Spitting Into the Wind

Koalas will face extinction in south-east Queensland unless the government legislates to protect their habitat, the Australian Koala Foundation said today.

There were only an estimated 7,000 or 8,000 koalas left in the wild in the region and last year, around 2,000 were killed by dogs and cars, Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) chief executive Deborah Tabart said.

"I have no doubt the koala population is in decline and within 15 years or so, it will be extinct," Ms Tabart said.

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Murder and life in gaol are not normally funny subjects, but reading this article in the Daily Telegraph today, I couldn't help myself.

This guy is already serving 3 life sentences for murdering a crime boss and his cronies. That in itself should be worth something, but today the courts added 12 years over a "shoot out" with police. This guy is one unlucky fellow.

He shot Constable Patrech in the thigh and wrist as the officer scaled a fence in pursuit.
The officer broke his ankle when he fell to the ground.
Constable Fotopoulos returned fire, hitting Kanaan in the legs and buttocks.
But Kanaan kept shooting at the officer until his ammunition ran out, and in the process accidentally shot himself in the foot.
The court heard he was wheelchair-bound for two-and-a-half years after the shooting.

The guy is only 31 years old and already serving 3 life sentences. In Australia, life is life, so he has little hope of ever seeing the outside again. So I'm wondering who foots the bill for the days spent in court, with solicitors and barristers and all manner of court officials, when an extra 12 years will make no difference to his already life-long gaol term. What a total waste of money and time when court cases are backed up for months already.

Surely those two policemen are happy that he'll never get out and you would think it would be enough. When are the beaurocrats going to see the waste of resources and taxpayer money?

Posted at 10:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

There's been announcements of two important archaelogical discoveries in the last few weeks with a pre-colonial astrological observatory possibly 2,000 years old in the Amazon basin near French Guiana, and the discovery in Peru of a 4,200-year-old temple and observatory. The observatory has been dubbed the "Amazon Stonehenge" and was built of 127 blocks of granite each three meters (10 feet) high and regularly placed in circles in an open field.

Archaeologist Mariana Petry Cabral, of the Amapa Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IEPA), told O Globo newspaper...

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I've been scanning the news items today and note with growing concern that activity on the Indonesian volcano Mount Merapi has intensified, with continuous clouds of ash, gas and rock fragments spewing from its crater. One of the emissions sent a pile of debris 4km (2.5 miles) down one side of the mountain.

Posted at 11:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |