June 2007

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Submitted by Rick Eyre on June 26 2007, 9:32 am

Well that was a longer than expected absence from the internet. In short, I have moved into smaller, cheaper, and arguably nicer accommodation just a couple of kilometres south-west of the carpeted, central heated, just a tad pretentious Chocolate Factory.

An easy move? Far, far, far from it. So let's change topic.

I'm on a dialup connection at the moment with a mouse that has turned conservative on me (ie, it won't go left), so little if any site maintenance from me just yet. Hopefully I'll be back on broadband in a day or two.

ANTARA News :: Around 2,000 Indonesian islands may have disappeared by 2030

Submitted by Rick Eyre on June 2 2007, 9:37 pm

Yogyakarta (ANTARA News) - Around 2000 islands in Indonesia may have
disappeared by 2030 following an expected rise in the sea level,
Yogyakarta Meteorology and Geophysics Office (BMG) chief Jaya Murjaya
said here on Wednesday [May 23].

"Up to 2030, the sea level will rise by eight to 29 centimeters and
engulf around 2,000 islands in Indonesia," Jaya Murjaya said in a
National Geographic Seminar at the Yogyakarta State University (UNY).

John Howard Darfur count: 2

Submitted by Rick Eyre on June 1 2007, 9:22 pm

As the coconut dessicates, possibly terminally, John Winston Howard has uttered the D-word for, as far as I can tell, only the second time. (Here's my report of the first.)

It came in his virulent response to criticism of Australia's human rights record contained in the latest Amnesty International Annual Report (as I noted last week), where his use of fear for political purposes was compared to, among others, that of Omar al-Bashir.

Anchorage Day Four: Let's party like it's 1946

Submitted by Rick Eyre on June 1 2007, 8:21 pm

Ah yes, the good old days of 1946. Japan was a ruined, beaten nation, humiliated after being forced to surrender at the conclusion of the Second World War. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were radioactive wrecks, Tokyo and many other cities devastated by more conventional bombing. The economy was ruined, the nation's infrastructure was ruined.

The Japanese people were starving. How to feed them until the nation's agriculture could be restored? The occupying powers (USA, UK, Australia etc... where does that sound familiar?) decided that the solution was to feed 'em whale!