Sunday's laugh

In The Daily Telegraph last Wednesday

CROP circles have baffled people for decades and now a new phenomenon is stopping residents in their tracks on the state's Far North Coast.

Happy faces painted randomly on hay bales in a paddock on the outskirts of Lismore has given residents something to smile about and got them talking about whether it's vandalism or creative licence.

Landowner Tony Neill said that when he drove out of his driveway and saw the smiley faces for the first time it made his day.

**************

ScepticLawyer mentioned a website which dissects blogs, Gender Analyzer.

Just for laughs I ran North Coast Voices through its program with the following outcome:

Results








We think http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/ is written by a man (84%).


You just have to admire a website that will confidently assure you that your site is highly likely to be written by a man, when women outnumber men on North Coast Voices (unless you also count in Boy the Wonder Cat!)

Gender Analyzer has a survey of its overall results:

Did GenderAnalyzer give the correct result for your blog?

Votes
Yes 53 % 8555
No 47 % 7713

Web camera trial now operating on NSW North coast bar crossings

NSW Maritime has extended its trial of web-cam vision of the coastal bars to help boat owners in preparing for a voyage offshore.

This is just one part of a suite of measures being pursued by NSW Maritime to address bar crossing safety in this State.

When considering crossing a bar, the best catch phrase for skippers – who are ultimately responsible for the safety of all on board – is 'If in doubt, don't go out'.

Logging on to find live web camera footage may be very useful in making this decision.

Below is a list of live web-cameras currently installed along the NSW coastline:

North Coast Brunswick Heads Coffs Harbour Iluka \ Yamba Port Macquarie Tweed Heads Other web cameras are to be located at: Manning River, Richmond River, Ballina, and will be online over the coming months.

Howard cost me WHAT in the first nine months?

The Australian couldn't wait to tell taxpayers that:

"JOHN Howard has defended his decision to run up more than $400,000 in taxpayer-funded bills since he was turfed from office as "strictly in accordance" with his generous entitlements.

In a brief statement today, the former Prime Minister rejected any suggestion there was anything wrong in his post-election spend-a-thon on travel and office accommodation.

"All costs incurred are strictly in accordance with the guidelines set for all former Prime Ministers,'' he said in a statement released this afternoon to The Australian Online.

The former Prime Minister, who commands large fees as an international speaker, is spending around $10,000 a week on taxpayer-funded staffing costs, rent for his plush CBD office and other expenses, according to figures released by Special Minister of State John Faulkner...

According to government figures, Mr Howard spent $192,542.77 staffing including $75,674.90 of travel for himself and $11,374.44 on travel for Mrs Howard.

Mr Howard, who is expected to pen his own memoirs as he enjoys his retirement, also ran up facilities and accommodation costs of $124,000."

That bl**dy man may have been sacked by the likes of me but he still knows how to stick the knife in - spending in excess of $400,000 over and above his parliamentary pension in nine months and two weeks.
Proving himself to be a first class sponger (as well as a world's best political liar) while on the NSW North Coast this week there are many, many people scrapping about to find enough money to be able to eat for at least 12 days out of every fortnight.
What was it that another blogger called him recently - cnut?

Feel like a paddle one weekend? Go to Yamba and kayak

With summer starting to break out all over and Christmas looming, the river and ocean water around Yamba and Iluka is looking so inviting - it reminds me that now is a good time to get out and get moving.

There's nothing like being on the water and one of my favourite Yamba memories is leaning over the side of my Dad's tinnie as a dolphin swam on its side to get a good look at me.

There's also nothing quite like taking a trip by paddle power from Convent Beach at Yamba to Spooky's Beach at Angourie or up the Clarence River and around its many little islands.
Action Adventure Tours has just the thing with its kayaking tours all year round.

Photo from Action Adventure Tours.

A thought to ponder while in the bath

If space is a vacuum, who changes the bags?

Pic of Dark Matter from National Geographic

Full text of Garling's final 2008 report into NSW public hospitals

From the NSW Dept of Premier and Cabinet:

The Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in New South Wales Public Hospitals was established on 29 January 2008.
The New South Wales Governor commissioned Mr Peter Richard Garling SC to conduct an inquiry into and report on certain matters relating to acute care services in NSW public hospitals.

The full Terms of Reference for the Inquiry can be accessed here.

The Report of the Special Commission of Inquiry into Acute Care Services in NSW Public Hospitals was provided to the Governor on 27 November 2008 and was released by the Government on the same day.

The Report can be accessed here.

• Overview
• Volume 1
• Volume 2
• Volume 3

The Report's Executive Summary and Recommendations can also be accessed here.
In addition, a first report was issued on 31 July 2008 and this report can be accessed here.

* The Northern Rivers needs to take special note of this report as it indicates that the North Coast Area Health Service has been consistently short-changed with regard to funding in the vicinity of $70 million annually.

UPDATE
If the above links are difficult to access go to this link for a full copy of the report: 
nsw.gov.au/Lawlink/Corporate/ll_corporate.nsf/pages/attorney_generals_department_acsinquiry

Bottlenose dolphins say, "The Clarence River is a nice place to live,"

Not so long ago this site carried a report titled Yamba - a nice place to live about Yamba being a very friendly place for humans.

Now, Christine Fury, a researcher with Southern Cross University’s Whale Research Centre, has found that Northern Rivers bottlenose dolphins agree - the most popular place for them to live is the Clarence River,which runs through Yamba, Maclean and Grafton.

Ms Fury, who has been studying local estuarine dolphin populations for three years, has uncovered some fascinating facts about our warm-blooded mammalian cousins.
SCU reports that Ms Fury's study provides the first published data on Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Australian estuaries.

Ms Fury estimates that about 71 dolphins live in and around the Clarence River compared to about 34 dolphins in the Richmond River.

“The Clarence River is the most popular because it is the largest estuarine river system in NSW and therefore has a greater volume of water. It also has less urban and agricultural development. Both these factors mean the water quality is better,” Christine said.

“Dolphins are the top predators in the river systems, so the cleaner the water, the more fish in the river and the better the ability to sustain a bigger dolphin population.”

During her 2,000 hours on the rivers observing dolphins, Christine found that a dolphin’s favourite fish is mullet, or whiting as a second choice.

The mothers teach their calves how to catch fish, but it takes three to four years for the youngsters to become proficient at catching their own dinner and they are supplemented with their mother’s milk until that age.

Once weaned, the juveniles leave their mothers and hang out in mixed-sex pods, learning from each other and spending a lot of time in play.

As the males get a little older, they break off into pods of three or four, working collectively to catch fish and mate with females using an uncommon herding manoeuvre.

Mothers and their calves, and female pods, escape the more aggressive sexual attention of the males by entering the shallower waters of river tributaries, where the males generally do not follow as they prefer to remain in the deeper, main channels, where they can assert their dominance.

Also, the tributaries have smaller fish, which are easier for the calves to catch and eat. Fish are swallowed whole, head first, after first being either stunned by a tail flap or bitten. Dolphins will often flip a fish into the air and then catch it head-first so as to be able to swallow it properly.

Like humans, dolphins have distinct personalities. Research shows the more gregarious, inquisitive and curious dolphins prepared to stray furthest from mum have the best chance of long-term survival.

Diligent and informed management of future increased environmental disturbances will be needed to ensure the long-term survival of these dolphin populations, Christine said.

You can read the full research paper at http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/126/paper/MF08109.htm