Our Kev, yes the one that we elected to government in November 2007 has let the side down.
We all knew that dealing with Climate Change was going to be difficult and would require courage, intellect, balls and brains. Little did we know that Kev would be taking his cues from the business lobby and their spokespaper "The Australian".
Kev talks about *getting the balance right* and says that both the *far right* and the *far left* are unhappy with his targets. He says that this shows that he is in the middle and that he is walking the tightrope and has got the *balance right*.
He can say what he likes – my view is that this is bullshit.
He has been conned by the business lobby and their far right spokespeople who write emotional claptrap that can only ever get published in the Murdoch press. If he chooses to listen to them ahead of the environmental lobby then of course he will be swayed by their view – as he obviously has. This is John Howard in drag – what is it about the office of Prime Minister that causes normal, rational, logical, honest and smart people to head to the *dark side*?
It seems like our Kev has been conned by Chris Mitchell – because he wants to be liked.
Kev, we didn’t elect you to be liked by Murdoch and Mitchell – we elected you to do the right thing by Australians.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Penny's Carbon White Paper
Today our government released it’s *White Paper* on Climate Change and the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) - why?
Because the planet is warming and we need to deal with it – pronto.
I haven’t yet read it all – because they have released 32 files and nearly 8 Mb of verbose content but my preliminary view is that it is either a bureaucrats dream or nightmare – there is an enormous amount of stuff there that seems designed to *obfuscate*.
In severe contrast with the Garnaut report – this one is full of stuff that I already know – or can’t understand. Whoever wrote this is a deft hand at producing content that seems designed to confuse.
Much of what I have read today is just a regurgitation of the problem and the need to act decisively with some detail about what has already been done/agreed. The Executive Summary alone is 35 pages of verbosity. Where is the new stuff Penny?
My initial impression is that much of this is a *marketing exercise* - with two key objectives.
1. To get the "deniers, nay-sayers and The Australian" on-side – a puny reduction is what the vocal anti lobby have been on-about and this delivers for them. Chris Mitchell should have a glowing "Editorial" in The Australian tomorrow. His vocal supporters in the business lobby will be jumping for joy at the crappy little attempt at mitigation. They can keep on pumping out *greenhouse gases* to their hearts’ content. No cost – no penalty and no need for change - all that lobbying seems to have worked.
2. The verbosity is also designed to obfuscate with those folks who have an understanding of the real problem and who want to see some real action. These people know that we can’t delay because there is no *PlanetB*. But it won’t work with this group who are already feeling frustrated by the delays of the past decade.
It amazes me that the first group don’t *get* the urgency to act. They view climate change as yet another *thing* that needs to be negotiated in order to get a competitive advantage over others. They haven’t yet worked it all out.
And frankly, I am over the BS that is put about by these turkeys – if they aren’t smart enough to realize that we need to act now then that is their problem – I am building a personal *mitigation plan and process* - designed to help me and my immediate family and friends get through the effects of a *post 450 ppm* world.
When we get there and these turkeys realize that they are seriously exposed – then they can *sit and burn* for as long as they like – the rest of us will be elsewhere.
Because the planet is warming and we need to deal with it – pronto.
I haven’t yet read it all – because they have released 32 files and nearly 8 Mb of verbose content but my preliminary view is that it is either a bureaucrats dream or nightmare – there is an enormous amount of stuff there that seems designed to *obfuscate*.
In severe contrast with the Garnaut report – this one is full of stuff that I already know – or can’t understand. Whoever wrote this is a deft hand at producing content that seems designed to confuse.
Much of what I have read today is just a regurgitation of the problem and the need to act decisively with some detail about what has already been done/agreed. The Executive Summary alone is 35 pages of verbosity. Where is the new stuff Penny?
My initial impression is that much of this is a *marketing exercise* - with two key objectives.
1. To get the "deniers, nay-sayers and The Australian" on-side – a puny reduction is what the vocal anti lobby have been on-about and this delivers for them. Chris Mitchell should have a glowing "Editorial" in The Australian tomorrow. His vocal supporters in the business lobby will be jumping for joy at the crappy little attempt at mitigation. They can keep on pumping out *greenhouse gases* to their hearts’ content. No cost – no penalty and no need for change - all that lobbying seems to have worked.
2. The verbosity is also designed to obfuscate with those folks who have an understanding of the real problem and who want to see some real action. These people know that we can’t delay because there is no *PlanetB*. But it won’t work with this group who are already feeling frustrated by the delays of the past decade.
It amazes me that the first group don’t *get* the urgency to act. They view climate change as yet another *thing* that needs to be negotiated in order to get a competitive advantage over others. They haven’t yet worked it all out.
And frankly, I am over the BS that is put about by these turkeys – if they aren’t smart enough to realize that we need to act now then that is their problem – I am building a personal *mitigation plan and process* - designed to help me and my immediate family and friends get through the effects of a *post 450 ppm* world.
When we get there and these turkeys realize that they are seriously exposed – then they can *sit and burn* for as long as they like – the rest of us will be elsewhere.
Monday, December 8, 2008
OZ politicians - solving the crisis
Here is my take on some of the *contributing* factors around the current *crisis* and why it won’t be fixed anytime soon by our political class.
For over seventy years we as a nation have allowed our governments the freedom to attempt to *pick winners* at their sole discretion. Mediocre politicians have had a merry time with our money flashing it about to this or that cause – investing here or there – all in the hope that some of it will stick and that it will result in a sustainable and viable *industry* - creating that holy grail – "employment".
These same politicians would then go to confession and say "there – we did our bit for the nation" - in the hope that it would result in a gong or sinecure of some sort.
Seventy years ago they tried it with the car industry, then the aircraft industry, the defence industry, the oil and gas industry, the steel makers, the aluminium producers, the energy companies, the telco industry, the banking industry, the retailers, the wine industry, the mining industry, the fishing industry, don’t forget the farmers and the services industry. Have I missed anyone?
We have had just about every - old world industry on the planet asking for and getting some form of help, assistance, tariff or preferential treatment by our various governments – state and federal. And they are still at it.
Forget the lean, clean and modern IP based industries of the future - they are too complex for our political class to understand.
And here we are in late 2008 and strangely, we cannot point to any one of those needy - old world industries actually being world class, standing on their own and weathering the *crisis*. In fact they are all demanding yet more *assistance* to see it all through.
In a word – it’s "bullshit".
Our car industry is a classic – propped up by featherbedding, tariffs and government assistance – it has been in a class of it’s own – all because of the numbers of workers in the system.
Australian’s have been paying more than 20% too much for cars for eons. Government’s have been paralysed and unable to act for fear that they will be seen as the "bad guy" when the industry collapses – as it now has. Mind you the signals have been obvious for 5 or more years but the paralysis has just meant more inaction. It’s a tragedy – especially for the workers.
And Joe Citizen is not totally stupid – he has seen this unfolding and has reasoned that if the car industry can get away with it for so long then he will try to game the system as well. This is one of the reasons why Joe and his friends and family have been paying too much for houses – they reason that if governments can make us pay too much for cars for 70 odd years then what’s wrong with doing the same with houses for a few years? Good question.
And some of those same political class think that the future of the nation hinges on a $10 billion distribution to welfare recipients this week.
A welfare led recovery ;-) now that is unfrigginbelievable.
For over seventy years we as a nation have allowed our governments the freedom to attempt to *pick winners* at their sole discretion. Mediocre politicians have had a merry time with our money flashing it about to this or that cause – investing here or there – all in the hope that some of it will stick and that it will result in a sustainable and viable *industry* - creating that holy grail – "employment".
These same politicians would then go to confession and say "there – we did our bit for the nation" - in the hope that it would result in a gong or sinecure of some sort.
Seventy years ago they tried it with the car industry, then the aircraft industry, the defence industry, the oil and gas industry, the steel makers, the aluminium producers, the energy companies, the telco industry, the banking industry, the retailers, the wine industry, the mining industry, the fishing industry, don’t forget the farmers and the services industry. Have I missed anyone?
We have had just about every - old world industry on the planet asking for and getting some form of help, assistance, tariff or preferential treatment by our various governments – state and federal. And they are still at it.
Forget the lean, clean and modern IP based industries of the future - they are too complex for our political class to understand.
And here we are in late 2008 and strangely, we cannot point to any one of those needy - old world industries actually being world class, standing on their own and weathering the *crisis*. In fact they are all demanding yet more *assistance* to see it all through.
In a word – it’s "bullshit".
Our car industry is a classic – propped up by featherbedding, tariffs and government assistance – it has been in a class of it’s own – all because of the numbers of workers in the system.
Australian’s have been paying more than 20% too much for cars for eons. Government’s have been paralysed and unable to act for fear that they will be seen as the "bad guy" when the industry collapses – as it now has. Mind you the signals have been obvious for 5 or more years but the paralysis has just meant more inaction. It’s a tragedy – especially for the workers.
And Joe Citizen is not totally stupid – he has seen this unfolding and has reasoned that if the car industry can get away with it for so long then he will try to game the system as well. This is one of the reasons why Joe and his friends and family have been paying too much for houses – they reason that if governments can make us pay too much for cars for 70 odd years then what’s wrong with doing the same with houses for a few years? Good question.
And some of those same political class think that the future of the nation hinges on a $10 billion distribution to welfare recipients this week.
A welfare led recovery ;-) now that is unfrigginbelievable.
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Boat - Model Images
Here are some images of "The Boat" - have been updating the model as construction proceeds and as some minor changes evolve based on what I am learning during construction. With any luck the model will evolve into an "as constructed" view of the final built boat.
Progress has been good - am putting together the frames and supporting structure for the first half of each hull and coating everything with epoxy as work proceeds. That is interesting - if time consuming work.
Biggest challenges to-date? Not enough clamps and having to wait for the epoxy to "go off". Just been to the hardware store for more clamps and am trying to organise a day's assembly work in advance so that each morning the epoxy has sufficient strength to move the structure.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Boat - Update 1
Here is a simplified model of a hull – without centerboards, beam sockets and other appendages.
Each hull is made up of eight vertical frames three of which contain beam sockets, a keel running the full length, a horizontal bulkhead at 400mm above the LWL, a top skin, a bottom skin and two side skins. The top and side skins are 6mm ply and everything else is 9mm ply. The whole structure will be glued using epoxy and all joints taped inside and out. Each hull will eventually be covered with a glass skin and epoxy.
During the past two weeks, all the hull frames, beam sockets, reinforcement panels and bottom skin have been cut and shaped and readied for assembly for both hulls.
The next task is to clean up the work space and get all the components ready for epoxy. Everything will get two coats of epoxy and then all the pieces will be assembled – something like a giant 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle – assuming that I have measured and cut everything correctly!
Each hull is made up of eight vertical frames three of which contain beam sockets, a keel running the full length, a horizontal bulkhead at 400mm above the LWL, a top skin, a bottom skin and two side skins. The top and side skins are 6mm ply and everything else is 9mm ply. The whole structure will be glued using epoxy and all joints taped inside and out. Each hull will eventually be covered with a glass skin and epoxy.
During the past two weeks, all the hull frames, beam sockets, reinforcement panels and bottom skin have been cut and shaped and readied for assembly for both hulls.
The next task is to clean up the work space and get all the components ready for epoxy. Everything will get two coats of epoxy and then all the pieces will be assembled – something like a giant 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle – assuming that I have measured and cut everything correctly!
Winners and Losers
Our Prime Minister has declared a "War on Unemployment" to combat one of the bigger problems arising from the global financial meltdown.
But it is the Treasury staffers who are pulling the levers – in fact the same people who have by and large, been pulling the same levers for the past decade and more. Is it any wonder then that we see the same unintended consequences resulting in the creation yet again of groups of "winners" and "losers".
If you are a loser then blame the econocrats in Treasury. If you are a winner then just pocket the cash and grin ;-)
Obviously the car industry and it’s various hangers on are among the winners. This is an industry that has been on the public teat in one way or another since the end of the second world war – over 70 years ago.
If you are involved with the car industry then you will be a winner because according to Treasury you are part of an industry that they deem too big to fail – so you can happily keep doing the same things that you have been doing since day dot.
Perhaps eventually the local car industry will get creative and innovative and produce efficient and inexpensive quality transport that stirs the soul – but I won’t be holding my breath.
Meanwhile, all those small, innovative, creative and mostly technology based industries that are at the dawn of a new age will become the losers.
These are the so called "soft" industries – that are evolving and developing in and around the internet and which rely on, develop and use leading edge information technology.
They include; analytics, image, video, audio and other software developers who are the backbone of the success of Google and others. Unfortunately, they are largely invisible to politicians and bureaucrats and they don’t have a big brother in Treasury or a capable industry association and lobbyists to watch over them.
Believe it or not there were once a large number of people employed in Australia in these industries and in the original information technology industry which got started here around the mid 1970’s. The large companies like banks and telco’s actually can’t operate without IT but for some reason they don’t like employing Australians to make it all work.
The banks and other large corporates have been relentlessly *offshoring* these jobs for a few years now because they have been pursuing a "lowest cost" model. It’s ironic that the local banks seek to operate under the protection of the "Four Pillars" policy while discarding Australian staff in information technology and other areas.
In the same week that our Prime Minister announced that he would throw over $6 billion dollars at the local car industry, one of our local banks announced that it was sending a $580 million technology project to India. Great timing. Which bank?
It’s obvious to me which industry we should be fostering and supporting and which ones we should be weaning off the public teat.
But then I don’t work for Treasury.
But it is the Treasury staffers who are pulling the levers – in fact the same people who have by and large, been pulling the same levers for the past decade and more. Is it any wonder then that we see the same unintended consequences resulting in the creation yet again of groups of "winners" and "losers".
If you are a loser then blame the econocrats in Treasury. If you are a winner then just pocket the cash and grin ;-)
Obviously the car industry and it’s various hangers on are among the winners. This is an industry that has been on the public teat in one way or another since the end of the second world war – over 70 years ago.
If you are involved with the car industry then you will be a winner because according to Treasury you are part of an industry that they deem too big to fail – so you can happily keep doing the same things that you have been doing since day dot.
Perhaps eventually the local car industry will get creative and innovative and produce efficient and inexpensive quality transport that stirs the soul – but I won’t be holding my breath.
Meanwhile, all those small, innovative, creative and mostly technology based industries that are at the dawn of a new age will become the losers.
These are the so called "soft" industries – that are evolving and developing in and around the internet and which rely on, develop and use leading edge information technology.
They include; analytics, image, video, audio and other software developers who are the backbone of the success of Google and others. Unfortunately, they are largely invisible to politicians and bureaucrats and they don’t have a big brother in Treasury or a capable industry association and lobbyists to watch over them.
Believe it or not there were once a large number of people employed in Australia in these industries and in the original information technology industry which got started here around the mid 1970’s. The large companies like banks and telco’s actually can’t operate without IT but for some reason they don’t like employing Australians to make it all work.
The banks and other large corporates have been relentlessly *offshoring* these jobs for a few years now because they have been pursuing a "lowest cost" model. It’s ironic that the local banks seek to operate under the protection of the "Four Pillars" policy while discarding Australian staff in information technology and other areas.
In the same week that our Prime Minister announced that he would throw over $6 billion dollars at the local car industry, one of our local banks announced that it was sending a $580 million technology project to India. Great timing. Which bank?
It’s obvious to me which industry we should be fostering and supporting and which ones we should be weaning off the public teat.
But then I don’t work for Treasury.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Boat
For the past three years on-and-off I have been researching boat designs, systems and technologies – all geared toward the day when I have enough time and money to build "the boat".
I have previously built boats and other complex things and have a lot of experience with wood, epoxy and composites – usually small craft in the 14 to 16 foot range.
Three years ago "the boat" was going to be a catamaran – to a Tim Clissold design but those thoughts and ideas have evolved into a variety of trimarans and other cats and even the odd mono hull.
The final version is a cat by Bernd Kohler and based on his DUO 800 design. You can find the design here.
This is a very light – even minimalist design that can be described as a "pod cat" – because it has two 8 metre long hulls and a central pod supported by aluminium beams. It is demountable and the version that I am building has a neat "biplane" rig – two carbon fibre masts – one in each hull.
But even Bernd’s design wasn’t quite what I wanted – so I have made a few modifications.
As an aside, I ended up going to school and learning the fundamentals of yacht design - including hydrostatics and structures and spent a lot of time exploring alternatives with 3D modeling software. I must have created and tested 30+ designs before this final configuration emerged.
I have enlarged the DUO 800 pod (slightly) and the hulls have been modified – they are now symmetrical – the original was asymmetrical and didn’t use centerboards and a few other things that are evolving as the build progresses. Some very interesting foils are going to serve duty as centreboards.
Progress has been good – my efforts in the first week have produced the hull sections and I am starting on the beam connection sockets - will keep you posted.
I have previously built boats and other complex things and have a lot of experience with wood, epoxy and composites – usually small craft in the 14 to 16 foot range.
Three years ago "the boat" was going to be a catamaran – to a Tim Clissold design but those thoughts and ideas have evolved into a variety of trimarans and other cats and even the odd mono hull.
The final version is a cat by Bernd Kohler and based on his DUO 800 design. You can find the design here.
This is a very light – even minimalist design that can be described as a "pod cat" – because it has two 8 metre long hulls and a central pod supported by aluminium beams. It is demountable and the version that I am building has a neat "biplane" rig – two carbon fibre masts – one in each hull.
But even Bernd’s design wasn’t quite what I wanted – so I have made a few modifications.
As an aside, I ended up going to school and learning the fundamentals of yacht design - including hydrostatics and structures and spent a lot of time exploring alternatives with 3D modeling software. I must have created and tested 30+ designs before this final configuration emerged.
I have enlarged the DUO 800 pod (slightly) and the hulls have been modified – they are now symmetrical – the original was asymmetrical and didn’t use centerboards and a few other things that are evolving as the build progresses. Some very interesting foils are going to serve duty as centreboards.
Progress has been good – my efforts in the first week have produced the hull sections and I am starting on the beam connection sockets - will keep you posted.
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