PLANET OF DOOM 2
A few days ago mention was made of a how prehistoric man burned down Australia. Now, in a flash of possible synchronicity kaymo brings us a whole bunch of stuff about that event from the London Independent. His comments that follow the link are probably best read after looking through the story
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=613707

pretty good workout of the material.
fits a general pattern of human development-- which seems to obtain at every tech level of our history– that we promote drier habitats. We drain swamps, destroy wetlands, empty aquifers, turn rivers into concrete channels that rush the water to the sea.
Possibly... fitting in with things like the human preference for open parkland, and paintings that are slightly blue overall, with trees in the distance-- we just have this very deep need to turn everywhere into the East Africa of 70,000 years ago-- around the time Mt. Toba went off, pushed our species to the very brink of extinction and brought on the cultural revolution-- virtually a new kind of human, though still wearing the old body-- that changed the stone toolkit and set up the migrations all over the world that followed soon afterwards.
That's a stretch or too, but you can see this pattern, yeah? And 70,000 years is but a few blinks of the eye in evolutionary terms.

The secret word is Cobber

MEANWHILE
John P wonders about Dr Thompson...
i dunno if you saw this (or whether its common knowledge i missed). One obit mentioned HST had been in a wheelchair for 2 or 3 years following an op to remedy trapped nerves in the back. Provides a bit more context, innit. (if true of course...)

Anyone know anything?