From the monthly archives:

February 2008

Stacks of fun for farmer

Found on Flickr. Taken by Hobart photographer Andrew Skeggs who says “I am happy to live in a world where people do this kind of thing.”

And regular contributor Peter Daalder managed to get a photograph before the flags disappeared.

The background:

An enterprising Northern Midlands farmer has built a giant grass castle out of hay bales.

Philip Osborne builds a hay bale structure each year at fairfield near Epping forest on the Midlands Highway.

Last year Mr Osborne, in his fifties, made a straw version of the ancient Stonehenge, called Hayhenge which proved popular with passing motorists.

The farmer uses a loader to put each 300kg bale in place based on a sketch made by his wife Louise.

‘I do it for my own amusement,’ Mr Osborne said.

‘Farmers are miserable sods but we do have a lighter side.’

(Via The Mercury)

Here’s his version of Stonehenge which kept Midlands Highway motorists amused last year.

Photograph: Maria Fletcher

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Tasmania launches cold case unit

Tasmania Police has announced the establishment of a Cold Case Investigation Unit to review unsolved major crime investigations. Police Commissioner Richard McCreadie said the unit would have a particular focus on unsolved homicides and missing person cases where foul play was suspected.

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TV. film to focus on state | Mercury – The Voice of Tasmania

Tasmania is to star in the international spotlight as dozens of American TV producers, filmmakers and global company chiefs flock to the state in the next six months to prepare movies, cable TV shows and product promotions. Tourism Tasmania CEO Felicia Mariani revealed the coup yesterday after 12 days in Los Angeles and New York for the G’Day USA festival.

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Diminishing food supplies threaten king penguins

AFP photograph

Climate change may threaten the survival of king penguins — one of the most iconic creatures of the Antarctic, researchers warn.

A long-term study of the penguins, known for their distinctive yellow feather ‘ear muffs’, reveals just a slight ocean warming had a significant effect on their breeding success.

International researchers behind the project say that under current predictions for global warming, the penguins face the risk of being wiped out.

King penguins — the second largest penguin after the emperor penguin — live in the sub-Antarctic islands, including Macquarie Island, south-east of Tasmania. There are about 2 million breeding pairs worldwide.

Their diet consists mainly of small fish and squid, and because of their one-year breeding cycle they are considered sensitive to any seasonal change in food supply.

Over nine years, researchers studied the birds on an island in the Crozet Archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean, marking 456 penguins with electronic tags.

They found that high sea-surface temperatures reduced the amount of marine prey available to the king penguins, forcing them to travel further in search of food.

According to their calculations, a sea-surface warming of 0.26 degrees would lead to a 9% decline in the adult penguin population.

Current models by the UN’s panel of climate scientists predict an average increase of 0.2 degrees a decade for the next two decades.

(Via The Age)

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‘Research’ into whales continues …

The body of a minke whale and its calf are dragged onto the whaling ship

The Australian Federal Government says photographs taken by the Customs ship the Oceanic Viking of Japanese whalers killing a whale and its calf will strengthen any legal case against the whalers.

The pictures, released by the Government today, show a slaughtered minke whale and its calf being hauled up the ramp of the Japanese ship, the Yushin Maru.

Customs has also released video of whales being harpooned from the ship.

The Government is extending the duration of its whaling surveillance program and says the Attorney-General is still considering what kind of legal action should be taken and who it should be brought against.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says the pictures released today support Australia’s position.

‘I think it’s explicitly clear from these images that this is indiscriminate killing of whales, where you have a whale and its calf killed in this way,’ he said.

‘To claim that this is in anyway scientific is to continue the charade that surrounded this issue from day one.’

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Tassie surfers keep it up at Shipstern Bluff

A handful of Tasmanian surfers are giving the big-name pro surfers something to think about with their ongoing assaults on Shipstern Bluff.

Photos and footage from their amazing efforts are some of the most compelling in the Oakley Surfing Life Big Wave Awards — Australasia’s most sought-after big surf challenge.

‘They’re just charging,’ says photographer Stuart Gibson, winner of the prestigious Nestle Award, who’s been busy documenting his mates’ efforts at Shipstern.

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Ancient climate secrets raised from ocean depths

Launching the ABE from Southern Surveyor. Image credit – CSIRO

Scientists aboard the research vessel, Southern Surveyor, return to Hobart today with a collection of coral samples and photographs taken in the Southern Ocean at greater depths than ever before.

Using a remotely operated submersible vehicle the international research team captured images of life found on deep-sea pinnacles and valleys up to three kilometres beneath the Ocean’s surface.

[click to continue…]

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