<< CARBON FOOTPRINT INCREASED ~ MAIN ~ AIRCON DOWN >>
GREEN AND UNSEEN
We don’t watch global warming TV shows, we don’t turn off our lights, we don’t read warmenist blogs, we don’t buy stupid hybrid cars, and we don’t watch climate change concerts:
The globe-spanning pop music extravaganza Live Earth fell flat for television viewers in the United States and Britain …
And if international audience numbers are anything to go by, Australian audiences may have also reached for the TV remote, although it’s difficult to say with Foxtel refusing to release its Live Earth audience numbers.
Must be because the numbers are so … huge. US viewers shunned Gorestock:
The main three hour American TV broadcast on NBC averaged a meagre 2.7 million viewers, ranking as the least-watched US program on Saturday night and falling below NBC’s summer prime-time Saturday average, Nielsen Media Research reported today.
That’s one way of reducing global carbon output: produce TV shows nobody wants to see.
Well yeah, the Cubs were on. What did they expect?
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2007 07 10 at 12:12 AM • permalinkI turned on every light in the house, cranked the heater up to full, and sat naked watching my toenails grow instead.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 07 10 at 12:16 AM • permalinkDid the Clinton/Gore administration do anything big in the pro-green department in the years they were in power? I can’t remember anything (I’m not North American) and am happy to be set right about this. If indeed Clinton/Gore did virtually nothing then surely that will diminish, and possibily demolish, whatever enviro-cred that Gore retains at this time?
The main three hour American TV broadcast on NBC averaged a meagre 2.7 million viewers
which is almost 3 million, which is almost 10 million, which is almost 2 billion! Would’ve been a whole lot more, but the Lancet estimated 100 million would-be viewers were prematurely killed by Chimpy before they could tune in.
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2007 07 10 at 12:18 AM • permalinkOnly slightly O/T:
A geologist calls shenanigans on global warmenating“It is a search for a mythical CO2 sink to explain an immeasurable CO2 lifetime to fit a hypothetical CO2 computer model that purports to show that an impossible amount of fossil fuel burning is heating the atmosphere,” Prof. Segalstad concludes. “It is all a fiction.”
Posted by arrowhead ripper on 2007 07 10 at 12:37 AM • permalinkFrom Wikipedia - “Live Earth was a series of worldwide concerts held on July 7, 2007 (07/07/07) intended to raise awareness about anthropogenic climate change and encourage people to live more environmentally friendly lifestyles.”
Wikipedia defintion of awareness: In biological psychology, awareness comprises a human’s or an animal’s perception and cognitive reaction to a condition or event. Awareness does not necessarily imply understanding, just an ability to be conscious of, feel or perceive.
The planets reaction: Lofty Disdain.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 07 10 at 12:45 AM • permalinkYou’re mis-reading the results- all the eco-aware citizens of the third world would have tuned in, giving the spectacular enormous figures but they’re making sacrifices on behalf of we horrible consuming 1st worlders by not having electricity, cable and a widescreen plasma.
Look at it this way and it’s been a huge success! 95% of the worlds population has embraced Goreism!!
(Might also have a bit to do with the fact that most of the featured acts are about as young, hip and exciting as incontinence pants and digital prostate examination, much like the sponsor/promoter of the event. you’d think Fox would at least have had a word to Ch 10 as to what ratings poison this blather is, but I suppose Foxtel doesn’t give a shit about popularity of programs, there’s plenty of choices and you’ve paid for it already anyway; I’d say they got it cheap, and the FTAs wouldn’t touch it with a Big Brother contestant).
#16 craigo
#9 Your maths is a little bit out, it would be an extra 1,997,300,000 to get to the 2 billion mark.
Hey now, that’s Lancet math. No quibbling allowed.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2007 07 10 at 01:04 AM • permalinkThat’s one way of reducing global carbon output: produce TV shows nobody wants to see.
Well then, I guess the CBC and the ABC should start selling carbon credits. (Unless their sport shows put them back into carbon “red ink”.)Posted by andycanuck on 2007 07 10 at 01:12 AM • permalinkNo one in our house watched TV at all that night. Forgot the show was on, actually.
But (waving 2nd digit of right hand in general direction of where Algore might be) the other half and I have planted 17 trees this year on our little plot; 5 fruit trees, one foreign ornamental, and all the rest native species for the birds.
Steve McIntyre: “It opened with a fat guy with white makeup beating his own drum. And it wasn’t even Al Gore.”
#24 - That poll’s dodgier than a 3 week old prawn curry. Have a feeling that the same formula behind Mann’s Hockey Stick may be powering those numbers.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 07 10 at 02:11 AM • permalink#24 Yep - just noticed that too.
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2007 07 10 at 02:15 AM • permalinkOoo lookie - at 4.33pm AEST the ABC’s little poll has been ‘temporarily taken offline’.
—Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 2007 07 10 at 02:34 AM • permalinkThank God they didn’t have one of those LiveEarth concert’s in Buenos Aires. They got their first snowfall since 1918.
Posted by David Crawford on 2007 07 10 at 02:40 AM • permalink#29 Sky News is like the ABC with 50 news readers and one reporter. politically, it is very anti-Howard, anti-Bush. It is a disgrace and I told Austar it was when I cancelled my subscription.
But the Live Earth flop is wonderful. How many pop stars who donated their services were expecting a resurgent career based on the promised billions of viewers. Now it looks like an advert on another channel might have reached more people. And wait for the recriminations as contemporary pop stars blame the has-beens such as Crowded House and Madonna for its failure and vice versa. And how long before both turn on Gore, who came across as someone planning world domination, like the Brain in Pinky and the Brain
Debate not liked at strangely named blog.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 07 10 at 03:17 AM • permalinkRE:37 - Comments strangely sane. Me confused.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 07 10 at 03:18 AM • permalinkBTW, anti-warmenists are now traitors:
“Get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington, who are nothing more than corporate toadies,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the environmentalist author, president of Waterkeeper Alliance and Robert F. Kennedy’s son, who grew hoarse from shouting. “This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors.”
Posted by Ernst Blofeld on 2007 07 10 at 03:40 AM • permalinkThe online poll at the ABC has been closed due to “automated tampering”. The moderator reports that before the tampering, the results were 25% for and 75% against agreeing that humans were responsible for global warming.
What is it about the pro-AGW crowd that drives them to falsify data, and to go to some effort to do it, even when the aim is trivial, like rigging an online poll?
#38
Shit, IT get back over there and start bashing the deniers, otherwise my carbon trading caper is going arse up.I’ve got two D9 Caterpillars with 200metres of anchor chain between them and I’m not afraid to use them.
Any more of this rubbish and the Mulga trees will get it.
I’ve spent a lot of time getting the green left to convince the masses that this is real and they haven’t worked out that they are providing the foundations for the greatest capitalist conspiracy of all time.
I must not fail…
#44 - Not to fear, Pickles. The best money in most scams is to be made with the final rusted on believers, the naive and the greedy. Bit like a stock collapse, I’m expecting a dead cat bounce for Globular Womanising and then the recriminations will start! And then a quick change of shingle and business cards and we’ll all be selling shonky Globsal Icicular Age offset packages. We can’t lose I tell ya!
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 07 10 at 03:58 AM • permalinkBloody Al Gore must have been visiting Darwin again…........... its been so cold this year.
So cold in fact that on the night of the global warming concert,and without a heater of any kind, I went to bed and missed the whole energy consuming,end of the world proclaiming, show.
And it is bloody freezing again TONIGHT!!! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
Global Warming….....Bring it ON!!!!!
37.
Just popped on that SMH site and left my favourite question for the people who love AGW.If modeling of global weather systems are so advanced then why cant they say definitavely wether El Nino has finished its cycle yet?
The best info I last heard was a fairly unconvincing “we may be moving out of the El Nino cycle”.
Thats a frigging KNOWN cycle which has been studied and modeled for years. If they cant predict that then why should I believe a UN (since when does anyone take note of that mob for facts) quango??Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2007 07 10 at 05:50 AM • permalinkMy forecast is that now the MSM will take a look at the real ratings and realize they can’t make money by hyping AGW and it will quietly drop from their consciousness just like the looming ice age (70’s), herpes (80’s), and income disparity (90’s).
Posted by oldirishpig on 2007 07 10 at 06:20 AM • permalink# 51 ( Moley ):
In the Global Warming Quiz show that one of yours is treated as follows:
a) Respondee (is that a word ,lol) is dumbstruck and manages UMMMM .b) Buzzer goes timing them out + / or they manage “Pass !”
c) Attack your credentials as they see no other way out by saying ” Ahh another oil company employee !”
.........................................
The main three hour American TV broadcast on NBC averaged a meagre 2.7 million viewers, ranking as the least-watched US program on Saturday night and falling below NBC’s summer prime-time Saturday average, Nielsen Media Research reported today.
It was on (said with an Aussie accent) the telly?
Posted by wronwright on 2007 07 10 at 06:30 AM • permalinkAbout 21 C in Cambridge UK at the moment. Average for this time of year: I’d say high 20s
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 06:54 AM • permalinkAccording to one source, in terms of carbon footprint:
Madonna = 14548 Malawians
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 07:00 AM • permalinkEl Cid, Ash - will one permit cover all her weapons?
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 07 10 at 07:04 AM • permalink“Did the Clinton/Gore administration do anything big in the pro-green department in the years they were in power?”
Two things come to mind.
Early in the first Clinton-Gore administration (or maybe we should call it the Clinton-Clinton-Gore administration, given Hillary!‘s contribution), they proposed a BTU tax. It actually passed the House of Representatives, but was shot down in the Senate. The tax was wildly unpopular - not surprising, since it would have throttled the economic recovery in its cradle - and is credited with having helped the Republicans to win the House in 1994.
The second was, of course, the Kyoto Treaty. Under the US Constitution, a treaty must be ratified by the Senate before it has the force of law; Kyoto, which Gore took a strong personal interest in, was rejected by the Senate 95-0 (out of 100 members) under a resolution sponsored by Democrats Chuck Hagel and Robert Byrd. It was clear even to those worthies that it was not in the best interest of the United States to sign onto a protocol that regulated emissions in the US, but not in India or China. Dubya pulled the plug on the treaty, but it had flatlined years earlier.
So, the C-C-G administration swung twice, and whiffed.
Posted by Urbs in Horto on 2007 07 10 at 07:17 AM • permalinkAre we still talking about the cannon balls here Ash?
Trust me to lower the tone…Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 07 10 at 07:36 AM • permalinkAnd DDD is just one step above the XXX rating for that girl!
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 07 10 at 07:37 AM • permalinkOh Ash, I’m going to have to leave the room now before I disgrace myself completely and start shouting
PICTURES! PICTURES! PICTURES!Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 07 10 at 07:45 AM • permalinkHeh. Nice goin Al. You’re now about 3,000,000,000 in carbon credit arrears. How do you propose off-setting this one, Tubby? How about a CO2 Circus? CO2 Global Gladiator Competition? Live-Earth Water Park and Organic Sunscreen Fiesta?
I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t go on Big Mac bender after this fiasco.“Get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington, who are nothing more than corporate toadies,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the environmentalist author, president of Waterkeeper Alliance and Robert F. Kennedy’s son, who grew hoarse from shouting. “This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors.”
So let me get this straight—repeating enemy propaganda, actively working for our defeat in a war is “dissent”, which is the highest form of patriotism. But doubting the accuracy of speculative, fudged computer models that show an ever-increasing trend from a data line that’s historically cyclical and nowhere near its historical maximums, that’s treason.
Hokay….
Posted by Rob Crawford on 2007 07 10 at 08:16 AM • permalinkRe the ABC poll.
I took some screen shots, like I do, and have them posted.
One thing that struck me was how few clicks the site.
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2007 07 10 at 08:20 AM • permalinkOnly thing I saw was that painted twit from Silverchair in the paper gobbing off about how he smoked dope with Peter Garrett (Labor’s great green hope) and Bono (um, some Irish fella who used to have talent before the gigantic sunglasses smothered it.)
He then ate his words with the classic line “I guess I should just shut up and stick to music.”
Right on that one mate, spread it around to your fellow travellers while you’re at it.
Also, ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ absolutely rocks. :)#87
The vast majority of the bands I like are lefties - you can’t get away from it. Some of my favourite music from the 70s is Genesis’ Selling England By The Pound with Peter Gabriels’s idiotic, babyish rantings about the evils of supermarkets. Doesn’t matter to me for some reason - still awesome music.
Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Megadeth…... Leftyism sells….
Although now I’m thinking of G’n'R - probably NOT very left-wing if anything at all, and Steely Dan - always very cynical and searching lyrics.
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 08:59 AM • permalink#88 Don’t sweat it, 185600.
I know what you mean… “Don’t Tread On Me” did rock. I promise I won’t bite when you bring me ashore. However, that song really sucked when I was 9 and went on some ride at the Royal Melbourne Show that put me up side down for about 10 minutes. I coloured the guy in charge of the ride some beautiful colours.
Maybe some people were turned off by the participation of this cultural quisling . Islam and global warming: the nexus!
In any event, I believe the boomlet for another Gore presidential run is rapidly losing steam. The Luftshiff Gore Gurke - that gawdy zeppelin of self- promotion that represents the Second Coming of Al Gore, Public Figure - has been mortally wounded, not only by the ack-ack guns of the sanity artillery, but by the Captain’s own navigational ineptitude. Look for him to make a hard landing somewhere in the vicinity of a second-rate university or an obscure non-profit “public interest” group, or maybe even an NGO of some kind, where he will be free to grow his beard and poke about the discount racks at the Tall and Big Men’s Shop, looking for an XXXL “sincere” suit to be worn on those occasions, of sadly diminishing frequency, when he will be interviewed by increasingly junior and inexperienced journalists who are unaware of the fact that, with respect to newsworthiness, he is a spent force.
#89 Thin and Musical
Yes, it is a problem, my favourite non Aussie musician is sadly, Warren Zevon (yes, I know he’s dead) but I just loved ‘Roland the Thompson Gunner’ and always will.
But it’ll never match Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls’ ‘Darling it Hurts’ or ‘Only 40 Miles to Saturday Night’.That said, did you know if you were to defy Military Regulations and carry an IPod on a static line jump from 1500 feet, Blur’s ‘Song 2’ is normally a perfect match for time after the ‘chute opens until you hit the ground and get out of your rig?
Not that I tested it, of course. :) Just a shame that so many musicians whose work I like happen to be kinda screwy.
#93 If I was doing that kind of thing, I think getting the right button on my IPod would be quite low priority in comparison to, say, finding the parachute release cord for instance.
I’m now imagining getting BOTH things wrong and dying listening to Leonard Cohen. Or U2.
Have to say, a lot of the best bands are apolitical - Faith No More, Rush, Yes….
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 09:14 AM • permalink#91 Ash_
I coloured the guy in charge of the ride some beautiful colours.Picturing fairy floss and dagwood dog style chunder shower. :0
Well, it happens to all of us, I have it on good authority (my dad) that I cried on my first dodge’em car ride (aged 4)
- but I was only weeping for the reckless use of energy, honest!
/ greenie off.Hope you two are well?
#93 Thin and not Jumping
Static line jump mate, the ‘chute deploys automatically (well, it’s supposed to) if you exit right, you can look up after 4 seconds, see the second sweetest sight in the world, and slap that play button.Not that I ever did that of course, that would be a bad thing. :)
Please note, no Leonard Cohen in my Ipod.
The Black Keys yes, the most miserable man in existence, sadly, not on your life, I want to live, dammit! :)#100
It’s the “supposed to” and “if you exit right” in your statement that kind of put a blot on its otherwise encouraging, comforting nature.
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 09:32 AM • permalink#98 Ash_
Um, you didn’t record it did you?
At least you stayed with it, although knowing ‘Carny Folk’ you wouldn’t have had much hope of getting them to stop the ride, unless your head fell off and hit the operator in the face.The worst recording I have is of me during a jump, when I was very young, you can hear us going through our drills, and as I exited, you can actually hear me screaming my fiancee’s name as I went out the door (figured if you’re gonna die and all, hey, I was young).
Worst part is, my voice made Freddy Mercury sound like a Fijian Rugby Rep who’s been kicked in the throat. :)
#104 RebeccaH
I am all for the whole ‘40 is the new 30’ type thing, but Madonna should perhaps retire and spend her copious fortune on something, not pollute my tv with gratuitous attempts to be ‘young’.
She isn’t, I’m not, and I don’t wander around with my strides around my knees and a stud in my tongue.
For a reason. Whatever happened to ageing gracefully and just, you know, pottering around in the garden and destroying people on the internet? :)#107 Ash_
But what in the world could make you pout like that?
And what could make you think that I don’t? (exempting the fact that I am, apparently engaged?).Or is the ‘cleary’ reference to that infamous Irish Gaelic football player, Cleary O’If*cked this kick up?
I do hope I haven’t precipitated a ‘HRF’ incident? (Checks deployment gear in study, remembers that body armour and weapons are held at work, starts chewing nails and decides that the dog is sleeping in his bed whilst he sleeps in the bathtub, just to be safe). :)
I have to admit, many if not most of the bands and songs mentioned on this blog are completely unknown to me. Sometimes I suspect some of you are making it all up, Monty Python style. I’m waiting for someone to mention the group Chocolate Cake. I have to restrain myself from saying NI or “I don’t like Spam” to any reference to Midnight Oil.
Why doesn’t anyone mention Little River Band or Air Supply? They’re good bands.
Posted by wronwright on 2007 07 10 at 10:23 AM • permalink#116 I don’t listen to hip-hop I’m afraid.
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 11:10 AM • permalink“#67 Urbs? Isn’t a Hagel a rethuglican?”
My bad, you’re right. Though in my defense, Hagel is the walking, talking definition of a RINO.
Posted by Urbs in Horto on 2007 07 10 at 11:46 AM • permalinkBy the way, doesn’t anybody here listen to classical music? Or jazz? If I were falling out of an airplane, I couldn’t imagine better music than a kick-ass performance of the third movement of Brandenburg 2. And Ella Fitzgerald had more music in her fingernail parings than Madonna has ever had in her entire skanky body, or ever will.
Posted by Urbs in Horto on 2007 07 10 at 11:55 AM • permalinkHave to say, a lot of the best bands are apolitical - Faith No More, Rush, Yes….
Rush may not be overtly political, but Neal Peart’s libertarianism comes through loud and clear in the lyrics. “The Trees” is the most devastating attack on socialism ever written by a rock band. Well, the only attack on socialism ever written by a rock band. It’s the anti-“Imagine”. And “Red Barchetta” is a love song to a car, defying the eco-fascists who have banned them.
#121 Ah, very interesting. Good stuff. And Have a look at “Only A Fool WOuld Say That” by Steely Dan if you want to see an attack :-)
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 12:02 PM • permalink#120
Not personally - have always been deeply committed to rock music, playing it and listening to it. Classical just somehow doesn’t work with me. I’ve tried hard but can’t make it work.My Dad is a classical music afficionado and also a lefty (in fact he reckons he’s a communist, though his bank balance would disagree). Maybe that says something.
Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 12:11 PM • permalink#120
BTW didn’t mean to imply that if you like classical music you’re a lefty!!Posted by ThinAndBritish on 2007 07 10 at 12:12 PM • permalink#52 El Cid
Would a Smith & Wesson appease your needs?Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 07 10 at 01:47 PM • permalink#120 Urbs
Try the “1812 Overture” with supporting loud booming sounds courtesy of big-bore smoke-burners such as the Fort Henry Cannons.Cheers
Posted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2007 07 10 at 01:54 PM • permalinkRush may not be overtly political, but Neal Peart’s libertarianism comes through loud and clear in the lyrics. “The Trees” is the most devastating attack on socialism ever written by a rock band.
“Free Will,” “Anthem,” “Tom Sawyer” ain’t far behind.
Posted by Jeffersonian on 2007 07 10 at 03:13 PM • permalinkThe comprehensive flop that was Gore-Aid is certainly good for a laugh (or a hundred), but more importantly I think that for a lot of the public the greenies finally went a bridge too far.
The spectacle of idiot musicians (“stars” would have been a stretch in most cases) who flit from one 20,000-square-foot manse to another by Gulfstream V hectoring the rest of us about “sacrifice” was just too much. The media may continue to fawn over these sanctimonious twats, but people with any sense are telling them in droves to sod off.
Posted by WingDynasty on 2007 07 10 at 04:14 PM • permalink#49;
> Computer models are so much better now, they say. Junk in = junk out.
#33 Peter M
Actually recursive computer models are error magnifiers. The longer they run for, the greater the error becomes (exponential).
It’s Good (but not perfect in) => Junk Out.”
Positive-feedback loops are sooooooo much fun, aren’t they?#120 Urbs: For falling out of an airplane, I’d recommend the Nat King Cole Trio’s “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” or maybe Pete Johnson’s “Dive Bomber Boogie” or (my personal all-time swing favorite), Lionel Hampton’s “Flyin’ Home”. Of course, when it comes to actually hitting the ground, “Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four” might be more appropriate - either the Andrews Sisters version, or the original by the Bradley/McKinley orchestra. Naturally, unless you had a parachute, you’d want to finish up with Benny Goodman’s version of “And the Angel’s Sing”, with trumpeter Ziggy Ellman’s hot fraliche swing solo.
109
I’m waiting for someone to mention the group Chocolate Cake.
Actually, wron, their name was My Friend The Chocolate Cake.
Other memorable band names from 20 years ago include Exploding Cats, and People With Chairs Up Their Noses.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 07 10 at 06:40 PM • permalinkScott Walker, he of the fabulous voice, is (so I read somewhere) a committed socialist. Phil Ochs was a lefty, although one who could see the left’s shortcomings - his song ‘Love Me, I’m a Liberal’ skewers the NIMBYs and Doctors Wives with their own hypocrisy.
Al Stewart’s politics are completely unknown to me.
Fair to say though that if I chose my music according to the politics of the musicians, I’d be listening to street traffic most of the time.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 07 10 at 06:46 PM • permalinkUrbs in horto—Well,there’s violins in “The Devil Went Down to Georgia…”
But yeah, I listen to classical. I mean, Khatchaturian’s “Gayneh” is practically the Megadeth of classical music.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2007 07 10 at 08:47 PM • permalink“BTW didn’t mean to imply that if you like classical music you’re a lefty!!”
That’s good, ‘cause I’m listening to Eine Kleine Nachtmusik at the moment.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 07 11 at 01:16 AM • permalink“Not once has anyone mentioned REAL bands like The Stanley Brothers, or Flatt & Scruggs, or Mountain Heart, or such.”
Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.
Saw them play in San Francisco a couple of years ago. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
Those guys totally rule.
Posted by Dave Surls on 2007 07 11 at 01:48 AM • permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
“Turn off, tune out, order home delivered Thai food”