Saturday, 16 July 2011

Moggy Musings [Archived material from Boy the Wonder Cat]


A There Be Mongrels musing: In the last twelve months four dugongs and two rare snub-fin dolphins have been found dead, tied up and weighted down in waters around Townsville. If any moggies in that area know who is doing this - next time these mongrels launch a boat go down to the creek, river or ocean and dip your paws in the water stirring vigorously. With any luck, the storm you raise will sink their boat.

A Jimmy Barnes musing: Rex the German Shepherd sent a bark my way to say that he's heard a rumour that Jimmy Barnes is featuring at a 4pm Saturday 21 May 2011 private function officially launching the ritzy re-vamp of the Yamba Tavern, a hotel on the banks of the Clarence River with jetty and mooring for those arriving by water. Rex says Jimmy's son David Campbell performed at the Yamba Golf Club on Wednesday night.

A mayoral musing: A little birdie told my mate Sheamus The Black who told me - that far from Clarence Valley Council having the wait and see policy on coal seam mining using fracking which Richie Williamson announced via a local newspaper it has no formal policy at all. Tsk, tsk Mr. Mayor.

A portrait of a b@st@rd musing: The offender is described as being aged between 50-60, with a grey beard, grey woolly hair and wearing a red, white and black flannel shirt with black track pants, white runners and a red and black helmet. This is the description of a cyclist who stabbed the very friendly bulldog, Hank, in Dandenong on 9 May 2011. Anyone with information on the attack should contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

A plunging the depths of bad taste musing: On Anzac Day 2011 most people using Twitter were careful to show some degree of respect for Australia's national observance commemorating the war dead. Two of the few who stood out for displaying extreme bad taste were Australian Christian Lobby managing director Jim Wallace who did a bit of gay and Muslim bashing under an ANZAC banner and poorcredithomeloans.info which decided misleading #ANZAC tweets leading to its website and a nastee virus were the order of the day. If these two cross my path I reserve the right to sink my claws into whatever flesh they have on view.





Boy

Can Australia Afford The Murdochs? A brief look at some players in the Australia Network tender


Australian News Channel Pty Ltd is a joint venture of PBL Media, Seven Media and British Sky Broadcasting.

News Corporation already owns a controlling 39.1 percent stake in British Sky Broadcasting

Rupert Murdoch is Chairman/CEO and Elisabeth and Lachlan Murdoch are directors of News Corporation

News Corporation is one of the world's largest media conglomerates

News Limited operates as News Corporation's Australian brand

News International Chairman/CEO is James Murdoch

Lachlan Murdoch's private company holds 9 per cent of Prime television
Lachlan Murdoch is acting acting CEO and a substantial shareholder in Ten Network

Lachlan Murdoch becomes key investor following his company Illyria’s purchase of 9.1% in the Prime Media Group

In 2006 News Ltd controlled 68 percent of the Australian metropolitan and regional newspaper market


Sometime in February 2012 the Australian Government intends to grant a contract to operate its overseas media service, Australia Network

British Sky Broadcasting and the public broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation are both participating in the competitive tender.

Given the recent disclosures of alleged widespread wrongdoing within the News Corporation Group, can the nation afford either the risk to international reputation or domestic democratic processes by allowing the Murdoch family any more media influence than it already has?

* Phone hacking: both Murdochs agree to face MPs following jail threat
* FBI probe puts pressure on News shares
* News of the World phone hacking - interactive timeline, 6 November 2005 to 15 July 2011


Cartoon from Google Images

CSIRO Cape Grim Greenhouse Gas Data Now Online with Interactive Mapping


Carbon dioxide May 1976 - April 2011

Methane May 1976- April 2011

Nitrous oxide May 1976 - April 2011

The Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station monitors Southern Hemispheric air... The Cape Grim station is positioned just south of the isolated north-west tip (Woolnorth Point) of Tasmania. It is in an important site, as the air sampled arrives at Cape Grim after long trajectories over the Southern Ocean, under conditions described as ‘baseline’. This baseline air is representative of a large area of the Southern Hemisphere, unaffected by regional pollution sources (there are no nearby cities or industry that would contaminate the air quality)...
Air samples are analysed at the station to determine concentrations of greenhouse and ozone-depleting gases, other air pollutants, including aerosols and reactive gases, and radon.
Also measured are weather and climate indicators like wind speed and direction, rainfall, temperature, humidity and solar radiation.
Since sampling began at Cape Grim, more that 3 billion measurements have been taken. Among these are measurements of greenhouse gases (GHGs), including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and synthetic GHGs such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).


CSIRO interactive mapping here.

Friday, 15 July 2011

Abbott's Army in action [news video]




Yeah, get back under your rock; taunts the Abbott supporter who later followed a young woman out of a 'community' forum and down the street and, did not appear to desist untl after police arrived.

According to a Channel Nine News report on 14 July 2011 this man is former member of Liberal Party MP Bruce Billson's campaign team, Declan Stephenson.

Abbott’s Army in action – Parts One and Two

http://www.skynews.com.au/video/?vId=2555788&cId=Programs&play=true

http://www.skynews.com.au/video/?vId=2555939&cId=Programs&play=true

Saffin reminds business that false and misleading claims concerning 'carbon tax' price rises carry a penalty


NSW North Coast Federal Labor Member for Page, Janelle Saffin, on the subject of a potential for price gouging under the guise of impacts of the carbon price mechanism projected to come into effect in 2013:

The Gillard Government will provide new funding for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to crack down on any business that seeks to gouge its customers by making misleading claims about the impact of putting a price on carbon pollution.
Page MP Janelle Saffin said the ACCC will use its powers under the newly introduced Australian Consumer Law to investigate and prosecute any such business with the power to impose penalties of up to $1.1 million.
Ms Saffin said the Government will direct the ACCC to give the highest priority to:
• Investigating and taking action against any business that makes false or misleading representations about the impact of the carbon price on the price they charge consumers;
• Educating businesses on their obligation to accurately explain the reasons for any price rises that do occur for reasons unrelated to the introduction of a carbon price;
• Raising awareness amongst consumers by informing them that businesses are prohibited from making false statements about the impact of putting a price on pollution.
“The Government will give ACCC new funding of $12.8 million over 4 years to carry out this role.
“I’ve always been someone that stands up for fairness and making sure we don’t get ripped off, so it’s great the ACCC will be able to crack down on unfair price gouging” Ms Saffin said.
By providing new financial resources for the ACCC, the Government will ensure that businesses cannot take advantage of their customers with false and misleading claims about carbon pricing......
[Media Release 13 July 2011]

Photograph found at ABC News online

Thursday, 14 July 2011

Coal seam gas, Metgasco & Arrow get a song all of their own

On the Northern NSW blog
The Creek



Coal Seam Gas mp3






I’m the man from Metagasco or Arrow or…you know
Have I got a deal for you
Just sign on the line and I’ll give you a mine
And some pocket money too

But wait there’s more while I’ve a foot in the door
I can renovate much of your land
Build roads just for me and clear all those trees
Did you plant them? Oh that’s too bad.....


Rest of the lyrics here.

Faaark orf, Google! You need me more than I need you


“From 31 July, people who have created private profiles in, say, the ad broker's free email service Gmail will be deleted by Google unless individuals switch it to public view.

"The purpose of Google Profiles is to enable you to manage your online identity. Today, nearly all Google Profiles are public. We believe that using Google Profiles to help people find and connect with you online is how the product is best used. Private profiles don't allow this, so we have decided to require all profiles to be public," said the company.

Google said that it would only require a user's full name and gender to be displayed on the public profile. Any other information an individual doesn't want to reveal to the world can be edited or deleted.

"If you currently have a private profile but you do not wish to make your profile public, you can delete your profile. Or, you can simply do nothing. All private profiles will be deleted after July 31, 2011," said Google.

The move is part of Mountain View's wider ambition to bake social products into its search and email products.

As a result, anyone planning to use Google+ will need a public profile with, at minimum, their full name and gender displayed.” {The Register 7th July 2011}