The Country Is Still On Fire, A Taste of Honey

[tcpip]

What can one say, the country continues to be on fire; 27 are dead now, more than 2,500 homes destroyed, 8.4 million hectares destroyed, and half a billion animals killed. The Gaurnat Report in 2008 grimly predicted all this, but of course the latest round of conservative governments have shelved and reversed the carbon price, which actually worked. Conservatives are now saying it's not Australia's lacklustre action on greenhouse gas emissions it's fuel loads; yes, and a climate of increasing hot and dry weather that these "fuel loads" are becoming kindling. NSW Liberals are beginning to turn on the Prime Minister as, of all things, the Tories attempt an advertising campaign in the midst of a national disaster. So much more I could say on this subject, but in a nutshell, this weather is abnormal, the abnormality is caused by climate change, and the Federal government's response has been rather weak at best.

In my own world, I had a midnight rush to emergency myself a couple of nights ago. After cleaning out the pantry I found some honey, which I thought would go just lovely on toast. After all, processed honey lasts forever, right? Well yes, it does. Except when it is infused with lemon, for example. After two episodes of vomiting and incredible pain from stomach cramps, I picked up the offending package to discover it had expired five years ago; caseopaya rushed me to emergency, where they said, "what are you doing here?" and sent me across the road to the 24-hour pharmacist for painkillers and buscopan which relieved the symptoms successfully. Still feeling pretty green around the gills the following day, I took some sick leave. Today, I feel like I'm mostly recovered in entirety.

Which makes it opportune to report on events since advent of the new year, which started with a visit the Heide Museum of Modern Art. It has some fairly good Australian-styled modernist pieces, some atrocious installations, and a quite brilliant exhibition by Jess Johnson. Played DungeonQuest and Khan of Khans at the following evening's gaming session (and survived DQ, again, albeit just), and then run a session of Eclipse Phase on Sunday. Significant effort in publication already this year with Supercomputing with Linux now up on Smashwords and Cow-Orkers in the Scary Devil Monastery, now available on drivethrurpg.com. Have kept to my committment of one thousand words a day on publications, mostly on Imagined Worlds, Esperanto for Anarchists, and Sequential and Parallel Programming. In addition, have finished the committee reports and financial statements for the RPG Review Cooperative, as we're having our annual general meeting this Sunday, and have written up around 1500 words for my MSc dissertation, wading through the literature review. Not a bad start to the year, I think.

Comments

[heartonsnow]

A friend in Australia called me today and she has smoke outside her house but is quite a long way away from the fires. It only seems real when you read and hear personal accounts.

[tcpip]

Oh, we have the smell of the smoke in Melbourne city, and it's a very long way from the fires themselves.

The scale of the fires is just extraordinary. No precedent in our history.

And yet, it is probably going to be the new norm.

[heartonsnow]

it is strange that the link shows a map of the UK!

[tcpip]

Just a default because the Guadian is primarily a UK publication.

[heartonsnow]

Ah yes.

[dorchadas]

The pictures are horrific. Especially in the monotonous, constant reddish glow they all have.

Also, I thought honey itself was antimicrobial, but I guess five years is enough time for anything to overcome! I had better check the honey I have before I use it--I put some on toast last time I was at my parents' house and it was delicious, but I have no idea how long the honey in my pantry has been sitting there.

[tcpip]

Honey and lemon are both antimicrobial! In fact, lemon is recommended for food poisoning. But it can go off itself.

Processed honey itself can, properly stored, last even centuries.

"Honey stored in sealed containers can remain stable for decades and even centuries!"
https://www.honey.com/faq/

[dorchadas]

I remember even reading about honey found in Egyptian tombs being edible, though the local climate probably helped with that too.

Though this is reminding me that I should probably throw my lemon juice away and get another one...

[ideological_cuddle]

Fuel load is apparently not the problem it's being made out to be. Apparently when it's as dry and hot as it has been, even with very little fuel load you get catastrophic fires.

The "we need to do more clearing" line is just another way to divert attention from the real problems: lack of action on climate change and the lack of a a proper co-ordinated bushfire strategy including funding for assets and staffing.

[tcpip]

Yes, you're quite right. Lush rainforest technically has a high potential fuel load. It's a problem when it's hot and dry.

These are the people who would remove every tree to prevent a fire and then wonder why it's so hot.