Cartoons of the Week

 

Paul Hudson

 

Matt Golding

Simon Letch

Mark David

With only 28 days left of Summer and Autumn on its way, how hot are the days & nights likely be for the next three months?

On Thursday 30 January 2025 Australia was a day away from finishing the end of its second month of Summer and there were heatwave warnings in Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, as well as the Australian Capital Territory.

With just one month of Summer left, here are the forecast summaries for February to April 2025.

AustralianBureau of Meteorology (BOM), 30 January 2025:

Long-range forecast overview

The long-range forecast for February to April shows:

• above average rainfall is likely for northern Australia and much of the south, with an increased chance of unusually high rainfall for much of these regions

• warmer than average days are likely across much of southern and eastern Australia

• warmer than average nights are very likely across Australia, with an increased chance of unusually high overnight temperatures nationwide.

Max temperature - The chance of above median max temperature for February to April

Click on image to enlarge

 

Rainfall—Summary

Rainfall likely to be above average for much of Australia

February to April

• Rainfall is likely (60 to 80% chance) to be above average across northern Australia and much of the south, with a greater than 80% chance of above average rainfall in parts of northern and central Queensland, along the northern WA coastline, and parts of the NT.

• For parts of southern WA and scattered parts of south-east Australia, rainfall is likely to be in the typical range for February to April.

• There is an increased chance of unusually high rainfall¹ for much of northern and eastern Australia, with highest chances - more than 3 times the usual chance - across parts of northern Queensland.

1 Unusually high rainfall is that in the highest 20% of February to April rainfall observations from 1981 to 2018.

Rainfall - Totals that have a 75% chance of occurring for February to April

Click on image to enlarge

BOM Drought: Rainfall deficiencies and water availability, 9 January 2025:

Below average soil moisture in parts of the southern and eastern mainland

Map of root-zone soil moisture for the previous month

Click on image to enlarge

December soil moisture was below to very much below average (in the lowest 10% of Decembers since 1900) in:

• the south of Western Australia excluding the far south-west and isolated pockets of northern Western Australia

• south-west South Australia and parts of the Eyre Peninsula extending to the greater Adelaide region

• much of southern Victoria, except the far south-west

• isolated pockets of eastern New South Wales

• isolated inland areas across Queensland and the Northern Territory.

December rainfall eased the severity and extent of long-term soil moisture deficiencies in the south-east, including most of Victoria, south-east New South Wales and Tasmania. Soil moisture deficiencies also eased in northern Queensland. Root-zone soil moisture across inland and western Australia is typically low at this time of year and the differences between above and below average can be relatively small.

Low soil moisture for long periods of time affects crop growth and can be an indicator of agricultural drought.

NSW DPI Interactive Combined Drought Indicator map of NSW as at 26.01.25

Click on image to enlarge

How unsettling has Trump's behaviour been for the US population since 5 November 2024 and are some people in America looking about for another place to live? Is Australia on their radar?

 

In recent months international news and commentary have been full of Donald J. Trump. Spanning his time as U.S. president-elect from 5 November 2025 through to his inauguration as the 47th U.S. President on 20 January 2025 and up to the the tenth day of his second term in office.

Although the tone of commentary often reflects a sense of disapproval, unease or alarm, I have yet to come across an article or interview that attempts to gauge the mood of the American population in any depth.

I certainly do not have the resources to attempt such a task,

What I did is what most people do when seeking information, go to Google and ask a question and in this case look for that particular question being asked in the United States of America.

Here is a Google Trends graph covering a 7 day period from 3-10 November 2024 which shows a sharp increase in the U.S. of use of the search term "moving to" [using just five countries] with the peak occurring on presidential election day and falling away thereafter but not disappearing completely.

Click on Image to enlarge

A second Google Trends graph created for a 7 day period covering 22-28 January 2025 shows use in the U.S. of the search term "moving to" [using the same five countries] having a sustained level of interest across the board level.

Click on image to enlarge

In the first graph Canada was the preferred destination, followed by Ireland, with Mexico and New Zealand jockeying for third place and Australia coming in fourth.

While in the second graph the destination choice average was first Canada, followed by Mexico, then Ireland, with Australia coming in third and New Zealand a close fourth place.

Compared breakdown by sub-region

The colour intensity indicates percentage of searches across the states.

NOTE: All graphs & map apply only to the particular days chosen and because of the small number of days and searches undertaken cannot be relied on except as snapshots.

So exactly how popular is that supposedly unique four digit pin number you use - do you share it with millions of others?

 

According to Webber Insurance Services in the first 28 days of 2025 there have been five notable data breaches affecting Australia:

• Spectrum Medical Imaging – January 2025

Sydney medical practice cyber incident claimed by INC Ransom

• Evidn – January 2025

Everest ransomware gang lists Aussie company Evidn as a victim | Hackers claim to have stolen 50 gigabytes from an applied behavioural science firm that works closely with the Queensland government.

• Volkswagen – January 2025

Almost 800k Volkswagen EV owners data exposed

• SquareX – January 2025

SquareX reveals critical breach of Cyberhaven extension | SquareX has revealed a critical browser security incident targeting Chrome Extension developers, leading to a major compromise of Cyberhaven’s browser extension.

• MediSecure – January 2025

Company at centre of data breach revealed.

That's what bad actors across the digital universe can inflict on unsuspecting people engaging with online private businesses or government agencies.

However, when one adds in the fact that so many Internet users voluntarily access a wide range of services which require a combination of either email address, password and/or pin number, then it sometimes feels like we are just scattering information far and wide.

So perhaps now is a good time to check on how often a four digit combination chosen as an easy to remember pin number is not as unique as we might like to believe?

ABC NEWS, 28 January 2025:

The last line of security for much of your digital life probably isn’t as secure as you think.

Whether it’s to unlock your smartphone, access your online banking or get cash out of the ATM, a four-digit PIN is often there to keep your secrets and your money safe.

It’s an important little code, but not all choices are equally secure.

That’s why we analysed 29 million of them from Have I Been Pwned? – an Australian-run site that helps people all over the world find out if they’ve been affected by data breaches.

The most commonly used PINs turned out to be staggeringly popular, meaning they’re particularly easy to guess when phones and bank cards fall into the wrong hands.

The top 50 codes to avoid

These are the 50 most popular codes in the full Have I Been Pwned? dataset, in order of popularity.

Ranking	Code	Popularity
1	1234	9.0%
2	1111	1.6%
3	0000	1.1%
4	1342	0.6%
5	1212	0.4%
6	2222	0.3%
7	4444	0.3%
8	1122	0.3%
9	1986	0.3%
10	2020	0.3%
11	7777	0.3%
12	5555	0.3%
13	1989	0.3%
14	9999	0.2%
15	6969	0.2%
16	2004	0.2%
17	1010	0.2%
18	4321	0.2%
19	6666	0.2%
20	1984	0.2%
21	1987	0.2%
22	1985	0.2%
23	8888	0.2%
24	2000	0.2%
25	1980	0.2%
26	1988	0.2%
27	1982	0.2%
28	2580	0.2%
29	1313	0.2%
30	1990	0.2%
31	1991	0.2%
32	1983	0.2%
33	1978	0.2%
34	1979	0.2%
35	1995	0.2%
36	1994	0.2%
37	1977	0.2%
38	1981	0.2%
39	3333	0.2%
40	1992	0.2%
41	1975	0.2%
42	2005	0.2%
43	1993	0.2%
44	1976	0.2%
45	1996	0.2%
46	2002	0.2%
47	1973	0.2%
48	2468	0.2%
49	1998	0.1%
50	1974	0.1%

Community Meeting Concerning Yamba's Fresh Water Supply & Floodplain Management, 5:30pm Tuesday, 4 February 2025 at Wooli Street Hall, Yamba

 

Public Notice

YAMBA COMMUNITY MEETING

Hosted by Yamba CAN Inc

TOPIC

YAMBA WATER SUPPLY

AND

FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT

WHERE & WHEN: Wooli Street Hall, (Wooli Street & Public Library, Yamba Road vehicle entrances) Tuesday 4 February at 5.30pm

PRESENTATION BY: Mr Greg Mashiah, Manager Technical Services, Clarence Valley Council, with responsibilities including delivery of major water infrastructure and sewer projects

Given the situation we are facing as a community, with the recent influx of large residential developments and proposed population growth in Yamba and the Lower Clarence, we feel these are matters of immense importance.

Residents need to be fully informed about the current status and future plans for water quality, supply, infrastructure and emergency management.

Information will be presented about local flood data, (how to interpret it as it affects you), stormwater and floodplain management.

The presentation will be followed by a designated Q&A session.

Community members have informed Yamba CAN they are especially interested in an updated status report on the Rushforth Road Water Filtration Plan project that is currently under review.

It appears many people in our community do not have a good understanding of the process involved in the CVC water supply network from the Nymboida River and Shannon Creek Dam via the Rushforth Road Water Treatment Plant and reservoirs at Maclean and Yamba to end users in Yamba and elsewhere throughout the Valley.

There are a number of issues of ongoing concern in respect of catchment management, water quality and security of supply. There are also some quite complex contractual arrangements between CVC and City of Coffs Harbour as regards sharing of responsibilities for water and infrastructure between the two LGAs. Huge amounts of investment will be needed to fund ongoing maintenance and necessary infrastructure improvements.

How much does/will this cost? What provision has CVC made regarding budgeting and reserves for the necessary works? Where is the money coming from? What is the estimated time for completion?

Chairperson

Yamba Community Action Network Inc

yambacan@gmail.com

For the second time in 11 days Casino makes it onto the NSW Police News site

 

The latest incident on 25 January 2025 involved an alleged car theft in Baker Street followed by a police pursuit ending in a bad car crash in West Street which closed the street for a number of hours.

West Street, Casino NSW
IMAGE: IndyNR.com

NSW Police, News, 26 January 2025:

Teen charged following pursuit - Casino

Sunday, 26 January 2025 05:24:02 PM

A teenager has been charged and another remains in hospital following an alleged pursuit in the state’s north yesterday.

Between 1am and 3.30am (Saturday 25 January 2025) a unit on Barker Street, Casino, was allegedly broken into and a Honda hatchback was taken from the home.

About 4.10am (Saturday 25 January 2025), police attempted to stop the hatchback in Casino.

When it failed to stop a pursuit was initiated and continued to West Street where the hatchback crashed into a motorhome.

The driver – a 16-year-old boy was taken to Lismore Base Hospital and the passenger – a 13-year-old boy – was airlifted to Gold Coast University Hospital where he remains in a serious condition.

A crime scene was established and an investigation into the incident commenced.

The older boy was charged with police pursuit - not stop - drive dangerously, dangerous driving occasioning GBH- drive manner dangerous, negligent driving (occasioning grievous bodily harm), never licensed person drive vehicle on road - first offence, and drive conveyance taken w/o consent of owner.

He was refused bail and appeared at a children’s court via AVL today (Sunday 26 January 2025).

The earlier Oak Ave incident on 14 January involved a 20 year-old man being arrested and later charged with 26 offences following an extensive investigation into property crime in the Northern Rivers.