Extreme heat waves, declining food stocks, and a life-threatening sea level rise: it's a sobering vision of the future by one of the world's largest and most powerful institutions.

A report issued by the World Bank earlier this month warns of severe consequences if global warming is not dealt with. But the international organisation may itself be contributing to climate change.

In this Parliament it always comes back to honesty and character.

More than two weeks ago (8 November 2012) I noticed a small open water drain being covered with what I suspect was green algae... My guess at the time was that I could be wrong. The bloom was not total... It could have been just weeds, but having seen blooms before, I took a picture... Picture above by Gus Leonisky. 

This small drain, coming from Moore Park, flows into the Alexandra Canal which in turn flows into the Cooks River which in turn flows into Botany Bay, Sydney...

The launch of Gina's book was a love affair... Barnaby was so enamoured he could not stop himself lauding the small print... 

picture by Gus Leonisky — central Australia (heat on the ground near 50 degrees C "in the shade")

This is a short critical analysis of a presentation by the famous meteorologist and climate change skeptic Richard Lindzen. 

From Richard Lindzen:

The public perception of the climate problem is somewhat schizophrenic. On the one hand, the problem is perceived to be so complex that it cannot be approached without massive computer programs. On the other hand, the physics is claimed to be so basic that the dire conclusions commonly presented are considered to be self-evident.

The more the Merde-och media tries to make a scandal out of dust, the more it's losing to the "social media"... Actually the social media is made of two major folds. One is the "people media" — thinking erudite smart, knowing shovels for what spades are — and the other fold is the "airhead stratosphere"...

The mass media is trying to confuse us by telling us that the "people media" is the same as the airhead loopy transmission about the colours of high heel shoes...

Meanwhile the mass media is having to put brakes on extroardinary "revelations" that have no substance except that:

It was supposed to lay the foundation for a huge Free Trade Agreement, but the East Asia Forum has exposed a rift between ASEAN nations over control of the South China Sea, writes Damien Kingsbury.