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NOAA still predicts above-average Atlantic hurricane season

NOAA still predicts above-average Atlantic hurricane season

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When it comes to the tropics, the Atlantic usually starts heating up quickly as the calendar flips to August. This year, however, there’s nothing on the immediate horizon. There are no strong disturbances and no reliably modeled storms or hurricanes as a stubborn lid of Saharan dust helps keep tropical activity at bay over much of the Atlantic.

Despite the meager prospects in the short term, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday that it is still expecting an above-average season, with three to five major hurricanes likely and a dozen or more named storms probable.

It’s been a slow start to hurricane season — but it’s still early

NOAA’s confidence levels have hardly changed, either, since its previous assessment in late May, during which the agency called for a 65 percent chance of an above-average season. Now it is saying there is a 60 percent likelihood that the season winds up above-average.

All told, NOAA’s expectation is for 14 to 20 named storms reaching tropical storm strength or better, compared with an average of 14 in a season. Of those storms, the agency thinks six to 10 will become hurricanes, and three to five will reach Category 3 strength or better with winds surpassing 110 mph.

Those odds are not indicative of whether a storm will make landfall, never mind on US soil. There have been active or even hyperactive Atlantic seasons with minimal US impact, as well as comparatively quiet seasons that brought calamitous effects stateside. At a broad glance, the 1992 Atlantic hurricane season, during which seven named storm formed, looks like a dud — until closer inspection reveals that the first storm was Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, which razed much of South Florida at the end of August.

NOAA cited an ongoing La Niña as a main driver in its prognosis, since this atmosphere-ocean pattern tends to weaken high-altitude winds over the tropical Atlantic. The slackening of those winds, which are ordinarily hostile to tropical development, makes it easier for fledgling tropical waves to grow tall and organize. La Niña is the opposite of El Niño, both of which first begin as anomalies in water temperatures measured across the eastern tropical Pacific.

In early July, the National Weather Service stated that there was a 62 percent chance that La Niña would continue during August, September and October — peak hurricane season. The odds of an El Niño cropping up are a negligible 2 or 3 percent.

NOAA’s continued aggressive predictions for hurricane season in 2022 are echoed by the sentiments of other prominent forecasters, including Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University with a strong track record. In the short term, meaning the next two weeks, his team is expecting near-normal activity. But it hinted that things could get busier after that.

“There are indications that a [tropical cyclone] could potentially form in the central tropical Atlantic in about 10 to 14 days,” read his biweekly report. “There is also potential for [tropical cyclone] development off the US East Coast in week two.”

Over the next two weeks, weather models are highlighting above-average wind shear, or a change of wind speed and/or direction with height, over the tropics. Wind shear is highly disruptive to tropical systems, pulling them apart in a tug-of-war fashion or knocking mature hurricanes off-kilter. That should change by mid-August.

“We do anticipate that there could be a reduction in vertical wind shear near the end of the two-week forecast period,” he wrote.

Thereafter, his team is still anticipating a busy season, and experts across the board have noted that the seemingly slow start is more on par with what is typical.

“It’s not as weird as it feels,” wrote Bryan Norcross, meteorologist for Fox Weather and former hurricane specialist at the Weather Channel, in a recent Facebook post. “On average, the third tropical storm is not named until August 3, so we’re still slightly ahead of the game for the moment.”

The season thus far has featured three storms — Alex, Bonnie and Colin — but has been silent since Independence Day. Bonnie formed at the start of July and became a rare “crossover” storm, transiting Central America and reaching hurricane status in the Pacific.

The peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic is usually anchored around mid-September, lagging a few months behind the summer solstice since it takes a while to heat up the ocean waters — the elixir of life for tropical systems. Because of that “thermal inertia,” or slow-to-change nature of sea surface temperatures, the oceans often remain warm well into the autumn, the reason the “official” end to hurricane season isn’t until Nov. 30.

Sea surface temperatures over large areas of the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico are several degrees above average, indicating that there will be plenty of energy to support some dangerous storms. And in an era in which hurricanes are demonstrably becoming wetter, more intense and more prone to bouts of rapid intensification because of human-induced climate change, the lull we’re experiencing may very well simply be the calm before the storm.

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Business

Australian house prices: 300 suburbs that have significantly dropped in value

Australian house prices: 300 suburbs that have significantly dropped in value

As skyrocketing interest rates smash the Australian housing market, a dozen suburbs have already seen property prices fall by more than $500,000 since March.

PropTrack’s automated valuation model (AVM) data show more than 300 suburbs across the country where dwelling values ​​have experienced six-figure falls over the quarter.

In percentage terms, the worst-performing suburb in the country was South Hedland in WA’s Pilbara region, where units dropped by 24.81 per cent to a median value of $213,791 in June 2022 – a loss of more than $70,000.

That was closely followed by Booval in Queensland, where unit prices were down 24.64 per cent, or more than $121,000, to $370,231.

But it was wealthy suburbs in the capital cities that experienced the largest falls in dollar terms, with parts of Sydney’s northern beaches and eastern suburbs, Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula, as well as inner-city Perth and Canberra all experiencing falls in excess of half a million dollars.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s eastern suburbs home of Point Piper recorded the biggest fall in dollar terms, with units there losing nearly $715,000 in value – a 14.82 per cent fall from $4.82 million to $4.11 million.

Manly came in second place with losses of nearly $680,000 in house prices, representing a 13.8 per cent fall from $4.92 million to $4.25 million.

Ingleside on Sydney’s northern beaches saw house prices fall nearly $610,000 to $2.77 million, while Flinders in Melbourne suffered a $600,000 fall to $2.51 million.

Other suburbs where house prices fell by more than $500,000 include Clontarf, Dover Heights, North Bondi, Bronte, Rose Bay and Bondi Beach in Sydney, Peppermint Grove in Perth and Griffith in Canberra.

Close behind in the $400,000 range were the likes of Double Bay and Tamarama in Sydney, Red Hill – both in Victoria and Canberra – and Mulgoa at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

“Price falls are largely being led by the ‘high end’ of the market and higher value suburbs,” said PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh.

“Manly and Tamarama in Sydney have all posted declines in quarterly values.

“Previously popular suburbs in the Central Coast and Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula have also seen values ​​decline.

“It’s often the case that the upper end of the market experiences larger price declines, and at the moment it’s the suburbs that are home to more expensive properties that are seeing bigger price falls than more affordable properties.”

It’s not all bad news for homeowners, however.

House prices in some suburbs are still rising, led by Balmain East in Sydney’s inner west, which saw house prices rise more than $329,000 over the quarter to $3.48 million.

New Farm in Brisbane was second with house price growth of more than $295,000 to $2.65 million, followed by Coledale in NSW’s Illawarra region, which was up nearly $289,000 to $2.47 million.

Other suburbs where dwelling values ​​rose more than $200,000 were Newcastle East, The Rocks and Waterloo in Sydney, and Brisbane’s Bowen Hills, Tenerife, Highgate Hill and West End.

“While the current cycle of exceptional price growth is winding down Australia-wide, there are some parts of the country bucking the falling price trend,” said Ms Creagh.

“Parts of Brisbane, Adelaide and regional Australia are proving more resilient.

“With the pandemic driving a boom in remote working, housing markets in parts of regional Australia have emerged, with sea and tree changers looking for lifestyle locations, larger homes, and beachside living.”

The ongoing low supply of properties available for sale, combined with relative affordability advantages driving heightened demand, are causing prices to continue to rise in some regional areas or only just beginning to fail as the impact of higher interest rates weighs on the market.

“As the home price cycle has matured and interest rates are now rising, some suburbs in previous regional hot spots on the Sunshine Coast, and in the Southern Highlands and Geelong regions are starting to see larger price falls, with affordability advantages having been eroded since the pandemic onset,” Ms Creagh said.

“Suburbs like Lorne, Sunshine Beach, Minyama and Noosa Heads have all seen quarterly declines in unit or house values.”

She added it was a similar picture in the capital cities, with markets that led the upswing like the “lifestyle and coastal locations of the northern beaches and eastern suburbs now seeing larger price falls”.

It comes after the Reserve Bank hiked interest rates for the fourth month in a row on Tuesday.

The 50 basis-point increase at the central bank’s August meeting brings the official cash rate to 1.85 per cent, up from the record low 0.1 per cent it was up until May.

Governor Philip Lowe said the RBA had made the decision to raise the rates in a bid to drive down the current 6.1 per cent inflation figure.

In a statement, he said the path to returning to inflation under 3 per cent while keeping the economy on an even keel was something that would take time.

“The path to achieve this is a narrow one and clouded in uncertainty, not least because of global developments,” Dr Lowe said.

“The outlook for global economic growth has been downgraded due to pressures on real incomes from higher inflation, the tightening of monetary policy in most countries, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the Covid containment measures in China. Today’s increase … is a further step in the normalization of monetary conditions in Australia.”

Already, the rise in interest rates has pushed house prices down in most major cities as borrowers stare down the barrel of higher monthly payments.

PropTrack’s Home Price Index shows a national decline of 1.66 per cent in prices since March, but some regions have seen much sharper falls.

“As repayments become more expensive with rising interest rates, housing affordability will decline, prices pushing further down,” Ms Creagh said earlier this week.

Last week, the Australia Institute’s chief economist, Richard Dennis, told NCA NewsWire the RBA was one of the biggest threats to the economy at the moment.

“If we keep increasing interest rates because inflation is higher than we’d like, we might cause a recession,” he said.

“Increasing interest rates won’t help us prepare for a slowing global economy … but they might actually further dampen the Australian economy.”

[email protected]

– with NCA NewsWire

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Categories
Entertainment

He won the Melbourne Cup at 14, then vanished. Who was Johnny Day?

He won the Melbourne Cup at 14, then vanished. Who was Johnny Day?

The Australian “cultural footprint” that Drewe creates for Johnny shimmers like a reflection in a trick mirror, or in Bert Flugelman’s great stainless-steel cones in the sculpture garden of the Australian National Gallery. Stare at them from one angle and you see ludicrous human distortions, but shift slightly and, suddenly, you see yourself.

The cover of Robert Drewe's Nimblefoot.

The cover of Robert Drewe’s Nimblefoot.

Drewe hooks his reader with a classic yarn synopsis. It begins, “This is a tale of Johnny Day, his country’s first – and youngest – international sporting champion…” and ends, “Then Johnny Day dropped out of sight. People wondered what had happened to him. Wild stories started up…”

And wild they are. in media res is Drewe’s mode, and his reader is immediately thrust onto the Ballarat cricket ground track with Johnny: “The Moscow Maestro is wearing a nanny goat around his neck like a scarf. Tom Day [Johnny’s father] said keep an eye on him, he’s the danger. Forget the goat cravat, the Maestro’s notorious for his sudden pre-race deadleg, the quick knee-blow specialty that numbs a competitor’s thigh for days.”

In nine pages of virtuoso writing, Drewe creates Johnny’s milieu, hints at dangers that will haunt him (“And now he knows what an enemy looks like … A tall pale man with shiny black hair”), sketches his vulnerability (“He needs his mother to hug him”) and his elusiveness, his metaphorical and actual nimble feet.

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And as it begins, so the story runs – exhilarating in its pace and vividness. During one race (circuits of the MCG) Johnny can’t concentrate: “Anything distracts him. A bugle blast from some show-off in the stands, rainbows glistening in an oily puddle, a windblown paper bag. But mostly birds.”

It is Drewe’s potent skill to turn “distractions” into art. He is a magpie writer, with the bird’s uncanny ability to fuse seemingly random pieces of observation into a coherent narrative, patterned and integrated.

Throughout Nimblefoot’s extraordinary tumult of event – ​​maternal love and loss, betrayal, rape and murder in high places, cross-continental flight, immigration scandal, quarantine, plague, pursuit (I kept being reminded of the indelible savagery of Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch), Drewe sustains his rhythm and pattern of significance, like a skilled charioteer, controlling exuberance, and alert to danger. If I found the swivel of voice – from narrative to Johnny’s first person – occasionally disconcerting, that’s a minor quibble.

Give this book to American friends. Or to anyone who might relish serious Australian ironic play with language, meaning, and timeless relevance.

nimblefoot by Robert Drewe is published by Hamish Hamilton, $32.99.

The Booklist is a weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger. Get it delivered every Friday.

Categories
Sports

Rohan Dennis claims gold in Commonwealth Games time trial

WOLVERHAMPTON ENGLAND AUGUST 04 L R Silver Medalist Fred Wright of Team England Gold Medalist Rohan Dennis of Team Australia and Bronze Medalist Geraint Thomas of Team Wales pose with their medals during the Mens Individual Time Trial medal ceremony on day seven of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on August 04 2022 in Wolverhampton England Photo by Stephen PondGetty Images

Rohan Dennis (Australia) claimed victory in the men’s individual time trial at the Commonwealth Games, as Geraint Thomas lost his gold medal hopes in an early crash.

Dennis and Thomas started as the major pre-race favorites and it was Dennis, two-time world champion and silver medalist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, who prevailed.

Categories
US

Autocratic Hungarian leader Orban hailed by US conservatives

Autocratic Hungarian leader Orban hailed by US conservatives

DALLAS (AP) — Hungary’s autocratic Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged cheering American conservatives on Thursday to “take back the institutions,” stick to hardline stances on gay rights and immigration and fight for the next US presidential election as a pivotal moment for their beliefs.

The exuberant cheers and standing ovations at the Conservative Political Action Conference for the far-right prime minister, who has been criticized for undermining his own country’s democratic institutions, demonstrated the growing embrace between Orban and Republicans in the US

I have mocked the media in this country and in Europe. And in a speech he titled “How We Fight,” Orban told the crowd gathered in a Dallas convention ballroom to focus now on the 2024 election, saying they had “two years to get ready,” though he endorsed no candidate or party.

“Victory will never be found by taking the path of least resistance,” he said during one of the keynote slots of the three-day CPAC event. “We must take back the institutions in Washington and Brussels. We must find friends and allies in one another.”

Referring to liberals, he said: “They hate me and slander me and my country, as they hate you and slander you for the America you stand for.”

His entrance drew a bigger welcome than the governor of Texas, Republican Greg Abbott, received moments earlier on the same stage. From there, the cheers continued as Orban weaved through attacks on LGBTQ rights, boasted about reducing abortions in Hungary and celebrated hardline immigration measures back home.

Other speakers will include former President Donald Trump — who met with Orban earlier this week and will address the gathering on Saturday — Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Republican candidates fresh off GOP primary election victories Tuesday.

Orban’s visit to the US came amid backlash back home and in Europe over anti-migrant remarks in which he railed against Europe becoming a “mixed race” society. One of his closest associates compared his comments to Nazi rhetoric and resigned in protest. Orban told the crowd in Texas the media would portray him as a racist strongman and dismissed those who would call his government racist as “idiots.”

His invitation to CPAC reflects conservatives’ growing embrace of the Hungarian leader whose country has a single-party government. Orban is also considered the closest ally in the European Union to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that President Joe Biden had no plans to speak with Orban while he’s in the US Asked if the administration had any concerns about CPAC inviting such a leader to speak at the high-profile conference, Kirby demurred .

“He’s coming at a private invitation,” Kirby said. “Mr. Orban and the CPAC, they can talk about his visit from him.”

Trump praised Orban, who has been prime minister for 12 years, after their meeting this week in Florida.

“Few people know as much about what is going on in the world today,” the former president said in a statement after the meeting.

To some attending the three-day conference, Orban is a model leader who makes an impression beyond Hungary because of his policies and personality.

They praised him for his border security measures and for providing financial subsidies to Hungarian women, which Orban has called an effort to counter Hungary’s population decline. Lilla Vessey, who moved to Dallas from Hungary with her husband, Ede, in the 1980s, said what she hears back in Hungary is that Orban is not anti-democratic.

“I don’t know how it happened that the conservatives kind of discovered him,” said Ede Vessey, 73. “He supports the traditional values. He supports the family.”

Scott Huber, who met Orban along with other CPAC attendees at a private event hours before the speech, said the prime minister expressed hope the US would “moderate a little bit from the far-left influences” in November’s midterm elections. The 67-year-old Pennsylvanian said he would not disagree with descriptions of Orban as autocratic and that he has upset democratic norms, but said he thought it would change in time.

As to why Orban is winning over so many conservatives, Huber noted Orban’s attacks on George Sorosthe American-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist who is a staunch critic of Hungary’s government and a supporter of liberal causes.

“That’s why I was so interested in seeing him,” Huber said.

Through his communications office, Orban declined an interview request by The Associated Press prior to his speech in Dallas.

The AP and other international news organizations also were prohibited from covering a CPAC conference held in Budapest in May, the group’s first conference in Europe. During that gathering, Orban called Hungary “the bastion of conservative Christian values ​​in Europe” and urged conservatives in the US to defeat “the dominance of progressive liberals in public life.”

He has styled himself as a champion of what he calls “illiberal democracy.”

Orban served as prime minister of Hungary between 1998 and 2002, but it’s his record since taking office again in 2010 that has drawn controversy and raised concerns about Hungary sliding into authoritarian rule. He has depicted himself as a defender of European Christendom against Muslim migrants, progressives and the “LGBTQ lobby.”

Last year, his right-wing Fidesz party banned the depiction of homosexuality or sex reassignment in media targeting people under 18. Information on homosexuality also was forbidden in school sex education programs, or in films and advertisements accessible to minors.

Some of the biggest applauses during Orban’s speech came when he described Hungary’s family framework.

“To sum up, the mother is a woman, the father is a man, and leave our children alone, full stop,” he said.

Orban has consolidated power over the country’s judiciary and media, and his party has drawn legislative districts in a way that makes it very difficult for opposition parties to win seats — somewhat similar to partisan gerrymandering efforts for state legislative and congressional seats in the US That process currently favors Republicans because they control more of the state legislatures that create those boundaries.

Orban’s moves have led international political observers to label him as the face of a new wave of authoritarianism. The European Union has launched numerous legal proceedings against Hungary for breaking EU rules and is withholding billions in recovery funds and credit over violations of rule-of-law standards and insufficient anti-corruption safeguards.

___

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

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Categories
Entertainment

Kim Kardashian reveals body fat percentage: ‘Athlete category’

Kim Kardashian reveals body fat percentage: 'Athlete category'

Reality star, billionaire businesswoman, lawyer and now “athlete”.

Kim Kardashian, 41, has revealed her overall body fat percentage – or lack thereof – telling fans she falls into the esteemed “athlete category.”

The mother-of-four shared on Instagram she underwent body composition testing with US company BodySpec, with her results showing she has a total body fat of just 18.8 per cent.

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According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, what is considered a “healthy body fat” depends on your age. In Kardashian’s case, women aged 40 to 59 should fall between “23 per cent to 33 per cent” of overall body fat to be considered healthy.

Meanwhile, the athlete category falls anywhere between 14 and 20 per cent.

Elsewhere in the results, Kardashian further claimed her bones were stronger than “93-97 per cent” of people.

Kardashian, who initially made a name for herself thanks to her voluptuous figure, has significantly trimmed down in recent years after switching to a plant-based diet.

But her oft-extreme methods to achieve her figure have courted controversy at times, more recently when she revealed her rapid weight loss to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s original gown for the Met Gala in May.

She said on the red carpet she lost 7kg in just three weeks to fit into the iconic Jean Louis gown Monroe wore to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to President John F. Kennedy in 1962.

In an interview with Allure in July, the SKIMS founder defended the move, likening herself to an actor preparing for a role.

“If I was starving and doing it really unhealthy, I would say that, of course, that’s not a good message,” she began. “But I had a nutritionist, I had a trainer. I have never drunk more water in my life. I don’t see the criticism for other people when they lost weight for roles — they are [considered] geniuses for their craft.”

Kardashian went on to admit she cares about how she looks “more than 90 per cent of the people on this planet,” adding that she has learned to be more carefree in recent times — but still “hates” one aspect of her body.

“I’m at peace with not being perfect and I wasn’t like that before, I hate my hands — they’re wrinkly and gross,” she said.

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Categories
Sports

Ricciardo will use F1 summer break to build up “hunger”

Adam Cooper

The Australian has faced a difficult few months in the shadow of Lando Norris, and has scored only 19 points to the 76 of his McLaren teammate.

He now has the added complication of McLaren’s interest in Oscar Piastri having reached the public domain in the past few days, leaving his own long-term plans unclear.

Ricciardo hopes to use the time off to clear his head and return in strong form after the summer break for the initial run of races in Spa, Zandvoort and Monza.

“To be honest, switching off normally gives me like a natural reset,” he said after last weekend’s Hungarian GP.

“To a point where I imagine in say 10 days, two weeks into the break, I would have kind of got the holiday out of my system, and then I’ll build that hunger back again.

“So I’ll naturally think about it, after getting time off. That’s normally how it works for me.

“Again, go out with friends, drink some beers, have fun. And then I’ll get to the point where I start to not feel guilty, but just like alright, time to turn it on again. And then it’s kind of a natural switch that will come back probably after 14 days.

“A bit like last year, [I want to] kind of start that second half of this season with a positive bang and just to get the ball rolling. The triple header, it’s intense.

“So I think come out and set some strong intentions. That’s the plan. Obviously, it’s easier said than done. But that’s certainly the plan.”

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Reflecting on the first half of the season, Ricciardo admitted that the MCL36 is one of the more difficult F1 cars that he’s drive thus far.

“Certainly, one of the most,” he said. “I remember where in a race stint you could do 20 laps and you could stay within three tenths probably for a 20-lap stint at times, and kind of just be very in control.

“I feel like stint variation is a lot bigger this year. I’ll see what the other guys are doing. But maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s the whole field, but I’ll be surprised if you see someone doing like 0.1s, 0.1s, 0.1s. 0.2s, 0.1s, and so I think they are just more difficult to produce.”

Asked if he felt on top of the car yet, he said: “There’s some laps, which I’ll put together, and kind of make sense. And I’m like, that was sweet. But then a couple of laps later, I might drop four tenths or something, and then I’m like, ughh…

“It’s not so simple, like a dot-to-dot, there’s some hurdles before getting to the next dot. And so that’s a little complicated.

“I guess when it’s on more of a knife-edge or when there’s more variables, that’s where it starts to become that step more difficult.”

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Categories
Australia

Defense to truck PFAS-contaminated soil from Katherine’s RAAF Base Tindal to Melbourne

A faded sign that says "Fire training ground".

In a couple of weeks scores of half-size shipping containers filled with tonnes of toxic soil will begin making the 3,500-kilometre journey from northern Australia to Victoria.

Defense has begun tackling the toxic legacy of the firefighting foam that was used for decades at the Tindal Royal Australian Air Force Base and other sites around Australia.

It has been more than six years since residents in Katherine were told that persistently high levels of toxic compounds, known collectively as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, had been found in their only drinking source.

Every year since, roughly 40 kilograms of the chemical has leaked into the groundwater from the RAAF base, where large areas of contaminated soil have been left to seep.

A woman and a man in high-vis walk side by side through a dusty plot of land.
Amanda Lee says there will be an instant reduction in the amount of PFAS leaching from the area.(ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

Defense has conceded there is “no silver bullet” that would effectively destroy all traces of the “forever chemical” from the base, but it is committed to solving the problem.

“It’s a complex chemical and it’s a very complex remedial challenge,” Defense’s remediation advisor Amanda Lee said.

“What we’ve done here today is come up with the best solution available to us today with proven technology to try and address this problem.”

Despite explicit warnings dating back to 1987 that the product must not enter the environment, many thousands of liters of the firefighting foam were discarded onto bare earth or washed into stormwater systems and evaporation ponds.

A digger operates on top of a mound of smashed up concrete.
High concentrations of PFAS have been found in the old fire training area.(ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

‘Big reduction in mass’

Now two large areas at Tindal, where RAAF firefighters would wash their equipment and where firefighting foams were used in practice scenarios, have been identified as high priority for remediation.

This week the massive effort to dig up the estimated 60,000 tonnes of contaminated soil and crushed concrete from the two areas began.

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Categories
US

At least 4 killed in Windsor Hills crash, including infant

At least 4 killed in Windsor Hills crash, including infant

A fiery multi-car crash left four dead, including a pregnant woman and an infant, in Los Angeles’ Windsor Hills neighborhood Thursday, according to authorities.

Law enforcement officials investigate a fiery fatal crash in Windsor Hills.

Law enforcement officials investigate a fiery crash in which multiple people were killed in Windsor Hills on Thursday afternoon.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

The crash at La Brea and Slauson avenues was a “multiple casualty incident,” with reports of numerous injuries, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said in a tweet. The department responded to the crash just after 1:40 pm

Officer Franco Pepi, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson, said four people were killed in the crash: three adults and one infant. One of the adults was a pregnant woman.

Authorities transported eight people to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for treatment, Pepi said. Of those injured, six were teens and one suffered major injuries.

Footage of the crash shows fire trucks on scene and cars on fire.

Smoke could be seen billowing from miles away.

Police believe the driver of a Mercedes-Benz caused the crash, which killed at least four people.

Police believe the driver of a Mercedes-Benz caused the crash, which killed at least four people.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

A woman who did not want to be named told The Times a Mercedes-Benz hit her car as she was leaving a United Oil gas station.

“I was getting out, had got gas,” she said. “All of a sudden that Mercedes is coming at me on… fire. I didn’t have any time to think about it. It hit my car. I veered, hit the bench on the side.”

The crash caused her to fear a gasoline-fueled explosion, she told The Times.

Nearby, the wrecked Mercedes-Benz with a smashed hood had crashed into a curb.

Investigators believe the driver of the Mercedes-Benz was responsible for the crash, Pepi said.

A pregnant woman was among those killed in Thursday afternoon's crash in Windsor Hills.

A pregnant woman was among those killed in Thursday afternoon’s crash in Windsor Hills.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

Times staff writer Gregory Yee contributed to this report.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as additional information becomes available.

Categories
Technology

The Cult Of The Lamb PS5 Controller Is Very Nice, Very Evil

The Cult Of The Lamb PS5 Controller Is Very Nice, Very Evil

I already had a sick and twisted love for Cult of the Lamb just from playing the preview, but now that love has grown thanks to my new little monstrosity.

I like to think we all remember the evil little beasts that were the Fuzzy sonic the hedgehog Xbox controllers, released in celebration of the very good sonic the hedgehog 2. They were gross, horrid creatures without even the intention to be so. And I absolutely loved them for it. Let’s look at them again, as a treat.

The Cult Of The Lamb PS5 Controller Is Very Nice, Very Evil
Yeaaah. There they are. (Image: Xbox)

They were cryptid-esque, and they probably had a weird smell. Isn’t that beautiful?

Now that’s all unwell and bad, but it had me wanting more. I think there should be more truly wretched and evil controllers, because why not? Luckily, thanks to the good folks over at Massive Monster, Devolver Digital, and the galaxy-brained folks over at Adelaide-based custom controller makers We Are Robots, I now get to have this wicked little gremlin in my sad, sweaty hands.

The Cult Of The Lamb PS5 Controller Is Very Nice, Very Evil
It keeps me warm. (Image: Kotaku Australia)

I love the Lamb. I even praise the Lamb. This controller is the perfect piece of equipment to feed my faithful followers slop and slay Eldritch creatures.

Unfortunately, this controller is not available for sale, but We Are Robots are a very cool and very talented bunch of folks that make awesome custom controllers, so I highly recommend checking out their work if you’re looking for a controller that fits you perfectly .

This controller fits me perfectly for a number of reasons. First of all, I love Cult of the Lamb. Second of all, I’m terrible. Third of all, I think the most beautiful things also happen to be the truly most yucky and icky things. The customizations are smooth, and my hands are warm thanks to the evil-infused wool of the controller.

It’s not long now, my friends, that you will experience the goodness of Massive Monster’s Cult of the Lamb. If you’re not already pumped for it like I am, here’s a little yarn on how much I like it. And if you’d like to know more about what went into its creation, you can check out my interview with Julian Wilton, the creative director of Massive Monster.

Cult of the Lamb releases on PC, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on August 12th, 2022.