Compromise and Conceit
Infernal adventuring…
Category: Science
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Here is a selection of local micro-brewery beers that I have recently sampled, assembled on my kitchen counter as a representative cross-section of these companies’ offerings. The two with the owl logo are from Hitachino Nest, whose bespoke brewing plan was explained to me and Sergeant M a few days ago. The others are all…
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Is bespoke brewing a uniquely Japanese phenomenon? My friend Sergeant M is in town from Australia, so last night we went for a few drinks in Kichijoji. After dinner at Bloomoon we headed to holic beer bar, which serves a wide range of imported and local brews. Sergeant M is a fan of microbreweries, and…
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In my experience energy conservation is often given short shrift as an effect means of carbon emissions reduction, especially by opponents of the concept of anthropogenic global warming (AGW), and by people with an economics bent who see conservation in an anti-progress framework. In this framework, conservation is seen as an idea promoted by “hairshirt”-wearing…
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I have become involved in research on Female Genital Cutting (FGC) in Nigeria, as part of my work, and in preparation for this work I had to read a report on the prevalence and distribution of the practice in Nigeria. This report makes for interesting reading, and in particular it seems to run counter to…
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Japanese people in general seem to have excellent skills in data visualization, as well as quite advanced mathematical ability and a robust approach to science. Japanese appreciation of data visualization, particularly, seems to exceed anything similar in the West (at least, that I’m familiar with). In my favourite magazine, Tokyo Graffiti, for example, ordinary people…
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Recently for some reason there has been discussion of the dangers of nuclear power. People have been casting their memories back to that most famous of disasters, Chernobyl, when things went slightly pear-shaped in a communist dictatorship, and a rather backward and poorly-designed, badly-run nuclear plant went critical. Now there is a 30km wide exclusion…
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Flood is a disaster story of epic proportions, written by Stephen Baxter. The story follows a group of 4 friends over a 30 year period from the moment in 2012 when they make a pledge under strange circumstances to always look out for one another, as a disaster of incredible size overtakes the earth. This…
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I always liked the Slaad, those vicious froggy bastards from another plane. Recently the Australian Museum discovered a flying vampire frog[1] in Vietnam, which would surely be the inspiration for an excellent and very terrifying undead Slaad. — fn1: This is a slight exaggeration
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Reading World War Z has got me thinking about a lot of different things, but the first thing I noticed was the way in which the modern Zombie tale has increasingly become a commentary on (and, generally, an endorsement of) modern public health and disease prevention principles. Of course, public health principles applied in the…
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I devoured this novel in 4 hours on the Beppu-Fukuoka return train, and I thought it was awesome. The book is an Oral History of an international zombie conflict, which starts in China and brings humanity to the edge of extinction. It is written as a series of interviews, which were intended to be incorporated…
Compromise and Conceit 