Ready for Earth Hour  March 26 ?

Newcastle Show 2011

Tall lilies and tall where with all (or wear with all?).

These storage tanks are getting a big facelift. Petroleum products are held there as is usual.
It's not art unfortunately. They are wrapped, of course, to contain any pollution created by the work.

A context or good composition or somesuch is part of a good photo. One can 'do battle' with the traffic and one way streets and 'no parking zones' so as to reach some unlikely subject for a photo and just go for it and a scene becomes digitalized just in a matter of fact way at first sight and history (or herstory) is recorded. I'm afraid that's it.

Newcastle is going Solar!
A lot of people have signed-up so that a large purchase of solar panels together with their installation can be done for minium costs.
A Government rebate is another impetus.
As a move to help 'boost the economy' through job creation, the government also plans to subsidise ceiling insulation so as to cut back on household heating and cooling and save energy as a consequence.

In this district the properties, farmhouses and hobby farms are deserted and have been acquired by the coal mining industry.
The locality, Anvil Hill, will be mined and renamed Mangoola by the Xstrata company. I imagine much of the area, far and wide, is subject to exploration and mining leases.



Below Q&A: Bagaimana isinya?
(Bahasa Indonesia)

Trivia. A new brand of pasta has arrived from Napoli. Some Newcastle supermarts cater more for Italians if that has anything to do with it.

The provincial scene on the label show a maiden with wheat and a sickle and is it the Bay of Naples with Mount Vesuvius on the horizon? The maiden is from Gragnano, a commune (municipality) near Naples.
Australian pasta is a good product and is exported far and wide, including Italy, but will certainly have to come up with more imaginative packaging to outdo this.
News of the wonder food, pasta, is on these sites: http://www.san-remo.com.au and http://www.ilovepasta.org/
It is the food of Olympic Champions.

This traditional home made dry pasta says:
Our tradition bronze-extruded pasta is made using the finest quality... wheat...in Gregnano, the home of pasta.
It came in the form of Herculaneum rings, shorter and much wider than Penne with good flavour while the most appropriate recipe is unknown as to sauce or otherwise as the pasta is rather dominant but a drop of red is important. The water pipes of yesterday's post were a reminder!
The dry pieces were just right for a toddler to thread and paint and make a necklace and, even, believe it or not, eat, when cooked - refering to a pasta dish.

Light-emitting diode or LED lights.
These small glowlights use only a tiny amount of power.
Bulbs are newer items and are for sale in this display.
LEDs first came on the scene to illuminate readouts and dials or to show that an appliance was on. Diodes abound in electronics and these products exploit their lighting properties and white light has been an advancement.
Technical data exists about developments but, for example, the lights are of some use for interior lighting for a camper van that is dependent on solar or a genny when travelling away on remote adventures. LEDs are used in traffic lights.
Saw the light at Cetnaj P/L Mayfield West.

Glass ceiling at an angle. Ways to keep out the heat and cold seen at CSIRO Mayfield West.

Sustainable energy tower 'resting' after sunset. Sunlight is focused and leads to a reaction between natural gas and water for a stronger gas of increased energy. Stored solar energy. A CSIRO project.

Solar collectors forming a wall at CSIRO Research, Mayfield West.The photo is deceptive, the collectors are high up and rather extensive.
I have visited cities in blogs, seen Octoberfests and even lions in lederhosen but my connection was too slack to leave visiting cards.

MORE RUBBISH FROM NEWCASTLE

Administration building and space for education and talking and consulting as well as the weighbridge at Summerhill Tip, further to yesterday's post.
As a nation we are one of the top producers of garbage in the world according to the city council but efforts are made to reduce the waste going to landfill.
As elsewhere, recovery and reuse extends to such as garden, tree and timber items; to construction and demolition wastes, to asphalt, concrete and shredded tyres. For instance, hugh amounts of compost and mulch products are processed from the green waste.
The remainder goes to landfill on site which is contained in a lining system but still, some argue that landfill will nevertheless become a problem. Landfill produces gases and a methane extraction system has been installed to use the gas for the generation of electricity in the future while in the meantime it is converted to 'less harmful' CO2. Organic household waste may in turn be extracted in the future to further reduce landfill.

SUMMERHILL WASTE MANAGEMENT CENTRE

Pre and post-Christmas clean-up. Select the correct drop-off according to the class of goods, then reverse the trailer into the 'bay', fun for those of us who cannot reverse a trailer very well, then, 'get into it' and unload the rubbish over the side into the bins below.

Reaching for the energy

Newcastles only big wind turbine seems to be reaching up to the sky for the breezes to keep the city running during the approaching night! Is this the future of energy, 'free' renewable and non polluting. For a city which has been based on technology we are slow to move on from the old coal based power structure. People want their power but what is the cost? Later generations will have to put up with the results of our excessive use and pollution it causes.