Das Interrobang‽ @peemee@appdot.net

Got an injection today, 23 of the most common pneumonia strains in an inactive form.
This normally costs almost $57 but as a medically vulnerable person I paid nothing.

Microsoft's Chromium-based web browser, Edge, is now available for macOS. Testing by an associate reveals that it's much less of a memory hog than Google's own Chrome browser, which is also Chromium-based. Download Edge from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge?form=MA13DC&OCID=MA13DC

Had medium to heavy rain today, friends 30 km away had windscreens smashed & roof/bonnet dents on their & their visitors’ cars from hailstones up to 5 cm across plus damage to roof tiles & patio or window glass damage.

It’s been said that when Noah experienced 40 days & 40 nights of rain this area was in drought.

Sunset is supposed to be more than 3 hours hence. Looking at this sky, (thunderstorms are starting) I doubt I’ll see it today.

Winds kicking up very blustery now, much stronger since my last toot. Rain Parrot app says it’s 12 minutes away. Temperature about 22°C now.

Been a right stinker of a day. Got to 35°C with high humidity today. But looking at the weather radar, there’s wet relief maybe 30 minutes away. Temperature is hovering at around 30° now.

So there I am, messin’ about on a G4 PowerBook & always scrolling in the wrong direction with the mousewheel. This is a 2003 Mac, there’s no setting to change this behaviour.

Then I stumbled upon an installed app called “Scroll Reverser.” Iz fixt.

As for the FW ports, there’s an original Apple iSight camera/stereo microphone to connect to the display. A FW 400 ext HDD for backups also connects to the display.
That leaves a FW400 port on the HDD & the FW800 port on the Mac & the keyboard also sports a free low-power USB 2 port. Still plenty of connectivity available.

I can’t find a suitable video card to fix my 2005 G5 PowerMac & its 20-inch Cinema Display was doing nothing but take up space. I fixed the 15-inch G4 PowerBook with new RAM, so it’s now connected to the display. Three ports on the right of the G4 are used, DVI for video; USB 2 & Firewire 400 as the display incorporates two USB 2 & two Firewire ports. The keyboard is connected to one of the display’s ports leaving a free USB port on the Mac & on the display.

My friend John, who has lived with & fought bushfires for 40 years gives his opinion on small-scale controlled burns.

How to name animals in German. Much zoom is needed on small screens but it’s worth the effort.

Evacuees are being sent to temporary facilities in Somerville, north of Hastings, being set up at the recreation reserve. In Mallacoota there are still 4,400 people registered for evacuation by sea. HMAS Choules & MV Sycamore combined to evacuate 1,100 people a couple of days ago. Both vessels are heading back to Mallacoota to take more evacuees. The 4,400 people waiting would entail for more round trips for the two ships.

Two shiploads of around 1100 evacuees from Mallacoota arrived in Hastings, which is 15 minutes by road or rail from HMAS Cerberus, a naval training base with lots of capacity for such people. The possible use of the base is just speculation at this point.

The Bay-class ships normally carry 356 troops or 700 “on overload” (whatever that means!)
So it might be a bit of a squeeze to get 963 folk on board. There are some restrictions, children must be of school-age at least as there’s a certain amount of getting over ropes, etc to get on board.

HMAS Choules (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay-class_landing_ship) will leave the far eastern town of Mallacoota at 4pm today, carrying 963 of an estimated 4000 people trapped by raging bushfires. They are bound for the Victorian port of Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula. It's estimated to take 17 hours for the trip of around 300 nautical miles. I estimate that's running flat out at the ship's maximum of 18 knots.
The road from Mallacoota to the main highway has been reopened, but the highway itself is still closed.

Sorting thru Mum’s stuff on the kitchen table today I found a loose cheque that had been sitting there for two months, according to the date it had been written out.

I’m glad I found it, it was made out to myself & the amount was not insignificant.

This pic was taken in October last year. Chances are it’s now ashes. Vicious bushfires are raging in the general area, dozens of homes have been lost in a nearby settlement.

In the fishing/tourist town of Mallacoota in the far east of Victoria, at least 4,000 people are gathered on the foreshore, three fire brigade crews are on standby with them. Reports of gas bottles exploding not far away indicate the loss of some houses to the raging fire. There’s nowhere to go other than into the water if it comes any closer.

Sad news of a fire tornado that engulfed the rear of an 8 tonne fire truck and flipped it over, trapping the crew on board in southern NSW late yesterday. One young volunteer is deceased, another has suffered severe burns and the driver is in shock. In Victoria, a few hours tracer east of here, two men are confirmed dead with grave fears for two other people.

It’s been a horrible day, temperature got to 43°C, now down to around 30°C. Powerful gusty wind and thunderstorms out there. Radar maps show significant rainfall, but much of that could be smoke from an uncontrolled bushfire in the northeastern suburbs that’s destroyed at least one home already.