And we're off!

I haven't blogged for a while, but what with everything going on at the moment, it's kinda hard not to feel a bit philosophical.

And celebratory! Hell, it's a new year. Bring it on. What a way to end the last one, eh. Nature is awesome, and frightening, and pales all else into insignificance.

The web as a means of communication has come of age with the recent disaster. Relief teams in affected areas are broadcasting their needs, donations are being collected world-wide via every spec of available web space, and images, video and trillions of written words are freely flowing across the globe, allowing us all -- or at least those of us with net access -- constant updates on the nightmarish situation, giving us a vicarious sense of devastation, loss and bewilderment, a virtual feeling of being there.

Some brilliant writing in the form of blogs from the affected areas: Amit Varma's India Uncut, the True North Foundation, also from India, and Ceneus Blog from Sri Lanka, all excellent reading; then there's the Indonesia Help site and IndonesiaHelp.org with the best round-ups of news, information and links to all sorts of resources. Also check out Channel News Asia for some fascinating first-hand accounts and images.

Personally, I've become enthralled by the tale of the Sentinelese, one of the five small aboriginal tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, just north-west of the tip of Indonesia and the epicentre of the quake. The Sentinelese, whose lifestyle has remained unchanged since the Stone Ages, are hostile to outsiders and shoot poisoned arrows at anyone who attempts to make contact, be they friend or foe. For this reason, authorities from nearby Port Blair have been faced with a particularly difficult task in trying to assess the current state of the small tribe, and the task is made all the more impossible given that no one knows for sure exactly how many Sentinelese there were before the wave hit anyway.

However, it seems the majority of the five tribes have survived the tsunami, with a naked Sentinelese recently shooting an arrow up at a hovering helicopter, and members of the similarly hostile Jarawa tribe actually coming out of their safe forest retreat to let officials there know they had all survived. Magical.

And then there is the delightful -- albeit, somewhat bizarre -- news that Germaine Greer, the Female Eunuch herself, has agreed to take part in this year's Australian Celebrity Big Brother. Whatever next... says the addict herself.

2005. Bring it on!