(Ted Rall’s website)
__
There’s still the weather reports. The three local newscasts were confidently predicting somewhere between 5 & 16 inches of snow here tomorrow night, which bugged me until I read Viva BrisVegas’ comment:
[M]y state of Queensland is pretty much underwater. We’ve exceeded our 40 days and 40 nights by a pretty wide margin and more rain is expected.
__
The town of Toowoomba, about 80 miles west of Brisbane, was hit by flash floods last night, so far 8 dead and more than 70 missing. The Brisbane River has topped its banks and parts of the city is flooding as I write, whether it will reach the record 1974 levels is an open question. The main dam on the Brisbane River has reached 154% capacity and is releasing 170 gigalitres per day.
__
This is on top of the floods in the north of the state last week, which left an area larger than Texas underwater.
__
So on the whole things are wet and getting wetter.
KG
there’s been a lot of rain/snow this year. I’m sure this just proves that we are not experiencing climate change, but I blocked the rightwing talking points email and I don’t like checking my spam filter for it, so I won’t know why.
LT
I’m trying to get a grasp of the Queensland flooding – here in Sydney it feels as far away as the U.S. really.
Andy K
@KG:
Funny, that, because for the last winter and a half here in West Michigan, where we usually get a lot more snow than, say, NYC, Philly, and DC, we’ve been relatively dry…Although we did get record snowfall in the winter of ’08/’09.
I can’t speak to Oz, but it’s been an El Nino/jet-stream thing in the continental US., iirc.
Ross Hershberger
We’ve gotten off easy in Detroit this winter. There’s another 1 to 4 inches of snow headed our way but the systems can take that in stride.
I’ve seen some videos from that flooding and if they’re representative, it’s a major disaster.
Yutsano
I just wanna say Toowoomba is an awesome name. And may Australia dry out soon.
jethro
Left Brisbane last year for Salt Lake City … thought I’d swap sun and beach for snow. Can’t believe all the rain and flooding since I left. Apparently workers in the CBD have been told to evacuate. And to think just recently the dams were at dangerously low capacity and we were on water restrictions …
GregB
This winter has had the least snow of any I can remember. This continues the droughty trend here in the north east
Barb (formerly Gex)
As I mentioned in an earlier thread – tomorrow’s a sad day. I have an appointment to euthanize Simon. Tonight we sat together as I scanned in some photos and put together this album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87042&id=1601743291&l=b75b567ae5
ETA: Thanks in advance for all the lovely, sweet thoughts I’m sure I’ll receive from you crazy animal folks.
MattR
One of the downsides of working from home is that I don’t get snow days. The only way I am getting off is if I lose my power or my cable/internet and neither of those is all too fun.
On the positive side, I won’t have to clean my car off and drive anywhere. (With the side note that I need to do something with the broken 50 inch TV in the garage so I can fit my car in it)
@Barb (formerly Gex): My condolences. He looks like a sweetie
Yutsano
@Barb (formerly Gex): Awww what a beautiful boy. I know it won’t help much, but you’re doing the right thing for him by making him hurt less. And he’ll be ready for his next scritch when you meet him on the other side.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@MattR: Yes, absolutely. He’s the sweetest cat I have ever had. Maine Coons are like that.
Mark S.
This column by Andrew Klaven makes Instapundit’s yesterday seem like a well-reason and judicious addition to the national dialogue. A sample:
It’s like a history lesson of the last two years from an alternate dimension.
Andy K
@Ross Hershberger:
You usually get off easier in the southeast part of the state than we do, but those storms that have been hitting Minnesota this year have been dipping south of us almost completely, and just brushing against you. It isn’t strange for that to happen once or twice a winter, but when it happens all winter long, as it did a year ago, it’s weird.
spudvol
Video of Toowoomba flood Jan 10th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY&feature=player_embedded
Andy K
RIP Cookie Gilchrist
piratedan
@Mark S.: after all, we should take the word of epithet spewing protestors over the film on hand showing the act and the word of three Congressmen who were actually spit on. Its a damn good thing we stole the 2008 election with the help of all those fraudulent ACORN voters!
Tattoosydney
@Yutsano:
Woolloomooloo.
@LT:
Yep – It’s oddly alien to see the footage and know it’s close to home.
El Cid
Brisbane suburbs at risk of flooding.
THE
We’re getting quite a bit of rain in Victoria, and and we’ve had some flooding.
I’d say most people in my state are still glad for the rain after seven or more long years of drought, and severe water restrictions.
This last December was the 5th wettest in 110 years of records.
We are watching current events in Queensland with great concern.
John - A Motley Moose
@Barb (formerly Gex): I had to have my dog put to sleep on November 30th.It was different for me. He seemed weak and off his food one day and then next day I took him to the vet. Less then an hour later he was dead. No warning, no time to prepare for the loss. I’m not sure which is better, but I do know it is hard to lose a beloved
petfriend.Yutsano
@Tattoosydney:
Gesundheit.
It’s so odd when none of the weather reporters can decide exactly what the fuck is supposed to happen here over the next two days. I’m hoping it dumps snow like mad. And a lot of folks Down Under stay safe.
craigie
I thought nothing was bigger than Texas.
John - A Motley Moose
@Andy K: I didn’t think it was particularly dry last winter in southern Genesee county. Our snowfall is usually pretty close to what Detroit gets. It’s been dry this year, tho. The only real snow we’ve gotten was 6 inches. We’ve probably had about 9″ total, so far.
Tattoosydney
@Yutsano:
Gulargambone.
J. Michael Neal
@Barb (formerly Gex): My condolences.
Yutsano
@Tattoosydney: Do you need Pedro to thump you on the back? Or just hairball medicine?
freelancer
@Tattoosydney:
Vegemite.
Andy K
@John – A Motley Moose:
GR- Kent County- where we get lake effect sometimes (the regular lake effect line is a few miles west, in Ottawa County, but we aren’t immune), and I don’t think we’ve even had 9″ cumulative.
Tattoosydney
@Yutsano:
I’m fine thanks. How about “Goondiwindi”? Or “Boggabri”? I particularly like “Yackandandah”.
Yutsano
@Tattoosydney:
Sounds like a yenta on a bender.
Suffern ACE
@Mark S.: Pretty much a succinct summary of why I will never join their movement. Last I checked, Europe wasn’t actually in flames, our cities aren’t in ruins, unions are very weak, George Bush was actully president when the economy collapsed. Also, too, the zeal in which the 55 year old guy who “used to be a liberal” now wishes to continue the crusade against the “jihadists” costs be damned is reason enough to keep me away.
Viva BrisVegas
@craigie:
We have front lawns here bigger than Texas.
It’s still raining, but I’m home now, having bailed out of the city early. The local news is in full “floodgate” mode, making it sound like the end of world. Trouble is that, looking outside, they may just be right this time.
Yutsano
@Viva BrisVegas: Please stay safe good soul. The last thing we need is a BJ funeral.
Tattoosydney
@Viva BrisVegas:
Best of luck.
freelancer
Rachel Maddow is a liberal. She has her point of view and she acknowledges as much. She has also been the most sane place to turn for in depth journalism amongst those on cable news of anybody in the last 2 years. From time to time, I have posted her most powerful news segments on my own site, sometimes with commentary, most of the time without, because she’s covered anything I could have otherwise wanted to express. With the retirement of Bill Moyers, she remains a lone voice of reasoned sanity, unaffected by money, liberal grandstanding, or partisanship, and has remained loyal to empirical facts, and to the truth that they lead to. She engages and addresses a level of complexity and nuance that is unseen in the pandering landscape that is cable news and American Journalism today.
MSNBC’s Monday night broadcast of The Rachel Maddow Show is one of the Network’s finest hours ever, and you owe it to yourself to sit and watch, and learn.
asiangrrlMN
@Barb (formerly Gex): Oh, I’m so sorry, Barb. My sympathies to you and your partner. It’s so tough. May he run swiftly to the other side.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano:
@Tattoosydney:
Thanks for the chuckles, guys. I’m feeling morose right now. How you boys be?
@Viva BrisVegas: Stay safe, you hear?
THE
A free plug for Coonabarabran in the Warrumbungle region. Awesome name.
Take care friends in Qld.
deminoz
@Tattoosydney: I was waiting for a woolloomooloo or an indooroopilly. The latter was my first attempt at an Australian town name — and the taxi driver laughed and laughed.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I wasn’t going to try and out-native name him. Although I am rather partial to Skykomish.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Nice. Are you feeling better?
@freelancer: I’m watching now. It’s early on, but she’s righteous in her anger. I’m glad to see her being open about the fact that this is not unimaginable in our country.
J. Michael Neal
Oh, right. Like Gichigami is any less amusing than anything the Australians have.
burnspbesq
Well, he’s at it again. Bruce Bartlett is continuing to confound those who think “sane conservative” is an oxymoron.
http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2011/01/05/bruce_bartlett_on_tea_party_monumental_insanity/index.html
Yutsano
@J. Michael Neal: I’ll have to do some research, but I think that actually has a definition. In Japanese.
@asiangrrlMN: I thought I was gonna lose my voice today but I ended up being all right. It helped I got off the actual phone work at 6. Now I haz a quivering pile of fur laying next to me.
burnspbesq
@J. Michael Neal:
Don’t play the weird place names game with a Welshman.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: I’m glad you’re getting better. And, awwwwww. Lexie! Cats make things better.
Gustopher
I like to sign up for right wing email lists, then mark them as spam every day in gmail, until it learns they are spam, hoping that the algorithms at Google edge just a little closer to dumping them in everyone’s spam folder.
Does this make me a bad person?
asiangrrlMN
@Gustopher: If so, then I am, too, because I chuckled heartily at your nefarious plan. Well done.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: You know, sometimes you people are more ebil than my job. I kinda like it.
@burnspbesq: One to add to the geniuses I deal with every day file: guy thought because his account was declared CNC that included any and all future liabilities, so therefore we would just keep taking his returns. He then went right into refusal to pay after I told him that’s not how it works. His CPA is calling back.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Yes. I fully admit it. I have a wicked side.
And, Rachel is pissed. VERY pissed. I like it.
THE
This is a panoramic image of the Brisbane River in happier times. (360Cities.net)
Requires a recent version of Adobe Flashplayer.
Best in Full Screen mode.
WarMunchkin
@freelancer: That was a good segment. Also liked Jon Stewart’s monologue that I just saw, it was poignant and heartfelt like he always is in response to tragedy. I don’t generally watch TV, and I was under the impression that sometimes the blogosphere can get a little out of control, but in this situation, just from the few clips I saw of regular cable TV, I’m absolutely aghast. Internets<Cable TV in level of extreme commentary, it's bizarre.
WarMunchkin
FYWP. WP go DIAF. I’d like Moore Award.
Lysana
@asiangrrlMN:
Gods, she is amazing when she’s angry like that. Remember when that hate-spewing SOB from Uganda was on talking about his bill that would ban teh ghey from his country? She was measurably angry. And so she was quiet. And measured. And precise.
Um. I’ll be in my bunk.
kdaug
@WarMunchkin: No Moore award for you, you’ve had enough. Now go to bed.
asiangrrlMN
@Lysana: She was really good. Very passionate, which made her even more biting. And yet, unfailingly civil. She rocks.
@WarMunchkin: I will be watching his next. If I can take it.
Night, all. Clean up in aisle six.
WarMunchkin
@asiangrrlMN: It isn’t too awful on the false equivalency, though it wouldn’t be Stewart if there weren’t a statement of general disgust, if that’s what you mean.
@kdaug: But it’s only 7PM! The comment system did mess me up though, since the “less than” sign is confounded with an HTML tag bracket.
Jack Canuck
@LT:
Feels even further from down here in Melbourne. I can’t imagine having to worry about the Yarra flooding anytime soon.
Annamal
@burnspbesq
“Don’t play the weird place names game with a Welshman. ”
Hah…probably best to avoid even starting with a New Zealander. The english place names are strange enough (Bulls, Clinton, Gore etc) but then you get to Maori names (Te Puke, Pukekohe and any name starting with Whaka) and then you get to the english translations of Maori names and you realise that there is a place literally called hot lips…)
Annamal
Also the Queensland floods royally suck my sympathies Viva BrisVegas.
shocking
My daughter (and ex) live in Indooroopilly, and according to the flood maps from the 1974 flood (which this one will be worse than), their place will be going under water. They’re safe at a friend’s place, and plan on retrieving more stuff before the river peaks Thursday localtime. It’s been an anxious day, as their local mobile phone tower died, and phone contact has been dependent on their whereabouts.
shocking
Regarding place names – how about Wangaratta, or Wagga Wagga? Wee Waa, or Koo Wee Rup? When I was living in the U.S. I do recall my inner 8 year old being deeply amused by a Kickapoo road in Texas.
THE
@shocking:
You must be worrying about your daughter.
It does keep happening in Brisbane.
This is Queen Street in the 1893 floods.
Skepticat
@Barb (formerly Gex): It wrings my heart, knowing too well what you’re going through. You have my deepest sympathy–and empathy (she said, holding her own Maine coon cat close and wetting his fur with tears).
slightly_peeved
@Annamal:
But the sound of Te Awamutu had a truly sacred ring…
Down south, the rain’s been a godsend, since it means the river Murray actually flows to the Coorong, rather than running dry. But hopefully the rain stops in Queensland soon.
Hypnos
Global Warming theory says increased evaporation brings more moisture into the atmosphere, increasing the intensity of precipitation events, while also increasing drought frequency.
Which means it doesn’t rain for years, and when it does, it washes away everything that hasn’t died yet.
But yeah, it’s all a hoax. No trend to see here.
http://www.unisdr.org/disaster-statistics/occurrence-trends-period.htm
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
If “doubt as to mental capacity” was grounds for accepting an offer in compromise, that guy would qualify.
Paul in KY
@Barb (formerly Gex): My condolences. Simon’s a beautiful cat. He’s given you so much, I hope we’ll all be reunited with our loved ones in the hereafter.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@Skepticat: Aren’t they the best? Such sweet cats.
asiangrrlMN
@WarMunchkin: Sorry. I should have been more clear. If my heart can take hearing more about the shootings, NOT about Jon’s occasional lapse into false equivalence.
DaveInOz
@spudvol: It was the most amazing piece of video that I think I’ve seen – the speed the water rose was incredible. If you haven’t seen it, take six minutes out to watch it.
It’s currently tipping it down here in Melbourne but nothing like Queensland has had for the last few weeks. It’s apparently the biggest La Nina event for decades which is why we’re seeing flood levels last seen in 1974.
joe from Lowell
Hey, look, everyone!
We found the ice caps!
Heh. Heh heh. heh.
Sob.
THE
From Australia:
ABC News 24 live online newsfeed.
maus
It seems odd for you to hate on the DFHs and Firebaggers, but then post a comic from Ted Rall, who is more insufferable and haters gonna hate (Obama) than ANY of them.
That said, I agree with the comic. I don’t watch television anymore. My ability to tolerate doom and gloom infotainment is kaput.