one.point.zero - Colin O'Brien's weblog
July 09 2008
More evidence that we’ll only end up closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.
September 30 2007
Pirates of the Mediterranean, a fascinating op-ed piece from the New York Times recounting the attack by a loosely connected group of people on the Roman port at Ostia, followed by a massive deployment of forces, a near-draining of Roman coffers, a loss of personal freedoms and accusations of traitorship for those who didn’t toe the party line. Sounds familiar?
February 28 2007
Belgian minister for Energy Marc Verwilghen has just got himself a giant gas-guzzling Audi Q7 (pdf) that emits between 282 to 326 grammes of CO2 per km. Meanwhile, Europe is trying to get emissions down to 120g/km, nice example from above. Oh yeah, and Al Gore has the electricity bill of a small village.
February 14 2007
Michael Crichton, the world’s most popular technophobe.
February 03 2007
The semantics of climate change“When a scientist talks about reducing greenhouse gas emissions ... he or she means just that; actually reducing them. But what it is coming to mean in the political lexicon is something very different”
December 13 2006
This must be Belgium
Tonight, the RTBF, Belgium’s French-speaking national TV channel reported that Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of the country, had declared independence; the king had flown out of the country in protest and Belgium was, basically, no more.
Of course, this was just a well-prepared hoax intended to give at least one half of the country a monumental kick up the backside and attempt to wake them as they fall asleep at the wheel.
It certainly worked. Phone exchanges are down, newspaper forums are exploding and the political aristocracy are crying their indignation like teenage drama queens instead of looking in the mirror.
Where’s that oh-so-famous Belgian sense of self-derision now? The selective blindness on all sides is thoroughly astonishing.
They’ve obviously never heard about the first rule of holes (when you’re in one, stop digging).
update: it’s all online at the VRT, amusingly.
November 13 2006
I try not to go down that road but I’m afraid I tend to agree a lot with this article (apart from the last 2 paragraphs, I think it’ll be nasty, but I don’t wish for it).
October 24 2006
An interesting study of Anti-Americanism around the world.
October 09 2006
Political instability threatens rainforests more than industry does.
September 29 2006
An interesting animated map showing who has controlled the Middle East over the course of history.
September 14 2006
David Ignatius on Iran“A nation that is wearing seat belts is probably not a mortal enemy of the United States.”
September 01 2006
This guy tells it exactly how it is: Honey, We Killed the Planet
August 31 2006
Straight out of a James Bond story: Mount Weather could be Bush’s secret bunker.
August 13 2006
A retired senior energy expert from the National Iranian Oil Co. says no more business as usual, peak oil is here now but politicians ignore bad news and the media ignore it for reasons of income.
August 06 2006
In other news, armageddon is upon us…
August 02 2006
Cross-border beach volleyball... neat.
August 01 2006
William Gibson on the current war: Hammer, meet wasp’s nest.
July 23 2006
Those World-Killing Chinese
July 13 2006
George Monbiot on nuclear power“you don't make a new mess until you have cleared up the old one”
July 11 2006
The world has gone insane on a nuclear level.
June 09 2006
Freddy gives the finger
Following up on the cycle path story I posted a few days ago, the decision to not make the changes has been upheld.
The mayor promises permanent cycle paths will be implemented after the elections (impressive talent: he seems to know the results already)
While major cities in Europe make giant steps towards sustainability, Brussels slowly sinks under the weight of backpatting, lobbies and its complex administration.
June 06 2006
On yer bike, Freddy!
On Friday morning, work began on painting a cycle path on the central boulevards of Brussels between De Brouckère and Midi as well as reducing car lanes to 2 instead of 4. These modifications had been planned for a long time as part of a global traffic reduction plan for the city centre and were approved by the various instances in charge of these matters. This was also to be a real-life test and open to revocation after the test period if things didn't work out.
However, it never got that far. Within minutes of the work beginning, several business owners (who, it's said, have a reputation for these things) complained directly to the Mayor (Freddy Thielemans) who intervened personally and immediately cancelled all work. The next city council meeting on Thursday the 8th of June will confirm or infirm his decision.
For this reason, as many voices as possible are needed to question the mayor's unilateral decision and show him these changes do matter. Quality of life in the centre affects everyone who goes there, not only people who live in the area. If you can, please be present at the consultative commission taking place on the 7th of June and let your voice be heard. The mayor will be there and so will the business owners who complained. It's time our “leaders” looked further than their own nose.
The event takes place on June 7th at 20h15 at:
Athénée Léon Lepage
30 Rue des Riches Claire
1000 Brussels
(map)
June 03 2006
Brand new Saturday morning cartoon entertainment for the whole family: Saddam and Osama.
June 01 2006
Dear Mr Barroso, have you ever heard of practicing what you preach? Obviously not.
May 31 2006
Write your own Bush Speech and make him say dumb things …oh wait.
May 27 2006
More preposterous ideas from the Euro-buffoons: taxing email and text messages.
May 23 2006
Forget about litter. Forget about recycling. Get political.
May 21 2006
Bristling Badger on climate change“We know that our elected leaders and the corporate interests they represent are not going to lead the way to the change we need; they are in fact our main obstacles. Despite being in full possession of the facts, they want to carry on making it worse.”