Friday, February 27, 2009

Spratly Layang Island Dive

From one of my divemaster - Marcus Royce. If you're interested - send me a personal message with your details and I'll forward it to Marcus.

Marcus Royce is organizing a dive trip to the Spratly Layang.
 
Here is a better gauge of cost.
 
6d6n: 15 dives or more. appx $1800. (airfare is under $200). [Non-Charter price]
 
6d6n: 15 dives or more. appx $1600. (airfare is under $200). [Charter price]

7d7n: 18 dives or more. appx $1900. (airfare is under $200). [Charter price]
 
Trip date: June 13-19 or 20.
 
Cabin's are twin share.
 
3 or 4 dive guides on board.
 
Do let me know asap, so far with have 5 pax confirmed.
 
Cheeers,
Marcus

Hey wanna buy hi-fi speakers??

(I've encountered this scam a few times back in 1997. They'll usually ask you for directions - pretend they were suppose to deliver the hi-fi to an architect/CEO/banker who has just been transferred/gone overseas/etc... They will claim their boss wants them to offload the equipment - and they offer it to YOU - yes beautiful handsome YOU - for cheap. Why you'd be a fool to refuse this bargain of the century!!

If it sounds too good to be true - it is. Its a scam folk. The speakers are either not working or cheap ripoffs. Read more here:

Victims still fall for white van speaker scam

The scam has been around for at least 25 years but scores of Australians are still being duped every year by a band of traveling fraudsters selling dodgy hi-fi equipment out of the back of a white van.

A senior investigator with the NSW Office of Fair Trading says the body is usually powerlesss to follow up complaints from people affected by the scam because victims do not collect details from the sellers and, by the time they know they have been duped, the fraudsters have disappeared.

Consumer Affairs Victoria said it had recorded more than 80 complaints about the scam since March 2007 but this figure could significantly understate the problem because many people do not file complaints with fair trading bodies, putting the ordeal down to a learning experience.

On the scamshield.com website, where people can log in and report scams, thousands from all over Australia have written in to warn people about the "white van speaker scam". This year alone there have been 30 reports but the site lists complaints as far back as 2001.

In a typical scenario, the scammers pull up beside the target - often at traffic lights - and begin spruiking home audio equipment at bargain basement prices, which they say has "fallen off the back of a truck" or is available through some warehousing error.

The equipment is billed as being made by a premium brand and the targets are led to believe they have stumbled upon a once-in-a-lifetime bargain.

The scammers, who use high-pressure sales tactics, jargon and fake documentation, then instruct the buyers to meet them a short distance away where they exchange the poor quality goods for money.

But when the consumers take the equipment home they often find the goods are of the lowest quality and often do not work at all.

Michael Cooper, director of mediation services and compliance at the NSW Office of Fair Trading, said the scam was usually executed by people with English accents, who travel around the world duping consumers with poor quality goods sourced from China.

Cooper said most people who complained to Fair Trading did not collect any details from the scammers - such as registration numbers - so there was not much the organisation could do to help.

Whether or not an offence was committed depended on the representations made by the sellers.

"It may well be that this is just very poor quality equipment and people are silly for buying it," he said.

"A lot of cases - when people have been conned - they put it down to a learning experience."

Cooper, a former police officer, said he did not know of anyone being arrested over the scam and "police appear to take the opinion buyer beware".

Consumer Affairs Victoria said it also was not aware of any arrests. It advised consumers approached by the scammers to take down as much information as they could about the traders' physical appearance and vehicle and pass it on to the organisation.

NSW Police said its fraud squad was aware of the scam but directed all queries to the NSW Office of Fair Trading.

"No legitimate businessman does business out of the back of their van like this," Cooper said.

"There are discount stores that you can specifically go to to get a bargain. Why people insist on buying things from the back of a van is beyond me."

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sipadan-Kapalai offer - 4 days diving

Book anytime from 13 Mar 2009 to 31 Mar 2010

Sipadan Water Village Resort / Mabul
5 Days / 4 Nights package ( 4 Diving Days )

COST PER DIVER: SGD895/= or RM2,150/=

Proposed Itinerary

Day 01
- Upon arrival at Tawau Airport, SWV staff will pick up for transfer to SWV
- Check-in resort, briefing and proceed to dive center for orientation
- 1 Boat Dive in the afternoon and unlimited house reef diving

Day 02 to 04
- 3 boat dives daily
- unlimited house reef diving from 6 am to 6 pm

Day 05
- House Reef diving
- Transfer out to Tawau after lunch.

PRICE INCLUDES:-
- Airport Transfer and Boat transfers from Tawau/SWV/Tawau (1hour boat drive)
- Twin Sharing accommodation in Standard Water Cottages with full toilertries amenities
- 3 meals a day at resort; buffet style in mixture of local and international menu.
- Daily 3 Boat dive to Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai
- Unlimited house reef dive between 6am to 6pm

* Note
PRICE EXCLUDES*:-
- Air Flight and airport tax
- All others not mentioned

Terms & Conditions :

1. Travel period is from 13 March 2009 until 13 March 2010, except for the following dates :
a. 15 March 2009 – 25 March 2009
b. 20 April 2009 – 09 May 2009
c. 19 May 2009 – 24 May 2009
d. 15 July 2009 - 23 July 2009
e. 01 August 2009 – 15 September 2008
f. 18 September 2009 – 23 September 2009
g. 23 December 2009 – 06 January 2010
h. 12 Feb 2010 – 17 Feb 2010

2. Sipadan Entrance fee (RM40/day) not included in the package.
3. Full payment required upon booking confirmation. Actual date of travel to be confirmed by 30th March 2009.
4. Name list with Passport Number or MyCard number must be made to Oceanic Focus by 30th March 2009.
5. A Surcharge of RM 200.00 per person will be applied should the booking be transferred to another name.
6. No cancellation or refunds will be entertained upon booking and confirmation.
7. Minimum 2 pax required for booking.

Hey wanna buy hi-fi speakers??

(I've encountered this scam a few times back in 1997. They'll usually ask you for directions - pretend they were suppose to deliver the hi-fi to an architect/CEO/banker who has just been transferred/gone overseas/etc... They will claim their boss wants them to offload the equipment - and they offer it to YOU - yes beautiful handsome YOU - for cheap. Why you'd be a fool to refuse this bargain of the century!!

If it sounds too good to be true - it is. Its a scam folk. The speakers are either not working or cheap ripoffs. Read more here:

Victims still fall for white van speaker scam

The scam has been around for at least 25 years but scores of Australians are still being duped every year by a band of traveling fraudsters selling dodgy hi-fi equipment out of the back of a white van.

A senior investigator with the NSW Office of Fair Trading says the body is usually powerlesss to follow up complaints from people affected by the scam because victims do not collect details from the sellers and, by the time they know they have been duped, the fraudsters have disappeared.

Consumer Affairs Victoria said it had recorded more than 80 complaints about the scam since March 2007 but this figure could significantly understate the problem because many people do not file complaints with fair trading bodies, putting the ordeal down to a learning experience.

On the scamshield.com website, where people can log in and report scams, thousands from all over Australia have written in to warn people about the "white van speaker scam". This year alone there have been 30 reports but the site lists complaints as far back as 2001.

In a typical scenario, the scammers pull up beside the target - often at traffic lights - and begin spruiking home audio equipment at bargain basement prices, which they say has "fallen off the back of a truck" or is available through some warehousing error.

The equipment is billed as being made by a premium brand and the targets are led to believe they have stumbled upon a once-in-a-lifetime bargain.

The scammers, who use high-pressure sales tactics, jargon and fake documentation, then instruct the buyers to meet them a short distance away where they exchange the poor quality goods for money.

But when the consumers take the equipment home they often find the goods are of the lowest quality and often do not work at all.

Michael Cooper, director of mediation services and compliance at the NSW Office of Fair Trading, said the scam was usually executed by people with English accents, who travel around the world duping consumers with poor quality goods sourced from China.

Cooper said most people who complained to Fair Trading did not collect any details from the scammers - such as registration numbers - so there was not much the organisation could do to help.

Whether or not an offence was committed depended on the representations made by the sellers.

"It may well be that this is just very poor quality equipment and people are silly for buying it," he said.

"A lot of cases - when people have been conned - they put it down to a learning experience."

Cooper, a former police officer, said he did not know of anyone being arrested over the scam and "police appear to take the opinion buyer beware".

Consumer Affairs Victoria said it also was not aware of any arrests. It advised consumers approached by the scammers to take down as much information as they could about the traders' physical appearance and vehicle and pass it on to the organisation.

NSW Police said its fraud squad was aware of the scam but directed all queries to the NSW Office of Fair Trading.

"No legitimate businessman does business out of the back of their van like this," Cooper said.

"There are discount stores that you can specifically go to to get a bargain. Why people insist on buying things from the back of a van is beyond me."

Hey wanna buy hi-fi speakers??

(I've encountered this scam a few times back in 1997. They'll usually ask you for directions - pretend they were suppose to deliver the hi-fi to an architect/CEO/banker who has just been transferred/gone overseas/etc... They will claim their boss wants them to offload the equipment - and they offer it to YOU - yes beautiful handsome YOU - for cheap. Why you'd be a fool to refuse this bargain of the century!!

If it sounds too good to be true - it is. Its a scam folk. The speakers are either not working or cheap ripoffs. Read more here:

Victims still fall for white van speaker scam

The scam has been around for at least 25 years but scores of Australians are still being duped every year by a band of traveling fraudsters selling dodgy hi-fi equipment out of the back of a white van.

A senior investigator with the NSW Office of Fair Trading says the body is usually powerlesss to follow up complaints from people affected by the scam because victims do not collect details from the sellers and, by the time they know they have been duped, the fraudsters have disappeared.

Consumer Affairs Victoria said it had recorded more than 80 complaints about the scam since March 2007 but this figure could significantly understate the problem because many people do not file complaints with fair trading bodies, putting the ordeal down to a learning experience.

On the scamshield.com website, where people can log in and report scams, thousands from all over Australia have written in to warn people about the "white van speaker scam". This year alone there have been 30 reports but the site lists complaints as far back as 2001.

In a typical scenario, the scammers pull up beside the target - often at traffic lights - and begin spruiking home audio equipment at bargain basement prices, which they say has "fallen off the back of a truck" or is available through some warehousing error.

The equipment is billed as being made by a premium brand and the targets are led to believe they have stumbled upon a once-in-a-lifetime bargain.

The scammers, who use high-pressure sales tactics, jargon and fake documentation, then instruct the buyers to meet them a short distance away where they exchange the poor quality goods for money.

But when the consumers take the equipment home they often find the goods are of the lowest quality and often do not work at all.

Michael Cooper, director of mediation services and compliance at the NSW Office of Fair Trading, said the scam was usually executed by people with English accents, who travel around the world duping consumers with poor quality goods sourced from China.

Cooper said most people who complained to Fair Trading did not collect any details from the scammers - such as registration numbers - so there was not much the organisation could do to help.

Whether or not an offence was committed depended on the representations made by the sellers.

"It may well be that this is just very poor quality equipment and people are silly for buying it," he said.

"A lot of cases - when people have been conned - they put it down to a learning experience."

Cooper, a former police officer, said he did not know of anyone being arrested over the scam and "police appear to take the opinion buyer beware".

Consumer Affairs Victoria said it also was not aware of any arrests. It advised consumers approached by the scammers to take down as much information as they could about the traders' physical appearance and vehicle and pass it on to the organisation.

NSW Police said its fraud squad was aware of the scam but directed all queries to the NSW Office of Fair Trading.

"No legitimate businessman does business out of the back of their van like this," Cooper said.

"There are discount stores that you can specifically go to to get a bargain. Why people insist on buying things from the back of a van is beyond me."

Obama's speech to Congress and the Nation

I loved it. I thought it was inspirational, logical, rational, struck the right tones - optimistic, challenging, uplifting... a great speech. The right speech for the right time.

I liked what he said - about not quiting and that the seeds of recover are in our hands if we don't succumb to cynicism and self-doubt.

"The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth," he said. "What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face and take responsibility for our future once more."

Don't give up. We can come back from this. We need to learn what went wrong and move on. We need to work together etc..

I also hope that other nations - esp. the ones in Africa and Indonesia - will take heed of Obama. And perhaps his actions will inspire a new generation of leaders who will emulate his example.

Let's be hopeful now.



Woman find $1.7 billion dollars in her bank account

A woman found $1.7 billion dollars deposited in her bank account whilst doing some online banking.

The money was later transferred out - the bank citing "a technical error".

This just goes to show - you should never trust your bank or broker and should always go through your bank statement to check for errors.

Somehow I don't think the bank would be so kind if the error was in their favor.


Sipadan-Kapalai offer - 4 days diving

Book anytime from 13 Mar 2009 to 31 Mar 2010

Sipadan Water Village Resort / Mabul
5 Days / 4 Nights package ( 4 Diving Days )

COST PER DIVER: SGD895/= or RM2,150/=

Proposed Itinerary

Day 01
- Upon arrival at Tawau Airport, SWV staff will pick up for transfer to SWV
- Check-in resort, briefing and proceed to dive center for orientation
- 1 Boat Dive in the afternoon and unlimited house reef diving

Day 02 to 04
- 3 boat dives daily
- unlimited house reef diving from 6 am to 6 pm

Day 05
- House Reef diving
- Transfer out to Tawau after lunch.

PRICE INCLUDES:-
- Airport Transfer and Boat transfers from Tawau/SWV/Tawau (1hour boat drive)
- Twin Sharing accommodation in Standard Water Cottages with full toilertries amenities
- 3 meals a day at resort; buffet style in mixture of local and international menu.
- Daily 3 Boat dive to Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai
- Unlimited house reef dive between 6am to 6pm

* Note
PRICE EXCLUDES*:-
- Air Flight and airport tax
- All others not mentioned

Terms & Conditions :

1. Travel period is from 13 March 2009 until 13 March 2010, except for the following dates :
a. 15 March 2009 – 25 March 2009
b. 20 April 2009 – 09 May 2009
c. 19 May 2009 – 24 May 2009
d. 15 July 2009 - 23 July 2009
e. 01 August 2009 – 15 September 2008
f. 18 September 2009 – 23 September 2009
g. 23 December 2009 – 06 January 2010
h. 12 Feb 2010 – 17 Feb 2010

2. Sipadan Entrance fee (RM40/day) not included in the package.
3. Full payment required upon booking confirmation. Actual date of travel to be confirmed by 30th March 2009.
4. Name list with Passport Number or MyCard number must be made to Oceanic Focus by 30th March 2009.
5. A Surcharge of RM 200.00 per person will be applied should the booking be transferred to another name.
6. No cancellation or refunds will be entertained upon booking and confirmation.
7. Minimum 2 pax required for booking.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Sipadan-Kapalai offer - 4 days diving

Book anytime from 13 Mar 2009 to 31 Mar 2010

Sipadan Water Village Resort / Mabul
5 Days / 4 Nights package ( 4 Diving Days )

COST PER DIVER: SGD895/= or RM2,150/=

Proposed Itinerary

Day 01
- Upon arrival at Tawau Airport, SWV staff will pick up for transfer to SWV
- Check-in resort, briefing and proceed to dive center for orientation
- 1 Boat Dive in the afternoon and unlimited house reef diving

Day 02 to 04
- 3 boat dives daily
- unlimited house reef diving from 6 am to 6 pm

Day 05
- House Reef diving
- Transfer out to Tawau after lunch.

PRICE INCLUDES:-
- Airport Transfer and Boat transfers from Tawau/SWV/Tawau (1hour boat drive)
- Twin Sharing accommodation in Standard Water Cottages with full toilertries amenities
- 3 meals a day at resort; buffet style in mixture of local and international menu.
- Daily 3 Boat dive to Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai
- Unlimited house reef dive between 6am to 6pm

* Note
PRICE EXCLUDES*:-
- Air Flight and airport tax
- All others not mentioned

Terms & Conditions :

1. Travel period is from 13 March 2009 until 13 March 2010, except for the following dates :
a. 15 March 2009 – 25 March 2009
b. 20 April 2009 – 09 May 2009
c. 19 May 2009 – 24 May 2009
d. 15 July 2009 - 23 July 2009
e. 01 August 2009 – 15 September 2008
f. 18 September 2009 – 23 September 2009
g. 23 December 2009 – 06 January 2010
h. 12 Feb 2010 – 17 Feb 2010

2. Sipadan Entrance fee (RM40/day) not included in the package.
3. Full payment required upon booking confirmation. Actual date of travel to be confirmed by 30th March 2009.
4. Name list with Passport Number or MyCard number must be made to Oceanic Focus by 30th March 2009.
5. A Surcharge of RM 200.00 per person will be applied should the booking be transferred to another name.
6. No cancellation or refunds will be entertained upon booking and confirmation.
7. Minimum 2 pax required for booking.

Obama's speech to Congress and the Nation

I loved it. I thought it was inspirational, logical, rational, struck the right tones - optimistic, challenging, uplifting... a great speech. The right speech for the right time.

I liked what he said - about not quiting and that the seeds of recover are in our hands if we don't succumb to cynicism and self-doubt. I think too often we look at our problems and can't see a way out. The glass is always half-empty... if we continue to focus on the bad - we will be discouraged.

"The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth," he said. "What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face and take responsibility for our future once more."

This is the message I heard - Don't give up. We can come back from this. We need to learn what went wrong and move on. We need to work together etc..

I also hope that other nations - esp. the ones in Africa and Indonesia - will take heed of Obama. And perhaps his actions will inspire a new generation of leaders who will emulate his example. God knows Africa needs good leaders who will help the people rather than exploit them.

Let's be hopeful now.



Woman find $1.7 billion dollars in her bank account

A woman found $1.7 billion dollars deposited in her bank account whilst doing some online banking.

The money was later transferred out - the bank citing "a technical error".

This just goes to show - you should never trust your bank or broker and should always go through your bank statement to check for errors.

Somehow I don't think the bank would be so kind if the error was in their favor.


Glutton Greenie eats too much food despite ban order

Maybe the lentils at home weren't enough to satisfy the man...

A Greens politician has been told to stop bringing her husband to council meetings because he eats too much of the food.

Waverley councillor Prue Cancian was told not to bring her activist husband Chris Maltby to meetings because the ratepayer-funded catering could not sustain it.

The matter came to a head at last Tuesday night’s council meeting at which Mr Maltby, despite having been asked not to attend by general manager Tony Reed, again showed up. The Daily Telegraph has been told that at the end of the meeting there was no food left for the hungry councillors or their staff ….



Obama's speech to Congress and the Nation

I loved it. I thought it was inspirational, logical, rational, struck the right tones - optimistic, challenging, uplifting... a great speech. The right speech for the right time.

I liked what he said - about not quiting and that the seeds of recover are in our hands if we don't succumb to cynicism and self-doubt.

"The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth," he said. "What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face and take responsibility for our future once more."

Don't give up. We can come back from this. We need to learn what went wrong and move on. We need to work together etc..

I also hope that other nations - esp. the ones in Africa and Indonesia - will take heed of Obama. And perhaps his actions will inspire a new generation of leaders who will emulate his example.

Let's be hopeful now.



Woman find $1.7 billion dollars in her bank account

A woman found $1.7 billion dollars deposited in her bank account whilst doing some online banking.

The money was later transferred out - the bank citing "a technical error".

This just goes to show - you should never trust your bank or broker and should always go through your bank statement to check for errors.

Somehow I don't think the bank would be so kind if the error was in their favor.


Monday, February 23, 2009

Huilee's fab wedding at the Ritz Carlton

And now for the purpose of this visit, to attend my cousin's wedding at the Ritz Carlton.

Pretty fab affair - 50 tables - the Singapore President - Govt. Ministers, MPs, their security detail, family, friends from 16 corners. 4 Parent's side x4... father's mother's uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters, cousins... maybe its an asian thing. I even met up with my Grand Aunt Rosa - wife of my late Grand Uncle Arthur - brother to my father's mother - Granny Lily. Linking them up would be a Facebook - Friendster spectacular. Sad, all dead except for the old battle axe. Rosa, in her younger days, used to go dancing with Sir Run Run Shaw, the Film Mogul.

Hui-lee wanted something a bit more quiet. But her mom insisted on a big ceremony with all the fireworks.

Nathan, the President of Singapore was also in attendance - his security detail in close support. I suspect they must be very new at the game. What do they think will happen? Is someone going to take an unpleasant camera flash of our POTUS?

I wanted to ask him whether I could catch a lift back - we live next to the Istana, the President Official Residence. But I didn't get a chance to ask- despite being on the next table.  Haha!!

BTW, the bride's red dress and makeup was chosen by her mother - who insisted she wear that.
 

Aila goes to Aunty Huilee's Wedding @ the Ritz Carlton




My cousin Huilee was married at the Ritz Carlton. A real gala event - 50 tables and the President of Singapore + bigwigs were in attendance.

My sister's family flew over for the event. Aila, her baby daughter, is a good eater. She really likes eating all sorts of food - including surprisingly the starfruit - but she didn't seem to like mangosteen.

She looked very pretty in her light purple dress and entranced all the dignitaries.

BTW, the bride's red dress and makeup was chosen by her dear mother who insisted she wear it that way.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Script writing course

Start:     Mar 7, '09 05:00a
End:     Mar 8, '09
Location:     Singapore
Syd Fields, a well known Hollywood script writer, is giving a short script writing course at one of the local unis here in Singapore. I thought I'd sign up as I've been interested in script writing for long while - that'd be my dream job.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Descending 500m

Her cold embrace I seek
Her dark depths I do explore
Far beneath the breathing world I find solace
I am descending 500m

(I thought up the first line on the silent cab ride back to my flat, I thought of incorporating that into a different poem... then changed my mind and placed it as the header for a black poem about scuba diving, hint "black".)




Back home - Qantas sucks

The Qantas plane had engine trouble. Good thing they found that out before they left the tarmac. Took them 2 hours to fix. I'm just glad it was only 2 and not 5.

Qantas seems to be in the shits lately. I think their fleet is reaching their use-by-date and the buggers haven't got the cash to buy new ones.

Qantas staff are one kind. Bloody hell they won't even let me finish before they start taking the food plate off.

And whats with all the gay stewards? One of the freaks was have a conversation with his back to me and rubbing his perforated ass just cms away over my @#$ing food. I had an aisle seat next to the kitchen/service area.

I save $700 by taking Qanarse - as opposed to SIA. I'm wondering whether its really worth it.

Descending 500m

Her cold embrace I seek
Her dark depths I do explore
Far beneath the breathing world I find solace
I am descending 500m

... and counting.

YMC Feb 2009

(I thought up the first line on the silent cab ride back to my flat, I thought of incorporating that into a different poem... then changed my mind and placed it as the header for a black poem about scuba diving, hint "black".)




Back home - Qantas sucks

The Qantas plane had engine trouble. Good thing they found that out before they left the tarmac. Took them 2 hours to fix. I'm just glad it was only 2 and not 5.

Qantas seems to be in the shits lately. I think their fleet is reaching their use-by-date and the buggers haven't got the cash to buy new ones.

Qantas staff are one kind. Bloody hell they won't even let me finish before they start taking the food plate off.

And whats with all the gay stewards? One of the freaks was have a conversation with his back to me and rubbing his perforated ass just cms away over my @#$ing food. I had an aisle seat next to the kitchen/service area.

I save $700 by  taking Qanarse - as opposed to SIA. I'm wondering whether its really worth it.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Descending 500m

Her cold embrace I seek
Her dark depths I do explore
Far beneath the breathing world I find solace
I am descending 500m

(I thought up the first line on the silent cab ride back to my flat, I thought of incorporating that into a different poem... then changed my mind and placed it as the header for a black poem about scuba diving, hint "black".)




Descending 500m

Her cold embrace I seek
Her dark depths I do explore
Far beneath the breathing world I find solace
I am descending 500m

(I thought up the first line on the silent cab ride back to my flat, I thought of incorporating that into a different poem... then changed my mind and placed it as the header for a black poem about scuba diving, hint "black".)




Back home - Qantas sucks

The Qantas plane had engine trouble. Good thing they found that out before they left the tarmac. Took them 2 hours to fix. I'm just glad it was only 2 and not 5.

Qantas seems to be in the shits lately. I think their fleet is reaching their use-by-date and the buggers haven't got the cash to buy new ones.

Qantas staff are one kind. Bloody hell they won't even let me finish before they start taking the food plate off.

And whats with all the gay stewards? One of the freaks was have a conversation with his back to me and rubbing his perforated ass just cms away over my @#$ing food. I had an aisle seat next to the kitchen/service area.

I save $700 by taking Qanarse - as opposed to SIA. I'm wondering whether its really worth it.

Koala hails Bicyclists to get a drink - Bush fire disaster

Normally wild Koalas are not friendly to humans. See those claws - they can scratch your face out if you rub them the wrong way. Usually they stay away.

But with this massive bushfire, a lot of Koalas have had to do a few extraordinary things. This Koala seems to be pretty smart and waved down some bicyclists to get a well needed drink.

Leaving

The sun is vermillion today... that sort of orangey red color when there's too much dust in the air.
The air is so dry.
I feel so dry, parched inside.
I gotta get out of here.

You know where I want to be?
In a place where I can wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night and NOT be hassled.
Not hear an angry word spoken against me.
Not be on my guard,
Not have to watch my words,
Not have to explain myself a million times over
Not be slandered and maligned
Not have my love imputed with faithlessness
I am sick of this shit

I want to be a place where I can be me,
And I am loved and trusted
Its not here, thats for sure.

Man Talk - Clint Eastwood style




Short excerpt from the movie Gran Tarino. Quite a sad film. In some ways it was a bit of a cliche. And the acting from the extras was amateurish. Nice film tho.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Leaving

The sun is vermillion today... that sort of orangey red color when there's too much dust in the air.
The air is so dry.
I feel so dry, parched inside.
I gotta get out of here.

You know where I want to be?
In a place where I can wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night and NOT be hassled.
Not hear an angry word spoken against me.
Not be on my guard,
Not have to watch my words,
I don't have to explain myself
I want to be a place where I can be me,
And I am loved.
And its not here, thats for sure.


Kawaii Koala hails Bicyclists to get a drink - Bush fire disaster

Normally wild Koalas are not friendly to humans. See those claws - they can scratch your face out if you rub them the wrong way. Usually they stay away.

But with this massive bushfire, a lot of Koalas have had to do a few extraordinary things. This Koala seems to be pretty smart and waved down some bicyclists to get a well needed drink.

Thanks Andrew for the photos!!

Koala hails Bicyclists to get a drink - Bush fire disaster

Normally wild Koalas are not friendly to humans. See those claws - they can scratch your face out if you rub them the wrong way. Usually they stay away.

But with this massive bushfire, a lot of Koalas have had to do a few extraordinary things. This Koala seems to be pretty smart and waved down some bicyclists to get a well needed drink.

Black Saturday caused by Green Policy

Sydney Morning Herald: Miranda Devine:
12th Feb 2009
It wasn't climate change which killed as many as 300 people in Victoria last weekend. It wasn't arsonists. It was the unstoppable intensity of a bushfire, turbo-charged by huge quantities of ground fuel which had been allowed to accumulate over years of drought. It was the power of green ideology over government to oppose attempts to reduce fuel hazards before a megafire erupts, and which prevents landholders from clearing vegetation to protect themselves.

So many people need not have died so horribly. The warnings have been there for a decade. If politicians are intent on whipping up a lynch mob to divert attention from their own culpability, it is not arsonists who should be hanging from lamp-posts but greenies.

Governments appeasing the green beast have ignored numerous state and federal bushfire inquiries over the past decade, almost all of which have recommended increasing the practice of "prescribed burning". Also known as "hazard reduction", it is a methodical regime of burning off flammable ground cover in cooler months, in a controlled fashion, so it does not fuel the inevitable summer bushfires.

Click on Text for Full Article...

Burnoffs - Threat to Biodiversity - Moron Thinking at Work

You know one day some greenie moron will try and teach Great White Sharks to eat tofo instead of seals. I'll like to be there when he tries it - I'll give the Shark a nice tofo treat.

In Southern Australia, due to the nature of the environment, the trees have evolved to take advantage of the propensity of the land to burn by adapting themselves to it. Thus we have trees which actually required fire to germinate.

But unfortunately that simple bit of science goes over the heads of greenies who prefer to prevent backburning - the controlled burn off of forest residue ie a controlled bushfire during Winter time.

Even as Victoria reels from the Black Saturday catastrophe, we get moron greens who are trying to stop the Govt from thinking about better forest management. In their pretty world, gum trees are best left alone to shed their leaves by the ton every year, until they build up enough junk to burn the whole world down.

Anyways read the following article...

Burnoffs following Victoria bushfires a 'threat to biodiversity'
Siobhain Ryan | February 12, 2009
Article from: The Australian

CONTROLLED burning would be declared a key national threat to biodiversity under a new proposal before government that has been slammed as dangerous to life and property.

While Environment Minister Peter Garrett yesterday gave Victoria carte blanche to do all it needed to control its deadly bushfires, without review by federal environment laws, it emerged he will be asked next year to decide whether prescribed burning to reduce fuel loads puts plants and animals at risk.

A Department of Environment spokeswoman confirmed yesterday it had received a public submission to list controlled burning as a "key threatening process" - the same category that applies to climate change, land clearing and feral cats, pigs and foxes.

"This recommendation is due by late 2010," she said.

Victoria's bushfire tragedy has focused attention on the management of its state forests, national parks and other Crown land, which make up a third of the state but contributed four-fifths of the fires started since Australia Day.

Among councils to resist controlled burning was the Yarra Ranges Shire, which was hit heavily by the Black Saturday bushfire disaster.

In a document from 2007, its emergency resource officer said there was too little known about its effect on flora and fauna and called for "rigorous" environmental assessment of prescribed burning, taking account of species' breeding seasons and the Leadbeater's possum zone.

"The Shire of Yarra Ranges has not undertaken prescribed burning on public land under its control for a number of years," the document said, citing a lack of expertise and the risk of lawsuits.

... morons...

Read the rest here: The Australian


Thursday, February 12, 2009

Bradfield Scheme

WITH Queensland in flood and southern Australia hit by drought and bushfires, independent Federal MP Bob Katter has again called for the north's abundant water supplies to be diverted.

The MP for the large north Queensland seat of Kennedy also said the diversion of water could be achieved without the need for a major pipeline.

It could be achieved with a small number of dams and some channels to direct part of what flows into the ocean back to the inland plain, Mr Katter said.

"God was good for us. Most of that rain falls above 2,000 feet. The inland plain is 900 feet," he said.

"The time has come now when the government has to spend money ... to seriously look at this situation.

"For our nation to continue to accept this maldistribution of nature is a very poor reflection upon every single one of us."

The idea is not new. In 1933, John Bradfield, who designed and supervised construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, proposed diverting north Queensland rivers to irrigate central Australia.

The so-called Bradfield Scheme is routinely cited as a solution to the nation's water shortages.

Victorian Nationals MP Darren Chester wasn't enthusiastic.

"Bob has a lot of ideas and that's just another one of them," he said.

AAP

Black Saturday caused by Green Policy

Sydney Morning Herald: Miranda Devine:
12th Feb 2009
It wasn't climate change which killed as many as 300 people in Victoria last weekend. It wasn't arsonists. It was the unstoppable intensity of a bushfire, turbo-charged by huge quantities of ground fuel which had been allowed to accumulate over years of drought. It was the power of green ideology over government to oppose attempts to reduce fuel hazards before a megafire erupts, and which prevents landholders from clearing vegetation to protect themselves.

So many people need not have died so horribly. The warnings have been there for a decade. If politicians are intent on whipping up a lynch mob to divert attention from their own culpability, it is not arsonists who should be hanging from lamp-posts but greenies.

Governments appeasing the green beast have ignored numerous state and federal bushfire inquiries over the past decade, almost all of which have recommended increasing the practice of "prescribed burning". Also known as "hazard reduction", it is a methodical regime of burning off flammable ground cover in cooler months, in a controlled fashion, so it does not fuel the inevitable summer bushfires.

Click on Text for Full Article...

Fears for Indonesian Students in Marysville bushfire inferno

Fears for Indonesian students: Rudi Rudi and Dean Lesmana.

A PHONE call to emergency services might reveal the fate of two Indonesian students who never returned from a day trip to Marysville on Saturday.

Julianne The, 29, was yesterday searching for her brother Rudi Rudi, 28, and his friend Dean Lesmano, aged in his 20s, after she discovered the pair had called emergency services using the number 112 on her mobile phone on Saturday.

"I started to get worried on Sunday when they didn't come home, so I called my phone provider because they were using my phone and they told me they had called the emergency line 112 for one minute at 5.37pm in the afternoon. I'm trying to find the location of the call from the police, but they said they could not do that for me yet," Ms The said.

She said Mr Rudi and Mr Lesmano, who studied commercial cooking together at the William Angliss Institute last year, were unaware of the fire threat when they left her Surrey Hills home to tour the region in a purple Honda Jazz

Strong aftershock strikes Sulawesi - Manado?

From correspondents in Jakarta | February 12, 2009Article from:  The Associated PressA STRONG 6.3-magnitude aftershock struck off the northeast tip of Indonesia's Sulawesi island early today, the US Geological Survey said.The tremor, which followed an earlier 7.0-magnitude quake, struck at 9.14am (AEDT) at a depth of 35 kilometres, the US agency said.There were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.Earlier today, a tsunami warning was issued after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the northeast tip of Sulawesi island.The warning was retracted about one hour after the quake hit, according to Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency website.

Burnoffs - Threat to Biodiversity - Moron Thinking at Work

You know one day some greenie moron will try and teach Great White Sharks to eat tofo instead of seals. I'll like to be there when he tries it - I'll give the Shark a nice tofo greenie treat.

In Southern Australia, due to the nature of the environment, the trees have evolved to take advantage of the propensity of the land to burn by adapting themselves to it. Thus we have trees which actually required fire to germinate.

But unfortunately that simple bit of science goes over the heads of greenies who prefer to prevent backburning - the controlled burn off of forest residue ie a controlled bushfire during Winter time. See if you have the authorities burning part of the forest during Winter - you get rid of a lot of the flammable twigs, dead leaves, dead bark, and other forest debris that lie in the forest.

A fire is actually not easy to start. Don't believe me - take a matchstick - take a big piece of wood - and try and light it on fire. The damn thing won't burn.

You need 3 parts to get the fire going.

1. Obviously the spark, the fire
2. Fuel to get a quick flame - this can be small twigs, bark, leaves, stuff which is easy to burn. They burn fast and powerful. Get enough together and you will get an explosion of flames.
3. Medium pieces of wood - No.2 will burn fast and burn quick - you need something to keep it going.
4. Big Wood - Tree Trunks, Logs, big stuff like that - to keep the fire going for days. They actually don't burn that easily because they are so dense. They need the first 3 to get it going.

Now in a controlled burn - you set the time and day - preferably when the weather is cold and you don't get strong wind to escalate the fire. During that burn - only a small section of the forest is targeted and so you can control it better. After that you move on... its called forest management.

Even as Victoria reels from the Black Saturday catastrophe, we get moron greens who are trying to stop the Govt from thinking about better forest management. In their pretty world, gum trees are best left alone to shed their leaves by the ton every year, until they build up enough tinder to burn the whole world down.

Anyways read the following article...

Burnoffs following Victoria bushfires a 'threat to biodiversity'
Siobhain Ryan | February 12, 2009
Article from:  The Australian

CONTROLLED burning would be declared a key national threat to biodiversity under a new proposal before government that has been slammed as dangerous to life and property.

While Environment Minister Peter Garrett yesterday gave Victoria carte blanche to do all it needed to control its deadly bushfires, without review by federal environment laws, it emerged he will be asked next year to decide whether prescribed burning to reduce fuel loads puts plants and animals at risk.

A Department of Environment spokeswoman confirmed yesterday it had received a public submission to list controlled burning as a "key threatening process" - the same category that applies to climate change, land clearing and feral cats, pigs and foxes.

"This recommendation is due by late 2010," she said.

Victoria's bushfire tragedy has focused attention on the management of its state forests, national parks and other Crown land, which make up a third of the state but contributed four-fifths of the fires started since Australia Day.

Among councils to resist controlled burning was the Yarra Ranges Shire, which was hit heavily by the Black Saturday bushfire disaster.

In a document from 2007, its emergency resource officer said there was too little known about its effect on flora and fauna and called for "rigorous" environmental assessment of prescribed burning, taking account of species' breeding seasons and the Leadbeater's possum zone.

"The Shire of Yarra Ranges has not undertaken prescribed burning on public land under its control for a number of years," the document said, citing a lack of expertise and the risk of lawsuits.

... morons...

Read the rest here: The Australian


Black Saturday caused by Green Policy

Sydney Morning Herald: Miranda Devine:
12th Feb 2009
It wasn't climate change which killed as many as 300 people in Victoria last weekend. It wasn't arsonists. It was the unstoppable intensity of a bushfire, turbo-charged by huge quantities of ground fuel which had been allowed to accumulate over years of drought. It was the power of green ideology over government to oppose attempts to reduce fuel hazards before a megafire erupts, and which prevents landholders from clearing vegetation to protect themselves.

So many people need not have died so horribly. The warnings have been there for a decade. If politicians are intent on whipping up a lynch mob to divert attention from their own culpability, it is not arsonists who should be hanging from lamp-posts but greenies.

Governments appeasing the green beast have ignored numerous state and federal bushfire inquiries over the past decade, almost all of which have recommended increasing the practice of "prescribed burning". Also known as "hazard reduction", it is a methodical regime of burning off flammable ground cover in cooler months, in a controlled fashion, so it does not fuel the inevitable summer bushfires.

Click on Text for Full Article...

Burnoffs - Threat to Biodiversity - Moron Thinking at Work

You know one day some greenie moron will try and teach Great White Sharks to eat tofo instead of seals. I'll like to be there when he tries it - I'll give the Shark a nice tofo treat.

In Southern Australia, due to the nature of the environment, the trees have evolved to take advantage of the propensity of the land to burn by adapting themselves to it. Thus we have trees which actually required fire to germinate.

But unfortunately that simple bit of science goes over the heads of greenies who prefer to prevent backburning - the controlled burn off of forest residue ie a controlled bushfire during Winter time.

Even as Victoria reels from the Black Saturday catastrophe, we get moron greens who are trying to stop the Govt from thinking about better forest management. In their pretty world, gum trees are best left alone to shed their leaves by the ton every year, until they build up enough junk to burn the whole world down.

Anyways read the following article...

Burnoffs following Victoria bushfires a 'threat to biodiversity'
Siobhain Ryan | February 12, 2009
Article from: The Australian

CONTROLLED burning would be declared a key national threat to biodiversity under a new proposal before government that has been slammed as dangerous to life and property.

While Environment Minister Peter Garrett yesterday gave Victoria carte blanche to do all it needed to control its deadly bushfires, without review by federal environment laws, it emerged he will be asked next year to decide whether prescribed burning to reduce fuel loads puts plants and animals at risk.

A Department of Environment spokeswoman confirmed yesterday it had received a public submission to list controlled burning as a "key threatening process" - the same category that applies to climate change, land clearing and feral cats, pigs and foxes.

"This recommendation is due by late 2010," she said.

Victoria's bushfire tragedy has focused attention on the management of its state forests, national parks and other Crown land, which make up a third of the state but contributed four-fifths of the fires started since Australia Day.

Among councils to resist controlled burning was the Yarra Ranges Shire, which was hit heavily by the Black Saturday bushfire disaster.

In a document from 2007, its emergency resource officer said there was too little known about its effect on flora and fauna and called for "rigorous" environmental assessment of prescribed burning, taking account of species' breeding seasons and the Leadbeater's possum zone.

"The Shire of Yarra Ranges has not undertaken prescribed burning on public land under its control for a number of years," the document said, citing a lack of expertise and the risk of lawsuits.

... morons...

Read the rest here: The Australian


Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Black Saturday: Blame the Usual Suspects

I listening and was mortified by Premier Brumby's as he blamed "Global Warming" for the tragedy on Black Saturday.

Over 180 people perished in the inferno. Families were caught in their homes, cars and were burnt alive. This I find truly horrifying.

I don't know how Brumby can put the blame on global warming when its common knowledge that

1. Southern Australia has suffered from bushfires for thousands of years before the supposed advent of Global Warming.

2. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the typical Summer weather conditions - stretches of extreme heat, low humidity, low rainfall, high winds, and the flammable nature of the Australian bush - create a highly combustible environment.

The disaster on Saturday is now suspected to be man-made. No, not the arsonists - but the bureaucrats and idiotic politicians who adopted stupid pseudoscientific policies. David Packham, a veteran fire scientist, points out that perverse public policy was adopted to help win the green vote. Sensible and pragmatic fire reductions plans were eliminated despite the warnings from experienced rangers.

"The ...controllable factor in this deadly triangle is fuel: the dead leaves, pieces of bark and grass that become the gas that feeds the 50m high flames that roar through the bush with the sound of jet engines.

Fuels build up year after year at an approximate rate of one tonne a hectare a year, up to a maximum of about 30 tonnes a hectare. If the fuels exceed about eight tonnes a hectare, disastrous fires can and will occur. Every objective analysis of the dynamics of fuel and fire concludes that unless the fuels are maintained at near the levels that our indigenous stewards of the land achieved, then we will have unhealthy and unsafe forests that from time to time will generate disasters such as the one that erupted on saturday.

It has been a difficult lesson for me to accept that despite the severe damage to our forests and even a fatal fire in our nation's capital, the political decision has been to do nothing that will change the extreme threat to which our forests and rural lands are exposed.

The decision to ignore the threat has been encouraged by some shocking pseudo-science from a few academics who use arguments that may have a place in political discourse but should have no place in managing our environment and protecting it and us from the bushfire threat.

The conclusion of these academics is that high intensity fires are good for the environment and that the resulting mudslides after rains are merely localised and serve to redistribute nutrients. The purpose of this failed policy is to secure uninformed city votes.

Read his criticisms here. Click here.

Stephen Pyne author of a Fire History of Australia points out that problem needs to be addressed in a logical manner and not left to amateur Council workers. A tougher Back burning regime - the plan to burn off forest tinder and refuse - needs to be implemented. But there's always some reason to put it off.. ie. like the Bunyip mating season.

d


Good going jackass - score an own goal

Fire 'divine retribution', says minister
    * February 11, 2009
"INCENDIARY" abortion law reforms last year that made Victoria "the baby-killing state" are responsible for the devastating bushfires, controversial Christian leader Danny Nalliah said yesterday.
    "God's protection has been taken off the state, and Satan is having a go at the nation," Mr Nalliah, senior pastor of Catch the Fire Ministries, told The Age.
     Catch the Fire Ministries today starts a week-long campaign of fasting and prayer to repent the abortion law reforms and other "unrighteous, ungodly, and unjust laws and practices".

*****

OMG... Good going Danny Nalliah. The idiot actually blamed Victoria's abortion laws for the devastating bushfire.

What an idiot! How does an abortion law passed largely by some moron in the city cause God to inflict harm on people hundreds of miles away in an already fireprone area???

Hey, if a flaming fireball came down from Heaven and smashed into Steve Brumby's home and the Parliament - maybe I'd consider his theory... but dude, the people most harmed were living in an area which regularly experiences terrible bushfires. That be like blaming God if you got badly sunburnt in the Sahara.

Doesn't he realize that by making this comment - he's just made a big contribution to Satan's plan of making Christians look like the greatest morons on planet Earth???

I heard Danny speak before and I thought he was alright. But this time... man, he's really scored an own goal. I suspect he doesn't even realize it.

I don't think I'll go hear him the next time he speaks, he might get an unwelcome contribution from me.


Black Saturday: Blame the Usual Suspects

I was mortified by Premier Brumby's as he blamed "Global Warming" for the tragedy on Black Saturday, the greatest fire disaster in Victoria's history.

Over 180 people perished in the inferno. Families were caught in their homes, cars and were burnt alive. This I find truly horrifying.

I don't know how Brumby can put the blame on global warming when its common knowledge that

1. Southern Australia has suffered from bushfires for thousands of years before the supposed advent of Global Warming. There was a bushfire in the 19th century that burnt out over 30% of the State. 12 people died in that blaze.

2. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the typical Summer weather conditions - stretches of extreme heat, low humidity, low rainfall, high winds, and the flammable nature of the Australian bush - create a highly combustible environment.

The disaster on Saturday is now suspected to be man-made. No, not the arsonists - but the bureaucrats and idiotic politicians who adopted stupid pseudoscientific policies. David Packham, a veteran fire scientist, points out that perverse public policy was adopted to help win the green vote. Sensible and pragmatic fire reductions plans were eliminated despite the warnings from experienced rangers.

"The ...controllable factor in this deadly triangle is fuel: the dead leaves, pieces of bark and grass that become the gas that feeds the 50m high flames that roar through the bush with the sound of jet engines.

Fuels build up year after year at an approximate rate of one tonne a hectare a year, up to a maximum of about 30 tonnes a hectare. If the fuels exceed about eight tonnes a hectare, disastrous fires can and will occur. Every objective analysis of the dynamics of fuel and fire concludes that unless the fuels are maintained at near the levels that our indigenous stewards of the land achieved, then we will have unhealthy and unsafe forests that from time to time will generate disasters such as the one that erupted on saturday.

It has been a difficult lesson for me to accept that despite the severe damage to our forests and even a fatal fire in our nation's capital, the political decision has been to do nothing that will change the extreme threat to which our forests and rural lands are exposed.

The decision to ignore the threat has been encouraged by some shocking pseudo-science from a few academics who use arguments that may have a place in political discourse but should have no place in managing our environment and protecting it and us from the bushfire threat.

The conclusion of these academics is that high intensity fires are good for the environment and that the resulting mudslides after rains are merely localised and serve to redistribute nutrients. The purpose of this failed policy is to secure uninformed city votes.

Read his criticisms here. Click here.

Stephen Pyne, author of a Fire History of Australia, points out that problem needs to be addressed in a logical manner and not left to amateurs like Council workers or ignorant politicians. A rigorous Back burning regime setup by trained scientists using well tested strategies - the plan to burn off forest tinder and refuse - needs to be implemented. But there's always some reason to put it off.. ie. like the Bunyip mating season.

Update:
A meeting by the Nillumbik council ended in uproar when the locals residents vented their anger at their stupid council for not allowing them to cut down trees or to clear forest debris.

One resident said, "We've lost two people in my family because you dickheads won't cut trees down," he said.

"We wanted trees cut down on the side of the road … and you can't even cut the grass for God's sake."

Another resident complained that she had asked the council four times to tend to out-of-control growth on public land near her home, but her pleas had been ignored.






 

Black Saturday: Blame the Usual Suspects

I listening and was mortified by Premier Brumby's as he blamed "Global Warming" for the tragedy on Black Saturday.

Over 180 people perished in the inferno. Families were caught in their homes, cars and were burnt alive. This I find truly horrifying.

I don't know how Brumby can put the blame on global warming when its common knowledge that

1. Southern Australia has suffered from bushfires for thousands of years before the supposed advent of Global Warming.

2. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the typical Summer weather conditions - stretches of extreme heat, low humidity, low rainfall, high winds, and the flammable nature of the Australian bush - create a highly combustible environment.

The disaster on Saturday is now suspected to be man-made. No, not the arsonists - but the bureaucrats and idiotic politicians who adopted stupid pseudoscientific policies. David Packham, a veteran fire scientist, points out that perverse public policy was adopted to help win the green vote. Sensible and pragmatic fire reductions plans were eliminated despite the warnings from experienced rangers.

"The ...controllable factor in this deadly triangle is fuel: the dead leaves, pieces of bark and grass that become the gas that feeds the 50m high flames that roar through the bush with the sound of jet engines.

Fuels build up year after year at an approximate rate of one tonne a hectare a year, up to a maximum of about 30 tonnes a hectare. If the fuels exceed about eight tonnes a hectare, disastrous fires can and will occur. Every objective analysis of the dynamics of fuel and fire concludes that unless the fuels are maintained at near the levels that our indigenous stewards of the land achieved, then we will have unhealthy and unsafe forests that from time to time will generate disasters such as the one that erupted on saturday.

It has been a difficult lesson for me to accept that despite the severe damage to our forests and even a fatal fire in our nation's capital, the political decision has been to do nothing that will change the extreme threat to which our forests and rural lands are exposed.

The decision to ignore the threat has been encouraged by some shocking pseudo-science from a few academics who use arguments that may have a place in political discourse but should have no place in managing our environment and protecting it and us from the bushfire threat.

The conclusion of these academics is that high intensity fires are good for the environment and that the resulting mudslides after rains are merely localised and serve to redistribute nutrients. The purpose of this failed policy is to secure uninformed city votes.

Read his criticisms here. Click here.

Stephen Pyne author of a Fire History of Australia points out that problem needs to be addressed in a logical manner and not left to amateur Council workers. A tougher Back burning regime - the plan to burn off forest tinder and refuse - needs to be implemented. But there's always some reason to put it off.. ie. like the Bunyip mating season.

d


Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Answers to the Bush Fire Disaster : Black Saturday

 "Ignore the CFA (County Fire Authorities) spin doctors. You are in deep shit." A senior police officer addressing a public meeting on the Gippsland fires a week earlier.

It seems someone or some people royally screwed up.

Frank Campbell former editor of Wildfire Magazine provides a good report. Read it here. Click here

Monday, February 09, 2009

A Day in Hell

Massive bushfires engulfed Victoria on Friday when temperatures soared to 46C and high winds fanned flames. The fire wall was over 14m tall. The town, Marysville burnt to the ground, mothers died with their children in their homes. Families trying to escape the fires were trapped in their cars as the trees lining the roads burst into flames. Its a real horror.

Veteran News Anchor Brian Naylor and his wife were killed.

Over 600 homes burnt to the ground. 70+ people have been reported killed by the flames.

Shit. And its getting worse.

Every year Australia experiences hot and dry summers which create ideal conditions for bush fires. Unfortunately, arsonists are responsible for a number of the fires.


Picture courtesy of Daily Telegraph.

The blackness of the night surrounds me

Recently I have been forced to witness as someone I know, self-destructs. The person has decided to refuse to admit mistakes, perhaps the magnitude of the folly is too much. And instead of seeking wise counsel, Pride disguised as genteel stoic self-respect prevents this. What is so laughable is that the person is so concerned with minuscule matters, and totally ignores the larger issue. Any form of human argument or gentle persuasion fails. Pride is an unassailable stronghold. I don't know how to help this person except to pray and despair.

Is the arm of the Lord too short to save? No. But will he help the proud and stubborn of heart?

In this blackness, I turn to music for solace.

This is one of my favorites. Hoodoo by Urna Chahartugchi. I think Hoodoo in Mongolian means the Steppes/Countryside.

I do not understand the words but I receive resonance from its emotion. The young female singer sings this with such poignanance.

I imagine myself somewhere out there - on the Mongolian steppes - lost in the blackness of the night, alone. Looking up at the stars, I feel so fragile, yet so alive.

You can listen to it here:

http://ymchiam.multiply.com/music/item/20/

A Day in Hell

Massive bushfires engulfed Victoria on Friday when temperatures soared to 46C and high winds fanned flames. The fire wall was over 14m tall. The town, Marysville burnt to the ground, mothers died with their children in their homes. Families trying to escape the fires were trapped in their cars as the trees lining the roads burst into flames. Its a real horror.

Veteran News Anchor Brian Naylor and his wife were killed.

Over 600 homes burnt to the ground. 70+ people have been reported killed by the flames.

Shit. And its getting worse.

Every year Australia experiences hot and dry summers which create ideal conditions for bush fires. Unfortunately, arsonists are responsible for a number of the fires.


Picture courtesy of Daily Telegraph.

The blackness of the night surrounds me

Recently I have been forced to witness as someone I know, self-destructs. The person has decided to refuse to admit mistakes, perhaps the magnitude of the folly is too much. And instead of seeking wise counsel, Pride disguised as genteel stoic self-respect prevents this.

What is so laughable is that the person is so concerned with minuscule matters, and totally ignores the larger issue.

Why bother with sunscreen when there is raging inferno about to engulf you???

Any form of human argument or gentle persuasion fails. Pride is an unassailable stronghold. I don't know how to help this person except to pray and despair.


Part of me wants to abandon and leave this person to the fates. Part of me is readying itself for that day. And when it happens, there will be no turning back. No amicable restoration. Only a lingering pity.

Is the arm of the Lord too short to save? No. But will he help the proud and stubborn of heart?

In this blackness, I turn to music for solace.

This is one of my favorites. Hoodoo by Urna Chahartugchi. I think Hoodoo in Mongolian means the Steppes/Countryside.

I do not understand the words but I receive resonance from its emotion. The young female singer sings this with such poignancy.

I imagine myself somewhere out there - on the Mongolian steppes - walking, lost in the blackness of the night, alone. Looking up at the stars, I feel so fragile, yet so alive.

You can listen to it here:

http://ymchiam.multiply.com/music/item/20/


Sunday, February 08, 2009

A Day in Hell

Massive bushfires engulfed Victoria on Friday when temperatures soared to 46C and high winds fanned flames. The fire wall was over 14m tall. The town, Marysville burnt to the ground, mothers died with their children in their homes. Families trying to escape the fires were trapped in their cars as the trees lining the roads burst into flames. Its a real horror.

Veteran News Anchor Brian Naylor and his wife were killed.

Over 600 homes burnt to the ground. 70+ people have been reported killed by the flames.

Shit. And its getting worse.

Every year Australia experiences hot and dry summers which create ideal conditions for bush fires. Unfortunately, arsonists are responsible for a number of the fires.


Picture courtesy of Daily Telegraph.

The blackness of the night surrounds me

Recently I have been forced to witness as someone I know, self-destructs. The person has decided to refuse to admit mistakes, perhaps the magnitude of the folly is too much. And instead of seeking wise counsel, Pride disguised as genteel stoic self-respect prevents this. What is so laughable is that the person is so concerned with minuscule matters, and totally ignores the larger issue. Any form of human argument or gentle persuasion fails. Pride is an unassailable stronghold. I don't know how to help this person except to pray and despair.

Is the arm of the Lord too short to save? No. But will he help the proud and stubborn of heart?

In this blackness, I turn to music for solace.

This is one of my favorites. Hoodoo by Urna Chahartugchi. I think Hoodoo in Mongolian means the Steppes/Countryside.

I do not understand the words but I receive resonance from its emotion. The young female singer sings this with such poignanance.

I imagine myself somewhere out there - on the Mongolian steppes - lost in the blackness of the night, alone. Looking up at the stars, I feel so fragile, yet so alive.

You can listen to it here:

http://ymchiam.multiply.com/music/item/20/

A Princess' Tale - for Aila

(I thought up this story recently)

A long time ago there was a beautiful princess named Aila who lived in a desert land. It was hot and dry like all desert lands. Occasionally it would rain and the strange and wonderful desert flowers would bloom. Those were the happiest times for her. But they were few and far between.

She longed for a green land, a land where rain would fall often, ... not too much though. Her cousin was nearly drowned in such a deluge. :)

She wanted to be in a land filled with summer flowers and autumn trees. A land where the roads were lined with Cherry Blossom trees in constant bloom. A land with the tall African Plain trees with their wide shady branches. A place where she could walk through endless fields of golden wheat and travel across vast plains of green grass like a ship crossing the sea.

One day a dreadful demon in the guise of a whirlwind passed over her land and drank up all the water. Everything turned to dust. There was little to begin with and once he had finished there was even less.

The Princess stayed in her castle, its stone walls protecting her safe from the demon. But she knew she could not stay. At night, when the air was cool once again and the beast was asleep, she made her escape.

She walked through the night, guided by star light,
In the cold comfort of the dark, she found respite
As the slumbering sun awoke, under rocks she would hide
She dared not linger under Ra's scorching might

... to be continued...

Saturday, February 07, 2009

The causes of prosperity and peace

The poverty that we see around the world in places like Zimbabwe, the chaos in South Africa, the corrupt mismanagement in Burma is actually the way things are suppose to be.

Humans are naturally inclined to self-preservation and self-centered tendencies. To take care of your own kind. To take care of your children. To take care of your family/friends/clan/ethnic group etc.. This has been the way since time immemorial. This is the reason why there are wars. This is the reason why nations break apart and have civil wars.  

In short, humans are selfish. In their natural state, they will steal from their neighbors, they will tax strangers, they will swindle foreigners.

Attempts at trying to create a utopia like the Communist System have failed miserably ever since the stupid French Revolution of 1789. Get this: the French overthrew their King and in the end, after a murderous period of civil genocide, replaced him with a Corsican dicatator who embarked on a bloody war to promote the ideas of the French Revolution. One way Napoleon effected this was by removing heads of state and replacing them with his own relatives. How utterly fubar.

Humans never learn though. And so the Soviet Russians started a Revolution and put a Georgian - Stalin - in charge who murdered over 20 million Russians in prison camps and caused twice as much damage through mismanagement. And we all know about Chairman Mao, Pol Pot and stupid Castro.

The Revolutionaries struggled against oppression and for free speech, dissent etc.. And in the end, when they got into power, they were many times worse than original rulers.




The triumph of the Western System is the





“The appalling poverty of Sri Lanka or Mozambique is not some bizarre aberration that can be tracked to a cause we can cure. We are the aberration; Sri Lanka and Mozambique are the normal state of human history.”

Judging by the comments, many did not get her point at all.

Many people do not understand what is a “normal” state — i.e., one that requires no special explanation — and what is “abnormal.” We tend to look at our immediate environment, both in terms of space and time, and declare that environment the normal baseline for the rest of humanity. Many people in the developed world tend to think that the attributes of the developed world we take for granted, such as the rule of law, political equality, democracy, material abundance and long episodes of peace are the normal baseline for human existence. They look at the material poverty and political oppression in the developing world and ask, “What’s abnormal there that they lack the attributes that we have?”

The sad truth is that nothing is “abnormal” in the developing world. Rather, it is the developing world that is the normal baseline for humanity.

If one were to compare the greatest pre-industrial civilizations of any time or place to the standards of the developed world, every one of them would look like a squalid, third-world hellhole. The great civilizations of the past are regarded as “great” because of how they compared to the surrounding peoples of their times, not because of how they measured up on some absolute scale of social, political and economic development. An average citizen of the Roman Republic or Tang China had a better life than those who lived outside the boundaries of their respective societies, but compared to even the poorest person in the developed world today, their lives were a horror.

Whether one looked at ancient Rome, China, Japan, the Caliphate, medieval Europe, meso-America, etc., one would see societies where the vast majority of the population lived in dire material poverty and where political power rested in the hands of a narrow and usually hereditary elite. Staggering human rights abuses like slavery and execution by torture were common practices everywhere. Justice was largely dependent on patronage and class. Mass education did not exist. Work was physically demanding, tedious and continous. Wars, plagues and famine were common, and every generation could expect to experience at least one of the three if not all three in concert. Uncivilized peoples faired even worse.

Medieval Europe was every bit as poor and cruel as the worst areas of the present day world. It was no better than, and in some ways worse, than the civilizations of its contemporaries. However, starting with the Renaissance something in Europe changed. Europe began to diverge from the “normal” human experience. Political power began to devolve to the masses. Commerce grew and with it rising material standards of living. Knowledge of the material world exploded. In the span of three-hundred years (a time span of one Chinese dynasty or a third of a Pharaohic one) European civilization became something never seen before.

It is easy to see that poverty and oppression in the nations of the developing world occur in direct proportion to the degree in which those nations’ social, political and economic systems diverge from the Western model. The Japanese succeeded by the widespread adoption of Western ideas. Their greatest disaster befell them when they tried to resurrect pre-industrial Japanese ideals in the modern context. The degree to which former colonies of the West maintained the political and legal institutions left by colonizers largely predicts their current level of prosperity and freedom. Places that were never colonized and which have no legacy of western institutions at all are even worse off.

Had the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution never occurred in Europe, the non-western world be even worse off than it is today. They would have all the material poverty and political oppression they have always had without any of the amelioration (such as vaccines and other medicines) offered by the existence of the West. People who think otherwise are engaged in childish romanticism.

It is the western divergence from the norms of poverty and oppression that requires explanation, not the continuance of poverty and oppression in most of the non-western world. Unfortunately, this idea creates uncomfortable questions for many. The elites of many lands refuse to accept responsibility for the fate of their peoples, preferring instead to blame outsiders. Leftists within the West, as a matter of religious faith, reject any idea that the West has any better ideas or methods than the rest of the world. As a result, Leftists and kleptocrats become de facto allies fighting against the progress and development of 3rd-world peoples.

We will not make much headway until we get enough people to stop asking what is “wrong” with the developing world and instead ask what is “right” with the developed world. Just as it is better to stop asking, “What causes wars?” and instead to ask, “What causes peace?” it is better to stop asking, “What causes poverty and oppression?” and to start asking, “What cause prosperity and freedom?” Before we can move forward must explain the positive aberration that is the West.