Floods, drought good after all

The Clarence River, like many of the rivers on the north coast of New South Wales, is a huge mofo of a river that runs a short distance into the sea. Despite rapidly growing populations in this part of the world, save for a few dams on tributaries, not much of the water in them is used by local populations for anything practical.

Meanwhile, our enviro-friends are warning that Australia can expect more frequent floods in areas like these, combined with more severe droughts and other catastrophes in inland Australia.

Only in May, the town of Grafton suffered from a severe flood. It makes perfect sense then - even for greenies - that we could solve two problems by harvesting these problematic flood waters when they arrive? Erm, apparently, no.

What's it all about then?

Commenters at the Lavatory Rodeo are predictably tying themselves in knots explaining the latest alleged terrorist plots. It turns out, of course, that it's all about...

Thread contaminated

One chap posting at this Muslim forum under the name Platypuspieau1 (and it's not us) is cruising for a bruising with his radical ideas:

the Flaming Jihadis of Glenroy will probably turn out to be just like the Flaming Jihadis of West Preston led by Abdul Nasser Benbrika - petty criminals & dole bludgers nursing a sense of deep grievance aganst the nation that gave them & their families refuge when they fled the crapholes they came from. that's gratitude for you. most refugees & immigrants to australia are grateful for the opportunity their adopted country gives them. they work hard, get on, & become happy & productive members of society while retaining their religion & culture. losers turn to extremism because nothing is ever their own fault, & it's easier to destroy than to build

Asked to explain his definition of extremism, he replies, "extremists think destruction is better than construction" at which point Fatima has clearly had enough:

^ I don't understand what people like you do on a muslim forum. Please stop contaminating this thread with your nonsense.

UPDATE Platypuspieau1 continues: "wherever deluded individuals think blasting people to bits will get them into heaven, i'll be arguing against it until i get banned"

and Fatima responds:

You see, your entire perspective is an emotional/pseudo-logical one. If the Creator reveals to humanity that dying for His sake gives you paradise you accept it. There is no sane person who denies what the Creator reveals.

The muslim thinkers are amongst the smartest of humanity simply because they realize they are failures compared to the Creator in every way. So they surrender themselves to Him, and adopt whatever He says. That is the reality of life.

Islamic reasoning is undeniable, as you would have to either disprove the Creator or the Qur'an, to defeat the concept that dying for the sake of the Creator in battle does not grant you paradise.

Keep in mind that in Islam (generally) we do not kill the innocent or civilians.

Generalisations made

Security agencies have swooped on an alleged terrorist cell that was plotting an attack on Australian army bases. As The Australian newspaper reports:

The suspects include Australians of Somali and Lebanese decent, most of whom are labourers employed in Melbourne's construction industry, or taxi drivers.

Now the ShadowLands is loathe to make generalisations about people's occupations - Adrian of cablog fame, for example, hardly ever discusses his wish for violent jihad. But former US Senator Conrad Burns might feel just a little vindication after causing a political storm a couple of years ago when he observed that terrorism involved a faceless enemy who "drive taxicabs in the daytime and kill at night."

By the way, a brilliant obervation from taxi megastar Adrian here:

On Saturday afternoon I headed to the ALP national conference at Darling Harbour hoping for some heavy patronage from the champions of the working class, only to be greeted by a line of limos. Nobs.

Passage blocked

Sophisticated computer models show that Arctic ice may melt quite a bit this summer. Unfortunately, for Canadian fishermen and others in the real world, this may prove difficult to confirm while the North West Passage remains blocked.

Passing shadows

* How could you possibly improve bacon? Cover it in chocolate. How could you possibly improve chocolate-covered bacon? Put it on a stick.

* For the musicians...

* Six things you didn't know about the human body, four that are just stupid, and five that they have wrongly assumed you didn't know, but already read somewhere else.

* A funny joke.

Hicks wedding: exclusive photos

Convicted terrorism supporter David Hicks has married in Sydney. The ShadowLands is most excited to have obtained exclusive photos of wedding guests (above) as well as the glowing bride.

Mr Hicks' preferences for bazookas are well documented, not just in this photograph, but as he wrote to a former flatmate:

Listen, have you got any friends I can f--- when I get home? They have to be good-looking and I prefer big tits as well. Well, send their photos with the letters so I can check them out...

According to reports, his new wife is a poet who is associated with the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. We have been unable to find any examples of her work online, but did stumble upon this worthy example of the craft.

Show us the figures

Frollicking Mole over at Tizonas has an excellent post on big price rises for green energy in Western Australia.

What caught our eye is this quote from a Green MP who is apparently unfamiliar with the concept of supply and demand:

“I would be very interested to see the data which Synergy has that suggests the cost of energy generated by sun or wind has increased,” he said.

Likewise, we would also be most interested to see the real costs of energy production. Thissy here gives an overview of the costs of electricity including this:

"In Australia, the (government) subsidy for renewable energies is...roughly equal to the generating cost from coal or about half the retail price of electricity."

In other words, whether we want to or not, the rest of us are paying for the power that these greentards require for their lava lamps and electric incense burners.

Passing shadows

* It's Obama monopoly.

* The story of the mysterious unexplained high tides (thanks minicapt). Not only are the tides mysterious, they are also notable as being the first unusual natural phenomena ever not to be blamed on global warming - at least, not yet.

* Ten of the manliest names.

* How to annoy your fellow aeroplane passengers:
a) start up your laptop and b) connect to this site.