Friday, October 15, 2010

Stars in their eyes

Well today is Blog Action Day again.
This year the subject is water and a worthwhile subject indeed.
Scientists have stated that liquid water is one of the vital ingredients for life on other worlds and, one imagines, the continuance of life here.
Yet much of humanity gets little or none, with the few who have it doing lots of squandering and misusing.
The great Artesian Basin is a perfect example of misusing a limited resource.
With open cut Uranium mines planned for WA, SA and NT, more water than ever will be pumped from the basin in an attempt to slow down the radioactive dust that will blow with westerlies over the eastern states.
You can find out more by watching David Bradbury's recent film for the ETU starring Austen Tayshus "When the dust settles".
Though that is another story that you can catch here:
http://www.andrew-melville-smith.com.au/Videos/whenthedustsettl.html

This blog subject looks a little into the past, just before the space race.
After the conclusion of WW2, as things were getting back to normality, the US wanted to bestow a gift on humanity. They had just saved the world (again) and were feeling powerful and benevolent.
Many ideas were proposed and, amongst the many, one shone out as a great humanitarian act.
It was proposed that water should be in good supply for those who had little or none, with the third world squarely in their sights.
Many great projects were conceived that would supply this precious resource to those in need.
Sadly those great works were never carried out, as it was deemed a project that would neither capture the public imagination nor get the sort of worldwide prestige that a working space organisation would.
So, with heads raised and gazing skyward, we moved forward into an age where the haves had more and the have-nots had less and less.
Don't misunderstand me, great things have come from those endeavors with greater things yet to come.
We stand on the brink of something big.
We wont get there until we are united.
This doesn't have to mean a world government. It can be as simple as making sure we all have enough food and water and showing that we are all on one team.
It is doable. It is also necessary so that we might take the next step.
Lets clean up the house before we go out.
Time to get things in order here.
Lets start with good drinking water for all.
Then lets consider the root issue. A sustainable world population.

Stephan Pastis " Pearls Before Swine



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Saturday, October 09, 2010

Feeding The Rays

Its been a long time since I visited Bendalong and was glad to see that over 25 years large black rays are still coming in for a feed.
I last experienced this phenomenon with my Daughter Rhiannon, some 8 years ago,and was happy to see that it has not gone the way various Dolphin and Penguin visitations have.
It remains an encounter.
Having said that, lets try to keep it that way.
It is true to say that encounters with large black Rays are common around many boat ramps along the southern NSW coastline, though I find the greeting at Bendalong the most rewarding.
This Video is of some of that day and I have tied to capture the experience in going face to face with a large and alien being.
I bought some Pilchards to wave in the water so a to attract a few Rays, though it is debatable if the Pilchards played a part at all. I noticed if you stamped your foot in the sand under water they came more readily.
They are brought in by the fishing boats, presumably called by the thump of the engines. Perhaps we are associated with low wave concussive sound-forms, food being a reward to tolerate incessant patting.
The eyes of this creature will survey you from above the waterline, just to get good look, and will spot a floating pilchard go by as you will see.
My mate Marvin bravely went face to face for the vid.
This was of no great risk. Rays are gentle, though potentially dangerous, creatures.
Just as with a horse, you keep distance of the back end.



A fitting post for the 4Th anniversary of this blog.
Thank you again all those who show your interest in my interests.
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