WA Goldfields bushfire
I started driving to work at 7.30 this morning thinking it would be an easy day. My biggest problem was wondering how to fill tomorrow’s paper given the scarcity of news.
A call to my mobile shook that theory. I was told that three people were killed overnight in a tragic fire on the Great Eastern Highway between Coolgardie and Southern Cross.
I knew the day would unfold with a new unwritten script. Read more
Working in the dark
It’s 42 degrees in Kalgoorlie today, continuing a run of hot, dry weather.
I was working for the second Sunday in a row and had to sub nine pages. Fortunately, the reporter (also a sub) and the photographer had everything ready to go early this morning and it was a smooth run, except …
The power went off about 11am. Our backup supply kept most of the computers going, but two employees working on the new server-based software were shut out of the system. It was only me with ongoing access to all the photos and articles.
Adding to the tension, I was told our backup electricity would only last for about two hours. We had no idea when the main supply would be restored. Read more
New web gadgets
I’ve been so busy for most of this year that I haven’t had much time to indulge in experimenting with web scripts, online services and widgets. Winding down towards a holiday I had the opportunity this weekend.
My first discovery was a free script called PHP Easy Downloader. It cleverly creates a neatly structured directory of text or image links for all the contents in a web folder. It’s ideal for listing downloads of files or pictures.
The program includes icons for file types and can create thumbnails of images. It has an accurate search function and can list files according to several options. There’s also a back-end administration tool.
I’m using it to list file downloads and to show a thumbnail gallery of my images directory. The latter isn’t my main photo gallery, but I thought this script would be handy to administer the files I have uploaded previously for this blog and elsewhere, many of which are no longer in use.
I’ve been experimenting a bit lately with video and searched a while for an online video solution. Motionbox has limited free storage (300MB) but looks attractive and offers handy features like online editing.
Google Finance Australia
It slipped past me in October that Google Finance began offering Australian share market prices and reports.
One of my few reasons for using Yahoo previously had been its superior Australian market coverage.
Now I can go to the cleaner look of Google and not worry about flickering ads.
Values meltdown
I sometimes fear that Western Australia is developing into a dysfunctional society. I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say there’s a large minority of people in this state who live outside the law and/or with little regard for it.
It’s a bigger problem than in other states. Two recent examples:
A 49-year-old farmer, William Rowe, was playing beach cricket on Christmas Day with his family at Geraldton when a group of Aborigines started harassing them. A physical altercation followed and Mr Rowe was allegedly assaulted with a cricket bat and died. His son-in-law to be also suffered serious injuries.
Last night a man was stabbed to death at a bus station.
There have been numerous examples of people being killed or seriously injured in late-night assaults in which alcohol and drugs were factors.
There are some dubious role models in Western Australia, of course. Drug addict Ben Cousins was welcomed back to the West Coast Eagles as a hero until he went off the rails again.
I’m concerned at the lack of moral leadership and the corruption of societal values. I don’t know the solution, but a good starting point would be to acknowledge we have a problem.
Holidays essential
I just read a good article on The Age about why holidays are crucial.
The article reports: “According to a survey conducted last year for Tourism Australia, Australians have 70 million days of accrued annual leave owing to them. Nearly 60 percent of full-time workers don’t take their full four weeks’ leave each year, including a third who don’t take any.”
The writer Ross Gittins goes on to say why holidays are so important. As a manager and an employee I agree with him. Read more
Christmas Day 2007
Christmas Day is always a special occasion for the children and this year was no exception.
We started our celebration by attending the Family Vigil Mass at St Mary’s.
We then drove around Kalgoorlie looking at some of the Christmas lights. Funnily enough the council tree in St Barbara’s Square wasn’t lit at 8.15pm.
Anyhow, there were some wonderfully decorated homes.
The twins managed to contain their excitement and went to bed about 9pm.
They woke us at 5.45am and were straight into the presents.
James is getting better at this. He used to get so overwhelmed that he would finish up grumpy in a corner somewhere.
Today he still took his presents to a quiet place for opening, like a dog with a bone, but he returned for more and didn’t get agitated.
Maggie (pictured) is much more comfortable in the limelight.
Little kids are easy to buy presents for and much cheaper. They’re happy with anything basically.
For the big kids, we had detailed wishlists and had to work our way through them (expensively) over several weeks.
Kalgoorlie dawn
We’ve had some mild weather lately and I’ve taken to going for longer walks in the morning. I discovered a little-used track (pictured) at the back of Hannans Golf Course which I follow and then cut back through the fairways.
I’ve actually seen more wildlife on these walks than in the Karlkurla nature reserve.
There isn’t much grass on the golf course and the “greens” are sand. For those who don’t know, an 18-hole international-standard grass course was supposed to have been finished by now and it is supposedly still under development.
There is some grass on the Hannans course though and it greened up nicely after last week’s rain. In the dawn light it looks quite attractive and the kangaroos love it.
A Passion for Dance
Margaret’s first dance concert was held on December 1 at the Goldfields Arts Centre. It was the Kalgoorlie Dance Academy’s end-of-year presentation: “A Passion for Dance”.
The Tiny Tots (girls aged 3-4) were making their debut stage appearances. They were introduced individually to the crowd and then performed Splish Splash.
We bought a DVD of the concert and after some experimenting I managed to make a video of Maggie’s performance and uploaded a copy to You Tube.
Kalgoorlie Miner circulation growth
Kalgoorlie Miner circulation for the week ending Saturday, December 15 was up 6.4% compared with the same week last year. I can’t give exact figures because they are still subject to an audit. However, I’m extremely pleased with the percentage gain.
It runs against the industry trend, especially in areas where there hasn’t been a significant population increase.
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