Category Archives: Posts

!FACEBOOK TRUMPED ME!

I WAS DEACTIVATED FOR VIOLATING FACEBOOK TERMS.

Yes, this old D.J. has fallen from the cloud. DE-platformed just like that other silenced D.J. Trump.

You see, in mid-August 2021 the N.S.W. Police Minister David Elliot warned “people should not physically attend anti lock-down / vaccine protest rallies…” and instead suggested “…express your protest passively and safely to the media or online.”

In response I made a YouTube video titled ‘Passive Protest.’

Upon sharing on Facebook within 48 hours my book no longer had a face. My video had not a skerrick of hate, abuse or misinformation. In fact, content included actual video grabs of N.S.W. Premiere Gladys Berejiklian and Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant substantiating the very stats I presented.

I was strong and dark humored with my opinion. But why should Gladdy and Kezza’s daily statistical information (overload) be exempt from scrutiny in this topic of such contention where public health in the overall socioeconomic picture is lost in their equations. Mental health and peoples livelihood are critically at stake!

But hey, so much for my right to ‘passive protest’ in a law biding way! So much for debate in our democracy!! So much for free speech!!!

Judge for yourself, you can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/fdiYShhNEjU

Now my Facebook is reduced to a name and a lifeless cameo silhouette. EVERYTHING IS LOST. Not one post, word, comment, photo, contact, message, or even an emoji remains. All GONE, after 14 years loyal customer presence hanging out in the FB cloud with my friends, family, strangers (some becoming friends), and vast connections networking with the local to global community.

I’m still awaiting confirmation that my appeal even got through, let alone if reinstatement will happen, as its virtually impossible to get anywhere past the Artificial Intelligence ‘NON’HELP Centre. Here, are endless detours, roundabouts and dead-ends specifically designed to ensure there is no human contact. All, basically designed to ensure nobody penetrates their cyber-base-headquarters.

And so, dazed and confused in the procedural rigmarole of this MEGA MONSTER CLOUD, I wasted at least another day of my life (non)-communicating with no-one. Talk about Ghosting!

Even I, who believes himself to be a tough trooper, now had to deal with the confrontations of my own mental health and emotional being. In an instant, a significant segment of my life history sadly vanished into thin air without a trace like some ‘Missing Virtual Person’.

The initial shock, confusion (and panic) of this new reality has sent me on a profound journey unfathomable to explain. Begging so many questions:

Did this BEHEMOTH CLOUD weigh heavy on me? Clouds, no matter how pretty or alluring, hold tonnes of water-vapour, and when inside we essential are immersed in fog. And, with no warning the cloud broke and suddenly I found myself having to grow wings to fly above its weighty limitations, expectations, obligations (addiction???)

Was I following a daily routine worshipping a variety of screen-size gods from the clouds? Was I under the spell (cult-control?) of ‘a cyber religion’ dominating me to follow the prevailing daily weather patterns produced by the cloud? Hey, when long-term daily weather is taken into account (like say 14 years) weather can be modelled as ‘a climate’. A ‘social-media warming’ crisis?

Is this an opportunity to permanently escape the clutches of the monster? Can I look into a cyber-life from now on with a cloudless clear sky view, breathing new crisp fresh air?

Am I glimpsing on the horizon a return to a simpler, more natural way of life? Is that even possible today in an atmosphere already saturated with A.I., techno dependent mass-information overload, that seems (is) inescapable and necessary to just operate and exist?

Can I choose to independently manoeuvre myself through or around the cloud? I caution myself to remain aware of its essential use, that I don’t perhaps throw out valuable collected rainwater, nor overthrow the worthwhile in deciding what portions to keep or throw away. As regardless, ‘it’ does serve valuable functions for modern humanity.

But I have much irritation and indeed anger with our (over)-A.I. Governed world as we submit and allow ‘it’ to decide and over-rule us (we as humans) becoming ‘its’ servant and not ‘its’ master!

Worse still, would be a human hack, hacking out my tongue to silence my voice. Perhaps for example, someone finding my differing opinion intolerable and being reported to the unconscionable A.I. At the mercy of ‘its’ DE-Activation button passing ‘its’ judgement, incapable of ‘it’ understanding human conversation, explanation and open debate.

This would present the saddest and darkest storm cloud of all; hiding behind the arrogance (and dangerous) control of a giant social media entity that has become a law unto themselves.

Not sorry if I offend, but our society today is more than ever divided and polarized, and ESSENTIALLY more than ever, demands our RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH!!!

2018 Skullcandy Oz Grom Surfing Open

Held annually at Lennox Head in the July school holidays, this major junior surfing competition draws around 300 competitors, not only from NSW, but around Australia and even from around the world.

Many parents take advantage of the pilgrimage to combine travelling to the comp and make for a family surfing holiday.

I went out behind the scenes with a backdrop of perfect winter weather… to capture a different perspective of the general ‘cool’ vibe of the aged variety of spectators taking in the ‘Groms At Play: IN and OUT of the WATER’ …

MY FIRST AUTHORED BOOK

Well, co-authored to be correct.

For over a year, with limited resources, I was part of the dedicated volunteer ‘Surfing Lennox Crew’ applying our best efforts to assist the Lennox Head Heritage Committee produce a 104 page book Surfing Lennox: From Then to Now.

The  book chronicles 70 years surfing around the town of Lennox Head and takes you on a wild ride following the evolution of the town from a once sleepy fishing hamlet, to when the first lone surfers tentatively entered the water, to the seemingly unstoppable crowds attracted today to the iconic world renowned surf location.

The book covers the breaks of the Lennox National Surfing Reserve (LNSR) stretching from the south between Flat Rock to the Lennox Head-Alstonville Surf Club in the north. It is ten years since the dedication of the LNSR and the book explores all the themes that define National Surfing Reserves: ‘sites of environmental, cultural and historical significance to the Australian surfing culture.’

Behind this backdrop are the people, groups, the characters who were born here, visited, stayed or have come and gone. It is not only the location and environment, but this diverse bunch that together in some way, shape or form, makes Lennox such a special and unique ‘buzzing’ town.

As co-authors’ our contributions combine with materials delivered via donations from the public to make for irreplaceable recollections the local community can now keep as an archival document.  The volume of information and images received was overwhelming and we faced some difficult challenges; many decisions about inclusion were very tough to make.

To include everything and everyone was impossible and there is no claim as definitive, but in turning the history pages of our towns surfing journey the modest size book still covers a great measure of authentic ground. Who knows, perhaps, with more resources the next generation could produce a definitive history and fill a large 300 page hard-cover book.

But right now we do finally have an interesting, stylishly presented book. And all entirely locally produced, edited, designed and printed!

Monies from the sale of the book will go to the not-for-profit Lennox Head Heritage Committee and Lennox National Surfing Reserve Inc.

Surfing Lennox From Then to Now is currently selling at Lennox Post Office,  and local shops, Anchor Chief, The Book Room, Lennox Head Surf and ABC Bookstore Ballina for $49.00 RRP.

HIPPY’S IMAGE

When ‘Hippy’ Craig Richards became the new licensed  trader at Lennox Head Motors, he asked me: “…can you design a new Ad, as the old Ad with the Volvo HAS TO GO (sorry Volvo drivers) as it just doesn’t fit our image here in Lennox, right across from the beach and all.”

AD BEFORE:

AD AFTER:

I came up with this look based off the old style N.S.W. Rego stickers. It features the iconic EK Holden wagon cruising down the road with the waves rolling in, complete with a classic timber log surfboard strapped to the roof!

A few months later Hippy asked to design a new Business Card in the same style, so we ‘pimped-up’ the ride and power modified the set-up.

I saw ‘THE’ Light???

I witnessed ‘something like a phenomenon’.

PHOTO: I felt compelled to define the experience (similar to Richard Dreyfus obsessive character Roy in the movie ‘Close Encounters of a 3rd Kind’.) This pic is still off the mark, as the orb was not as bright, more opaque and translucent.

Approximately 8pm Friday 16/06/2017 driving south, about a third  along the Broadwater – Evans Head Road, travelling through the Broadwater National Park NSW Australia:

I suddenly noticed, out of nowhere in my rear view mirror a light.

In reality it seemed abnormal but in increments of a seconds trying to apply normal logic, my initial reflex response was “WOW, how fast is this car travelling to make such ground on me?”

This road is unlit and dark, reasonably straight, fairly flat terrain, with scrub and heath. Thus you can notice approaching vehicles from hundreds of meters, if not kilometers away.

Applying logic: I thought if a car it must have problems with its headlight/s, only one light was visible, quite present but dim. The best I can describe is: I once owned a 1967 VW Beatle and the old 6 volt power source headlights in those older models were not very strong, both in low or high beam.  The shape of the light was kind of similar as well (about 30 to 60 cm max. in diameter.)

Applying logic: I also figured maybe a motorbike as the light was directly behind and centered.  And if anything, a motorbike possibly could have the ability to sneak up so quickly and unsuspectingly.

I slowed up and the light now came closer, following say, 1 car space distance.

Within the increments of a few more seconds I was looking for any other logical explanations, while at a deeper level I was yet to accept something illogical had occurred.

Under these circumstances, with a non-blinding headlight, there should be a possibility of making out some shape, volume or ‘presence’ of a vehicle. Perhaps even an engine or road sound, a glimpse of a red tail light. But no, it just seemed to be that one single light.

I was thinking what is going on here? This orb of light followed me for what was (I think) say a minute, maybe two…

But just like that, the light vanished. Gone.

This was no motor vehicle. It didn’t pull over or turn (there was nowhere possible for that). Nor, if a vehicle, did it show any sign of an accident, as I would have noticed erratic directional changes of the light.

I was really now having a battle with the logic of all this.

Looking back in the mirror there was now nothing, no light, no shape, (no sound), no ‘presence’ of a vehicle car / bike or otherwise. !!!NOTHING!!!

The realist in me, now having run every logical (motoring) scenario through my brain, had to face a fact: what just happened was beyond normal! This was extraordinary. This orb of light had just appeared from nowhere (it didn’t ‘COME FROM’ anywhere) and it disappeared the same way (it ‘DIDN’T GO’ anywhere) … As suddenly as it just instantly appeared, it had just instantly vanished.

Reflex now took over and it was petal to the metal. I made my way into Evans Head continually questioning and repeating to myself, literally out aloud loud “W.T.F. was that!!!???!!!”

Around midnight (after I finished my DJing gig at the pub) I had to drive back over the same stretch of road. I was both fearful and excited as to the prospects as to what might be install on the way home???

But, after a pretty nerve racking and uneventful return trip I made it home safely. I then took to the driver’s seat of the Google search engine and burned the midnight oil into the early hours of Saturday morning looking for answers.

While not totally ruling anything out (perhaps not even a U.F.O.) but it seemed not at all mechanical, material or of any real solid matter. My encounter happened near an area of local Aboriginal significance, so this led me to research about what I had already heard about before in the Australian outback, and what Aboriginals call:

‘Min Min lights’;

A University of Queensland neuroscientist Professor Jack Pettigrew in his research of 2003 mentioned how “these mysterious lights seem to follow travelers for long distances. The Min Min light seems to have magical qualities, sometimes following observers, even as they speed away in vehicles, while at other times seeming to retreat shyly.”

His research explains “The Min Min light occurs when light, from a natural or man-made source, is refracted to an observer who is tens, or even hundreds, of kilometers away, by an inverted mirage, called a ‘Fata Morgana’.

A cold, dense layer of air next to the ground (or sea, or sea ice) carries light far over the horizon to a distant observer without the usual dissipation and radiation, to produce a vivid mirage that baffles and enchants because of its unfamiliar optical properties.

Fata Morgana can be terrifying at night when a single light source gives no hint that it is actually part of a mirage emanating from a great distance. Even hardened Outback observers can break down (that includes me shitting myself) when they are unable to interpret the unusual optical properties of the light in terms of their own, very different, past experiences.”

Here is a link to Professor Jack Pettigrew’s very interesting scientific explanations: 

https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2003/03/uq-scientist-unlocks-secret-of-min-min-lights

I did at a later date contact the Professors for a discussion but he stood by that his research satisfactory explained my own encounter…

But to some extent I am still not sure…

I do understand and accept that Professor Pettigrew’s research and scientific explanation, can and does happen in certain circumstances. However, it would be more feasible if the object was a static where the viewer was focused on one projection point in front of them.  But in my case the orb was not far in the distance only a few meters behind me. So unless it was a ‘Mitsubishi Mirage’… how can a mirage from hundreds of kilometers away follow the exact same path and movements of my car for over a minute?!?

I also accept there are other feasible scientific explanations which I also researched, such as trapped underground gases rising up to the surface as a bubble, spontaneously combusting and igniting for a period of time. Perhaps, even caught in my van’s slipstream and thus giving an impression of ‘following me’???

In fact I can buy both scientific explanations in any certain given circumstances. But, I still have my doubts about just those two explanations (each claiming) being definitive?  Just by there being two possible explanations, don’t they each cancel out the other as definitive?? Don’t they both have to prove that there still can’t be any other possibilities???

As a final note: the Min Min lights exist in Australian Aboriginal people’s folklore over thousands of years, so precede any period of white settlement and powered or electrical lighting.

Aboriginals say the Min Min lights can be the spirits of the ancestors. Just a bit of a coincidence I guess, that the very date of my encounter, (should my dad  had till been alive) is my parents wedding anniversary… ??? hmmmmm…???

Paul’s Fishing Rods

Here is another 9 x 6 cm Ad I created for Paul Woolford to go in the Lennox Wave magazine’s Trades And Service section .  This time Paul can also now use this as his own business card as well…

Paul started fishing as a kid on the North Yorkshire Moors of England. He adds, “I still remember as a 12 year old testing (from the very wharf at Whitby where Captain Cook departed on the Endeavour) the first fishing rod I built for myself.”

Sixty years later from the garage of his Lennox Head home Paul’s custom hand crafted fishing rods are finding their way, similar to Cook on the Endeavour, all around the world.

From word of mouth, Paul now fills custom orders, not just for locals and around Australia but also trout fishing lodges in New Zealand and the Test River in England.

He has even made rods for a salmon fishing tour guide in Alaska!

Shark Mitigation

PART ONE: RESPECT

Whatever your thoughts on shark mitigation, before you make any social media comments,  there is one Golden Rule: RESPECT everyone’s opinions. Above all show compassion for the human element and some empathy for victims.

Statistics of what seem like tiny percentage of shark bites, passed off as trivial and insignificant, all still come down to a human cost. The implications reach way further than the rare deaths of victims or a few ‘lucky’ ones that survive.

The trauma related anxiety can flow on to victims’ families, friends, rescuers, witnesses, bystanders and not just those directly impacted.  The trauma can penetrate into the psyche of close-knit coastal communities where without the right trauma education and support, sadly can lead to many developing P.T.S.D. (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

Opposing opinions on shark mitigation has created a great divide and the debate has turned into a raging argument of hostile combating, nasty fighting words and even some serious BULLYING to threats of physical violence.

While the ocean going community here  in the Northern New South Wales region of Australia has always laughed off the mass-media shark demonising, hysteria and hype of the ‘Jaws’ (and recently ‘The Shallows’) movies, the fear of another shark attack in this region has become quite real and valid.

And just like Jaws the authorities find themselves hapless. But it’s another movie quote that’s more pertinent: from Stars Wars: Yoda; “I’ve got a bad feeling about this… Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

Here is a great example of the Golden Rule. It’s a powerful message in a video account from Dale Carr, a shark survivor and victim support group member of Bite Club :

RESPECT! Got it! Let’s move on…

PART TWO – What ‘IF’ solution?

The entire debate around sharks and mitigation options is way more a complex issue to deal with and explain than ‘throw-away’ one-liners or quick hit comments on social media.

I have tried to find the middle ground between ‘cull or cuddle’ of sharks. My efforts into bulk research and interviewing people on both sides has led to this possible crazy solution to consider (at least as a trial) which could be the compromise between killing more sea-life and protecting human life…

MODELS OF ORCA’S… EITHER, POSITIONED OR TRAWLED ALONG POPULAR OCEAN USER LOCATIONS… SLOWLY RELEASING  A CHEMICAL SCENT OF? …  !DEAD SHARK!

orca-nzsmall

The smell of dead sharks repelling other sharks rumour comes from fisherman who would trawl a dead shark to keep others away from interfering with their fishing. And also other ‘customary ways’ of some Polynesian cultures, when sharks can become problematic, the odd  individual threat is given a bit of ‘a bashing’ thus sending a message out to other sharks, time to move on.

However, forget the rumours and myths, scientists (and not just TV’s MythBusters CONFIRMED) have documented evidence of the dead shark scent repellents effectiveness.

Why Orcas? Because Orcas are the true Apex Predator of the ocean and scientists have confirmed that even the Great White Shark is no match. In the G.W’s ‘wisdom’ after an Orca has killed one of their own, they are GONE! All G.W.’s in the vicinity move on! Disappear immediately! At times great distances, like for example non-stop one-way ‘flights’ from California to Hawaii.

Moving ‘the problem’ to somewhere else, comes down to a practising ‘nature’s method’ at coastal stretches prioritised by human population and popularity. Yes the more isolated areas along the coast (or better still further out to sea) may become more shark infested and a bigger risk for those minimal few humans who enter the water in isolated locations.

But there is a massive amount of isolated Australian coastline and one mighty bigger ocean out there for sharks to inhabit and still allow humans to share. These more isolated locations would then have to be known (and regarded) as non-patrolled / non-protected true wildernesses.

(Here is one reference of the Orca V Great White ‘fight or flight’. In what is a very good and interesting National Geographic documentary, if wanting to find the very relevant watch point go to the 33 min to 45 min period.)

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/a-night-of-exploration/videos/killer-whale-vs-jaws/

Also watch this from MythBusters as to general shark repellent:

(And another different Shark repellent experiment – Oceans – BBC -Philippe Cousteau Jr and Tooni Mahto dive into shark-infested waters off the coast of the Bahamas to test a repellent made from dead shark tissue.)

 

(Here is also a link to some of the work by Bec Wellard a young researcher from Curtin University at the forefront of Orca sounds and opening another possibility to audio repellents.)

https://orcatalkoz.wordpress.com/

N.Z. Methven Heliski 2006

August 2016 signifies ten years since I last went Heli-Boarding.

Join me in the back seat for a behind the scenes look, with the experts at Methven Heli-Ski operations, as we head west following the Rakaia River to Heli-base farm and take off from there…

Click into photos to enlarge…

Within an hour the beautiful scenic drive lands you at the Heli-base for a welcome cuppa, safety briefs and to start ‘gearing-up’.

Groups are organised to place snow riders with similar abilities together and make sure everyone is set to hit the terrain they are most comfortable with.

While waiting for my groups departure I took the opportunity to ‘shoot a few of the birds’ as groups were shuttled up the mountain range.

Finally my turn arrived and the adventure begins!!!

After a run you can look back down on your tracks and the temporary signature you carved onto the mountain.

There is the stop for lunch with one of the best views any restaurant in the world could offer…

A few more runs later, as you are about to ride ‘the bird’ back to base, you have that one last look back over your tracks.

Its back to the farm base for a wind down cuppa, then later back to your accommodation. And finally, sadly, sooner or later back home. But your soaring soul still taking  quite a few weeks to arrive back down to earth!

The Stairway to Heaven

Here is a nice slice from ‘hanging out’ on The Stairway to Heaven on the a weekend 14 – 15th May. The weather is as good as it gets. Cool nights with perfect warm sunny blue sky days equalled with water temps in the mid 20’s degree C. Topped with excellent water clarity of magnificent colour, light off-shore winds and some nice little waves.