Wednesday 30 September 2009
US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre information 30.09.09
ABC Radio reports that Samoa has been hit by a tsunami this morning after an 8.3 magnitude earthquake. Initial waves sightings are reported at 1.3 metres and higher.
From the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre:
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1856Z 29 SEP 2009
THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR
AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / NIUE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU /
COOK ISLANDS / TONGA / TUVALU / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / FIJI /
HOWLAND-BAKER / JARVIS IS. / NEW ZEALAND / FR. POLYNESIA /
PALMYRA IS. / VANUATU / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / SOLOMON IS.
A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR
JOHNSTON IS. / NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA /
HAWAII / POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / PITCAIRN / MIDWAY IS. / CHUUK /
AUSTRALIA
FOR ALL OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS BULLETIN... IT IS FOR
INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME.
Casino set for railway revolution
Moving freight by rail rather than road ... how sensible!
CASINO is on the cusp of a railway renaissance, with a development application to build a $10 million rail terminal about to be lodged with the Richmond Valley Council.
The terminal, which will be built on land next to the Casino Saleyards by the end of 2010, promises to reduce road freight by 150 trucks per day.
The Northern Star reports:
The terminal will connect to the main rail line and from there freight will travel to destinations and ports around Australia.
With the capacity to load two 750m long trains or a single 1550m train, it is expected one short train will depart for Brisbane daily and one long train will head southward to Sydney or Melbourne every two to three days.
Phillip Imrie, the Sydney-based engineer behind the proposal, said the terminal represented the future of freight in Australia.
An industrial estate will form part of the terminal. From there, businesses will be able to load goods directly onto waiting trains.
The Casino branch of the stockfeed company Riverina currently brings in more than 100,000 tonnes of grain and protein from Northern NSW and South-East Queensland every year by road.
“A facility such as this would give us access to southern grain markets which are currently cost prohibitive by road,” branch manager Col Shelton said.
Stage one of the terminal will employ 10 to 20 people on a full-time basis, although more will be working during the construction phase.
Mr Imrie said the terminal was likely to attract new businesses to Casino and this would bring more jobs.
Richmond Valley Council general manager Brian Wilkinson said the council was very keen to see the proposal go ahead and supported the overall concept.
Source: The Northern Star
Calf confusion or why the little bull loves fence posts
A heifer died two days after giving birth to a large bull calf, so I ended up with a poddy to raise.
I am pleased to say that he is going well, if a little bit confused.
He is being bucket fed and to avoid mess at feeding time I have drilled a hole in a stable wall which the milk teat goes through.
This works really well, except he now has a wood fetish.
Fence posts are fully examined to make sure that there are no teats and since the teat is black rubber the car tyres are of great interest to him.
To give him a more balanced view of the world I have been taking him out into the paddock and introducing him to the aunties (cows), this is working beautifully.
Each morning Arnold Bully the calf and I wander into the herd where I do my best cow impersonation.
Over the last week I have managed to have him accepted into the herd kindergarten.
This is where cows leave their older calves in the care of others and go off and feed; the calves play, have naps and generally learn how to be cows.
This is brilliant.
He has the whole day out with the herd and comes home to his stable at night.
The problem for me is it is now my turn to look after the kindergarten kids - help!
Shame Rudd Shame: government gets a fail on pension increase
State government housing authorities and community housing are lining up to take a bite out of the Rudd Government $60 per fortnight base pension increase for single pensioners.
What I think of the Rees Government is of course unrepeatable in polite company.
Tingle, Smith and Borsak think a name change will make the Australian Shooters Party more palatable to the electorate?
The Australian Electoral Commission has announced that The Australian Shooters Party now has a new name - Shooters and Fishers Party or just plain Shooters and Fishers for short.
If I remember correctly, at the 2007 federal election this party received less than one per cent of votes cast and it has certainly been on the nose recently due to the conduct of Robert Borsak in New South Wales.
When it comes to hunting, elephants would have to up there with the whales as iconic untouchables for many Australian voters and the overseas hunting trips taken by Borsak almost guarantees a poor voter turnout if he stands at the next federal election.
I suspect that this has something to do with the name change and attempt to widen its base - but I don't think Tingle, Smith or Borsak remember the old adage of a leopard and its spots.
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Cybersquatting on photographs: one form of identity theft on the Internet
One hears a lot about identity theft these days and the need to protect personal online information, but what one doesn't hear about that much is the use of photographs of real people to represent other people who are using the Internet to promote or sell either themselves or saleable items (sometimes through use of a fictitious online persona).
Australian Goanna Pulling Championships, Wooli 4 October 2009
Monday 28 September 2009
A pre-Copenhagen 2009 climate change question for governments of the day
It is widely accepted that (i) there is an increase in global warming due to anthropomorphic activity (principally though greenhouse gas emissions), (ii) this increase in warming is/will result in climate change with a significant deleterious effect on natural environment, infrastructure and society, (iii) there is limited extant legislation and/or binding treaty which seeks to adapt human activities in order to reduce these emissions at the national or international level, and (iv) the continent and territorial waters of the Commonwealth of Australia are/will experience the negative effects of climate change earlier or to a greater degree than some other nations.
What is also beginning to emerge is the possibility that few, if any, national governments are willing to create legitimate policy or enact legislation which seeks to either curb actual greenhouse gas emissions or limit exposure to climate change impacts. To date political rhetoric on climate change has been profuse and relatively worthless.
It is also becoming apparent that with a few exceptions change of government is unlikely to lead to real policy change in relation to how a country deals with global warming and, in Australia, any change of government is just as likely to result in a weakening of structural response.
So when will Australians start to band together and sue one or all of the three tiers of government (under existing common, statute law and/or international treaty) in order to effect climate change mitigation?
An critique: CLIMATE CHANGE LITIGATION IN THE LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND OTHER COURTS,The Hon. Justice Brian J Preston Chief Judge Land and Environment Court of NSW,August 2009
A little dust storm? Don't worry be happy!
Dust plume passing over the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef
24 September 2009
From Universe Today
If you thought that anti-science 'what anthropomorphic climate change?' blogs couldn't get any worse, then Watts Up With That just proved you wrong.
WUWT thinks that the recent massive loss of top soil across three states due to the big dust storm (larger picture) which hit the Australian east coast on 23 September 2009 is a real bonus:
That dust headed to sea has an unappreciated benefit – it will fertilize the ocean with its mineral rich dust. There may be some interesting blooms of sea life in the weeks to come.
Unfortunately, some of these interesting blooms may occur on the Great Barrier Reef which is already negatively impacted by silt and nutrient rich run-off from adjacent coastal lands.
Some readers' comments shown on the blog also posit that a dry Lake Eyre might be to blame for all that dust. Confusing the much larger Lake Eyre Basin with the actual lake.
Image from The Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement Click to enlarge
NASA which had a space-eye view of the storm's progress pointed out that dust was rising from multiple sources including agricultural land not just from the salt lakes.
The second dust storm which formed on 25 September also crossed three states and reached the coast.
On a continent with some of the oldest and most depleted soils on Earth, dust storms and the potential for erosion they represent, don't actually have an upside.
On the NSW North Coast four days of dust-laden air followed in some areas by a day of bushfire smoke on Sunday were not ideal living conditions for the very young, frail aged and those with respiratory problems.
Smoke from mulitple fires mingling with dust
27 September 2009
Southern Queensland to Northern NSW
From MODIS