Books Update - Nov 2022

 Writing a post after a long time. 

The following books were too boring and were queued for exchange:

1. The Wall by John Lanchester

2. Warlight by Michael Ondaatje

3. The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman

IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and Climate

It is now or never’ if world is to stave off climate disaster, says The Guardian report on the latest reports from the IPCC. 

What exactly are these reports? The IPCC website says, "The IPCC prepares comprehensive Assessment Reports (AR) about knowledge on climate change, its causes, potential impacts and response options. It adds that "The IPCC also produces Special Reports, which are an assessment on a specific issue and Methodology Reports, which provide practical guidelines."

The latest reports called AR 6 reports are on the following:

• AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2022
• AR6 Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change
• AR6 Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

The IPCC Working Group II (WGII) assesses the impacts of climate change, from a world-wide to a regional view.

This is what I understood after reading a slew of news reports:

• Substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions beyond what governments committed.
• Emissions gap of 14 to 23 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent in commitments by countries.
• Countries like India must focus more on renewable energy than coal.
• Drastic changes in urban planning and biodiversity conservation
• Changes in lifestyles including a reduction in demand of non-essential items

BBC lists five ways to solve the climate crisis. 

But all these measures may help if peace prevails in the world, an alternative to GDP,  which recognizes unbridled material production, is devised, and substantial changes to lifestyle is implemented. 

Otherwise, such reports will just result in newspaper articles, editorials, op-eds, seminars and webinars, fellowships, and grantts. 

In the end, things will remain the same. 

Sea Erosion or Coastal Erosion?

In an interesting news story on the plight of the people affected by coastal erosion, I noticed how the word 'sea erosion' has been used throughout the story. 

In this Mongabay India story about the east coast of India, 'sea erosion' appears 16 times in the story! The story is basically an anthropocentric one about the plight of the villagers and fisher folks affected by coastal erosion. 

Back to early 1990s. In the university library, there were thick hardcover textbooks of Geology that I used to refer to during my MSc studies. Of all the textbooks, Alan Strahler's Physical Geography was the best for me. His textbooks were beautifully illustrated and excellently written. One will fall in love with the subject of Geology just because of his textbooks. 

Thirty years later I bought a copy of Strahler's textbook. It is top class as always with vivid descriptions of additional topics and meticulous organization. 

The book does not mention 'sea erosion' at all. The index entries are all on coastal erosion, because the hard-hitting sea water erodes material from the fragile coast. The reverse of erosion, accretion, is pretty slow and at a lesser rate. 

Too much jargon in news stories puts off readers. But the use of 'sea erosion' paints the sea as a villain, whereas human beings have not bothered to protect the coasts for decades.

Week Ending Jan 30, 2022

New Scorpions Song: The first single that I heard from hard rockers Scorpions was Still loving You followed by the smashing Sails of Sharon. Meanwhile, the new single Rock Believer turned out to be disappointing.

Setback to AI Hype: IBM's decision to sell off parts of its Watson Health business has come as a setback to AI nerds. In a tweet, Gary Marcus termed the decision as a "staggering collapse of its ambitious artificial intelligence effort".

Another War: The Ukraine-Russian tangle dominated the week's headlines indicating the probable beginning of another cold war.

Indian Cricket in Trouble: India lost the ODI cricket series against South Africa after a promising first test win in one of the final frontiers. The loss triggered the speculation that all is not well in the team. The series saw some poor batting, especially the middle order, and some pointless bowling.

Neil Young Rocks Spotify : Alleging that Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines, rocker Neil Young asks the streaming service to remove his songs. Supporting him, in an open letter., Joni Mitchell also asked Spotify to remove her songs from the streaming site. 

Republic Day: India celebrated the 73rd Republic Day with the beating ceremony not featuring Mahatma Gandhi's favourite song, Abide With Me. The withdrawal sparked public outrage. 

Week Ending Jan 23, 2022

From this year, I have decided to post weekly updates about things that I have noticed more than others. 

Joe Satriani's New Single

Virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani is back with a new single and new album. I and my friend watched the song, Sahara's, premiere on YouTube. The new single was an OK one similar to the songs in the Strange Beautiful Music album with the typical Satch flourishes, but it fell short of some strange expectations. The new album is titled The Elephants of Mars.

Covid-19: Kerala Imposes Sunday Lockdown

My home state of Kerala went to a complete lockdown on two Sundays starting today after the Covid-19 positive infections spiked dramatically in many districts. The state capital and Ernakulam fared the worst, as there were reports and group messages of entire families getting infected. Meanwhile, Karnataka lifted the weekend curfew from Jan 22, but decided to continue with the night curfew. 

Jacinda Postpones Marriage 

New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden, postpones her marriage as Covid-19 cases mount in the country. This is a rare show by a PM at this age of pandemic. 

Indian Cricket in Trouble After Losses in South Africa

Indian cricket started 2022 with a test series loss to relatively weak South Africa after some poor batting and clueless bowling in both the tests as well as the ODIs. The series was marred by Kohli's resignation as Test captain. The side lost the ODI series also under the captaincy of K L Rahul casting doubts over coach Dravid's efficacy and needless controversies over the skipper. The last match is on today. 

Past Comes Back in le Carre Classic

Finished John le Carre's Legacy of Spies novel. The past catches up with Pete as the wards of past bloopers approach the legal system for justice. The Spy Who Came Out From The Cold comes back strongly in this novel. 

Air Pollution is Both Local and Global

Flying Squads, Task Force: Supreme Court OKs Steps To Curb Delhi Pollution: NDTV

Air pollution is local and trans boundary. There is a limit to which it can be controlled locally, unless you have great scientific expertise. 

 If you don't have an urge for your surroundings to be clean and clear, such enforcement using police may not earn much. 

Air pollution control and management is a daily affair and never a seasonal affair.

Pegasus Spying: Supreme Court Orders Probe by Expert Panel

On October 27, 2021, the supreme court of India ordered that an independent expert committee will investigate the revelations made in the Pegasus spying controversy. 

The committee of experts decided by the top court will complete the probe in eight weeks. 

The following are the news sources for this story. The page will be updated later. 

• LiveLaw India
• Bar and Bench