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Rabbits

 

As I have mentioned elsewhere, my friend Bob Piper had a .22 rifle we mostly used it for target shooting but we also tried our hand at shooting rabbits.  I had an air rifle but it was useless for hunting.  The rabbits were hunted by one and all and were gun-shy (unlike today’s bold bunnies) and difficult to hunt as they have excellent hearing and you had to be down-wind. 

Later, in high school, when I was in the School Cadets, I became better at this and actually hit them.   Then they needed to be skinned, cleaned and cooked.  In the bush the best way to cook them is to first sear the pieces in a billy with some butter then add a can of three-bean-mix, a clove of garlic, plus water salt and pepper to taste.

There were lots of feral rabbits around and at different times there was a bounty on them.  Myxomatosis introduced in 1950 knocked the population back but they often bounced back.

In the 50’s there were still many men in Sydney who made a living, or supplemented their income, as ‘Rabbitohs’. 

They would walk along the street calling ‘Rabbitoh’ and mothers would buy one or two for the evening meal.  My mother cooked them in the French way; possibly learnt in Canada; delicious.

Rabbitohs seldom shot the rabbits as it is too difficult and slow.  Instead they used rabbit traps or wire snares. 

Traps consist of spring loaded steel jaws held open by a simple trigger that is released by an animal stepping on the footplate.  An attached chain connects to a steel stake that is hammered into the ground.   As children we needed to be aware of them.  They were dangerous to small or bare feet and could cut off an exploratory finger.

 

 

A typical Rabbit Trap with the jaws closed - not yet set.
They were set by pressing down on the leaf spring with a foot or knee then closing the catch over one jaw.
They would be left in the rabbit-runs lightly covered with leaves or grass. A very light press on the footplate set them off
Picture source (and more information): About NSW

 

Like similar traps, designed to catch animals by the leg, they are now considered cruel and are banned in most places.  The last such trap was manufactured in Australia in 1960; and so the Rabbitoh is no more; except for South Sydney Rugby League Team.

Since that time rabbit meat has gone up-market and is now most often found in small portions on the plates of expensive restaurants.

In 1995 rabbit Calicivirus was released in Australia and numbers were again decimated.  But some rabbits persist and can still be seen, now quite unafraid, around Mosman parklands.   There is even a large tame rabbit that grazes on the grass near the ferry wharf.

 

 

 

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Travel

Bolivia

 

 

In October 2011 our little group: Sonia, Craig, Wendy and Richard visited Bolivia. We left Puno in Peru by bus to Cococabana in Bolivia. After the usual border form-filling and stamps, and a guided visit to the church in which the ‘Black Madonna’ resides, we boarded a cruise boat, a large catamaran, to Sun Island on the Bolivian side of the lake.

Read more: Bolivia

Fiction, Recollections & News

The Craft - Preface

 

 

 

Preface: 

 

The Craft is an e-novel about Witchcraft in a future setting.  It's a prequel to my dystopian novella: The Cloud: set in the the last half of the 21st century - after The Great Famine.

 As I was writing The Cloud, I imagined that in fifty years the great bulk of the population will rely on their Virtual Personal Assistant (VPA), hosted in The Cloud, evolved from the primitive Siri and Cortana assistants available today. Owners will name their VPA and give him or her a personalised appearance, when viewed on a screen or in virtual-reality.

VPAs have obviated the need for most people to be able to read or write or to be numerate. If a text or sum is within view of a Cloud-connected camera, one can simply ask your VPA who will tell you what it says or means in your own language, explaining any difficult concepts by reference to the Central Encyclopaedia.

The potential to give the assistant multi-dimensional appearance and a virtual, interactive, body suggested the evolution of the: 'Sexy Business Assistant'. Employing all the resources of the Cloud, these would be super-smart and enhance the owner's business careers. Yet they are insidiously malicious, bankrupting their owners and causing their deaths before evaporating in a sea of bits.  But who or what could be responsible?  Witches?

Read more: The Craft - Preface

Opinions and Philosophy

Issues Arising from the Greenhouse Hypothesis

This paper was first written in 1990 - nearly 30 years ago - yet little has changed.

Except of course, that a lot of politicians and bureaucrats have put in a lot of air miles and stayed in some excellent hotels in interesting places around the world like Kyoto, Amsterdam and Cancun. 

In the interim technology has come to our aid.  Wind turbines, dismissed here, have become larger and much more economic as have PV solar panels.  Renewable energy options are discussed in more detail elsewhere on this website.

 


 

Climate Change

Issues Arising from the Greenhouse Hypothesis

 

Climate change has wide ranging implications for the World, ranging from its impacts on agriculture (through drought, floods, water availability, land degradation and carbon credits) mining (by limiting markets for coal and minerals processing) manufacturing and transport (through energy costs) to property damage resulting from storms.  The issues are complex, ranging from disputes about the impact of human activities on global warming, to arguments about what should be done and the consequences of the various actions proposed.  The following paper explores some of the issues and their potential impact.

 

Read more: Issues Arising from the Greenhouse Hypothesis

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