We won't be needing this fully imported fire engine after all!  At this moment it is pouring rain - absolutely bucketing down.  Forgot what rain is.

Doctors have talked about the need for me to have this and that done.  Are they talking through their hat as prime minister Anthony Abbott has recently said about an expert?
Maybe evidenced based medicine is simply not good enough.  What would all those professionals know?
Medical researchers and the body of knowledge represent only one opinion among many others.
I could be like the minister Gregory Hunt and consult Wikipedia - the custodian of real true guidance on medical science.
Despite scholarship and peer review and all the rest of it there is no substitute for common sense and we can pick and choose what to run with.
Medical sceptics, quacks and News Corp columnists are entitled to be heard uncritically in a free society and given equal weight.

All this analogy is rather undermined by the recent Catalyst show (ABC TV) in which questions are raised about Cholesterol levels and accepted approaches. Some of those outside of mainstream have long held disbelief about reduction of cholesterol and see the harmful
ingredients in butter substitutes or margarine spreads as quite a problem.

Ich bin ein Clarence Towner. Das auto. Show and shine motor show around the pub, beer garden and the band played.  All to raise funds for pink ribbon issues.

Coincidence. In a crime story I was reading yesterday Rebus had tickets to Lou Reed.  And the lines were...hadn't listened to him for years ...don't suppose he's learned how to sing in the interim.... Following the concert we were given neutral comments and problems over ringing in the ears.
Ian Rankin. The Falls. 2001 Orion.

Clarence Town.  Rituals begin.  A hotted up car is revved up to the max for the gang to hear. Heaven. The sound transports the whole town. 

Clarence Town. Road Closed. What's going on? North of Newcastle.

Rural fire fighters and the whole effort is hughly appreciated.
Just imagine how unpopular the following words will go down.  The fires are a media event.  Generally it is inpossible for information and warnings  to be totally up to date contary to the impression we are given. Reports are an approximation.
An emergency warning flashes up on the screen which seems in order but unless you know precisely whats going on, it is a problem and possibly a bit useless in guiding ones actions, if you are to rely on a warning on TV.
Vision of clouds of smoke rising from bushland is all about generalities.
We are told a road is closed, minutes later one might advise someone you know to take an alternative route, half an hour later motorists will phone the radio with a totally different version of events.  Naturally the situation is dynamic but one must keep in mind that even with the best intentions and dedication, media and experts give the impression of immediancy but really there is no minute by minute up to date version of events.
Also it is misleading to repeat old footage of last weeks fires and ruins if it can be confused with current events

Imagine the distress when your school child is prevented by bushfire from returning home after school and not knowing their whereabouts.  And groups of people seeking shelter from the flames.  Then finding they have lost everything to fire. As has just happened.

In poor taste and ill timed I suggest that similar but hugh problems are the experience of thousand of refugees and those living under attack in Syria. In addition food and all supplies are scarce in the towns and little children have malnutrition. Whatever is their government thinking?  It must be full of sadists and or psychopaths.
 The ABC Radio relief appeal for Syria is on Sunday. Between 12md and 3pm we will be reminded to donate to the charities that work among the thousands who have next to nothing in Syria.  

http://www.abc.net.au/appeals/

All day we could smell the bush fires and thick smoke from the fires in the district filled the city air. It is one of those times I am very glad I live in town away from bush fires.

Hottest weather ever has been recorded. Together, nations can change their carbon footprint. We need to be among those who price carbon as the way to back each other up. It is cowardly to refuse carbon pricing or trading or significant actions. Be among the leaders, be part of the push and bring others along. Forget it with a 'Bott government who is merely looking at measures that should be done anyway in the ordinary course of events. That certain measures cost us is the point of it all. why else will anyone change their power consumption? A current advertisement for a solar system talks glowingly of the luxury of using up heaps of power at will. That's a disappointing way of looking at it.

A 'squatter' mentioned this is known as 'the valley', round Nundle area, where cattle breeders dwell as well as having a significant dairy farm.   

On the 'long paddock'. The 'drover' was on a Honda.

Summer brings us a raw deal and we gamble with fire and our houses and land.  Is this the dreaded Blackjack fire? Smoke was visible from the upper Hunter down.

Some of our own belongings are at severe risk from bush fire and fire scares me very much.  Never the less, from now on the media will be dominated by each and every fire which will be examined and interviewed over and over again ad nauseam.  Some fire fighters must never get to the scene and spend all their time speculating in interviews and despite this the exact moment that a disaster strikes remains out of bounds usually and hidden from us except by social media perhaps. Film showing leaping flames usually look the same no matter where or when the fire occurs.  Informative warnings are enough. 

Hello sailor!

I'm not completely biased. Jay Carney is usually an interesting speaker - he is less in the mould. But. I want a search engine that is as good as the best but without references to everything American. Why? Why is it the default? The fault. We are presented with only a fraction of all the thousand of diverse sites from stacks and stacks of countries. Constraints are necessary however the decision has been made for me and all of us lemmings as to our search preferences. Same with TV series. More local content should be the go whether we like it or not! Crikey. No yes. Be hoped we can enjoy this American plague without getting sucked in too far.

we are sailing...we are sailing...over..
Rhapsody of the Sea leaving Sydney just over a week ago. Monday it turns up in Newcastle.

It turns out, Rhapsody has been confused with Radiance...I think...how could I...

If you were lucky you spied marine life on the harbour.

The fleet was in town.....somewhere there...a spectre fleet

Humanity as installation

The hottest September on record has occured over much of the nation.  Climate change is on a global scale.  We are all at the mercy of each other nationwise.
Anyway, any extreme climate change will all be beyond my life time and this was a pleasant country area to enjoy right now.  After taking this I skidded over on the gravel and it makes for a very hard sharp landing.

I tossed up whether to shut down today. Its an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Could be the aussie dollar will rise.