To enlarge a picture please click on it. A year's gone byOn my 80th birthday, in September 2018, I decided to write a blog. Getting the blogging mechanics organised took a few weeks but on Friday 9 November the first post went out. Time passes. My most recent post, Friday 8 November 2019, just two weeks ago, was 12 months from when I began. My original idea was to post once a week for a year, then think again. Achieved! Thought againNo fishingBy this bach is a personable trout stream in which I intended to go fishing. Sadly, the wee river was high and dirty all week, so I read instead – a newspaper every day or two and a stack of books. Here are one or two things I read about. Bush firesPage 24 of my local Wellington daily, The Dominion Post, 12 November, caught my eye. It had this headline: 'Deputy PM's Bushfire Rant'. The story was about Australia, not New Zealand. That country is having the most terrible bushfires – huge, fierce, destructive, deadly. Michael McCormach the Deputy Prime Minister, was ranting not about the fires but about Green politicians and other climate change sympathisers blaming the fires on climate change and on his government's failure to take measures to fight that. Speaking of people affected by the fires, he raged: "They don't need the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital greenies at this time, when they're trying to save their homes, when in fact the're going out in many cases saving other peoples homes and leaving their own homes at risk." And further: '"It is disgraceful, it is disgusting and I'll call it out every time", he said.' On the same page there is another headline. 'State's deadly mega fires are far from normal.' The text under that is writen by Greg Mullins, former Fire and Rescue New South Wales (NSW)comissioner and a councillor on the Climate Council. Showing great sympathy for those affected by the fires he goes on to say: 'If anyone tells you "This is part of a normal cycle" or "We've had fires like this before", smile politely and walk away because they don't know what they are talking about.' 'Fires are burning in places and at intensities never before experienced – rainforest in northern NSW, tropical Queensland, and the formerly wet old-growth forests in Tasmania. 'Or again: 'In the past I've heard some federal politicians dodge the question of the influence of climate change on extreme weather and fires by saying, "Its terrible that this matter is being raised while the fires are still burning." But if not now, then when?' ConflictThis sort of disagreement is occurring in many counties. How will it be resolved? Is lack of knowledge and understanding the problem? Have many politicians not read and or listened to the overwhelming majority of scientists? Maybe they hang on to the views of a few dissenters. Bullishness by some leaders really worries me. Into the future? I'm worried. ---------- Finding Gobi
Cliff YoungLeonard writes: 'To anyone who has ever faced an insurmountable challenge that nobody believes can be overcome, Cliff's story offers hope. On Wednesday, 27 April, 1983, Cliff Young turned up at the Westfield shopping mall in the wetern suburbs of Sydney, looking for the start line to a remarkable race. The route led to another Westfield shopping mall, 543.7 miles away in Melbourne. The race was widely considered to be the toughest of its kind... Cliff stood out from the handfull of other runners who had gathered for the brutal race. He was sixty-one years old, wore overalls and work boots, and had removed his dentures because he didn't like the way they rattled when he ran.' According to best technique Young didn't run properly. He shuffled. Energy saving. By the end of the first day he was a long way back. But whereas the other competitors after running 18 hours slept 6 – approved technique – Young had just two hours then ran. The other nights he didn't sleep at all. He won by 10 hours, in 5 days 15 hours, shattering records and blowing away existing ultra-marathon tactical theory. Fascinating and inspiring
Reference: click red text for links Video Westfield race 1983 – original footage State's deadly mega fires are far from normal Deputy PM's bushfire rant Finding Gobi main edition: Harper Collins, London, 19 April 2018, ISBN10 0008227969 John McInnes Friday 22 November 2019 Another Ngaio blog Please click on this line to reach another Ngaio blog, The Beret Project, by Daan Koltoff. Be surprised! ##########
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