Backlash
organic & vegan
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A reader informs us: ‘I live in Brunswick Heads and love our pelicans. People feed them crap, white bread in particular, thinking it’s a good thing. It stuffs up their gullets and can kill them. It’s not their food and stops them finding their real food.’ So please don’t do it, okay? You can find out more about seabirds at the local site http://seabirdrescue.org and at www.birdsinbackyards.net. Q Q Q Q
6685 6432
Shop 3, Byron St, Byron Bay www.manikthehairstudio.com
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It’s probably not news to anyone trying to find a place to rent but Australian Property Monitors has confirmed that Byron is a really expensive place to live, on average more expensive than Sydney. Byron’s rental prices have risen 13 per cent from a median for a house of $485 per week in December 2012 to $550 per week at the end of 2013. We blame the surfers who discovered the place in the 1960s, or maybe it was the baby boomer hippie types in the 70s, or the wellheeled who came on board in the 80s and 90s. But you can’t have massive land releases and an environment that locals and visitors love at the same time in a squidgy seaside region. Affordability, thy name is Brewarrina: www.breshire. com. You can get an entire house there for 80 grand. Q Q Q Q
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According to the urban dictionary we consulted, an apocaloptimist is ‘someone who knows it’s all going to shit, but still thinks things will turn out okay’. It sums up a lot of Byron Shire magical thinking pretty accurately. Adbusters.org is running a Doom Diary, along with its The Big Ideas of 2047 issue, which forecasts a possible darker future. Given the cur-
rent accumulating environmental damage and humankind’s ‘ability’ to response to it, how do you see the future turning out? Utopia or The Road? If you like, email your prediction, with ‘2047’ in the subject window, to editor@ echo.net.au. Q Q Q Q
The remarkable non-profit site Internet Archive runs a Wayback Machine, named after the device used by Mr Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show: http://archive.org/web. There you can punch in any website and find out what was viewed in any time in its history. Things that have disappeared from current websites magically reappear, such as, for example, Ballina MP Don Page’s April 2004 damning of Bob Carr for replacing some Countrylink services with buses: ‘The community has fought passionately to retain the Casino to Murwillumbah rail service; today’s announcement is a kick in the teeth for northern rivers residents.’ So much more dental removal has gone on since then, hey Don? Q Q Q Q
If you read this media release from NSW Police – ‘Man pretending to be teen girl charged for soliciting child abuse material from US boy – Child Exploitation Internet Unit’ http://bit.ly/polscam – you’ll see how easy it is for children to be exploited in cyberspace. What’s positive, however, is that the child had the good sense to tell his parents and the cops the wherewithal to track down the offender. Here’s some advice from the government on keeping safe online: www. staysmartonline.gov.au.
January 2027: North Coast Holiday Parks now have plans for their spaceport to replace the defunct Brunswick Heads river on public exhibition at their HQ in Hamilton, Bermuda. Resistance is futile.
SUMMER SHOE SALE UP TO 50% OFF Spanish, Italian and Brazilian sandals Shop 1a, 43 Byron St Bangalow 2479
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New Year Resolutions for 2014
1. Lose weight 2. Get Fit 3. Feel great 4. Respect my body 5. Look after my skin
6. Meditate 7. Slow down my ageing 8. Become more aware 9. Detox 10. Take Better care of myself
ONE WORD –
BIKRAM! 52 January 21, 2014 The Byron Shire Echo
“It’s because of the coaches that Jamie headed off to Mentawais 7kg lighter, D ORW Ă€ WWHU DQG SDLQ IUHH 6R OXFN\ ZH IRXQG &URVV)LW %\URQ %D\Âľ D Bennett, Byron Bay local P: 0402 321 557 &HQWHQQLDO &FW FURVVĂ€ WE\URQED\ FRP )LQG XV RQ )DFHERRN
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Byron Shire Echo archives: www.echo.net.au