Flodding in NSW

[MichaelM]

With the horrific scenes of flooding in Australia overshadowed by the horror in Ukraine, I was wondering if anyone has news of Terry McGee? He lives on NSW's east coast.

[Terry McGee]

Quickly jumping in to say we're fine, thanks for asking, MichaelM. We live up at the bushfires end of our street! But even at the lower end, we're unlikely to encounter flooding, as there are good wide ancient drainage channels to the sea which is only about 1KM (5/8 of a mile) away. But the normally very dry creek-bed that runs behind our place and joins these drainage channels is now quite the babbling brook.

The more inland parts of our shire often do suffer flooding, but fortunately this time the very heavy rain that inundated Queensland and northern NSW have not made it this far south. Fingers remained crossed. I can report it's not easy making (or playing) flutes with your fingers crossed!

But we can't ignore the fact that just over two years ago, we were battling bushfires across several states and up to our back fence, and now we're seeing coastal and inland flooding in broadly the same areas. Just leave the heavy new growth a few years to dry out and we'll be back to bushfires. Sigh. I hope that this will bring some level of realisation in high places that things have to change. But not holding my breath. (That also makes flute playing difficult!)

[GreenWood]

I don't think there is much to be changed Terry. Trying to secure animal sanctuaries as well as human population centers is maybe as much as is possible

https://news.griffith.edu.au/2021/01/22 ... bushfires/

In 1975 near ten times 2020 was burned according to

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... re_seasons

In short, it is much part of the natural cycle in Oz. Topsoil loss and flooding is often a problem after fires, but I don't know how that is there, if it is all adapted to that also. In Queensland it was sedimentation of, and fertilizer run off onto, the reef that was object of study, at one point at least, but from farming.

I was going to (and still will) post this on the thread I started on Trees, because I had collected some blue gum wood here, which is not really flute wood (and pear wood too now which is ... pear is unusual as wood , being quite brittle and not very impressive when being rough worked, but beautifully fine grained when planed).

https://eco123.info/en/uncategorized/mo ... 7949218750

Which is a circumstance that does deserve a response given it is clearly one that is manmade.

I found yet another idea for chromatic scale, but though not as good as the others it is still interesting. I was trying to imagine a way of tuning without tuning slide (because I have this idea that a one piece flute is more resonant etc. ) and the idea is a single slide that runs to foot that incrementally closes all toneholes at once. I figured for tuning it would cost too much tone though except for a few cents, so fine tuning only maybe... but as a straight alternative to half holeing (by single lever for all toneholes) or for a slide on boehm (and they like being covered in keys and levers of all sorts anyway)...it might be an idea someone or other might enjoy playing around with. I will draw it and post it.... have to post on a design question as well... and on tuning the Rudall...and reply to Trees...but often just checking the site and jotting a reply like this one is all I have space for.

[kkrell]

I found yet another idea for chromatic scale, but though not as good as the others it is still interesting. I was trying to imagine a way of tuning without tuning slide (because I have this idea that a one piece flute is more resonant etc. ) and the idea is a single slide that runs to foot that incrementally closes all toneholes at once. I figured for tuning it would cost too much tone though except for a few cents, so fine tuning only maybe... but as a straight alternative to half holeing (by single lever for all toneholes) or for a slide on boehm (and they like being covered in keys and levers of all sorts anyway)...it might be an idea someone or other might enjoy playing around with. I will draw it and post it.... have to post on a design question as well.

There's always this:
http://robertdick.net/the-glissando-headjoint/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB6_iPUaTWs

And now.... back to the topic, which is "FLODDING"

[Nanohedron]

I thought it was some Aussie slang and wasn't sure if I wanted to know.

[Terry McGee]

Certainly fire and flooding have been regular events in Australian pre-history, Aboriginal experience and in post-colonial times. But they are suddenly getting much worse, and happening more frequently. 1975 burned more country, but it was 45 years ago, and a lot of it was marginal out-back country with impossible access. Our fire-fighting resources then were nothing like we have now. Satellite monitoring, water bombing aircraft and choppers, retardant, vast numbers of off-road tankers with highly experienced crews could not contain these more recent fires. All involved noted that these fires were like nothing they had come across before. Massive dumps of ultra-dry heat domes from the hot inland, suddenly released down the jet-stream path heading for the coast (one of those brought the fire to our back fence). Pyro-cumulus cloud formations making their own destructive weather. Some of these fires burned in rain-forests, and that shouldn't be possible!

And these current floods far exceed any experience we have record of. Flood levels a clear 2 metres or more (6 feet) above previous records. "Atmospheric rivers" not previously noted.

There can be no doubt - this is climate change writ large. And of course it's not confined to Australia, although we are an easy target. California, Greece, even Siberia have been recent victims. We are sleep-walking into catastrophe. The only question is how much worse do things have to get until the public at large decide enough is enough? We may (or may not) see that question playing out in state and federal elections here in Australia later this year.

And what's the relevance of all this to flutes and flute making, one might reasonably ask. Here's one answer, although it comes in the form of a question. I'm an aging flute maker, living in a fire-zone, and living not far from flood-prone areas. I reckon I'm probably safe enough, due to previous experience and careful preparation. Do I ignore what's happening out in the real world, bunker down and make flutes, or do I have to shift more of my energies into politics to help bring this madness to an end?

[MichaelM]

Good to hear from you, Terry, and to learn you have escaped the flooding. I'm not sure how the 'flodding' got in there. Perhaps it proves that I am about as good a typist as I am a flute player. I imagine that some English dialect speaker somewhere pronounces 'flooding' that way.
Michael

[GreenWood]

Thanks for those links kkrell...have played more guitar than flute so probably this came to mind more




but Robert Dick's glissando is pretty good....I wonder how he makes sure there is no air leak along the mechanism. I think carbon fibre or gaskets are about the only sure way but might be other ways...maybe there is an oil reservoir or simply the covered extension is long enough to ensure resistance. I just say that because I have seen what the very very finest of gap can do to the sound.

For the multiphonics I found those coarse, but still impressed at the ability to play them. I have own ideas wrt, and a sustain, but those are a long project.

For a moment "Flogging in NSW" sprang to mind... made me wonder what kind of shop Terry was keeping .

(From Old English flōd, from etymology search)


Though not denying climate change (at the least it is always changing) , and I think from flute playing most should be aware of "the butterfly effect" and so exaggerated response to even minor variations in temperature... well I always choose a larger timescale as reference...like when the Sahara was not a desert and so forth. The trouble Terry is this, and frankly it is pointless arguing it. There are now over 6000 000 000 people on the planet. In the west, or say a third of the population, we use well over half of world energy resources (directly or indirectly). Half of the world is in borderline poverty trying to gain some of the ability and wealth standard of the west. Hydrocarbon supply is limited, there are no "great new reserves" available and existing ones are questionable, fracking is also questionable (rapid well decline) as are other methods of extraction. The US has coal reserves, other countries a small mixture of reserves... natgas is nescessary to produce the nitrogen fertilizer that feeds India... it goes on... but the short of it is that before hydrocarbon use declines there will be famine and war... all that will happen if consumption is reduced in one place is that buyers elsewhere will take up the consumption at the new lower price...you aren't going to deny an African person a small car, or the ability to access more metals for "improved" housing or infrastructure, or to meet their increasing farming needs. The nations of the world compete, they will always compete, large energy concerns and their influence will always trump politics, and nationalisation or globalisation of supply is not feasible, not just because of the inevitable incompetence as a central feature that increases with greater governance, but also because corruption is so rife in this world.

So I would just be thankful for living in Oz, for it having plenty of resources and being sparsely populated...but the rest of the world will do what it will do. The ethos of conservation and efficiency is important all the same, just from my viewpoint it should be approached from a survival viewpoint (as in building national resilience) , not from one that preaches to those less fortunate and expects answers from beyond own border. Look how the west has offshored much of its technical ability lately, including manufacturing, I'm not sure it would even know how to organise itself again properly if it had to.

So a nation moving towards running on renewable energy is a good idea, so leaving any hydrocarbon use to where it is far superior for any application, but in my opinion the idea that the whole world has to do something before anything can be done is plain defeatist...it won't happen, or if so too slow.. and if not too incompetent and corrupt... and so on.

We (or our countries) are only able to set an example, if so choosen, and based on purely pragmatic (read calculated selfish... in terms of self preservation) reasoning.

If we are led to believe buying an EV will save a forest, we would be misled, and people intuitively know that, and that affects their reasoning (base economic reasoning in any purchase).

A lot of the problem is the increasing consumer, here to be served, mentality we have in the west. Populations are increasingly in cities, large service centers that are basically not very productive in real terms. A lot of the problem is increased sense of entitlement, as sponsored by political vote grabbing, and so government spending as share of gdp.

So the whole approach, to my view, needs redefinition...and who knows, maybe a lot of nature will be spared into the bargain .

I'm not arguing, I'm saying .

[Terry McGee]

The challenges are certainly great, but the writing is on the wall. If we don't rise to them and meet them, and start immediately, life on Earth meets Mad Max. I'm not one for giving up without a fight.

Indeed (and to head us back towards flutes rather than impending Armageddon) I discovered in my files a metaphor for our current situation. Simply titled "Jobs to do" and dated 17/5/1997. I'd been making flutes for over 20 years, but always as a side activity. Not easy to sell Irish flutes in a small country like Australia before the Internet joined us to the rest of the world. We had just moved into a bigger house, with a double garage and a small workshop off. I planned to take over the whole space as workshop - the cars could live on the driveway. So this document listed all the tasks ahead of me if I were to achieve my intention of making instruments full time. It runs to 134 lines of tasks.

And so daunting (if you were in the mood to be daunted). Replace the two roll-a-doors with walls. Air conditioner for front wall. Design and make new workbench. Make or buy a dust collector. Etc, Etc. But looking back, it all happened. And heralded in an amazingly productive era.

One thing on the list puzzles me though. Why did I want "Cornstarch and dispenser" in my workshop? (Could alternatively have something to do with harpsichords, or pipes, or flute cases?) Anyone?

[Nanohedron]

One thing on the list puzzles me though. Why did I want "Cornstarch and dispenser" in my workshop? (Could alternatively have something to do with harpsichords, or pipes, or flute cases?) Anyone?

Would there have been cause to use cornstarch as a dry lubricant? Or to test for leaks?

[Terry McGee]

Good thinking, Nano, but doesn't ring any bells. I used to do repairs for a local music shop back then but can't think of any use for cornstarch there. Might be unrelated to musical instruments but that would be a bit strange, as everything else on the list seems to be. I looked up cornstarch in woodwork and found it can be used to make stainable putty to fill gaps in woodwork. I made my own cases back then, but then found a chap who could make them much better, leaving me to deal with a rapidly expanding waiting list. Maybe that's the answer....

[Terry McGee]

Sheesh, I just see: "Currently, there are nearly 150 wildfires burning more than 12,100 acres throughout Florida, and the state is only at the very beginning of its usual wildfire season." We're going to have to start a booking system for our disasters. "Sorry, Madam, March is already taken, we could possibly fit in some minor coastal flooding around mid-April, but if you're planning something more ambitious, the best I can offer you is ...."

One interesting take-away is how much better connected we all are these days. I remember my early trips overseas from Australia being astonished how little people overseas (and particularly in the US) were aware of us and what was happening here. And then I watched some evening news reports and saw that nothing other than local and national news ever got up. So, when Malua Bay made it to the front page of the New York Times back in our 2019 bushfires and people on Chiff & Fipple expressed concern for my safety, I was equally (but oppositely) gobsmacked. Ditto MichaelM's opening mention here. How things have changed. At least that's a good thing!

[GreenWood]

Cornstarch can be dusted to create a matte finish ... but if you had an oven on the list maybe you were baking .... flauti soffici al cioccolato al forno ... probably not

[Terry McGee]

I'm wondering if the reason I wanted a separate supply of cornflour in the workshop is that I'd already got into trouble for getting woodchips in the kitchen supply....

[an seanduine]

I dunno, Terry. Mebbe to try the corn starch and cyanoacrylate trick?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufAcsR771Fg

Bob