General Discussion Thread

[Purple Wyrm]

I always keep a 2nd pair at work in case I break the primary pair. Or as is more often the case forget to bring them...

That is probably something I should consider.

[Antillanka]

.... well this happened.

Thieves steal Swedish royal jewels, escape by speedboat

... running away in bicycles... well that's so very ecologically conscious of them. It's a pity for the jewels, though, I hope they get recovered.

[Mebediel]

.... well this happened.

Thieves steal Swedish royal jewels, escape by speedboat

It's so strange to me that heists exist in real life and not just movies. Like Antillanka said, though, I hope they get recovered!

[Róisín]

The weird weather continues. At a time of year when normally the early Spring bulbs are starting to bloom and the weather to warm up, I came home about 2100 last night to find fine snow dusting down, after a day in which there had been several vicious hailstorms. We normally only get enough snow to lie on the ground every few years here, it's a big deal. And Europe still has heatwaves and bushfires.

[Sc0ut]

The weird weather continues. At a time of year when normally the early Spring bulbs are starting to bloom and the weather to warm up, I came home about 2100 last night to find fine snow dusting down, after a day in which there had been several vicious hailstorms. We normally only get enough snow to lie on the ground every few years here, it's a big deal. And Europe still has heatwaves and bushfires.

And it will continue for the foreseeable future, worldwide and during all seasons. The climate change that's happening comprises warmer temperatures and a higher frequency of extreme weather. Everyone would do well to expect the unexpected and put systems in place to protect from floods, droughts, fires, wind storms etc even if the climate they live in isn't normally supposed to do that. Things are a-changing, we officially ducked up the planet to a degree where everyone gets to feel the results.

[Róisín]

Or, as Peter Cundall, a wise man and a wise gardener, puts it, "Not so much climate change as climate disruption". He has a point. I've been preparing for this for years, but there seem still to be way too many who don't believe it is happening at all. I'll go on insulating, planting hardy perennial vegetables and tough fruit trees, and keeping the best stores I can of both fuel and water for when the weather goes unseasonably weird, and of food for when we are flooded in or when the power goes off. (Looks out over the quaggy garden while muttering darkly about 'driest state of the driest inhabited continent', which is supposed to apply to South Australia where I live.)

[Grade E cat]

In France, the Paris region (and other places) got big floods, which are considered a rare event, in both 2016 and 2017. Some of the people who got flooded in 2017 were still in the middle of repairing the damage from the 2016 flood.

There is also a memory I have from the 2003 "big" heatwave (now, we're basically getting one of these every August): within a realtively short timespan, I remember watching someone saying that heat waves like that one can be expected to show up one every five years and a farmer saying that his heat-damaged perennial crop was going to need five years to recover. I don't remember anyone making the connection.

Those two things sum up what's going on in my opinion. At least, there was a story about changing to heat and drought resistent varieties of some crops this year.

[Róisín]

Sounds like 'prepared for anything' is a good idea. What especially annoyed me was when last year the insurance company was still in the process of replacing our storm-damaged roof, ceiling and floor coverings when the next set of storms rolled in......

[Purple Wyrm]

And to add to the apocalyptic vibe, earthquakes!

* Earthquake near Mannum felt across Adelaide suburbs and hills rumbled 'like a train'!
* Earthquake strikes Norseman in regional WA hours after smaller quake hit Adelaide

Were you affected Róisín?

[Róisín]

We were. About 2030 last night, with shaking and rumbling, then another jolt around 0400. I was unloading the car and bringing in extra firewood when the first one hit, because the light was weird and I was expecting a storm (we did get one later). Woke me up the second time. The cats were freaking out, the kookaburras and parrots were calling much later than they usually do, and the frogs had gone silent, so I thought something was up.

Epicentre was at Mannum, a bit less than 30k from here. According to the news the epicentre was 8k deep. Could have been worse, all we got was a doorframe knocked out of alignment and a few broken cups. We are faring far better than the poor folk in Lombok.

[Purple Wyrm]

We are faring far better than the poor folk in Lombok.

That's true enough. Glad you're OK!

[Róisín]

Thanks Wyrm! Were the WA quakes anywhere near you?

[Purple Wyrm]

Thanks Wyrm! Were the WA quakes anywhere near you?

A bit over 600km away as the crow flies! :'D

[thorny]

Epicentre was at Mannum, a bit less than 30k from here. According to the news the epicentre was 8k deep. Could have been worse, all we got was a doorframe knocked out of alignment and a few broken cups. We are faring far better than the poor folk in Lombok.

Glad you're all right, Róisín.

[Róisín]

Fine so far, thanks, though I would be unsurprised if we have more tremors. Also, tonight's news bulletins suggest that the epicentre was nearer to Palmer, which is a lot closer to us. This suggests to me that the early reports said Mannum because Mannum is the big town nearest the actual epicentre. Much of the area is farmland and bush with few people.