Comet McNaught

Comets are rare visitors, at least, those easily visible to the naked eye, and so the arrival of Comet McNaught in this part of the sky is extremely welcome.


McNaught, aka C-2006 P1 McNaught, is a non-periodic comet that was only discovered in August of last year, by an Australian astronomer (McNaught). Much more on the comet in Wikipedia - click here...

It´s called a *Sun-grazer* because its orbit takes it so close to the sun, which is why it appears so bright, but this means that it moves relatively quickly, and will fade rapidly as it moves away from the sun.

Tonight (18th January) was the first night that the weather permitted viewing here since the comet became visible. The first glimpses, from my doorstep were exciting, but I hadn't realised how much better it would get as the sky darkened. The pictures here are taken with a Nikon Coolpix 3500 from about 9 pm local time this evening, and are very pleasing to me.


The tail is beautifully curved, and there is some structure visible, but my equipment isn't sophisticated enough to show great detail. The comet is moving up and to the left relative to the background stars, so over the next few days will set later and later, which may make viewing easier, but it will tend to fade at the same time... Now was probably as good a night as any to see it.


There's a chance that the comet could break up in the next few days, which will add interest, and also make the thing seem much brighter - if so I'll attempt to photograph it, and post updates...

Mouthy Mufti At It Again

The title is not mine, let me explain at the start, but is the by-line to an article in the current issue of the Weekend Herald (January 13 2007) about our old friend Sheik al-Hilali of Sydney. I already blogged the Sheik's "Cat's meat" remarks here, and updated him here. (The links here will all open in new pages)

The Herald article can be seen here, but interestingly the online version is shorter than that published in print.

(Since publishing the initial blog I have found the Sydney Morning Herald has yet more on the Sheik, for example here, and a search for *Sheik* will produce even more comment.)

In my previous blogs regarding al-Hilali we saw how he first made some outrageous remarks about women, and about a notorious rape case, and then, in a Channel 9 interview, was all sweetness and light as he explained that it was all a misunderstanding, and that Australia was a fine place to live (*Love it or leave it*). Also that the press had it in for him.

Well now he's in Egypt, and on an Egyptian TV programme he's been saying some outrageous things as described in the Herald article.

While discussing the outrage concerning the *Cat's meat* sermon, he is reported to have suggested that since white Australians came to the country as shackled convicts, and Muslim immigrants paid their way there, then they - the Muslim immigrants - had more right to be there. There's a comment designed to lose friends straight away.

He also described white Australians as ".. the biggest liars", which is rather counter to his Channel 9 remarks, and suggests that the outrage over the *Cat's meat* remarks (which included Muslim outrage, remember) was *...a calculated conspiracy in order to bring the Islamic community to its knees*.

He went on to talk of anti-muslim courts, and criticised again the harsh sentence handed to a Muslim convicted of a series of rapes, including gang-rape. Again I ask what the Sharia punishment for rape is???

Now why should this matter?? What if he doesn't know when to stop, and if he talks nonsense because he doesn't know better??

Well first, I'm sure he DOES know better, since he's changed his words to suit his audience a number of times now. But more seriously, he's saying these things abroad, to an audience that will perhaps take him seriously, and which will not be so keen to check the veracity of his statements. In other words, they will take his remarks about Australia (and by extension other western nations) at face value, and draw the wrong conclusions.

What he has said (or, since some challenge the accuracy of the translation, what he is reported to have said) is simply deceitful - non-islamic - untrue.

And yet does that matter? So what if he talks nonsense?

Well yes it matters. Take another case, unrelated to al-Hilali - the Danish cartoons:

We should know the story by now - Jyllands Posten published a dozen cartoons with *Mohammed* as the theme, and the world seemed to explode.

Well actually it's a little different than that. The cartoons were indeed published, but caused little initial trouble. According to reports they got as far as Egypt without trouble. This was not good enough for a group of Danish imams, who launched a crusade (and I use that term without irony) to bring the pictures to the attention of the Muslim world. The imams went on tour, taking the cartoons with them, and whipped up anti-Danish sentiment along the way.

To make things worse, they included three extra pictures, which were not (and never were) connected in any way with the original cartoons. I have seen two of them, both faxed pictures, and I agree one is exceedingly offensive, whilst the other shows a Reuters photograph of a competitor in a French pig-squealing competition, and never pretended to be about Mohammed or Islam at all.

In other words the imams were deceitful. And they were trouble-makers.

As a result of the imams' endeavours, Danish interests were harmed, Danes were attacked, and flags were burnt. That's reprehensible in itself, but nationals of other European states were also attacked, and property damaged. Then churches were burnt, and people began dying.

A Catholic priest in Turkey was shot and killed by a boy of 15, evidently in reprisal for the cartoons, 9 died in Libya when the Italian (Italian!!!) consulate was attacked, and in Nigeria black African Christians were murdered, some being burnt alive.

Mob mentality was evident when Lebanese protestors tore up the Swiss (Swiss!!) flag outside the Danish embassy (well it IS red and white with a cross on it), and in Karachi the screaming mob burnt not only the Danish flag, but also the Israeli flag. I suppose it's a case of never letting a good irrational flag-burning go to waste, especially when it involves a *traditional enemy* that most of the mob probably couldn't locate on a map.

There is more - much more - about all this, and one of the best sites for info is Michelle Malkin's blog, although anyone likely to be offended by cartoons should NOT go there. Scroll rapidly past the pictures, if you must go there, however, and you'll find numerous links which shed much more light on the background nonsense, including the kind of crap *the West* puts up with from the Arab/Muslim media.

Now, having got the cartoons out of the way, what does this have to do with al-Hilali?? So far he has not whipped up anything like the same uproar, but the point is that anything is possible. It takes only a receptive audience and a good speaker, and we could be off again.

Al Hilali seems to have caused no trouble in Egypt, but we can only speculate what might happen if, for example, he did the same thing again in Turkey.

The Ocarina

A couple of posts ago, in *Shelley and the Steps of Doom*, I mentioned an ocarina.

The ocarina in question occupied a small part of the story, and in fact I could have told the tale without it, and nobody would have been any the wiser.

But having mentioned it, I was then dismissive of it, and at the end of the tale I declared that I had no idea where the ocarina was now.

In the succeeding days, amazingly, the ocarina has returned.

It is actually prettier, more attractive now, than I remember it. The picture shows attractive colouration and pattern, and that's not simply for the benefit of tourists. It's a traditional 6-hole instrument, with two more thumb holes on the back. There's a loop moulded into the clay on the back so it can be strung around the neck, so it can be easily carried.

It really IS an ocarina too - I was afraid that I was taking the coward's way out, by using the Italian name for a similar instrument, and not finding the Peruvian name. It pleases me that I got it right, even if by accident. (Information here on ocarinas)

Now I look closer I see there's a fine crack on the front and back, which means sometime soon I may have to introduce superglue to keep it from falling apart.

I was a little unkind to the thing at the start, but I'm warming to it. It's entirely possible that I may finally clean it up and consider learning to play it.

Anything might happen.

I Hereby Resolve

Well it's got once more to that time of year when it's fashionable to make one's New`Year Resolutions...

Like many people I have mine almost all thought out, so I'll share them here, but like many people, I reserve the right to change my mind...

So, I, Kiwi John, do hereby resolve to execute the following items in 2007.

1. To remember to write 2007 on documents including cheques.
2. To write more poetry.
3. To finish my novel....
4. ....and the other stories I have in mind.
5. To learn Arabic...
6. ...and the Salsa.
7. To be more optimistic.
8. To tolerate pessimists.
9. To ignore fewer people in the chat.
10. To look after my health better
11. To celebrate the arrival of 2008.
12. To add to this list if I feel like it....