Fizzer

It looked like being tin-foil hat weather on Thursday...

Earth braces for biggest space storm in 5 years

Huge explosions on the sun’s surface are sparking the biggest radiation and geomagnetic storm that Earth has experienced in five years, according to space weather experts.

The storm, expected to hit Earth later today and last for around 24 hours, may disrupt power grids, GPS systems and satellites, and has already forced some airlines to change their routes around the polar regions.

Artist’s impression of sunrise on 9 March 2012. (NASA)

But by next day...

Space weather storm fizzles on arrival

A space weather storm that was forecast to be the strongest in five years has fizzled out and ended up causing no impact to power grids or modern navigation systems, expert say.

A series of eruptions on the sun this week sent radiation and solar plasma hurtling toward Earth at high speeds but, in the end, the geomagnetic storm registered the lowest level, G1, on a five-step scale.

It must be a thankless gig being a space weather expert.

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Pub Friday

“Syb’s Place”
The Royal Hotel
Loch, Victoria, Australia

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Builders definitely, unquestionably gone!

There’s been intrigue this week in the Outer South East Growth Corridor, as intrepid investigative reporter for the Pakenham News, Danielle Galvin, reports...

Builders walk

Development at Pakenham Aged Care’s Ron Andrews Nursing Home is temporarily on hold after builders walked off the site on Tuesday.

Intriguing! Can this be true? Danielle investigates further...

President of the board of management Rob Nobelius said the board was waiting to be advised about what had happened.

“It’s very recent. This has only popped up in the last 24 hours, we’re hoping to find out ASAP,” he said.

“We just don’t know, we might find out in a few days or it could be a week.”

Well, that’s at best inconclusive, and would require corroboration from at least one other key player. So Danielle leaves no stone unturned...

[Manager and director of nursing Linda Austen] said she was waiting to hear what the next step was.

“The builders have gone off site and we are waiting to hear officially what has happened,” she said.

Yet, in matters of such gravity, it’s surely always best to triple check...

“All we really know is that the Builders have gone off site and we are waiting to hear what the next stage is,” she said.

Well then... established! The (unnamed) builders have definitely, unquestionably gone! Furthermore, nobody knows what the hell’s going on.

This is just where our Fourth Estate comes into its own, right? Like any good investigative reporter worth her salt, Danielle doggedly, exhaustively follows the trail of intrigue...

Calls to the building company yesterday morning (Wednesday) were not answered or returned.

[End article.]

Okay... so we eagerly await the next instalment in Danielle’s gripping exposé.

You know? ...the bit where she actually exposes the stuff behind all the intrigue.

• Danielle Galvin: “Builders walk.” Pakenham News, 8 March 2012, page 1. (No link.)

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