Heatwave

Spring is almost over and we're heading into Summer so things are warming up nicely. This Spring has been very dry compared with most years and perhaps a bit warmer than normal. But the pattern is currently very strange. Rather than seeing the progression of fronts from the Southern Ocean, which bring cooler temperatures and wet weather, the pressure cells are stuck in one place and bringing progressively hotter conditions. Today's temperature is expected to be around 29C and it certainly felt like that as I was cycling home! And the next couple of days will see things in the low 30s. At the same time the system is feeding humid air in off the Coral Sea so it's a bit like living in a sauna. Big storm clouds are building up during each morning and by late afternoon the flash of lightning starts up. We've had the odd shower, but not much rain. It's the nature of these storms that they are spotty and one has to be under one to get a lot of rain. Three days ago we had 6mm of rain (about 1/4 inch), but the folks a few km away had 200mm (8 inches) and hail the size of golf balls causing a lot of damage.

Poor Dot is trying to plant new shrubs in the garden, but the soil currently resembles concrete because of the lack of rain. The garden, however, still looks green because of earlier cooler temperatures, and some watering when I'd fertilised the lawn. As I type this, lots of dark clouds are hovering around and the bureau of meteorology shows storm showers to the southeast of us. With a bit of luck, they'll come this way minus the hail. While it's 30C+ here, 200 km to the west the temperatures are reaching into the 40s, so I shouldn't complain too much.

AS

Fifth Re-Birthday

Long-term readers will know that had a serious cardiac arrest in on 19 November 2007 and that the fifth anniversary is imminent. At the time I was probably 5 or 10 minutes from being a few meters underground, but now it seems that I have made a full recovery and need a normal life if one excludes the 5 pills I'm taking daily.

I don't need any presents to celebrate this 'birthday' but a snappy email wouldn't go amiss.

In another sense this is also an anniversary posting. It takes my tally to 550 entries and the BLOG's existence is also virtually co-terminous with the last 5 years.

AS

Now you see it; now you don't

This morning hosted one of the most exciting events of the year ... or it was supposed to. I rose early and gazed to the east to view the rising sun. Alas it was cloud covered, though the high level stratus began to burn off after a while. Meanwhile, I went on-line to see how the expected event was progressing in Cairns 2000 km to the north. It was then that I realised I had mistimed my tracking of the solar eclipse and had risen an hour too early, a mistake due in part to the fact that NSW is on summer time but Queensland doesn't the clocks forward. So a solar eclipse timed for 6.40 am Qld time really occurs at 7.40 am in NSW.

In Cairns, the eclipse was total, like the one I saw a decade ago standing on Dartmoor in SW England. Further south, in Armidale NSW, it only reached 60% or so and barely darkened the landscape. Certainly the birds inhabiting our garden failed to fly home to roost and we had the usual constellation of rainbow lorikeets, king parrots, galahs, crimson rosellas, and others. I managed to make out the moon taking lumps out of the sun whenever the cloud dispersed momentarily, but the show was muted. I even tried to take photos of the vent, though again with little success as I don't have the right filters. The picture below is the best of the lot, but unimpressive. It was taken from our garden close to the maximum 60% occlusion at 8 am (AEST + 1 = summer time), but the sun still seems to be shining with its usual brightness. Perhaps the misty high level cloud is hiding the 60% of the sun that's missing!

Oh well. Better luck next time. Meanwhile the eclipse's track means that the Cairns region is just about the only spot on the planet to see 100% version. The remainder of the track is across the South Pacific and barely touches any land before reaching Chile close to dusk on that side of the ocean.

AS

Anatidaephobia

I came across a wonderful word today in a Facebook post. I know that there are many phobias, but this one is hilarious and thank my friend Martin Auster for bringing it to my attention. Have you ever come across Anatidaephobia?

So what is it? Anatidaephobia is defined as a pervasive, irrational fear that one is being watched by a duck. The anatidaephobic individual fears that no matter where they are or what they are doing, a duck watches. Anatidaephobia is derived from the Greek word "anatidae", meaning ducks, geese or swans and "phobos" meaning fear.

Now it doesn't seem such a funny term and I'm wondering if I am a sufferer from this condition. I cycle past several waddlings of ducks on most days and they always turn to look at me as I go past. Waddling is, by the way, one of the collective nouns for a group of ducks.

Can anyone please advise me if I should be wary of them ... or is it simply the other way around and they are experiencing a form of homosapiensphobia!? And is there any cure for this phobia if it's real?

AS

Foreign Musings on the US Election

I love this poster. After watching Obama's deserved win and musing over the huge flaws emerging in American society I'm more convinced than ever that the US needs another 'little rebellion' to create a more inclusive, efficient, future-oriented society free of the hands in the till cliques who are ruining the country.

I include here the vast medical-pharmaceutical conspiracy that costs the US economy twice as much of GDP as the average for the OECD for worse than average health outcomes; the agricultural subsidy rort that shovels bucket-loads of cash into corporate farms; a legal system slanted towards enriching lawyers at everyone else's expense; a large military - industrial conspiracy; and excessively restrictive IP laws also designed to funnel bucket loads of cash to certain financial interests.

Fix those and you've (i) fixed the US budget deficit, (ii) started on the road to greater social equity on the Australian, European and East Asian models, (iii) liberated a pool of cash that could help fund the education drive necessary to propel the US dynamically towards the 2050 knowledge economy; and (iv) enriched the nation as the marginal utility of the vast wealth hoarded by the top few is virtually zero.

But guess what. Those groups with their hands in the public till tend to vote Republican, a party not of private enterprise but of financial rorts. Washington's Heritage Foundation run and Index of Global Economic Freedom. On that index only 5 nations are rated as free: Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland in that order. The US comes in tenth; Britain fourteenth; both admittedly a long way ahead of north Korea. Worse, the GFC has meant that 'freedom' only rose in 10 of the 28 highest ranked nations over the last year - including the three at the top of the list - but went in reverse in the US and UK.

So Jefferson, whom I admire, was right again.

AS