Category: Archive

Joint control: Scott Reef inner waters come under the rule of the Western Australia Government. The waters around it, were under a Commonwealth exploration lease. Film-maker, Richard Costin, from Kimberly Wilderness Photography of Broome, told Gas Week, “They want to do geosequestration – CO2 dumps; pump their CO2 back down". Costin was concerned superheated water discharged into the reef that would damage the reef; and understood this was to be a gigalitre an hour at the well head: “that will change the ecology of that reef’, he said.

Fish profits V LNG profits: By arrangement with the Indonesian government the Indonesian fishermen were allowed to fish Scott reef – however Woodside told Costin it planned to ban fishing and re-seed the reef with Trochus. Costin said Indonesian fisherman would then have to have to go somewhere else This would require compensation or a new fishing location provided for prawns and trochus, he said. Scott as also inside the Northern Prawn area. Scott Reef Joint Venture Partners were Woodside Petroleum Ltd., BHPP (North-West Shelf), BP Developments Australia Ltd., Chevron Asiatic Ltd. and Shell Development (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

Many options: There are many options to "price" carbon.

Carbon tax ruled out: There is a carbon tax – which the Government has ruled out.

Emissions trading getting mixed messages: There are emissions trading schemes, in which greenhouse gas emissions are capped and companies trade permits among themselves. The Government is sending mixed messages about whether it would accept emissions trading.

Sequestration: Another option that would put a price on pollution is to make companies increasingly bear the costs of their emissions, by requiring investment and use of technology to make coal clean, or to capture emissions and bury them.

Howard moving because voters alarmed: Greg Bourne had a long career as a petroleum executive for BP before joining environmental group WWF Australia as chief executive. Bourne says Howard is moving with alacrity on global warming because voters are genuinely alarmed at the doomsday scenarios.

Business prepared to pay for its pollution: Australia will remain critically dependent on coal. Bourne says business is prepared to pick up at least some of the tab for its pollution, and is already "shadow pricing" – in plain terms, factoring the cost of a pollution price into its operations.

Predicts "modest" carbon price: His prediction is the Government will unveil a "modest" carbon price, signal that it will take effect from a certain date, and call for submissions from business about the best way to design the system.

Business willing to accept emissions trading: Business was also signalling that it is prepared to cop a global system of emissions trading.

pareidolia (payr.eye.DOH.lee.uh) n. The erroneous or fanciful perception of a pattern or meaning in something that is actually ambiguous or random.
—pareidolic adj.

So, says WordSpy. http://www.wordspy.com/words/pareidolia.asp

“Not so fast”, says Jim Nutter of the NSW Northern Rivers.

There is no doubt that we perceive patterns, or significance, in ambiguous, random phenomena. In fact, the whole of human knowledge is built on patterns that we have perceived in random phenomena. It is not just a human characteristic either. When animals hunt, they deduce the presence of their next meal in the movement of grass, or rustling in leaves.

In fact, we train our perception to give significance to some patterns and not others. The notion that some patterns are meaningful and others erroneous, or fanciful is an arbitary construct that we place on our perception to make sense of it.

Starting with the Barrow Point rock carvings, which he discovered and reported to the Australian Museum in the sixties, Jim has photographed a wide range of ambiguos and random phenomena which are clearly identifiable as human faces. He observes that once we begin to notice these seemingly coincidental “faces in the clouds” that the world becomes charged with meaning and significance, rather as it must have seemed to stone age people.

He encourages you to submit your photographs of images of things that are not “really” there to compile a stock of photos of this phenomena.

The kangaroo in the fig tree was shot by Peter King and published in the Echo newspaper. The face in the rock is from Jim’s collection. You will have to email your photos to us for the moment, while we work out how to use our image file upload thingy.

Here is a typical list of ingredients from the back of an "organic" shampoo bottle. with an abbreviated explanation as to what is in them.

Water (Aqua), Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Polyquaternium-39, Cocamine MEA, Stearic Acid, Dimethicone, Laureth-8, Succinoglycan, Glycol Distearate, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Leaf Extract, Hydroxypropyl Guar, EDTA, Dimethlypabamidopropyl Lauryldimonium Tosylate, Propylene Glycol Stearate, Citric Acid, Fragrance (Parfum), DMDM Hydantoin. Not tested on animals.

Shampoo is basically detergent that strips out grease and dirt combined with a series of compounds that deposit a film onto the hair to add shine and body.

The detergents are the active component and raise the most health concerns. Detergent breaks up the bonds in water molecules so they dissolve the grease and dirt in your hair. Chemists describe such compounds as surfactants, because they reduce the surface tension of water. Add a drop of any detergent or shampoo to a drop of water and it will collapse. If mosquitoes try to land on water containing detergent they will fall through the surface of the water that they would normally walk on. Detergents have been used in the fight against malaria.

Detergents allow other chemicals to penetrate the skin more easily. Concerns have been expressed that because surfactants break down skin cells they can accelerate the ageing process. Some classes of surfactants – the nonylphenols – have been reported to interfere with the sexual development of wildlife.

The surfactants in this shampoo include Ammonium Lauryl sulfate, Laureth-8, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Cocamine MEA

Cocoamphodiacetate is a surfactant derived from coconut oil with a very good toxilogical profile.

MEA (monoethylamine) is considered responsible for creating carcinogenic compounds that are absorbed through the skin. It is considered less dangerous than DEA (diethylamine) which has been banned in the US but is prevalent in Australia.

Other active chemicals that are not involved directly in the cleaning process include EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid). It is used to soften the water by depositing mineral salts and locking them up in the shampoo foam. It also preserves the shampoo.

DMDM Hydantoin is a preservative that works by releasing formaldehyde into the shampoo to prevent mold, fungus and bacteria growing in it. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen.

The second group of compounds are those left behind on the hair to replace the natural oils. These compounds are relatively inert, though their manufacture may cause industrial pollution.

Stearic Acid is made from blasting animal fat or saturated vegetable oils with water at high temperature and pressure and is used to give body to the shampoo. Propylene Glycol Stearate and Glycol Distearate are related compounds.

The addition of avacodo oil Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Leaf Extract into the mix does little to interfere with the underlying chemistry of the shampoo.

This shampoo contains Polyquaternium-39 which is cellulose derived from cotton, the silicone based Dimethicone as well as Succinoglycan and Hydroxypropyl Guar. Dimethlypabamidopropyl Lauryldimonium Tosylate is included to protect it from ultra violet radiation.

The third main group of compounds are used to add fragrance. This shampoo label simply labels that group as Fragrance. Over 4,000 chemicals are used to manufacture fragrances, 95 per cent of them derived from petroleum and 84 per cent which have never been tested for safety. Fragrances are considered trade secrets so do not have to be declared on product labels.

This is just one shampoo product. Conditioners contain a similarly strange mix of chemicals, and hair-colouring products that use synthetic dyes are probably even worse. For example, they may contain coal tar colours, listed on labels as FD&C and D&C, and made from bituminous coal. Or, they may contain phenylenediamine, another cancer causing agent. Some even contain lead. This is not only bad for you, but also the environment.

In 2006, no matter which party controls the House, a majority will be committed to pursuing the war on Iraq–despite the fact that the Democratic rank and file and the general voting public oppose the war by large margins. (I hasten to add that this state of affairs can be reversed even after the sham election between the two War Parties.)

"A New Strategy to Win the War on Terror" ("War on Terror," as George Soros points out, is a false metaphor used by those who would drag us into military adventures not in our interest or that of humanity.)
"We need to use all the roots of American power to make our country safe. (He begins by playing on fear.) America must lead the world’s fight against the spread of evil and totalitarianism, but we must stop trying to win that battle on our own. (Messianic imperialism.) We should reform and strengthen multilateral institutions for the twenty-first century, not walk away from them. We need to fortify the military’s "thin green line" around the world by adding to the U.S. Special Forces and the Marines, and by expanding the U.S. army by 100,000 more troops. (An even bigger military for the world’s most powerful armed forces, a very militaristic view of the way to handle the conflicts among nations. What uses does Emanuel have in mind for those troops?) We should give our troops a new GI Bill to come home to. (More material incentives to induce the financially strapped to sign up as cannon fodder.) Finally we must protect our homeland and civil liberties by creating a new domestic counterterrorism force like Britain’s MI5. (A new domestic spying operation is an obvious threat to our civil liberties; MI5 holds secret files on one in 160 adults in Britain along with files on 53,000 organizations.)

There it is straight from the horse’s mouth.(2)

(6) J. Palestine Studies, 23: 84(1994).

As the impact of the drought worsens, the South Australian State Government has been urged to seriously assess scientific evidence showing pollution from our major cities and industrial sites is having a severe impact on rainfall, according to Nigel Austin, rural editor for The Australian (24/10/2006, p.25).

Cloud activity affected by pollution: Research has shown that pollution is inhibiting rainfall by preventing the moisture in clouds from forming into droplets big enough to reach the ground. It has prompted warnings that drought is not the sole cause of Australia’s water shortage, but that polluted clouds are failing to produce enough rain and snowfall in the Snowy Mountains and Victorian Alps.

Port Augusta power station an example: Murray Darling Association general manager Ray Najar said the research had credible arguments and needed to be assessed. He said the research showed pollution from Port Augusta power station, Port Pirie smelter and the Adelaide city environment was reducing rainfall.

Kwinana takes its toll on Perth: "A good example is Perth, where an average of 338mm of rain fell until 1974-75 when the Kwinana Power stations and refinery came on stream," he said. "Since then, only 167mm of rain has fallen each year."

The Advertiser, 24/10/2006, p.25

Source: Erisk Net