Economic Models as explained by Cows

A little light relief on Fathers Day.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them.

Moo ....

North Coast Voices: 21 Economic Models explained with Cows - 2008 update

Baza distractions

Usually a dreary, overcast, drizzly day, (which I'm sure the earth is very thankful for - drought and all that), offers me the opportunity to get some serious work done.

No excuse to keep looking out the office window at the sunshine and blue sky, wishing I was there instead of here; it's head down bum up, shoulder to the wheel and nose to grindstone (now where did that phrase come from?!). Well, that's the theory.

But today, try as I might, Mother Nature has other plans, and a Pacific Baza keeps grabbing my attention, gliding into my line of sight from my peripheral vision, as it catches all manner of frogs, spiders, tree snakes and other wee morsels, in the canopy of trees outside my window.

What a handsome looking bird! The crest, bright yellow eye and distinct chest barring really stand out against the gunmetal blue/grey plumage when viewed through binoculars, even if the magnificent rufous colouring is somewhat dulled by the damp conditions.

Whoops, gone again. Time to get back to it ....

Wil Wheaton brings back sheepish memories

I've followed Wil Wheaton online for a few years now.

Today's post, WWdN: In Exile: pour it in my hand for a dime, apart from relating a current painful event, includes a funny from Youtube which reminded me of the time our family had a pet sheep that needed shearing.

Back in the sixties and seventies, it was common to have large enough suburban blocks, that you could have a vege garden, a couple of fruit trees, keep a few chooks and maybe even other assorted animals, like a pet sheep.

Sheep shearers on the other hand, weren't thatcommon in the city, especially during sheep shearing season around New Zealand and Australia, so it took a while to track one down.

When we did, if memory serves me correctly, the phone call went something like this:

Me: "We're looking for a shearer to shear our sheep, how much will it cost?"
Shearer: "How many sheep do you have?"
Me: "One".
Shearer: "One hundred sheep will be $x per sheep".
Me: "No, not one hundred sheep, just ONE sheep".
Shearer: long pause .... "Does it have a name?"

He did come around to our house to shear "Buttons", and I think, just to prove to all his mates in the shearing shed the following season, brought a friend along to watch.

He used traditional hand shearing blades, and took away a good load of wool to boot. Afterward, Buttons looked positively shorn, and was leaping around the yard as shorn sheep are wont to do. (See Sheep 201).

It probably still gets the shearer a good laugh around the sheds.

P.S. Commiserations Wil, hope the rib heals quickly.

Fertility

Forest oaks' rich profusion of russet needles

proclaim fecundity, against the blue sky blue,

Grey fantails pirouette

Our carbon footprint - we're megawatt performers!

Our 1.1kW grid connect PV system ticked over the 1 megawatt hour of energy generated a month or so ago, a bit under a year after we installed it under the former Howard Government's solar rebate system.

Based on figures from DEUS (NSW), that means we've saved more than 1 tonne of greenhouse gas emissions from going into the atmosphere. Woo Hoo!

It hasn't reduced our power bill by that much, because our supplier has brought in a "daily connection" charge, so the excess we've produced above our household demand and fed back into the grid, is chewed up by that. (Thanks Morris, can't wait to see how our environmentally minded privatised electricity providers will handle the greenhouse challenge, and pass that cost along.)

Anyway, reducing our electricity bill wasn't the motivation for getting the system installed, we've always (as much as the budget would allow) factored in reducing* our carbon footprint in our lifestyle activities and choices, so this was more about doing our bit to save the planet, than saving money.

This year we installed a solar hot water system. It came online when we had unseasonal rain, so we had to fire up the booster for the first two weeks, but the offpeak meter has only ticked over 14kW or so since it was installed more than 4 weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how much more this will bring our household carbon footprint down.

So, all this got me wondering. Instead of building new coal fired or nuclear powered stations to satisfy "demand", how about we (collectively) reduce waste, improve efficiency and increase household market share of renewables to reach the 60%-90% greenhouse gas reduction target?

It cost about $13,000 to create a "point of use" 1.1kW power station on our roof. It produces about 1MW of power per year, sends some juice back to the grid, and forestalls about 1MW of greenhouse gas per year going into the atmosphere from our household activities.

There are approx. 1.6 million private dwellings in Victoria (VIC) and 6.6 million in Australia (2001 census: Separate house and Semi-detached, row/terrace etc.). The new coal fired power station mooted for VIC is going to cost a minimum of $150 million, apparently a nuke could cost USD$1B, ... can someone please do the math?

As the Stern Review and Garnaut Climate Change Review have already pointed out, the economic "ROI" bean counting, will soon be far outweighed by the environmental, social and economic costs of doing nothing.

The sooner we (collectively) start, the cheaper the solutions are, and the faster we get to our 60%-90% of 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels target. (And maybe save the planet.)

And don't use "China and India ... blah blah blah ...", as an excuse. We were primarily responsible for our greenhouse gas emissions in the past, we're responsible for our contributions now, and we'll be responsible for them in the future. Time to collectively get to work, because the clock is ticking.

Links:

• NSW ceiling insulation rebate
• Solar Homes and Communities Plan Rebate
• Solar Hot Water Rebate Program - Home Page
• Your Home - Design for lifestyle and the future
  

* If we hadn't already insulated the ceiling and all external and internal wall cavities when we built our house, we'd be getting that done too!

What's Up on Planet Earth? The Circle Game.

My friend bellizimo (EBAY profile) is visiting.

We are able to provide each other with mutual support and commiserations regards our long term ball and chains, exchange ideas and views, and learn from each other. She pointed me to one of her favourite web sites, which had a special page on African issues like Darfur, and with this profile;

African Relief - What's Up on Planet Earth?

Liberia, Another Story

In November of 2005, Liberia elected a new president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first female head of state. After 14 years of civil war, this first democratically elected female president is bringing with her a tremendous amount of feminine energy. Devoted to creating peace and rebuilding Liberia, she has a huge task at hand, but so far, is making great progress.

She is committed to re-connecting Liberia with the international community, empowering women, and ensuring that Liberia’s prior war lord, Charles Taylor, stands trial in Sierra Leone for his role in supporting the reign of terror campaign, and for his crimes against humanity.

The Darfur link took me to the web site of the ICG, International Crisis Group, which I've been aware of since Gareth Evans (WIKI) joined it nearly a decade ago.

There are some interesting articles and papers in his extensive biography (ICG), including this one: "How to secure peace in Liberia", Comment by Gareth Evans and Comfort Ero in The Observer from June 29 2003.

Round and round we go in The Circle Game.

Night visitor

We caught a Northern brown bandicoot in our cat trap last night. Apparently the exotic delights of rotten sardine was too much temptation. It was very relieved to be set free, and bounded off quickly into the natural undergrowth beneath our monstrous Monsteriosa [Monstera deliciosa]* plant behind the house.

Our first native critter since setting the trap to catch the feral cats which we've seen around the house and property, lately. Hopefully, this signals no more ferals for the next while.

*Correction and link 26/08/08

In the still of the night

I often walk outside at night, usually during the ad breaks on telly (getting more frequent and interminably longer on the commercial free to air networks), to see how many meteors I can spot (7 in 15 minutes last night), how many different frog calls there seem to be (5), and generally just to "commune with nature".

It's fortunate that we live on acreage far enough away from "civilization" to not have much in the way of light, air or noise pollution, but at this time of year, with the inversion layer, sound travels more easily, so I usually get treated various neighbours' taste in music ('60s and '70s folk rock this time), diesel generators, dogs barking and vehicles returning home along the network of gravel roads.

In between human activity, I can make out nature sounds from native critters like flying foxes chattering noisily when they've discovered some blossoms or seeds, bats - with their echo location (which is pretty amazing when one zooms past close to your head!) owls, frogmouths and other nocturnal birds, possums scooting along the branches in the canopy, and padymelons and bettongs foraging in the undergrowth and keeping the grass short.

But every now and then, there is no sound .... not even the wind blowing through the leaves.

It is completely and utterly still. Completely and utterly silent.

There is only my breathing and heartbeat, or tinnitus. Instinctively, I begin to breathe more evenly, deeper, relaxing into calm.

Then .... the wind picks up, a bird calls, a dog barks. The spell is broken. I return indoors.

It's full of stars

MOH bought me a telescope from Dick Smith Electronics for Xmas. We think we got it amazingly cheap, less than $130 for 75mm Celestron, but we didn't have much of a chance to use it until recently, because of the weather; overcast, grey and dreary.

But now the crisp, clear winter nights the north east coast is known for, are more frequent, we take it outside after dark, to get a close up views of all our favourites. It works a treat.

The moon - Tycho crater - WOW.

It's one thing to get a squiz through binoculars, it's another to get a steady view through a telescope. So cool! We are now skywatching with enthusiasm.

The rings of Saturn - what a buzz! Seeing them with my own eyes!

And last night, Jupiter rising, with 7 moons visible, in an almost straight line from the five o'clock mark. I've only ever been able to see the Galilean moons before.

Then a quick look at galactic centre before walking out into the paddock and pointing at the Southern Cross, just visible over our tree line, before getting cold and heading back inside to warm up.

Yahoo ... Love it!

Peak oil - suck it up people!

I am getting really annoyed with all the hand wringing and "woe is me" talk about petrol prices.

Suck it up people!

It's not like we haven't be warned - for the last 50 years.

Industry insiders, forward thinking politicians, conservationists and environmentalists have been talking about Peak Oil since before the first "oil shocks" in the early 1970's.

And what have our politicians and industry "leaders" done?

BUPKIS!

So now we have our pollies talking about reducing the fuel excise by 10 cents a litre - great idea, show me where the money is coming from to replace the shortfall, if you insist on providing this kind of knee jerk "relief" to the "battlers".

And as for "taking a blowtorch to OPEC" Oh Puuleease! Don't you lot get it? There ain't no more easy oil left!

Not to mention the "diplomatic" tone of the sound bite. I'm beginning to wonder about this mob.

And our motoring organisations! "More roads - more roads!", is the catchcry. Such foresight. Haven't you heard of the basic Murphy's Law of "more"?

That is, "The amount of junk you've got, will expand to fit the space you've got to put it in."

"Junk" in this case, being vehicles on roads.

A little vision and leadership goes a long way. Unfortunately, all we have been prepared to vote for, are people with the vision of Mr Magoo and a leadership style based on the "Peter Principle".

Oh, to have a leader like the "Governator" right now! (Wait a minute ... did I *really* just write that?!)

Ferals

We caught a feral cat in our trap last night.

It has been euthanased as humanly as we can manage.

I wish people would keep their cats indoors at night and have all their pets desexed if they aren't registered breeders.

It's a real bummer dealing with other peoples' indifference and ignorance.

Traffic lights and take aways

My small country town recently got its first set of traffic lights - to control pedestrians! People using a zebra crossing between two shopping precincts, strolling across the road without due regard for road traffic, often resulted in vehicles backing up though a major roundabout during peak times, so the local council put in traffic lights to control the foot traffic . Is this unusual? It may not be, but I find it amusing. Oh, and how do you know you live in a country town? I reckon it's when you still have at least 1 stand alone shop front butcher, our town has 3. How do you know when the "big smoke" has discovered your country town? When you've got a Thai or Indian or Japanese restaurant that also does takeaways. We've got 2, 1,1 respectively. ;-)

Bellinger Birdsong, morning bird calls in Australia

My first attempt at a YouTube video.
Bird song from Winter Solstice, 21 June 2005.