The dry season has finally arrived. Cool nights, no overhead fans, and then warm dry days. Temperature range from 17-20 at night and then 28 - 30C in the day time, with plenty of sunshine.
There is so much activity on around the town, with several festivals this weekend, including the Mereepen Arts Festival at the Daly river and a performance in town by Harry Manx, a great guitar player and a devotee of the mohan veena. What is that you say?
Plenty of information right here....... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohan_veena
But better still, relax and enjoy the sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GabJcL1VolQ&feature=relmfu
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Space - Now Privatised!!
Who would have predicted that in roughly 50 years that us earthlings would move from the very first Sputnik satellite launched with enormous government resources and followed by even more success with government resources to a moon landing would be able to get it so well organised that the private sector would be contracting to do it instead??
While it may not be imaginable in some of the world economies, the USA has done just that this week, with the first private sector launch of a commercial space vehicle.
Read more here - http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57438890-76/spacex-cargo-ship-takes-off-on-commercial-flight-to-station/?tag=nl.e703
And with more commercial flights for space tourism to come too.
In some areas the USA might still be the leading player. Sometimes though you look at other parts of their economy and wonder.
While it may not be imaginable in some of the world economies, the USA has done just that this week, with the first private sector launch of a commercial space vehicle.
And with more commercial flights for space tourism to come too.
In some areas the USA might still be the leading player. Sometimes though you look at other parts of their economy and wonder.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Bike to Nowhere
While it is now wonderful weather for biking, that will eventually deteriorate to being a bit too hot, especially during the day, by November.
The solution - or at least part of the options - a bike to nowhere = wind trainer.
I have acquired a wind trainer from a colleague who worked with my wife, and who was leaving town.
Still to be set up, it should be a great asset for a late evening ride, or when wet. It has a hydrogel roller so should be a good addition to allow some more extensive cycling.
And, it might be useful for some knee rehab for me as well as allowing my significant other to hit the bike too.
The solution - or at least part of the options - a bike to nowhere = wind trainer.
I have acquired a wind trainer from a colleague who worked with my wife, and who was leaving town.
Still to be set up, it should be a great asset for a late evening ride, or when wet. It has a hydrogel roller so should be a good addition to allow some more extensive cycling.
And, it might be useful for some knee rehab for me as well as allowing my significant other to hit the bike too.
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Life Moves On
Wow........nearly three months since a blogpost.
Floods have come and gone around N Australia and N NSW, summer is now autumn, in fact nearly winter, and at last the dry season has arrived in the north.
Still not really cool, although a few nights below 20C, which is the borderline below which you can turn off the overhead fan at night. But it is noticeable - days arre drier and you do not lather in sweat if you are working.
I spent a day digging augur holes for soil sampling yesterdy and did not really raise a decent sweat.......a month ago you would be wringing wet after the first turn of the augur!
However, the hole digging had been post poned after I had a accident and hurt my knee while spraying last week. Unable to walk for some days, had to use all the parts of the RICE procedures plus a doctor's visit and taking anti inflammatories, wear a compression sleeve etc. Much improved, but not fixed totally yet.
It was a bit of an issue for someone who is not normally prone to either illness or accident.
A dry season to enjoy.........so far.
Floods have come and gone around N Australia and N NSW, summer is now autumn, in fact nearly winter, and at last the dry season has arrived in the north.
Still not really cool, although a few nights below 20C, which is the borderline below which you can turn off the overhead fan at night. But it is noticeable - days arre drier and you do not lather in sweat if you are working.
I spent a day digging augur holes for soil sampling yesterdy and did not really raise a decent sweat.......a month ago you would be wringing wet after the first turn of the augur!
However, the hole digging had been post poned after I had a accident and hurt my knee while spraying last week. Unable to walk for some days, had to use all the parts of the RICE procedures plus a doctor's visit and taking anti inflammatories, wear a compression sleeve etc. Much improved, but not fixed totally yet.
It was a bit of an issue for someone who is not normally prone to either illness or accident.
A dry season to enjoy.........so far.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Floods in Australia
Rarely has it been that the words of the poem by Dorothea MacKellar could be so apt as now, with much of SE Australia flooded, following on from similar floods last year and coming after many years of drought. These are very serious floods....... and there is plenty of coverage on the media eg
www.abc.net.au
Spare a thought and a prayer for them. A long way from us, but we have had our share this wet season too.
My Country by Dorothea Mackellar
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens,
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies --
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror --The wide brown land for me!
The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountain,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die --
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back three-fold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze . . .
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land --
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand --
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
www.abc.net.au
Spare a thought and a prayer for them. A long way from us, but we have had our share this wet season too.
My Country by Dorothea Mackellar
The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens,
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies --
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror --The wide brown land for me!
The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountain,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die --
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.
Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back three-fold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze . . .
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land --
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand --
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Quadricopters Playing Music? - Well, YES!
Quadricopters or drones are a new device, straight out of the intelligence industry.......or they were.
NOW......they are playing music! The video originally from the University of Pennslyvania has gone viral. Hardly the stuff of military intelligence, but it surely illustrates the potential.
A potent reminder that remote devices really do have a future! Where do you imagine their future?
Saturday, 25 February 2012
The Lorax by Dr Suess is Now a Movie.
http://myplasticfreelife.com/2012/02/lessons-from-the-lorax-why-nagging-doesnt-work/comment-page-1/#comment-39193
The link is to a blog written about the environmental lessons to be learned from the Dr Suess book The Lorax.
It is about to launch this week as a movie.
REREAD THE BOOK. As an adult, ponder about the message and what might be done, as the writer has done.
A bit provocative and definitely aiming to change YOUR perspective.
It is not the first environmental book, nor does it have the same lengthy text as did Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring", nor as old as "A Sandcastle Almanac" by Leopold - but the message is very clear.
An easily read environmental tale of loss. And.... worth conveying the message to the next generation.
The link is to a blog written about the environmental lessons to be learned from the Dr Suess book The Lorax.
It is about to launch this week as a movie.
REREAD THE BOOK. As an adult, ponder about the message and what might be done, as the writer has done.
A bit provocative and definitely aiming to change YOUR perspective.
It is not the first environmental book, nor does it have the same lengthy text as did Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring", nor as old as "A Sandcastle Almanac" by Leopold - but the message is very clear.
An easily read environmental tale of loss. And.... worth conveying the message to the next generation.
Monday, 30 January 2012
Tattoo to Go?
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!
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Intellectual Property, Online Piracy and Intellectual Freedom
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.
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.
Friday, 6 January 2012
McDonalds Ludmilla - Hamburger Joint Or Road and Car Wash?
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.
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.
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Changes for the New Year
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
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
Sunday, 1 January 2012
You Know It Is Hot When.......
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!!
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!!
Friday, 30 December 2011
The Missing Monsoon
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]
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]
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Fragrant Orchids
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.............
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.............
Thursday, 8 December 2011
Mythbuster's Catastrophe
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
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
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Crappy Weather
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.
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!!!
Thursday, 17 November 2011
President Obama Comes to Darwin
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]!
Monday, 14 November 2011
Yuendumu Doors - Great Historical Aboriginal Art
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
Friday, 11 November 2011
Lightning - Sears the Eyeballs
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.
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.
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Omelette - Forty Years in the Making
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!
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!
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Live Your Dreams
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 $$ for uni courses]. It seems as if scared to take on a real job and establish or even try his hand at his profession, of which most said he had some real talent. Fear? Or a realisation that architecture was not for him?
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
Steve Jobs 1955-2011Commencement address at Stanford University on June 12, 2005
This time the memory was jogged by a story of a young man, already a registered architect - 5 years uni plus accreditation for registration, being unable to decide whether to practise his acquired profession. Living on odd jobs for friends and a very small part time odd job house maintenance business [ essentially providing the $$ 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
Friday, 28 October 2011
Decadence and Shellfish
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?
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?
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Stereotypes for the Northern Territory
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.
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.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Truth in Media
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
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
Monday, 17 October 2011
Cyling - Do You?
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.
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.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Tolerance and Caring - Is It Over?
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!]
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!]
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Hot Nights and Hotter Days
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.
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.
Friday, 7 October 2011
Hows Your Spam Level?
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.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
How Do You Communicate?
Source:LiveScience
One could assume that Australian communications methods are fairly similar to the US data.
Friday, 30 September 2011
Fuel Shortages in Darwin?
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
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
[ photo from news.com.au 29/9/11]
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