Month: August 2022

Categories
US

Wikipedia restricting new users from editing ‘recession’ page

Wikipedia restricting new users from editing 'recession' page

Job Creators Network President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz slams Biden trying to claim to the American people that the United States is not in recession

Wikipedia is changing the editing permissions for users who try to change the page for “recession” following a disagreement over its exact definition.

Wikimedia, the company that runs the online encyclopedia, will force new and anonymous users to have their updates reviewed and accepted by an editor before making their changes public on the page. Last week the Commerce Department announced the United States’s economy shrank for a second straight quarter.

“Semi-protected articles can only be edited by logged-in users whose accounts are at least 4 days old and have made at least 10 edits,” Wikimedia said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg. “Volunteer editors use these and other tools on a regular basis to help ensure that Wikipedia content is neutral and well-sourced.”

Originally, the definition of recession had been two straight quarters of falling gross-domestic-product. The US GDP fell at a 0.9% annualized rate in the second quarter, following a 1.6% decline in the first quarter of 2022.

Recession fears mount

The Commerce Department sparked fears of a recession last week after announcing the US GDP fell for a second quarter in a row at a 0.9% annualized rate. (iStock / iStock)

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF MINNEAPOLIS CEO SAYS INFLATION IS ‘VERY CONCERNING’ AND ‘SPREADING OUT’ ACROSS ECONOMY

However, the news caused a debate with Wikipedia users who rushed to the page and change the exact definition of the term. Originally, the company semi-locked the page, meaning only users with accounts of at least four days old and 10 verified edits could make changes to the “recession” page.

The encyclopedia plans to lift the semi-lock and allow volunteer editors to handle all requested changes.

“Volunteer editors know this, and have created tools and mechanisms for responding to an influx of edits on articles that are in the public eye in order to maintain the standards of neutrality and verifiability that govern the site,” a Wikimedia spokesperson told The Hill. “Protecting an article is one common tool they use.”

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Currently, Wikipedia’s definition of a recession states, “Although the definition of a recession varies between different countries and scholars, two consecutive quarters of decline in a country’s real gross domestic product (real GDP) is commonly used as a practical definition of a recession. “

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Categories
Technology

Smart lighting system based on quantum dots more accurately reproduces daylight — ScienceDaily

Bioscientists use mixed-reality headset, custom software to measure vegetation in the field -- ScienceDaily

Researchers have designed smart, colour-controllable white light devices from quantum dots — tiny semiconductors just a few billionths of a meter in size — which are more efficient and have better color saturation than standard LEDs, and can dynamically reproduce daylight conditions in a single light.

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, designed the next-generation smart lighting system using a combination of nanotechnology, color science, advanced computational methods, electronics and a unique fabrication process.

The team found that by using more than the three primary lighting colors used in typical LEDs, they were able to reproduce daylight more accurately. Early tests of the new design showed excellent color rendering, a wider operating range than current smart lighting technology, and wider spectrum of white light customization. The results are reported in the journal Nature Communications.

As the availability and characteristics of ambient light are connected with wellbeing, the widespread availability of smart lighting systems can have a positive effect on human health since these systems can respond to individual mood. Smart lighting can also respond to circadian rhythms, which regulate the daily sleep-wake cycle, so that light is reddish-white in the morning and evening, and bluish-white during the day.

When a room has sufficient natural or artificial light, good glare control, and views of the outdoors, it is said to have good levels of visual comfort. In indoor environments under artificial light, visual comfort depends on how accurately colors are rendered. Since the color of objects is determined by illumination, smart white lighting needs to be able to accurately express the color of surrounding objects. Current technology achieves this by using three different colors of light simultaneously.

Quantum dots have been studied and developed as light sources since the 1990s, due to their high color tunability and color purity. Due to their unique optoelectronic properties, they show excellent color performance in both wide color controllability and high color rendering capability.

The Cambridge researchers developed an architecture for quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QD-LED) based next-generation smart white lighting. They combined system-level color optimization, device-level optoelectronic simulation, and material-level parameter extraction.

The researchers produced a computational design framework from a color optimization algorithm used for neural networks in machine learning, together with a new method for charge transport and light emission modelling.

The QD-LED system uses multiple primary colors — beyond the commonly used red, green and blue — to more accurately mimic white light. By choosing quantum dots of a specific size — between three and 30 nanometres in diameter — the researchers were able to overcome some of the practical limitations of LEDs and achieve the emission wavelengths they needed to test their predictions.

The team then validated their design by creating a new device architecture of QD-LED based white lighting. The test showed excellent color rendering, a wider operating range than current technology, and a wide spectrum of white light shade customization.

The Cambridge-developed QD-LED system showed a correlated color temperature (CCT) range from 2243K (reddish) to 9207K (bright midday sun), compared with current LED-based smart lights which have a CCT between 2200K and 6500K. The color rendering index (CRI) — a measure of colors illuminated by the light in comparison to daylight (CRI=100) — of the QD-LED system was 97, compared to current smart bulb ranges, which are between 80 and 91 .

The design could pave the way to more efficient, more accurate smart lighting. In an LED smart bulb, the three LEDs must be controlled individually to achieve a given colour. In the QD-LED system, all the quantum dots are driven by a single common control voltage to achieve the full color temperature range.

“This is a world-first: a fully optimised, high-performance quantum-dot-based smart white lighting system,” said Professor Jong Min Kim from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who co-led the research. “This is the first milestone toward the full exploitation of quantum-dot-based smart white lighting for daily applications.”

“The ability to better reproduce daylight through its varying color spectrum dynamically in a single light is what we aimed for,” said Professor Gehan Amaratunga, who co-led the research. “We achieved it in a new way through using quantum dots. This research opens the way for a wide variety of new human responsive lighting environments.”

The structure of the QD-LED white lighting developed by the Cambridge team is scalable to large area lighting surfaces, as it is made with a printing process and its control and drive is similar to that in a display. With standard point source LEDs requiring individual control this is a more complex task.

The research was supported in part by the European Union and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

.

Categories
Australia

Police release images, footage of alleged gunmen involved in Fawkner shooting

Police release images, footage of alleged gunmen involved in Fawkner shooting

Detectives say one of two gunmen who crashed into a fire hydrant after shooting ex-Mongols bikie Suleiman “Sam” Abdulrahim also tried to hide in a restaurant garbage bin when fleeing the crime scene.

Police have released CCTV footage of two men they say were in a Mazda SUV when they ambushed and shot Abdulrahim, 30, multiple times as he left a funeral at Fawkner cemetery in June.

The Mazda sped away from the scene before crashing into a fire hydrant and a pole on Box Forest Road, near Sydney Road, where the pair ran from the damaged vehicle.

The footage shows one of the alleged offenders, dressed in black and attempting to hide his face with an item of clothing, climbing into a bin filled with cardboard boxes near a fast food restaurant on Sydney Road.

loading

He momentarily hides in the bin before climbing out and walking away, the CCTV vision shows.

The second man allegedly carjacked a woman and child at gunpoint, taking a Ford Territory wagon that police later located at Brunswick Drive in Epping

Police said CCTV footage shows the man walking in Epping wearing a black hoodie and carrying a bag.

Police also believe one of the men attended a hardware store in Epping on June 15, 10 days before the shooting, purchasing two petrol cans that were later located in the crashed Mazda SUV.

Categories
US

Former Treasury secretaries push Manchin bill

Former Treasury secretaries push Manchin bill

Five former Treasury secretaries — including Hank Paulson, who served under President George W. Bush — signed a statement strongly backing the “Inflation Reduction Act” brokered by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.).

Why it matters: The bipartisan support will help the White House and Democrats push back against the Republican contention that millions of Americans who make under $400,000 a year would see their taxes rise.

  • The others who signed on are Robert Rubin and Larry Summers (President Clinton), Tim Geithner and Jacob Lew (President Obama).
  • Senate votes are expected to begin later this week on the health, climate and tax plan.

“As former Treasury Secretaries of both Democratic and Republican Administrations,” the statement says, “we support the Inflation Reduction Act which is financed by prudent tax policy that will collect more from top-earners and large corporations.

“Taxes due or paid will not increase for any family making less than $400,000/year. And the extra taxes levied on corporations do not reflect increases in the corporate tax rate, but rather the reclaiming of revenue lost to tax avoidance and provisions benefitting the most tributary.

The selective presentation by some of the distributional effects of this bill neglects benefits to middle-class families from reducing deficits, from bringing down prescription drug prices, and from more affordable energy. This legislation will help increase American competitiveness, address our climate crisis, lower costs for families, and fight inflation — and should be passed immediately by Congress.”

.

Categories
Technology

Aspect of Justice, Wrathbone Invasion, bug fixes, and more

Diablo Immortal season 3 (August 3) official patch notes (Image via Diablo Immortal)

The Diablo Immortal season 3 update is finally live. The patch has brought with it a new Battle Pass, Aspect of Justice, as well as the Wrathbone Invasion daily event.

The Hungering Moon limited-time event will also be making a return, along with a plethora of bug fixes that will be enhancing multiple aspects of the game.

Diablo Immortal fans looking for a detailed description of the patch can look up Blizzard’s official website. However, for a brief overview, here are all the major highlights.

Diablo Immortal season 3 (August 3) official patch notes

youtube-cover

Battle Pass: Aspects of Justice

  • New season 3 Battle pass Aspect of Justice is now live.
  • Empowered Battle Pass: Includes all rank rewards from the free standard Battle Pass but also unlocks an Empowered track that provides additional rewards at each rank. Plus, players will receive the gilded Aspect of Justice Weapon cosmetic, unlocked at rank one, and the radiant Aspect of Justice Armor cosmetic, unlocked at rank 40.
  • Collector’s Empowered Battle Pass: Gives players access to all rank rewards and cosmetics from the Empowered Battle Pass. Plus, the Aspect of Justice Avatar Frame, Portal cosmetic, and a ten-rank boost, all provided immediately after upgrading.
  • The Season Three Battle Pass only runs until September 1, at 2:59 am server time

Daily Event: Wrathbone Invasion

  • Hells is underway—the Wrathborne, with their armies in tow, have besieged Sanctuary. At 12:00 pm server time each day, daring adventurers can band together to repel hordes of bloodthirsty elite demons.
  • If the minions of the Burning Hells fail to claim the zone they’re attacking, Gorgothra will seek to finish the job herself, sending an empowered echo of her likeness to clean up any resistance.

Limited-time event: Hungering Moon

  • Fulfilling the moon’s demands will earn players Moonslivers, which can be traded for Blessings. After acquiring seven Blessings players will have curried enough goodwill with the moon to trade these in for a random reward.

youtube-cover

Bug fixes

Cycle of Strife:

  • Fixed an issue that would prevent players from receiving the Shadows intro quest if their clan converted to Shadows while they were offline.
  • Fixed an issue in Shadow War that would allow the Immortal to move in and out of the designated arena.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented players from signing up for the Shadow Lottery and displayed the number of participants as zero.

Events:

  • Fixed an issue in Hungering Moon that prevented players from completing quests that require obtaining Legendary and Rare gear.

Gameplay:

  • Fixed an issue that would cause players to get stuck during the Prison of the Scorpion quest.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented party invitations from being sent to players while in certain areas of Bilefen.

Graphics:

Also Read
Story Continues below

  • Fixed an issue that would cause the screen to be covered in black blocks when selecting the High quality option for Shadows in the Settings Menu.

Legendary Gem:

  • Changed the description of Lightning Core’s lightning proc effect cooldown to read as “Cannot occur more than once every 20 seconds,” instead of “Cannot occur more than once every 20 seconds per target.”

UI:

  • Fixed an issue that would allow overworld map pins to be visible inside the dungeon map.

.

Categories
US

12-year-old escapes Alabama home, leads cops to 2 bodies

12-year-old escapes Alabama home, leads cops to 2 bodies

A young girl chewed through restraints to escape to a rural Alabama home where investigators later found two decomposing bodies, authorities said.

José Paulino Pascual-Reyes, 37, is facing kidnapping charges and multiple counts of capital murder in connection to the bodies found at the home after a 12-year-old girl was discovered walking along a roadside early Monday in Dadeville.

Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett told reporters at a press conference that a driver picked up the girl and called 911 — setting off an investigation that led to Pascual-Reyes’ arrest and the gross discovery, AL.com reported.

Pascual-Reyes, who remains jailed pending a bond hearing, was arrested in Auburn. The bodies were found in his Dadeville home, not far from where the girl was discovered wandering alone.

The decomposing remains have been sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences to be identified, Abbett said, adding it’s unclear how long they had been there.

“It’s a fluid investigation,” the sheriff told reporters. “Things are changing, and I don’t want to jeopardize the identification of our juvenile.”

Pascual-Reyes had lived at the home since February, Abbett said. Other people were there where cops arrived, but he did not elaborate, AL.com reported.
Pascual-Reyes had lived at the home since February.
WSFA
Pascual-Reyes, who remains jailed pending a bond hearing, was arrested in Auburn. The bodies were found in his Dadeville home, not far from where the girl was discovered wandering alone.
The bodies were found in Pascual-Reyes’ Dadeville home, not far from where the girl was discovered wandering alone.
WSFA

Court filings obtained by WSFA show the girl had been tied to bedposts for nearly a week. She was assaulted and plied with alcohol, but managed to escape by chewing through her restraints from her, the documents show.

Authorities did not indicate whether the girl knew Pascual-Reyes, AL.com reported.

“I would say she’s a hero,” Abbett said. “It’s one of those things we won’t get into until later. We gave her medical attention. She is safe now. We want to keep her that way.”

Pascual-Reyes had lived at the home since February, Abbett said. Other people were there when cops arrived, but he did not elaborate, AL.com reported.

“It’s horrendous to have a crime scene of this nature,” the sheriff told reporters Tuesday.

.

Categories
Australia

A wounded environment leads to an unliveable economy

A wounded environment leads to an unliveable economy

That’s why the most important economic event of recent times is not the latest rise in interest rates, it’s last month’s State of the Environment report – whose release was delayed until we found a government with the courage to break the bad news.

The report’s significance is not only its roll call of how much damage we’ve done so far, but its account of the way that damage is damaging the humans who’ve done it.

We’ve been damaging the environment in many ways – loss of habitat and species, introduction of invasive animals and plants, pollution and waste disposal, salinity and other damage to soil and waterways, overfishing – but the greatest single source of damage, of course , is climate change.

The five-yearly report brings the bad news that climate change is compounding all the other problems. And whereas previous reports warned of future damage from climate change, this one shows it’s already happening – and getting worse.

It documents the extreme floods, droughts, heatwaves, storms and bushfires that have occurred across Australia in the past five years. The immediate effects have been millions of animals killed and habitats burned, enormous areas of reef bleached, and people’s livelihoods and homes lost.

But there are many longer-term effects still to play out. Extreme conditions put immense stress on species already threatened by habitat loss and invasive species. An extreme heatwave in 2018, for example, killed 23,000 spectacled flying foxes, making them an endangered species.

loading

Many of our ecosystems have evolved to rebound from bushfires. But now that the fires are coming more often and are more intense, the bush doesn’t have enough time to recover, which scientists expect will make it weedy – only those species that live fast and reproduce quickly will thrive.

But enough about plants and animals, what about us? While cyclones, floods and bushfires directly destroy our homes and landscapes, Professor Emma Johnston, of Sydney University and an author of the report, writes that heatwaves kill more people in Australia than any other extreme event.

Heatwave intensity has increased by a third over the past two decades. And climate change worsens air quality through dust, smoke and emissions. The Black Summer of 2019-20 exposed more than 80 per cent of our population to smoke, killing about 420 people.

As Liz Hanna and Mark Howden, of the Australian National University, remind us, clean air is just one of the “ecosystem services” the environment provides to you and me in the economy. Another is clean food. A lot of our recent complaints about the cost of living – the high cost of meat and vegetables, the mythical $10 iceberg lettuce – come from the delayed effect of the drought and the recent effect of the floods.

Yet another service is clean water. But many country towns had to truck in water during the last drought. Land clearing affects water quality. Run-off from agriculture damages water ecosystems and encourages algal bloom and species loss. More than 4 million people depend on the Murray-Darling rivers for their water, but the catchments are rated as poor or very poor.

loading

Finally, the report reminds us that contact with (healthy) nature is associated with mental health benefits, promotes physical activity and contributes to overall wellbeing. Biodiversity and green and blue spaces in cities are linked to stress reduction and mood improvement, increased respiratory health, and lower rates of depression and blood pressure. Enjoy ’em while they last.

The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.

Categories
US

A ‘guard cat’ named Bandit helped stopped an armed robbery at the home of a Mississippi man

A 'guard cat' named Bandit helped stopped an armed robbery at the home of a Mississippi man

BELDEN, Miss. — A Mississippi man said his pet cat from him helped prevent a robbery at his home from him, and he credits the calico with possibly saving his life from him.

Bandit, a 20-pound cat, lives with her retired owner Fred Everitt in the Tupelo suburb of Belden. When at least two people tried to break into their shared home last week, the cat did everything she could to alert Everitt of the danger, he told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

“You hear of guard dogs,” said Everitt, 68. “This is a guard cat.”

The attempted robbery occurred sometime between 2:30 and 3 am on July 25, Everitt said. He was first awoken by Bandit’s meows in the kitchen. Then, she raced into the bedroom, jumped onto the bed and began pulling the comforter off of him and clawing at her arms. Everitt knew something was wrong.

“She had never done that before,” Everitt said. “I went, ‘What in the world is wrong with you?’”

Everitt got up to investigate and saw two young men outside his back door. One had a handgun, and the other was using a crowbar to try and pry the door open, he said.

Everitt said by the time he retrieved a handgun and returned to the kitchen, the would-be intruders had already fled. Everitt told the newspaper that he did not call the police.

He said the situation could have been different without Bandit.

“It did not turn into a confrontational situation, thank goodness,” Everitt said. “But I think it’s only because of the cat.”

Everitt adopted Bandit from the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society four years ago.

Categories
Business

Early AirTree funds marked down 18pc on massive Canva valuation cut

Early AirTree funds marked down 18pc on massive Canva valuation cut

“This quarter, we have marked down a small subset of late-stage companies that have a large impact on our funds’ holding value.

“These markdowns aren’t a reflection of our conviction in the relevant companies. They’re an acknowledgment of comparable movements in public for our material, late-stage positions.”

While AirTree’s accounts have been audited since the fund launched in 2014, it was the first time it had an independent valuation conducted, which was done by big four accounting firm EY.

The move by AirTree follows the country’s other biggest VC funds, Blackbird Ventures and Square Peg Capital, which also marked down Canva by 36 per cent to $US25.6 billion, wiping $US14.4 billion of its value.

It is understood the local funds joined forces to get an independent assessment of Canva’s valuation, with the support of the superannuation funds invested in them, leading to the consistency in their mark-downs.

The decision from the local VCs followed US-based investors Franklin Templeton and T.Rowe Price making moves earlier this year to mark down the value of Canva in some of their funds.

right-balance

As part of AirTree’s quarterly update to investors, it also shared performance metrics of its funds, stating that to date, it has had 11 full or partial exits, at an average of 2.1 times the value in AirTree’s books.

“This gives us some comfort that we’ve struck the right balance on
holding valuations,” AirTree wrote.

Other later-stage companies owned by AirTree include Employment Hero, Pet Circle, education marketplace Go1 (which recently doubled its valuation and raised another $US100 million) and residential solar power buy now, pay later financier Brighte, which laid off 15 per cent of its workforce in June.

AirTree also revealed in its letter that it had sold part of its core 2014 fund last year, which delivered a 3.3 times return on capital to investors, and realized an internal rate of return of 80 per cent, putting it in the top 5 per cent of funds globally of that vintage.

AirTree managing partner Craig Blair said the fund expected to maintain its historical pace of investment, despite the tech market downturn, and AirTree’s focus would be on backing companies that were still early in their journeys.

“Like any industry, we can make mistakes and get too far over our skis and calling us out and being grounded is important if you’re serious about building a long-term venture fund,” he said.

“Yes, we have companies that may not make it. Failure is apart of our industry. But, at the core, we have very, very smart, talented people choosing careers in entrepreneurship… and we firmly believe tech will solve some of the world’s biggest problems, be it in energy, health or food.”

The VC fund announced in February that it had raised $700 million across three new investment vehicles, including the biggest seed fund in the country, and a dedicated fund for Web3 companies.

State of the market

In the first six months of the year AirTree invested more than the fund did at the start of 2021, in contrast to Blackbird and Square Peg.

There has been a substantial contraction in deal values ​​and volumes across the local market, with the latest Cut Through Venture figures indicating $228 million was invested across 35 deals in July. This was almost two thirds less than the previous year, and down $181 million on June this year.

The tough funding market has led start-ups to lay off staff and alter investment plans to extend their capital runways. Some have also already collapsed, including IPO hopeful Metigy which was raising capital at a $1 billion valuation, a property tech start-up founded by an ex-Macquarie Group team called Yabonza, and multiple grocery delivery players.

While the AirTree letter said the next few years hold a “unique opportunity” for companies that can operate efficiently to recruit more easily and take market share, the VC cautioned that capital efficiency would be paramount.

“For those unable to extend runway sufficiently, we’ll lean in to help portfolio companies fundraise,” the letter said. “We anticipate some down rounds, and a higher failure rate than in recent years.”

When asked how long the downturn would last, Mr Blair said trying to pick the market cycle was a “mug’s game”. “The companies we invest in are driven by structural tailwinds, they’re not cyclical,” he said.

“We’re in the business of making eight to 10-year bets and that’s what our investors expect from us.”

Categories
Australia

Murray system reaches full allocation before spring making river operators and landholders ‘nervous’

Water released from a large dam.

Authorities are warning landholders downstream of the Hume Dam near Albury-Wodonga to prepare for flooding as spring approaches.

Up to 100 millimetres of rain is predicted this week in Victoria’s north-east and the New South Wales Southern Riverina region with Upper Murray, Mitta Mitta, Kiewa, Ovens, and King rivers expected to see flooding.

After a fairly dry July, Hume Dam is sitting at 92 per cent capacity and is expected to fill this season.

The dam filled in September last year.

Yesterday the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) advised landholders downstream from Hume Dam “to be flood ready as we enter the wettest period for southern basin catchments.”

MDBA executive director of river management Andrew Reynolds said the Hume Dam currently had 250 gigalitres of airspace available before the dam was considered full.

“We’ve been in close contact with the Bureau of Meteorology, we’re anticipating that we will be able to manage this rain event with the airspace that we have got,” Mr Reynolds said.

“We will make further releases to preserve further airspace in advance of future events.”

Farmers downstream of Hume Dam said the abundance of water already in the system was “very concerning.”

Chairman of the Murray River Action Group, Richard Sarsgood, said landholders along the Murray would be checking storage levels every day in anticipation of flooding.

“Everybody is watching this coming rain event and we’ll see how much airspace it soaks up in Hume Dam,” he said.

“By the next rain event people will start looking at moving stock to higher ground or out on agistment.”

Murray at full allocation

Irrigation season officially starts on August 15. Already Victoria irrigators have their 100 per cent high reliability allocation.

A dam wall has water being released.
Hume Dam reached capacity in September 2021 for the first time since 2016.(Rural ABC: Annie Brown )

Resource manager with Goulburn Murray Water, Mark Bailey, said this was the earliest the system had reached full allocation in 20 years.

“The last time we were at this level was 2002/2003. It’s something that we haven’t seen in a very long time,” Mr Bailey said.

Authorities are anticipating a wetter year, warning irrigators and landholders to expect more water.

“It’s something that makes a river operator quite nervous in terms of what’s happening with potential inflows and where the dams are,” Mr Bailey said.

‘High probability’ Dartmouth will spill

Further upstream from Lake Hume, Victoria’s largest capacity dam in Dartmouth is sitting at around 95 per cent capacity, holding 3.8 million megalitres of water.

The view of Dartmouth Dam's signage over the water.
Dartmouth Dam is Victoria’s largest storage with a capacity of 4 million megalitres.(Rural ABC: Annie Brown)

The last time Dartmouth dam spilled was in October 1996, and excitement has been building that the mega dam could overflow for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.

“There’s a reasonably high probability that Dartmouth will fill this year,” MDBA’s Andrew Reynolds said.

“It is a much bigger storage than Hume, however it’s also has a much smaller catchment upstream, so the inflows are not necessarily as large.

“We’re not pre-releasing water from Dartmouth because it would just make its way into Hume and we would have more water to manage there.

“At the moment it’s better that we protect the airspace at Hume Dam.”

Living on the floodplain

A full river.
The Murray system has reached full water allocation.(Rural ABC: Annie Brown)

Richard Sarsgood has been farming along the Murray River outside Howlong, NSW, for 66 years.

Among the 120 members of the River Action Group living between Lake Hume to Yarrawonga, Mr Sarsgood said there was a higher concern for flooding this year with an abundance of water already in the system in August.

“There’s a lot of concerned landholders and tourism operators because the system has been fully charged since February,” Mr Sarsgood said.

“With the rain event this week, and future events, there’s a lot of concern there’s going to be repeat flooding like in previous years.

“To the MDBA’s credit, they have drawn Hume dam down to 92 per cent which is a step in a right direction.

“However with Dartmouth so full, and the Bureau of Meteorology predicting a wetter than average next three months, we are really concerned the flooding will be heading our way.”

.