Wow!! Its almost like last year's Ashes didnt happen at all. Nothing has happened over the last two days in Brisbane that didnt happen at the start of Ashes series' from 1989-2003. Few people would believe, based on what we have seen so far, that England are the holders.....well not for long I dont think.
Flintoff was once again colossal, but England lacked bite without Simon Jones, and Harmison, who has terrorized every other batting line-up, was rather docile as he usually is against Australia (barring that time he hit Justin Langer twice on the head). Meanwhile, people continue to ask why it has taken 10 years of domestic cricket for the Aussie selectors to give Mike Hussey a chance. And Ricky Ponting, it must be said, (rather sadly for Tendulkar-ites like myself) is probably the best batsman of the current generation.
Anyway, it'll be a good effort by England to avoid an innings defeat. I think the hype surrounding this Ashes series will quickly deflate, if not after this test match, then surely after the drubbing England are going to receive in Perth (rather like the Indians in South Africa are receiving at the moment, more on that some other time).
Friday 24 November 2006
Wednesday 22 November 2006
Climate Change
The unseasonal weather in Sydney over the last few weeks got me thinking again about climate change, global warming, renewable energy etc...
Every year, as summer approaches, it seems that this summer is going to be the hottest of them all. I would have to say that until 2004/5, that was true from my experience. I skipped last summer (I was in India for four months, sweet tropical winter.....) but my family and friends tell me that it was undoubtedly the hottest summer ever. This year however, things have been a little bit strange. There have repeated cool changes throughout the spring months, and even the hottest days havent been all that hot. Also, it has been a rather humid summer; generally, the bushfire-prone summer months are bone dry in Sydney. So what's been happening??
I'm no meteorologist, but weather patterns are supposed to be complex, and this sort of aberration could be put down to pure chance alone. But over the last few years, there have numerous instances of unprecedented weather patterns around the world. Hurricane Katrina is probably the most famous example, but it is only of many hurricanes that have arisen from the Gulf of Mexico. Cyclone Larry wreaked havoc on the northern Queensland coast earlier this year. Rising sea levels have flooded vast tracts of the Bangladesh coastline. Europe has experienced three years of summer heatwaves, with temperatures rising as high as 35-40 C. Glaciers are disappearing in Nepal and mountain lakes are overfilling and rupturing their banks. The delayed monsoonal downpour has hit parts of India with unexpected ferocity and caused widespread flooding for two years in a row (I was stuck in the Chennai floods last year). And to add to all this, we have Sydney's strange weather.
I guess it's easy to put all the blame onto global warming. There is clear evidence that air and sea temperatures around the world have been on the increase as far back as the records stretch. Alarmingly, the rate of increase has closely followed global development trends i.e. energy consumption i.e. CO2 emissions. Satellite data shows that the polar ice caps have been receding adding further proof that temperatures are rising. Then there is the famous "hole in the ozone layer". I dont know how they actually measure that, but people claim its getting bigger too (there's supposed to a big one over Antarctica).
But there is a school of thought that global warming is fictitious and that the Earth goes through cycles, certain stages of which involve rising temperatures, sea levels, CO2 concentration etc. People who espouse this theory are ridiculed and sidelined by the mainstream scientific community, but I wonder if that is the right way to deal with these people. There is good evidence to support global warming and its link to human activity. There should be a legitimate way to discredit this anti-global warming minority, rather than resorting to bully tactics. I think the best way to achieve this is to show that taking measures to reduce CO2 emissions can reverse global warming. If this could be demonstrated then there would be no such questions raised. The problem is that tackling climate change is rather more easily said than done.
What I actually wanted to write about was ways in which we can reduce emissions and why we dont take up these practices, on a global, national and individual level. But this post is already too long, so I'll write another piece soon and continue from where I stopped...
Every year, as summer approaches, it seems that this summer is going to be the hottest of them all. I would have to say that until 2004/5, that was true from my experience. I skipped last summer (I was in India for four months, sweet tropical winter.....) but my family and friends tell me that it was undoubtedly the hottest summer ever. This year however, things have been a little bit strange. There have repeated cool changes throughout the spring months, and even the hottest days havent been all that hot. Also, it has been a rather humid summer; generally, the bushfire-prone summer months are bone dry in Sydney. So what's been happening??
I'm no meteorologist, but weather patterns are supposed to be complex, and this sort of aberration could be put down to pure chance alone. But over the last few years, there have numerous instances of unprecedented weather patterns around the world. Hurricane Katrina is probably the most famous example, but it is only of many hurricanes that have arisen from the Gulf of Mexico. Cyclone Larry wreaked havoc on the northern Queensland coast earlier this year. Rising sea levels have flooded vast tracts of the Bangladesh coastline. Europe has experienced three years of summer heatwaves, with temperatures rising as high as 35-40 C. Glaciers are disappearing in Nepal and mountain lakes are overfilling and rupturing their banks. The delayed monsoonal downpour has hit parts of India with unexpected ferocity and caused widespread flooding for two years in a row (I was stuck in the Chennai floods last year). And to add to all this, we have Sydney's strange weather.
I guess it's easy to put all the blame onto global warming. There is clear evidence that air and sea temperatures around the world have been on the increase as far back as the records stretch. Alarmingly, the rate of increase has closely followed global development trends i.e. energy consumption i.e. CO2 emissions. Satellite data shows that the polar ice caps have been receding adding further proof that temperatures are rising. Then there is the famous "hole in the ozone layer". I dont know how they actually measure that, but people claim its getting bigger too (there's supposed to a big one over Antarctica).
But there is a school of thought that global warming is fictitious and that the Earth goes through cycles, certain stages of which involve rising temperatures, sea levels, CO2 concentration etc. People who espouse this theory are ridiculed and sidelined by the mainstream scientific community, but I wonder if that is the right way to deal with these people. There is good evidence to support global warming and its link to human activity. There should be a legitimate way to discredit this anti-global warming minority, rather than resorting to bully tactics. I think the best way to achieve this is to show that taking measures to reduce CO2 emissions can reverse global warming. If this could be demonstrated then there would be no such questions raised. The problem is that tackling climate change is rather more easily said than done.
What I actually wanted to write about was ways in which we can reduce emissions and why we dont take up these practices, on a global, national and individual level. But this post is already too long, so I'll write another piece soon and continue from where I stopped...
Monday 20 November 2006
At long last.....
At long last, I've finished my degree!!! Its been six long years, and finally, I can honestly say that I dont know when I have my next exam. Hopefully not for two or three years at least.....On the eve of the last exam, my friend commented that our lives have been dominated by exams for the last twelve years. I hadnt thought of it that way before, its an interesting observation. Of course, the first few years of high school hardly counts, but still, twelve years of exams.......
So you can imagine how relieved I was when marks were released on Friday afternoon. (they fast-track marking for final years..) The prospect of absolute freedom for 2 months...........
So how have I been using my freedom???
Well, I've just been reading books...literally just reading books. Its been so long since I just sat down and read a book continuously for hours. Probably not since high school, with a couple of exceptions, maybe. So I just got my hands on some books and started reading. In fact, my family's complaints about my insatiable reading hunger brought back memories from my high school, which would've been the last time I heard such complaints. In between books, I've also tried to start to exercising again- its proving to be rather difficult, I didnt realize how inertia I'd built up during the exams. Oh yes, the garden needs fixing as well (remember the roses).
Now that I have some time on my hands, I have to blog about all those ideas that came to my mind during the exam period. The problem is, when I have to study, all these (irrelevant, at that time) ideas pop into my head, and its often hard not to daydream and focus on studying. But now that all that's over, I seem to have forgotten what I was going to write about.....
Anyway, I'm sure it'll come to me...My apologies to all those who have been checking my blog over the last month or so, I hope I havent lost you. There should be regular posts from now on...
So you can imagine how relieved I was when marks were released on Friday afternoon. (they fast-track marking for final years..) The prospect of absolute freedom for 2 months...........
So how have I been using my freedom???
Well, I've just been reading books...literally just reading books. Its been so long since I just sat down and read a book continuously for hours. Probably not since high school, with a couple of exceptions, maybe. So I just got my hands on some books and started reading. In fact, my family's complaints about my insatiable reading hunger brought back memories from my high school, which would've been the last time I heard such complaints. In between books, I've also tried to start to exercising again- its proving to be rather difficult, I didnt realize how inertia I'd built up during the exams. Oh yes, the garden needs fixing as well (remember the roses).
Now that I have some time on my hands, I have to blog about all those ideas that came to my mind during the exam period. The problem is, when I have to study, all these (irrelevant, at that time) ideas pop into my head, and its often hard not to daydream and focus on studying. But now that all that's over, I seem to have forgotten what I was going to write about.....
Anyway, I'm sure it'll come to me...My apologies to all those who have been checking my blog over the last month or so, I hope I havent lost you. There should be regular posts from now on...
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