For the last few months, there have been plans to upgrade the level crossing. But Roads and Maritime Services insisted that the Newell Highway be kept open, so a side track had to be constructed.
The work was ready to go in January, but got stopped by the torrential rain that flooded the site. Then they aimed for 4 am March 31, and in the meantime constructed the most expensive 4 day road I have ever seen.
We were evacuated to a motel as the work is 24 hours a day, but when we returned home this morning we discovered that there was still nothing happening as the rain yesterday again left the site too wet.
Tonight they have made a start. However RMS have expresses dissatisfaction with the signs and markings on the side track and may or may not sign off on it at 7 am tomorrow. If the RMS fail to proceed then the work is postponed until some future date.
Meanwhile if you are wondering where your bugs have gone to, we may have them here.
We need to isolate ourselves from China until they shut down these markets for good. Otherwise we are just going to have pandemics every decade or two from the same source.
From Pamela Geller
SHOCKING: Chinese markets REOPEN, still selling bats and slaughtering rabbits on blood-soaked floors as Beijing celebrates ‘victory’ over the coronavirus
WILL THEY EVER LEARN? CHINESE MARKETS ARE STILL SELLING BATS AND SLAUGHTERING RABBITS ON BLOOD-SOAKED FLOORS AS BEIJING CELEBRATES ‘VICTORY’ OVER THE CORONAVIRUS
Cats, dogs and other domesticated and wild animals freely available to buy
One sources says that: ‘the markets have gone back to operating in exactly the same way as they did before coronavirus’ despite the outbreaks links to bats
Wild animals still for sale as food and traditional medicine in Chinese markets
Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
Terrified dogs and cats crammed into rusty cages. Bats and scorpions offered for sale as traditional medicine. Rabbits and ducks slaughtered and skinned side by side on a stone floor covered with blood, filth, and animal remains.
Those were the deeply troubling scenes yesterday as China celebrated its ‘victory’ over the coronavirus by reopening squalid meat markets of the type that started the pandemic three months ago, with no apparent attempt to raise hygiene standards to prevent a future outbreak.
As the pandemic that began in Wuhan forced countries worldwide to go into lockdown, a Mail on Sunday correspondent yesterday watched as thousands of customers flocked to a sprawling indoor market in Guilin, south-west China.
Here cages of different species were piled on top of each other. In another meat market in Dongguan, southern China, another correspondent photographed a medicine seller returning to business on Thursday with a billboard advertising bats – thought to be the cause of the initial Wuhan outbreak – along with scorpions and other creatures.
The shocking scenes came as China finally lifted a weekslong nationwide lockdown and encouraged people to go back to normal daily life to boost the flagging economy. Official statistics indicated there were virtually no new infections.
A bit of chemistry in this article compiled by Andrew Bolt, but wade through t to discover the big weapon in the pandemic- soap. Better than sanitisers and disinfectants:
MEET THE MAGIC WEAPON AGAINST THE CORONAVIRUS: SOAP
Forget all those sanitisers. The humble bar of soap, plus hot water, is the potent weapon against the coronavirus. I didn’t realise how good soap was until I read about its molecular structure – and its wicked tail that cracks through the virus’s fat layers that protects the poison inside. Read this and you’ll never take soap for granted again.
Soap is made of pin-shaped molecules, each of which has a hydrophilic head – it readily bonds with water – and a hydrophobic tail, which shuns water and prefers to link up with oils and fats…
Some bacteria and viruses have lipid membranes that resemble double-layered micelles with two bands of hydrophobic tails sandwiched between two rings of hydrophilic heads. These membranes are studded with important proteins that allow viruses to infect cells and perform vital tasks that keep bacteria alive. Pathogens wrapped in lipid membranes include coronaviruses, HIV, the viruses that cause hepatitis B and C, herpes, Ebola, Zika, dengue, and numerous bacteria…
When you wash your hands with soap and water, you surround any microorganisms on your skin with soap molecules. The hydrophobic tails of the free-floating soap molecules attempt to evade water; in the process, they wedge themselves into the lipid envelopes of certain microbes and viruses, prying them apart.
“They act like crowbars and destabilize the whole system,” said professor Pall Thordarson, acting head of chemistry at the University of New South Wales. Essential proteins spill from the ruptured membranes into the surrounding water, killing the bacteria and rendering the viruses useless.
At least one green initiative is facing the chop, as states and retailers worried about Covid-19 re-embrace the hygiene of single use plastic shopping bags.
States Welcome Back Single-Use Plastic Bags to Avoid Contamination
States that introduced “green” regulations that taxed single-use plastic grocery bags in an effort to eventually annihilate them are now welcoming them back as health officials caution of possible contamination with reusable bags.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) said Thursday he was suspending the ten-cent tax on single-use plastic bags at grocery stores and other retail businesses as one of his actions “to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
“The latter move is to curb the use of personal bags that could bring the virus into a store,” reported the Journal Inquirer.
Neighboring Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) banned reusable bags in stores this week and lifted bans on plastic bags as well “as part of his administration’s latest steps to limit the spread of the coronavirus,” reported the Boston Business Journal.
“Baker announced Wednesday that stores cannot charge for either paper or plastic bags, which in some communities have previously cost 5 cents per bag,” noted the report.
A lot of “reusable” shopping bags already end up in our trash. They make great trash bags (stronger than single use, convenient size), and frankly the thought of putting food into a bag which has already been used to carry meat or dairy is just scary.
This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran.”
Observation
Stephen has been accused of blaspheming against the Temple and the Law of Moses.
He starts his testimony by reminding the council of their ancestors. The patriarch Abraham was called by God to leave his home and come to the land of promise.
God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision which has continued down the generations. Joseph was sold into slavery but became the saviour of his family and of the nation.
Application
At first glance, this seems like an odd way of defending oneself on a charge of blasphemy. But by reciting the history of Israel, or at least part of it, Stephen is saying that he is a part of the story. He is a descendant of Abraham just as the members of the council are.
He reminds the council that God appeared to Abraham long before there was a Temple and a Law. In fact, Abraham’s first encounter with the Lord was outside of Israel. Much of Israel’s history in fact was spent outside the land.
I think the message Stephen is trying to get across is that the Lord is sovereign. He often does things we don’t expect. The latest of these unexpected things for Stephen was the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
The difference between the truly spiritual person and the religious person is humility. The religious person constantly tries to control God, to keep Him safely contained in a box. But God refuses to be contained or controlled by people.
Humility lies in knowing that God is bigger than we are, that He is in control and this is a good thing.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the knowledge that you are everywhere and not contained in a building. You have called me to follow you. Please help me to do this in humility, always letting you direct my paths. Amen.
The country that built the Saturn V rocket and landed men on the moon is buying drones from China to warn citizens in the Land of the Free they’re breaking a curfew imposed to fight a Chinese virus.
Here is my commentary on Ephesians2:2. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site.
Ephesians 2:2
“ … in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world, and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is still at work in those who are disobedient.”
We used to live in “sins and transgressions” until Christ set us free. We all have a history “Before Christ”, and when we are tempted to judge others from a position of self-righteousness, it is good to remember that we, too, once lived in sin.
Sin is so all-encompassing that it is no exaggeration to say that we once lived in it. Sin is like the air around us. It is always there even if we are not aware of it.
Sin is living for ourselves without reference to God’s will. In parts of the Bible it is described as lawlessness, rebellion, and witchcraft. When we live for ourselves without reference to the Lord, we are truly living in sin.
We used to follow the ways of the world before Christ came in.
Those who live in the world have their ways, just as christians have their ways. Whereas christians leave to serve Christ, the people of the world live to serve themselves. Vices are renamed virtues. Sins are redefined to make them more palatable.
The word “world” is not the physical planet on which we live, but the masses of humanity who go their own way, ignorant or rebellious against God.
God loves the world so much that He sent his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God loves the world, but the world does not love God. The world sets up its systems which deliberately exclude God.
The people who follow the ways of the world live for themselves. They work for money that does not last; their priorities can be summed up in the proverb, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” Their attitude is to live life to the fullest because they see no prospect for eternity.
The people of the world think that they are being wise in their own ways, walking in their own freedom. Yet they are directed by the” ruler of the kingdom of the air.” The kingdom of the air is satan’s realm. It is the second heaven according to some people, the first being the celestial realm of the sun, moon and stars.
When people live for themselves, they are living for Satan. Despite their claims to be free, they are in the deepest of bondage. Having abandoned any sense of duty to their Creator, they have fallen into captivity to the devil.
That is why the world always sets itself in opposition to Christians. This is why so many Christians around the world face severe persecution. This is why society loves all manner of perversion and decadence, and they hate the church.
Those who walk in the ways of the world are really being directed by satan who is the ruler of the kingdom of the air. We cannot ever expect anything different. Sinful people, unredeemed people, sin because they are separated from God and in fellowship with Satan.
Many Christians are unaware of the spiritual war that they are fighting. This will be discussed in Ephesians 6 where the nature of the war is elaborated. For now we must recognise that the war is being waged, and humans are the prize on both sides.
There is no neutrality in this war. Satan will destroy everyone regardless of whether they are fighting for him or ignorant of him. He leaves alone those who are already on the path to hell. He takes great delight in causing suffering and distress to those whom he considers his enemies.
Those who are disobedient to God are those who allow the spirits of evil to work in their lives. The more determined people are to oppose God, the more they have allowed the spirits to work in them and through them.
People indulge in all kinds of evil acts including violence, sexual perversion, lust, theft, fraud, blasphemy and so on. They argue that anything is justified as long as nobody gets hurt. They overlook the fact that any act of disobedience causes hurt to someone even if it is only the disobedient person.
Human beings were created in the image of God. We are created for his purposes and any disobedience to God is a denial of our reason for being. We mar that image that is in our hearts whenever we indulge our selfish desires.
Acts of disobedience amongst christians are acts of surrender to the evil one. We deny our Creator and Redeemer. We turn away from the path of separation to God and back to the ways of the world which lead to bondage and captivity.
Key points in this verse:
We were once Sinners but have been set free by Christ.
Sin is following the ways of the world
Whether by intent or in ignorance, the world sets itself in opposition to God
God loves the world but the world does not love God
Those who live in the world are really in bondage to satan who is the ruler of the kingdom of the air
We are in spiritual war and need to be aware of this
Following the ways of the world leads to disobedience
We are created for God’s purposes and must obey him
New Life Narrabri 
