Ippoippo

At last… a Mac Version.

Still not as capable as the Windows one though, as you can’t save content, only stream it.

Yep, only 60% of Japanese men take a slash standing up!

But is there really a problem with men “spraying urine” when they go to the bathroom? Fuji TV conducted a test in which they placed special paper on the floor in a toilet stall and had a man use it in a traditional standing manner:

Is there a problem…. in Japan there is!
I always hated public urinals in Japan, especially at night with drunken salary men. Things get a little damp in the UK when the drunkards are around… but the UK is positively dry compared to Japan.

No… not a crazy person. A mentalist is one of these. I also happen to be reading a book written by one too… Derren Brown, who is quite well known here in the UK.

I have to admit, it’s quite a good book. Naturally, he doesn’t give away all the details of his ‘tricks of the trade’ but it’s a rather interesting read, especially the section where he pretty much debunks hypnotism. It actually feels like he’s debunking himself.

I’ve not finished the book yet, but today (on the train) just got started on the section about bad-science, religion etc. Basically, it’s a huge rant, and somewhat a bit of a mini-Dawkins ‘God Delusion‘. He discussion in there though appealed to the scientist in me. Have to admit though, did cause a fair bit of searching of the inner self etc etc. I realised that my preaching of Peak Oil theory is rather ‘religious’. I guess I better prove it then (or supply proof of it).

In other links I found on the net…
Climate change goal ‘unreachable’.

Japan - a signatory to Kyoto - should have cut by 6% but it has increased emissions by 7%.
Italy (+7.4%) and Spain (+59.8%) are missing their targets by a mile.

Whoops! Is that Spanish number a misprint… surely!!??!!

Living by the samurai sword: Devotees keep Japan’s cultural icon alive.

Bonenkai season hits Japan!

Japanese number 1 bloggers in the world

And finally… this weekend got OSX 10.5 Leopard installed on my Mac. No problems… works rather well at the moment. ‘Spotlight’ search technology on it is MUCH better than it was in Tiger (the previous release of OS X, 10.4).

Last night, there was a co-hosted meeting between the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Peak Oil and All Party Parliamentary Groups on Climate Change.

It was discovered that officials in the DTI (now the BERR), rejected the idea of commissioning a Hirsch-style risk assessment report to look at our options for mitigating the effects of a possible early oil peak as being too politically risky. In other words… the “risk” was that if they carry out a study of Peak Oil and what to do, the public might find out and panic. Or, in other words… odds on bet, the “what to do part” will involve measures that will pretty much make the government that brings them in unelectable.

As someone else has said on the PowerSwitch forum…

FFS, what an utter and complete display of cowardice. This isn’t leadership, this isn’t making difficult decisions, it’s capitulation to popularity. This is remarkably shortsighted. They’ve just completely missed the opportunity to manage the descent in a controlled way. The choice not to prepare will almost certainly guarantee that there will be riots. Idiots.

You can download the sound recording of this from HERE.

Talking about APPGOPO, here is a presentation made by David Strahan.

Only just found it, though it was for a presentation back in July this year.

Meanwhile, there was an interesting story about Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia.

By Amy Strahan
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar field, the
world’s largest oilfield discovered in 1948, doesn’t face rapid
declines in production as forecast by peak oil theorists,
according to a report today by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Using time-lapse satellite images and radar, Sanford
Bernstein commissioned a survey by GeoVille Information Systems
to monitor drilling activity in the field to determine whether
increased drilling was prompted by reservoir declines.
“There is life in this old field yet,” analyst Ben Dell
said in today’s note to clients. “While Ghawar is likely to be
in a slow decline phase, its production is not falling off the
edge of a cliff.”
The extent and timing of anticipated declines in Saudi
production are debated by commodities analysts. Some analysts
have said that Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company, is
downplaying reservoir declines.
Aramco is boosting spending on projects to raise the
kingdom’s daily output capacity to 12.5 million barrels by 2009
from 11.3 million barrels.
Today’s report by Sanford Bernstein is the first of
several examining satellite data, Dell said.
Dell reiterated his view that global oil supplies will be
sufficient to meet demand. He also forecast crude oil prices of
between $70 and $75 per barrel to 2012.

Let’s look at that again…

Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar field, the world’s largest oilfield discovered in 1948, doesn’t face rapid declines in production as forecast by peak oil theorists, according to a report today by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
[...]
“There is life in this old field yet,” analyst Ben Dell said in today’s note to clients. “While Ghawar is likely to be in a slow decline phase, its production is not falling off the edge of a cliff.”

Isn’t that a confirmation of what was suspected… Ghawar has peaked! A slow decline is the decline you get immediately after peak on the bell curve.

There was an article in the FT, here.

Peter Jackson of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consultancy, says there is no reason to doubt that Saudi Aramco is making progress with its plans for increased capacity, or to think that output from its existing fields, particularly the giant Ghawar, is declining faster than the Saudis have admitted.

“The evidence I’m seeing doesn’t suggest Ghawar is about to die,” he says. “The evidence all supports the argument that Ghawar is on a plateau and doing well.”

Both sides in the debate agree that Saudi Arabia is having to make greater efforts to sustain production. One supplier to Saudi Aramco says that two years ago the country had 100 electric submersible pumps, used to squeeze more oil out of a well. In two or three years, he thinks, there will be 1,000.

But Mr Jackson argues this is not necessarily a sign of imminent decline. “Yes, the Saudis are having to invest a lot of effort in keeping production up. But that is the case everywhere,” he says.

The debate over Saudi capacity could rumble on for some time. If the world suffers a sharp economic slowdown, demand for oil could fall, and there will be no need for the kingdom to pump more, so the moment of truth will be deferred.

Peter Jackson, and CERA have always been ‘PO Debunkers’… so for them to say something like “The evidence all supports the argument that Ghawar is on a plateau and doing well.” is kind of interesting.
Whilst he’s saying it’s a good thing to be on the plateau, I would argue that it’s bad, because it means the decline comes next.