Posts by Jason Kemp

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  • Hard News: Forward humans,

    Reminds me of a fine old album by Bruce Cockburn. The album called Humans from 1980 still sounds great now. And the song 'Rumours of glory - might fit the title of your new site. (T-Bone Burnett has one 'Humans from Earth' as well.)

    "You see the extremes
    Of what humans can be?
    In that distance some tension's born
    Energy surging like a storm
    You plunge your hand in
    And draw it back scorched
    Beneath it's shining like
    Gold but better
    Rumours of glory"

    all the best wishes for the new project

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Speaker: Seven Good Reasons,

    Came across this quite by chance - it has some numbers in it from the U.S and seems to be useful - from the NY Times

    What Autistic Girls Are Made Of
    By EMILY BAZELON
    Published: August 5, 2007
    Research and clinical observation are starting to show that autistic girls are different from autistic boys. And these differences may have implications for the quality of their lives.

    What Autistic Girls Are Made Of

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Southerly: For Those in Need of Sleep,

    Hello again David,

    I'd have to agree that economics has really only got interesting in the last 10 years or so. I'm glad I got to it a bit later via complexity theory and Kevin Kelly.

    Perhaps now it is much easier to crunch some of those numbers ? and see the results of the models??

    Definitely the riduculous post rationalistion of results like the Solow residual should not have helped that dude win a Nobel prize.

    Are you going to have a look at this book?

    Hot Topic by Gareth Renowden. Using the latest evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report, Gareth Renowden puts climate change into its New Zealand context.

    BTW - I am going to write a 2 or 3 part post on green Futures and so I will be expanding on oil and renewables using some of the other materials from the science section here (thanks for the) and on the energy front

    check out this one from the Solar from Japan news front

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Southerly: For Those in Need of Sleep,

    Also just noticed that there is summary of sort on the significance of Solow / Kummel & Ayres at

    Oil Depletion and Economic Instability

    which also refers to the Last Oil Shock book by David Strahan where I came across the theory.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Southerly: For Those in Need of Sleep,

    Hi David,

    Thanks for mentioning that Ayres paper. I have been thinking about how to reflect on energy policy and you just drop a link in there as a throw away line almost.

    K J Aldous wrote:

    Since the first sentence of the paper is palpable nonsense, can any encouragement be offered for my persevering with the rest of it?

    How about this?

    The original theory sucks bigtime.

    And

    This one (Ayres) actually makes sense.

    Here is my attempt at a bluffers guide on the topic.

    If you look at a graph to see what the Solow residual is and what a huge gap there is on the graph between the actual $ numbers and the line plotted by the Cobb Douglas model. (driving a bloody great truck through the gap works too.)

    I agree with David Strahan when he suggests that "a model that failed to explain over three quarters of what it sought to explain should be junked or thoroughly reworked."

    In my view a theory that looks at transformation outputs with a sharper eye is well overdue.

    The significance of the theory is that efficiency gains in the use of energy can actually drive economic growth. which has huge implications BTW.

    Diagram on page 17 shows this.

    And just to cover all our bases - what these various economists were trying to do (in general terms) was to try and explain economic growth by modelling the key metrics back from their model against the actual results - where they could.

    The only real surprise is that it has taken decades (Solow,1956) for Kummel and now Ayres to make a more sensible back story for the economic growth.

    Economics has got a whole lot more interesting since Paul Omerods book -'Butterfly Economics" where he was described as the thinking persons economist.

    Can I suggest that the Professor Ayres is also a "thinking persons" ecomomist, especially compared to the Solow residual.

    Can I also say - that as the father of a 6yr old daughter how much joy that has brought into my life. One of the earlier comments has it right - enjoy the now. Every day is an adventure.

    And if you can stay awake while reading economics then you were obviously getting too much sleep before!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Hard News: Can somebody hook a brother…,

    Kaitaita Fire is made with Hanabero peppers

    try this search habanero peppers+Auckland you may even find the chocolate dipped ones

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Hard News: Can somebody hook a brother…,

    That CNN piece on Moore was quite extraordinary. That it is still available for viewing is even better. For all the criticism - Moore still hist the targets like no one else.

    Thanks also to Neil for the link to Malcolm Gladwells piece on the Moral Hazard-Myth. Even though it is 2005 - still a worthwhile piece.

    Recently I watched a series of videos from the New Yorker Conference videos

    which included an piece with Dr. Safi Bahcall of Synta Pharmaceuticals talking with Malcolm Gladwell about how mistakes lead to great scientific discoveries and how big drug companies hamper innovation.

    And a number of other medical related discussions. This gives an even wider view of the US medical landscape.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Island Life: Save the Doco Maker,

    I found the website link to Pietra & other details more useful than an email link

    Pietra website

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Hard News: Public health: the new terror…,

    Craig - Don't you think those old number from the 1930's might be be for reasons others than being a doctor.

    There would probably be a correlation between wealth and party membership that might be more insightful or any number of other clues.

    Just no sure you can drwa the bow that long.

    Medical education and general literacy - not to say anything about political debate might also have changed the groundrules in the past 60-70 yrs.

    "Doctors had been active participants in the Nazi project, and joined Hitler’s National Socialist party in greater numbers than any other profession (45% were party members, compared with 20% of teachers)."

    I'm not trying to get this thread Godwined, but while it would be nice to think putting your kids though medical school would act as a vaccine against being a religious fanatic or a murderous ideological bigot, it doesn't work like that. Bugger.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

  • Hard News: Public health: the new terror…,

    when did anyone start taking Fox News - esp. Neil Cavuto seriously?

    In this recent vid, Tommy appears on FOX News' 'Your World' show to talk about immigration with the painfully smug Bush apologist Neil Cavuto, who doesn't quite know how to react to Chong's repeated assertion that President Bush is a "moron."

    Best moment: Tommy's reaction to Cavuto saying with a straight face that Bush "is overseeing one of the strongest economies this nation has ever had."

    youtube link

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 368 posts Report

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