An imaginatively titled blog

Synodontis grandiops

2012-03-04T22:02:00.001+10:00

Every now and again the aquarium shops in Cairns offer Synodontis multipunctatus catfish for sale. S. multipunctatus are from Lake Tanganyika, and are best known for their habit of brood parasitism - laying eggs amongst the eggs of mouth brooding cichlids to have the eggs mature and hatch in the cichlid's mouth. The catfish fry then eat the cichlid eggs before heading off into the world.

Back in 2006, scientists looked more closely at the species, and realised they were in fact two species, differing markedly in size. The larger species (to 25cm) retained the S. multipunctatus name, while the smaller species (to 12cm) was named S. grandiops. Aquarium shops haven't caught up, and still sell both as S. multipunctatus or "cuckoo catfish". It's very hard to tell small specimens apart, so you end up with a bit of a lucky dip situation. One guide is the size of the eye - it's larger (up 80% of the snout length) in S. grandiops. Due to the variation in each species, this isn't always a great guide. I did see a large S. multipunctatus on sale at Dinki Di a few years ago, before they moved, so they're definitely around.

Synodontis grandiops

I've bought nine juvenile specimens, one from Cairns Aquariums before they closed, and the others in two purchases from Aquarium World Cairns. The latter included a special order from the distributor which included a couple of wild-caught specimens. All nine have turned out to be S. grandiops. It's not a great sample size, but I suspect most of the S. multipunctatus you see in our shops are similarly mislabelled. Don't be put off though. They're a great fish - very busy and going into overdrive when feeding time arrives. They seem hardy, and are anything but picky when it comes to food.

Meet Governor Vaginal Probe

2012-03-03T00:36:00.000+10:00

If you think some of our politicians have had snarky nicknames donned on them by the media, the governor of the US state of Virgina has a doozy... Meet Governor Vaginal Probe, a politician who condemns airline security pat downs as a violation of privacy, but supported state mandated intravaginal ultrasound probes for women seeking abortions until the media woke up and paid attention.

Rachel Maddow has been one of those who have led the media charge:

And another of my favourites, Jon Stewart, was also a little critical:

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

A little further reading:

Governor Vaginal Probe's SWAT Team (Daily Kos)
Dahlia Lithwick on the slightly revised yet still awful bill (Slate)

I try to make constructive suggestions at work

2012-03-02T20:33:00.002+10:00

At Christmas the office I work in had a "Jobs for Christmas" drive in which every time an unemployed client found a job, the relevant case manager would attach a bauble to a Christmas tree. We ended up with a rather well decorated tree.

We're having a similar drive for Easter, but for some strange reason my suggestion of nailing little men to a cross wasn't accepted. Alas they're going for pictures of eggs being put on some background. I'm disappointed.

Clothing label fun

2012-03-02T20:24:00.000+10:00

From PleatedJeans.com

An illustration of well-deserved mild criticism

2012-02-29T22:39:00.002+10:00

Over at the Atheist Experience, Martin Wagner delicately and thoughtfully suggests a column by Alain de Botton:

inflicted upon the world through no less a source than CNN (or as they prefer to be called, Fox Lite), might charitably be described as a car crash that caused a train wreck that fell off a bridge causing a shipwreck that settled into the sea bed to become home to a pod of fail whales. Apart from that, it’s not so bad.

Go and read the rest.

What is matter?

2012-02-29T12:00:00.000+10:00

The start of something big

2012-02-28T12:00:00.000+10:00

I posted a couple of the Minute Physics videos on my old site. The creator is starting a new series, and leads with this intro/teaser:

The post in which I succumb and show a LOLCat image

2012-02-28T08:00:00.000+10:00

Via Jerry Coyne's WEIT

Shark fin's revenge

2012-02-27T20:33:00.001+10:00

Sharks may not be the only victims when humans consume shark fin soup, according to a study published in a recent issue of the journal Marine Drugs.

In the study, Kiyo Mondo and coauthors discovered that shark fins contained high concentrations of neurotoxins linked to neurodegenerative diseases in humans including Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig Disease (ALS), posing a significant health risk to consumers of shark fin soup and cartilage pills.

So, to add to the fact that shark cartilage pills don't work, we can now add that they might kill you.

Read more of Practical Fishkeeping's summary or, if you like technical details, the paper is open access.

Green sea-turtle

2012-02-27T16:30:00.000+10:00

A green sea-turtle (Chelonia mydas) resting on the corals at the Low Isles

Re-post of an very old photo from my old blog

Faster-than-light Nissan Micra ‘may have been down to timing fault’

2012-02-27T12:00:00.000+10:00

Two friends from Romford, who last year claimed to have exceeded the speed of light in a modified Nissan Micra, have admitted that the surprise result may have been caused by ‘Dave forgetting to start the stopwatch’.

Read the whole story at News Biscuit

LNP discovers iStockphoto

2012-02-26T20:58:00.002+10:00

Over at CairnsBlog, Michael Moore brought attention to a slightly incongruous looking image of a doctor treating a patient on the Liberal-National Party's website. He thought it looked a little too American.

He was right. A few minutes later after looking at the only stock photo site of which I could remember the name, I found Female doctor talking with senior patient, file #: 8112453 at iStockphoto:

So what else is there from iStockphoto? I managed to find these fairly quickly:

Graffiti and urban artist - File #: 7727337 - used on the front page for Safer, cleaner communities under LNP
Electric bill - File #: 13329742 - Used on the Policies page for Lower the cost of living by cutting waste
Doctor holding stethoscope - File #: 5083391 - Used on the Policies page for Revitalise front line services
Solar panel under summer skies - File #: 17147464 - used on the front page for Transparency in power bills under LNP
Fresh sugar cane - File #: 10190260 - used on the front page for Research boost for sugar jobs

I don't really think it's a big deal that they're using stock photos. It's not like they're using stock photos of people to fake grass roots support like some US corporate interests do. The images are quite obviously clip art.

Perhaps it would be nice to have Australian images though.They did use a photo of Queensland's Parliament House and one showing the view south from the Rex Lookout north of Cairns, so there's some local content there.

YouTube allowing moderators to censor criticism of Islam

2012-02-26T12:12:00.000+10:00

Crime in Trinity Beach

2012-02-24T19:32:00.000+10:00

Do you know this man?

Arriving home tonight I found the Neighbourhood Watch newsletter for Trinity Beach. Among the handful of articles was the list of crimes reported in Trinity Beach for the last month:

A chainsaw was stolen from an unsecured shed on Moore Street between 16 and 21 January.
Thieves broke into the liquour store at the main shops on the night of Monday 23 January and stole liquor. The offenders were identified from CCTV footage and charged.
Overnight on Thursday 2 February some dog-washing toiletries and a power point were stolen from a mobile dog-washing business's trailer parked on Moore Street.
A handbag and other items were stolen from an unsecured car on Lae St on Saturday 11 February, with the offender subsequently identified and charged.
At 19:15 on Friday 3 February, a handbag was stolen from a house on Vasey Esplanade, with the offender entering an unlocked door and seen by the occupants. Police would like to talk to the man pictured at right.

So we had five offences, with two already resulting in charges. One was against a commercial premises, one was against a commercial trailer parked on the street, and three were against personal property. Of those three, only one involved the offender entering a home, and that was unlocked.

The statistics are fairly comforting, especially as I am good, indeed anal retentive, when it comes to locking my doors. Perhaps the motion-sensing camera I have is overkill, though it was set up for non-security reasons.

An army of scientists, sceptics and comedians was mobilised...

2012-02-23T23:45:00.000+10:00

A recommended read: Edzard Ernst, Simon Singh's co-author of the excellent Trick or Treatment:Alternative Medicine on Trial, has an update on the after-effects of the British Chiropractic Association vs Simon Singh case at the Guardian.

Queenslanders get to be butt-buddies

2012-02-23T20:29:00.000+10:00

From today Queenslanders in same-sex relationships are able to register legally recognised civil unions. While thinking it's a step in the right direction, I also think it's still a bit of an insult to homosexuals. Like many social issues, South Park pretty much nailed the way I think:

Calling the relationships "civil unions" rather than "marriages" may not be as obviously wrong as "butt-buddies", but I can't help but think gay/lesbian couples may still have a right to feel slighted.

The government should, and probably eventually will, just make it "marriage" for all. The other possibility would be having the law only recognise civil unions, hetero- or homosexual, and leave marriage to the churches. Some liberal Christian church would likely perform a homosexual wedding, and we could all sit back with popcorn and watch the churches fight.

Royal spoonbill

2012-02-23T18:51:00.000+10:00

A royal spoonbill (Platalea regia) on the Cairns Esplanade

A bad cable connection caused the "faster-than-light neutrinos" story?

2012-02-23T18:41:00.001+10:00

Phil Plait has a discussion of the latest suggested explanation of the faster-than-light neutrinos story that made such a splash in the news:

According to sources familiar with the experiment, the 60 nanoseconds discrepancy appears to come from a bad connection between a fiber optic cable that connects to the GPS receiver used to correct the timing of the neutrinos’ flight and an electronic card in a computer. After tightening the connection and then measuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the fiber, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed. Since this time is subtracted from the overall time of flight, it appears to explain the early arrival of the neutrinos.

Yawning owl

2012-02-22T23:52:00.000+10:00

A barn owl (Tyto alba) at the end of a long day watching tourists pass by at Hartley's Creek Crocodile Farm

It's okay if you're an American...

2012-02-21T18:48:00.001+10:00

Glenn Greenwald writes:

Each year, the U.S. State Department, as required by law, issues a “Human Rights Report” which details abuses by other countries. To call it an exercise in hypocrisy is to understate the case: it is almost impossible to find any tyrannical power denounced by the State Department which the U.S. Government (and its closest allies) do not regularly exercise itself. Indeed, it’s often impossible to imagine how the authors of these reports can refrain from cackling mischievously over the glaring ironies of what they are denouncing.

Read the whole piece at Salon.

Looking north

2012-02-21T09:16:00.000+10:00

A shot taken from Clifton Beach looking toward (left to right) Palm Cove, Double Island and Haycock Island (Scout's Hat) on my Monday wander from Trinity Beach to Palm Cove.

Shadow gobies

2012-02-20T21:13:00.001+10:00

A pair of shadow gobies (Yongeichthys nebulosus) photographed from the bank of the creek at Taylor Point.

If I'm going to try photographing small fish I find when wandering, I think I'm going to have to carry a net and a small aquarium to get the angles and refraction right. This one was when I wandered up to Taylor Point for a short walk today but ended up not stopping until I got to the end of the Palm Cove jetty.

Richard Dawkins needs to apologise

2012-02-20T10:35:00.000+10:00

He has railed against the evils of religion, and lectured the world on the virtues of atheism.

Now Richard Dawkins, the secularist campaigner against "intolerance and suffering", must face an awkward revelation: he is descended from monkeys who threw poop at other monkeys, brilliant reporting from Telegraph reporter Adam Lusher reveals.

"One of the most disagreeable verses of the Bible – amid strong competition – says the sins of the father shall be visited on the children until the third or fourth generation. But even with that, don't you think going back 6 million years is a bit much?", Dawkins defensively asked, obviously embarassed by the revelations.

He is now facing calls to apologise and make reparations for his family's past.

Esther Stanford-Xosei, of Lewisham, south London, the co-vice chairman of the Pan-African Reparations Coalition in Europe, said: "There is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity.
"The words of the apology need to be backed by action. The most appropriate course would be for the family to fund an educational initiative telling the history of poop-throwing and how it impacts on communities today, in terms of racism and fractured relationships."

In entirely unrelated news, Dawkins has been involved in a survey that has tried to measure how many self-identified Christians actually go to Church, believe in Jesus, and other religious questions. The results show that England is not as religious as some claim. This, of course, is not why Dawkins is being attacked for his ancestors' poop-throwing past. Really it's not.

Breaking news: Adam Lusher reveals Dawkins's terrorist link

Not a good photo of the Queen Mary 2

2012-02-19T23:37:00.002+10:00

The Queen Mary 2 at anchor

This afternoon, partly due to a chocolate craving and partly due to wanting to have a peek at the Queen Mary 2, I wandered down to beach and Fratelli's to indulge in a serving of their pressed tuscan chocolate cake drizzled with a berry compote. I sat gazing out at the ship, which was anchor more or less straight out to sea.

The ship was bathed in sun, with blue-green water in front. I thought about taking a photo, but decided to wait until after finishing my cake and coffee. I watched the ship's lifeboats acting as transfer vessels, heading into Yorkeys Knob, and wondered how smooth a trip it was. At that point a squall blew across, fairly close to the ship. The rain must have been fairly hard, because soon the ship was almost totally obscured. The wind picked up to a gale, the temperature dropped a couple of degrees, the waves picked up, and the ocean turned brown. I had missed a nice shot. Again I wondered how many people on the lifeboats were sea sick. At that point, it must have been quite a few.

After finishing I wandered along the beach and joined the many others who were pointing their cameras out at the ship. Unfortunately my battery died after two shots. I failed to level the camera, and the lighting wasn't what I had hoped for.

This post, then, explains why the photo at the top isn't very good.

Don't be sensible, Mr Phillips

2012-02-19T13:49:00.000+10:00

Speaking at a debate in London on diverse societies, Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission dared to argue that Roman Catholic adoption agencies and other faith groups providing public services could not operate by “a different set of laws” from the rest of society:

“You can’t say because we decide we’re different then we need a different set of laws,” he said, in comments reported by The Tablet, the Catholic newspaper.

“To me there’s nothing different in principle with a Catholic adoption agency, or indeed Methodist adoption agency, saying the rules in our community are different and therefore the law shouldn’t apply to us.

Why not then say sharia can be applied to different parts of the country? It doesn’t work."

Cue outrage... I suspect there will be calls for his resignation.

Read more:

US nuclear arsenal to shrink?

2012-02-19T13:35:00.002+10:00

Mother Jones reports that the Obama Administration is considering a radical reduction in its nuclear arsenal. It seems terribly sensible - the idea sufficient deterrence can be exercised without being able to blow the crap out of the enemy a few times over, and the money saved can be spent on better things. One suggestion puts the required arsenal at around 300 warheads. Needless to say, the hawks are squawking disapprovingly.

The Mother Jones article is an interesting and recommended read.

Raising money for charity for profit

2012-02-19T12:56:00.000+10:00

While I haven't had any door-to-door charity collectors annoy me at home (being at work stops that), I do find myself approached in shopping centres, particularly by Wilderness Foundation and World Wildlife Fund collectors. I've sometimes thought about asking them how much they get paid, and how much time they have spent helping the environment without being paid. I've done a fair bit of voluntary work in revegetation projects in the past, so if they try to turn it around against me I can wield that against them.

News.com.au is carrying a report on these charity collectors, including those for WWF and UNICEF amongst others. I didn't expect it to be as bad as they report:

Trainee collectors - raising money for charities such as UNICEF, World Wildlife Fund, the Surf Lifesaving Foundation and the Heart Research Institute - are taught psychological techniques to lure donors and are told who to target to achieve the best results.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that during the recruitment process, potential door-to-door fundraisers are advised that they would earn up to $100 for each "sale" of a $39 monthly commitment to UNICEF.

Under the fee structure, for every monthly pledge, the marketing company that contracts the fundraiser also pockets $100 and APPCO Group Support, the international conglomerate that liaises with the charity, gets about $120.

If you do want to donate to a charity represented by these collectors, thank them from bringing it to your attention and tell them you will donate directly at a later date.

Read the report at News.com.au

Occupy Heaven

2012-02-18T11:18:00.001+10:00

Baroness Warsi to visit the Vatican

2012-02-15T19:28:00.004+10:00

Ancient myths are being "sidelined, marginalised and downgraded in the public sphere", Conservative co-chairwoman Baroness Warsi whined in an article for the Daily Telegraph.

The Muslim peer said Europe needed to become "more confident and more comfortable with its middle eastern fairy tales ".

She will also highlight the issue in a speech at the Vatican later on Tuesday.

"I will be arguing that to create a more divisive society, people need to feel stronger in their religious identities and more confident in their spiritual fantasies," she wrote in the Telegraph.

Read on at Science, Reason and Critical Thinking (What's it about?)

Finch Bay

2012-02-14T21:41:00.002+10:00

Finch Bay from the track leading to the beach

Cooktown's two local beaches are hidden away from the main part of town, which is located on the Endeavour River's mouth. Both Finch Bay and Cherry Tree Bay are located on the eastern side of Grassy Hill.

Finch Bay, located down a short gravel road from the Botanic Gardens, is a small bay with a creek running behind the beach. The creek only runs back a short way into the mangroves, but seems to be large enough to be home to a crocodile at present - yesterday a recent croc sighting was at the entrance to the beach.. There's no stinger net either, so swimming really wasn't going to be an option.

Split Rock

2012-02-13T22:10:00.000+10:00

I took a long weekend, with today being a recreation leave day. With the good weather forecast I decided to rent a car, spend yesterday doing some errands and local exploring, and then do a decent day trip today. After some thought and googling, I decided to head north. Stumbling upon some Cooktown tourism industry material, I learned about the aboriginal rock art galleries at Split Rock, just south of Laura. I had never seen aboriginal rock art in person before, just on TV and in print, so I had a destination, and headed off bright and early.

The galleries are located at three sites close to each other about half way up the escarpment. It's not a long walk, though in the 35 degree heat it was still a bit of a struggle. The first gallery is the most extensive, and is located in the overhang of Split Rock itself. It contains a wide array of images of animals, men and spirits. A little further along the track you come to a smaller gallery depicting fruit bats, and then another with the Tall Spirits the local tribes believed inhabited the area.

Part of the Split Rock gallery

One of the Tall Spirits

It was a long drive for a short visit, but I'm glad I did it. There is an ambience to the site that is quite memorable. Afterwards I headed on to Cooktown for lunch before returning home 13 hours after I departed. I'm knackered and should sleep well.

Chestnut-breasted mannikin

2012-02-13T21:36:00.000+10:00

A chestnut-breasted mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax) at the Cattana Wetlands

Oh sugar

2012-02-11T08:00:00.000+10:00

Worst Comes to Worst - Baba Brinkman

2012-02-10T23:43:00.000+10:00

And in Indonesia...

2012-02-09T12:00:00.000+10:00

Alexander Aan is an atheist. This shouldn't be a big deal, except that he lives in Indonesia.When he expressed his lack of belief on Facebook, Muslim thugs hunted him down and beat him up. The police then arrested him for blasphemy, for which he could face up to five years in prison, and some Muslim groups are calling for him to be executed.

Indonesia does deserve some credit on its move towards enlightenment. For a Muslim dominated country they have achieved quite a lot, including beating Australia to having a female president before we manged a female prime minister. But when it comes to religious liberties, both of atheists and of minor religious groups and sects, it still has a long way to go.

Hamza Kashgari expressed his thoughts

2012-02-08T21:06:00.002+10:00

Hamza Kashgari, a young journalist, was banned from writing in Saudi Arabia by the Saudi Minister of Information and has reportedly been forced to flee after being accused of blasphemy, atheism, and apostasy and following calls for his head.

His crime? Tweeting about Mohammad, Islam’s prophet, including about how he’s equal to him and how he hates some of Mohammad’s characteristics… (Only some?)

Read more about Hamza Kashgari, who is one individual being highlighted as part of the International Day of Free Expression, at Maryam Namazie's blog, Nothing is Sacred.

Yacht at Nudey Beach

2012-02-06T23:02:00.001+10:00

A yacht at anchor off Nudey Beach, Fitzroy Island

This is another repost of an old, old photo. I can't remember quite when I took it but it's probably about 8 years ago, and is one of my favourite photos. Unfortunately I no longer have the original, and it was only 1280 x 800 or something like that so it wouldn't have printed off to poster size that well. I think the sharpness and prominence of the rock in the photo are vital.

Hyundai vs Cheetah

2012-02-06T22:55:00.000+10:00

The US football final seems to bring out the best in many ad agencies, and they can now all be seen online. The standout for me was from Hyundai:

Eastern spinebill at Lake Barrine

2012-02-05T12:56:00.001+10:00

An eastern spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris) feeds on the flowers of an umbrella tree (Schefflera actinophylla) near the patio at Lake Barrine Teahouse

When I lived in Canberra I used to rub a wet cork on a bottle to make squeaking sounds that attracted eastern spinebills. It was a trick I learned reading the Footrot Flats cartoon. I've never tried it on the yellow-bellied sunbirds up here, and haven't seen an eastern spinebill in Cairns. I was a little surprised to see one at Lake Barrine, but apparently its range does extend as far north as Cooktown.

Note: Image repost from my old blog. New text.

Using nuclear waste as fuel

2012-02-05T12:39:00.001+10:00

Nuclear power's reputation took a severe body blow with the Fukushima reactor incident following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. It may, unfortunately, stop new designs of reactors from being implemented. Some of the new designs are far safer and can actually use nuclear waste stockpiles as fuel.

Duncan Clark, writing at the Guardian, writes:

A generation of "fast" nuclear reactors could consume Britain's radioactive waste stockpile as fuel, providing enough low-carbon electricity to power the country for more than 500 years, according to figures confirmed by the chief scientific adviser to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc).

Read Clark's article and George Monbiot's supporting column at the Guardian.

With renewables unlikely to meet short term demand, any attempt to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions will need to embrace nuclear. Solar, wind, and geothermal just don't seem close enough.

Rules of grammar

2012-02-05T11:19:00.000+10:00

Head to calamitiesofnature.com

A little windy

2012-02-04T18:45:00.000+10:00

Double and Haycock Islands with the Daintree's Alexandria Range in the background

Yesterday's cool, grey and wet day gave way to a cool, grey and windy morning today. I wandered out in the morning to find my pathway strewn with leaf litter, and wandered down to the Trinity Beach Bar & Grill for an eggs benedict breakfast, where I sat surrounded by leaf litter. I noticed that the new owners of the Bar & Grill have decided to end the dinner service, so it's now just breakfast and lunch. There will be no more spring rolls with chilli sauce or hamburgers for me at the end of a day at work.

After breakfast I wandered along to the southern end of the beach and sat watching the patterns on the water created by squalls of wind, and hoping that one of the small willy-willies would become a waterspout. Alas none lasted long enough ot were strong enough. The BOM indicates a strongest gust of 52km/hr in Cairns, and we would have been about the same up at Trinity. I would have thought some of the gusts were faster.

Just after 12:00, I wandered home along the near deserted beach. I suspect the lifeguard on duty had a quiet day. I had seen two people jump in for a swim, but I can't imagine many people heading for a day at the beach.

Why did sea levels fall in 2010?

2012-02-04T13:42:00.000+10:00

An interesting video from both a climate change perspective and a tech perspective about satellite measurements. The satellites referred to are the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites.

In the Skies on Superbowl Sunday

2012-02-04T12:39:00.000+10:00

A clever bit of advertising will appear in the skies over the Superbowl (US football grand final) host city:

An Atheist civil rights group announced today that it will be flying an airplane banner on Super Bowl Sunday around Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The banner will read “Football beats church anytime – atheists.org.” The banner is scheduled to be in the air from 9:30-11:30 AM local time.

Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists, stated, “We took advantage of a unique opportunity to remind many Americans that their religion is not as important as they like to pretend it is. In many cities around the country the running joke is that football is the most popular religion.”

Read the press release. For those who like their "football" interrupted and dragged out, the Superbowl will be on channels Ten and One on Monday morning.

Libertarianism

2012-02-04T12:25:00.000+10:00

A little wet

2012-02-03T17:41:00.002+10:00

Today saw a low pressure cell completing its move across the Cape and into the Coral Sea east of Cairns. It's expected to keep heading east, so it shouldn't affect us other than some more rain, but it is likely to strengthen into a cyclone over the next couple of days as it heads off. As you can see on the right, the rain's pretty heavy all the way down the coast between Cairns and Townsville.

In Cairns, the rain started just after 13:00, flooding the gutters around work and, I assume, catching many workers without umbrellas on their lunch hours. It has rained for the rest of the afternoon. I was a little surprised to get home to find that I could get to my door without taking my shoes of to get across the puddle that usually forms after heavy rain on the only path. That's my personal gauge, so I'm not that impressed.

I'm hoping the low will drag the rain offshore fairly quickly and give me some half decent weather later in the weekend.

Republicans ask Gingrich for an ‘open relationship’

2012-02-02T21:39:00.001+10:00

As the race for the Republican Party presidential nomination heats up, an increasing number of GOP members are asking a resurgent Newt Gingrich if it would be okay if they saw other candidates.

Flying people

2012-02-02T19:00:00.001+10:00

Now, imagine the effect this might have on Rapture-fearing Christians.

Dolphins at play

2012-02-02T12:02:00.000+10:00

After watching some dolphins at play, I posted a couple of photos on my old blog. With the move to the new blog I thought I would post a larger collection of the images from that day:

The abridged version

2012-02-01T23:10:00.001+10:00

Head to jesusandmo.net for more

Beach stone-curlew

2012-02-01T11:03:00.000+10:00

A beach stone-curlew (Esacus magnirostris) on the Cairns Esplanade

Beach stone-curlews are an infrequent sighting. I had previously seen them at the mouth of the Moon River (Yorkeys Knob/Trinity Park) and Fitzroy Island, though I'm not a particularly avid birdwatcher. This one hung around the Cairns Esplanade for a couple of days in October feeding on crabs on the mudflat, but I haven't seen one there since.

The scientific name seems to be an ongoing point of argument among ornithologists, with E. giganteus, E. neglectus, Burhinus giganteus and B. neglectus all competing. E. magnirostrus seems to be winning, so I'll stick with that for now.

Repost of a photo from my old blog. New text.

Disguised menace

2012-01-31T23:29:00.000+10:00

A large male estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) watching me watch it.

Little egret

2012-01-31T10:57:00.000+10:00

A little egret (Egretta garzetta) looking for lunch on the Cairns Esplanade

Photo repost from my old blog which will disappear soon.

Unidentified flower

2012-01-30T13:34:00.001+10:00

I'm yet to find out what this species is. It's a groundcover plant common around the rocks at the beaches. The flower is tiny, under a centimeter across.

Eoin Colfer selected to write Bible sequel

2012-01-29T15:44:00.003+10:00

Noted Irish author Eoin Colfer, writer of the Artemis Fowl series, has been commissioned by Harper-Collins to pen an as-yet unnamed sequel to the Bible. Harper-Collins won the publishing rights to the sequel for an undisclosed amount in September 2010.

Read more at News Biscuit

Another lazy Sunday

2012-01-29T13:35:00.002+10:00

A dragonfly (Diplacodes spp., possibly sp. bipunctata, the wandering percher) at Trinity Beach's southern lookout

It's a warm and humid Sunday, and I have retreated to the flat and its air conditioning.

I started the morning with eggs benedict at Fratelli's, which has reopened after being closed for a few weeks, then wandered down to the southern end of Trinity Beach. Noticing a lot of dragonflies flying around, I pulled out my camera, switched to the macro lens, and took a few shots. I then wandered along the beach, which was almost deserted due to the stinger net not being deployed (I assume due to debris in the water following recent rain), cut through the basement of the tavern, and then wandered along to Taylor Point. After a brief wander I was knackered and drenched with sweat, so I wandered home via the bottleshop to grab some Midori Splice (Midori, coconut rum, and pineapple), which I thought would be a nice drop on such a day.

The thermometer/hygrometer on my patio tells me it's 33 degrees celsius and 77% humidity out there. It's a wireless unit so I can check the readings from inside.

A digital galaxy

2012-01-28T18:28:00.002+10:00

Cairns birdwing butterfly

2012-01-28T13:16:00.001+10:00

Male Cairns birdwing butterfly (Ornithoptera euphorion) at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary

My oscar

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000+10:00

Entirely unimaginative with names, I call my pet oscar (Astronotus ocellatus) Oscar.

I'm a bit of an aquarium nut, as will become clear as posts build up on this blog. This is my oscar, who currently resides in a 2-foot aquarium with an Eheim Ecco filter. The background is latex, the plants are plastic and the substrate is Dupla Ground. It's fed a mix of basic flakes, freeze dried krill, frozen blood worms, and a few other things to make some variety.

Indian mynas on a hot summer day

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000+10:00

A pair of Indian mynas (Acridotheres tristis) cool off on the Cairns Esplanade

Note: This is another in my series of reposts of my favourite photos from my old blog

A new season commences

2012-01-25T20:57:00.000+10:00

After the cliffhanger end to season three, with Jesus quitting on Mr Deity's project, season four took a detour through the early years. Season five comes to the screen picking up from Mr Deity and the Quitter.Here's Mr Deity and the Quitter, Part Deux:

Newt Gingrich? Really?

2012-01-25T09:57:00.001+10:00

I really miss having the Daily Show on ABC2. We had Stewart and Colbert on for a while, but for some reason they got pulled. Thank heavens for the internet. Here's Jon Stewart in classic form, albeit with a very easy target:

The Daily Show
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I struggle to understand American conservatives. How on Earth did serial adulterer and con-artist Newt Gingrich get into a position to be their candidate? A former speaker of the House and lobbyist claims to be a Washington outsider? Gingrich has a long history of selling bullshit (such as $5,000 "awards" to entrepeneurs), but can he sell the absolute load he is pushing now?

Buff-banded rail

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000+10:00

A Buff-banded Rail, Gallirallus philippensis, emerges from the grass on the Cairns Esplanade for a stretch

Note: One of my favourite photos from my old blog, noww reposted here.

Contemplating dingos

2012-01-24T21:57:00.000+10:00

Two of the five dingos at the Johnstone River Crocodile Farm

I'll admit it's wrong to judge an animal by an encounter with a small domesticated subset, but it's hard not to do so. After spending a few minutes in the enclosure with the dingos at Johnstone River Crocodile Farm, just outside Innisfail, I can't imagine them as anything but the most desirable type of dog I've ever met. Thinking of these slightly built dogs attacking people is near impossible, yet we know they have even been responsible for a couple of deaths.

Other breeds of dog have also been responsible for deaths, and I can't imagine how a domesticated dingo could be more dangerous than, say, an alsatian or staffordshire terrier. The slight build of a dingo would have to make it less physically capable of inflicting damage, and I'm unsure how we could say that the average domesticated dingo would be more likely to attack than the average alsatian. I also fail to understand how a pet dingo gone feral would be a greater threat to livestock than an alsatian gone feral.

So, I think dingos should be allowable pets unless the Queensland Government can provide evidence for one or more of the following:

feral dingos are a greater threat to livestock than feral alsatians
domesticated dingos are more likely to attack humans than domesticated alsatians
in an attack, domesticated dingos are capable of inflicting greater damage than domesticated alsatians
domesticated dingos pose a greater disease risk than domesticated alsatians.

I think I'll write and ask for answers.

Striated heron

2012-01-22T10:13:00.001+10:00

Striated herons can often be found patrolling the puddles and creeks left by the falling tide at the Cairns Esplanade. This one was targetting small fish in a creek formed by a stormwater drain exiting onto the mudlfats.

Note: I've decided to repost some of my favourite photos from my old blog. This is one of them.

An imaginatively titled blog

Synodontis grandiops

Meet Governor Vaginal Probe

I try to make constructive suggestions at work

Clothing label fun

An illustration of well-deserved mild criticism

What is matter?

The start of something big

The post in which I succumb and show a LOLCat image

Shark fin's revenge

Green sea-turtle

Faster-than-light Nissan Micra ‘may have been down to timing fault’

LNP discovers iStockphoto

YouTube allowing moderators to censor criticism of Islam

Crime in Trinity Beach

An army of scientists, sceptics and comedians was mobilised...

Queenslanders get to be butt-buddies

Royal spoonbill

A bad cable connection caused the "faster-than-light neutrinos" story?

Yawning owl

It's okay if you're an American...

Looking north

Shadow gobies

Richard Dawkins needs to apologise

Not a good photo of the Queen Mary 2

Don't be sensible, Mr Phillips

US nuclear arsenal to shrink?

Raising money for charity for profit

Occupy Heaven

Baroness Warsi to visit the Vatican

Finch Bay

Split Rock

Chestnut-breasted mannikin

Oh sugar

Worst Comes to Worst - Baba Brinkman

And in Indonesia...

Hamza Kashgari expressed his thoughts

Other things to read

Yacht at Nudey Beach

Hyundai vs Cheetah

Eastern spinebill at Lake Barrine

Using nuclear waste as fuel

Rules of grammar

A little windy

Why did sea levels fall in 2010?

In the Skies on Superbowl Sunday

Libertarianism

A little wet

Republicans ask Gingrich for an ‘open relationship’

Flying people

Dolphins at play

The abridged version

Beach stone-curlew

Disguised menace

Little egret

Unidentified flower

Eoin Colfer selected to write Bible sequel

Another lazy Sunday

A digital galaxy

Cairns birdwing butterfly

My oscar

Indian mynas on a hot summer day

A new season commences

Newt Gingrich? Really?

Buff-banded rail

Contemplating dingos

Striated heron