Cup weekend and the following weekend…
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John Ross
HMS Terror sank during a disastrous expedition led by British explorer Sir John Franklin, after whom Mount Franklin is named. Franklin was attempting to chart the North-West Passage, from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the Canadian Arctic.
”The long-lost ship of British polar explorer Sir John Franklin, HMS Terror, has been found in pristine condition at the bottom of an Arctic bay, researchers have said, in a discovery that challenges the accepted history behind one of polar exploration’s deepest mysteries.”
And here’s a song to go with it…
Email from local: ”Just wanted to warn people in Yandoit/Yandoit Hills area to be careful
about what you leave lying around unattended in your yards. We have
just ”lost” two full jerry cans of fuel which were left out in view of
the front gate. Clearly too tempting for someone passing by!”
Our area has been downgraded on the NBN rollout plan. We were to receive fixed wireless, but now we have been relegated to the Sky Muster satellite service. This technology is inferior to fixed wireless or FTTN, but is better than the old satellite services. Speeds will be comparable to ADSL2 which many of us now enjoy, BUT the latency will be longer. Longer latency negatively affects services that require many interactions with a server, such as online gaming, Voice over IP, Facetime, Skype, etc..
Any form of voice communication over the Sky Muster service will suffer a noticeable delay, making a natural conversation difficult. ‘Ping time’ (the time it takes for data to make a round trip from you to the server and back to you) is typically 600mS on Sky Muster. On ADSL2 the ping time can be 35mS or even less. So in terms of latency, Sky Muster is a downgrade from ADSL2, although the bulk download and upload speeds should be higher than ADSL.
Check NBN availability at your address here.
Copper fixed lines will continue to be available at addresses served by the Sky Muster service (recognising the unsuitability of Sky Muster for voice communications), however products such as ADSL internet will eventually be decommissioned and you will be forced to use Sky Muster or the expensive 3G/4G mobile network for internet access.
The Sky Muster service is also affected by bad weather and may drop out on some days, so it is not reliable for emergency purposes.
Response from NBN Co to my enquiry regarding the degrading of our service:
- “Once an area as been made available for the Sky Muster Satellite scheme it will not be receiving another type of infrastructure. The nbn Sky Muster satellite service is dedicated to providing broadband connectivity to regional and remote Australia.”
As far as internet connectivity is concerned, you might as well be living in the middle of the Simpson Desert.
Interestingly, the major players (Telstra, Optus) are not yet offering Sky Muster internet plans. Sky Muster plans are currently only being offered by a motley list of minor ISP’s that you have never heard of: here they are.
In summary, our area will now receive a second-rate NBN service, and I suggest you all complain to our local member, Catherine King (contact form here).
The Yandoit Mechanics’ Institute is returning to its roots, but with a more inclusive bent: “Mechanics’ Institutes are educational establishments, originally formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men”. “The Mechanics’ Institutes were used as ‘libraries’ for the adult working class, and provided them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs” (Wikipedia).
The Book Exchange has grown like Topsy – too many books, amazing range! Get down there and take some (and contribute others)!
Outside Yandoit Hall, open all hours, no membership cards to lose, no fines, no grumpy librarians saying “Shhh”, and no obligation to return the books!
The Book exchange consists of a couple of cupboards and an unexpected number of boxes outside the Hall which folks can access at any time. And I promise you there is an eclectic mix of stuff, reflecting our community.
If you want a book to read, just go down the Yandoit Hall and get one!
“In Australia, the first Mechanics’ Institute was established in Hobart in 1827, followed by the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts[4] in 1833, Newcastle School of Arts in 1835, then the Melbourne Mechanics’ Institute established in 1839 (renamed The Melbourne Athenaeum in 1873). From the 1850s, Mechanics’ Institutes quickly spread throughout Victoria wherever a hall, library or school was needed. Over 1200 Mechanics’ Institutes were built in Victoria but just over 500 remain today, and only six still operate their lending library services.” (Wikipedia)
…well make that seven!
Music will be provided by Maurie Gervasoni (accordion legend), Greg O’Leary (fiddle legend), Ian White (banjo legend) and myself (bass and guitar ?). We will offer an eclectic mix of old-time dance tunes, standards, bush songs and a bit of good ole’ country twang!
I came across this site that gives an estimate of how long it might take a hacker to guess your passwords using a ‘brute-force’ (dictionary) attack. While the actual time estimates are probably unreliable, it will give you an idea of the relative strength of your passwords. You will get an idea of the effect of including upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. Type your proposed password into the form to obtain the estimate.
I have checked the source code of this site and I am satisfied that the calculation is done in your browser using JavaScript code from Google Analytics: your password is NOT uploaded to any server, so you are not at risk by using this site (provided that the computer you are using is not already compromised).
Event Summary
The Feathered Five Drive, Saturday March 19 2016, 8:30 am – 11 am, various locations
Our region covers many different habitats and local communities – and to celebrate this and ensure maximum coverage we have decided to hold three simultaneous bird walks, in the following locations Blue Hills/ Nuggetty, Clydesdale/ Sandon area walk, and the Glenluce area. Walk locations have been selected because they are known sites of at least some of the feathered five. More details provided upon registration.
Woodland Bird Evening Forum, Saturday March 19 2016, 5pm – 8.30pm, Campbells Creek Community Centre. Bookings essential.
5 – 6 pm: Speak with experts about attracting birds to your property and kids’ art activities with Judy Laycock.
6 – 7 pm: Vegetarian dinner, followed by a performance by Castlemaine’s Chat Warblers
7 – 8:30 pm: Talks and panel discussion with Andrew Bennett (La Trobe University & Arthur Rylah Institute): Drought then flooding rains: how do woodland birds respond to climatic change; and Phil Ingamells (VNPA): “10 things we can all do to help nature adapt to a new climate”.
Guided FOBIF walk, Sunday March 20 2016, 9:30am, Strangways (meet in Castlemaine)
This walk will have a special focus on woodland birds and their habitat. It will take place at a private property which is a woodland bird wonderland, with a lovely grassy understory and grand old eucalypts. A joint Connecting Country and FOBIF event, it will be led by Tanya Loos, Connecting Country, and Andrew Skeoch, Listening Earth. Meet at 9.30am outside 30 Templeton Street, Castlemaine (Continuing Ed.) and community bus’s will take us to the start of the walk. Bring water, morning tea and lunch.
More information about the festival is available at: http://connectingcountry.org.au/featheredfivefestival/
(Information from Krista Patterson-Majoor)
Full Title: A Successful Failure, A Trilogy
Author: Edgar Morrison
Published: 2002, Geoff Morrison
ISBN 0 949398 82 9
First published in three volumes 1965-1971:
Early Days in the Loddon Valley
Frontier Life in the Loddon Protectorate
The Loddon Aborigines
Should be available from Stoneman’s, Castlemaine.
I have added a new Education category, currently containing Languages, Local Booklist and Technology posts. See Posts by Category in the sidebar at right.
If you know of, or have written, any books with a local focus, please add a post and select the Local Booklist category.
If you want to post something Educational, just select the Education category, and if appropriate, contact me to request another sub-category.
I have just discovered ”Mango Languages”. This is an online language learning service with well-structured courses in 49 languages.
Many public libraries subscribe to Mango Languages and make the service available to their members. Goldfields Library Corporation (which includes Castlemaine) is a subscriber. Central Highlands Libraries (which includes Daylesford) does not subscribe. To access Mango, you need to login with a library card from a subscribing library. Note that anyone can be a member of Goldfields Library Corporation and use all their libraries, and their Mango subscription – residency is not a requirement.
From a computer, you must access Mango from a link on the website of the subscribing library service. For the Goldfields Library Corporation the link is:
http://www.ncgrl.vic.gov.au/e-resources/language
You don’t have to go to the library, you can access Mango from your home computer. There are also Mango mobile Apps for Android and Apple.
Once you are logged in and have created an account using your library card number and email address, the Mango website or App will track your progress through your chosen courses.
Mysterious Mose – music from the 1920s and 1930s, with special appearances from harmonica, washboard, kazoo, jug and musical saw. This Sunday, Jan 10, in the lovely beer garden of the historic Guildford Family Hotel, Guildford, between Castlemaine and Daylesford, from 1pm to 3.30pm. Food available too!