The whole bloody state caught fire! There are fires less then three blocks away from me, mostly contained, but if the wind starts in my direction again...
I'm packing the car anyway, just in case.
Well, moment of terror seems to be done, and I'm safe, but man... scary for a bit there.
Where the heck do you live? What happened?
Well I'm glad your not in danger of becoming a crispy critter. And I feel a little stupid, when you mentioned hearing alarms in channel last night I
thought it was house/building alarms due to power outages. But fire/emergency services are a more logical source in hindsight.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
He's in Australia, IIRC, Logan. Which is in the middle of OMGWTFBBQHEATWAVE right now.
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
Especially hot because the southern hemisphere's summer is when the earth is closest to the sun in its orbit.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
And here I think I'm suffering because New Jersey is colder than usual...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Yesterday was the hottest day on record here, and with the worst fire conditions on record too. I knew it was going to be bad, but DAMN, this was more then I
expected. One person dead locally, 24 statewide. The part that was so devastating here was the people love to have their houses right up against the bushland.
The fire races through the bush, and hits the house on the way past.
Yes its was something like 47.9C done south in Melbourne according to news up here... nothing to complain about.
And they are closer to Antarctica so
you'll figure that it would be colder there? Yeah right. Weather's screwy here in Australia. Down there in them Southern states they are cooking real
toasty like, up here in Queensland which was (and probably technically is still in drought) we are being washed away by a flood. 63%-68% depending on which
news you listen to. And more rain is coming. Thankfully its not local, its about an hour or so north of here, but in the worst hit areas they have almost a
metre of rain so far this month (600-800mm). Yet here it's dry.
How's that song go again... "Come to Australia, You might accidentally get killed..." ;P
Shader.
How're you doing up there Shader? I'm safe myself, so I'm allowed to wonder again
I'm safe. Not flooded here yet. Just feels like we're sitting in an oven, but the rain is moving south closer to here, so who knows?
Mate... Check in will you? The whole state is ablaze according to the news. Towns wiped out and everything. Last report I heard said it was worse then Ash
Wednesday with the confirmed death-toll soaring. It was freaky watching it on the telly.
Shader.
No more fires near me, but there's all sorts of horror stories coming in, and there was a fuckwit caught trying to light another fire on the edge of
town... There are towns that have literally ceased to exist. I'm kinda freaked out.
I hope someone decked said fuckwit. Is he somesort of pyromaniac or just terminally stupid?
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin
Quote: Timote wrote:
I hope someone decked said fuckwit. Is he somesort of pyromaniac or just terminally stupid?
There's a difference?
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make
anything explode.
I think there is, I mean, parents tell you not to play with matches. But I'd wager many kids have, nonetheless, at some point in life, because there is
some kinda visceral thrill in watching stuff burn. I've seen lots of stupid fire tricks, including one occasion with solid fuel. But there's a
difference in messing around with fire and burning crap under...reasonably controlled conditions...
...and, y'know, trying to start a fire in conditions that'd likely cause it to spread, in a situation where fires have already killed several
people. Which is either plain stupid, incredibly reckless, or just mean.
Looking at the news reports, they're saying there's been more than one arsonist ... the New South Wales government says they're gonna throw the
book at these guys, maximum 25 years in jail.
A part of me asks...if you actually killed someone with an act like that - or maimed 'em severely, since the serious injury toll is about the same
as the death toll, last I checked...is 25 years enough? In some ways, it's almost worse than deliberate murder.
-- Acyl
This story is big enough that the Australian Prime Minister is getting sound bytes on the New York news stations. He called this "mass murder", so I
suspect they'll get more than 25 years.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
The best these people can hope for is charges of Arson and multiple counts of Unintentional Manslaughter, which could likely go as high as Murder-1 if people
get it out for them. From reports I've heard from MD and DS, it's not to say that they don't really deserve to face such punishment, but still...
The poor bastards...
---
The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."
>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI
Quote: Ankhani wrote:
The best these people can hope for is charges of Arson and multiple counts of Unintentional Manslaughter, which could likely go as high as Murder-1 if people
get it out for them. From reports I've heard from MD and DS, it's not to say that they don't really deserve to face such punishment, but still...
The poor bastards...
If I start a fire that kills 131 people...
lynch my ass.
Given this isn't a case of terminal stupidity (like people cooking at a barbecue in conditions like this or whatever), but actively starting fires just
to watch them burn, I can't see anyone getting off with anything less than the maximum available sentence for whatever they're tried for.
Finding an unbiased and fair jury is going to be next to impossible. They'll probably have to settle for either A. shipping them in from out of state or B.
digging through potential jurists till they get ones with enough integrity to set aside(mostly) their opinions on the fact these braindead arsonists
deliberately caused this and to only consider the facts at hand. Which will still probably be biased, but what can you do?
Either way, I have to wonder if Australia still has the death penalty, because there're going to be thousands of people out there out for blood and these
dumbasses are the only ones caught so far.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
Sadly, no death penalty, but they're talking of including arson in the list of crimes where manslaughter is upgraded to murder. As for the fucker that
tried to relight a fire, he was caught in the act but managed to run away.
I'm still ok, just revising for an exam... The rains have finally come here. Just about 60-100mm. Not a lot. Are there any other Aussies on the boards
that we know of? Any more down your neck of the woods Sky?
Regarding the utter devastation I've been seeing on the news about Victoria... the images look like scenes from out of a war. Some towns have one house
standing, others have just the pub. Some towns are 85% or more wiped off the map. I did catch glimpses of the coverage on CNN and other 'international'
channels like NBS and BBC on paytv... They got the stories muddled somewhat.
Trust me its worse then the media is making out.
The local news before I turned it off said the death toll was over 190 and steadily climbing, and there was over 20 active fire-grounds, and several blazes
still out of control. And weather conditions are expected to take a turn for the worst in a few days. A lot of attention is focusing on the wildfires around
Kinglake, but there is other fires - including one close to where I use to live at which point I had to turn it off. Tales are starting to come out of entire
houses exploding and tanks full of water melting. Some of the other survivor stories are freaky.
And the fires were almost certainly deliberately lit.
Good news is over 40+ million dollars of donations and alike have been made for those left homeless. And the carefully selected interviews on television have
all said that they will rebuild.
Still my thoughts and condolences are with them and with those that have lost a love one.
In the words of the Kevin Rudd, the Aussie PM: "There but for the grace of God go I.."
Shader
Now what was this about someone caught in the act of trying to relight a fire? Anyone got a link on that one?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Quote: Bob Schroeck wrote:
Now what was this about someone caught in the act of trying to relight a fire? Anyone got a link on that one?
Think
this is
one of em and just in case you weren't already sick to death thinking these fires were deliberately set,
here's something to push you over the edge.