Australian family stranded on Pacific island

An Australian family faces six months of subsisting on turtle and sleeping under the stars after they were stranded on a tiny Pacific island during a violent tropical storm.

The Barrie family, from Perth, were on a two-year sailing trip around the Pacific when their boat struck a reef off the Micronesian islet of Mogmog in heavy winds and was practically destroyed.

Andrew Barrie, his wife Jennie, and two daughters, have since taken refuge on the island in the Ulithi Atoll, where they described the 200 inhabitants as living "very, very traditionally".

Mr Barrie told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that his family were resigned to remaining on the island, which has no electricity or running water, until they could fix the boat, a project that he estimated would take several months.

Mr Barrie and several helpful islanders were planning to make another attempt to get the catamaran off the reef today, he said.

Speaking via satellite phone, Mr Barrie told the Australia All Over programme that the last reading on his boat's instruments had been more than 90 knots.

"We had massive waves just coming over the boat and lost both anchors," he said.

The boat, Windrider, also lost its rotor and keel in the storm.

Mr Barrie said the local people had been helpful in trying to retrieve the "ruined" boat, which was still on the surf line.

"One of the things that caused most of the damage to it was, there's an old metal structure on the beach here that the Americans left behind after World War II. It's all jagged metal and that's what completely ripped one hull," he said.

Describing his family's new home, Mr Barrie said that young children on the island walked around playing ukuleles and that church service were held, but without a priest.

His daughters, who are being home-schooled by his wife, a trained teacher, were adjusting to life on Mogmog, he said.,

"[The children have] been very good so far but this is very different to what they're used to," he said, adding they were sleeping on a concrete slab, and that there were rats running around.

"It's very different from our boat."

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that last year, when the family hit a reef at an island off Western Australia and bent their rudder, Mr Barrie was able to repair the boat himself.

Mogmog is located in Micronesia's Yap state. The island has no infrastructure and locals eat what they catch, usually coconut crabs, turtles and wild chickens. Food is cooked on an open fire and the island is run by a chief who decides who can and cannot visit. The only way on and off the island is by motorboat to the neighbouring island of Flalap, which has a small airport serviced by a missionary plane.

Critique:

I am impressed of the determination of the family in surviving through such bad condition. They are able to live together with local people without basic utilities and even proper food. This new, however, reflect an important issue which is the welfare of the minorities. the new above has stated that those local people are living without infrastructures and eating what they catch. Thus, the authority should take action with provide at least basic utilities which are electricity and water supply for the local people. They will be prompt to get sick easily if the drinking water is not clean. In short, intentions should be taken by government in concerning about the welfare of the minority in the country.

Text Production Essay #2

What are the potential effects of global warming in terms of climate change and how they can be arrested?

29^th August 2005, a devastating day for residents of New Orland, U.S as their homeland had been damaged by the evil Hurricane Katrina. This incident, on the other hand, has signalled human that they are receiving the consequences of what they had done to the earth which causes global warming. Generally, global warming is caused by a phenomenon called greenhouse effect. According to scientists, it is good to have greenhouse effect as it helps to keep our earth warm but the industrial development nowadays are gradually increasing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the air, causing erratic climate change (Woodford, 2006). Certainly, the effects of global warming are unavoidable but immediate actions should be taken to minimize it.

Firstly, the potential effect of global warming in terms of climate change is the rise of sea level. Increase in world temperature warms up the earth and subsequently ocean warms up too causing water to expand. In the end, the ocean water takes up more volume and sea level rises undoubtedly (Woodford, 2006). Besides, North and South Poles are also warming dramatically, surging the melting of ice shelves. According to Al Gore in a 2007 film named The Inconvenient Truth, if ices on Greenland melt completely, water will cover the low-lying places. Cities like New York, Calcutta, Beijing and Shanghai will be awash in sea water while Netherland will be demolished entirely. To summarize, global warming is causing rise in sea level and the topographical change of earth.

Another potential effect of global warming will be the damage of natural ecosystem including the loss of human lives and species extinction. Extreme weather which is unpredictable has led to series of mishaps such as tornados, hurricanes and typhoons. These disasters have taken away millions of lives and caused a huge damage of civilian properties. Furthermore, climate change will put plants and animals in jeopardy. For instance, parts of coral reefs have been killed, affecting aquatic animals that depend on them (Gore, 2007). Shorter winters caused by global warming fail to kill insects, prompting the risk of infestation (Riebeek, 2007). New-breed vectors of diseases are predicted to spread much further. The fatal diseases such as SARS and Avian Flu have caused chaos on earth (Woodford, 2006). In brief, global warming in terms of climate change has shown disastrous effects on the biological balance of earth.

Al Gore in the film An Inconvenient Truth said, “Each one of us is the cause of global warming but we can make choices to change that.” Hence, solutions should be implemented in addressing global warming. Prior to that, carbon emission must be reduced by all means. Carbon tax established in some developed countries is a good way to start it. The ways in reducing global warming include using energy efficient appliances, hybrid cars; planting trees; weatherizing houses; practicing recycle and car pulling;. Walk or ride bicycle will be a better way. Another requirement is to possess political will where government should support the Kyoto Protocol, an international climate-change treaty (Woodford, 2006). Overall, determination is the keyword in heading to the desire outcomes.

In conclusion, rise of sea level, change of global topography, damage of ecosystem and species loss will be deteriorated as long as the problem of global warming exists. Once global warming is not addressed, we will be experiencing the consequences. Therefore, concrete ongoing initiatives are needed in tackling global warming before it goes uncontrollable. “If you believe in prayer, pray that people will find the strength to change,” (An Inconvenient Truth 2007), we should not forget to protect our mother earth just to accumulate wealth as there will not be affluence without earth.

Tortured woman jumps from balcony in Northern Territory

A WOMAN was forced to jump from her balcony with a baby in her arms to escape from a man who trapped her in his apartment and tortured her, a court heard.
Tyrone Jakarinchie Shields was yesterday sentenced to a minimum four years jail over the incident at a Darwin apartment block in July last year, the Northern Territory News reports.
The woman only escaped when Shields, 29, went to Parap markets to get "some food and drugs", and she jumped from the first floor balcony, holding the baby and breaking her ankle and foot.
Shields pleaded guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to five charges arising from the horrific ordeal.
In sentencing yesterday, acting Justice Trevor Olsson said the prolonged attack - in which Shields threatened to cut the victim's face so she "looked like the Joker" and no one else would have a child with her - was unprovoked and inexplicable.
He said the victim went to Shields' flat to avoid a confrontation with him with their 2 1/2-month-old baby in the evening of July 31 last year.
But when they arrived, Shields locked the door before threatening her with a knife, cutting her clothes and underwear off and threatening to inject her with drugs while she slept.
Throughout the night, Shields repeatedly punched and slapped the victim, and at one point pulled a clump of her hair out.
The next morning, Shields locked the door when he went out to get "food and drugs" from the markets.
But the victim put on some of his clothes, and jumped from the balcony while holding the baby.
She broke her ankle and foot, which later required two operations to insert two plates and 15 screws.
Shields arrived back at the flat as neighbours were trying to help the victim, and started punching her again and dragged her along the ground by her hair.
Ambulance officers arrived and took the victim and baby to Royal Darwin Hospital.
"It was brutal, prolonged and terrifying for the victim," Justice Olsson said.
He sentenced Shields to five years and six months in prison, with a non-parole period of four years.



comment:
This is definitely an annoying tragedy and the guy certainly should be punished. The problem of family voilence should be addressed quickly with efforts from everyone. Any who witness such incident should report to the officials. The most important is, fathers as well as husbands ought to have the correct attitudes and love their families.

Text Production Essay #1

What are the potential effects of global warming in terms of climate change and how they can be arrested?

29^th August 2005, a devastating day for residents of New Orland, U.S as their homeland had been damaged by the evil Hurricane Katrina. This incident, on the other hand, had signaled mankind of the earth that they are receiving the consequences of what they had done to the earth which caused global warming. Generally, global warming is caused by a phenomenon which is greenhouse effect. According to scientists, it is good to have greenhouse effect as it help to keep our earth warm but the industrial development nowadays has gradually increase the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the air, causing erratic climate change (Chris Woodford 2006). Certainly, the effects of global warming are unavoidable and thus immediate actions should be taken to resolve the problem.

Firstly, the potential effect of global warming in terms of climate change is the rise of sea level. Increase in world temperature warms up the earth, subsequently; ocean warms up too causing water to expand. Finally, the ocean water takes up more volume and sea level rises undoubtedly (Chris Woodford 2006). Besides, North and South Poles are also warming dramatically, surging the melting of ice shelves. According to Al Gore in a 2007 film named The Inconvenient Truth, if ices on Greenland melt completely, water will cover the low-lying places. Cities like New York, Calcutta, Beijing and Shanghai will be awash in sea water while Netherland will be demolished entirely. To summarize, global warming is causing sea level to rise and the topographical change of earth.

Other potential effect of global warming will be the damage of natural ecosystem including the loss of lives and species. Extreme weather which is unpredictable has led to series of mishaps such as tornados, hurricanes and typhoons. These disasters have took away millions of lives and caused a huge damage of civilian properties. Furthermore, climate change will put plants and animals in jeopardy. For instance, parts of coral reefs have been killed affecting ecosystems that depend on them. New-breed vectors of diseases are predicted to spread much further. The fatal diseases such as SARS and Avian Flu have caused catastrophes on earth (Chris Woodford 2006). In brief, global warming in terms of climate change has shows disastrous effects on the ecosystem of earth.

Al Gore in the film An Inconvenient Truth said, “Each one of us is the cause of global warming but we can make choices to change that.” Hence, solutions should be implemented in addressing global warming. Prior to that, carbon emission must be reduced by all means. Carbon tax established in some developed countries is a good way to start it. The ways in reducing global warming are using energy efficient appliances, hybrid cars; practicing recycle, car-pulling; planting trees and weatherizing houses. Walk or ride bicycle will be a better way. Another requirement is to possess political will where government should support the Kyoto Protocol, an international climate-change treaty. Overall, determination is the keyword in making these efforts to be successful.

In conclusion, rise of sea level, change of global topographic, damage of ecosystem and species lost will be deteriorated as long as the problem of global warming exists. Once global warming is not addressed, we will be receiving the consequences. Therefore, concrete ongoing initiatives are needed in tackling global warming before it goes uncontrollable. “If you believe in prayer, pray that people will find the strength to change,” (An Inconvenient Truth 2007), we should not forget to protect our mother earth just to accumulate wealth as there won’t be affluence without earth.

MELBOURNE'S 3a water restrictions could be eased after Premier John Brumby said he personally wanted to see them relaxed.

The Premier praised our low water consumption in the past year.

Melbourne households averaged 154 litres a person last year, Water Minister Tim Holding revealed.

Mr Brumby said the Government was "looking very closely" at the city's water restrictions.

"Both Tim and I would like to see restrictions eased," he said. "We are still waiting, obviously, on more advice."

The weekend's massive hail storm did little to top up storages. Melbourne Water said the soil in catchment areas acted like a sponge after the heat of summer.

Melbourne's dams are 34.7 per cent full.

Mr Brumby declined to say what changes could be made to restrictions, but said Melburnians were doing a "fantastic" job saving the resource.

"Before the end of March we will be making further announcements about water restrictions," he said.

"It is now a fact that in virtually every part of the state, every city outside of Melbourne, we have been able to bring down restrictions.

"It's also a story about Victorians working together in partnership to save water and the benefit of that I think will lead us to ease restrictions."

Mr Holding said the desalination plant at Wonthaggi was an important project for Victorians, and construction was on track.

Melbourne had the third lowest level of water use in the state behind Sunbury (145 litres) and Ballarat (147). Households in Swan Hill and the Shepparton area were the biggest splurgers, using more than 410 litres a day.

Swan Hill and Shepparton have minimal restrictions.

Opposition urban water spokeswoman Louise Asher said Melbourne should have moved from stage 3a restrictions long ago.

"If the Government had not botched water supply in Melbourne, we wouldn't have had such restrictions," Ms Asher said.

Critique:

The restrictions that made by authorities are good ways to prevent people from wasting water. Nowadays, people are consuming too much water without considering the consequence that the amount of water available is decreasing. What adding salt to injury is that global worming are accelerating the evaporation of water on earth thus making it worse. In short, people have to use water wisely to avoid over-consuming. Water is important not only to human, but it is also important to every living things on the earth.

Going Home

This is the last night in INTI before the term break.
What makes me happy is that i can rest for one week, away from the hectic college life.
But what makes me unhappy is that i still need to do homework=[ it is just like i'm going back and have classes in my own house..
these few days i felt quite tired, this is because i had gone through two tests and three basketball matches this week. Anywhere, it is a delighting week as i was able to play basketball with some good players though our team lost the matches. Probably there will be second IBL in the coming May and our team are ready to take the challenges again.=]

Australian News-Victorians warned of further fierce storms, hail

A SEVERE thunderstorm warning has been issued for damaging wind, flash flooding and large hailstones in parts of Victoria.

The weather bureau warning applies for people in the Northern Country, Northeast and parts of the North Central and Alpine Forecast Districts.

It warns severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and large hailstones in the warning area over the next several hours.

Earlier, a sudden increase in temperature boosted the chances of more storms in Melbourne.

Weather bureau senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said the city's temperature had shot up to 26C, which could see thunderstorms develop.

"Given we have shot up to 26C we might see thunderstorms develop close to Melbourne which could mean we might see something not far away. But it is still a bit of a waiting game."

Mr Brumby said there were weak trees in many bushfire ravaged parts of Victoria and around the state that were vulnerable to strong winds.Premier John Brumby urged Victorians to batten down the hatches

Mr Brumby warned people to stay inside during the possibly severe storms, and he said people at public events must be prepared to act if weather struck this afternoon.

"It really is batten down the hatches (with forecast) thunderstorms possibly as intense as yesterday,” Mr Brumby said."We got through yesterday without any loss of life or serious injury, we would want to see if we could keep to this today and tomorrow."

"We should take great care as we move through this afternoon, tonight and into tomorrow and make sure we put this focus on protecting life and protecting public safety."

He said the roof of the arts centre had been badly damaged by yesterday’s storms and could cost up to millions of dollars to repair.

He was unable to put an estimated dollar figure on the expected repair bill, and said more damage is expected to be reported in the coming days when people return home from Labour Day holidays.

Crews from the NSW State Emergency Service have been drafted in to help their Victorian counterparts clean up the damage caused by the mini-cyclone storm that lashed Melbourne yesterday.

The storm cell unleashed itself on the city at 2.40pm, dumping 26mm of rain in less than an hour.

Critique:

I believe that Victorians will be facing a devastating period during the fierce storms season. There will be a serious damage of properties and probably human lives. Therefore, people in that area have to be careful whenever they are going out and staying at home should be the best option for them to avoid the bad whether. On the other hands, government should take early action in preventing the fierce storm to become disaster. Necessaries like food should be prepaid in advanced. Thinking from another perspective, why fierce storms are likely to occur so often? According to article above, it said that thunderstorm is developed due to the shot-up of temperature. Think more deeply, does the increase in global temperature related to what human had done? A 100% yes! The fast development of world had cause a severe change to the earth environment and made it polluted. So, human have to be more concern about the earth and start to save it from now!