Disqus - Latest Comments for ecoeng

Re: Finding the CB3 Receptor Could be THE Medical Breakthrough of Human History

Steve Short — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 00:33:51 -0000

Only one such reference dated 1999 alas.

Re: Mixing Cannabis and Tobacco Could Hurt Heart Health, Improve Memory

Steve Short — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 19:45:06 -0000

A very outdated view. There are also only a bit over 200 coffee shops in Amsterdam. Things were changing radically in respect of the nasty tobacco and cannabis habit back in 91 - 93 when I was first frequently visited Amsterdam. There is a tobacco smoking ban in place which means that you can only smoke cannabis with tobacco if the coffee shop has a special smoking room where no staff are allowed (most do have such a room). If they don't, or it is against the views of the owner (also commonplace ) you can only smoke pure cannabis in a vaporizer or bong inside. Most coffee shops now also sell pre-rolled joints with herbs of choice instead of tobacco. There is only a small minority of coffee shops (and bars) that still ignore the tobacco smoking ban.

Re: Mixing Cannabis and Tobacco Could Hurt Heart Health, Improve Memory

Steve Short — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 00:24:34 -0000

I don't believe this comment by SinCityMama is accurate and is an observational misunderstanding (by a habitual tobacco smoker). In my experience (in the 70s) that so-called 'black raw tobacco' referred-to was invariably kief (kif) i.e. a form of loose drug quality (female plant) material made by fine screening of the dry (and sometimes frozen) bud. Being loose, kief (noting its a brown colour very much like tobacco) is needed in joints to ensure they burn smoothly from one end to another as the hash is just too hard. Tobacco is NOT customarily smoked by nationalities/communities who consume hashish, kief or even liquids such as the various equivalents of the Indian 'Bhang'. IMHO mixing kief/bud and tobacco in joints is now exceedingly rare except in the UK, Australia and NZ. It's way out of date even in Amsterdam. It's not even customary in the tobacco-growing areas of the US. Native North and Central American communities who were/are very familiar with tobacco and the ritual smoking of it had/have no social rituals that require admixture of cannabis and tobacco.

Re: Mixing Cannabis and Tobacco Could Hurt Heart Health, Improve Memory

Steve Short — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 23:04:41 -0000

I don't agree with the conclusions of this study. I especially don't even agree that smoking cannabis with tobacco is the norm in many countries. I
worked in Switzerland and Germany for three years over 1991 - 1993 and have traveled around a fair bit during my 50-year working career and I didn't see that use of tobacco with cannabis was the norm (as the University College London paper claims) even in Holland. The UK seemed to be only the relatively common one (for mixing and hence smoking tobacco with cannabis). I have spent a lot of time in the US, Europe, the UK, Australia and NZ over that 50 year working career and smoking tobacco with Cannabis is definitely not the norm in any countries other the the UK, Australia and NZ. As a matter of fact it is pretty much frowned upon in most countries, even in the Middle East although many good people are respectful of your freedom and really don't say anything other than offer you an alternative, like specific herbs to add to your mix.

Re: Hazelwood’s closure calls for a rethink on Latrobe Valley solutions

Steve Short — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 16:04:37 -0000

I agree. This is academic broad brush waffling that achieves nothing. I am the inventor of the (patented) Latrobe Magnesium alkaline hydromet process to take fly ash from e.g. Hazelwood or indeed from many of the wet ash dams in the Valley and to process it into magnesium metal and high value fast set larnite cement (Australia is in a severe cement shortage). We already have the site and the buildings (Morwell) and are close to commencing construction of the 'proof-of-process' world-first 5000 tonne/annum Mg and 40,000 tonne per annum cement Plant. We have MOUs with big league companies in both Japan and German to use the process in those countries (noting Germany, Pol;and, Ukraine, Rumania etc., are major burners of thermal brown coal too). It is also noted that China produces around 89% of the world's magnesium and that magnesium is a high priority metal required to produce lightweight alloys for aviation and electrical vehicles. Specific, real world (!), significant employment-creating initiatives right across the board are what we need to see in the Valley and need to be talking and writing about! Turnbull's Innovation Nation remember????!

Re: Orlando killer violent, unstable: ex-wife

Steve Short — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 08:22:25 -0000

Hhhhmmm interesting to observe that The New Daily has just applied the same old, same old, boring tendency to irrational and arbitrary censorship of innocuous reader comment that e.g. New Matilda or The Conversation had (or have). So its into the Junk Mail folder for your rag too then.

Re: Orlando killer violent, unstable: ex-wife

Steve Short — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 08:13:01 -0000

It has emerged that his father, Seddique Mateen, has a television show
on a California-based channel that expresses anti-Pakistani government
views and sympathy for the Afghan Taliban.

Re: Study Says Global Warming Could Postpone Next Ice Age by 100,000 Years

Steve Short — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 04:24:44 -0000

Crap the Milankovitch Cycle is just too strong.

Re: Images of 'grieving' kangaroos misinterpreted - Australian Museum

Steve Short — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 23:41:21 -0000

Yeah and maybe he is just a regular, normal 'neck-roo-philiac' kind of guy...

Re: Images of 'grieving' kangaroos misinterpreted - Australian Museum

Steve Short — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 23:15:07 -0000

Me neither.

Re: Images of 'grieving' kangaroos misinterpreted - Australian Museum

Steve Short — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 23:08:28 -0000

So when did the female get to 'undead' herself? The person taking the photos clearly claimed to have subsequently verified she was indeed both dead and had no external signs of injury. If she was sexually fertile (dead or alive) where are the other males in the vicinity - none in any of the 5 photos? The male doesn't look any more aroused to me than most Eastern Grey males look normally. Why does the large male supposedly have such wet arms when they are all in the shade? In any case there are several other means whereby the forearms often become stained and I have a 50 acre property with plenty of these roos. All logical questions for.....?

Re: Sweden’s feminist foreign minister has dared to tell the truth about Saudi Arabia. What happens now concerns us all

Steve Short — Sat, 28 Mar 2015 21:54:25 -0000

Exports of arms to Saudi Arabia from Sweden total $1.8 billion? Julian Assange must cursing the day he didn't become an arms salesman....

Re: Proof that the wind industry cannot be relied upon for our electricity

Steve Short — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 15:37:59 -0000

Alas not a note about the unexpectedly high failure rate on the giant roller bearings these wind turbines require. Because they are speeding up or slowing down and/or turning into the wind as it shifts a high proportion of their lifetime the bearings are undergoing massive frictional heating and torque rate changes (rather than running under a smooth constant load). Add to this that the massive bearings are often made in China as
they are cheapest from that source, and that the QC on the steel used is
sometimes inadequate, the large German and Danish wind power industries have found that replacement costs of the the bearings are a much higher cost penalty on wind power than was envisaged. This issue has received far too little publicity for (green) political reasons.

Re: Interview: Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey - Story - The Nation - TV Shows - 3 News

Steve Short — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:13:53 -0000

Lying
sod. Who would have guessed at the last election that Abbot, Hockey
etc., were really hiding a sleazy, lying crusade to roll back Australia
to a right wing state which would mimic all the very worst we can say
about the (historic and modern) United States of Amnesia. They will have
millions of us on food stamps scratching by in rundown caravan parks by
the time they get the bullet I fear. If you don't believe me just take
a drive around the US with your eyes open. I watched the Gore Vidal
documentary last night. Rivetting!!! Where is our very own Aussie Gore
Vidal when we really need one??????

Re: Letters: Fire untruths misleading

Steve Short — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 17:46:04 -0000

May I inject a note of actual reality? Maybe someone should tell all
those bum warming green bureaucrats in the Councils that it is not OK to
force residents in Level 3 bushfire zones to accept trees inside
recommended Asset Protection Zones in contravention of the
recommendations of the bush fire experts. This is just a laughable yet
commonplace contradiction!!! Why specify a cleared zone of a hectare or
so around a house for bushfire protection if then some officious green
twit working for Council can simply over rule it because a tree might
have a small hollow that allows a possum to nest? In my case; next a big
wind storm came along and one of those (33!) 'compulsorily preserved'
trees (only 18 m from the house) got blown over and smashed down onto
the house slab just before the builders were due to start. They freaked out,
I freaked out and of course I then had to pay a couple of grand yet again
for yet another type of consultant (an arborist) to 'recommend to
Council' the extra 7 trees close to the house site needed felling on the
grounds of safety (not to mention paying another guy on $70 an hour to
stand by to catch the falling critters). This sort of insane politically
correct BS is the real reason why we are losing ever more houses to
bush fires. Sure, it's global warming alright - but more precisely; it's
the global bum warming green nutters!

Re: Wikileaks 'under cyber attack'

Steve Short — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:11:40 -0000

Some 250,000 diplomatic cables involving the US and various other countries. Netanyahu saying he is not surprised many Arabic nation leaders would like to see Iran attacked (by the US and/or Israel) and Ahmadinejad deposed. Not a peep out of anyone about how Netanayahu is an ultra- right wing ghoul with no intention of conceding the Palestinians a grain of sand. No diplomat ever noting Israel have raised land stealing and dispossession of Palestinians to a fine art, or routinely used phosphorus in Gaza and millions of cluster bombs in Lebanon (not to mention conducting missile strikes on UN observer posts etc) and has never ever committed to honest negotiations or concessions. It doesn't matter if Ahmadinejad shags camels. It is the absence of statistically expected (?) comment which creates the real odour here.

Re: Swiftkey - 101 Best Android Apps

Steve Short — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:05:01 -0000

Highly impressed! An outstanding app which has enhanced my already excellent Android-based smartphone even more.

Re: New Miskolczi Manuscript

Steve Short — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:36:48 -0000

Essentially the same problem as the first time around this loop.

The implicit assumption, despite a few vague token nods in the general direction, that clouds don't exist.

Re: Demonisation of Science – A trend to be fought

Steve Short — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:38:24 -0000

Geoff

You have my complete sympathy and empathy.

IMHO is so much more than simple 'demonization' which is involved here.

In my view we need to face the plain fact, sometimes very, very painfully, that we humans have had a million or more years to evolve from being aggressive, opportunistic and tribal apes to being...........aggressive, opportunistic and tribal apes.

I once had a much loved, clever son and hard working aged 26 - both a fully qualified avionics engineer (Qantas trained) and commercial pilot. He was killed flying a plane which crashed due to negligent maintenance by his employer. The company - already on notice by CASA for slack practice in fact had not one attempt, but two to kill my son in the one week - failing on the 1st due to his own professionalism but succeeding on the 2nd (even more outrageous) 'attempt'.

Three horrible years in a Queensland coronial inquest taught me two things:

there is just no limit to the depths to which people will sink to hide their own negligence;

there is just no limit to the level of communal or 'consensual' dissembling in which people will indulge themselves - even judges, for the most trivial of 'social motives'; and

failures to bring these crass human tendencies to account and reveal the basic truth are more common than not and can be the bitterest pills, challenging us to the very limits of sanity.

I sincerely hope you and your wife can move on to a 'sunny place' where you both healthier and happier and of course much, much wiser.

Re: Sceptics Tour Update

Steve Short — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:39:26 -0000

David

I checked that link (which doesn't work for me) should be:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Perhaps this above won't translate either.

For Andrew's info the NSE is used very widely - the original paper (in hydrology) has one of the highest citation indices.

Re: Extinction artifact in coarse scales

Steve Short — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:50:03 -0000

Yes, indeed!

And oceanic cyanobacteria have no business transferring a small portion of their photosynthetic electrons to their external environment (while they are fixing 20 - 30% of the atmospheric CO2) - but we now know they do:

http://www.newswise.com/art...

That electron has to go somewhere and e.g. some of it goes into the aerobic reduction (!) of methylphosphonate to methane in phosphate-stressed surface waters.

www.biogeosciences.net/7/10...

The key point is that our detailed ecological knowledge of why certain adaptations are in place is still so very limited yet our hubris about our so-called 'understanding' of ecosystems, their subtleties, their refugia etc is so huge.

Re: CSIRO Affair?

Steve Short — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:29:57 -0000

Your comments are very pertinent Sherro.

It is not commonly known, and apparently not by the Cape Grim people that the observed concentrations of methane in seawater are typically equivalent to a relative air saturation (over and above the atmospheric partial pressure of methane) in the range 105 - 175% i.e. seawater always has an excess of dissolveded methane and hence is a source i.e. net flux to air. This had been known for a long time but was an unsolved mystery until 2 years ago.

This has now been found to be due to aerobic production of methane in as a by-product of methylphosphonate decomposition in phosphate-stressed waters.

Karl, D M, Beversdorf, L., Bjorkman, K M, Church, M J, Martinez, A., and DeLong, E F. (2008) Aerobic production of methane in the sea. Nature Geoscience Vol. 1. July 2008, 473 - 478

Re: Celestial Origins of Climate Oscillations

Steve Short — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:51:01 -0000

It is beyond me why we should regard this search for multiple harmonics as more plausible, or more useful, than Dr. Jeff Glassman's elegant piece of (solar) signal processing (which he knows a real lot about given his long background in microelectronic and telemetry):

http://www.rocketscientists...

We should bear in mind that we have considerable historical (e.g. Nile flows, RWP, MWP, LIA) and paleoclimatic proxy evidence of the amplified influence of TSI (or correlates thereof) on the terrestrial climate.

Please, Occam's Razor wherever possible.

Re: No Clue on Global Warming and El Nino

Steve Short — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:37:49 -0000

Zhang, L. Dawes, W.R. and Walker, G.R. (1999) Predicting the effect of Vegetation Changes on Catchment Average Water Balance. Technical Report No. 99/12, Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology.

Zhang, L. Dawes, W.R. and Walker, G.R. (2001) Response of mean annual evapotranspiration to vegetation changes at catchment scale. Water Resour. Res. 37, 701-708

Zhang, L. Hickel, K., Dawes, W.R., Chiew, F. , Western, A., (2004) A rational function approach for estimating mean annual evapotranspiration. Water Resour. Res. 40, W02502.

I have just now sent you the seminal 2001 (Water Resour. Res.) paper. I seem to have temporarily mislaid the 2004 paper. These papers are fairly easy to obtain though.

Re: No Clue on Global Warming and El Nino

Steve Short — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:10:36 -0000

Although a series of papers with the highest citation indices in catchment hydrology, outside of that field the papers by Zhang et al at CSIRO Land and Water Canberra have received little attention in climatology. This regrettable as the following will show.

Over a number of years Zhang et al showed very convincingly, by analysis of the hydrology of some 470 catchments worldwide, that there is an excellent correlation between annual precipitation (rainfall) and annual evapotranspiration (ET).

The mean absolute error between modelled and observed annual ET was only 54 mm (0.148 mm/day), and the model was able to explain 89% of the variance with a slope of 1.00 through the origin!

This indicated that the index of dryness is the most significant variable in determining mean annual evapotranspiration.

Forested catchments tend to show higher ET than grassed catchments and their dryness ratio (ET divided by precipitation) is most sensitive to changes in catchment characteristics for regions with an index of dryness around 1.0.

In other words, the Zhang et al studies show that the only other core 'fixed' parameters involved are (for any one year) the proportions of bare soil, grassland, heathland and forest (>70% canopy). As surface cover type moves upwards through that scale (for any reason, including rising atmospheric pCO2) ET rises.

For supra-annual timescales, the semi-empirical Zhang et al algorithm provides an ideal basis for relating mean annual water vapor flux from a catchment (or a region) i.e. ET to the annual precipitation flux.

In turn, annual ET (computed by that means) may related backwards to mean annual temperature, wind speed, surface humidity and so on.

Quad erat demonstrandum.