The Bywong Soapbox

Thanks to all my friends & family for the Birthday Wishes…  Weather notwithstanding it was a good birthday..

Glycine Airman Special

Liz took a day off and treated me to an excellent day.

The day started off with a new watch, a numbered Glycine Airman Special, then a massage at Soma Day Spa by a sweet young blonde thing with magic hands, then lunch at Italian & Sons in Braddon (I had the suckling pig, how decadent), then I got home to find my sick little puppy had finally come good and she presented me with a monstrous poopie (she’d been bound up with a tummy bug, so we were waiting to see that she didn’t have a blockage).  It was a relief to see her plumbing was functioning properly.

So.. all in all.. a fine day & the evening was even better (Fire Brigade callout to put out the flaming cake when the multitude of candles got out of hand, notwithstanding)!

I’ve found myself in a particularly interesting situation, having been hiding out ‘downunda’ for the last 20 or so years.  What I’ve discovered, is an amazing gift.  I’ve buried all my hatchets (save a singular,  unforgivable one) and said to myself,  “Self! Everyone who ever had an axe to grind with you, grinds no longer.”

I figured that after all this time, anyone with enough brains would realize, life is too bleedn’ short to be carrying chips around on ones’ shoulders.  So… I decided to wipe all the slates clean, wipe up the chalk dust and treat everyone as if there had never been bad blood or unkind words between us.

So, as this wonderful tool called “The Internet” allows past acquaintances to re-appear after all these years,  I welcome them as old friends and as friends who should break bread, open a bottle of  red and sit down to gasbag about all that which has transpired over the years.

How unfortunate, that some can’t seem to get over the past (or the present for that matter) and insist on carrying the rusty old chains of mistrust, mistakes or misnomers, on their backs, all these years.

Well! Perhaps in those cases, it’s best to just let them be, miserably happy in their angst & misinformation.

The saddest examples are those unfortunates who, over the years, have lost their inner youth and sense of humour.. How tragic to lose the very thing that keeps you feeling young.

I haven’t the time to attempt to convince them that all is good and life has gone on…  Because that’s the whole point.  Life has gone on.  Time to live & laugh, because the inevitable end comes for us all.  I’ve got lots of  people to see, things to do and a very long bucket list, which plainly,  doesn’t include hand holding for the unwashed masses.

Oceangoing ships are responsible for moving at least 80 percent of all commerce worldwide, so maritime pirates are a threat to everyone

The United States and international community are trying to feed those facing chronic hunger and starvation in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, but the ships carrying that humanitarian food aid must contend with pirates who are seeking to hijack and ransom emergency food shipments for their own personal and selfish financial gain,”  said Robert W. Maggi, the U.S. Department of State’s coordinator for counterpiracy.

Recently, the Maersk Alabama was carrying 5,230 metric tons of humanitarian food bound for the East Africa region on behalf of USAID’s Food for Peace Program when four suspected pirates attempted to board and hijack the vessel 560 nautical miles off the northeast coast of Somalia. That food would provide a daily survival ration to 330,000 people for about 30 days.

Somali pirates holding a huge Saudi oil tanker

The ship successfully repelled the hijackers with a combination of evasive maneuvers, long-range acoustical devices and action by an armed security team onboard the ship. No injuries to the crew or damage were reported in the incident.

Unfortunately, the large oil tankers which ply this shipping route, are loathe to have armed security forces aboard for the fear of setting the ship alight with errant gunfire.  They’ve taken the attitude it’s best to allow the pirates to take over the ship, rather than be damaged and create oil spills, which could wipe out the ecology of a coastline.  The pirates ask millions for the release of these ships.

The bright sparks aren’t thinking outside the box.

Back a few wars ago, there was a similar problem with shipping across the Atlantic, except it wasn’t pirates of which the merchant ships were afraid.  They had a problem with U-Boats.  In those cases, convoys were formed to allow the protection of the many, by a few destroyers.  Perhaps this tact would be applicable to today’s piracy scourge.

A merchant convoy

How hard would it be, to organise shipping convoys to get commerce past the Somalian coastline?  Surely it would behoove the shipping companies to schedule mass convoys that could be protected from the pirates by one, or even two Corvette class frigates.

The simple mathematics are sound.  You organise a NATO supplied frigate to escort a convoy of merchant ships and tankers past the piracy zone. Once past the zone, the frigate returns to whatever port of departure and awaits the next convoy of shipping to be staged.  Alternately, a ship rotation between member nations to supply a fresh frigate and crew.

Surely, the safety of these giant carriers of commerce are worth the inconvenience of being staged into a multinational shipping convoy, if it would guarantee the safety of their consignments.

One to protect the many

I’m sure the Somali pirate would find themselves between a rock and a hard place if they were forced to go up against a heavily armed gunboat, which was prepared to blow their pirate asses out of the water.

Anyone listening out there?

The United States and others formed the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia in January 2009 — which now includes some 50 nations partnered with the shipping industry — to develop anti-piracy solutions. They aren’t doing their job..

There are now about 12 ships being held by the pirates off the coast of East Africa, including the 300,000-ton, Greek-flagged supertanker Maran Centaurus, which was seized November 29 some 800 miles off the Somali coast near the Seychelles.

A scheduled convoy might be the answer.

SOLAR-POWERED RADIO FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD

(taken from an interview for the local newspaper)       

Imagine delighting your friends and neighbours with your musical selections as you listen to the radio. You can do that, or take in a community announcement or a 24/7 mix of baby-boomer rock, classics, soul and blues as you negotiate with nature or your livestock in the top paddock. It’s all possible now for some residents of Bywong and Wamboin thanks to a solar-powered narrowcast radio station operating off Macs Reef Rd.   Marcele Martins talked to the man who makes it happen.

After 35 years working in the information technology field, building and designing IT Installations for others, Alex Colquitt decided to design something of his own. Now, “almost retired” – as he says, Alex, using his past experience in the radio field, dedicates himself to his “one man show” tourist radio station and community notice board: The Lake FM  (88 & 87.8 MHz).

With a low power licence, acquired six years ago, he can reach around 400 nearby homes in  and around Bywong/Wamboin  and lately, the Burra/Michaelago area as well, offering 24/7 programming to the community.

“For the joy of listening to what I like”, he answered when asked why he started Lake FM. The accent is American (although he has been living in Australia for 19 years) and for the last 30 years he has been

The face behind the microphone

collecting CDs, vinyls, tapes and MP3s of his favourites artists, amounted to some 11,000 (eleven thousand) pieces to date.

The radio station is based at Alex and his wife Liz’s property in Bywong overlooking gum trees and paddocks grazed by 3 horses. The station is completely automated, operated via software customized by him, using 4 computers, with two of them powered by solar energy. He says the 145 Amp hour per day collectors and battery system provide enough energy for the station even on a string of cloudy days. The technology was set up in collaboration with the local wireless broadband operator, Anthony Goonan from Yless4u.

Two hours per day are spent feeding the system with the day’s mix list. His eclectic style can be noticed in a few minutes listening to Lake FM. While a sequence of ‘80s romantic music was being broadcast during our interview, his mobile phone tone rang a ‘70s Led Zeppelin success. At this point, I had no doubts: Alex really enjoys music!

Alex is not content to share his library only with Palerang: his reach is global through the virtual world. Through ‘Second Life’, he DJs a Blues/Rock Club where up to 50 people get together at a time for real fun.

As a good IT expert, Alex has the Internet on his side. At www.bywong.com.au, the audience can request songs (you can select up to six per hour, played promptly from the huge database) send suggestions and community announcements, and interact with him. It is also through the web that he gets around the limitation of his 1 watt transmitter to reach a broader public. As I am doing now from Canberra, anyone in the world can access The Lake FM learn a bit more about Palerang and enjoy the programming in real time!

In Chicago, the news has broken out that Canberra has a kangaroo problem.

Feed the Masses?

Now, before everyone gets all bent outta shape about culling kangaroos, let’s take a step back and put it all in perspective.  On my little 30 acre property, just 30 kms Northeast of Canberra, we’re talking about ‘herds’ of kangaroos.  There would be between 75 & 100 of the little buggers on my grasslands at any given time, competing with 3 horses for what little grass the drought has left them. As I write this, I can see 30 of them no farther than 100m away.
The situation in Canberra is just as bad as out in the rural areas. Canberras’ nature parks, sporting fields (the equivalent of Chicago’s softball fields) are being denuded of grass and reduced to dusty, weed infested empty lots.
I’m not one to go “shootin’ roos”, as they say out here, but I do my best to move them elsewhere. Having been instructed by the Chicago Park District in the fine art of Foley work, I use sound effects to scare the buggers onto other, surrounding properties.  Of course, that won’t work in Canberra.
It’s difficult to move herds of “Roos” in a metropolitan environment, as they tend to run into cars, people, homes, shop windows and the like.

Thus the need to cull.

This, of course, always brings out the animal rights activists, who seem to forget, as the article explains, kangaroos are regularly used as meat, just like deer but on a larger scale. What would Mayor Daley do with a herd of 400 deer on what used to be Meigs Field?  I’m  sure the old guy would have his deep freezer full of “Chicago venison”

There is simply no easy way to reduce the enormous population of kangaroos in Canberra. The Canberrans need to pull their heads in and let the government get on with what needs to be done.

BTW, Roo is indeed tasty when prepared such as “Roo Bourguignon a La Julia Child” .  If anyone would like the recipe, just drop me a comment.