The short story is that I've just "lost" almost $2000 to a bloke that was supposed to build me a new computer, but instead (as I've since discovered) decided to push my money into a poker machine or inject it up his arm. Nice.
The long story is that the man from the respectable-looking computer shop (which had been in operation for a number of years and which had been recommended to me) insisted that an upfront payment was necessary and *normal* for many smaller computer suppliers. Against my better judgement, I did pay him up front. and then I waited. and waited and waited.
No computer.
Each time it was a different excuse.
So when in desperation I turned to the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, I was dismayed to discover that the computer guy had done a bunk with my money (more to the point, he'd spent the money on things other than computer parts and then left town when those people started wanting some answers).
Apparently its very hard to either convince a person to refund money or serve a notice to appear in a small claims court on somebody who has left no forwarding address, so I'm left with a bitter taste and no money ... and no computer.
So I hearby ask karma to pay a visit to one David Anthony Fels variously trading as CND or CPU Computers, formerly of Wynnum, Queensland (who may now reside in Canberra). I hope he can't sleep at night.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Wollemi Pine - conserving an endangered species
For our tenth wedding anniversary earlier this year, my hubby and I bought ourselves a Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis).
These so-called dinosaur trees were believed extinct and had only been known in the fossil record until David Noble discovered a small stand of the trees in existence while bushwalking in the Wollemi National Park in 1994. Since then, another two stands have been discovered in the rugged mountain ranges nearby. However, as less than 100 trees exist in the wild, the exact location of the stands of trees remains a secret.
Shortly after, the research arm of Queensland Forestry refined a propagation technique initially used for the propagation of a relative pine Araucaria cunninghamii (hoop pine) and a commercial nursery at Birkdale (just outside Brisbane) developed the plants for the retail market.
Its taken quite a few years for the trees to become available in retail stores, and part of the reason was the time to establish and grow a significant amount of hedged propagative parent material from which to take cuttings for the establishment of large numbers of trees. By having a large number of the trees available for purchase by a given date, the idea was to cut-out any black-market trading of clones or theft of planted trees. Having the trees available for purchase also reduced the risk of damage to the wild population by visitors. In addition, the royalties from the sale of genuine plants will be used to fund the conservation of the pine.
So far, our little tree has shed its waxy "snow cap" and has sprouted lime-green new growth in a whorl at the apex and also as an unexpected bonus each branch is also sporting the distinctive new growth at the tips. The leaves appear to be arranged on the branches much like the plates on the back of a stegosaurus, yet they are still soft to the touch - not prickly and spiny like its cousins the hoop and bunya pines.
We look forward to enjoying our very own 'dinosaur' Christmas tree for the next few years before planting it out in our garden.
These so-called dinosaur trees were believed extinct and had only been known in the fossil record until David Noble discovered a small stand of the trees in existence while bushwalking in the Wollemi National Park in 1994. Since then, another two stands have been discovered in the rugged mountain ranges nearby. However, as less than 100 trees exist in the wild, the exact location of the stands of trees remains a secret.
Shortly after, the research arm of Queensland Forestry refined a propagation technique initially used for the propagation of a relative pine Araucaria cunninghamii (hoop pine) and a commercial nursery at Birkdale (just outside Brisbane) developed the plants for the retail market.
Its taken quite a few years for the trees to become available in retail stores, and part of the reason was the time to establish and grow a significant amount of hedged propagative parent material from which to take cuttings for the establishment of large numbers of trees. By having a large number of the trees available for purchase by a given date, the idea was to cut-out any black-market trading of clones or theft of planted trees. Having the trees available for purchase also reduced the risk of damage to the wild population by visitors. In addition, the royalties from the sale of genuine plants will be used to fund the conservation of the pine.
So far, our little tree has shed its waxy "snow cap" and has sprouted lime-green new growth in a whorl at the apex and also as an unexpected bonus each branch is also sporting the distinctive new growth at the tips. The leaves appear to be arranged on the branches much like the plates on the back of a stegosaurus, yet they are still soft to the touch - not prickly and spiny like its cousins the hoop and bunya pines.
We look forward to enjoying our very own 'dinosaur' Christmas tree for the next few years before planting it out in our garden.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Its not easy being green...
Nope - I'm not on my high horse preaching here (well maybe just a little bit) .... I just want to say that there's a big difference between being a "green-groupie" and truly considering your own household environmental impact in a sustainable, balanced way.
For example - my friend's daughter's teacher is on a personal mission to save the world through reduced consumption of toilet paper. This might sound like a great idea but according to my friend, what she's saving in bog roll, she's spending on napisan and washing powder: a prime case of not looking at the bigger picture of only letting a 5 year old child have a single sheet of 2-ply after a #2.
Its also a bit like people who go on and on about being "green" because they have "acreage" with a few gum trees on it ...... but they happily tell you this from inside the comfort of their McMansion (that's so large they need acreage just fit the square footage of the house), with their ducted air-con, big-screen tv, their large, his-n-hers 4WDs parked in the garage and enough furniture made from Indonesian timber to fill a shipping container (and in some cases, that last bit is meant literally!). I'm often tempted to ask them if they'd consider moving to a high-rise unit in the city and turning their entire block over to native vegetation as that would be a far "greener" thing to do.
Its also like an old neighbour who frowned upon my use of disposable nappies on our kids, and yet would regularly ask to put his excess garbage into our bin : the irony was lost on him.
I'm more in favour of leaving the lip service aside and weighing up how you can minimise your environmental impact in a way that makes a real difference. I know few people who I'd consider to be truly "green". Ironically, they are also the least "boastful" on the subject because they know that they aren't as "green" as the ycould be.
Speaking for myself, we do what we can but its often not as "glamorously green" as others, for example: most of our furniture is 2nd hand or has been "liberated" from road-side dumps; in fact we have a lot of things that have been rescued from the hard garbage; we don't have a lot of power hungry devices and the air-con unit is more of a wall decoration as its rarely running; we turn off appliances at the wall and turn off lights when we leave a room; the garden is full of native plants or veges; we have chooks to "recycle" our kitchen scraps; fuel is too dear to use the car all the time; and I know how to use my top-loading washing machine to save the suds so they get a few turns through the machine before we pump it onto the garden (and of course I only use a low sodium, garden-friendly detergent).
I know that we could be doing lots more so I generally try not to preach. For example, I wish the new styles of cloth nappies were around when my kids were babies - I may have been more tempted by them over the old style that I could never quite get onto tiny bums without serious leakage making an extra load of sheets a day.
On the up side, our electricity bills are pretty low in comparison to other 4-person households in the area and we generally stick to the "140L per person per day" rule for our water consumption as well.
For example - my friend's daughter's teacher is on a personal mission to save the world through reduced consumption of toilet paper. This might sound like a great idea but according to my friend, what she's saving in bog roll, she's spending on napisan and washing powder: a prime case of not looking at the bigger picture of only letting a 5 year old child have a single sheet of 2-ply after a #2.
Its also a bit like people who go on and on about being "green" because they have "acreage" with a few gum trees on it ...... but they happily tell you this from inside the comfort of their McMansion (that's so large they need acreage just fit the square footage of the house), with their ducted air-con, big-screen tv, their large, his-n-hers 4WDs parked in the garage and enough furniture made from Indonesian timber to fill a shipping container (and in some cases, that last bit is meant literally!). I'm often tempted to ask them if they'd consider moving to a high-rise unit in the city and turning their entire block over to native vegetation as that would be a far "greener" thing to do.
Its also like an old neighbour who frowned upon my use of disposable nappies on our kids, and yet would regularly ask to put his excess garbage into our bin : the irony was lost on him.
I'm more in favour of leaving the lip service aside and weighing up how you can minimise your environmental impact in a way that makes a real difference. I know few people who I'd consider to be truly "green". Ironically, they are also the least "boastful" on the subject because they know that they aren't as "green" as the ycould be.
Speaking for myself, we do what we can but its often not as "glamorously green" as others, for example: most of our furniture is 2nd hand or has been "liberated" from road-side dumps; in fact we have a lot of things that have been rescued from the hard garbage; we don't have a lot of power hungry devices and the air-con unit is more of a wall decoration as its rarely running; we turn off appliances at the wall and turn off lights when we leave a room; the garden is full of native plants or veges; we have chooks to "recycle" our kitchen scraps; fuel is too dear to use the car all the time; and I know how to use my top-loading washing machine to save the suds so they get a few turns through the machine before we pump it onto the garden (and of course I only use a low sodium, garden-friendly detergent).
I know that we could be doing lots more so I generally try not to preach. For example, I wish the new styles of cloth nappies were around when my kids were babies - I may have been more tempted by them over the old style that I could never quite get onto tiny bums without serious leakage making an extra load of sheets a day.
On the up side, our electricity bills are pretty low in comparison to other 4-person households in the area and we generally stick to the "140L per person per day" rule for our water consumption as well.
So forget the lip service and the appearance of being a greenie. Don't tell me how green you are because you just bought a new front-load washing machine (but leave out the bit where your old, perfectly useful washing machine is on the scrap heap because you couldn't quite be bothered to work out how to save and re-use the suds). Don't think that a 5 year old can really save on loo roll and it won't have repercussions. Don't sit in air-conditioned comfort and complain about the state of the environment. Be positive about what you've done but don't berate others for what they are (or aren't) doing.
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