This should work fairly well on most dogs.
Buy a 500gram cooked sausage/kookworst (the kind you slice and put on your bread). In fact, buy a few.
Slice into small squares.
Start when the banging is still fairly interspersed: every bang, immediately give the frightened pooch a little piece of sausage.
The dog will figure out this little scheme very quickly! The focus will shift from flinching and rushing off in a panic, to waiting for the noise signal that will get them the treat.
Then graduate to only rewarding the whistlers or big bangs or whatever makes them go into total panic.
Be prepared for your hands to be almost de-fingered at first as the flight/greed combo makes them snap for the treat.
At some point when the focus is entirely on the yummy rewards for that noise, start rewarding intermittently.
Keep doing this the entire day.
By the beginning of the evening you'll have tears in your eyes as, at your feet, your sleeping dog farts toxic fumes in concert with the snoring.
When it's midnight and all hell breaks loose, you might have to feed the dog an entire sausage within the first fifteen minutes!
Fireworks and pets simply don't mix. As far as I'm concerned, they can just get rid of this not-so-charming Dutch custom of greeting the new year with a massive barrage of fireworks and toxic fumes and missing fingers.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Eurozone debt situation
source
Our press keeps blaring the message that the worst is over and that it will soon be business as usual, but I don't buy it. I hear from many people who are currently looking for a job, that there are so many applicants for even the most menial positions that they are all but giving up!
I don't know if we are quite out of the woods yet.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
While most of my focus is on climate change
... because I believe this could end not only us as a species, but could wipe out most life on this planet, I have not forgotten about peak oil and the economic and social drama that will produce. A combination of the two events is hurtling towards us, and I think there is not much that can be done to divert it.
This presentation of peak oil gives a good summary/prediction of what lies ahead.
There are smart people working on transition towns and the like. I hope that will suffice, but I am doubtful. But, eternal optimist, I am learning more every year about backyard vegetable gardening!
This presentation of peak oil gives a good summary/prediction of what lies ahead.
There are smart people working on transition towns and the like. I hope that will suffice, but I am doubtful. But, eternal optimist, I am learning more every year about backyard vegetable gardening!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Stunned silence
I guess that's the best way of describing the post-Copenhagen feeling. Blogs are rather silent, there's a general whatthefuckjusthappened??!!?? feeling that lingers.
Though I expected nothing amazing from Copenhagen, I'm left rather stunned myself as well. But, I have come to accept that this will happen. The tidal wave is bearing down on us and like so many nightmares where you cannot move when the bogeyman comes at you, we collectively stand and do nothing.
My energy and thinking increasingly over these past years concentrates on how one can live through the next twenty-some years, and how me and mine would be able to live through the next few generations. Learning about backyard farming, for instance. Looking for that place to stay that's out of the firing lines. Developing knowledge and skills that will be useful in a changing society. Researching ways of becoming self-sufficient without drawing too much attention to it.
Like the frog that got boiled, change will come slowly even though the climate is changing faster than one would think. I only hope that humankind will actually survive this, long-term. I won't be there to see how things work out in a few hundred years, but I do hope so. For now, I doubt there is much we can still do to stop the tidal wave. It's coming up the beach already...
Though I expected nothing amazing from Copenhagen, I'm left rather stunned myself as well. But, I have come to accept that this will happen. The tidal wave is bearing down on us and like so many nightmares where you cannot move when the bogeyman comes at you, we collectively stand and do nothing.
My energy and thinking increasingly over these past years concentrates on how one can live through the next twenty-some years, and how me and mine would be able to live through the next few generations. Learning about backyard farming, for instance. Looking for that place to stay that's out of the firing lines. Developing knowledge and skills that will be useful in a changing society. Researching ways of becoming self-sufficient without drawing too much attention to it.
Like the frog that got boiled, change will come slowly even though the climate is changing faster than one would think. I only hope that humankind will actually survive this, long-term. I won't be there to see how things work out in a few hundred years, but I do hope so. For now, I doubt there is much we can still do to stop the tidal wave. It's coming up the beach already...
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Het weer over 2009
Weer een warmer dan normaal jaar:
De zomer van 2009 was de negende warme zomer in successie.
Nonsens, dat global warming? Tja, over 9 jaar kan je niets zeggen. Over 13 jaar ook niet. Maar ik kan wel opmerken dat dit trend binnen de voorspellingen van de klimaatmodellen past.
Mijn voorspelling voor 2010:
Sinds oktober 2009 is El Niño in opkomst. Een El Niño doet iets meer met ons weer dan een La Niña: de waarschijnlijkheid van een natte voorjaar neemt toe. Deze El Niño zal in ieder geval tot eind voorjaar sterk blijven, dus tot begin zomer meer regen dan gebruikelijk. Zomer wordt weer warm met weer meer weer-extremen dan in de jaren 80 en 90. Tussen augustus en oktober zit ik in Amerika, dan is het weer daar natuurlijk zalig, en in Nederland een ronde nul ;-)
Copenhagen is op niks uitgedraaid. Ik had al geen hoge verwachtingen maar een totale mislukking zoals het is geworden, had ik niet voorzien. Ik heb zo'n beetje de hoop opgegeven dat we de tij nog kunnen keren. Van de minderheid van Nederlanders die überhaupt geloven in global warming, is er volgens mij een aardig aantal die zich verkneukelen op Costa Hollandia, en het niet erg vinden dat het warmer wordt. Laat de rest van de wereld maar barsten (oh wee, als de dijken het niet meer kunnen bolwerken... maar voorlopig feesten we vrolijk verder). Het zij zo.
Het afgelopen jaar was warm. In De Bilt bedraagt de gemiddelde temperatuur naar schatting 10,5 graden tegen 9,8 graden normaal. Bovendien was het zeer zonnig: 2009 hoort tot de zonnigste jaren sinds de metingen begonnen in 1901. De zon scheen gemiddeld ruim 300 uur meer dan gewoonlijk. Verder viel er minder regen dan gewoonlijk.
Met de warmte heeft 2009 de trend voortgezet van de laatste jaren. Sinds 1997 waren alle dertien jaren te warm of veel te warm.
bron
De zomer van 2009 was de negende warme zomer in successie.
Nonsens, dat global warming? Tja, over 9 jaar kan je niets zeggen. Over 13 jaar ook niet. Maar ik kan wel opmerken dat dit trend binnen de voorspellingen van de klimaatmodellen past.
Mijn voorspelling voor 2010:
Sinds oktober 2009 is El Niño in opkomst. Een El Niño doet iets meer met ons weer dan een La Niña: de waarschijnlijkheid van een natte voorjaar neemt toe. Deze El Niño zal in ieder geval tot eind voorjaar sterk blijven, dus tot begin zomer meer regen dan gebruikelijk. Zomer wordt weer warm met weer meer weer-extremen dan in de jaren 80 en 90. Tussen augustus en oktober zit ik in Amerika, dan is het weer daar natuurlijk zalig, en in Nederland een ronde nul ;-)
Copenhagen is op niks uitgedraaid. Ik had al geen hoge verwachtingen maar een totale mislukking zoals het is geworden, had ik niet voorzien. Ik heb zo'n beetje de hoop opgegeven dat we de tij nog kunnen keren. Van de minderheid van Nederlanders die überhaupt geloven in global warming, is er volgens mij een aardig aantal die zich verkneukelen op Costa Hollandia, en het niet erg vinden dat het warmer wordt. Laat de rest van de wereld maar barsten (oh wee, als de dijken het niet meer kunnen bolwerken... maar voorlopig feesten we vrolijk verder). Het zij zo.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
This planet does not have a reset button
Copenhagen failed dismally. No hard targets. Nothing binding, be it CO2 emissions or financial. It's weaker than Kyoto was! I didn't expect them to come up with what is needed, but I did not expect this much of a poor result either.
There's a generation waking up to the reality of climate change and what's (not) been done about it over the past 17+ years by our leaders. They understand increasingly well how special interests and our current political system have made this almost inevitable. I believe that they are angry and getting angrier. It does not help, that they are sidelined with great force whenever they try to take part in the political process; and by the way I think the police response in Copenhagen to protesters was overwhelming, disgracefully indiscriminate and at times inexcusably violent. I never expected this from a country such as Denmark. Almost none of that was reported, it is as if there was no protest at all, in Copenhagen. Just cutesy symbols here and there.
This was a last ditch opportunity, utterly squandered. I won't be surprised if this will birth a kind of environmental & political guerrilla movement. Soon, I believe the time for protest marches and hunger strikes and logo's and coloured flags will come to an end. I really do. Throughout history, if people cannot get what they need through legitimate channels, they choose other, more violent methods.
No, it would not surprise me at all if this fiasco gives birth to a new kind of terrorism (and, how handy that our governments have all these anti-terrorism legislation already in place, and how handy that the people of these times are so nonchalant about data privacy...)
Monbiot sums it up perfectly:
He is right: governments could move at lightning speed to save the banks, but our biosphere, that takes 17+ years and still no solution in sight.
We are moving backwards. Count me in with the angry.
There's a generation waking up to the reality of climate change and what's (not) been done about it over the past 17+ years by our leaders. They understand increasingly well how special interests and our current political system have made this almost inevitable. I believe that they are angry and getting angrier. It does not help, that they are sidelined with great force whenever they try to take part in the political process; and by the way I think the police response in Copenhagen to protesters was overwhelming, disgracefully indiscriminate and at times inexcusably violent. I never expected this from a country such as Denmark. Almost none of that was reported, it is as if there was no protest at all, in Copenhagen. Just cutesy symbols here and there.
This was a last ditch opportunity, utterly squandered. I won't be surprised if this will birth a kind of environmental & political guerrilla movement. Soon, I believe the time for protest marches and hunger strikes and logo's and coloured flags will come to an end. I really do. Throughout history, if people cannot get what they need through legitimate channels, they choose other, more violent methods.
No, it would not surprise me at all if this fiasco gives birth to a new kind of terrorism (and, how handy that our governments have all these anti-terrorism legislation already in place, and how handy that the people of these times are so nonchalant about data privacy...)
Monbiot sums it up perfectly:
This is the chaotic, disastrous denouement of a chaotic and disastrous summit.
He is right: governments could move at lightning speed to save the banks, but our biosphere, that takes 17+ years and still no solution in sight.
We are moving backwards. Count me in with the angry.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Iraq war and accountability
I have been watching the Chilcot inquiry in the UK unfold. I have been listening and reading and hearing what people said. What a craven spectacle it is!
Counter to what some politicians seem to believe, most of their constituents don't have the attention span of a gnat. I remember very well what was said and done, years ago - and to me, it does not matter that it happened many years ago. And it should not, in such matters. Many agree with this way of thinking, which is why a 90-year old Nazi criminal had to stand trial in Germany for WW2 war crimes! Even after all that time, it is just to prosecute such crimes.
If the rule of law has to mean anything, it has to be blind. These days, it is not. If people can waltz all over international laws prohibiting wars of agression and never have to be held accountable (even with this inquiry, I see Blair is going to give evidence in secret. Par for course, isn't it?), then the law itself is useless. The entire concept of democracy and a just society based in law is a joke.
This was a war of choice, Blair is increasingly open about it:
And still as unapologetic as ever.
The Independent's headline this morning read "Untouchable". Yes, it seems so. The evidence that has come out of this inquiry makes clear there was no case to go to war. Period.
I am beyond angry and disgusted. It seems there will be no consequences for anyone. No accountability. If so, I hope they will just drop the masks. I hope that when the next war of choice is started, our politicians won't bother with the horse and pony show. Just say "hey we don't like this person, so we are going to bomb the country to smithereens". And then go out and do it. I for one would at least appreciate the honesty.
Counter to what some politicians seem to believe, most of their constituents don't have the attention span of a gnat. I remember very well what was said and done, years ago - and to me, it does not matter that it happened many years ago. And it should not, in such matters. Many agree with this way of thinking, which is why a 90-year old Nazi criminal had to stand trial in Germany for WW2 war crimes! Even after all that time, it is just to prosecute such crimes.
If the rule of law has to mean anything, it has to be blind. These days, it is not. If people can waltz all over international laws prohibiting wars of agression and never have to be held accountable (even with this inquiry, I see Blair is going to give evidence in secret. Par for course, isn't it?), then the law itself is useless. The entire concept of democracy and a just society based in law is a joke.
This was a war of choice, Blair is increasingly open about it:
"I would still have thought it right to remove him. Obviously you would have had to use and deploy different arguments, about the nature of the threat," he said.
"I can't really think we'd be better with him and his two sons still in charge but it's incredibly difficult."
And still as unapologetic as ever.
The Independent's headline this morning read "Untouchable". Yes, it seems so. The evidence that has come out of this inquiry makes clear there was no case to go to war. Period.
I am beyond angry and disgusted. It seems there will be no consequences for anyone. No accountability. If so, I hope they will just drop the masks. I hope that when the next war of choice is started, our politicians won't bother with the horse and pony show. Just say "hey we don't like this person, so we are going to bomb the country to smithereens". And then go out and do it. I for one would at least appreciate the honesty.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
CRU hacked mails - Jones steps down (temporarily)
I don't think he should.
This really is a storm about nothing and it's whipped up to grand proportions by those who would want Copenhagen to fail. He should not be paying the price for being the messenger of bad news. Climate scientists have been up against a concerted attack over the past years that has ever increased in ferocity. Against such sustained wilful misinformation, what do you do... how do you cope, how do you keep your message clear? I think climate scientists on the whole did an admirable job so far and none of them should not be intimidated into stepping down at this point.
Not accepting the reality of the science is wishful thinking, head in sand policy. People would rather it were not so and are in denial. This is partly why there is such a receptive audience for what clearly is a lot of hot air.
Does it matter in the end? Some say yes, but I believe it's past the point where we still can make the changes that would turn things around for us as a species. Hansen may still hope, still want to fight, but I think it's pretty useless.
Not that I'm going on a carbon binge now, understand, and I'll keep trying to spread the message, make people understand what we are facing. This is reflexive by now, I've been at it since the Club of Rome days. But, I am pretty sure I'm pissing agin' the wind here.
For those who want to understand what's going on, what's just so much dramatic b/s and what's a serious issue, I'm directing you here.
This really is a storm about nothing and it's whipped up to grand proportions by those who would want Copenhagen to fail. He should not be paying the price for being the messenger of bad news. Climate scientists have been up against a concerted attack over the past years that has ever increased in ferocity. Against such sustained wilful misinformation, what do you do... how do you cope, how do you keep your message clear? I think climate scientists on the whole did an admirable job so far and none of them should not be intimidated into stepping down at this point.
Not accepting the reality of the science is wishful thinking, head in sand policy. People would rather it were not so and are in denial. This is partly why there is such a receptive audience for what clearly is a lot of hot air.
Does it matter in the end? Some say yes, but I believe it's past the point where we still can make the changes that would turn things around for us as a species. Hansen may still hope, still want to fight, but I think it's pretty useless.
Not that I'm going on a carbon binge now, understand, and I'll keep trying to spread the message, make people understand what we are facing. This is reflexive by now, I've been at it since the Club of Rome days. But, I am pretty sure I'm pissing agin' the wind here.
For those who want to understand what's going on, what's just so much dramatic b/s and what's a serious issue, I'm directing you here.
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