That Nice Man Disaproves of Misogyny!

I see the Sunday Adelaide Advertiser gave a page five spread to Mike Tyson where he says how great it is that Julia Gilard spoke out against misogyny. The same Mike Tyson who was convicted of rape. How nice of them to give some free promotion to a man famous for punching, biting, and rape. Stay classy Adelaide Advertiser!

To Improve the Health of Australian Children Make Shoes Optional

One of the reasons Australia produces so many great athletes is that many of them grew up barefoot.  Freeman, Phelps, and many others.  Not only does growing up barefoot give athletes an edge, it also reduces injury rates.  So, rather than spending money on olympic medal bonuses, why not take the money saving course of allowing children to go barefoot at school?  I'm sure it would have a positive effect on children's activity levels and so improve health and reduce obesity.

Teddy Bears are tough negotiators

Solar, Wind and Efficiency Killing Coal Power in Australia

And they've shut down another 360 megawatts of coal power in Australia.  This time very dirty brown coal capacity at Yallourn power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley.  So much for paying coal plants to shut down, they're doing it on their own.

Solar and Efficiency Gradually Eliminating Coal Power in Australia

I just read that because of reduced demand due to rooftop solar and improved efficiency, Queensland’s Tarong power station is mothballing half of its 1,400 megawatt capacity. So coal power capacity that has been shut down and not replaced in the last two or three years in Australia include half of Tarong (700 megawatts), Playford B (250 megawatts), Swanbank B (125 megawatts), and Munmorrah (600 megawatts), for a total of 1,675 megawatts. And if you want to throw in half of Northern power station’s capacity as it now only operates 6 months a year, that brings it to 1,935 megawatts, or almost two gigawatts of coal power.  That's fairly impressive.

Decent weather and increased grid electricity prices have also contributed to this, but rooftop solar obviously bears a lot of responsibility, as by the end of the year we will be approaching two gigawatts of installed solar capacity.  This means that on a sunny day, Australia's PV could generate as many megawatts as as the shutdown coal plants.  

Update:  Well, not quite as much as the shutdown coal power stations as our solar tends to be a bit higgledy piggledy and generally not optimally aligned, but it it can still generate a heck of a lot of electricity.