Queensland accountant from St. George we're all in danger of being seriously in hock to China, which is coincidentally one of our more significant export markets.
Small problem for Joyce though - China doesn't figure as anywhere near our biggest creditor because that honour is reserved for the UK and US.
Hong Kong (which is China's only representative on the creditor list) holds around 3% of Australia's total foreign debt, but Britain holds in the vicinity of 24% and America 22% of the $114 billion or so red ink still on the books racked up by federal or state governments, financial institutions and private companies.
Less than a quarter of Australia's foreign debt is contractually long term if this Australian Parliament Library 2009 research paper has a good handle on the subject.
Barnaby mentions China so often that it's almost a nervous stutter.
Here is an abbreviated list of his comments on China over the last three years from Hansard and the media:

This is money that people want back. Most of them are from overseas. How much more money do you want to owe to these people? The biggest one being the Communist People's Republic of China.
Under this massive new tax of the Australian Labor Party, they will be signing us up to an agreement as a result of which we will be borrowing money from China to pay the interest to China to send back to China to develop China.

The Labor Party cannot tell you exactly how this tax is going to do anything to the temperature of the globe by itself. They aspire to grab America and China.

We have this ridiculous proposition that if we pass this bill we are going to be borrowing money from China to send back to China to help develop China. We will be borrowing money from China and from Saudi Arabia to send to African despots.

We have no money. We are in debt up to our eyeballs. We will be borrowing money from countries such as China to send back to China to help China develop, when we thought they were already doing a pretty good job at it.

So we will be borrowing money from China to pay back to China to develop?

It has stacked us up with debt to the eyeballs so that we could go out on some spending spree and have the stimulus of the nation spread across the carpet on Christmas Day with 'made in China' written on the back.

I have clearly stated that I have no problems dealing with China—I have no problems with the trade to China. I have clearly stated that over and over again.

When this legislation came forward, there was only one other nation on earth that had legislation like this, and that was the communist People's Republic of China, which I thought was peculiar.

In fact, I stated that the stimulus would be spread across the carpet on Christmas Day with 'Made in China' written on the back of it and that it was a complete and utter waste of money. Time has proven us correct.

We will develop a plant in China. We will develop another plant in the United States. But we're not going over there, because those people are half crazy.

Do we implicitly, by association in legislation, say that ovaries are now commercial property disassociated from the person and as property can be extracted from prisoners in China or aborted foetuses in Australia?

The Australian Government would never be allowed to buy a mine in China. So why would we allow the Chinese Government to buy and control a strategic asset in our country? Stop the Rudd Government from selling Australia.

Animalia......(5)

A tail tale of Patsy and the tramp.......

The Daily Examiner, 9 December 2009

Click on image to enlarge

NASA maps global warming 1880 to 2008

NASA has mapped annual changes in global temperature over a 128 year span.
Dark blue indicates areas of greatest cooling and dark red indicates areas of greatest warming.

1881-1885

2003-2007

NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies animated mapping here and supporting data here.

A Christmas Plea: Have you seen our Sam?

Have you seen Sam?

OUR beagle 'Sam', pictured above, went missing just north of Coffs in the floods at the beginning of November.

He is a little timid, loves to play chasie, loves his food, loves to lie on your bed, loves cuddles and children.

He is tan and white and is five years old. He is microchipped.

He is very much loved and missed. He is our baby - we have no children.

I plead to anyone who has him to please contact us on: 6656 2833.

Thank you so much for your help, I desperately want my little Sam back.

Forever in your debt,

VIVIENNE TREACY-CHANDIER,

Emerald Beach

[Letter to the Editor and photo in The Daily Examiner 10 December 2009]

You know it's December 2009 when......

Clarence Valley thunderstorm on 8 December
from The Daily Examiner 10 December 2009

.......the days are getting too close to 40C for comfort, an acrid smell of bushfire is on the back of each wind, afternoons are regularly troubled by thunderstorms, you start the evening by kicking a large cane toad out of the cat's water bowl in the kitchen and follow that up at 2am in the morning by evicting its mate from the bedroom - then stumbling into the garden at 6am the next day to see how the vegies are surviving you find yourself doing a quick skip to avoid a young brown snake playing summer refugee in the backyard.

I'm almost looking forward to winter next year except heavy rains and flooding bring their own unique problems in the Northern Rivers.