Now at last I can stop whingeing! As anyone who pays the slightest attention to me knows by now, I have been intensely frustrated by the deteriorating online performance of my poor old eMac. What is less wellknown is that I do a lot of volunteer work for the local Neighbourhood Centre, most of which work involves computers. Getting it done on either the dysfunctional eMac at home or the Centre's old laptop when I'm working there – a laptop using Windows, a system I'm not at all comfortable with – has been challenging in the extreme.
Saving up for a new computer has also been challenging, despite donations from some kind people. I was going for a second-hand, "previous generation" model on which the software could still be upgraded. Friends were looking on ebay and other sites, and a Mac engineer I know was standing by to vet anything that looked likely. But of course I still had to have the money first, and with things like car reggo coming due, that has been a painfully slow process.
Then the Neighbourhood Centre decided to buy me one! Well, actually the Centre is the owner; I'm the user-custodian. They had some funds available for special purchases, and in view of all the work I do for them, decided to upgrade to a laptop that would make it easier for me and increase my efficiency. Not a moment before time: the eMac was becoming truly impossible. After I picked myself up from the floor....
So I now have a brand new 15-inch MacBook Pro that I didn't even have to pay for! Isn't it incredible? It has the new aluminium unibody, and was customised to faster read speed for someone who then decided they didn't want it after all. What a piece of luck for us – the aluminium ones are not generally available here yet; it's only that this one had been specially ordered.
You can imagine, I am taking VERY good care of it. Coffee at the keyboard is a thing of the past! (Good; I get to cut down on caffeine too, lol.)
I don't expect to sever my association with the Neighbourhood Centre until I'm truly decrepit – which of course will never happen – as I'm enthusiastic about its philosophy and the way it fulfils its community role. If, for some unforeseen reason, I do leave, I'll have to figure out a way to buy this laptop if possible, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Bonus: Andrew's old desktop machine is getting nearly as atrocious as mine was. The savings can now be diverted towards getting him a "previous generation" laptop, and everyone will be happy.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Disorder
The discovery / realisation of severe mental disorder in a close relative.
I'm delicate – perhaps ridiculously – about posting on the subject here, yet want to put links to MySpace blogs on the matter. The outdated browser, all I can put on this old computer, is now so jumpy that I can't stay on a MySpace page long enough to copy the url!
For those who are interested enough to go to the trouble, the link in my previous post will get you there. Then you need to click on the link at the bottom of that to the next post, and then the next and the next. They are "Professional Opinion", 22 October; "It Gets Worse", 26 October; and "Views", 27 October.
For material on the disorder itself, this is the best I've found, and leaves me in no doubt of the diagnosis. There's a lot of reading, all spot-on. I found the "Now We Are Six" link particularly illuminating.
I'm delicate – perhaps ridiculously – about posting on the subject here, yet want to put links to MySpace blogs on the matter. The outdated browser, all I can put on this old computer, is now so jumpy that I can't stay on a MySpace page long enough to copy the url!
For those who are interested enough to go to the trouble, the link in my previous post will get you there. Then you need to click on the link at the bottom of that to the next post, and then the next and the next. They are "Professional Opinion", 22 October; "It Gets Worse", 26 October; and "Views", 27 October.
For material on the disorder itself, this is the best I've found, and leaves me in no doubt of the diagnosis. There's a lot of reading, all spot-on. I found the "Now We Are Six" link particularly illuminating.
Labels:
NPD,
The Youngest
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
No More Fatted Calf
Those who recall the traumas of the last visit home of my Youngest (the son formerly known as The Prodigal) may be interested in the final chapter.
Labels:
The Youngest
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Climate Change
Is it real or isn’t it?
We are certainly seeing a lot of extreme weather all over the world in recent years, and it does seem to be getting worse. Tsunamis, dust storms, floods, earthquakes, tropical cyclones, droughts….
But hang on – hasn’t the earth always experienced these conditions? There have been some huge climatic changes in the past. It wasn’t human polluters who caused the Ice Age, for instance. There’s a theory that our earliest agrarian ancestors may actually have helped delay the onset of another ice age a few thousand years ago. Read all about it in Wikipedia.
Um, hang on again. If that is so, it does make sense to think we may have gone too far in that direction by now. It’s not all bad: we didn’t really want another ice age, did we? Maybe the planet needs that balance, but it wouldn’t be very good for us human beings. On the other hand, we don’t really want to be inundated by rising seas either. The inhabitants of small Pacific islands particularly don’t want to be!
But is it all a myth? I have a friend who believes that it is a lie. He says 1998 was the hottest year on record, so clearly the earth has been cooling down, not warming up, in the last decade. (I must say, in terms of planetary time, that doesn’t seem very long actually.) He bases his opinion on this story. Not actually conclusive as far as I can see.
He also thinks it’s a ploy to institute “a global tax (Cap and Trade) to pay for a New World Order, or One World Government whichever the turnout if we allow it to happen.” He’s by no means alone in that view!
Another friend counters:
Here's a condensed version of an article just published. No politics. Just thought it was interesting.
Global Warming Could Cool N. America
Kate Ravilious, National Geographic
September 16, 2009 06:16 AM
Global warming could actually chill down North America within just a few decades, according to a new study that says a sudden cooling event gripped the region about 8,300 years ago. Analysis of ancient moss from Newfoundland, Canada, links an injection of freshwater from a burst glacial lake to a rapid drop in air temperatures by a few degrees Celsius along North America's East Coast.
This event created a colder year-round climate with a much shorter growing season for about 150 years, from northern Canada to what is now Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The results suggest that North America's climate is highly sensitive to meltwater flowing into the ocean, said lead study author Tim Daley of Swansea University in the U.K. The work also means that history could repeat itself: Currently Greenland's ice sheet is melting at a rapid clip, releasing freshwater into the North Atlantic.
Article continues
And where do I stand? I think climate change is real, that we have contributed to it, and we’d better find a solution very, very soon. The earth will survive all right; it’s likely we won’t. That’s why I’m participating in Blog Action Day. Anything that might conceivably help….
We are certainly seeing a lot of extreme weather all over the world in recent years, and it does seem to be getting worse. Tsunamis, dust storms, floods, earthquakes, tropical cyclones, droughts….
But hang on – hasn’t the earth always experienced these conditions? There have been some huge climatic changes in the past. It wasn’t human polluters who caused the Ice Age, for instance. There’s a theory that our earliest agrarian ancestors may actually have helped delay the onset of another ice age a few thousand years ago. Read all about it in Wikipedia.
Um, hang on again. If that is so, it does make sense to think we may have gone too far in that direction by now. It’s not all bad: we didn’t really want another ice age, did we? Maybe the planet needs that balance, but it wouldn’t be very good for us human beings. On the other hand, we don’t really want to be inundated by rising seas either. The inhabitants of small Pacific islands particularly don’t want to be!
But is it all a myth? I have a friend who believes that it is a lie. He says 1998 was the hottest year on record, so clearly the earth has been cooling down, not warming up, in the last decade. (I must say, in terms of planetary time, that doesn’t seem very long actually.) He bases his opinion on this story. Not actually conclusive as far as I can see.
He also thinks it’s a ploy to institute “a global tax (Cap and Trade) to pay for a New World Order, or One World Government whichever the turnout if we allow it to happen.” He’s by no means alone in that view!
Another friend counters:
Here's a condensed version of an article just published. No politics. Just thought it was interesting.
Global Warming Could Cool N. America
Kate Ravilious, National Geographic
September 16, 2009 06:16 AM
Global warming could actually chill down North America within just a few decades, according to a new study that says a sudden cooling event gripped the region about 8,300 years ago. Analysis of ancient moss from Newfoundland, Canada, links an injection of freshwater from a burst glacial lake to a rapid drop in air temperatures by a few degrees Celsius along North America's East Coast.
This event created a colder year-round climate with a much shorter growing season for about 150 years, from northern Canada to what is now Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The results suggest that North America's climate is highly sensitive to meltwater flowing into the ocean, said lead study author Tim Daley of Swansea University in the U.K. The work also means that history could repeat itself: Currently Greenland's ice sheet is melting at a rapid clip, releasing freshwater into the North Atlantic.
Article continues
And where do I stand? I think climate change is real, that we have contributed to it, and we’d better find a solution very, very soon. The earth will survive all right; it’s likely we won’t. That’s why I’m participating in Blog Action Day. Anything that might conceivably help….
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Reflecting on the Dust Storm
Along with the notion that we may expect more such events, I'm left with this sobering thought:
a sky full of dust
thickening in the nostrils
and nowhere to run
(Reposted from Haiku on Friday at MySpace)
a sky full of dust
thickening in the nostrils
and nowhere to run
(Reposted from Haiku on Friday at MySpace)
Labels:
Dust Storm,
Haiku on Friday
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Dust Storm
The day before yesterday, driving back to the coast from the nearest town, I did my usual thing of gazing at a panorama of ocean a moment at the crest of one hill before dipping down into our village. This time, it was disappointing: the water dull, and a strange haze in the air.
Next day (Wednesday 23rd) I went to my Tai Chi class at 9am. Nothing much to notice then. I had my chiropractic appointment at 11.15, and as I walked there I noticed that the fine day seemed to be getting overcast. When I left, the chiropractor and his receptionist both came to the door and looked out at the thick yellowish haze now coming over the hills. It had an eerie quiet to it. "Ominous," they agreed. We couldn't figure out what it was. I thought there might be a bushfire somewhere – and yet it wasn't smoke we were seeing.
I went home, turned on the local news, missed most of it but got something about motorists needing to be careful of "the dust from Newcastle" so I Googled that. I found out there had been a huge dust storm way off in the outback desert, exacerbated by gale force winds which blew it eastwards, and by some bush fires along its path. It had blacked out the whole of Broken Hill the previous night, and then moved on to cloak Sydney and Newcastle in an eerie orange-red glow by Wednesday morning.
By 12.30 in the afternoon it was well and truly here - not red as in Sydney but a nasty pale yellow that didn't look healthy. And it was not healthy, of course. In Sydney asthmatics and others ended up in hospital. We got off fairly lightly here by comparison with other places, but we could certainly smell it and knew we were breathing it in somewhat. The day got darker and darker.
Soon the whole sky was blanketed from underneath, and the day and evening became quite cold – strange for this time of year in this part of the country – presumably because of the sun being blocked off. When night came it seemed much darker than usual.
The satellite weather picture on the evening news showed a massive cloud that moved across from South Australia and central Australia to the east coast, stretching from south of Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria (the most northeastern point of the country) and as wide as half the State. They said it probably was not an effect of climate change, but one wonders. They also said it was by far the worst dust storm in our recorded history. Here's a NASA view of it from space.
I had no trouble finding a topic for yesterday's 30 Poems in 30 Days prompt: "Write a poem in which a similar or identical phrase is repeated three or more times throughout the poem."
Dark Sky in Daylight
Once upon a time
this was a lush continent
but that was long ago.
Now we have drought.
Our dry inland “outback”
dry like this for centuries
became that way long ago.
Now we have desert.
Today there’s a haze
thickening the whole eastern sky.
Wind and fire outback yesterday,
now we have dust.
We have it here
far from the red centre,
blown all that way yesterday.
Now we have darkness.
23/9/09
Amazing, on waking this morning, to find blue, sunny skies and no trace of the dust to be seen. Even now, though, well into the afternoon, I only have to sniff a bit and I can still smell it. It prompted a tanka (a form I'm playing with a lot lately in an attempt to learn it).
A fresh Spring morning
yesterday’s choking dust cloud
vanished from this coast –
to infiltrate the ocean
or arrive in New Zealand?
24/9/09
Photos here (Sydney).
Next day (Wednesday 23rd) I went to my Tai Chi class at 9am. Nothing much to notice then. I had my chiropractic appointment at 11.15, and as I walked there I noticed that the fine day seemed to be getting overcast. When I left, the chiropractor and his receptionist both came to the door and looked out at the thick yellowish haze now coming over the hills. It had an eerie quiet to it. "Ominous," they agreed. We couldn't figure out what it was. I thought there might be a bushfire somewhere – and yet it wasn't smoke we were seeing.
I went home, turned on the local news, missed most of it but got something about motorists needing to be careful of "the dust from Newcastle" so I Googled that. I found out there had been a huge dust storm way off in the outback desert, exacerbated by gale force winds which blew it eastwards, and by some bush fires along its path. It had blacked out the whole of Broken Hill the previous night, and then moved on to cloak Sydney and Newcastle in an eerie orange-red glow by Wednesday morning.
By 12.30 in the afternoon it was well and truly here - not red as in Sydney but a nasty pale yellow that didn't look healthy. And it was not healthy, of course. In Sydney asthmatics and others ended up in hospital. We got off fairly lightly here by comparison with other places, but we could certainly smell it and knew we were breathing it in somewhat. The day got darker and darker.
Soon the whole sky was blanketed from underneath, and the day and evening became quite cold – strange for this time of year in this part of the country – presumably because of the sun being blocked off. When night came it seemed much darker than usual.
The satellite weather picture on the evening news showed a massive cloud that moved across from South Australia and central Australia to the east coast, stretching from south of Sydney to the Gulf of Carpentaria (the most northeastern point of the country) and as wide as half the State. They said it probably was not an effect of climate change, but one wonders. They also said it was by far the worst dust storm in our recorded history. Here's a NASA view of it from space.
I had no trouble finding a topic for yesterday's 30 Poems in 30 Days prompt: "Write a poem in which a similar or identical phrase is repeated three or more times throughout the poem."
Dark Sky in Daylight
Once upon a time
this was a lush continent
but that was long ago.
Now we have drought.
Our dry inland “outback”
dry like this for centuries
became that way long ago.
Now we have desert.
Today there’s a haze
thickening the whole eastern sky.
Wind and fire outback yesterday,
now we have dust.
We have it here
far from the red centre,
blown all that way yesterday.
Now we have darkness.
23/9/09
Amazing, on waking this morning, to find blue, sunny skies and no trace of the dust to be seen. Even now, though, well into the afternoon, I only have to sniff a bit and I can still smell it. It prompted a tanka (a form I'm playing with a lot lately in an attempt to learn it).
A fresh Spring morning
yesterday’s choking dust cloud
vanished from this coast –
to infiltrate the ocean
or arrive in New Zealand?
24/9/09
Photos here (Sydney).
Labels:
30 Poems in 30 Days.,
Dust Storm,
Poems,
Tanka
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