sorry just have to share this fantastic piece of news
over the past 3 days we have had more then 100mm of rain! All four of our water tanks are full (will get us through the summer - more then we hoped for at this stage).
/loves rain.

In other news - chocolate makes you happy. so what food makes you grumpy?
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:38, 60 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Coming from the UK
it's hard to get excited about rain! But when I've visited friends in Australia, I've realised how important it is. I know people who have a farm in SA, and the times I've been there it's been autumn. And the land was totally bare.

You'll be able to have showers for the next six months now, VC!

Ever had a bush shower, by the way? You know, a bucket of water tied to a tree. Or is that a myth perpetuated by television?
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:44, Reply)

No. But have washed in a river before.
was a bit pointy when I got out of the water though.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:58, Reply)

as in nipples, or rocks on the bank?

(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:00, Reply)

both.
the rocks were sharp and the headlights were on full beam.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:01, Reply)

^^
*horns*

:-)
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:00, Reply)

No, no, no
\m/ 0_0 \m/

is how you do the devils horns.

RAWK
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:02, Reply)

Oh dear, Al
You're such a card.

*shakes head*
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:07, Reply)

fucking rain
you're welcome to it.

it rained non-stop from about 7am till 9pm on Saturday. pissed me right off.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:45, Reply)

Poncho!

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:54, Reply)

Bivvy!

(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:00, Reply)

a poncho or a bivvy wouldn't help me
get things done in the garden, as it turned into a seething cauldron of mud
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:08, Reply)

Marquee!

( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:17, Reply)

I'm imagining you gardening in your suit
in a thunderstorm now. It's not doing anything to dispel the Vipros = Satan idea.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:18, Reply)

I'm happy to roll with it
I realise that if I come to a bash in London I'm going to have to wear it.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:20, Reply)

Hell yes!

(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:26, Reply)

Is that localised or does it apply across the State?
Victoria has had the worst droughts hasn't it? I heard that Brisbane got enough rain to take the reservoirs from 30% to 75% (or similar) in about three days fairly recently.

Good news for farmers anyhow.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:46, Reply)

at the moment we've had the heaviest rainfall in the (I guess you'd call it a county?) region I live
but there's been rain falling across the state yep. Queensland, NT and the top end of WA all have excellent rainfall - as does Tasmania.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:54, Reply)

We do understand that some countrys are larger than ours,
we used to own 80% of them.
(PsychoChomp, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:20, Reply)

Not saying you didn't?
just saying where the raing falls. They get monsoon rain up there. we get sweet fuck all for the most part. hence why last week when it rained me and my friend Kate went and danced in it until we were drenched and why I'm so happy now. Rain is awesome.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:40, Reply)

Just wait 'till you get to England
Then you'll hate the stuff.
( gareth_alien will be human again at, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:47, Reply)

Tropical Australia has plenty of water
as they get shitloads of rain up north.

Maybe the country should build a huge pipeline and send some of it down south!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:48, Reply)

That idea has been put forward, especially for Perth
which is in serious danger of becoming a dead city due to water scarcity. Other ideas include desalination, which is opposed due to the amount of power it requires, and drilling incredibly deep into aquifers below the ones they normally use. Personally that sounds great in theory, but I reckon sucking water out of rocks which isn't going to get replaced can only lead to problems.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:50, Reply)

the pipeline is the wisest idea
I concur that drilling down to water that won't be replaced is a bad move
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:51, Reply)

I agree
Aquifers are not a sustainable source of water.

Desalination would work though. Especially if it can be done with solar energy. And that's one resource that Australia's not short of.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:52, Reply)

There were some other objections to desalination
but I can't remember what they were, probably they didn't like the look of the plants.

Also, surely sucking up seawater is going to adversely affect local ecology?

Pipeline would be a good idea, but pretty costly, still, they've got to do something so I guess a cost benefit will be done and then whoever stands to make the most money will force the politics through
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:54, Reply)

I don't see a problem with using seawater
It's not like it's going to leave a big hole in the ocean. So long as the inlet to the desalination plant isn't next to the habitat of a rare crustacean or something, then I'd guess it would be OK.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:56, Reply)

There's a Pipeline being built in Victoria actually
but it's incredibly unpopular because water is scarce all over - it's just *less* scarce in some places. The people who are on the end where the water is being taken from aren't happy.

Desalinisation plants would be excellent - They're sustainable (considering the rate of melting caps) and a reasonable long term solution.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 8:57, Reply)

isn't it only the edges of the ice caps that are melting
and the interiors are actually thickening for the first time in thousands of years?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:03, Reply)

Mmmm not sure now.
/scholar googles

ohhhhh it's raining again! /glees.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:04, Reply)

I may be wrong
I imagine Al knows
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:06, Reply)

I'm not that clued up on the specifics
of ice caps and such. But i've read enough to convince myself that anthropogenic climate change is happening. But i'm not going to have a detailed argument if anyone wants to disagree.

Enzymes post does make sense though.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:20, Reply)

I've come to the conclusion
that I don't know enough about it, and nor does anyone who might choose to argue with me.

My issue with it is the focus on carbon dioxide when it is just part of a larger issue.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:22, Reply)

This is true
but it is a way of communicating the issue to the, how to put this nicely, errrrr, retards on the street. The sort of people who don't understand the difference between sell by dates and use by dates.

The sort of people who seem to need a reminder to breathe in and out to avoid death.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:28, Reply)

you are right
I often forget that despite everyone I associate with being pretty clever they are way above average.

Everytime I think I can't be surprised by someone's stupidity they find new ways to surpass themselves.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:31, Reply)

oh dear.
do you count clumsiness as being stupid?
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:36, Reply)

no, because I'm fairly clumsy
sometimes anyway

example: the other day I was making toast. I reached over the toaster to switch it off at the wall*, the toast then popped up, which made me jump and caused me to smack my arm into the wall cupboard above the toaster. Broke the fucking skin.

I'm so special sometimes.


*I told my other half it was to pop the toast up, but in reality it was because I'd forgotten I was toasting it and was just switching it off at the wall
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:46, Reply)

I'm pretty sure
there is an anthropogenic component to the current global warming cycle. I don't know how much. But I do think that there's no way the whole world can reduce its CO₂ output far enough to make much difference.

So we'd best start planning for how we'll deal with the consequences.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:38, Reply)

well planting trees and foliage helps to at least equalise your CO2 output,
Which is actually a potentially viable solution. I plant trees every year on "plant a tree day" with mum and we usually end up putting about 200 seedlings in. It's natural and it doesn't take much effort.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:43, Reply)

Planting trees takes some carbon dioxide
out of the atmosphere. But then those trees die and it all gets released again.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:50, Reply)

Depends where you are.
In the northern boreal forests of North America, 80% of the forests' carbon is stored in the soil. When trees degrade, they degrade slowly and incompletely with a lot of the carbon being kept in sol instead of being released into the atmosphere. Also, the rate the trees grow and sequester carbon may be quicker than the rate which fallen organic matter degrades and releases carbon. (In the tropics things degrae so quickly that this doesn’t work, plus more carbon is released hence the crappy soils in the tropics compared to temperate climates).

That said, planting trees is not the only answer. Instead of wasting money on oil exploration, “clean” coal (a crock), wars, etc, we should be putting it to work looking for real energy alternatives. Either that or buy everyone Honda Accords and let us all battle it out.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 12:54, Reply)

Yes...
... but that's not a good thing: it just indicates higher levels of precipitation, which you only get when there's more water in the atmosphere, which you get because of rising global temperatures.

And, of course, water vapour's a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right.

Thickening ice-sheets are used by climate-change deniers as evidence that the whole thing's not true. In fact, the opposite is the case. They demonstrate that things're quite bad.


I think.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:08, Reply)

that has a certain logic to it

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:10, Reply)

Exactly, plus the ice sheets are
only growing in Antartica (as far as I know). In the rest of the world, they are melting significantly. This is especially true in Greenland which holds an incredible amount of water which, as it is on land instead of already in the water (like the artic ice cap) will cause oceans to rise. Don't but any seafront land!
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 12:57, Reply)

The icecaps are melting round the edges
as Vipros says. But they aren't going to contribute all that much to the predicted rise in sea level.

Most of the rise is simply due to thermal expansion of the water. As the sea warms up, the water takes up more room. Given that a lot of the world's inhabited land is close to (or sometimes below) sea level, this could cause a bit of a bother.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:06, Reply)

well if that's the case, doesn't it follow logically that the desalinisation of seawater for home use and drinking water is acceptable?
I mean - it's not going to make much difference either way except that we'll actually have water!
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:14, Reply)

I quite agree, VC
I was just going off at a tangent!
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:17, Reply)

oh okay then. :)
tangent lines are hideous in maths.
I burned my maths book last year after the exam. I didn't even care that it was in such good nick it could be resold. I poured kerosene over it and lit it.

It was a strangely satisfying feeling.
/back on topic - it's hailing now. :D
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:21, Reply)

Actually, since the Greenland Ice is all on land,
as this melts it is predicted to cause a significant rise in water levels. (Thermal expansion is huge though).
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 12:58, Reply)

But
Perth doesn't need water, it's in Scotland!

Oh, wait, you're talking about the one on the other side of the world, in that strange place where everything is upside-down.

Oooooppppps, my bad.
(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:10, Reply)

don't worry.
Everybody here thinks Perth is strange too. It's so far away!
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:13, Reply)

And it's full of English people

(Bazongaloid, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:16, Reply)

And so is
the one in Australia!

*cymbal crash*
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:18, Reply)

/spangs.
oh god. I actually groaned at that. good lord.
/laughs
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:19, Reply)

You
Got that right.

:)
(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:26, Reply)

oh and by the way.
hello you.
/hugs
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:20, Reply)

Hi You
Long time no see, how're the exams going?
(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:26, Reply)

four down, one to go.
have the marks for two back, 88% in maths, 74% in chemistry.
And got major assessment marks back for history and english and did very well in those so am happy.
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:29, Reply)

Cool
You're doing good then :)
(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:32, Reply)

yup the hard work is paying off.
:D and how about you? anyluck with the job finding?
(Poppet some assembly required., Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:34, Reply)

No nothing yet
but I'm still looking.

I'll get something eventually. :)
(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Tue 9 Jun 2009, 9:48, Reply)