Saturday 27 January 2007

IPCC Report out soon

The 2007 IPCC report will be out on the 2nd of February, EXACTLY on my exam day. Considering that the report is relevant to my studies, since climate change cannot be avoided when discussing environmental matters, I think it saved me some extra reading for the exam.

I am sure it will be a good read, for all of those interested in climate change. The report will cover a review of over 2500 scientific articles submitted in the past year. Leaks of the report said that the report will emphasise the role of humans on climate change, saying that there is a 90 per cent probability that climate change is induced by humans and not by natural factors. How about that! And to think that people still deny all of this.

The Report to be issued next Friday is one of a three report document which the IPCC is published. The other two reports will be published later on in the year.

As for action? Well The Guardian aptly said: 'If 2006 was the year the world accepted climate change as a serious problem, then 2007 is the year that its leaders must do something about it.'
Rightly so!

And yet, although the saying says 'prevention is better than cure' and that is applicable is any situation, the American Government has suggested that money be spent on R&D to develop systems (such as solar mirrors and smoke :-S) to reduce insolation (incoming solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface), as an insurance to halt global warming. It made me laugh! It is like playing with nuclear toys because you have nuclear bunker hidden somewhere as an 'insurance'. Of course, I mean, why would the worlds most polluting country even think of reducing its greenhouse gas output? Petro-dollars would be more than happy if they were directed towards some R&D that guarantees their continuous burning up till the last cent or drop, than any preventive measure to reduce or replace their consumption.

Politics: stinks more than the Wied Ghammieq outfall!!

First goal in the English Championship

And what a goal!! Hopefully we will see more like this in the future. MM immediately showed what he is capable of

Sunday 21 January 2007

Blogger update

Although I have been using Blogger BETA for some time now (it is no more in BETA), I have not really used much of the new features, except for the labels tool. I actually want to use the new template tools, but since I have modified myself this template, I will lose all the 'personal changes' when going for the new set. No prblem with that actually, I can just copy and paste into Dreamweaver and save the file. However, knowing me, I would spend quite some time looking at the code and layout and personalising, so that will take some time.

Thus, updating my blog layout is another thing-to-do after I finish my exam which will be held on the 2nd of Feb. I havent' actually started the real studying since I am still assignmenting, i.e. doing my last assignment on salt marsh ecology.

I am most likely to start including a section on MapInfo tips, since I am quite a frequent user and I often encounter issues which take me too much time to solve. Plus I do not find often tips on the internet on these issues. So, I will start doing that. It will serve as a reminder to myself too.

I guess it is time to start my Sunday work, I want to finish this last assignment. So I am off.

Sunday 14 January 2007

Funny commercials

I just could not let this go by...

Friday 12 January 2007

Michael Mifsud

Michale Mifsud has finally made the big move. He has just joined Coventry City, a club which is currently in the English Championship category.

From these columns, I wish him GOOD LUCK and hope he gets quickly accustomised to British football. Make all Maltese football lovers and citizens proud!!

To see a selection of these goals, watch the video below.

Thursday 4 January 2007

Xmas shutdown

Xmas came and passed, as did the year 2006. 2006 ended with a bang, a bad one, resulting from impropriate new arrivals. At the moment there is some uneasiness in the group, bad tidings arising from stupid actions. Grabbing attention is a way kids/young birds do to be fed, not adults (if they can be called adults).

Anyway, the Xmas shut down spanned 5 days where I did practically nothing, just ate, played PC games and hung out with Baanisuu and friends. No mention of MIRM or any assignment.

The New Year: First day was foody...lots of it. The second day was the perfect introduction to a new year thanks to HER. Day three, yesterday, slam back to life. Working for eight hours was not at all easy, doing an environmental chemistry assignment after that was even harder. Yes, I have to make up for the do-nothing period during Xmas. Plus I have exams in the last week of Jan. Which reminds me that I have no idea what it is goint to be all about; no clues from the secretary or admin.