Comments on: The Weather Outside Is…

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:22:37 +0000

It would appear that NSW is unaware that the man who pays the piper calls the tune. If the federal government pays for it, they own it. In the US this would be a federal project unless the state governments specifically brokered a deal and asked for no federal assistance because it is interstate commerce.

These sorts of problems came up a lot under the original US government created by the Articles of Confederation. They were so annoying that the US Constitution was created in part to facilitate interstate commerce.

Politicians are all hellbent on creating little empires for themselves.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:45:08 +0000

You are right Bryan about the ridiculous situation with water supplies. Victoria and Queensland have actually built a pipeline to their borders, NSW won’t allow it to pass through their state until we agree to pay them for the privileged and they want control over their section (which means they can stick a valve to start/stop the water flow and effectively hold Vic to ransom). A sane person would think that allowing NSW to use some of the water (QLD has a hell of a lot of it) would be payment enough. Also, NSW doesn’t want to pay for their segment of the pipeline. They say it should be Federally funded (and I agree it should be), but State controlled (which it SHOULDN’T be!)

All Politicians should be shot.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:06:22 +0000

I was talking about digging a trench in your yard as a last resort bolt hole, because getting in a metal box with 40 liters of flammable liquids, i.e. petrol, would seem to have been a bad decision for a lot of people, and having bottled gas for cooking, also seems to have had tragic consequences in many cases.

States rights have been a major problem in this country, and gets especially annoying during hurricane evacuations, because Alabama and Florida can’t agree on procedures and hurricanes don’t wait on the personal problems of politicians.

I was trying to start anything, just noticing that the South had a drought while Queensland had floods. It just seemed logical and helpful to all concerned to move the water to where it was wanted from where it wasn’t. I know I shouldn’t mix logic and politics, but I can’t help myself.

There can’t be a thaw, Lady Min, that would be too much like Global Climate Change, and we all know Al Gore needs to go on a diet.

By: LadyMin

LadyMin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:15:04 +0000

The brushfires are the number one topic on twitter tonight. On a more positive weather note.... Chicago thawed out today. A month early for a thaw; but hey, it's been a weird year.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:00:30 +0000

LadyMin pointed me to a regularly updated Wiki about the fires: 2009 Victorian bushfires

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:52:44 +0000

Now you can see why I hate Politicians. I don’t care what country they are from. A politician is a politician. Only good one is a dead one. Just a bunch of clueless, ignorant wheeler-dealers. There is a reason most of them are Lawyers or Accountants.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:48:47 +0000

The PM has called in the Army, lot’s of bulldozers and brush/forest clearing equipment that the Army has. Also, Mining companies are sending huge graders, trucks and trenchers.

Don’t get me started on the screwed up water system!! Been saying for years they need to make the system Federal and stop being assh*les about it!! Pisses me off.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:44:28 +0000

It’s time to clear brush and start digging a blow-over/slit trench as a last resort.

It may be time to seriously consider piping excess water from Queensland to the South, only don’t use an open canal like those fools in California did decades ago. The whole thing could probably be solar powered with in-line turbines to recover some of the power used to lift the water in any mountains.

There has to be a better system, but we haven’t found the answer in the US.

By: Kryten42

Kryten42 — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:29:30 +0000

I’d get a nail gun and nail him to a tree facing the oncoming firestorm.

It’s getting bad. The fires are merging and the wind is picking up again. They say there is only one solitary building left standing in the entire township of Marysville. 🙁 And the fire may turn and finish that off. The fires have merged into a 120,000 hectares monster after windshifts merged the East Kilmore fire and Murrindindi Mill blaze into a massive inferno known as the Kinglake Complex.

And Summer still has 2 months to go here.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 06:57:01 +0000

When you think of the devastation that caused around Santa Barbara because a group of idiots didn’t ensure that their fire was truly out before they left the area, it makes one wonder if there were still some traditionalists left on PNG who would like to hold an old-time barbecue, Kryten. Dip them in olive oil and drop them by parachute.

Some of the reporting would seen to suggest that it is the ember started fires that are really defeating the fire lines. That’s what happens in SoCal – they establish a fire line and it gets leaped by airborne debris that lands on houses.