Did anyone lose astro-gear in the floods?

[Tropo-Bob]

Its all been terribly sad. I went on a driving holiday about 3 years ago and thought that if I ever relocated; I would be choosing between Gympie and Ballina...

My heart goes out to everybody that has been affected by the floods.


However, this is an Astronomy Site, so I thought I would ask: Have U lost any Astronomy Gear because of these floods?

[Peter Ward]

With the torrential rain last night, I understand Sidonio's place now under threat of flooding..... Sorry gotta go....Found some old plans and am building a boat. BTW anyone know WTF a "cubit" is??

[LewisM]

There was a dove circling around his place with a branch in its beak but someone blasted it with a shotgun.

Hear those banjos duel....

[xelasnave]

I fear mould given it has been wet here for months..but there is nothing I can do ...however I dont think I can be flooded out but certainly can be flooded in;)

Even being high and mildly dry I am cut off from Casino due to a land slide with only a three and half hour detour between me and my meds that I need by Wednesday. Mmmm seven hours driving to have a shop...I would go to Tenterfield except for the meds.

I can get into Tabulam notwithstanding a landslide reducing the road to one lane but there is no petrol until tomorrow...hopefully...and in this weather you need petrol for the genny...an electric car would cost hundreds of dollars to charge on the system here which is limited to 40 amps at 12 vlts...but you would do better if indeed you had to charge a car but an electric car now does not seem like a good idea here at least.

Anyways all the flooding takes your mind off the possibility of WW3...

alex

[drylander]

I think its from fingertip to elbow. Maybe better to call them metres and build it bigger. :rofl:
Pete

[AdamJL]

$2 spray bottle, vinegar and water. Mould won’t form and if it’s already there, the vinegar will kill it. Dilution strength depends on how much mould you have or are expecting

[xelasnave]

Thanks..but the cost of the spray bottle and the vinegar really puts it out of my reach.:)

I do not feel comfortable spraying the corrector plate of my RASA but I guess I could spray most everything else...

I have found some water on the floor which I presume was blown in and thought to sprinkle some copper sulphate around to head off possible rot...but then I thought heck I will be happy to live long enough to see other things rot away before me.. like I was worrying about the rag top on the little red car wearing out but thought that would be a good thing as it would mean a bit more time on the planet than I expected...

Again thanks for your advice I will just skip a meal and buy the stuff.
Alex

[Paul Haese]

In the interim here in SA the skies have been clear enough to enjoy the sun shine and dark enough at night to image. La nina and positive dipole events are bliss for us. Not too hot and not too cold; just right.

Sorry about all the suffering east of us.

[leon]

A Cubit is an object with all equal dimensions, as if one would make a box 600mm wide 6oomm high and 600mm deep.

Leon

[Hans Tucker]

Sporting a new look as well Peter?

[xelasnave]

And then there is this...

The cubit, generally taken as equal to 18 inches (457 mm), was based on the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger and was considered the equivalent of 6 palms or 2 spans. In some ancient cultures it was as long as 21 inches (531 mm).

I measured my arm and yes it is one cubit:eyepop:.

So how many cubits between here and the Sun... Opps I should have realised asking here somebody will give an answer .. heck now I will have to go work it out.:lol:

[leon]

Opp's now where in hell did i get that from, I am sure someone built a cubit thingy in ancient times and it was actually a box of sorts with equal dimensions. :shrug:
Sorry about that. :scared3:

Leon :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Yep....grew the beard AND started chewing gum after hanging up the QF uniform.

If this rain keeps up I think I'm gonna need a bigger boat....

300 cubits x 50 cubits x 30 cubits just doesn't cut it anymore :)

[Steffen]

Something to do with quantum computing, I think :P

[xelasnave]

Leon in my universe we are both right ..well its is everyones universe when I think it through.

The Ark story was first written about by the Sumarians and we know that because in a particular war where a city was burnt to the ground the fire " fired" some clay tablets leaving us with a wealth of first hand stuff.
They seem to be the first civilization and little different to the way we opperate today..unfortunately they are somewhat ignored in out education which is very wrong in my view.

Here is a result of a short google..

Sumerians invented or improved a wide range of technology, including the wheel, cuneiform script, arithmetic, geometry, irrigation, saws and other tools, sandals, chariots, harpoons, and beer.

Alex

[Hans Tucker]

And today you can't just choose 2 of each kind of animal. :P

[Peter Ward]

Yes....but where to keep the Blue Whales is problematic...and is just two of each being inclusive :question: :)

[Hans Tucker]

Star Trek IV-The Voyage Home :thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

In the biblical story certain animals did not have a limit of two..somehow I suspect the limit not did not apply to farm animals...but really your problem today in building an Ark will be many fold so maybe looking for a site near Mikes hill top could achieve a similar goal.

Although the biblical flood story is written off by many folk because of the suggestion that it covered everything it would seem there is evidence for a dramatic sea level rise some 13000 years ago..I have read various accounts that sea levels went up by 30 feet in a couple of days, supposedly supported by ice core samples and that they went up hundreds of feet over two years.. just a 30 ft rise would get a pretty good myth going ..imagine if that occurred today the story would get told that the whole world went under in only a couple of generations.

The flood story is found in many cultures so one wonders.

The Ark inclusion may have started as some farmer transporting animals that survived . .who knows but the folk who talk about this big flood seem to have more than casual speculation...the scientist I refer to not the religious account...but it certainly appears in the Sumarian tablets...the thing is with history you should not jump on a particular hobby horse as even with good evidence speculation is really a big part of the game.

Alex

[strongmanmike]

While at 1450m, it does indeed sometimes find itself above the clouds (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/171543548/original), AND (https://pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/172226887/original), providing magnificent views :eyepop: Eagleview is also at the perfect altitude to reasonably regularly be "in" the clouds :lol:, like the top of Enid Blyton's Magic Far Away Tree, sometimes makes me wonder what land I will find at the house, as I approach :lol: It looks like fog but it is what you see out the cabin window of your Jet Star, when climbing through the cloud layer. Of course, sadly, the rest of the region is looking up at the same cloud, from some 800+m below...

NO flood waters....yet :help:

Mike

[leon]

No Flood yet Mike, well that is a good thing at least, I feel so sad for all those affected people all along the Coast.

Leon

[xelasnave]

My neighbour is into bee keeping and he told me of a bee keeper friend who lost all his bees, in excess of fifty boxes and his house and everything he owned because the house moved on its foundations rendering it uninhabitable. Another chap we know who lived in a caravan also lost everything.
We are away from the low lands here but apparently the smell of dead things is unbelievable and adds to the misery.
The number of roads that are cut is a surprise...I cant get to my old place because of multiple land slides.
My carer is going into Casino tomorrow to help getting the Salvation Army Shop running again as so many now need clothes beds bedding even kitchen ware. It is the only one left that can function as all others have been totally ruined.
Reading the Tabulam notice board on Facebook ( one of many community notice boards) you get to see the closures etc and hear of folk trying to find if others are ok.
For folk who think Facebook is nonsence in these times it has proved invaluable. I watched a saga unfold where someone from Canada could not contact an aged relative but via Facebook some folk called by to help the man and was able put the minds of his Canadian relatives at ease.
It is strange here not hearing any traffic as usually one hears trucks and motor bikes on the highway and indeed past the house. But now nothing.

I need to go into Tabulam today and I really I am not looking forward to doing so as I know all l will hear is tales of heart break and probably see wreckage of lives.
Alex

[JohnF]

A Cubit is 18 inches. The Royal Cubit is 20 inches.

[JohnF]

Every Continent in the Whole World had the Story of the Universal flood. Some Australian Aboriginal tribes knew that story before White Man arrived in Australia. It was found throughout the Americas before the Spanish arrived, etc.

So The Sumerians were just another of many world wide Cultures that had that story.

[RB]

I think we’ve established that no iis members lost Astro gear in the flood.
My heart goes out to all affected in the flood.

We’ll leave it there.

RB