Movie Time: The Age of Stupid

[Penners]

I saved over a ton of CO2 emissions last week by not going to the Maldives for Easter

Well done, Dave! I also did my bit by not flying to Hong Kong for the weekend.

Between us, we'll save the world.

 

[Penners]

Biff - was it by any chance a certain Mrs V that my daughter was watching, on a stained glass feature in some "create your perfect home" drivel on TV last night?

 

[Feltwell]

I happen to know of a certain major supermarket chain...

Come along, don't be shy. Name names.

It's called not biting the hand that feeds you Biff!

 

[Feltwell]

Well, fortunately, the government seems to have solved the CO2 problem associated with coal-burning power stations, so we can soon look forward to a revival of the UK coal mining industry and abundant 'green' electricity from our huge reserves of the black stuff.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8014295.stm

Eco-madness? Perhaps, but it was politically inevitable.

Great. Looks like the chances of me having a huge open cast coal pit near my house for 3 years has just increased then.

http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/03/31/planners-against-mining-plans/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/7961681.stm

 

[biffvernon]

Biff - was it by any chance a certain Mrs V that my daughter was watching, on a stained glass feature in some "create your perfect home" drivel on TV last night?

Absolutely not! (Unless there's something going on that I don't know about.)

 

[biffvernon]

Great. Looks like the chances of me having a huge open cast coal pit near my house for 3 years has just increased then.

http://www.shropshirestar.com/2009/03/31/planners-against-mining-plans/

The council claimed the mining would ruin views from the summit of The Wrekin,

Oh great, worry about the view. Excuse me but pushing climate over the tipping point and making the Earth uninhabitable might be better grounds for refusing anonther coal mine than spoiling the view for the good folk that walk to the top of The Wrekin. Don't we just love local government.

 

[Flyfisher]

Have you missed the news? The government has just solved the CO2 problem so burning coal - every little bit we can get our hands on - is now the 'new green'. So the local council can't argue on the basis of climate armageddon and has to find a better reason, like the view.

Do keep up Biff. :wink:

 

[biffvernon]

The recession ends this year.
The UK economy will grow at 3.5%
The global economy will double by 2020.
UK CO2 emissions will be reduced by 34% by 2020
CCS will work.
There are faries at the bottom of my garden


Spot the odd one out.

 

[Flyfisher]

Easy. You spelt 'fairies' (or faeries') incorrectly.

 

[Penners]

CCS will work.

The odd one out has got to be that one. CCS haven't worked since the 70's.

http://www.alexgitlin.com/npp/ccs.htm

 

[Flyfisher]

. . . and sadly, Alexis Korner, early mentor of The Rolling Stones, has been dead for a fair few years now so there's little hope of bucking the current fashion for a reunion - in this world at least.

 

[Penners]

Quite so - which could be why they haven't worked.

Alexis Korner is one of my all-time heroes. The list of people who played with him at some time or another reads like a Who's Who of British Rock/Blues: Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Robert Plant, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page, John Mayall, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Long John Baldry et al.

Heady days.

 

[Flyfisher]

Indeed. Hugely influential but comparatively little known.

I hear the thread police in the distance . . . wait a minute, this isn't a PPUK thread in the first place!

 

[Penners]

I hear the thread police in the distance

Don't worry. I'm licensed to drift.

 

[Flyfisher]

Back on (the off-topic) topic, here are some interesting thoughts from one of my favourite R4 programmes:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8014484.stm

 

[biffvernon]

Morning,


1.33am in Camden Town. Too tired to write anything decent, so here's a list:


- Dream job still going at Stupid Towers, deadline tomorrow. "Web-minded Project Leader for Not Stupid campaign". Details here


- Organised your Indie Screening for May 22nd yet? Attached is the spanking new Guide To Holding An Indie Screening, which is worth looking at for Tom's adorable illustrations alone. Or here's the website.


- Does anyone have friends in high places? Daniel is getting together a load of high profile screenings for the Indie Screenings launch on May 22nd. If you know the caretaker of Windsor Castle or the manager of Old Trafford or the boss of the Aquarium - and if you think they may be game for hosting a screening of Stupid - please hook them up with daniel@ageofstupid.net


- Had a sneak preview of the brilliant new Yes Men movie the other day. They're the cool dudes who announced live on the BBC that Union Carbide were taking responsibility for the Bhopal disaster after all. We're hoping to convince them that their new movie should be Indie Screening's second featured film later in the year


- Zeina is in need of volunteers to help transcribe interviews for the DVD commentary track. If you have a laptop and DVD player and think you could survive listening to me and Lizzie harping on for several hours, please contact transcribers@ageofstupid.net


- Pics of World Service interview session here: http://www.ageofstupid.net/news/world_have_your_say
So many buttons.


- Perks of the job 17: teacakes and plotting with David Puttnam at the House of Lords last week


- Perks of the job 18: the Vogue photo shoot last week was, I'm ashamed to say, one of the most entertaining three hours of the whole Stupid experience. We're going to be gracing the pages of their July issue, along with lots of other eco-gals (all of whom managed to take along "Coal Kills" placards etc. Whereas we totally sold out within ten minutes and were strutting and preening like a pair of teenagers. Still, Lizzie got her comeuppance the next day when her face did an impression of Viola from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Seems she's allergic to Vogue's makeup.)


- The Not Stupid site is going to be launched very, very soon... Maybe even tomorrow...


- Looks like we're going for our Global Premiere in Paris (hooked up to loads of other countries) on the 7th or 8th of July. Just got to raise a hundred thousand quid or so, but how hard can that be?


- 21 different groups (21 different groups!) had information stalls at the Nottingham Not Stupid day last week.
.
- The film is still on in lots of cinemas in the UK. Please tell your friends in these places (easier list here): Belper, Derbyshire Ritz Cinema. Bradford National Media Museum, Brentford Watermans Arts Centre, Brighton The Duke of York’s Picture House, Builth Wells, Powys Wyeside Arts Centre, Cambois, Blyth Cambois Miners Welfare Institute, Cardiff Chapter House Cinema, Cardigan Theatr Mwldan. Chesham, Bucks Elgiva Theatre, Chichester New Park Film Centre. Clwyd Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Coventry Warwick Arts Centre. Derby, Derbyshire Quad, Dublin Movies@ Dundrum. Dumfries Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Eastleigh The Point, Edinburgh Festival of Politics. Eynesham, Witney Eynsham Village Hall, Fishguard Theatr Gwaun. Grimsby Whitgift Film Theatre,Haslemere Haslemere Hall. Hawick Heart Of Hawick, Hay Guardian Hay Festival. Helmsley Helmsley Arts Centre. Lancaster The Dukes. Leamington Spa Royal Cinema. Lewes Lewes Cinema. Lincoln Lincoln Drill Hall. Llanfyllin, Powys The Llanfyllin Workhouse/ Milford Haven The Torch Theatre. Monmouth Savoy Cinema. Narberth, Dyfed Queens Hall. Newbury The Corn Exchange. Newcastle Upon Tyne The Star and Shadow Cinema. Newport The Riverfront. Nottingham Broadway Cinema. Oxford Ultimate Picture Palace. Pontefract Pontefract Library. Saffron Walden Saffron Screen. Shrewsbury The Old Market Hall. Stirling Macrobert Arts Centre. Stoke-on-Trent Stoke Film Theatre. Street Strode Theatre. Stroud, Gloucestershire The Space Cinema Club. Swindon Swindon Arts Centre, Tewkesbury Roses Theatre, Totnes Barn Cinema, West Hallam, Derbyshire West Hallam Methodist Church, Winchester Screen Winchester, Wolverhampton The Light House


- The Coal Caravan is off, screening Stupid as it goes pedalling round the country


- Can't think of any more.


Three hours sleep, then I'm off to conquer America. Big screening in Washington at the Center for American Progress tomorrow night, followed by loads of Stupid events at the San Francisco Film Festival, then to LA to meet various obvious and not so obvious people, on to Denver to persuade the coolest distributor to take us on, then to New York for, hopefully, a screening at the UN, then back to Washington for a summit with all the NGOs we're hopefully going to be working with, organised by lovely Working Films. Yes, I am feeling suitably guilty that I will be setting foot in my first aeroplane in two years (the last being to film that scene where Jeh the Indian airline dude is flying the simulator at Airbus HQ).


Will be kayaking back to the UK in three weeks time for the launch of Indie Screenings. See you then.


Franny

 

[Pford75]

Data centres consumed 1 per cent of the world’s electricity in 2005. By 2020 the carbon footprint of the computers that run the internet will be larger than that of air travel, a recent study by McKinsey, a consultancy firm, and the Uptime Institute, a think tank, predicted

Whilst air travel and SUV's make attractive middle-class targets, i'm not seeing the same level of focus from the eco-lobbysists on internet and data centres. There was an article on regional news last night about the data centres in East Anglia and how they are major contributors to CO2......will there be any moves to encourage people away from using the internet?

People like Franny talk about how guilty they feel for using air travel....can we expect them to curtail their internet/email usage as well?

 

[biffvernon]

It doesn't get the same headline publicity but it is very much a live issue amongst both 'eco-lobbysists' (sic) and the IT and Telecoms industries. The worst offenders are the older data centres and as equipment gets replaced substantial efficiency improvements are being made. No room for complacency but the energy variation of Moore's Law is still alive and well.

It is in all our interests that Franny Armstrong's work is not curtailed by energy usage.

 

[MdB]

In the computing press, performance per watt has become a big issue and there is a strong pressure to make improvements in this area. As Biff says, Moore's Law works with this metric as with others. New data centres are still being built so demand is rising faster than the improvements but it is an issue which has a high profile. Google for example is a large purchaser of solar power to run their data centres.

 

[Penners]

demand is rising faster than the improvements

It's been reported that growth in demand for the internet is so great that, as early as 2010/11, we may start seeing "grey-outs" on the web, due to undercapacity.