It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way…

One year has passed and it seems the time to let this document drift off into electronic oblivion as an archive of life on Earth, somewhere, early 21st century.

Signing off at 44…

Site closed for comment as of midnight tonight.

If my calculations are correct we will see a partial eclipse from 6.00 to 6.45 pm on Monday. Rather than burning out your retinas you might like to check out the rather elaborate animations at Shadow and Substance, all manner of astronomical excitement at the NASA eclipse site or an explanation as to why BD gardeners might want to take the day off…

This extraordinary account of a near death / after life experience was passed on by Dalry…

Through the light
Mellen-Thomas Benedict’s near-death experience

Mellen-Thomas Benedict is an artist who survived a near-death experience in 1982. He was dead for over an hour and a half and during that time, he rose up out of his body and went into the Light. Curious about the universe, he was taken far into the remote depths of existence, and even beyond, into the energetic Void of Nothingness behind the Big Bang. Concerning his nde, Dr. Kenneth Ring has said, “His story is one of the most remarkable I have encountered in my extensive research on near-death experiences.” (more…)

Jesse and friend, photographed by Morgaine

Seed balls are an easy way to revegetate arid areas – seeds are rolled into balls of clay and dry compost and scattered into reveg area, and the weather does the rest. The recipe is on the Path to Freedom site, sent in by Rose.

Image source: Path to Freedom

The rains are working their magic through the ranges with a flush of radiant vitality. A stunning array of diverse characteristics are bringing the hills to life. Enter green to the wonderful Flinders Ranges pallette!

Earth Observatory is a NASA site with long range animations of land and sea temperatures, radiation, water vapour, vegetation, cloud fraction and other elemental distributions. Check it out, cloudspotters.

Submitted by Nigel 

Keep up with the weather imagery of MTSAT-1R through the excellent Japan Meteorological Agency website. Cloudspotters, bookmark it!

Photograph: Maynards Well 

Photograph: Anne-Maree