The Monsoon Frog

Tattoo to Go?

2012-01-30T15:30:00.004+09:30

Tattooes appear in many places on the body.

But have you thought what those locations ,might say about you, the tattooed one?

The comments might just be on the money!

Intellectual Property, Online Piracy and Intellectual Freedom

2012-01-19T15:42:00.004+09:30

This article is reproduced from elsewhere, but is a reminder of the issues that are being discussed over access to information. Mull over it, think about it and ask do you want to go backwards or forwards?? Yes, there might be a need for a degree of intellectual property........but the USA has also hammered the Australian copyright system rather savagely in the terms of the US / Australia free trade deal...and Australia got screwed.

Blackout Wednesday: The Time Has Come By Jeffrey Tucker

The blackout is a choice, and a brilliant one, made by founder Jimmy Wales in consultation with the whole Wikipedia community. It is a protest, a statement, a symbolic warning to the world of what can happen if governments attack the free flow of information.

The online protest is directed, in particular, against two bills roiling around Congress right now, called SOPA in the House and PIPA in the Senate. Early versions have been tabled.

The Obama administration has said that it opposes the current versions, but the opposition was weak and suspiciously nuanced.

People who are digitally aware and politically savvy know that this is only round one. The attempt by governments to block information flows on the Web will continue in new and different bills and regulations. No new laws are even necessary; government possesses the power now to crush the information age on a bureaucratic whim.In fact, this goes on every day. That's because governments everywhere, in all times and places, want to control information and will use all their power to do it.

It is also because the legal framework that rules how information is produced and distributed is fundamentally corrupted by the fraudulent notion of "intellectual property," which, if consistently enforced, would put an end to the Internet as we know it...

Just this past week, a judge ruled that a 23-year-old British college student can be extradited to the US for a 10-year prison sentence, all for linking to other servers that illicitly host copyrighted content;

Late last year, US officials shut down 150 domains without hearings or trials on grounds that they were suspected of selling goods that violate trademark law. It was done on "Cyber Monday" for a reason: It was an announcement to the digital world that government is in charge;

In the spring of last year, the FBI arbitrarily shut down every online poker domain they could find and seized the bank accounts of some of the largest and smartest people who play online poker - and all of this happened before the recent announcement that online poker is being re-legalised;

Earlier in the year, the Department of Homeland Security seized 84,000 domains and put up an announcement that each was trafficking in child porn. Problem: It was all a mistake. Not one was actually guilty. To date, there has been no explanation of how this could have happened;

In 2010, the feds seized some 73,000 domains for the crime of linking to content that was said to be distributed illegally in violation of copyright. Already, the damage of this sort of thing is enormous.

Ten years ago, the Internet represented liberation, a new frontier of innovation, commerce, opinion sharing and spontaneous organising.

Today, more and more people are consumed by fear. Bloggers are unclear about what existing law does or does not allow. No one knows for sure how to define "fair use." The deepest pockets are winning case after case.

Faced with this uncertainty, many are choosing less over more content - which is exactly what the government and private monopolists want.

The Wikipedia protest is a way of saying: If this kind of thing continues and ends up institutionalised in new legislation, there will be no more Wikipedia, which is the No. 1 content-rich site on the Web and the main way people learn today (how far we've come from the debunking that was common only five years ago).

And this is just one example.

Individual blogs would only contain government-approved content. Search engines would only produce only government-approved sites. Digital entrepreneurship would be suffocated by fears of threats, confiscations and jails. It is hard to see how even Facebook and Twitter could survive.

It is just marvellous that Wikipedia has taken this bold direction, and it is only possible because of the unique nature of the media in question.

Many large businesses during the 1930s tried their best to protest New Deal price controls. But they could hardly shut down their giant stores. The revenue loss would have been devastating, and the victims would have been the employees. So in the end, the private sector was forced to submit to the controls. It was the same in the 1970s with wage and price controls. How could the merchants resist?

But digital enterprises are in a different position entirely. They can vanish with a few clicks, giving the world a conjectural look at what happens when the state attacks the lifeblood of innovation and progress. Small changes in the law can have a gigantic effect. Just as one click can shut down this site, one law can do the same.

It is not only Wikipedia. Others are doing the same.

WordPress, the open-source platform that powers nearly a quarter of new websites and has the most-popular content management system on the Web, has also stepped out in front with a call for action: "Normally, we stay away from... politics here at the official WordPress project...Today, I'm breaking our no-politics rule...How would you feel if the Web stopped being so free and independent? I'm concerned - freaked right the heck out about the bills that threaten to do this, and as a participant in one of the biggest changes in modern history, you should be, too."There are many such examples.

And even if successful, it is not enough.

With or without SOPA, digital freedom is under attack.

For example, ICANN, the gateway for all domain registration, is now requiring a verified official identity, supplied by government, for domain ownership. This change sets the stage for continuing shutdowns and strangulation.The struggle is intensifying, and the sides are very clear: It is the government and old-line media companies that depend on the state's laws versus everyone else.

Everyone else consists of the independently active, privately owned global society that lives and thrives in the digital age. The astonishing innovations of this age have taught an entire generation about the miraculous power of information generation and delivery, about the capabilities embedded in the spontaneous actions of individuals, about the capacity of people around the world to generate order and progress through cooperation and exchange.The notable thing is that the Web as we know it has been built by private hands working together, not by bureaucrats and politicians. This is the great lesson that our Jetsons world has taught us, and it points to a truth that all governments want to suppress: namely, that order is the daughter of liberty.

How dare the bureaucrats and politicians presume to be the lords of what they had nothing to do with creating! If government gets its way with this legislation and these overall trends, the costs will be immense and tragically unseen. Digital media and information freedom is directly and indirectly responsible for most of the economic growth we've experienced over the last 20 years. Without it, government controls, taxes, regulations and wars would have instituted a new dark age by now.

For government to attack Internet freedom today would be akin to burning the seventh-century manuscripts of St. Isidore of Seville, who produced, in the hardest times, the book that summarised all the knowledge of the ancient world (a Wikipedia of his time) and remains a primary source today.

It would be like murdering Venerable Bede in the eighth century, so that he could not have written his history of England that passed on knowledge and wisdom in the darkest of times.

It would be like smashing the 15th-century Gutenberg presses so that printing could have never gotten off the ground.

Historians constantly remind us that all great leaps in human history are inspired by the sharing and spreading of information. This is the precondition. When the first crusaders returned with new manuscripts from the ancient world, we began to see the first signs of the birth of modernity in the West.

When populations moved to cities where they could leave behind their isolation and collaborate with others, economic growth followed. And when the Internet blasted down the barriers around the world and allowed anyone to discover new ideas, we saw a new dawn of technology and efficiency.

Information is the most-valuable commodity, and one that so happens to be infinitely reproducible.

But today, governments have rallied around this notion of "intellectual property" and used it as an excuse to set up monopolies and censor ideas. We'll never be safe from this kind of legislation and arbitrary dictate until this fallacy is pulled up from its very roots and we are better able to distinguish between real and fake property rights.

The two dominant trends of our time are, on the one hand, the darkening of the physical world ruled by governments and, on the other hand, the re-enlightening of the world thanks to the spontaneous order of digital media controlled by everyone else.

Governments are seeking to drag it down and shut off the lights. The protests against these proposed controls constitute a mighty statement that we will not let the raiders, the barbarians, the vandals, have their way.

This article first appeared in The Daily Reckoning USA

Examine the Creative Commons concept.......a positive development, and quite useful. Plenty of information online if you want to know more.

McDonalds Ludmilla - Hamburger Joint Or Road and Car Wash?

2012-01-06T22:51:00.002+09:30

What a stupid franchisee! What a bad example to the rest of the community! What a waste!

Very obviously the franchisee could not give a rat’s. Maybe the franchisor might though.

It is the wet season and two nights ago around 30 -50mm of rain fell in Darwin, enough for at least 5 or 6 days to keep the garden and lawns growing.

Not only that, but both November and December have been quite wet with plenty of regular rain. It is over two months since most people needed to use irrigation at home, except for maybe the odd pot plant.

Yes, good old McDonald’s on Bagot Road / Pfitzer Drive corner at Ludmilla where thousands of cars move past both day and night, is still watering the lawn. Not only that, they are watering every evening, and also watering most of the road on both Pfitzer Drive and some onto Bagot road. It is so bad on Pfitzer Drive that the road is showing signs of damage from the water. Your car is watered as you enter the carpark.

There is a simple switch –called a rain off switch, that holds the settings, but stop the irrigation system operating. This is a switch one uses to turn the system off......when it rains. Very easy, very simple. Should have been activated about two month’s ago.

I am sure they can afford the water bill, but why use it?

What a shame they are so silly that they cannot turn it off when it is not needed.

Changes for the New Year

2012-01-05T12:14:00.006+09:30

Ah, New Year's Resolutions! Made to be broken or truly a chance to remake you.

Many do not survive the first month, some less than the first week.

7 Things That Will Make You Happy
The New Year's Resolution We Should Be Making
Never Too Late: 5 Bad Habits You Should Still Quit

The graphic shows some of the most common US 2012 resolutions. I would think Australia might be very similar.

One standout for about 16% of the Australian population [ a little less than the US figure] is to stop smoking. Sure, some smokers are happy to keep on killing themselves, but in Australia they are more than ever seen as pariahs, those who continue to smoke, and there are major efforts directed at anti smoking options.

What of the others? Sound familiar?

Source:LiveScience

You Know It Is Hot When.......

2012-01-01T17:07:00.004+09:30

The monsoon has gone missing and the weather is hot.

New Year's Day, a slow start that developed into a house clean up, and related requirements, even cleaning the spa [ yikes it needed it......debris off the roof after that was cleaned], is now meandering into late afternoon.

But it has been stinking hot.......so hot that even the dog, who already had had a cooling clean with the hose and a wash decided that it ws so hot a move into the office and the air conditioning was a sensible option. First she moved to lying outside the office with the cool air trickling beneath the office doors, then as the door was opened.......in she went to lie on the cool tiled floor. Where she stayed, while cleaning the house continued.

Sensible dog!!

The Missing Monsoon

2011-12-30T17:25:00.005+09:30

We sort of lucked out, with Cyclone Grant passing by Darwin for Christmas 2011. Or is that got lucky?

Not so lucky, definitely, were people south of Darwin, around 250kms or so, a little north of Katherine, who copped a massive flash flood caused by monsoonal rain – some [almost] 400mm of overnight rain. This caused monumental road and rail line damage, including a major derailment and probably some environmental issues due to copper concentrate going in the river from the derailment and severely damaged several bridges, effectively cutting Darwin off from the rest of the country.

The rail line might be out for months is my guess, but the road [Stuart Highway] is now reopened, albeit on reduced service levels [ speed and some other restrictions] initially, with work to fix it probably also likely to take months and several millions of dollars [ remember – still 3-4 months of wet season to come yet].

A major disaster event.

Plenty of photos on the internet.

Since Boxing Day though, rain has stopped in Darwin. The weather is back to 35C days, clear skies and ultra high humidity, along with hot nights [29C at night].

This afternoon, and not before time, we have had around 15mm in a storm, but we are missing some monsoonal weather. Cloudy skies, occasional rain showers, and cooler [say tolerable 30 -31C days, 24-25C nights] conditions. While extended monsoonal weather makes for very poor clothes drying and does get you down a bit after several weeks, it does allow tempers to ease due to cooler conditions, and there is a reasonably steady north west monsoonal breeze, also aiding one feeling a bit cooler . A week of monsoonal weather with 10 - 20mm of rain daily would cool things down.

The monsoon has gone away, maybe sucked into Queensland as part of the tail end of ex Tropical Cyclone Grant.

Can we please have a slightly cooler few days, with some cloud cover?????

[photo taken NT Department of C and I, 2011]

Fragrant Orchids

2011-12-21T09:53:00.010+09:30

It never ceases to amaze me that these orchids always seem to flower together.

There are now about six plants scattered around the yard and they almost always flower on the same day, every time, which is quite a few times across the year!

Unfortunately, the flowers only last one or at most two days, but they are an absolute outstanding mass of showy, small, fragrant white flowers when they blossom.

Today is the day..........a beautiful sweet perfume is all around the yard, and into the house, especially notable when I walked into the living room this morning.

A bit of a distraction from the cyclone that is brewing up offshore......another Christmas present for Darwin??

Enjoy the view.............

Mythbuster's Catastrophe

2011-12-08T22:11:00.002+09:30

Mythbuster's TV show can be amusing, often quite funny.

But things sometimes go wrong........and this did, big time!

Worth watching the video!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57338281-71/mythbusters-cannonball-busts-through-house/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&tag=nl.e703

Crappy Weather

2011-11-27T22:00:00.009+09:30

It is.......and I am being polite!

Now 10pm, temperature is 31C and apparent temperature is close to 36C. This "apparent temperature' combines temperature, humidity and breeze to arrive at a different figure - more akin to what people feel the temperature is.

There is little breeze......apart from the wind flow out of the air conditioner!!

Maximum temperature today was a smidgen under 36C, although the humidity was down a little, and the apparent temperature close to 38C. The skies are clear, the sun is blasting down, and the radiant heat from the ground, concrete paths and driveways and the like is quite phenomenonal. And that is by 0900, getting worse s the morning goes on as there is little breeze in the mornings, with the maximum discomfort mostly around midday before the sea breeze kicks in, at least a little.

A single mm of rain overnight, but that cooled nothing! There has been a little rain, with 10mm two days ago, and several overnight falls of just 1mm each time. Some cloud cover would be nice, so would a breeze.

But it is that period...........the doldrums, when breezes are few.

One thing, though..... the solar hot water sure is VERY hot!!!

President Obama Comes to Darwin

2011-11-17T17:51:00.008+09:30

It is brief, but significant.

The President of the USA - Barack Obama - came to Darwin today.

He placed a wreath on the USS Peary Memorial near the Cenotaph, and then addressed Australian military personnel at the RAAF Base.

While in Canberra earlier today, he formally announced the the US will deploy 250 marines to Darwin starting in 2012, on a 6 month rotation, building to about 2500 over 5 years, as well as pre positioning of military assets. There is also further integration with Australian forces, particularly the air force, through more training exercises, use of local airfield facilities and bombing ranges as well as the vast military exercise areas both east and south of Darwin.

Some locals do not like that......and the Chinese have had a bit to say as well.

But today was about the visit by the President. I did not get an invitation to anything special so had to resort to side of the road photos. It is a once in a lifetime event, for a resident of Darwin.

Unfortunately, the President would mostly see that nobody was around, yet about 100,000 people live here.

I can say...........I WAS THERE.

Gurrumul and Jessica Mauboy performed for the President .......and the NT goverment gave him a great looking piece of aboriginal art from the Tiwi Islands. Oh, and a crocodile attack insurance policy [which he referrred to in his speech at the RAAF Base]!

Yuendumu Doors - Great Historical Aboriginal Art

2011-11-14T21:10:00.006+09:30

Yuendumu Doors - now in the SA Museum Adelaide in the aboriginal cultural display. These were created to encourage kids to go to school [ still an issue] by some of the traditional artists at Yuendumu, directly onto the doors themselves. Some were wood, many were metal covered wood.

From about 1983, some of the original large scale "permanent" art. Yes, they actually were the school classroom doors, at Yuendumu school. A bit battered and used.......but they are still some first class aboriginal art. Total approx 30, about 10 on permanent display. Considered to be among the original art from Yuendumu.

The doors were acquired by the SA Museum many years ago and some restoration work has been done, however, they do have the origianl art work. To celebrate the new aboriginal cultural gallery many of the doors are displayed until the end of 2011, in a large display upstairs with several downstairs in the entrance area.

They are full size doors - approx 2m x 800mm, complete with door hardware in some cases!

There is also a series of limited edition art prints [ quite small in contrast to the doors] .........worth having at least one, but the whole series is expensive!

More information here - http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/regions/yuendumu-doors.php

Lightning - Sears the Eyeballs

2011-11-11T11:26:00.005+09:30

Storms, fierce storms - are common across the Top End in the rainy season.

Having been away for a little while one can forget they occur.

First morning home, around 0400 it came........an eyesearing blast that was like fierce sunshine that penetrated the eyelids, definitely waking you up, followed immediately by a levitating thunderball. Yes, one thinks, we are home - welcome to the Top End!!

Quite a storm, even by local standards with about 35mm of rain in 20 minutes or so, and some very fierce lightning and thunder following the early blast, and all without much wind. And it only happened in a fairly narrow strip along the coast with only a few millimetres of rain at the airport which is about 3 kilometres from the ocean.

There have been a few storms around Darwin while away, but this was special it seems and made the front page of the local newspaper.

Omelette - Forty Years in the Making

2011-11-06T10:31:00.003+09:30

One must continue to learn in life. Even if over a long period of time.

There was a discussion with my wife yesterday over breakfast - along the lines of what there might be for breakfast.

The topic I ventured was - how about an omelette?

She appeared somewhat incredulous when I offered to make omelettes for us both. It was not about the offer to do that for us both, but more along the lines of stunned awe about the cooking of an omelette itself. She had never seen me cook omelettes. Not to mention some trepidation as to the outcome.

When one has been married for over 40 years there are not many [still some it seems] secrets.

Forthwith, two omelettes were produced.

To somewhat stunned incredulity. "I did not know you could cook omelettes" was the call, and the obvious answer - "I can".

We had omelettes for breakfast again today. The whole shebang - cheese, ham, onion etc.

Maybe I have incurred a rod for my own back, but really they are so easy and simple. Who can't cook a decent omelette?

You will have to speculate on their quality........without photographic proof!

Live Your Dreams

2011-11-02T22:21:00.002+09:30

It has been said before, and indeed repeated a few times since his death, but it does bear repeating over again.

This time the memory was jogged by a story of a young man, already a registered architect - 5 years uni plus accreditation for registration, being unable to decide whether to practise his acquired profession. Living on odd jobs for friends and a very small part time odd job house maintenance business [ essentially providing the $$ for uni courses]. It seems as if scared to take on a real job and establish or even try his hand at his profession, of which most said he had some real talent. Fear? Or a realisation that architecture was not for him?

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.

Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.

And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Steve Jobs 1955-2011Commencement address at Stanford University on June 12, 2005

Decadence and Shellfish

2011-10-28T17:08:00.004+09:30

Decadence goes back a long way; it is not a new phenomenom.

Read the quote -

"Shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle"
Pliny the Elder - Ancient Rome.

I have not heard of that quote before, but it is a pertinent one at this time of year in Australia, a time when local oysters are beginning to become plentiful.

I am not sure of that issue about moral decline, although I am equally as sure that I do enjoy oysters!!

Of course, oysters are not just the fare of the rich. For many years, oysters were thought food for only the poor. They could be gathered for free from local seashores, and can still be in many parts of Australia.

Historically, the rich purple dye, Tyrian purple, was produced from shellfish in ancient times, even prior to Roman times, and Pliny described the process in some detail [details on wikipedia]. Maybe that was the link between the rich and eating oysters.

Or was it the reputed aphrodesiac properties of oysters?

Stereotypes for the Northern Territory

2011-10-22T13:44:00.007+09:30

The popular ABC show Q and A was held in Darwin last Monday evening. Our family was otherwise engaged and did not attend, so I am reliant on the media [ but is that wise ?- see post below].

It seems the show has caused a flurry of score and counter score among many.

To many, Darwin - and by inference, the whole of the NT -is seen a city of yobbo stereotypes, cultural cretins and many worse derogatory terms. It might be laid back, but it sure is not uncultured, uncivilised, nor full of yobbos. We, as a population might enjoy a drink [ it is hot you know], enjoy boating or fishing and water sports [ it is hot you know], and dress down rather than up, day to day [ it is hot you know] but we also are active, culturally aware, and articulate.

Our viewpoint is driven by location and surrounds - with strong links to Asia as well as awareness, concern and tolerance of the local indigenous population. Sometimes we are unable to influence views on these topics, views often held by those with less real knowledge about the issues.

One local ABC reporter got fed up with the piffle being bandied around after the show, and has written an op ed piece for the ABC web site. There are a lot of comments, too!

She is a resident - albeit a relatively newcomer, but the spirit of the piece does hold true.

We do loathe being taken as idiots..........we are not.

While it is the season of the falling mango, long reputed to be the most troppo time of the year, and a highpoint of undesirable behaviour, locals just get on with it, tolerating the weather.........knowing that rain is coming. Elsewhere around the monsooon tropics, this pre wet season time is often the period of holidays......a time when work is less, think Songkran in Thailand in April for example, equivalent to our October/November time. But northern Australia is endowed with an inappropriate calendar schedule, imposed by temperate Australia.

Like anywhere else we have citizen behavioural problems, but we are not unaware of those.

The climate is tough on materials and people and the survivors and locals are coloured by that. Not like the soft latte set of southerners, politicians included, esconsed in their ivy towers.

Even Gurrumul, that great NT musician, is probably better known elsewhere than in Australia.

For more, read it here - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-20/kerrigan-qanda-in-the-nt/3580944

We do not really like being fed drivel by the latte set.

Truth in Media

2011-10-21T16:25:00.002+09:30

We all use the mass media- whether it be newspapers, online information or tv. But do we trust it to report fairly and accurately?

Some say that commercial sources are less trust worthy than public broadcasting. In Australia as well as some other countries such as the UK, Germany, Holland there is a strong public broadcast ethos, but less so in the USA, where National Public Radio [ NPR] is only a small player, but some say, a growing one.

A recent study, shown below shows that for the USA, we now have less trust in the mass media.

And this was before the recent scandalous stuff appearing about the various arms of the Murdoch media empire in the UK as well as in the USA.

Go figure........

Source:LiveScience

Cyling - Do You?

2011-10-17T20:12:00.001+09:30

Cycling can be a means of transportation, exercise, work, sport or just fun.

This past week in Australia has had the annual ride to work day. Did you?

I did not.......but then my trip to work is a short walk across the carport, into the office.......maybe ten metres. But I do enjoy some serious cycling. Hard, hard, hard training rides of anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes or more, aiming for several times each week [as well as few other pursuits such as swim training and the gym, not to mention some serious dog walking], and I usually return in a very sweaty state.

But cycling can be and should be fun, with a bit of camaraderie thrown in for good measure.

Even the environmentalists think it is fun, while being good for the environment.

Read more here - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-12/phillips-peddling-the-cyclist-cause/3549128 . It is a good read.

Tolerance and Caring - Is It Over?

2011-10-16T11:19:00.008+09:30

Trevor - the rubbish king - is regularly seen around Darwin, doing what he sees as his God given work - keeping the place clean. He picks up the rubbish the paid rubbish people leave behind!

His work appears on my blog here - http://monsoon-frog.blogspot.com/2010/05/art-installation-by-trevor.html

Darwin has a tolerant attitude to the odd bod........and has had for a long time. The motto, well known elsewhere of "do no harm" applies. If a bit odd, but doing no harm, well....., tolerate!

Trevor is a bit more than a garbo......read the op ed piece, which he wrote - below. Sort of says it all. It is a motto, a call to arms for the world of being a bit more caring and tolerant. While not being religious or evoking religion, it does have a ring similar to a few of the great people leaders around the world - from Christ, to Martin Luther King and Gandhi in recent times. Tolerance and care for the fellow man.

Read it yourself......

Towards a world embracing us all

Trevor Jenkins - is well known in Darwin for his work cleaning up rubbish. Ahead of Anti-Poverty Week, the man also known as the Rubbish Warrior, who was homeless for several years, argues that many may choose to ignore poverty and misunderstand those who are in that situation, but the poor and the homeless have their own strengths that enrich us all.

PAIN and human suffering is an important resource. It can be as rich as minerals, as powerful as diamonds. It is more prolific than sex.

It's more than a base from which to write welfare programs. It's an entry point into people's lives that is a gift to us all and enriches our lives.

Poverty allows us to once again see the distance we have placed between ourselves and others.
Human pain and human suffering on the street is paradoxically what makes some human beings rich in survival skills: resilience, humanity, acceptance, humour, resourcefulness, mateship, friendship and loyalty.

People are living with pain, living with disability, and living with abuse and terror. Courage in adversity is an Australian gift we value think of the Anzacs.

Today these gifts, very visible in people suffering on the streets, have been overlooked and pushed away in our headlong pursuit of success, comfort, grandeur, programs, plans, ideologies, and careers. When reallife human suffering is right outside our doors it is all too much.

People say success breeds success and like-minded people should congregate together. If you don't succeed you are judged as having a loser mentality and told it's "your own fault for thinking that way".

People say: "Don't blame me for not wasting my time with negative thinking people like you."

Social and community thinking about poverty does not accept failures, reality, trying hard, earning respect, acceptance of suffering or humility. Instead, it's about appearances, about looking good, feeling great and hiding the truth.

When somebody doesn't hide their true suffering and their true, lived self, better watch out because they might spread their pain and destroy themselves, us and society.

I see all this on the street, and I look on in dismay at a society in love with its own image, its own self and its own plans. A society in which an honest, hardworking, single, poor man with good morals and values is somehow mentally ill. Where it's crazy to love, crazy to think and dream, crazy to be free and alive.

It upsets and saddens me, but it inspires me, too, to overcome my own ill ridden fears and challenge the status quo. And I love people all the same.

I intend to fight for myself and others in similar positions, hopefully helping to teach a society to truly love again.

Anti-Poverty Week events in the NT will run from Monday October 17 to Thursday October 20.
[Article by T Jenkins sourced from NT News October 15 - but too good to not disseminate further!]

Hot Nights and Hotter Days

2011-10-12T21:21:00.007+09:30

A cool day today, as temperature only reached 32C, and a cooler night now, although still 28C as I write this.

With most nights now around 27C as a minimum, the airconditioner is getting a good work out, in the office during the day and in the house at night.

Most days in the past week have been around 34C, and inland even a few kilometres that max is often 37 -39C. And it is humid, so humid you sweat [ note NOT perspire] even standing still! And it will get warmer.....and warmer......for a while yet.

Ah the joys of living in the monsoon tropics!! At least the green tree frogs are beginning to utter mating calls, even though we have really not had a good, decent shower of rain here [ been a little around, but none over our way].

There are plenty of trees flowering in anticipation of rain, with most weeping rosewoods in full flower as are the yellow Tabebuia argentea [http://monsoon-frog.blogspot.com/2009/09/fabulous-yellow-median-strip-flowering.html ], and the frangipanni are magnificent, with lots of flowers.

Hows Your Spam Level?

2011-10-07T01:02:00.006+09:30

Some interesting statistics below. Where do you fit in this pattern?

You may say, my spam level is much lower....... so maybe your ISP has a good spam filter, so you never actually see all of the debris, with only a few getting through.

I ocassionally need to check material prior to any filtering for spam.......and I would think the results are reasonably true. There is an awful lot there that never even seems to reach the inbox, so thank your ISP!!!

On an average day, only about 23% of received email is legitimate, 75% tends to be spam and the remaining 2% leads to malware.

The spam portion is pretty predictable.

The top 3 most common types of spam are online pharmaceuticals (29%), counterfeit luxury goods (17%), and online romance scams (16%). This breakdown has been the same for several years, indicating the spammers are meeting with success. Over 60% in these three alone!

Overall, successful spam seems to feed on people's feelings of inadequacy and need to compensate.

How Do You Communicate?

2011-10-06T09:22:00.001+09:30

Source:LiveScience

One could assume that Australian communications methods are fairly similar to the US data.

Fuel Shortages in Darwin?

2011-09-30T09:37:00.005+09:30

The Shell refinery in Singapore has been on fire since 28 September.

This refinery is supplying between one third and one half of the total in Singapore's refining capacity, and all of the NT fuel comes in as refined fuel by ship from Singapore.

What will be the situation in the NT?

Refineries do not get repaired quickly.

More here -http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/43324

and here - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/shell-to-shut-singapore-refinery-after-extinguishing-worst-fire-since-1988.html

[ photo from news.com.au 29/9/11]

Boeing 787 Goes Commercial

2011-09-26T22:15:00.002+09:30

While space junk comes down [ in the Pacific Ocean??], the Boeing 787 Dreamliner goes up and finally gets to be commercial, with September 26 the handover of the first commercial plane to All Nippon Airways of Japan.

Likely to be a short while before it is part of the day to day commercial fleet, however.

I have not checked, but would be sure there will be plenty of coverage online, including photos.

Remember......it is carbon fibre, NOT aluminium. A definite first for commercial large aircraft.

RUGBY - the Game THEY Play in Heaven

2011-09-23T01:00:00.004+09:30

http://youtu.be/nW0Fp16XhZo

A great video clearly demonstrating the game of Rugby.

With the World Cup now playing in NZ, this has to be a must see video for those not fully aware of the nuances of the game.

a visually appealing presentation too.

Get Exercising

2011-09-22T09:25:00.002+09:30

Source:LiveScience

As the commentariat said recently.........not exercising when older might mean being able to live longer, because of medical advances, but if you do not exercise, well........you might not be able to get out of the chair!! So it improves QUALITY of life.

So .........get to it!

A COOL Blast

2011-09-13T09:11:00.004+09:30

It is mid September........and it should be warm to hot, even at night.

But we have a coooool blast at the present. No, not complaining at all........and I have no doubt that it will not last more than a few days. Then back to warm and humid weather. So lets enjoy it!

Temperature fell to just over 16C last night in Darwin. Thought it might be cold when it was already below 20C by about 11pm last night. Definitely was a cold one. And the relative humidity is very low this morning - around 20%.

Even colder last night out of town in the rural area where temperature dropped to 8.2C at Middle Point, the second coldest night EVER for there, and in September, which is a bit strange, as most cold nights are in the June - early August period. Strong winds and a total fire ban today, but it is warm and sunny. A wind chill factor of 7 degrees, giving an apparent temperature of only 17C now [ actual temperature is 24C]

The office is quite cool this morning, even with no fan running either.

Do not think it will last.....maybe one or two more nights below 20C, then back to the humidity. For the next 6 months!

Night Road Works

2011-09-07T17:17:00.006+09:30

While common in larger cities, Darwin has seen more of this over recent times.

Partly due to a need for considerable renovation of roads after the very damp wet season of 2010-2011, and well, it is cooler to work at night too. Especially now, when day temperatures can reach 36C, while night temperatures are rising too, but are more pleasant at around 25C.

The effect can be a bit eerie - people all kitted out in bright refective vests, flashing lights and the odour of hot tar, a hint of steam rising from the asphalt too, and traffic moving slowly past the work.

Enjoy the photos........hope they convey some of odd imagery seen during night road works.

Photographed on Trower Road, Rapid Creek not far from our place. Available light using DSLR with ISO at 3200.

Chocolate is GOOD for YOU!

2011-09-01T09:24:00.001+09:30

A recent finding, that is sure to delight many of us with a sweet tooth, claims that high levels of chocolate consumption may be associated with a 33% decrease in the risk of developing heart disease. The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), confirms existing studies which have explored the positive link between eating chocolate and heart health. While other factors are much more important for a healthy heart, such as exercise and proper dieting, this finding gives a nice reprieve to chocoholics.

Chocolate has great qualities other than a great taste which include antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It can reduce blood pressure and improve insulin. This may be one reason people enjoy chocolate when they are stressed out. It can actually make you feel better.

Previous studies had found the link between chocolate and heart health but the evidence backing it up remained unclear. Researchers from the University of Cambridge, led by Dr. Oscar Franco, set out to establish the link by carrying out a large-scale review of existing evidence.

Previous studies compared two groups of individuals, those with high and low chocolate consumption.

Five studies reported a link between chocolate and heart health. Individuals with the highest levels of chocolate consumption had a 37 percent decrease in cardiovascular disease and a 29 percent reduction in stroke. This is in comparison with individuals with the lowest level of chocolate consumption.

The type of chocolate was not taken into consideration for any of the studies. For example, dark and milk chocolate were not differentiated. Nor were chocolate bars, chocolate beverages, or chocolate desserts differentiated.

The authors of the study caution that people should not take this as free license to consume bucket loads of chocolate. It is extremely high in calories which could lead to weight gain and diabetes. If the fat and sugar content of commercially sold chocolate could be reduced, it would be safer. According to the findings of the study, this is an option that should be explored.

Link to published article: http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4488

Planes Above

2011-08-12T10:24:00.003+09:30

Darwin is an important link in many old and new air routes and aviation. A vital link between Australia and the rest of the world.

A lot of it is unseen, but pass overhead the aircraft do........with monotonous regularity.

Sometimes, especially at night you can hear aviation traffic overhead, or even see an aircraft by the moving navigation lights. Darwin is a way point, where slight adjustments to the course are made, so coming close is a regular occurrence for many commercial aviation operators.

Last night was unusual with two north bound aircraft leaving very large and conspicious con trails in the sky above Darwin, a few minutes apart. They hung in the sky for maybe 30 minutes, without dispersing, two obvious pink con trails illuminated by the setting sun.

Even captured one on camera, with the light of the rising moon.

Enjoy the view - going north. Leaving Australia.

Are You a Cyberslacker???

2011-08-06T23:17:00.004+09:30

Cyberslacker - it is a beautiful term to describe those who contribute to cyber forums etc while at work, in work time.

Are you one?

It seems an awful lot of Australians ARE.

The following is from the Weekend Australian newspaper and says it all!! It is a very interesting set of statistics and ancedotal materials.......a great story.

Digital forums being skewed by cyberslackers
Christian Kerr
From: The Australian
August 06, 2011 12:00AM

THE anonymity afforded by the internet makes it hard to know for sure who is driving online public opinion. But one thing can be said about this surfing, tweeting, blogging community busy putting links and comments up on their Facebook pages: it is made up of people with nothing better to do.
When the digital dawn arrived as the 20th century drew to a close, it was heralded as a new dawn, too, for democracy. But digital democracy is not representative democracy; representative in the sense it embodies the true vox populi.

Online political commentary is driven by what the pollsters would call a self-selecting sample. And just as many online opinion polls now come with footnotes pointing out that their findings are not scientific, online public opinion needs a similar qualifier.

Web-based activist group GetUp! claims almost 600,000 members. Since it was founded in 2005, its email-driven campaigns and web-based petitions have become influential political tools.
Its national director Simon Sheikh claims one in every 30 Canberrans belongs to the organisation. He also has said that contrary to its youthful image, the average age of members is 55.

This has led many on the Coalition side of politics to deride the group as a bunch of cyberslacking, bored and idle, middle to low-ranking, left-leaning, white-collar public servants getting older and grumpier every day as they strive to hang on to just a little of the idealism of their radical youth.

Tommy Tudehope, a social media expert who served as social media adviser to Australia's most cyber-savvy politician, Malcolm Turnbull, during his time as Liberal leader, warns against taking online opinion in isolation.

He compares the situation with looking at the polls. While one may contain dramatic figures, wise politicians will look at their longer-term patterns. They will study the trend lines.

"I would never taken one social media platform in isolation," Tudehope says. "You have to take them all together." Even then, he says, the information and opinion received from social media needs to be married with data from other sources to form a reliable view.

Tudehope points out some of the immediate distortions of the web world. Tradesmen and manual workers do not sit at desks with computers on them. He talks of cyberslacking, too. "It's an issue for all companies," he says, but goes on to warn that the problem is particularly prevalent in enterprises where employees are "given more freedom at their desks".

Michelle Prak, a social media consultant with Adelaide-based Hughes Public Relations, points to Sensis data from earlier this year that shows only 22 per cent of social media users say they visit social media sites at work, but wonders aloud if the market researchers have been told some little white lies.

She also cites data from Google Analytics that points out Twitter reaches 11 per cent of the Australian population, compared with 8.5 per cent worldwide; and Facebook 67.3 per cent, far higher than the global average of 50.8.

Web consultant ROI says social media dominates how Australians use the internet.

Nielsen research published last year found almost one-quarter of online time was spent on social networks and blogs, and this number was increasingly rapidly. The average visitor spent 66 per cent more time on these sites than was the case 12 months before.

Australians, Nielsen found, averaged the most time on blogs and social networking sites, seven hours and 19 minutes, and were logging on from work and home. Our time spent on these sites outstripped the No 2 nation, the US, by just under 45 minutes and the No 3, Italy, but just over. More industrial nations exposed our cyberslacking shame. Germans devoted only four hours and 13 minutes of their home and work time every week to blogs and social networking and the Swiss three hours and 43 minutes. Japan's usage rates were even lower, at two hours and 50 minutes.

Andrew Braun, director of mobile, internet and technology at Roy Morgan Research, says his company's Single Source data shows that more than a million Australians aged 14 and older have read or added a comment to a newspaper blog in the past four weeks. More than 1.3 million of us have read or commented on someone else's blog or online journal.

Almost 400,000 Australians have started or managed their own blog or online journal. More than a million have viewed or contributed to online forums. Monash University researchers have found workers spend more than one-quarter of their time on the internet on non-work-related activity.
The Australian's online traffic climbs noticeably as the working day begins. It stays high all morning, peaks during the usual lunch hours, stays strong through the afternoon, then falls noticeably as home-time looms.

All the experts agree; just what is done while cyberslacking is next to impossible to quantify.
But given all these patterns and figures it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that much of the political commentary offered on the web and through social media is produced on someone else's time. That fact itself may explain the snarky tone of much of it.

Vivienne Storey, of Blands Law, helps companies develop social-media policies governing all kinds of web-based interaction. Workers who spend too much time online on non-work-related activities, Storey says, may be unhappy or frustrated. "I always say wasting time on the internet, that's really a deeper issue in the workplace," she says. "It's got nothing to do with access to social media. It's: why are the employees bored?"

The Roy Morgan data lets us quantify another demographic with time on its hands that may also be bored or frustrated and shaping online opinion.

In the past four weeks, close to 250,000 people who do not work have read or added a comment to a newspaper blog. More than 400,000 have read or commented on someone else's blog or online journal. One hundred and eight thousand have started or managed their own blog or online journal. And 284,000 have viewed or contributed to online forums.

There are fears that the often angry tone of web-based political discussion is making mainstream debate derogatory.

The climate-change debate has raised temperatures, in recent weeks and in the past.

Coalition sources say some offices were receiving an email every second at the height of the emissions trading scheme dramas of 2009.

Last week an angry Turnbull tweeted the details of a serial text message pest. "I don't mind abusive emails or tweets but why does Thomas Lynch [Turnbull gave his phone number] think it's OK to send me abusive SMSes about climate change?" he asked.

Online political opinion is unrepresentative. Much is ferocious and fiercely partisan in tone. That is because many of its authors have too much time on their hands and, like everyone who finds themselves in that state, have got bored and cranky.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/digital-forums-being-skewed-by-cyberslackers/story-e6frgakx-1226108577149

is the link, and there are plenty of comments too.

Does this represent YOU??

Time to Spare?

2011-08-02T23:23:00.007+09:30

So the Tour de France is over for another year, there has been time to catch up on sleep.... so what do you do now??

In Australia and Asia the time difference makes for late night tv viewing, and with the finish so relevant.....it is about 0130hrs here in the Central time zone of Australia......and later on the east coast, around the finish time each day.

Is now the time to hit the bike and catch up on exercise?

OR.......prepare for the Tri Nations Rugby and the World Cup? More tv viewing.......it is a struggle!

This week cool nights are back with us, so swimming may not be a good option either.

Time Trial - Penultimate Stage 2011 Tour de France

2011-07-24T16:32:00.004+09:30

There have been some late nights over the past three weeks sitting up watching TV coverage of the event as the cyclists torture themselves through the 2011 Tour de France.

The last three stages in the Alps have been tremendous, with some heart stopping moments, including some awesome descents, a few crashes and miscues, and some great climbing.

Final stage in the mountains finished at Alpe d'Huez after that monumental climb - 21 hairpin bends to hell!! At that moment a young Frenchman won the stage [ Pierre Rolland] bolting away with Contador vanquished after publicly stating he wanted to win there. Andy Schleck seemed absolutely spent at the finish. And Cadel Evans the hope of Australia finishing not very far behind the stage winner, and looking not spent. Evans was 57 secs behind Andy Schleck in the GC [ General Classification], the new Yellow Jersey wearer.

Many thought it might be be over for Evans again, relegated to a placegetter in the Tour.

What a time trial though. Even bunny hopped a few of the road speed bumps [ isn't that what all mountain bike riders do anyway?], and was immensely smooth all through the ride. Seven seconds behind Tony Martin the time trial stage winner, and a comfortable two minute plus margin over both Schlek brothers - and Cadel is now in the Maillot Jeune as winner - elect for the final stage into Paris.!

The first Australian to win a grand Tour - the Tour de France. Cycling's Everest, probably the most prestigious individual sporting win in the world. Blows away major tennis and golf events, world chess titles, Olympic gold medals and whatever else. WOW! WHAT A WIN!

As an individual event winner, at least matches that Australian win in the America's Cup in 1983, which really was a team and machine win. What a win!

He still has to finish the stage on Sunday, but it is traditional that a clear winner of the Tour is given a gentleman's ride to the finish. Do not forget to watch though.........the sprint up the Champs Elysee is a great sight to watch. Mark Cavendish to win??

[ photo copyright the Australian ]

Watch the follow up summaries coming too........the first on tv on Monday night.

The Truth - or Is It??

2011-07-18T09:41:00.004+09:30

The truth can be confronting, it can also set you free.

Speculation in the media often canvasses ideas about whether truth is being promulgated. 'Spin reigns', is the cynical view these days among the masses.

Maybe rightly so.

Too many junk media releases to promote the deliverer [aka a politician, media mogul etc], not to promote the information. We almost always suspect politicians are not telling the truth. That seems a bit sad.

Look at events in the UK at the moment.......truth has been a casuality of the events unfolding over the phone hacking scandal. Probably more to come too.

In Australia, with all sides of politics debating.......or promoting, various options over carbon reductions and carbon pricing, what is the truth?

In science maybe there is no absolute truth.......and with climate change the science while clearer, is almost likely to be always an unknown [with some probability limits], especially as data about past climate change events is found, and debated scientifically. Scientists accept this theorem about truth and facts - they can change, and then our views are adjusted, or not, depending on the arguments advanced.

Over historical time, many in the scientific community have had ridicule heaped upon them over theories........later shown to be the now accepted idea. Continental drift, planets including earth around the sun .......there are many in this category.

The op ed piece in todays's Australian newspaper is on truth.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/the-real-truth-is-that-there-is-no-hidden-agenda-behind-the-story/story-e6frg6zo-1226096370394

And it comes back to one issue - not everyone has a hidden agenda, even among politicians. The writer makes the point strongly that often there is no hidden agenda or spin. Even politicians may believe that the course of action proposed, the legislation etc is actually the best option.

A well written piece, a bit on the philisophical, even strongly intellectual view, but a view worth revisiting.

We seem sometimes to forgot that people of all persusions may actually believe in issues they are advocating.

Red Trumpet Vine - Pyrostegia venusta

2011-07-17T12:31:00.005+09:30

You know it is a good dry season if this plant is in its vibrant flowering glory.

And it is......

The plant is often used as a screen vine on fences and most of the year it is just a green plant. But when it flowers it is spectacular! It seems to flower best in a dry season that has at least some decent cool nights below 20C.

Masses of reddish-orange flowers in large clusters against a dark green foliage makes for a great ostentatious display. Really offers a major statement.

The photos are from a site just around the corner from our house along their fence. Just a short 15m or so. But it is by no means the only one around the area, nor the largest, although it is in a cul de sac, and may not be the most obvious display seen.

I noticed a long fenceline - maybe 30m - the whole front fenceline - on a house block along Bagot Road, a site seen by many thousands of commuters travelling to and from work each day. It is a mass of flowers also. A great feature.

The bright flowers also seem to survive for a few weeks so it is not just a short burst of flowering. The botanical name is Pyrostegia venusta - definitely worth considering for a screen vine in the tropics and sub tropics.

Bikes - the Motorbike Types

2011-07-15T10:00:00.004+09:30

It is July, and there is a lot of talk and viewing of bikes.........the pedalling kind.

But lets not forget one of the legendary bikes - Harley Davidson. If you talk of motorbikes, then this is a name most everyone will know, along with maybe Triumph, Norton and the current crop of names being used in motorcycle racing.

Like many large corporations, Harley Davidson has another side, a past set of glory. A fantastic collection of motorbikes that is rarely seen.

No, I do not have any entry passes, and the site is not normally open. I can however, give you a link to a site where there are some great photos of some unusual and legendary motorbikes.

Go here - http://news.cnet.com/2300-10797_3-10008534.html?tag=nl.e703

Test ride by having a look.

Carbon Pricing or Carbon Fibres?

2011-07-11T09:35:00.004+09:30

Mayhem on all fronts.

Australia gets a carbon price and the Tour de France has more nasty crashes.

Opposite poles one might think.

However, the editorial comment by Paul Kelly is a useful commentary, and the cartoon excellent.

I have no doubt that carbon pricing and not carbon fibre frames will be the lead news item this week in Australia.

Read more here -http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/carbon-plan/alp-green-values-triumph-in-julias-finest-political-fix/story-fn99tjf2-1226091907108

Its Official - Tour de France a Sleep Hazard

2011-07-09T16:29:00.004+09:30

Following on from my previous post, there is an article in the Australian Financial Review of Friday 8 July on the effect the TDF is having on sleeplessness in Australia.

A tv audience now over 200 000, means a lot of people getting to bed in the early am, and being short of sleep at work, the next day. Not to mention interfering with their own exercise regimes.

Watch out.......still two weeks to go and we have not seen much yet in terms of interesting stages in the mountains.

Vive le tour!

Late Night Biking - from France

2011-07-07T22:01:00.003+09:30

It is that time of the year again.

Late evenings, early mornings, tranquil views of the French countryside while about 200 bike riders tear around the dales and glens of France. THE Tour de France.

We now get full tv coverage for most of the day's racing, and it is online as well, as streaming video, for the full day's event.

Must be the greatest tourist coverage available for France - three weeks of cover for many of the regions of France. There are some fantastic scenes, and I am sure it has generated many, many visitors to France over the years.

So far........ Alberto Contador seems to have a dose of bad luck, and his bike throw yesterday was a bit of a classic dummy spit. Cadel Evans has had some good luck, with a well deserved stage win, and Mark Cavendish also won a sprint finish yesterday. Thor Hushovd continues along successfully wearing the GC leader's yellow jersey.

Early days in the event, with much more to come.

The TDF has become a huge event world wide. Even if vaguely interested in cycling, it is almost worth watching as a travelogue, on its own. If interested in cycling.........then at least some viewing is essential.

However, in Australia, that means getting to bed very early in the am, not conducive to a decent days work next day. Nothing beats time-shifting to watch it when you can!

Bike Helmets Reduce Injuries - Latest Research

2011-06-23T10:26:00.005+09:30

It seems as if a long argument finally has a solution - wearing a bike helmet does actually reduce injuries for bike riders.

Rarely has an issue evoked as much debate.........with staunch advocates for both wearing and not wearing a helmet.

I have split a helmet in half after an accident caused by a dog hitting the bike at around 50km/hr, after which my head hit the ground first- and not suffered head injuries so I am more pro use than not. I am sure a helmet saved my skull.........and as a family there was rarely much debate by the kids over wearing a helmet while biking after that incident.

Most serious bike riders seem pro helmet use, with more support for not using one in the itinerant bike riding group I think.

However.........read more here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/23/3251272.htm

And...... wear a bike helmet while riding.......it might just save your head.

Darwin - What a Ripper of a Dry Season 2011 - So Far

2011-06-19T21:24:00.006+09:30

The past two weeks have seen some great cool dry season weather here in Darwin.

As I write this at 9pm at night it is 17C and cooling rapidly. Cool enough for a light fleece or jumper even. Many nights, or rather early mornings have been around 13 -15C over the past two weeks. Up to 28C, if lucky, in the day, but with a few around 25C max. Lots of sunshine too......eleven hours approximately every day.

Truly a magnificent dry season so far, and it seems with more to come this week........predictions of a similar pattern this week, with 16 - 17c nights.

Last year the dry season did not ever get started, and this year has been truly different and a great dry season so far. They say if it gets cool early in the dry.......it will continue the same way.

Even the swimming pools are very cool - 21C water temperature earlier today on the sign outside the local pool......that is COOL!!

Roll on 2011 dry season!!!!

International Surfing Day - June 20, 2011

2011-06-18T13:52:00.000+09:30

International Surfing Day — 20th June 2011

June 20, 2011 marks the 7th annual International Surfing Day (ISD), a day where surfers and surf enthusiasts alike from across the globe join together to celebrate this world-renowned sport. Since its founding, ISD has grown into over 200 separate events in 25 different countries with an emphasis on giving back to the world's oceans and beaches that provide us humans with such awe-inspiring experiences.

It's not just humans that can ride the waves though, hang ten and take a look at ARKive's top surfers!

Perfect 10 for Fantastic Maneuvering

Gentoo penguins may have a funny walk on land, but when they are in the water, there is nothing funny about this amazing talent. Using their feet for powerful propulsion, gentoos can dive an impressive 170m deep in pursuit of prey.

Perfect 10 for Waves Caught

The most common of dolphin species, the short-beaked common dolphin can be found swimming in packs of 10, and sometimes even up to 500 individuals! They are highly active mammals, often leaping out of the water (known as breaching), and slapping their flippers on the water's surface (called lobtailing).

Dolphins are known to use surf as a way to travel on long journeys, and also for sport.

Article continues: http://blog.arkive.org/2011/06/international-surfing-day/

GONE - to Volvo Heaven

2011-06-04T00:02:00.001+09:30

We have had a venerable Volvo 142S in our driveway for a long time. Has served our family well - many trips to and from Sydney as well as the NSW snowfields, across some pretty awful roads at times in the 1970s and early 80s, then as a second car for around town use.
Has not moved for some considerable time.

One son was going to work on it - and renovate it, but left and is now overseas.

Have been under some pressure to move it for quite a while.

It has now left the building driveway, and gone to the Volvo heaven!!

A bit sad really.............

It's COLD in Darwin!!

2011-06-02T17:37:00.002+09:30

Darwin is COLD this morning......a minimum of 14.4C with a low humidity, means an effective temperature of around 9C.

Inland, effective temperatures were closer to 5-7C, with one reading of 4C meaning an effective temperature of -1C..........thats cold!.

And you thought Darwin was never cold! In Alice Springs, quite a few nights in a row below freezing.

Many users of fleece jackets today.......at least for a while, as day temperatues of 30C are expected later.

And there are at least a few more days of similar weather still to come according to the Met Bureau.

Toooooooooo cold for frogs to go swimming.

The Future of Australian Politics - I Wish!!

2011-05-31T15:09:00.003+09:30

This is a great op ed piece on the ABC web site.

Probably need to have connections to Australia to follow the story........but it reads well. Not only that, there seems to be a lot of support judging from the comments.

DEFINITELY worth a read!

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/2738702.html

COOL Weather

2011-05-27T14:13:00.005+09:30

Yes, it can get cool in Darwin. Most people never believe that to be true, but this week has seen quite a few cool nights - with last night a minimum of 17C. Likely to be even cooler over the weekend!

And...........there is a wind chill factor too. Cool weather usually means low humidity, often with east or south east winds from across the continent. So the apparent temperature is often 3-5 degrees C less than the measured temperature. A temperature effectively of around 13C this morning.

Most homes are designed to be open to breezes, so interior areas can cool quickly, and many have tiled floors. They get COLD on the usual bare feet when moving around the house, and there is a breeze blowing.

It is all relative...........but definitely cool for Darwin. Even daily maximum temperatures are below 30C. Cool nights are considered excellent for mango flowering........maybe a good crop this year.

Should even have another week of similar weather, driven by a slow moving, large high pressure system in southern Australia.

Cool but enjoyable........even a bit cool for swimming!

Aeroplanes Are Coming

2011-05-26T15:55:00.005+09:30

Two types actually, live military ones and dead big ones.

First the live military aircraft.

We are about to be subjected to a month or more of serious military aircraft flying out of Darwin. The cream of the RAAF, FA-18s, will be here for an exercise, with lots of flying out of the Darwin airport. And NOISE.

We live about 2km directly N of the end of the main runway and in the dry season do get more aircraft noise, albeit at a modest level, due to SE wind patterns during the dry season.

A short while ago............yes, the RAAF arrived! Very noisy. But it is in short bursts and a necessary evil to provide pilot training and exercises. Trouble is, this now replaces the jets of the Singapore Air Force, who also use Darwin for training purposes several times a year.

Oh well.............usually not at night, so you still get to have a good night's sleep.

The second stanza is somewhat intriguing.

Alice Springs has just received approval as only the first site outside of the USA as an "aeroplane wreckers yard" for large aircraft. It is a significant industry in itself and today they announced that Alice Springs has approval for a 100ha site - potentially holding up to several hundred aircraft, as an aircraft graveyard, adjacent to the airport site [really part of it].

Desert areas are generally preferred for these sites and Alice Springs obviously meets the criteria..........even if last year was much wetter than just about any previous year on record!

It is expected to be quite an industry development. More here-
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/26/3227852.htm

But let's wait and see when the first aircraft arrives.

The Times They Are A'Changing

2011-05-24T23:21:00.005+09:30

Or are they??

It is Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday today.

The voice is a bit more gravely, but he still performs. Most recently at the 2011 Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival here in Australia.

For the 65th birthday he kicked butt and released a fantastic new CD. A top seller, even.

And although some of the great tunes are over 40 years old...........they still are relevant, and make you think when you listen to the lyrics.

Yes..............I am a Dylan fan!!

Is Democracy Overrated??

2011-05-16T15:16:00.003+09:30

Always an interesting conundrum. And to add another cliche - absolute power corrupts absolutely. Where is the productive mid point?

The comments below come from a recent newsletter from a writer on financial affairs, while writing and visiting China. It is quite true, based on my own observations during a working period on a project in China, over about 5 years. It also matches the some reflections on China by some friends who visited last year - they were impressed!

Corruption and guang xi were rife when I worked there , but things functioned.

Read it and reflect.

The article below is reflecting on the US, but would apply across many western countries. The issues around renewable energy are similar - the Chinese are rapidly embracing this option, while we all seem to be just stuffing around. Are western societies all getting too fat and lazy, just like a big fat cane toad ?

-----------------------------------

Americans must be the most gullible simpletons in the world. They will believe anything. No fantasy is too absurd. No lie is too ridiculous. Much of what they now take for granted an earlier generation would have taken for preposterous, outrageous, and criminal.

According to presidential candidate Donald Trump they are prepared to believe that China is to blame for their financial problems... No kidding. When asked what he'd do to fix the US economy, 'The Donald' says he'd 'get tough with China.'

What dastardly thing are the Chinese doing? What devious, underhanded act are they committing?
Ah ha! An act of commerce! They're delivering quality products to America at discount prices! Trump says he'll slap a 25% tariff on Chinese-made goods.

How exactly this would be better for Americans he didn't explain. Says our old friend Grover Norquist:
"Tariffs are not paid by the Chinese. They're paid by Americans who buy things made by the Chinese."

Americans are barely able to keep up with their expenses already; raising prices wouldn't do them any favor that we can see.

But in the US, crackpot ideas are as common as democrats.

In the '90s, Americans thought they could get rich by buying companies that weren't earning any money. Then, they thought they could get rich by buying a house. When that went bad, they whined for bailouts and handouts. And now they think the feds are helping them by printing more money.

Honestly, you can't make this stuff up!

But their delusions don't stop there. They also believe that for the last 10 years the world's only super-power has been at war with 372 Muslim extremists. And that somehow we'll be safer if we let TSA agents grope our grandmothers and pat down our toddlers.

And how about this? It is obvious to the whole world that US Commander- in-Chief Obama ordered a hit squad to disappear Osama bin Laden; but in the USA, people think the SEALs were conducting a heroic military operation. And they dumped his body in the ocean because they didn't want to offend the Muslim brotherhood.

You have to like people who would believe something like that. They're loveable half-wits...earnest morons with the skeptical intelligence of a puppy.

Nor does it bother them that their national financial plan is a calamity. Everyone who has thought about it for more than a second realizes that the secret to gaining wealth is to make money...save it...and invest it in new and more productive business opportunities.

And yet, the government's financial strategy for 4 decades has been to encourage consumer spending and borrowing, a program that is sure to lead to poverty.

This strategy did not boost real economic growth in the US. But it did wonders for China. We are now on a plane, en route to Shanghai from Beijing. China is supposed to be a poor country. But there is no evidence of it so far.

Instead, there are automobiles, highways, skyscrapers - as far as the eye can see. Factories by the thousands. Warehouses. Docks and freight yards. Plants. Mills. Apartment blocks that New York would be proud of. Office towers that Baltimore would envy. Trains. Loading platforms. Bridges. Storage yards. Assembly units. Round buildings. Square buildings. Rectangles. Ovals. Low rise. High rise. The scale of activity is breathtaking. And we haven't reached Shanghai yet.

Is there any description of China that doesn't end in 'st'? It has the biggest, newest, most daring and innovative buildings. It has the fastest trains...the most roads and cars. The richest. The poorest. It has everything.

It has people too... Smart, hardworking people. Instead of borrowing to boost their standards of living, the Chinese save their money in order to reduce their standard of living...boost the next generation's.

The Chinese have already pulled off a miracle. It has only been 32 years since Deng Xiaoping opened up China to making money. In that time, the nation has gone from a third world dump to the world's 2nd largest economy...whose growth rate continues to be shocking.

What's their secret? China is a zombie-free zone. The 'safety net' is thin here. There is plenty of corruption and inside dealing, no doubt. But people work hard...save their money...and expect to live by their own efforts.

But the Chinese have gotten a lot of help from America. The feds encouraged Americans to buy things they didn't need with money they didn't have. The Chinese merely took the orders...and the money. Now they have the biggest stash of dollars in the world, while the US has the biggest, stinkiest pile of debt the world has ever seen.

And more thoughts...

We have just had our best airport and hotel experiences ever. Arriving at our hotel - the China World Hotel in Beijing - the staff again met us at the entrance. They greeted us by name and showed us directly to our rooms. There was no waiting to check-in. There were no lines. There were no incompetent or surly flunkeys.

Then, we drove to the huge Beijing airport - the largest in the world. There, uniformed airline employees met us at the curb...took our luggage...and whisked us through the check-in security process. The whole thing took only minutes, with almost no waiting at any step. It was a pleasure.

*** "You haven't seen the real China," one of our Dear Readers who has lived in China for many years explained. "You're just looking at the top cities. It would be like going to the US and only visiting New York and San Francisco. You wouldn't have a very good idea of what the country is like.
"If you go out to some of these second and third tier cities, you get another picture all together. They're pretty grim. And poor. And there are still millions of people who earn almost nothing.

"These poor people keep coming to the cities to find work. The government knows it has to keep the economy growing so that these people don't become a problem. But so far, I've been very impressed. The people running the country may be communists, but they're not stupid. And to tell you the truth, this is a much better system than we have in America.

"I don't know why the US would want to push democracy on the whole world. And I don't know why Hillary Clinton would want to lecture China about human rights either. China isn't intentionally killing people. China doesn't have troops in other countries. China is minding its own business...and building its economy - just like America used to do.

"And not having a democracy is really a good thing. A benign dictatorship can make the kind of changes you need to make. That's what they do here. They can do things that require huge capital investments but only pay off far in the future. They can do things that are unpopular, because they don't have to stand for election every 4 years.

"That's why the US is such a mess. We're digging ourselves a deeper and deeper hole each year. But nobody can stop it. Because every member of Congress has to face the voters. And the people who vote are also the people who benefit from government spending - especially teachers and retirees. So you can't fix the problem. It just gets worse and worse until it falls apart.

"Democracy is very overrated."

[written by Bill Bonner writing for DR Newsletter - copyright acknowledged]

Standing Tall Helps Exude Power

2011-05-11T13:32:00.003+09:30

Posture can affect how powerful you feel--and how powerful you are
By Adam D. Galinsky and Li Huang Tuesday, January 4, 2011 in Scientific American

“The fundamental concept in social science is Power, in the same sense that Energy is the fundamental concept in physics . . . The laws of social dynamics are laws which can only be stated in terms of power.” -- Bertrand Russell

Three-quarters of a century ago, Bertrand Russell asserted that power is the driving force behind much of social behavior. Consistent with Russell’s theoretical musings, there has been an explosion of empirical research in the past decade – in social psychology, sociology, economics, and political science – demonstrating that power governs the many important social relationships that make up our political, business and family lives. Indeed, the dynamics of power even regulates the interactions of pre-school children. Power appears to be the central animating force of social life.

Given power’s primacy in social life, it is not surprising that one’s position in a social hierarchy transforms people in fundamental ways. Simply placing a person in a powerful or powerless role immediately alters their thoughts and behavior. The powerful tend to see the forest whereas the powerless focus on the trees. The powerful are optimistic, take bold actions and embrace risky ideas while the powerless are psychologically conservative. As Lara Tiedens of Stanford University points out, this complementarity of behavior leads to an efficient division of labor and smooth social relationships. Because it provides survival advantages to groups, hierarchy is the most prominent form of social organization. As a result, the human mind has evolved to be incredibly sensitive to one's own place in a social hierarchy.

Given the wide range of behaviors and cognition that power pulls into its sphere of influence, a fundamental question is how do people acquire power: what are its sources and bases? Many people answer “money, fame, or an important role in one’s social group.” Indeed, each of these may give you asymmetric control over valued resources, which is the very definition of power.
But, are there other sources of power, other ways to both feel powerful and signal power to others?

In fact, there are many paths to increase one’s sense of power.

The most obvious method is to have actual control over valued resources. But, power is also housed in our memories – simply recalling a time in which one had power has the exact same psychological and behavioral effects as giving people actual resource control. As memories of past power dance in our heads, we feel more powerful and act as if we are in charge in the present. However, although reliving powerful experiences can make one feel powerful, it doesn’t signal power to others.

As it turns out, there is a simple method to both transform people psychologically and signal power to others: altering your body posture.

Across species, body posture is often the primary representation of power. From fish to reptiles to lower mammals to human’s closest evolutionary cousins, non-human primates, power is expressed and inferred through expansive postures, large body size, or even the mere perception of large body size through expansive postures.

The link from expansive postures to feeling and acting in a powerful way was elegantly demonstrated in a recent publication in Psychological Science. Dana Carney and Andy Yap from Columbia University and Amy Cuddy from Harvard University found that open, expansive postures (widespread limbs and enlargement of occupied space by spreading out one’s body), compared with closed, constricted postures (limbs touching the torso and minimization of occupied space by collapsing the body inward), increased feelings of power and an appetite for risk.

To measure the appetite for risk, these researchers gave participants $2 and told them they could keep this money or roll a die and risk losing the $2 for a payout of $4 (a risky but rational bet since the odds of winning were 50/50). Participants who had been placed in the expansive posture reported feeling significantly more “powerful” and “in charge” and were also 45% more likely to roll the die.

More impressively, expansive postures also altered the participants’ hormone levels.

Using salivary samples, Carney and colleagues found that expansive postures led individuals to experience elevated testosterone (T) and decreased cortisol (C). This neuroendocrine profile of High T and Low C has been consistently linked to such outcomes as disease resistance and leadership abilities. Although past research has found that occupying a powerful role leads to expansive postures, Carney et al.’s paper is the first to investigate the reciprocal relationship – the causal effect of posture on the mental experience of power.

Along with Deborah Gruenfeld and Lucia Guillory from Stanford University, we have further established the primacy of posture. In our studies, also appearing in Psychological Science, we empirically demonstrated that not only does expansive posture predict power-related behavior, but it might actually be the closest correlate of these behaviors. Across three studies, we found that when individuals were placed in high- or low-power roles while adopting an expansive or constricted posture, only posture affected the implicit activation of power, the taking of action, and the tendency to see the forest instead of the trees.

Together, these recent discoveries bolster the notion that power is grounded in the body. Not only does power change the body, but altering one’s postures changes one’s power, or at least the psychological experience of it.

These recent findings further suggest that if you want to predict how people will act in any given moment, it may make sense to look to their posture instead of their role or title.

The battle between powerful roles and powerful postures is humorlessly depicted in a cartoon on the cover of the December 5, 2005 issue of The New Yorker. President George W. Bush is slouching. The then vice president, Richard B. Cheney, has both arms expansively extended across the back of a sofa, his legs sprawled across a coffee table. The president has more power vested in him by the Constitution, but the cartoon suggests what scientific research has found: that a person’s posture is often more indicative of actual influence than their position in a hierarchy.
-------------------------

Are you standing tall?

Are your teenagers standing tall?

Some good hints here to help others improve self esteem.

Even snakes and frogs that are close to the ground try to stand tall to intimidate predators.

Oh, What a Drop!!

2011-05-01T22:58:00.006+09:30

Oh what a drop!............Best red wine opened in this household so far in 2011. Outshines a bottle of 1999 Leasingham Bin 61 from a month or two back.

It had lots of Gold Medals, not that these always count from smaller Shows / Exhibitions, but with a Gold at Sydney Royal Easter Show, well...........that is a little different, with some serious competition usually.

Yes, a great bottle of Orlando St Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon, 2001 from Coonawarra, a very well respected terroir in South Australia. Very good drinking to complement a good steak and salad.

Best of all......with careful buying a few years ago and some cellaring –

it cost $27 a bottle..........and..............and...........and ........there are several more.

Current readily available releases [2006 and 2007] of the same wine are round $50 a bottle.

Great Weather for Orchid Flowering

2011-04-29T23:58:00.007+09:30

The household orchids are flowering very well.

We had the white flowered native orchid last week, in a one day spectacular flowering, now a lot of others are in flower........and quite a few of the Dendrobiums are in bud........two weeks maybe before they flower.

They look great!!

Cane Toads - Yuk!!

2011-04-26T21:55:00.004+09:30

Until recently we have seemingly been free of cane toads around the suburb of Rapid Creek.

Yes, the very ocassional one seen on a deserted street at night near a light post, or in a yard also near light - and rapidly despatched to the nether world. And I think that has been a common approach around the suburb.

However, over the past few weeks it seems they may be now on the move into Rapid Creek. A very dead one was seen along the bike way, near the Beachfront Hotel. We do have a tidal creek near this area, and I have looked extensively over several years, expecting to see them frequently along the bikeway path [close to the creek], a route regularly used to exercise the dog, mostly of an evening when they would be active..........yet none have been seen there, with the exception of the dead one.

But there has been the odd one seen on the streets near the creek, and a few dead ones that have been run over. More seen this wet season than previously. We even had a large one in our driveway last night............and quickly despatched with a shovel and into the compost bin!!

The drier weather over the past few weeks may mean they are moving in search of water, with house yards the obvious desirable place.

Watch....... search........... and destroy these horrible creatures. Remember that famous quote - "eternal vigilance is the price of freedom" [attributed to Wendell Phillips circa 1852].

[photo - attributed to Dept ERM Queensland]

Orchid Flowers for Easter

2011-04-25T23:22:00.003+09:30

Cultivating tropical orchids can be fun. The vast array of Vanda, Dendrobium, Cattelya and related species with thousands of colourful varieties are truly spectacular. And we can grow them outdoors quite easily. I have quite a few in the yard, and enjoy their colourful and at times fantastic, flower displays.

And of late, flowering of most plants has been fairly regular, with a good sized flower stem.

Locally in the NT, we have a fair range of native orchids, but none have the tremendous flowers that are more common with the bred varieties.

Our relatively common local orchid does have one feature though that makes it special.......the whole plant on a tree flowers at once in a single monster burst of white flowers for a single day.

And Easter Sunday morning was the day. Is there significance in that, one might ask, on the Christian Feast of the Resurrection?

As soon as the back door of the house opened, the fragrance was superb [ and not all orchids have a fragrance], with all of the plants around the yard a mass of white flowers. The fragrance permeated around the yard, particularly noticeable in the windless early morning; by around midday it had virtually disappeared.

Flowering is not, as far as I can tell, day length or temperature driven.........but they do flower quite a few times each year..............and ALWAYS together! This time a few regular doses of fertiliser given when the other orchids receive their fertiliser spray might have paid off.

Flowering was fantastic. Ho hum............but just a single day each time.

The Dry Season 2011

2011-04-21T15:06:00.005+09:30

How quickly the season changes in the tropics.

Less than a week ago [16th April] we had a cyclone off the NW coast of WA heading for Timor, and wet overcast conditions in Darwin that were typically monsoonal, and regular almost daily rain.

And then a large high pressure system moved across temperate Australia.........and with that the dry season has kicked in.

Nights this week have been dry and cool, with the last few below 20C. That is the magic figure for a "cool" night in Darwin [ it is all relative]. Yes, we may get a few more showers, a storm even, over the next few weeks. But......a fantastic start to the dry season. Many people are planning camping over Easter, a trip that was not probably even on the agenda last week, and plenty more are planning a fishing trip.

You can feel a bit invigorated, after about four and a half months of very regular, just about daily rain, including a cyclone.

The Blueberry - Good for You

2011-04-13T09:31:00.004+09:30

Blueberries are incredible plants. They can grow wild practically anywhere in the northeastern United States and Canada, and are now grown commercially across temperate Australia and New Zealand. They are VERY tasty.

To go along with the plant's hardiness and the berry's deliciousness, blueberries offer great health benefits. Blueberries can have a positive effect on aging, metabolism, and inhibiting the development of fat cells.

The berry is great for the heart and cardio system due to its high polyphenol antioxidant content. These antioxidants can also be found in a variety of other fruits such as blackberries, raspberries, and grapes.

According to recent studies, blueberries could play a large role in reducing the epidemic of obesity.

Blueberry polyphenols play a role in adipocyte differentiation, and an adipocyte is an animal tissue cell specialized for the synthesis and storage of fat.

Plant polyphenols are known to resist the development of fat cells. They actively break down fat compounds and lipids. The idea is to see if these plant polyphenols could be translated into fighting fat cells in animals, i.e. humans.

So far, work has shown that feeding blueberries to mice can reduce fat cells.

So............maybe eat more blueberries if wishing to reduce your fat cells.

Cute Animals

2011-04-06T15:53:00.006+09:30

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say.

One group has recently compiled a list of the cutest 500 animals.

What is your view?

Could not see the good old green tree frog.......it is always cute.

Must be some generous benefactor spending money on the project!!

There are some predictable entries, near the top [ think domestic pets], and a few wierd ones too.

Check it out here: http://www.livescience.com/13524-500-cutest-animals-list.html

Are You Canadian?

2011-03-31T08:43:00.003+09:30

What an indictment of Canada!

The article below absolutely slams democracy in Canada.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/canada-watches-its-democracy-erode/story-e6frg6ux-1226030310248

Definitely worth a read and could be a mirror to a similar range of issues across many other westen democracies.

Get Active

2011-03-30T11:41:00.006+09:30

Always easier to say than do, to be active.

Yet there continues to be more and more evidence to suggest serious, regular, hard physical activity is good for you, right from an early age.

The following is a snippet from a larger article on physical activity. It does not even consider the mental effects that a good endorphin kick gives you though.

Most regular exercisers do appreciate the mental benefit of a good hard workout. It seems that kicking off the sit and look at a screen syndrome IS important especially for children. And habits established in youth tend to persist as an adult.

What do your children do?

---------------------------------------------

The researchers found that vigorous activity like running, jogging, and playing sports are associated with thicker bones.

The top 25 percent of individuals involved with vigorous physical activity had bones that were seven square millimeters greater than the bottom 25 percent.

However, the top and bottom percentiles of those who engage in light physical activity such as walking showed no difference in bone thickness. The point to take away from this study is that it is important, from an early age, to engage in vigorous physical activity in order to prevent bone problems later in life.

Children should be encouraged to run around and play sports.

Habits such as sitting around, watching TV, and playing video games should be discouraged, because it does young bodies a disservice when they get older. It is a child's natural instinct to run around.

At the early stages of our lives, we all have (or feel we have) much more energy, and that energy should be released. However, for adults, it is important to choose the correct vigorous physical activity so that it does not interfere with other health issues. For example, adults with bad knees can take long distance bike rides rather than jogs. Or people with bad backs can go swimming at a neighborhood fitness center or in their backyard pools.

Maintaining a vigorous workout throughout our lives will help prevent osteoporosis. On the other hand, walking, while still a healthy activity, has little effect on bone health.

Link to published article: http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/jc.2010-2550v1

Batteries New and Old

2011-03-27T09:19:00.003+09:30

Over the past 4 months it has been very wet and rainy.

Maybe that has put too much fungal matter in my brain..............but whatever, there have been two total stuff -ups over batteries.

First was a long saga over the remote control for a stereo unit in the bedroom. It died, and that was a pain as we often listen to the radio before going to sleep at night. Getting out of bed to turn it off was a real pain in the bottom. And the remote did not seem able to be revived, even with changed batteries. A new unit was difficult to find or purchase, but then saw www.replacementremotes.com so thought it might be possible to get another.

Then thought, maybe should test again............lo and behold, new batteries and it works!!!

What silly twit I have been. This process went for for about a year.

Part two involves a kitchen wall clock, the one we all seem to have on the wall, the analog one children learnt to tell the time from and so on. It has had indigestion, especially in wet weather, and would not work. As soon as the humidity went up, it went down, then started again in drier conditions. A battery change seemed to have little effect.

So bought a new one, alhough was not a well liked option [ that is a critical issue for an every day wall clock]. Anyway, retested the old one with a NEW battery...........and it has not missed a beat since, about a month ago and with some very humid weather around. The recently purchased clock went back to the store.

Moral of the stories - make sure the batteries are fully charged and new.

Rebel Idealism

2011-03-21T13:31:00.003+09:30

It is hard to imagine life in a civil war. Us in western democracies take freedom for granted, but the following piece [ from The Australian online] is a well crafted op ed piece that we all need to read.

--------------------------------------
Rebels live and die by Western ideals
David Burchell

From: The Australian
March 21, 2011 12:00AM
7 comments

A FEW years ago Mohamed Mustafa Nabbous, citizen of the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, was that most familiar figure of our era: the ingenious, small-scale internet service provider, running a modern small business by his wits using a motley assemblage of computer hardware, improvising solutions as he went.

Judging by his social-media photos from that time, young Mohamed must have been quite a Jack the Lad. Still today, if you ply the foreign oceans of old internet forums, you can follow his progress through the dangerous shoals of digital communication in a country where, until very recently, all information was supposed to emanate from a single source.

At some point along this voyage young Mohamed - or Mo to his friends - hit on a simple, brilliant thought: while wires and wireless hubs are always vulnerable to sabotage or failure, the satellite, cycling above the clouds in the pure space, soars above all such terrestrial restrictions. And so began Nabbous's particular life-project, the independent satellite TV station Libya Alhurra - which he ran out of a noisy, improvised office in that whitewashed Libyan coastal city, where the bright breezes of the Mediterranean vie with the blank white heat from the southern desert.

Ever since February 17, Nabbous's hand-held videos have appeared (most uncredited) on broadcasts from CNN, al Jazeera, and occasionally even the BBC. Last Saturday, when Muammar Gaddafi's forces first entered the western precincts of Benghazi, and shells were plummeting into its neighbourhoods, it was young Nabbous - striding around the city with his portable video camera - who first and most effectively disproved the mad colonel's fantastical claims about a ceasefire.
Ever the citizen of the world, Nabbous had a good line in reality-TV chatter ("I'm probably crazy to be filming this," he would exuberantly say, as Benghazi's bombed power plant exploded around him); while his slightly melodramatic exclamations ("Oh my God, Oh my God!") betrayed the distinctive demeanour of the internet geek.

In one house in Benghazi's western precincts two young children, one four years old and the other five months, were hospitalised by shell-fragments: Nabbous discovered the bloodied pillows they had been nestling on, and presented them to us with forensic care. Where, he asked, was the ceasefire here? Where was the Western intervention, which so many people across the city, however naively, assumed would begin immediately after the UN passed Resolution 1973?
And through the magic of the satellite, Nabbous's queries sped across the world in an instant, even as the French, British and Canadian fighter-bombers were loading up with fuel and munitions - only for them to arrive just a little too late.

Some time on Saturday morning, however, Nabbous's video camera suddenly died, and on Libya Alhurra his previous broadcasts - the endless concrete walls pitted with shell-fragments, the familiar burnt-out cars, the jumbled shoes and faces of onlookers as the hand-held camera dips and soars along its crazy journey - went into permanent loop.

At some point in his progress he had been hit in the head by a sniper's bullet: he died a few hours later in Benghazi's pitifully understaffed hospital, with his young pregnant wife by his side. He was 28 years old.

Of all the features of our interaction with the non-Western world today, surely none is more stultifying than that curious blend of moral arrogance and moral defensiveness with which we greet even a simple, unadorned plea for help. There is something troublingly luxuriant in the long-winded debate we have carried out in recent weeks over whether it can ever be right for us to interfere in the affairs of a non-Western country - even as the citizens of Libya were begging for our help, the Arab League had authorised it, and commentators across the region were pleading to be rid of the awful embarrassment of Gaddafi's interminable reign.

It is hard to avoid the sense that we have come to enjoy this kind of agonising, in roughly the same way that the ancient philosophers used to enjoy the bracing experience of physical privation - and in a broadly similar manner as we seem to enjoy sympathising with distant victims of natural disasters, so long as the elements present them to us as one heart-rending spectacle after another, and in an orderly sequence.

By contrast with our own complicated blend of pleasure and discomfiture, there is genuine tragedy in the plight of the present opposition movements across north Africa and the Middle East - both in their naive hope in the power of pure spontaneity, and in their awed discovery of the capacity of the semi-organised political movement, in polities designed to avoid all traces both of spontaneity and opposition.

In Egypt today, as the young oppositionists are rapidly becoming aware, spontaneity and idealism are already being trumped by the pragmatic merits of the disciplined party organisation - so that, as Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris predicted on Al Mihwah TV the other week, the main beneficiaries of June's hastily contrived general elections may turn out to be the rump of Hosni Mubarak's old NDP and the Muslim Brothers - and a new rough beast might be shambling towards Cairo to be born.

By the same token, for all their courage and sheer exuberance, Libya's rebels have so far counted too much on the power of human optimism, and too little on the dull mechanics of military discipline - so that, as one Egyptian participant sadly noted the other day, they seem to have fashioned an army with a superb capacity to defend itself, but a complete inability ever to attack.

Yet, for all their flaws and inadequacies, we have to say this of the young heroes of Benghazi: that they actually believe in the ideals to which we generally only pay lip-service. Nor do they seek to mingle their liberating irony towards the absurd pronouncements of their pantomime President with our own disabling irony towards the affairs of the world in general.

We should be grateful for passionate souls such as Nabbous, who, in all their innocence of spirit, actually perform in their life's drama the acts of moral decision most of us only prattle on about.

[see it all here - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/rebels-live-and-die-by-western-ideals/story-e6frg6zo-1226025034644]

Eggs Benedict for Breakfast - at Home!

2011-03-06T22:20:00.005+09:30

With a three month long [ absolutely true - first started on 11 December and has not gone off shore since] rainy monsoon we need cheering up. Something to beat the rain, which has been on all but a few days.

Why not a great breakfast to lift the spirits?

Eggs Benedict are a bit of a favorite for breakfast, but getting the Hollandaise sauce just right is a tricky issue. Consistency and lack of lumps being issues that are a bit difficult to deal with in the usual double saucepan version of making the sauce. That alone puts one off preparing it.

Voila!........we have a new kitchen device - a Thermomix and it does the job excellently, at a setting of 90C, just below boiling, in 8 minutes.

We have a new Scanpan egg poacher too, and today was the day for a double hit.

A great Hollandaise sauce, eggs a little soft and runny in the centre, on toasted Turkish bread [ preferred to the traditional muffin]. YUMMY!!!

It will be tried again........for sure.

TC Carlos - an update

2011-02-17T23:48:00.003+09:30

Today was mostly dry, although more rain, albeit not as heavy, tonight, as the now ex cyclone has moved to the SW away from Darwin. The sun even peeped out and that was good for the solar hot water system!

But the fat lady has not sung and it ain't over yet.......

Lots more rain now, in areas S of Darwin and tonight Adelaide River township has flooded, and residents near the Darwin River Dam look likely to have some inundation as the spillway of the dam has overflowed, and that could continue for days yet.

This now tropical low [ ex tropical cyclone Carlos] should bring heavy rain to the areas in the 70 - 150km south of Darwin and across to the west into the Victoria River region. Forecast maps show it crossing back over the sea and re-intensifying, although continuing to move west.

RAIN - A Lot of It!

2011-02-16T22:51:00.004+09:30

I am composing this late in the evening of February 16. On a pretty wild and blustery evening, with Tropical Cyclone Carlos hovering around Darwin - moving a little, but not often, and delivering a lot of rain.

In the 24 hours to 0900 today, rainfall around Darwin was mostly in the 250 - 380mm range with tops being 435mm. Our rain gauge certainly overflowed several times........and I have used the 435mm as our rainfall, as the site with this recording and ours, are usually very similar on a daily basis. Most areas close to the ocean front - and that is us, received much more rain than the official recording site of the Met Bureau at the airport, which had 340mm of rain recorded.

That is a LOT of rain.........and since then, about another 150mm has fallen today so far. Might exceed 200mm by 0900 tomorrow, the official "time to record". And more of the same is expected tomorrow too........

Biblical rain.......anyone for a new ark???

The creek below our street flooded across the road and into some houses at both high tides today, and last night there was mayhem with quite a few cars washed across the road, and a driver left hanging onto the traffic lights to stop being washed away. The airport has been closed since yesterday - wind too strong for aircraft operations, and may not re-open before Friday or Saturday.

And yes, it was a new alltime daily rain total for Darwin.......officially.... at the Met Bureau site at the airport, even though a bit less than our area.

The past 36 hours has seen wild wind around Darwin, although maximum gusts have only been around 100km/hr, about normal for a Category 1 cyclone. But it has just continued incessantly over that long period. Usually, it all over in 6 - 12 hours........but more is still to come. Wind has eased a little this evening, although it seems to have intensified a little in the past hour. But with Cyclone Carlos hanging around and doing loops around Darwin I guess we will get more wind than a normal "passing through" cyclone.

Lots of fallen trees, a few submerged cars, many roads impassable due to trees down as well as rain, swollen creeks and drains.

One fantastic point - and thank you NT Government - has been continuing electricity supply in our area, an area recently converted to underground electricity power, which the NT Government funded. Some areas around Darwin with overhead supply have been without power since last night, and might be so for a few days yet. Mainly due to wires damaged from falling trees.

Still more to come.......

The Frequent Flyer Lounge - Pigs at the Trough??

2011-02-11T15:05:00.001+09:30

An Airport Frequent Flyer Lounge - Pigs at the Trough

There is a line from a famous Paul Kelly song that goes something like ---“have you ever seen Sydney from a 747 at night” which goes on to evoke great memories and images of travel, of airports, of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, of the Opera House and city lights.

Sydney Airport Qantas Club lounge is also quite memorable on a Friday night around 5 – 7 pm too, and does conjure up not the memories and images of those in a Paul Kelly song, but of pigs at a trough.

The lounge is very crowded as the punters, mostly corporate executives, business types, senior public servants and others for whom someone else is usually the fare payer, head out of Sydney after a hard week of toil. And it does show.......

Getting a drink - soft or hard -from the self service area or from a reasonably pleasant barman or placing a few nibbles on a plate from the food service area is a tricky business and involves running the gauntlet of a jostling horde. More like pigs at a trough of swill!

Most manners and civil gestures among the punters seem to disappear, a bit of argy-bargy to commander the last morsel of camembert cheese or salami on the plate [yet the supply does seem to reappear as if from a virtual endless supply] and scant manners seem to be shown to staff working in the service areas.

Where is civil society going? Is it “big city” syndrome, where people seem to have less and less time to engage in social intercourse, is it time challenged airline travellers, or are people just after a free feed which for most would hardly be a serious expense anyway?

The ideals of civility seem to have disappeared in the Qantas Lounge! It is just like pigs at the trough.

Quite disgusting really.

Cyclone Humour

2011-02-07T16:19:00.001+09:30

As always, there is some wag who can create a joke out of adversity. And we all seem to enjoy them too.

And I quote.......

WHAT DID CYCLONE YASI SAY TO THE COCONUT TREE?

go down further.......

HANG ON TO YOUR NUTS.....THIS IS NO ORDINARY BLOW JOB!!!

Mayhem from Cyclone Yasi

2011-02-04T15:03:00.001+09:30

I do not need say more........see the media coverage.

What a mess!!

Cyclone Yasi IS coming to North Queensland

2011-02-01T23:57:00.004+09:30

Cyclone Yasi is a monster cyclone, 800km across, and very well up there among the most intense ever in australia. Top of the list is Cyclone Monica of 2006 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Monica] with a low pressure of 917hpa or 879hpa [ depends how calculations are done] while Cyclone Mahina of 1899 caused the most loss of life, and reputably the greatest storm surge.

Cyclone Yasi is expected to be around 920 - 930hpa at landfall, thought to be around Cairns, during tomorrow night local time. This extreme intensity, and large size elicit one response.................GO GO GO.

Many people are doing just that right now.

Cyclones are nasty creatures, especially at this size and intensity, and not be to trifled with.
There will be [ probably] major damage to houses, infrastructure but hopefully not lives.

See more at http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/ [ this will only be current for a short period]

THIS Monsoon Burst is Easing--- at Last!!

2011-01-27T21:57:00.005+09:30

Yesterday was Australia Day, as well, it was also Republic Day in India.

Yes, Australia and India share the same National Day.

A public holiday in both countries too, with a range of events and festivities.

And importantly for Darwin........it did not rain!!! Well, at least not during the daylight hours, just a little overnight before Australia Day. Last night we even had a starry night in Darwin, first stars seen for many weeks, after a good colourful tropical sunset.

Today..........a great day of clear skies and plenty of sunshine [plenty of humidity too] ........with a fierce thunderstorm right on dusk, with a few mm of rain, then clearing to a cloudy evening.

It seems that the monsoonal weather is easing, at last! People were a bit stir crazy, so much cloudy skies, rain, rain, rain and then more rain.

The rain has brought out the horrible cane toads, and there were two despatched to the nether world late last week - one in the driveway [ despatched with a shovel], another just down the street in the middle of the road.......squish.........under the car wheels! They were added to the compost pile and do make good compost.

We do not seem to have many in our neighbourhood, and eliminating those seen is a necessary job.

Another Week, Still Raining

2011-01-21T13:03:00.004+09:30

It is getting very monotonous........it is still raining!!

A very long monsoonal burst period, with rain on all but 3 days since about the 11th of December. That is over 40 days.

Yesterday was a bit of a tease, with little rain for a long part of the day, and high overcast and some sun for most of the hours of light. That was fortunate, as it was a funeral and wake for a friend of ours, so he had a great day for his send off. And some thoughts were developing by many people that finally, the rain was easing off.

But today, it is back into heavy overcast weather with some very strong monsoonal rain showers. Very typical monsoonal weather.

A few dry days would be nice, soon. Mr Weatherman pleeeease? Even the mould is developing a coating of mould!

Monsoon is STILL here

2011-01-14T23:42:00.005+09:30

Most monsoon periods last 7-10 days with the monsoon low pressure front moving north and then back south over the north coast of the NT, and across the NW of Australia.

The present monsoon period is now one month old and shows no real signs of going away.........and in fact is expected to deepen early next week. The monsoon front has been as far south as close to 1500kms inland ............that is almost to Alice Springs!! Presently about 500kms S of Darwin.

It has been steadily wet, not the monumental rains of Queensland, at least so far. Around 10 - 70mm of rain a day, with a few days slightly more. BUT....it has rained almost every day since the middle of December. And more is coming.

A large tree outside our house has dropped leaves...........it is essentially waterlogged!

Today was drier.......just a few monsoonal squalls of rain, and even quite a bit of sun, among the cloud filled skies, but enough to deliver a good boost to the solar hot water system.

It is just a slightly wetter, but a fairly typical monsoon - lots of cloud cover, squally rain showers, some with high intensity rain. It is actually a great time as it is a little cooler each day with the cloud cover, and with lots of damp west or north west winds.

Better to visit now and not November......

Floods Continue in Queensland

2011-01-13T23:13:00.003+09:30

Another day, another flood it seems in the land of the banana bender.

Floods continue across the Brisbane region and will for several more days, maybe even a week in some areas before the water goes away. Then there is the task of cleaning up houses and businesses, and that will take weeks. Some premises will never be habitable again.......ever!

And it is a moveable feast with SW Queensland now being flooded with Goondiwindi and Boggabilla [in NSW but closeby] being evacuated.

There are floods across the state border into NSW as well - along the coastal rivers, serious, but it seems not quite to record breaking levels - just below in many areas. Have relatives there, but know they are well above flood levels, on Riley's Hill [ literally] south of Ballina, NSW.

The stories are developing already, with a great one today about Doug and Mavis the tugboat [google that and see for yourself] and it is a feel good story too. There will be many more; many, many more to come.

Come on Queensland.........you will recover!!!

Floods in SE Queensland

2011-01-11T21:55:00.004+09:30

Floods are expected in Brisbane tomorrow. And Ipswich is flooding tonight.

Last major floods were in 1974, and after that a new flood mitigation dam - Wivenhoe Dam was built on the upper Brisbane river, hopefully to prevent further flooding. It is now overfull, after being effectively empty a year ago or so, and water has been released under direction, although it will smooth out flood heights.

A record breaking intense La Nina event [http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/42858.html] has brought unprecendented rain to SE Queensland, with horrific scenes all over the media outlets today of disastrous flash flooding in Toowoomba and the upper reaches of the Brisbane river, and despite the dam, that water is going into the Brisbane River. There are seasonal high tides also this week, and by Thursday, some 9000 homes as well as another 14000 business premises are expected to be flooded in Brisbane alone, with more in Ipswich [one third of all houses].

There are numerous images and stories across the media outlets - they do that stuff very well, so go and look.

I have been impressed by the savvy performance of a numer of Queensland ministers of state as well as senior officials in police, emergency services and related areas. The Premier Anna Bligh has spoken well, as has the Police and Emergency Services Minister, in stark contrast to the situation in Victoria during the dreadful fires there a few years ago. These two especially deserve congratulations on both their media appearances [several scheduled per day] as well as oversight of the various service departments operational in this situation.

While terribly difficult as these situations are, it does seem under efficient management and things are happening efficiently and effectively. No doubt the volunteeer crews deserve a lot of praise too.

One of our sons lives in Brisbane, and so far seems to be ok. Their house seems likely to be above predicted flood levels, based on available mapping. BUT......conditions are variable, changeable and a bit of an unknown. Our thoughts go out to them.

One can prepare only so much......and I have no doubt that the next issue in Brisbane for many people will be loss of power, for short or maybe longer time. They are turning off the power in some central city areas already. I hope they prepare well.

Living in an active cyclone zone ourselves, preparing for emergencies is an ongoing issue and we have, as well, been through a few modest as well as larger, fiercer cyclones. So we know a little about emergency preparation and coping.

There is nothing like the real event though.

If you are in a warm, dry place.........think about those in this region who may not be, or who are in emergency shelters.

A Bike Story Worth Reading

2011-01-10T10:15:00.000+09:30

Australia is a land of very high quality bicycle racers, with track riders especially good at high level events such as Olympic games and World Championships.

To succeed at this level all factors must be aligned...........and the very best equipment used. Small errors cannot be tolerated- with Shane Kelly's pedal clip error in the final of the kilometre time trial event in the 1996 Olympics being a classic example.

This story concerns the development of the bike used by track riders in Australia at major events since about 1999, and including the 2000, 2004, 2008 Olympics.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3109543.htm

This link leads to a story about this bike, the Bike Technologies or BT bike, with a characteristic curved top tube. The bike is fantastic - riders just rave about it. But there is a dark side - intrigue, possible illegal activities by the Dutch cycling authorities and some funny things occurring.

Definitiely worth reading if interested in cycling.

The Christmas Wishlist

2011-01-01T22:43:00.002+09:30

Yes, many people have one.

With fantasy, flair and farflung thoughts a Christmas wishlist needs to be innovative, far reaching but with the odd easy and low cost item to allow for those without extensive budgets to be accomodated.

Mine had for many years a new expensive roadbike with bells and whistles on the list. Something that probably I needed to actually specify very accurately.......and I did! BUT....it was a lot of $$$, even very seriously many $$$, and even more in the Pacific peso, as it was then called, the $ Australian. It never appeared, and thoughts strayed to more sensible items.

The Aussie dollar is now worth around parity with the US $, and yes, I have a NEW BIKE!!! The two items are only partially related though......my son sort of talked me into it after he and his wife unveiled new serious road bikes at Christmas. I did not need much convincing though, with good bike prices somewhat more reasonable now, as well as carbon fibre frames a little less expensive overall.

It is a serious road bike with a carbon fibre frame and good componentry. But I have yet to give the bike a decent road work out.

The bike shop was doing a great business in bikes........and I even met a colleague from Darwin [now in Brisbane] also buying a new bike......tis the new bike season!

All the weather has done is RAIN since Christmas. In both Brisbane and Darwin. Maybe tomorrow, maybe it will get a workout!

Christmas Headlines, Puns and Bad Jokes - in Bad Taste

2010-12-27T22:48:00.003+09:30

All of these have a 2010 and Australian theme. Some are in quite bad taste......others just witty.

Enjoy.......

If not Australian, think about the context. Many are very clever. From a collection of about 50, courtesy of a column in the Australian Financial Review.

Sleigh intercepted off Christmas Island

Buy Hambag

Six white bloomers drying in the blazing sun

Who’s Santa’s Favorite? Rudolph the brown-nosed reindeer!!

Rudolph the green-nosed reindeer- proudly powered by polar panels

Oh yuk!! Dad’s got a bum cracker!

Wreck the malls with shopping trolleys...ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

Police to Granny with a bottle of sherry: come with us, you’re a well known trifle-maker!

It is Christmas

2010-12-25T21:20:00.001+09:30

Merry Christmas to All

A Modern FIRST Christmas

2010-12-21T22:28:00.003+09:30

No, I did not make this video on you tube........but it is worth a look. Over 2 million hits and still rising rapidly.

A take on the first Christmas, 2010 style!

use the link -www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZrf0PbAGSk

or watch it here:
WOULD NOT LOAD:

"Tis the Monsoon Season

2010-12-11T22:42:00.003+09:30

A brief sojourn away and now it is all awash.............the monsoon is here...........TODAY!!

Wet, overcast, a breeze from the north west, heavy leaden skies to the west, deepening low pressure across the Maritime Continent [ that is metspeak for Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand etc and north Australia], cooler [ well a few degrees], and promise of more rain.

Yes.......the north west monsoon is brewing up north of Darwin and expected to deepen over the next few days.

Had heavy rain on dusk this evening............just RAIN.....no lightning or thunder, and coming from the north west. All sure signs that a monsoonal burst is almost upon us.

Yes.....it is tricky to get washing dry on a line, even under cover; and yes, water can be ankle deep in the gutters during rain showers. BUT, it is cooler.

That near constant cloud cover does drop the day time temperature although to temper that, the solar hot water system, delivering ultra hot water recently will not be so efficient.

And the green tree frogs are singing big time this evening too.

It is all good!!

Hot, Humid, Storms - NO CHANGE

2010-11-28T23:22:00.004+09:30

Tis' the crappy weather season. That horrible, still, humid, sticky and HOT time of year - November and December.

If only there was a breeze!!

Last night did cool a little, with a lovely breeze late in the evening. Absolutely necessary.

It has been around 29 - 31C by 0800hrs most mornings over the past week, but it has really been NO breezes that is the most trying. Doing almost anything, and you lather into a sweaty mess.

Normally, most days earlier in November, a breeze had developed by around 1200 - 1300 hrs - and while the temperature does not change much [around 32 - 34C], at least there is a cooling breeze across the body, and you FEEL better. But not over the past week or so, and humidity has been in the 80 - 95% range most mornings, with a hot burning sun cheerfully beaming down.

We are really in the middle of the doldrums, weather wise.............

And most working staff are in full action, trying to complete projects before Christmas vacation. Very easy to be in full sweat mode.

At least that hot sun is good for the solar hot water system!!

Losing a Friend

2010-11-26T14:01:00.008+09:30

Well.........sort of, although not as most people will suppose.

A tree is being given the first part of a significant makoeover today. A very large african mahogany. It is a great tree, with excellent timber too.

It is a friend........the only tree still standing on our house block of land, when we purchased the lot after Cyclone Tracy. Not only did it survive Cyclone Tracy, there have been a few more cyclones since then, although not as fierce. All were handled with aplomb and ease. Lost leaves, the odd branch........but still it stands there, magnificent, large and VERY shady. It has grown into a very significant tree providing shade for all of the cul de sac in which we live, a very shady street. So with some reluctance it had to be addressed.

We have been awaiting the completion of undergrounding powerlines, which is now close to finalisation, and remaining overhead lines are de-energised. Time to wave au revoir to our friend, although it is NOT being totally removed. NO!!

But it does need a serious pruning, with many large limbs now over the house, the solar hot water system is shaded and much less efficient, birds are dropping seeds and bird droppings into the spa pool and all over the roof , and there is a danger from some branches falling and maybe causing damage / problems as they weaken and fall.

It has been a bit of a problem........a few weeks ago there was to be a start, but after the monstrous crane arrived, it was deemed "too hard". Anyway, after further deliberations, today is to be the day. A second attempt.

Things went ok for awhile...........limbs were cut, limbs were lifted, limbs were run through the shredder. BUT................a watermain burst, under one of the outrigger placement arms of the monster crane. Oh hell!!!

That required instant repair, as it is the main water supply to all residences in the street.
So work stopped again.

Some limbs are gone............but still more to go.

Until next time...............au revoir..................again!

UPDATE - it has not been all good above on the roof either. A broken glass panel on the solar hot water system, and a very serious whack on the side of the hot water tank - it is not leaking, but has seriously damaged the outside galvanised tank, and may mean the insulation will get wet.

Holy toledo........more tree created issues!

Had Enough of Gen Y????

2010-11-21T22:58:00.003+09:30

Gen Y can be a difficult group to deal with, especially in the work place.

One Australian, well respected, commentator seems to also have had enough, enough to say it like it really is.

Over indulged, vacillating and unable to complete tasks [ let alone multi task], and expecting to rise to be CEO within the first week of starting work, many fit the image in the article.

Read it yourself.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/executive-lifestyle/generation-misled-by-the-great-lie/story-fn6njxlr-1225955378555

It definitely pulls NO punches about Gen Y. While many have posited on how to accommodate for this group in the workforce, such schemes may not be the way forward.

It has had quite a lot of site visitors too.

Orchids are Fantastic

2010-11-13T23:15:00.000+09:30

Pat's Delight this is called..............a truly great Vanda orchid!

Probably the best of type I have grown of this variety, with the greatest number of individual flowers, each about 80-100mm diameter.

Well worth a little effort to water and fertilise regularly.

Another Day, Another Nick

2010-11-11T23:05:00.003+09:30

A life outdoors in the tropics has its drawbacks, with the potential for skin cancer one of them.

Another quite small skin cancer was surgically removed from the lower back today. Means no swimming for a few days, blast it. One at this visit to the skin doctor.................that is good!!!

Six months ago a rather nasty, but undetected by me, skin cancer was removed off the side of the nose, along with four other little beasties elsewhere on the body.

One this time is good, and even better, none on the face or arms, common "places of interest".

Apparently, there is often a peak of activity and skin cancers that develop, with a gradual decline in appearances of the blighters after that. Hopefully, I am on the reducing part of the curve now, although eternal vigilance is still needed!

It is prudent, and good insurance to have a regular six monthly check.

Spring is Blooming - so are Waratahs

2010-11-02T22:43:00.000+09:30

While not spring in the tropics, it is in New South Wales.

To celebrate the event, waratahs are flowering - large, glorious, red and beautiful. The state flower of NSW - it is beautiful. Photographed at Katoomba, near Echo Point. This was being grown in a private garden, not as a natural specimen in the bush.

Enjoy it!

Sport, Head Trauma, Crash Test Dummies and Life

2010-11-01T17:00:00.004+09:30

Australians love their football. Whether it be AFL, rugby [ the one played in heaven], rugby league [the working man's game] or as a late starter - soccer, oh sorry.........football.

But there is a new concept that seems to be achieving a somewhat higher profile. Are our kids who play these football codes being exposed to trauma that might rebound on them and be leading them to an early grave?

That premise is explored in the recent article on the ABC web site about head trauma in footballers. It is real.

As an ex rugby player [of both types] at semi professional level, I sure have experienced a few big hits. Even dislocated my neck playing. But I also find the gratutious heavy handed pushing and bumping, heads included - off the ball - that is common in AFL, as a bit farcical. In rugby you mostly do not have much happening unless involved with the ball. As for soccer, well maybe not heads, but there sure are plenty of knee and leg injuries to make up for less head trauma.

Would you let your children play rugby or AFL after reading this? -
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/40626.html

Does it make you think??

Torres Strait Pigeons - New Home

2010-09-30T22:33:00.006+09:30

The Torres Strait Pigeons used to arrive in Darwin about this time of year [very early pre- wet season], stay for the wet season, and leave in February or March.

They seem to now be permanently here, or at least there are many now who seem to make Darwin home. In Darwin house yards we have an abundance of palms trees, especially Carpentaria palms and they absolutely love to eat the medium sized, bright, red seeds. These seeds are quite acidic, and the pulp around the seed can burn your hands.........they love to eat that and then drop or sometimes excrete the actual seed kernel, along with some acidic waste pulp. That material can lift paint off cars!!

There has however, been much ado in our backyard lately........a breeding pair of the pigeons has established a nest in a palm tree in the back yard. Since residency has been established, we have had two significant storms along with very strong winds in front of the storm rain. They do seem secure in the site now.

Very early days..........definitely no eggs yet.

Watch this space for updates.

It is unusual, as I cannot remember seeing Torres Strait pigeons breeding in our yard before, yet we have had plenty of palms. We have a few large trees, so bird nests are not unusual, but most of the nests seem to be those of honeyeaters, another common bird in backyards.

A Tree Climbing Dog??

2010-09-25T22:44:00.003+09:30

Well, actually..........NO.

However, it is VERY disconcerting to hear the sound of an apparent dog bark coming from up in the trees surrounding our house. We have a locally resident barking owl in our neighbourhood.

First noticed a few weeks ago on a quiet still evening, coming from behind the house, then in the large African mahogany at the front, near the street, then in the next door neighbour's trees.

A good quality torch was grabbed.........and there it was, back in the mahogany, then flew off a little way. Since then there has been a fairly regular cry in the evening.

We do have many trees around us, so there is plenty of sites to use.

There is a lot of information on this site: http://birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ninox-connivens
and some quality photos here - http://www.ntbirds.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=10

Obviously not so common in other places but it seems to be fairly common here in Darwin. The bird call is just like a quiet dog bark.

FOUND - A New Tropical Frog

2010-09-20T22:38:00.004+09:30

Frogs are supposed to be the barometer of the environment. If that is true, then the NT is doing ok............a new frog has been found!!

Rumour also hath it that there may be more.......

After all, the region is relatively unexplored for both flora and fauna, so one could expect these sorts of events, I guess.

But.......it is a new frog, and is as yet unnamed.

More about it here http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/20/3016622.htm including a photo. There are more on the ABC web site too.

And not to be outdone, a new plant was also found recently, near Emerald Springs [ see more here - http://oldfartz-on-tour.blogspot.com/2010/09/emerald-springs-revisited.html ] south of Darwin. This plant however, does have a name - Alysicarpus suffruticosa - a close relative of buffalo clover.

The Weeping Rosewoods are DYING

2010-09-12T22:45:00.005+09:30

What a difference a year makes......................

This is what the trees were like a year ago, shown in the middle photo

http://monsoon-frog.blogspot.com/2009/11/yellow-flowers-but-be-quick.html

The weeping rosewoods have beautiful yellow flowers, and are magnificent shady trees.

BUT........a dreadful disease is slowly killing many of the now large trees around Darwin.

The photo below was taken today.......and all the trees in the previous post, about 10 months ago are DEAD, very dead!!!

The problem was first noted in the main city area, and these trees are alongside Bagot Road, at Millner, in the northern suburbs of Darwin, maybe 12 -13km from the first dead trees.

It is hoped disease resistant lines will be available in maybe a year or so, but till then, there will be a lot more trees dead, and sadly, it is the larger specimens that seem to die.

And there are a lot of these trees around Darwin.

Its OVER........

2010-09-10T14:20:00.005+09:30

Australia has a new government................but for how long?

Plenty of pundits [ on both sides of politics] are saying the new Labor government will be lucky to last 18 months.

It will be an absolute roller coaster of a ride so watch out.................

There are plenty of media stories around on all major channels.

The cartoon seems to sum up well the predicament of the new Prime Minister.

[cartoon "borrowed" from Punch magazine]

Election 2010 - Ongoing Saga

2010-08-29T23:15:00.003+09:30

One week after the election, and we still do not have an outcome at national level.

Remember the Chinese saying.........'may you live in interesting times".............seems it is, and might be for a while yet.

Lots of column inches in the newspapers, and almost any other media. Still.

Most recent comment seen late this evening was that one of the key 'non-aligned" players thought there might be certainity by the end of this coming week.

A friend commented to me today............"do we need them?? Country is still functioning, thanks to the bureaucrats!"

Election 2010

2010-08-22T12:01:00.004+09:30

It was election day in Australia yesterday. I guess we do get to vote, so that is something.

BUT.............the cartoon from the AFR on Saturday, says it best, I think.

We in the NT seat of Solomon, appear to have a newly elected member of the Parliament lower house............a woman, Natasha Griggs, from the CLP. Bye bye Damian Hale - he was voted out!

But at national level, who knows???

Chinese Milk and Dairy Products- More Problems??

2010-08-09T22:49:00.004+09:30

Recent reports are surfacing in China about high hormone levels in young children who have been drinking a particular milk brand of powdered milk.

Some children have been tested for hormone levels and results indicate that these are at levels equal to adult women, and the young children have been developing breasts.

The suspicion is that hormones fed to dairy cows to boost production are being found in milk. This livestock production practice is generally banned in most countires.

Comes back to the same issue.............do you trust Chinese food, especially fresh food imported to Australia?

Other than milk, there are a lot of fresh and frozen vegetables from China arriving in Australia via New Zealand, where they are repacked and get to qualify as "free entry" since they are now ostensibly "from New Zealand".

I for one am very unsure about food quality control in China.............let alone issues around corruption and poor production practices. While milk from China does not come to Australia, it does get exported to some other countries of SE Asia.

read more here-
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/entertainment/7733883/china-milk-powder-blamed-for-baby-breasts/

No doubt there will be more media coverage.

Hot July Night [ with a wink to Neil Diamond]

2010-07-26T09:46:00.006+09:30

It is July. The coolest [ note- NOT coldest] month of the year...........or it used to be. A time when Darwinians could gloat, just a little, at southerners, as the night temperature dropped below 20C, usually consistently, along with clear sky and warm but not too hot days. And a nice cool E / SE wind during the day. No doonas, nor even a light blanket, but at least a sheet on top and mostly not even an overhead fan going.

One expects a hot August night in the northern summer, but it should be a cool July night here!
BUT..........

It just ain't so.......

The past three nights have seen three of the hottest July nights on record for Darwin. Friday night equalled the previous hottest minimum for July of 25C, followed by Saturday night with a new record of 25.8C as the hottest minimum for July. But wait, that is not all.........last night was an even hotter night with a minimum temperature of 26.6C. Yes............that is the mimimum temperature, not yesterdays maximum.

It was 29C in the office as I opened the door this morning around 0800.

At least we have been sitting up at night watching the Tour de France on TV, not getting off to bed. But last night it was around 30C at 0100 this morning, and we decided...............the air conditioner got a run, after really crappy sleeping nights over the past few nights!

So we had a resonable sleep.

But an air conditioner for night time use in July????? That is crazy!

Sexy High Heels?

2010-07-20T11:40:00.006+09:30

Nothing like a great pair of womens' legs, accentuated in a nice pair of high heeled shoes.

Just ask any leg man!

However, it is not all good, health wise, according to recent research work, explored further here:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/07/19/295786 4.htm?site=science&topic=health

In essence, wearing high heels too much shortens the calf muscles and increases the thickness of the Achilles tendon, leading to further leg and ankle problems. Remedies are discussed in the article, but it means less good legs to look at.

Hardly likely to be replaced by this, though.........

The Dry Season Is Here and Frogs Are on the Move

2010-07-07T21:48:00.000+09:30

Sounds like a conundrum.........but it seems to be true.

Trouble is, the move has been to come inside the house.......into the toilet bowl, and other damper places.

Anyone who has lived in the tropics will know that frogs in strange places are inevitable. BUT.....that is usually when the weather is wet, and frogs are common. At the present time although we have been away for 8 days, we have found frogs inside the closed house on returning.

I know we had cracker night [fireworks] and some dogs and cats get frightened..........could that have caused the frogs to hide inside too? Or have they just sought out a nice quiet dark place, not quite as dry as outside, where the humidity is very low [not so good for frog skin]?

Whatever.............too many frogs in the loo, too many on the tiled floors inside the house, not to mention the few also jumping around on the outside tiled terrace area. Those on the floor definitely a bit on the dry side, although the toilet bowl dwellers were having a great time!

Clammy frog fingers are not a pleasant experience when visiting the loo, however! Had to go...... all of them!

Red Bull Art of Can

2010-07-06T15:08:00.005+09:30

Red Bull is a well known sports drink, and they sponsor a very exiciting aeroplane race at locations around the world too.

And they also sponsor an art prize............ for art made from aluminium cans. Darwin is well known for the Beer Can Regatta where the boats are made from cans, and a local from Darwin also constructed and sailed a beer can boat from Darwin to Singapore in the 1980s. But an art prize for cans???

In 2010 it is in Singapore and the art work is truly spectacular. The on line catalogue does not do the art work justice - photos I think are a little washed out, and slightly over exposed, for what are shining examples of creativity by Singaporean artists.

Have a look at : http://www.redbullartofcan.sg/ [not - .com.sg!!] for more information. Links to earlier exhibitions too.

Art show closes 11 July.......at *Scape in Singapore............but the web site will remain.

The top photo is titled - Samurai, but it is not listed in the catalogue. Definitely my favourite. Lower photo - title is "Very Happy'.

More photos being posted shortly at http://www.flickr.com/ at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfie999/4795292361/in/photostream/?rotated=1&cb=1279182337843

Studies Give Coffee a Positive Rap

2010-06-28T00:05:00.000+09:30

The pundits say that tea is good for you. Well, it now seems that for us coffee drinkers there is a benefit too, so one can indulge in a great coffee.......now knowing it is good for your health, with 3-4 cups being a good 'dose" daily.

Recent studies show coffee makes you sharper, lowers cancer risks, reduces neural degeneration and age related brain damage.

It also seems to lower risks of incurring stroke and coronary diseases, by at least 19% in studies on female patients over the past 25 years. That is a significant longitudinal study.

So, coffee drinkers..............here's to us!

Lunar Eclipse Last Night

2010-06-27T14:07:00.008+09:30

We were among the lucky ones.............a great view of the eclipse last night.

There was no prior announcement locally, although not a surprise. I was coming back from swimming training, and noticed a small gap on the moon. A bit odd Methinks.........looks suspiciously like a small lunar eclipse.

Checked it out online after getting home..........and we would get a great view! Only seen across the Pacific, Australia and eastern Malaysia. Darwin had a great view, as moon rose almost into the eclipse as sunset was around 1830hrs and moonrise just after 1900hrs with the eclipse commencing soon after that. Photo is very similar to early stage from last night, but is from an earlier one in 2001, taken in the US by Richard Seaman.

Maximum coverage was about when the moon was high in the sky, so it was a great view, on a clear cloudless dry season night, with maximum cover in Darwin at about 2100hrs.

While we usually know what it is today, I wonder how ancient peoples wondered about the events??