buggery.org

Tom Coates has put together a brilliant Flickr gallery of images from today’s dust storm in Sydney. Awesome stuff.

CC-licensed image above: Dustday in Laundry 2 by Mezza.

British artist Luke Jerram’s glass sculptures of microbes including HIV, SARS, H1N1and smallpox are strikingly beautiful.

Says the artist:

These transparent glass sculptures were created to contemplate the global impact of each disease and to consider how the artificial colouring of scientific imagery affects our understanding of phenomena. Jerram is exploring the tension between the artworks’ beauty and what they represent, their impact on humanity.

Hat-tip: babycakesjase

"I will make it quite clear…F..I..S..K..A..L."

→ AAP: Fielding criticises Rudd’s ‘physical’ policy

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When I was growing up in Bega I probably wished more than once that the town would be obliterated by some kind of natural disaster – a meteorite, volcano or perhaps a flood. I wanted to be somewhere else.

But now it looks like my idle childhood wishes might come true. Seems like global warming will continue to accelerate, with the world’s big economies playing a game of ‘Chicken’ and refusing to act until someone else does. With global warming comes rises in sea levels, and the experts reckon there will be anything from 19cm to several metres of sea-level rise this century. Some have argued that, with positive feedback effects accelerating the process, sea level rises of 10m or more before 2100 are possible.

Here’s an animated projection of the effect of sea level rises of between 0 and 14m on my old home town:

Looks like it might be a smart time to open a water-skiing supply shop in Bega. Get in early.

You can see how sea level rises will affect your home town (or anywhere else) at http://flood.firetree.net/.

Yesterday I spoke at an ARCSHS forum on HIV and the media – Reckless Transmissions: Engaging with the news media around sexual health – along with Michael Hurley, Daniel Reeders and Abi Groves.

An interesting discussion looking at the way the media reports on HIV, especially the way gay men are presented as ‘complacent’ (Reeders) or, when they come before the law, as members of a ‘seedy underbelly’ or ‘sinister subculture’ (Hurley). My presentation focused on the ways that community organisations can try to have positive stories about people with HIV reported in the media, as a counter to all the ‘bad’ news. Abi Groves introduced the AFAO media guide, Reporting HIV in Australia: Information for Journalists 2009.

There will (probably) be a podcast of the event at some point in the future. In the meantime a copy of my slides is below in PDF form.