Looking For Somewhere To Think?

Are you looking for somewhere to meet up with other people and exercise your brain?  Do you like critical thinking?  If so, have a look at http://SomewhereToThink.com.au for places around Australia (OK, around SE Qld right now) for places to meet up with others who share a love of critical thinking.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

ACT - 90% Renewable Energy By 2020

I just sent the following email to both the ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell and also the Chief Minister Katy Gallagher in response to this article in the Canberra Times - thanks to info@100percent.org.au for bringing this to my attention:

As a Queenslander who has just had the misfortune of witnessing our incoming government dismantle not only our previous ALP government's Solar Dawn Program and the Solar Bonus Feed-In Tariff, but numerous other green schemes, it is encouraging to hear that in the ACT, the future is being considered with much greater care than has recently been shown here.

I would like to congratulate you on your ability to make quality calls about the future of the Territory's energy requirements.  This is a good step towards a saner, more manageable and more responsible energy plan for Australia.  I believe the WA government is looking seriously at biodiesel - another area that we Australians need to take a much closer look at, as well as other algae-related fuel and material sources.

With the current global warming we're seeing, someone has to take action.  Australia's Carbon Tax is a small step in a long. long journey and clean/renewable energy will not only help reduce our reliance on CO2 producing energy sources, but will also reduce the other emissions we generate from our energy production that we then need to breathe back in.  The LNP's position here in Queensland that the Carbon Tax that the Federal ALP has enforced on Australia will make further research and development of clean and green energy sources redundant is, to put it politely, utterly ridiculous.

So, again, congratulations on seeing what's needed for both the ACT and Australia and taking steps to implement these practices.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Bickfords Political Stunt Backfires

I just sent the following to info@bickfords.net

I just thought I had better write to let you know how disappointed I am with your company's participation in Tony Abbott's political stunt to oppose the carbon tax.  I have been a long-term Bickford's Lemon Barley Water consumer and as of this stunt, I am now an ex-Bickford's consumer.

As a responsible Australian and citizen of planet Earth, I fully support the Australian Government's efforts to reduce the effect that human activity may have on global warming and Australia's lead in this is something that other nations need to take a serious look at.  Your participation in Tony Abbott's political stunt is a clear alignment with a political party having little understanding of climate change and in particular, anthropogenic climate change.

I will post this letter to my blog and Facebook to ensure people understand how I feel about this issue and about your political alliance.  I know of others who are doing the same and I trust that more people will, too.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Brisbane Southside on Measels Alert

Thanks likely to the antivax nutters spreading their woo and dangerous beliefs around the place, Queensland Health is urging residents on Brisbane's southside to be to be alert for symptoms of the highly infectious measles virus after a second case is confirmed in the area.

Have a read of this link for some more information.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

LuminAID - Real Light From The Real Sun

If you were looking for a way to spread the true light this FSMas/holiday season by helping a small business owner trade for a few extra hours a day or to allow a school child to study at night or a family to see without needing to burn fuel that produces toxic gases, then LuminAID may well be the project for you.

Instead of spreading religious mumbo jumbo about some mythically-endowed son, spread something truly useful for people - real, electromagnetic light in a waterproof, inflatable form, powered by the real sun.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

What Goes Up Mars Come Down

On 9th November, 2011 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Russians launched their Phobos-Grunt probe using a Zenit-2 booster rocket.  11 minutes later, just as planned, the probe separated from the booster however neither of the two engine burns which would have set the probe on its way towards Mars' moon "Phobos" were successful.

Plans for the Phobos-Grunt mission started around the mid-1990s and after receiving an initial substantian funding of 40 million rubles in 2007, the project moved from paper to production.  Initially slated to launch in 2009, there were a myriad of setbacks mainly due to insufficient testing and unfinished components and this launch attempt was eventually scrubbed when it became clear that there was no way the mission would be ready for launch in the 2009 window that allowed the probe to reach Mars and Phobos.

Normally when new, as yet untested technology is being used to launch an expensive payload such as this, there will be a series of launch and control tests run (as NASA performed on 9th November, 2011 with its 500 sec test burn of the J-2X rocket engine) before the actual payload is sent off.  A number of these tests were not run and apparently some team members were even questioning the reliability of the control systems just before launch.  So it seems that this mission, even after being delayed for just over 2 years, was still seriously under-planned and under-prepared.

What's now the result of this half-arsed attempt at launching a probe to Phobos is that as NASA launches their "Curiosity" Mars probe/lander on 25 November, 2011 (planned to reach Mars in August, 2012), the Russian Federal Space Agency will be attempting to narrow down the estimated point of its uncontrolled re-entry and touchdown of the parts of Phobos-Grunt that will survive re-entry.  Now, with around 7.5 tonnes of highly toxic nitrogen teroxide and hydrazine propellant and some (mildly) radioactive Cobalt-57 on board, this probe will be one of the largest and most dangerous re-entries of launched material to date.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Storms On Their Way

I just clipped this from the BOM site - we's a got some rain a'comin'!  :)



Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Deals Direct Scam

Wow - I didn't realise that Deals Direct would be willing to push scams on their site, such as the GO4GREEN Energy Smart Plug-In Unit.  This unit is a scam - it will not improve your home's energy consumption.  Information on this scam can be found here.


Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Today's Garden Addition

I heard the birds going nuts outside and "I know that noise"!  :)

So, here's a few photos of today's snake!  :)

Yes, that's the first (little) rat I fed it.  I had some rats left over from Cletus that are too large for my other snakes, so...

This gives you an idea of its girth - probably around 8cm in diameter.

Getting the entree down, and then I fed the larger rat (however it was eaten in a difficult place to photo, between stairs and palms.

Just looking at the flood light.

... and now looking at me.  :)

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Happy Judgement Day

Today is Judgement Day.  All the best and I hope you, your family and friends survive.
Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Malawi - The Real Issues

While the world is being torn apart at the seams - political upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt, floods in South East Queensland, Norhtern Victoria, South Africa, Pakistan and elsewhere, storms in northern Qld (Tropical Cyclone Yasi), UK and USA - it is good to know that some governments are concentrating on the really important issues: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/04/3130120.htm?section=justin


Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

So, how high?

This high!

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

SE Qld Flood Update

I have to say that we were *extremely* lucky where we are to have missed out on the floods that affected some people quite near to us.  Because the rain eased off to a slight spit, then nothing on Wed 12 and Thurs 13 Jan 2011 which in turn meant that the river peaked at 4.46m not the worst-case predicted scenario of 5.5m, this meant that the creek immediately behind our house didn't end up flooding the approximaely 65% of our property as expected.

Being in some of the badly affected areas over recent days, however, shows just *how* bad it was in some areas - houses totally flooded to above roof height, commercial premises flooded through the second floor.  Ther amount of debris that's been cleaned out of flood affected buildings over the past few days and being collected into tips (some normal rubbish tips but many additional temporary ones) is astounding - there's almost no end to the piles of debris along the roadside in the affected areas.

Helping with some of the cleanup, you get a good taste of the smell (yes, you do taste the smell - it is almost thick enough to chew in some places) and get a first hand look at the devastation that was wreaked across the South East of Queensland last week, across other areas of Queensland and Western Australia this past month, is still happening in some parts of Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Western Australia and also in places such as South Africa and Brazil.

As a mate tweeted recently, "it's a little weird, sitting here at breakfast and watching troop carriers full of armed services just driving up your street."  It is also weird driving through residential and business districts where military vehicles are blocking entry to streets and military troops are getting their hands dirty helping remove tons and tons of debris from buildings.

There are some places where I was sitting in my car, looking up a meter or more to the flood line.  It took me 50 minutes to get to a client site this morning - normally a 10 minute trip.  And the trip usually doesn't stench, involve driving around military vehicles nor nearly a dozen lollypop people safely marshalling the traffic and hundreds of workers and volunteers through piles of mud and debris.

To all the volunteers throughout the State and from other parts of the country - your efforts are much appreciated.  Without your selfless efforts, many people would be struggling not only under the weight of emotion with what they've lost, but under the enormous weight of mud and filth that you're cleaning up with them.

To the Qld Police Service - congratulations on the work you've done in the community, in the media and using social media keeping us up to date as well as safe.  It is a shame that we need to have Operation Safeguard at all, and as I commented on that page:

I feel disgusted, as a Queenslander, an Australian and a human being that we even need to do this.  Good on you for doing it, and I trust that those truly responsible of looting cop a maximum sentence, no good behavior and posters with their names, faces and crimes around their local areas.

To Anna Bligh (Queensland Premier), Campbell Newman (Brisbane Lord Mayor), Paul Pisasale (Ipswich Mayor), Tony Perrett (acting Gympie Mayor), Brad Carter (Rockhampton Mayor), Peter Maquire (Emerald Mayor), Peter Taylor (Toowoomba Mayor), Ray Brown (Western Downs Mayor), Steve Jones (Lockyer Valley Mayor) and the other Mayors around Queensland's flood affected regions and the teams behind them, congratulations on a job well done during trying times.


I've posted a number of images in a few prior blog posts and there's a lot more online.  Here's some great before/after images, Near Map has some awesome satellite images available and Google will find you a lot more.  :)


Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

Brislantis and Suburbs, During Jan 2011 Flood Peak

Here's some photos a friend of mine sent me today from in and around Brisbane.  Thanks Termy!  :)

Regards,


The Outspoken Wookie