Michaelangelica Posted February 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 A good wrap up of the fires (video)Four Corners Video on Demand: "Two Days in Hell"CWA Fire-fighter: "That was one in a lifetime fire. . .God help us if it is not." How the local media handled it (short video)ABC Television - DownloadsMostly Ok expect for a couple who overstepped the mark baldyHow the Austrian Green Political Party can be blamed for this beggars belief. Flying BinghiAre you in the red again?Who you been stirring this time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 What a boon the green movement has been for tightwadsWhat a boon the green movement has been for tightwads - Richard Glover - Opinion Richard GloverSeptember 13, 2008funny.He is a tightwad, but Jocasta always seems to win in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted February 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 How to get through a recession the Australian wayAll discretionary spending down, restaurants retail etcAlcohol sales up 20%What resshisdson? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 Gippsland Victoria - Via The Church of England Messenger, Febuary 1851, Darkness in Gippsland Among the effects of those terrible fires which will make the 6th of Febuary memorable in the annals of this colony, was one of which very little notice has been taken, and which is perhaps almost unknown to the public generally, but excited the greatest awe, and even terror, in the minds of many who witnessed it. We allude to a total darkness which overspread the whole of Gippsland, and literally changed day into night. This darkness, according to the accounts which we have received of it, began to be perceived about one o'clock in the afternoon, and gradually increased untill it became so intense as to hide from sight even the nearest objects... ..Throughout the remainder of the day it continued perfectly dark... .. for the smoke - which, carried by the north winds from burning forests on the ranges over the plains below, totally intercepted the sun's light - was so high as scarcely to be perceived by the smell, and to produce none of that suffocating sensation which might have been expected... .. suggested to many the thought that the end of the world was at hand. From the same journal - Some of the Gippsland aborigines..... accounted for the physical phenomenom in a very very matter of fact way, by sagely wagging their curly heads and declaring that "bright fellow (pointing to the sun) had got the blight in his eye" Europeans in a tiz, the indigenes not concerned .... YAWN, seen it all before.... Michaelangelica 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted February 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 The whole north of Australia is under water!Lake Aire might fill up!!meanwile the fires burn Victoria.You can't buy half decent fruit and Veg or even alcohol fuel (sugar cane under water)Crazy weatherTorrential rain and flash flooding has cut roads and railway lines in Western Australia's Pilbara, while some cattle stations have been inundated with water. Over 400 millimetres of rain has fallen at Mardie Station since Saturday, while Yalleen Station near Pannawonica has had more than 350 millimetres.West Pilbara under water. 18 Feb 2009. Rural Online. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)Can you see any of this from Goggle satelite?If you want to visit the Australia outback-now is the time- wait for the floodwaters to stop and the desert will bloom (4-8 weeks)- spectacular. A once in a lifetime event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 If you want to visit the Australia outback-now is the time- wait for the floodwaters to stop and the desert will bloom (4-8 weeks)- spectacular. A once in a lifetime event. It actualy rains in Oz more than once in a lifetime ..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted February 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 Prime real estate, only two owners. Very low mileage, 4M bathrooms, hardly used, slightly foxed, edges water marked. Very spacious living area. Room for big family. Owner MUST sell. Make an offerCash-rich China Inc rapidly going globalMichael Sainsbury and Sarah-Jane Tasker | February 21, 2009 So far in 2009, Chinese companies are only second to German ones in term of overseas acquisitions, with a total of $US21.8 billion ($34 billion) invested, according to figures released this week by Thomson Reuters. This is up a staggering 40 per cent from the same period in 2008.. . .there are a phalanx of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), ultimately controlled by the country's Communist Party-led Government.. . .In the past few weeks, more than $33 billion in Chinese funds has sought a home in Australian listed mining companies. . . .For China's mining giants, it is the opportunity of a lifetime, not only to secure supply lines for decades into the future but to build truly global corporations to challenge the existing behemoths in Australia, the Americas and South Africa. China has more money than it knows what to do with due to its unbalanced economic relationship with the West -- the developed world buys far more Chinese goods than China buys from it -- a position that has only been exacerbated by China holding down the value of its currency to help its competitive position.. . . A plan by Chinalco to tip $30billion into Rio Tinto to back up its initial $11 billion stake made in 2007 and the $2.6 billion bid for OZ Minerals by China Minmetals, which only two weeks ago bought a copper and gold mine in Peru, are the two highest-profile deals.. . .China has deep pockets. They have a pool of cash unrivalled in history and the opportunity is now right for them to pick up assets around the world."more detail here:-Cash-rich China Inc rapidly going global | The AustralianWe live in interesting times. Are we merely swapping our corrupt American, japanese and English corporations for a corrupt Chinese one? If so, why the sense of unease about this?Nerves start to fray on Rio Tinto's board Matt Chambers and Jennifer Hewett | February 21, 2009 The deal would give Chinalco a 15-50 per cent stake in some of Rio's best iron ore and aluminium assets in Australia and copper projects in the US, Chile, Peru and Indonesia. It would also be able to raise its 9 per cent stake in Rio to 18 per cent. The deal has been hailed by the China Iron and Steel Association as a chance to break the "Australian duopoly" in iron ore, but reports from China indicated this might not have been achieved yet.Nerves start to fray on Rio Tinto's board | The AustralianChina is world's last hope Michael Stutchbury, Economics editor | February 21, 2009 With Japan and the US going backwards, that leaves China as the big hope for cushioning Australia's export slump. The Reserve Bank's Stevens yesterday pointed to "tentative indications of a turn for the better in China in some of the most recent data". "China is the best placed country in the region to cope with this crisis," the World Bank's chief economist for East Asia and Pacific, Vikram Nehru, added yesterday. Nehru suggested that the World Bank might not cut its 7.5 per cent Chinese growth forecast for 2009 much below 7 per cent, given the stimulus from Beijing's $US586 billion fiscal expansion.. . . "China has an incredible capacity to mobilise economic agents -- companies, banks, local governments." One statistic stands out from the current global slump in industrial production. For the first time, China is producing more cars than the US.The question is whether China can pull the world economy out of its worst downturn since the 1930s. China is world's last hope | The Australian Free with sale this beautiful horse drawn hearse. Uniquely environmentally responsible vehicle; able to park in new shopping centre "Ecological Car" parking spaces; Runs on bio-fuel. Ideal for funeral of Western Capitalist System.Thanks wayneatbamfordsdotcomdotauHyqual Australia - Trading Post http://www.allposters.com/Traditionally Australia has had a fear of the "yellow Peril. This dates back to the gold rushes around Bendigo (Victoria) in the 1850-1870s. The enterprising Chinese, if they didn't find gold, went into business being paid to remove "night soil". This they used to grow great vegetables, to sell back, at high prices, to the hungry miners.My great, great Uncle was MP for the area around 1900. When I searched for some of his speeches in the old Victorian Hansard, the fist I came across was a tirade about masses of Chinese taking over Australia. 'O dear', I thought, very politically un-correct Unc. I wonder what he would make of this Chinese take over?(or the USA one, or the Japanese one, or the UK one, or the media one)An extract from a recent "Readers Comments" to the SMH:-The Chinese government has no interest in maximising Chinalco's profits but it has an absolute interest in reducing the input costs of Chinese industry to the detriment of its major overseas suppliers, particularly Australia and Brazil.Michael Pascoe's introduction of the 'Yellow Peril' race card does him no credit. The Board and senior management of Rio have destroyed shareholder value in the company and handing a strategic interest in the company to a foreign government is neither in the long term interests of existing shareholders nor of Australia.andWell fellow Aussies, guess what, we are as untrustworthy as the bad Chinese business people, Storm finance, Bridgecorp, or any recently collapse business ventur. What went wrong with those companies? because they were all ran by a bunch of crooks. So look at your own land before making any judgement on Chinese Business people.andI find the above generalisations of how Chinese do business completely insulting and racist.andI have lived in China and dealt with the Chinese for a long time. I like the people very much but frankly don't trust them in any form of business transaction. Call me racist but I'm sure you''ll find lots of other western business people who will back me on this. DON'T allow them to take even a piece of the one thing they really need but don't have, and the one sure fire way that we will make money from China. We won't make money from any free trade deal with them or in any promises of increased access to their markets- it's a chimera. Do business in China and you'll see what I mean.Your say: foreign control - Business Comment - BusinessDay Blogs on Sydney Morning Herald Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted February 25, 2009 Report Share Posted February 25, 2009 Things are warming up in Oz, not only do we have new political partys starting up, we have this - Written by Jennifer Marohasy Wednesday, 18 February 2009 The Australian Environment Foundation today launched an online petition opposing the federal government's "Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme". The petition will eventually be presented to Parliament by Dr Dennis Jensen, MHR for Tangney. AEF Chair Dr Jennifer Marohasy said there is a strong need for the petition because none of the major political parties are offering an alternative to carbon trading. "To quote John from Cheltenham, Victoria, one of the early signatories, 'At last a chance to protest, a chance to be heard, a chance for the millions of Australians who have not fallen for this propaganda to speak out'." Dr Marohasy said that many Australians oppose this scheme because they know it will cost them and their families dearly, sending Australian industries and Australian jobs overseas. It is flawed and won't have a measurable impact on CO2 levels or global temperature. Home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eclipse Now Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 There's some amazing shots there M! I'm part of a group that partially blames our Federation and the confusion between Federal responsibilities and State responsibilities in this situation. We're glad the National government finally sent in the army to help, but what if there had been a National response as well as a State plan? If you are interested in political models, you might be interested in joining the political discussion with a brand new forum with many Phd's and authors on Australian political structure called Beyond Federation. Beyond Federation - Index Beyond Federation mission statement Dr Mark Drummond is the Convener for the group. After years of dialogue with his highly qualified colleagues Dr Drummond has developed the following mission statement for Beyond Federation. Beyond Federation supports: A system of government that is: democratic, understandable, accountable, just, equitable, affordable, efficient, stable yet flexible, and socially, environmentally and economically sustainable; functionally effective in areas such as the environment, health and education; and centralised and decentralised in an appropriate balance; and The abolition of State governments; uniform national laws; a national government strengthened to be more responsive to the opportunities and needs of Australia as a whole and our global circumstances; and strengthened local government and sub-national governance structures that are close to and responsive to the opportunities and needs of people and communities. I'm an activist... can't help but get too involved in too many causes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 Australian happenings - A Greens politician has been told to stop bringing her husband to council meetings because he eats too much of the food FOOD FEUD | Daily Telegraph Tim Blair Blog ...................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 If you are interested in political models, you might be interested in joining the political discussion with a brand new forum with many Phd's and authors on Australian political structure called Beyond Federation. You'll be following the rules eh, Eclipse Now - you know the Australian university of Australia rules......... YouTube - Monty Python - Bruce http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f_p0CgPeyA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted February 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 There's some amazing shots there M! I'm part of a group that partially blames our Federation and the confusion between Federal responsibilities and State responsibilities I'm an activist... can't help but get too involved in too many causes. :naughty:My great great Uncle was a revolutionary/activist because he believed in Federation and pushed for it!! I will look it up tarI also am running out of time and can't afford the amount of time I am spending on the web. My health has been dicey of late too.The Senate is a joke "The States House" rubbish.I I have T-shirt which reads"Government by the people in the People's House."Not many remember that famous quote from a great Australian PM.I had it made the day he was dismissed..........................................................Solar Feed in Tariff.There is a lot of talk about a feed-in tarrif for solar panels in NSW at the moment and a petition going aroundWhat do you think about it?I feel a feed-in-tariff, say equivalent to half the rate the Energy company charges its best customer (Aluminium smelters)- or best off peek rate, would be fair for both parties. Any thoughts?Gross Solar Feed In Tariff Petition For AustraliaHelp PM Rudd Choose A Solar Future For Australia! | FacebookSignatures - Feed In Tariff Petition For solarBenefits of Solar PowerAgin solarHome solar?s not worth it ? but?(ScienceAlert)Although this guy seems to be paying a lot less than people in NSW for his electricity.He also does not take into account that the rebate tariff coming to him is tax free.So for people on the highest tax bracket a different sort of government subsidy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eclipse Now Posted February 26, 2009 Report Share Posted February 26, 2009 I guess rooftop solar has always been on the "Ferrari-feel good" end of the market, but if rich people are going to buy it it cannot be all bad. A feed in tarrif might boost the industry to the point where economies of scale begin to cut in and reduce the cost. Basically, with both global warming AND peak oil in sight, I'm thinking energy is one of our most pressing needs and anything that encourages development has got to be a good thing. New technologies are coming which could make roof-top solar PV far cheaper, with the dye based approach and the "sliver cell" (as shown on Catalyst a few years back). I'm ever hopeful, and ever cautious over wild claims as well. sorry to hear about your health. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted February 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Waters give lift to nature's Eyre force * Font Size: Decrease Increase * Print Page: Print Jamie Walker | February 28, 2009Article from: The Australian NATURE'S wake-up call is echoing across the seemingly lifeless expanse of Lake Eyre. Dead centre? It's activity central, now that the floodwaters have arrived from Queensland, bringing life and creating one of the marvels of the natural world as the desert blooms and the vast saltpan 700km north of Adelaide begins to fill. To what extent is anyone's guess, although locals say they are seeing more water pour into the bone-dry lake than at any time since 2000, when it ended up close to half-full, forming an inland sea that stretched beyond the blanched horizon. The torrents that swept down the swollen Georgina and Diamantina rivers, mixing in Goyder Lagoon before surging through Warburton Creek and into the lake proper, carry a bounty of new life: nutrient-rich sediments to feed the thirsty native vegetation that has erupted all around it, and in turn herbaceous native rodents; fish for the mass of birds tracking the flood; all the water the wild camels from the Simpson Desert can drink. The Australian, News from Australia's National NewspaperSome good pics at site.The Australian - Photo galleries and slideshows - Life returns to Lake Eyre thirsty lizard of salt bed flats I've been saying that for years. Being 15m below sea level all you need is a trench from Port Augusta 50km north to lake Grdiner then on to Lake Eyre, flood it with sea water and create a true inland sea. Surely the evaporation would be enough to create higher rainfall over western NSW helping the farmers then filling the Murray. Everyones a winner. (except anything that lives on the salt) Posted by: KJ of Adelaide 1:42pm February 27, 2009Readers' Comments: Wonder as Lake Eyre fills - PerthNow Yachties on pink oil savour elusive natural wonder | PerthNow 37 still missing in bushfires 4:50pm FRESH teams of soldiers are to join the search for remains of at least 37 people still missing from the deadly February 7 bushfires.The Australian, News from Australia's National NewspaperWhich are still burning. An essay about the dry desertRobyn Davidson on The Desert | The Australian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eclipse Now Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 I looked into the "inland sea" possibility a few years ago, and there's a CSIRO study that pretty much indicates a/ no idea where the water from such a sea would fall and b/ far too expensive. But I can't find it!!!! Interesting conversation here, with what sounds like a weatherman having a real go at explaining the possible outcomes. Australian Inland Sea - Oz Ideas Wiki -- Post 2020 Summit Bradfield Scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia # It is only speculation that a climate change would result. Saudi Arabia, which is very dry, is surrounded by seas containing far more water that an enhanced river would provide.# Reduction in river discharge to the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon may diminish coastal fisheries by reducing the supply of terrestrial organic matter to the coastal and estuarine environmentBut that last point can be struck off if the water comes from the southern sea, and not the inland rivers of Queensland. The Bradfield Scheme - The Greatest Scheme of All I can't find the actual CSIRO report... it used to be on Malcolm Turnbull's old site but that seems to have changed. Sorry I could not be more help... I got quite passionate about this scheme at one point and then found out that CSIRO had debunked it with the main points above. Every channel and tunnel and piping idea had been evaluated and costed and found to be ridiculous... all for unknown benefits? If we want desal water, that's another matter. 60% of the entire WORLD's population lives within 60km of the coastline of the oceans. That's where my FAVOURITE ocean renewable energy source comes in. http://www.ceto.com.au/ Gives you electricity 24/7, no visual disruption, no shipping disruption, no electronics at sea as it pushes all the water inland down pipes, just pumps working 24/7 to bring high pressure water onto land which THEN drives a turbine. And at night, as off-peak demand comes in and there's more electricity to spare, some of that energy can be used to desalinate this sea water. CETO = energy + desal, not desal requiring further energy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted March 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 []I looked into the "inland sea" possibility a few years ago, and there's a CSIRO study that pretty much indicates a/ no idea where the water from such a sea would fall and b/ far too expensive. But I can't find it!!!!Is there a thing called a Hydraulic Ram? or similar that pumps water without any energy imput other than the water.the ram is often useful, since it requires no outside source of power other than the kinetic energy of water.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_ramhttp://forums.permaculture.org.au/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7738&p=47320&hilit=ram#p47320 You might be interested in a couple of my posts in the Hypography "Salt NaCl" thread too. If you could explain my last post there I would appreciate it! :) http://www.ceto.com.au/ Gives you electricity 24/7, no visual disruption, no shipping disruption, no electronics at sea as it pushes all the water inland down pipes, just pumps working 24/7 to bring high pressure water onto land which THEN drives a turbine. And at night, as off-peak demand comes in and there's more electricity to spare, some of that energy can be used to desalinate this sea water. CETO = energy + desal, not desal requiring further energyMany electricity power plants use seawater to cool. There are three around me. They always have excess or base load, power- especially during "Earth Hour"(AKA"Lets make more CO2 so we can show we are worried About CO2 ). this could be used to make water. A pofessor from USA has recently developed anew evaporative system that would be ideal. I think I posted the link in "Water where will it come from in 2050" thread.I will have a good look at your links later (still wobbly) thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eclipse Now Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 I just noted that this thread is 62 pages long... what's the story!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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