Off Topic Thread 4

[wendybr]

3 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Wanderboy is the biggest weather geek around and so he might be the man to answer your question better than me but will give it a go. East coast lows give the heaviest rainfall around Sydney and to the mountains, that is a very small low pressure that spins off the coast, very unpredictable where it will form until 24hrs before. A difference of 50k's up or down the coast can make the difference between 5mm or 80mm of rain. Another main source of rain around Sydney are thunderstorms, you can either get right under a chain of them, or go right around you, sometimes they fade and not as strong as forecast. Another is the north west cloud band that sucks moisture in from the northern monsoon and drags it down to the SE, that can waiver around and not always go where predicted.

In the UK you know you are going to get reliable rain events sweeping in from the Atlantic, usually in the form of constant drizzle for a few days a week. Here in Australia it can be dry for weeks and then you are relying on the unpredictable rainfall events I mention above, which can be hit and miss.

I think the BOM generally do OK.

Thanks Smoggy - that all makes sense.

I know our weather is erratic... and I think the BOM do a good job also.

But they are rarely wrong when they forecast a killer heat day....but when they suggest the chance of rain, THAT is less predictable.

Now I know why. 

[Smoggy]

1 minute ago, wendybr said:

Thanks Smoggy - that all makes sense.

I know our weather is erratic... and I think the BOM do a good job also.

But they are rarely wrong when they forecast a killer heat day....but when they suggest the chance of rain, THAT is less predictable.

Now I know why. 

When you get a build up of heat in the centre of Australia like we have at the moment due to lack of moisture, cloud cover and a weak monsoon then that heat has to be flushed out somewhere. It is a pattern that will keep on repeating unless thing change.

[wendybr]

1 minute ago, Smoggy said:

When you get a build up of heat in the centre of Australia like we have at the moment due to lack of moisture, cloud cover and a weak monsoon then that heat has to be flushed out somewhere. It is a pattern that will keep on repeating unless thing change.

Yes.... 

I reckon we need that dreamt of "inland sea" created.

Desal plants in SA pumping water into Central Australia....and it can come back to us, sucked up by these masses of hot air from the North West. Would that work?

 

[Edinburgh]

@marron

Good luck squire.

[Smoggy]

26 minutes ago, wendybr said:

Yes.... 

I reckon we need that dreamt of "inland sea" created.

Desal plants in SA pumping water into Central Australia....and it can come back to us, sucked up by these masses of hot air from the North West. Would that work?

 

From this time last year, looking at the rainfall from the monsoon across the NT and if that could be brought south - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-18/why-cant-top-end-pipe-water-south-assist-drought-stricken-states/10615440, 

Would cost billions of course and unlikely to ever happen. Desal plants cost a fortune to run to contribute to drinking water reserves, running one continuously to create an inland sea that would suffer from constant evaporation and salinity issue would not work so well. 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by Smoggy

[Smoggy]

Smoke back over the basin. Just listening to Gladys and Shane the Fire Services boss on the news and sounds ominous.

The best xmas present in the world would be lots of soaking rain.

[sonar]

10 hours ago, Smoggy said:

From this time last year, looking at the rainfall from the monsoon across the NT and if that could be brought south - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-18/why-cant-top-end-pipe-water-south-assist-drought-stricken-states/10615440, 

Would cost billions of course and unlikely to ever happen. Desal plants cost a fortune to run to contribute to drinking water reserves, running one continuously to create an inland sea that would suffer from constant evaporation and salinity issue would not work so well. 

 

 

Some research from your neck of the woods in the UK looks promising though.

https://www.ft.com/content/d768030e-d8ec-11e7-9504-59efdb70e12f

....."Filtration is being transformed by thin sheets of graphene, a carbon-based material invented in 2004 at Manchester University. Rahul Raveendran Nair, the university’s professor of materials physics, says graphene has the potential to deliver large quantities of clean water via desalination and the removal of pollutants.

Meanwhile, improved technology for capturing water vapour from the air holds out hope for arid regions. In April 2017, Prof Nair demonstrated that a multi-layer membrane made from graphene oxide can filter out the sodium chloride in seawater much more quickly and cleanly than existing techniques. “The graphene filter is like a mesh or sieve with holes so small that salt molecules cannot pass through,” Prof Nair says.

The filters were recently shown to be able to filter even the dye molecules of whisky, turning the liquid colourless.".....

[Neverbloom]

40 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Smoke back over the basin. Just listening to Gladys and Shane the Fire Services boss on the news and sounds ominous.

The best xmas present in the world would be lots of soaking rain.

pretty much every ******* day looks like its going to pour down with rain and we get **** all

[Potkorok]

11 hours ago, wendybr said:

Yes.... 

I reckon we need that dreamt of "inland sea" created.

Desal plants in SA pumping water into Central Australia....and it can come back to us, sucked up by these masses of hot air from the North West. Would that work?

 

The logical answer is recycled sewage - we waste inordinate amounts of water through the sewerage system - Singapore has been drinking recycled effluent for years - I have a mate who's an engineer and who used to work for a local firm called Memtec (since bought by Siemens) and they use reverse osmosis to filter out all contaminants to return to drinking quality - my mate used to hand out bottles of recycled waste to demonstrate. Problem is the "ewww" factor that people need to get over..... 

[Prydzopolis]

On 17/12/2019 at 10:36 PM, Paul01 said:

And when it comes down to, the State Government decided to defund the RFS and National Parks& Wildlife, severely limiting their capacity to,perform back-burning during the winter.

Funnily enough there were budget cuts to the rfs recently but they didn’t hit things too hard. It was the $200m cut to the national parks that hurt the most? You ask why? The national parks undertake all there own back burning or bring in the required resources to make it happen. Guess where Gospers mountain is located?

On 18/12/2019 at 8:37 AM, Unlimited said:

I’ve seen people literally blame the Greens for this

The average intelligence of a voting individual here is shocking, but as I mentioned in another thread, we get the government we deserve

Interestingly enough, the greens have tried to stop the back burning & it’s had an effect but no where in the magnitude that climate change has had an effect (drier conditions & a shorter window to back burn). So, they are in a small part to blame but to focus all your anger & attention on them would be disingenuous.

From a pure personal point of view you wonder how effective these back burning operations can be? I mean, they are only lit to burn the foliage on the ground & only burn a few meters high. The problem with the bush fires is they just burn above the ground running across the top of the Forrest jumping these containment lines they create. Throw in the winds that blow embers 30km+ it’s just something else. I guess you’ve got to prepare, you’ve got to give yourself the best chance

12 hours ago, marron said:

got told today also the backburn op had the option of having extras from sydney on duty but they weren't used. To be fair the decision was probably to keep them rested on a less dangerous day.

The rfs guys working on the gospers fire have been going 6 weeks straight. All exhausted & no respite in sight. Going to be a long summer for those blokes. At least I’ve heard that a third party (Westpac) have stepped in now & will be helping pay the volunteers for there time. They had quite a bit of help but the extra help were pulled to help with fires elsewhere apparently.

[Neverbloom]

great its now windy as ****.........which is always great when it comes to bush fires

[marron]

19 hours ago, Smoggy said:

Hope all goes OK over the coming days up there. Breaks my heart because I think you know how much I love spending weekends up there in the cooler months. 

Yep, it is heartbreaking.... don't know what else to say.

 

1 hour ago, Neverbloom said:

great its now windy as ****.........which is always great when it comes to bush fires

Hope you are alright goat. I don't know exactly where you are but I was talking to someone from Grose Vale yesterday, the outlook was not good. take care!

[sonar]

7 minutes ago, marron said:

Yep, it is heartbreaking.... don't know what else to say.

 

Hope you are alright goat. I don't know exactly where you are but I was talking to someone from Grose Vale yesterday, the outlook was not good. take care!

 

[Neverbloom]

18 minutes ago, marron said:

Yep, it is heartbreaking.... don't know what else to say.

 

Hope you are alright goat. I don't know exactly where you are but I was talking to someone from Grose Vale yesterday, the outlook was not good. take care!

thank you honestly not worried right now but its still something i need to keep a close eye on

[Smoggy]

Put the ice skates on with the lad this morning for a bit of a laugh, I did a bit when I was younger but was never great....I am pleased to say that I have advanced from total humiliation level to moderate humiliation level. 

[sonar]

17 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Put the ice skates on with the lad this morning for a bit of a laugh, I did a bit when I was younger but was never great....I am pleased to say that I have advanced from total humiliation level to moderate humiliation level. 

Homebush....?

[ZachMercer]

17 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Put the ice skates on with the lad this morning for a bit of a laugh, I did a bit when I was younger but was never great....I am pleased to say that I have advanced from total humiliation level to moderate humiliation level. 

Good work. I always have that little voice in the back of my head saying "todays the day you're gonna break something" when I go. 

[Smoggy]

37 minutes ago, sonar said:

Homebush....?

Macquarie 

[Smoggy]

37 minutes ago, ZachMercer said:

Good work. I always have that little voice in the back of my head saying "todays the day you're gonna break something" when I go. 

My son was deliberately putting me off and trying to get me on my arse...I don't need assistance in that regard. 

[sonar]

8 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

Macquarie 

In my early teens we used to go to Homebush where we learnt the lessons of various bruised body parts from falling on our butts though on a hot summers day it was heaven.......

[ZachMercer]

Parent advice required!

Can I ask anyone who's raised or is currently raising an 11 year old boy whether they will eventually straighten out! Faaaarrrk me.

In the last 6mths he's gone rogue with mood swings, melt downs, argumentative, talking back, threats, etc. 

He's started dressing like a chav (in bad streetwear not good stuff), he just wants to hang with his talentless dipsh*t mates, and now has an older "girlfriend" that is a complete airhead that wants to be an influencer when she grows up.

He's started listening to hip-hop like one-four, etc. and told me today he may not want to pursue a career in football as it might get in the way of becoming a rapper! He lives across two houses, one in Newtown and one in Cabarita, and there ain't no projects here. I love him dearly, but ain't no one interested in listening to white privilege gangster beats. He's never even been to Mounty County in his life!

Tell me this will stop.... my house is literally a war zone.

[mack]

Give him the belt.

[Neverbloom]

19 minutes ago, ZachMercer said:

Parent advice required!

Can I ask anyone who's raised or is currently raising an 11 year old boy whether they will eventually straighten out! Faaaarrrk me.

In the last 6mths he's gone rogue with mood swings, melt downs, argumentative, talking back, threats, etc. 

He's started dressing like a chav (in bad streetwear not good stuff), he just wants to hang with his talentless dipsh*t mates, and now has an older "girlfriend" that is a complete airhead that wants to be an influencer when she grows up.

He's started listening to hip-hop like one-four, etc. and told me today he may not want to pursue a career in football as it might get in the way of becoming a rapper! He lives across two houses, one in Newtown and one in Cabarita, and there ain't no projects here. I love him dearly, but ain't no one interested in listening to white privilege gangster beats. He's never even been to Mounty County in his life!

Tell me this will stop.... my house is literally a war zone.

hopefully its just a phase but sorry i cant really give advice, sadly stuff like onefour is a lot about image if they are seen to be not about that life so to speak then that is a bad news for them, lucky a lot of that kinda thing is about code wars(for example onefour represent mounty and a lot of 27XX postcodes while the gang that they have issues with are from granville) lucky since he doesnt live in either area its something that is likely to pass soon so sorry cant really give any good advice

 

maybe try showing him how much fun football can be will help.........so obviously dont take him to a wanderers match

 

EDIT: even there is an interview of onefour where onefour tell kids that they shouldnt be like them and being influenced by them is a bad idea if that could help but i doubt that would help

[Smoggy]

47 minutes ago, ZachMercer said:

Parent advice required!

Can I ask anyone who's raised or is currently raising an 11 year old boy whether they will eventually straighten out! Faaaarrrk me.

In the last 6mths he's gone rogue with mood swings, melt downs, argumentative, talking back, threats, etc. 

He's started dressing like a chav (in bad streetwear not good stuff), he just wants to hang with his talentless dipsh*t mates, and now has an older "girlfriend" that is a complete airhead that wants to be an influencer when she grows up.

He's started listening to hip-hop like one-four, etc. and told me today he may not want to pursue a career in football as it might get in the way of becoming a rapper! He lives across two houses, one in Newtown and one in Cabarita, and there ain't no projects here. I love him dearly, but ain't no one interested in listening to white privilege gangster beats. He's never even been to Mounty County in his life!

Tell me this will stop.... my house is literally a war zone.

Father of a 12 year old boy here, edging in towards the teenage years. I think there is massive differences at this age regarding how boys mature and look. I noticed when at my sons school yesterday for the final day that of his group all look MUCH older than he does and act much older. My son will be very tall and a big enough unit like me one day, but I was a very late developer in that sense and I was quite young for my age at the time also. I didn't put on a proper growth spurt that took me above my mates until 16 - 17, then I shot up big time and that was the difficult few years for me. I swear that is one kid in my sons year just gone that could have had a good go at getting served at a bar lol

We do lots together and he still seems to want to hang out with his old man (going snorkeling tomorrow), getting as much of that in as I can before he changes. He still wants to do stuff at home that he prob wouldn't admit to outside to his mates, we did a Xmas decoration craft thing together this afternoon lol I would say for a 12 year old he is young for his age in my sons case, I would say bordering on the naive perhaps at certain times. Talked to the wife about that and he is going to have to start developing in maturity a bit but don't want to force that too much either. Its a tricky balance.

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Smoggy

[wendybr]

49 minutes ago, ZachMercer said:

Parent advice required!

Can I ask anyone who's raised or is currently raising an 11 year old boy whether they will eventually straighten out! Faaaarrrk me.

In the last 6mths he's gone rogue with mood swings, melt downs, argumentative, talking back, threats, etc. 

He's started dressing like a chav (in bad streetwear not good stuff), he just wants to hang with his talentless dipsh*t mates, and now has an older "girlfriend" that is a complete airhead that wants to be an influencer when she grows up.

He's started listening to hip-hop like one-four, etc. and told me today he may not want to pursue a career in football as it might get in the way of becoming a rapper! He lives across two houses, one in Newtown and one in Cabarita, and there ain't no projects here. I love him dearly, but ain't no one interested in listening to white privilege gangster beats. He's never even been to Mounty County in his life!

Tell me this will stop.... my house is literally a war zone.

Oh dear.

He's starting early, it seems.....but I think you might have a few more years to go with this sort of stuff....possibly a "phase" as Goat says.

It's very hard to generalise - all kids and the influences on their lives are individual, and as a parent, you will have an individual parenting style, and relationship with your son.

But here are a few things off the top of my head.

Quote

In the last 6mths he's gone rogue with mood swings, melt downs, argumentative, talking back, threats, etc. 

Sounds like many teens....and he's heading in that direction. He'll change considerably over the next few years - and he's entering a challenging time and often confusing time in his life.

Quote

Can I ask anyone who's raised or is currently raising an 11 year old boy whether they will eventually straighten out! Tell me this will stop.... my house is literally a war zone.

Hahahaha...it's overwhelmingly likely to sort itself out - he won't be like that at 40, now...will he? 

Quote

He lives across two houses, one in Newtown and one in Cabarita

That can pose lots of problems.....especially if there are tensions between you and your ex??? Kids will often bottle up their difficulties and parents are unaware of them. 

Quote

I love him dearly

I'm sure you'll never lose sight of that - and be patient. Talk to other parents, and you'll hear lots of similar stories I imagine. 

If things get very difficult, your child's School Counsellor might be able to help next year.

Try to keep on communicating with him and finding common ground - even if his tastes and interests are changing. Probably best not to be too critical of his mates, girlfriend, musical tastes etc. That's likely to have him tell you that you don't understand.

No doubt others will have useful and relevant advice - I'm glad my kids aren't growing up in the current times. 

All the best - and feel free to vent here all you like! 

[Smoggy]

7 minutes ago, wendybr said:

 

Hahahaha...it's overwhelmingly likely to sort itself out - he won't be like that at 40, now...will he? 

 

I haven't fully matured yet  Hope I never do 

[wendybr]

4 minutes ago, Smoggy said:

I haven't fully matured yet  Hope I never do 

Yes  yes ...but Zach is not referring to maturity , but to "mood swings, melt downs, argumentative, talking back".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh...…….wait!  

[Smoggy]

1 minute ago, wendybr said:

Yes  yes ...but Zach is not referring to maturity , but to "mood swings, melt downs, argumentative, talking back".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh...…….wait!  

Mood swings and melt downs are a female monthly thing in my experience...now argumentative yes...

[wendybr]

Just now, Smoggy said:

Mood swings and melt downs are a female monthly thing in my experience...now argumentative yes...

Ohhhhhhhhhhh  not necessarily!

[wendybr]

Where's @Cynth for some advice?