Canary discovers the east coast of Australia

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Categories: canary, canaries, bird, birds, pet, pets

New canary

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Categories: canary, canaries, bird, birds, pet, pets

No name canary

I'm incorrigible, I know it. My Sandy Beach friend Fran, founder of the Hope Bears charity that makes bears, caps, rugs and all sort of things for cancer patients, is too generous for her own good and yesterday she gave me this cute little guy.

He's a white and grey canary. I think he's a he, anyway, and he woke me this morning with grunts if not male song. He seems to be settling in to the Ponderosa and now, lunchtime, he's starting to sing a bit. The other guys, John and Elizabeth Gould, haven't met him yet because they're in the bathroom and No Name (any ideas?) is in the rest of the cabin.

The hat-band, by the way, was a gift about a month ago from the third of my five grandchildren, Briar, darling that she is.

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Coffs Council refuses child safety action

Following my letter to the editor of the Coffs Coast Advocate I was pleased to do a phone interview with a personable reporter named Mel, on the dangerous state of the fence around the park, and when I got home from Sydney last weekend I found that it had been published quite faithfully.

Read how Coffs Harbour Council justifies the fact that after years of inaction on this they are still "in the process of finalising" a solution. My question: Why can the obvious danger to children and adults not be removed immediately while "the process of finalisation" goes on? Demolition is cheaper and easier than construction. I doubt that any reader of the Advocate last Saturday would have had a very different question in their mind. Quite clearly, the danger should be removed and then a new fence constructed. This is what you and I, and the Coffs Council bureaucrats would do if the danger were in our own houses.

This is a matter of safety to our families and visitors, because the park has many children playing in it every fine day. There are several hundred rusty iron straps surrounding the park, many of them sharp and jutting out from the rails. I hate to put a financial spin on it (but the appeal to reason and compassion has been unsuccessful): let's guess how much ratepayers' money would go in compensation to a family whose child had an artery slashed while running past the fence. Yes, Coffs Council has been aware for a long time of a serious threat to life as well as limb.

I'm just a relatively insignificant local resident and if one email to the local newspaper can get this much action, I hope some Sandy Beach Almanac readers will also have a word in the ear of:

The Editor, Coffs Coast Advocate, advocate@coffscoastadvocate.com.au

and more importantly:

The General Manager, Coffs Harbour City Council, Locked Bag 155, Coffs Harbour, NSW 2450

Council website ::: Council contact

Read some more ignored urgent matters sent to Council

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Categories: coffs, australia, safety, parks

Energy and Asset Technology, Inc. and Comments spam

I have been getting spam in my blog Comments from Energy and Asset Technology, Inc.

As a quick Google search of Energy and Asset Technology, Inc. found, this is one of many pages on the Net with press releases from Energy and Asset Technology, Inc and it has a name and address:

Energy and Asset Technology, Inc.
George McMillan
US: 561 620 4949
Australia: 617 5570 4500

as you can see here, they do put out a lot of press releases.

I don't know whether Energy and Asset Technology, Inc. (selling timber products) and George McMillan exist, but if they do it looks like someone is trying to make George McMillan look like an unethical, creepy bastard who deserves to get Telephone spam from friends of blogging. But I doubt it's a real human being.

Then I searched Google on Energy and Asset Technology, Inc spammer

Then I found it's a Pump and Dump scam: "Did you know that all the 'share recommendations' and 'company investments' spams I have received have all been for the Pump & Dump scam, known in the U.K. as 'Share price ramping". It is a scam where the spammer buys cheap shares in a company, hypes up the share price based on spammed e-mails and bulletin board stories. Once the gullible have bought shares and caused the share price to rise, the spammer sells their shares at a profit."

Let's hope someone finds the spammer ... like the FBI.

Bonville planter

Bonville planter.
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The overheated Esmeralda

Esmeralda the Computer is freezing every seven or eight minutes, which is ironic because it might be from an overheated disposition.This, and the fact that I am going to Sydney until Tuesday, will ensure that I won't be online till then. (Note to bad guys: yes, the Ponderosa is guarded day and night by a good number of friends.) Must go, Esmeralda seems rather warm. :)

BFN

Letter today to the Coffs Advocate

Let's see if this gets published:

Dear Editor,
After more than a year of my fruitless letters to Coffs Harbour Council about the hundreds of obviously dangerous sharp, rusty iron straps surrounding Sandy Beach, I have decided to ask the Coffs Coast Advocate if they will take up this matter before some child or adult is maimed or killed.
Thank you,

Pip Wilson
Sandy Beach

Photo attached

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If you are a local and can send photos with children in shot, I invite you to send them to The Editor, Coffs Coast Advocate, advocate@coffscoastadvocate.com.au

and

The General Manager,
Coffs Harbour City Council
Locked Bag 155
Coffs Harbour NSW 2450

Council website ::: Council contact

Read some more ignored urgent matters sent to Council

Woolgoolga Curryfest, Easter, 2006

"Woolgoolga has the largest regional Sikh/Punjabi population in Australia and it is the site of the first Sikh temple built in this country. Our Festival will celebrate the cohesiveness and harmony between the Sikh culture and the wider community.

"Although Sikh culture will be focal point of the Festival, other cultures will also be represented to demonstrate the diversity within our community. In future years, we intend to make other cultures the focal point of the Festival (eg. 2007 - German, 2008 - Phillipino, etc.)

"Woolgoolga Curryfest: A program of music, dance and workshops using local artists and dance groups incorporated within a food and music festival that will also include sporting events designed to educate and entertain the community."
http://www.curryfest.com.au/

Festival Dates
Easter 2006 - Friday April 14, 2006

Australian Geographic on Gouldians: 'Winged jewels'

Regular readers will know I'm a Gouldian nut ... I live with two Gouldian finches (John and Elizabeth Gould) that fly free in my house.

The cover of this month's Australian Geographic is superbo (must ask the newsagent to save me a poster), and here's the cover story:

Australian Geographic: Winged jewels

" ... The beneficiary of Mike’s extraordinary generosity is the Gouldian finch, one of the planet’s most beautiful creatures and one of Australia’s most endangered birds. Research into the species’ decline has been under way in Australia for some 20 years ..."

For the amateur Australian phenologist

"In recent years, many people have noticed that weird things are happening. Cicadas seem to be around later. 'Spring' bulbs are flowering in the middle of winter. Some bird species are nesting months earlier than they did a decade ago. Spiders are still lurking in their webs well into autumn, when most would normally have died off. What's going on?

"Scribbly Gum decided to investigate whether plants and animals in Australia are already feeling the effects of climate change. The first thing we wanted to know was what you have noticed. We invited you to submit your observations on any changes you've noticed during the past 5-20 years in your own backyard or neighbourhood ..."
Source: Scribbly Gum

Become an amateur phenologist, at the Book of Days

Whales passing through

"In Australia, the northern migratory route of the humpback whale is farther offshore than its southern route, so while whales may be spotted from land on their journey north, the chances of seeing them are higher on their return trip to the Antarctic."
Whale Migration: From the Antarctic to Australia

I caught just a quick glimpse of a whale yesterday, on its annual wintertime northward migration, and hope to have a bit more to say about this tomorrow.