Re: Australian Fires and Floods
On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 9:23 PM, sendai sen...@iicx.net wrote: Euan Ritchie wrote: It was almost a perfect storm for fire conditions. I'm 1,500 miles downwind and was reminded of the end to The Sheep Look Up last night when I thought I could smell faint burning on the air. I felt the same... I woke at ~2am, and I smelt burning outside. I looked up the local file listings and saw that they hadn't been updated since Friday. I then checked the wind and synoptic-charts from the past few days and saw that it was feasible that the winds from down there had brought with it dust and smoke... I still don't see any bush-fires or large-fires listed here, so it was either a bonfire or psychosomatic. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l New York Times reports 173 dead, hundreds homeless, and that the fire may have been set. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/world/asia/10australia.html good luck to all down under john ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Australian Fires and Floods
On 10/02/2009, at 8:54 AM, John Garcia wrote: New York Times reports 173 dead, hundreds homeless, and that the fire may have been set. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/world/asia/10australia.html It wasn't just a fire. It was a number of fires across several hundred kilometres. Several of them were deliberately lit, some of them were accidentally lit (although there's an argument that anyone breaking the Total Fire Ban rules on the conditions last week was as good as lighting a bushfire). The wikipedia article is pretty good on explaining what's been going on. There are still 4 major fires burning with towns, property and people under threat. It's not over yet. We've offered our spare room for emergency accomodation. Charlie. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Australian Fires and Floods
On 2/9/2009 3:54:44 PM, John Garcia (john...@gmail.com) wrote: On Sun, Feb 8, 2009 at 9:23 PM, sendai sen...@iicx.net wrote: Euan Ritchie wrote: It was almost a perfect storm for fire conditions. I'm 1,500 miles downwind and was reminded of the end to The Sheep Look Up last night when I thought I could smell faint burning on the air. I felt the same... I woke at ~2am, and I smelt burning outside. I looked up the local file listings and saw that they hadn't been updated since Friday. I then checked the wind and synoptic-charts from the past few days and saw that it was feasible that the winds from down there had brought with it dust and smoke... I still don't see any bush-fires or large-fires listed here, so it was either a bonfire or psychosomatic. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l New York Times reports 173 dead, hundreds homeless, and that the fire may have been set. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/world/asia/10australia.html good luck to all down under john There are towns in southern Australia where they won't let people back in, due to the numbers of bodies still lying in the streets. These towns are all quite rural, and there is just no way any governmental entities could be prepared for such a death toll over a broad area. I really feel for their Prime Minister. Regardless of his politics, his humanity shows as he is completely lost for words and trying to hold back tears. (Watching news from there is hard, they have so much pain to deal with.) Australia always stands with and by us though all sorts of ordeals. Anyone know of a good way an American can be helpful? xponent Recipricocity Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Australian Fires and Floods
Rceeberger wrote: Australia always stands with and by us though all sorts of ordeals. Anyone know of a good way an American can be helpful? xponent Recipricocity Maru rob The Australian Red Cross would likely be your best bet: http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Brin: an Obama joke!
After four years trying to fix USA's economy, Obama dies. But he does not die alone: as an asteroid smashes against Earth, everybody dies. However, in the confusion of dealing with 7 billion incoming souls, the afterlife bureaucracy sends Obama to Hell. There, he complains, but only after a long time he is heard. - 'I think I don't have to be here' he says 'I am aware that I couldn't do much to save the economy, but I tried hard. And, considering the utter mess that was sent to me, I think I did a good job!' The archangel gets his files, and says: - 'Yes, I'm sorry. There was a terrible mistake here. You were sent to Hell, yes, but not as a form of punishment. You were sent to Hell to rule it and fix it. Hell after 6,000 years of Satan administration isn't as hopeless as the USA after 8 years of Bush administration.' Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Brin: an Obama joke!
hrrr From: Alberto Vieira Ferreira Monteiro albm...@centroin.com.br To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion brin-l@mccmedia.com Sent: Monday, February 9, 2009 3:42:48 PM Subject: Brin: an Obama joke! After four years trying to fix USA's economy, Obama dies. But he does not die alone: as an asteroid smashes against Earth, everybody dies. However, in the confusion of dealing with 7 billion incoming souls, the afterlife bureaucracy sends Obama to Hell. There, he complains, but only after a long time he is heard. - 'I think I don't have to be here' he says 'I am aware that I couldn't do much to save the economy, but I tried hard. And, considering the utter mess that was sent to me, I think I did a good job!' The archangel gets his files, and says: - 'Yes, I'm sorry. There was a terrible mistake here. You were sent to Hell, yes, but not as a form of punishment. You were sent to Hell to rule it and fix it. Hell after 6,000 years of Satan administration isn't as hopeless as the USA after 8 years of Bush administration.' Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: The trouble with conspiracy theories
On Feb 7, 2009, at 10:21 PM, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: At 06:53 AM Friday 2/6/2009, Pat Mathews wrote: http://counterknowledge.com/2009/02/the-trouble-with-conspiracy-theories/ Basic thesis: little conspiracies exist all over the place. Global conspiracies are un-doable given the inability to herd all those cats. I was disappointed that the EDS commercial was just ranked fifth on last week's show of all-time best Super Bowl commercials, 'cuz it leaves me ROTFLOL so hard I have tears in my eyes . . . Maybe it came in 5th because the commercial is almost a decade old? Dave ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
