Letters/Articles/Pin This Up continued from page 11 inspires me to comment. The complete truth about consciousness and reality cannot be unravelled until we understand what the 96 per cent around us, consisting of dark matter and dark energy, is up to. I hope it is not so mystical that it accelerates us into an epoch of spiritualism. Meanwhile the age of reason could improve significantly if we can inhibit overgrowth of the amygdala in preschool. Sapoty Brook Mullumbimby
Meating point
Pin This Up DEADLINE FRIDAY NOON Rotary Club Rotary Club of Byron Bay is a non-profit organisation bringing together members of the community to do good. It meets each Tuesday 7pm at Byron RSL. Visitors welcome. Email byronbayrotary@ gmail.com.
AA meetings Brunswick Heads, 7pm Sunday, Com Ctr, South Beach Rd, opp surf club. Mullumbimby, 12.30 Thurs, CWA hall, Tincogan St. Byron Bay, 12 noon Friday, Uniting Church hall, Carlyle St.
Chair yoga for seniors Gentle exercise and relaxation in a chair, Thursdays 10–11am, Cook Pioneer Hall, Gordon Street, Mullumbimby. Free, or donation welcome. Phone Marion 6680 2101.
EMR concerns
Regarding last week’s article on EME pros and cons, ‘electromagnetic energy’ (EME) is a designation newly promoted by telcos and government regulators. One effect is to divert attention from the more conventional and long-standing term ‘electromagnetic radiation’ (EMR). An internet search for EME will find virtually nothing of the extensive scientific findings on adverse health effects. Additionally, ‘radiation’, being the more accurate description, has unwanted connotations. Obscuring the issue is the last thing we need, considering that Australia lags far behind many countries in protecting its citizens from ever-increasing levels of electro-pollution. Peter Nielsen Byron Bay
Safe venues
As a hospitality professional of 15 years, I can safely say there is no venue more regulated than a late-night trader in Byron Bay. As a mother of two and resident, there is nofrom the Byron Community Centre, download one from www.byroncentre.com.au or call 6685 6807.
Charity golf day The Hospital Charity Golf Day will be held on Sunday 29 September at the Byron Bay Golf Club. Mixed event – golfers and nongolfers welcome. Enq 6685 6977.
Byron Sophia Byron Sophia Philosophical Group: Insights of Zen Buddhism presented by James Stewart, Thursday, 19 September, 1–3pm, at Masonic Centre, 6 Byron St, Byron Bay. Info: Celia 6684 3623.
where I’d rather see the young adults of this town. The young people have two choices on their night out in Byron. They can enter a venue, having been checked for valid ID and assessed for intoxication prior to entry. Once inside they will be served according to strict requirements. Or they can wander down a pitch black street
until they reach a darkened beach or park. Here they can skoll a bottle of vodka until they pass out, congregating en masse and unmonitored. If venues close at midnight, the young people of Byron have only one choice, and there is nothing positive about it. Amber Jones Byron Bay
time. All persons who have been associated with Guiding are invited to come along. Enquiries or RSVP Anne 07 5524 1454 or Pat 6674 4622 by October 10.
close to them through suicide. To register your interest email aftersuicide.lifeline@lis.net.au or call 6622 4133.
Support after Suicide A Support after Suicide Group will be commencing at Lifeline Northern Rivers on October 8 and will run for eight sessions through to the end of 2013. Lifeline is inviting enquiries from people who wish to be part of a free support group for people of adult age who have experienced the loss of someone
Bargains galore The Anglican Church in Mullumbimby is holding a sale on Saturday September 21, 8am to 1pm, with furniture, beds, kitchen and electrical items. Please note: this section is intended for the benefit of nonprofit community groups, not for invitations to free events to be followed up by paid workshops.
wild, horrible and tragic and you will laugh a lot.’ Mungo’s book will be launched locally at Mary Ryan’s Bookshop in Byron Bay on Wednesday September 25 at 6pm, following drinks at 5.30pm. Read more about Mungo at www.blackincbooks.com/authors/mungomaccallum. * Famous triskaidekaphobes include Napoleon, Herbert Hoover, Mark Twain, Richard Wagner, and Franklin Roosevelt.
Criminal Law, Traffic Law & Court Work Family Law, Property, Conveyancing, Wills and Probate Mullumbimby Office p 02 6684 6111 f 02 6684 6122 Suite 6, 97 Stuart St, Mullumbimby NSW 2482
Tweed Office p 07 5536 6111 f 07 5536 6112 10/69 Wharf St, Tweed Heads NSW 2485
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For information and bookings www.steerproject.org.au Phil 0414 809 330
End of Life Choices
Toastmasters
Landcare
Byron Cavanbah Toastmasters’ Club meets the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month from 6.30 to 8.30 at St Finbarr’s School. Go to www.byronbaytoastmasters.org for more information or just drop in.
Byron Shire Chemical Free Landcare next working bee on Saturday 21 September, 9am–1pm, at Tyagarah Nature Reserve, at the end of Grays Lane. Details Nadia 0478 272 300 or go to www.byronshirechemicalfreelandcare.org.
If you’re on a low income and have lived in Byron Shire for at least six months, you may be eligible for a Byron Community No Interest Loan (NILS) for essential items. Collect a NILS application form
ways an occasion for wailing and gnashing of teeth but in 2013 holding the real possibility of apocalypse. ‘The climax of course, was not a bang but a whimper of despair – not just at the result, but at the whole interminable process: the mad marathon that brought us to this point.
After a year of stunts, slogans, lies and fantasy we were left bereft and unhappy, stuck with a government and prime minister we didn’t really want but faced with no alternative. ‘Do we actually get the governments we deserve, or are they thrust upon us by vested interests, pressure groups, faceless apparatchiks and, to a lesser extent, the media and the environment that surrounds us all?’ Mungo urges us to read his latest electoral saga, which explains how it happened. ‘It is
Mullum Potters Spring sale is on Mullum Market day, 21 September at the Drill Hall complex, 10am– 4pm. Proceeds to the Community Art gallery and weekly workshops for artists with special needs.
Saturday 21 September, Broadfoot playing live. See www.mullummarkets.com.au.
No-interest loans
Political commentator Mungo MacCallum continues his fateful fascination with federal elections, a fascination which has already seen him publish Poll Dancing, the story of the 2007 election, and Punch & Judy, The Double Disillusion Election of 2010. Now he leaps into print with The Mad Marathon, only days after the 2013 election gasps to a halt. ‘The year 2013 began with fire and destruction, tumult and terror; but the overture came as no surprise to either triskaidekaphobes* or psephologists,’ notes Mungo. ‘Sure, the Mayans had predicted the end of the world a month earlier, but what would they know? The Mayans had never had to suffer a federal election year in Australia, al-
Mullum Potters
End of Life Choices hold meetings quarterly at Pacific Fair and Tweed Heads. Ring Elaine for more details on how to join on 0421 796 713.
Mullum Market
Mungo surveys the recent election meltdown
S A F E R DRIVERS
So, Edward Kent and I have finally found common ground (Letters, September 3). Some people apparently just need to eat flesh from corpses; he thinks they might die otherwise, while I believe it is because they are victims of cynical marketing. Either way, if they want to do so, let us rejoice that they will soon be able to buy in vitro meat grown in sterile laboratories rather than from the abominable slaughter houses. Meat grown under controlled conditions in labs might save the life of his anecdotal human who will allegedly die on a vegan diet. It will certainly save the lives of billions of animals who
endure short, wretched lives before suffering their agonising deaths for no other reason than to please human palates. Des Bellamy Byron Bay
Girl Guide luncheon The Annual Guiding Get Together Luncheon is to be held at the home of Anne Biddulph in Laura Street, Banora Point, on Wednesday October 23 at 10.30am NSW
North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
For your reading pleasure
Ha v du e y r o yo ing u se u th en li e ne ke t ye this x o ar a 20 t one be in? Wouroun 14 for the ld d ?
Phone Tricia or Rusty on 6684 7390 / 0428 847 390
The Byron Shire Echo September 17, 2013 13