Month: February 2009

Death by firing squad

More than 100 people are now known to be dead due to these fires in southern Australia. They weren’t all deliberately lit, but some were.

I don’t understand the inner workings of the mind of an arsonist. That’s probably a good thing. I confess, I enjoy fire as much as the next pyromaniac. Scores of plastic soldiers can attest to that. But I do not understand how someone hears an extreme fire danger warning and decides to light a bunch of fires.

Here’s a study of the inner workings of an arsonists mind – and a “profile” of your average arsonist based on FBI cases…
Profile of an Arsonist
1. Have a below average IQ – somewhere between 70 and 90 points, one in four arsonists will fall below 70 points – the level at which people are considered mentally retarded.
2. They will often be “angry”.
3. Half of all arsons are committed by those younger than age 18; the other half is typically in their late 20s.
4.In arson cases involving older people, the motivation is usually for profit.
5. About 90% of arsonists are male.
6. Arsonists are are usually white (in the US).
7. If the arsonist is not angry there’s a fair chance they’re sexually aroused by fires.

Potential “red flags” to identify juvenile arsonists:

  • Children who start playing with matches or fire as early as age 3
  • Children who frequently engage in “daredevil” behavior, especially near fire
  • Children who mix chemicals or engage in “secret” fire settings in which they try different mixtures
  • Those who are noticeably excited while watching fires

Perhaps the media needs to reconsider broadcasting such warnings. There’s pretty much a blanket ban on reporting suicides in Australian news because of the fear of inspiring copycats. I wonder if the psyche of a clearly mentally unfit arsonist requires a similar level of protection. Perhaps a greater level given the harm they’re capable of causing.

There’s anecdotal evidence that arsonists are often members of the volunteer fire brigade – they use their training and knowledge to set the best possible fire, and then get to play around trying to put it out. That’s the mark of a sick mind.

The good news is that the perpetrators will face murder charges if caught.

February 9, 2009

On cricket

There have been a whole lot of posts around the internet about the predicament facing the Australian Cricket Team. Australia’s pre-eminent cultural institution. I have, until now, resisted throwing in my two cents. 

Much has been made over the departure of past heroes. The Gilchrists, Warnes, McGraths and now Haydens of this world are irreplacable. What makes me sad is that Australia has arguably the strongest domestic competition worldwide with imports kept to a minimum (they’re pretty much non existant – unlike county cricket in England) and young players being developed through government funded programs.

We really should be doing better at bringing young players into the national fold. Michael Hussey should have been in the national team years before the selectors got the balls to pick him. Same goes for Phil Jacques. Brad Hodge must surely feel like the unluckiest man in Australian cricket. Simon Katich has done what few have managed to do and resurrected his career from selector induced oblivion. 

Australia is blooding players too late. Debutants are often aged over 30 (eg 36 going on 37 year old spinner Bryce McGain) and longevity isn’t a possibility. Longevity and tenure has also been a problem. Half of these players retiring now are players I’ve watched my entire cricket watching life. The selectors need to be a little bold and courageous. Tenure needs to be an attitude of the past. Domestic players need to feel like they’ve got a real chance of breaking into the test team on the basis of performance. Underperforming veterans should be axed. We can’t afford to be sentimental about selections – any more than we are when voting for politicians. If there’s a better option there they need to be in the team.  

Michael Clarke’s decision to forego the big bucks in India to have some rest and focus on his international career is laudable. It’s a pattern that needs to be established on a wider level. Australian cricket will not survive at a test and 50 overs level if IPL dollars are the holy grail for up and coming cricketers.

Ricky Ponting is a terrible captain, but a terrific batsmen. This presents a terrible problem. How do you remove the captaincy mantle without slapping him in the face and having some effect on his batting.

That’s the batting side of things covered – our bowlers are in dire straits. They can not take a wicket. The lower echelons seem incapable of doing any better. We’ve seen about 6 no name players make inauspicious debuts this season. Who’d ever heard of Bollinger, Siddle or Hilfenhaus before they got a crack? And don’t get me started on spinners. How can there be such a scarcity of bowlers in the ranks? The quest for the perfect one day all rounder because of England’s ashes triumph on the back of Andy Flintoff has filtered down to the state level. Other than those players who made their test debuts this year can anyone name a bowler at state level? Didn’t think so.  How is Nathan Bracken, rated the world’s best one day player because of his economy rate, not suitable for a test berth? 

I also blame 20/20 cricket for the downfall.  But that’s another post for another time. End of rant.

February 8, 2009

There’s nothing wrong with this picture

Plenty of bacon to be found here in this “what to eat” decision making flow chart from geekologie. 

February 8, 2009

Lies, dam lies, and statistics

The mighty Ross River is filled to bursting and the dam gates are being opened to reduce pressure on the dam wall. 

This presents a sticky situation for the Townsville City Council – flood the streets or risk the structual integrity of the dam. Tough call. Not what I’m writing about though.

When I moved here I was really excited to be living life on the edge. Crocodiles, stingers, etc – you know the drill. And the dreaded Ross River Fever – named for Townsville’s iconic waterway. Or so I thought. Until a couple of old, wise, boaties in Hinchinbrook “set me straight.”  They laughed at me. To my face. They told me that Ross River Fever was named after a Ross River in Darwin. I was adamant they were wrong.  But they swore black and blue that the it were true… and I believed them. Any time it came up in conversation at future points I spouted this fallacy fed to me by two wizened fishermen. I staked my reputation on it. I scoffed at those ignorami perpetuating the viscious slur on Townsville’s reputation. I apologise. Ross River Fever is in fact named after the river in Townsville. For that we can be truly thankful. 

I’ve learned a lesson here. Never believe a fisherman, and if something sounds dodgy you should look it up on wikipedia. 

Perhaps Bill Gates needs to visit Townsville to release a swarm of mosquitoes on those paid to promote the city, who clearly know so little about the local landscape.

February 8, 2009

Failblog: Coffee Machine

Everything electrical in my life is dying. Painful deaths. Yesterday, before dismantling my breadmaker (and killing it), I discovered my trusty desktop PC is dead. I think it’s the power supply. Anyway, it’s gone. 

The breadmaker situation was all my own doing, and has been well documented. 

My coffee machine, the appliance I am most dependent on, gave up the ghost this morning. 

It was working last night before we went to bed. We only turned it off as we traipsed up the stairs to bed. So I haven’t done anything to hurt it. The waste water bottle was backed up which meant it wasn’t draining properly – but I couldn’t find any water that was interacting with the electricity. 

When we came downstairs this morning everything was off. We couldn’t figure out why. I checked the fuse box. Our circuit breaker was on “off”. Something was wrong. The usual suspect at this point is the coffee machine. And sure enough, when I turned it off power was able to be restored to the house. 

Subsequent testing (including pulling the machine apart and looking at all the wires) showed nothing structual was wrong with the machine, no wires were frayed. None were touching each other causing any short circuiting. All the earthing wires were still earthed. I am at a complete loss to figure out what’s going on.  

Could it be all the moisture in the air from all this rain?

February 8, 2009

The best bits – February 8, 2009

February 8, 2009

Coffee mug

Also awesome, also from ThinkGeek. This one’s $7.99.

February 7, 2009

Swordid umbrella

The only people almost as cool as ninjas are samurai. So the only thing almost as cool as a killer invisible ninja umbrella is this completely visible samurai sword umbrella. Tokyo Raiders eat your hearts out.

$29.99 at ThinkGeek.

February 7, 2009

Failblog: Breadmaker fail


A hard day’s work. Still no joy.

February 7, 2009

Introducing

While playing around with WordPress I’ve created a new account here at nathanintownsville.com – for my lovely wife. Robyn. I don’t know how often she’ll post. If ever. She said she might. But at the very least it’s nice she’s got that option. 

February 7, 2009

Obama: LOL Catz

I hope this sequence of events is true. I really do. Could be the best thing Obama has ever done.

February 7, 2009

A rivers runs through it

I love the Rivers clothing shop ads. I love how understated they are and how they bag out their own products. Particularly the latest ads for the $3.90 pairs of “Ugly” crocs. The whole family can be ugly together. Brilliant.

February 7, 2009

Epic fail

A few days ago in my post on coffee snobbery I mentioned that I liked the idea of rewiring my breadmaker so I wasn’t subject to it’s stupid cycles.

I had to wait half an hour for the motor to kick in and spin the beans. Now they won’t spin at all.

It sounded so easy on the website. Just add a wire here, a switch there. It wasn’t. I’ve killed the breadmaker (I think, I’m in the process of rewiring it again).

There was a spark, and a bang as the fuse blew when I turned it on for testing.

My soldering skills aren’t up to scratch and now I’m feeling a little light headed. In a rare moment of wisdom in this little episode I purchased the lead free solder. That could possibly have saved my life.

The breadmaker’s body, when you strip all the plastic off, is quite sharp. I now have cuts on my arms, the back of my hand and a nasty one right on an existing scar on my thumb.

The most annoying thing is the death of the breadmaker. Hopefully I’ll be able to fix it or replace it before the next batch of beans is due to be roasting.

If any of my readers have some electrical expertise and feel like coming around to take a look I’ll make them a coffee.

February 7, 2009

The best bits – February 7, 2009

Here's what has excited me from the blogosphere today.

February 7, 2009

My Desk

WordPress has a widely reported glitch with third party posting software that strips angled brackets – < – these things – from incoming posts. So you didn’t get to see the photo of my spectacularly messy desk that I used in the test post before. So here it is. In all it’s glory. I can find most things on it when I need to…

mydesk003.jpg

February 6, 2009