Thursday, February 07, 2013
Please Think About Donating to the iTelescope.Net Siding Spring Bush Fire Appeal.
While the telescopes were saved, many homes were lost on the mountain and in the surrounding areas and many people lost everything.
Now iTelescope is collecting donations that will be sent to the Warrumbungle Shire Mayor's Bushfire Appeal and the ANU Siding Spring Observatory Fire - Staff Emergency Relief Fund. I quote from a post on iTelescope.Net
Please consider donating to the iTelescope.Net Siding Spring Bush Fire Appeal.
Thank you for all the generous donations so far! Within hours of the newsletter going live, we've managed to raise $2,766 AUD already.
More details and donation links can be found here:
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=36b4e32ee1a576c773b1ff086&id=726354d823&e=b31825f43f
Labels: bushfire, iTelescope, miscelaneous
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Cricket on Fire
Last night I took EldestOne and his mate SoccerHero to the "Bash for Cash", SA footballs charity event to raise money for the bushfire victims (just to be clear here "football" is AFL, or aerial ping-pong, not soccer). The two state teams, Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide were playing cricket against each other, which for US visitors, is a bit like ballet dancers trying to play ice hockey (only funnier).
Still, where else can you watch grown men being repeatedly and humorously hit in the groin with leather balls and raise money for charity? On the night there were about 8,500 spectators (not bad for something organised at ultra-short notice) and as of 9:30 pm last night they had raised $110,00 AUD (with more still to come).
Still, where else can you watch grown men being repeatedly and humorously hit in the groin with leather balls and raise money for charity? On the night there were about 8,500 spectators (not bad for something organised at ultra-short notice) and as of 9:30 pm last night they had raised $110,00 AUD (with more still to come).
Labels: bushfire, miscelaneous
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Bushfires and Astronomy Education
Amidst the many heartbreaking tragedies and destruction in the recent bushfires are some small, but still significant losses.
The generosity of people in times of trial never ceases to astound me and fill me with warmth. Over at ScienceBlogs US-based Science Woman is hosting a fund raiser where anyone donation to the Australian Red Cross goes into the draw for two darwin T-shirts. Thanks Folks!
If anyone is interested in helping, please contact me and I will pass you on to the appropriate contact person.On Tuesday with the Gippsland bush fires, Westall Secondary Collegelost its school science telescope and all the astronomy equipmentamongst other buildings and equipment at our school campus at thetownship of Balook. After discussing this with my Research Sciencestudents, we considered that we need to work towards a replacement. Wecame up with an Arts - Technology project to work at turning our handstowards making our own low-power telescope as Galileo did. We wouldlike to use this technology to draw what we can see with our eyes,much as he did many years ago.Our school is already involved with the NASA CloudSat and GLOBEmissions With these projects we ground truth satellite images fromspace, collecting environmental data used with climate models. Acurriculum bridge to link new and old technologies that have helped usto change our view of the world and gives us a chance to celebrate thework by technologists, scientists and artists. We look forward to areplacement and engagement with some astronomy activities later in theyearIt would be great if we could run this as a larger, internationalproject and are calling for other interested people to join in.
The generosity of people in times of trial never ceases to astound me and fill me with warmth. Over at ScienceBlogs US-based Science Woman is hosting a fund raiser where anyone donation to the Australian Red Cross goes into the draw for two darwin T-shirts. Thanks Folks!
Labels: Astronomy, bushfire, sc
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
More Bushfires From Space
These images from the NASA Earth Observatory show the extent of the worst of the fires in Victoria as of February 9. To get an mental image of how much land has been burnt, the total area burnt to date is roughly twice the size of the Luxembourg.
As always, donations to the Red Cross can be made here.
As always, donations to the Red Cross can be made here.
Labels: bushfire
Monday, February 09, 2009
The Fires From Space
The sun in New Zealand, veiled by the some of the Victorian Black Saturday fires (picture, Tony Travaglia, Otago, NZ).It was Sunday afternoon when Mum rang me, asking if our Victorian family members was okay. At the time, I hadn't heard the news, we had been huddling in the house to avoid the effects of the record heatwave, and I assumed she was asking how the heatwave was affecting the Melbourne clan, especially as SurferFamily has no airconditioning. I assured Mum all was okay and went back to the mundanities of washing up.
Then the Bettdeckererschnappender weisle came home, saying that bushfires had it Victoria and it was worse than Ash Wedensday. While BEW hunted out a TV channel, and I hit the online news. The news was worse than we feared. Having lived in Victoria, it was a shock to see places that we knew (we used to go to the ST. Andrews Markets for example) turned to ash. The BEW used to work in the area, it has been a very upsetting time.
The tragedy is all the more poweful as these areas are bushfire vetrans. Almost everyone was prepared for fire, and extra fire fighters were on duty. But no one was prepared for the savagery of the the firestorm (and we are used to bad bush fires). People who had taken all the right precautions, talked of the firstorms blasting into their houses and literally exploding their rooms.
We have been very lucky, none of our friends and relative have lost their lives, and our hearts go out to the families of those who have lost friends and loved ones. One of our family friends did lose their home and all their possession, but they have their lives, and the ability to start over.
Just a reminder, the Red Cross is accepting donations to provide disater relief in Victoria.
And the view from space? Here is the NASA earth observatory image (ironically, this page says "more than 30 people", currently the death toll stands at around 134). The bushfires aren't over yet, and with more heat coming, there is the possibility of worse to come. You can keep track of the south east Australian fires using the images produced by the Modis Rapid Response team.
If that is not enough, Northen Australia is suffering from severe flooding.
Labels: bushfire, donations, Tony Travaglia
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