Devanny Project Diary, Entry 8

Somewhere in the universe, there may or may not exist a "database" of historical photos, which may or may not be connected to Jean Devanny in a way I'm not at liberty to discuss.

This database may or may not contain the following description concerning a blurry photograph of a man holding a snake:

"This venomous 7 horse power diesel engined man eating morning after the night before snake killed ten men and ate 29 dogs before Patem Alley with his usual courageous determination captured it alive after spending 9 sleepless weeks tracking the monster to its lair in the heart of the merciless hot jungle"

This description may or may not be a complete fabrication by someone who may or may not have been testing to see if anyone was ever actually going to read the data put into the database - this being pure conjecture as it seems to have taken several years for someone to read that particular entry (which may or may not exist), and the identity of whoever originally entered it (who also may or may not exist) is lost in the sands of time.

It's flippin' hilarious, though. Slightly misleading, but flippin' hilarious.

I can't help but think Jean would have approved.

Devanny Project Diary Entry 7

Cyclone Yasi

So, it turns out that the cyclone I was pathetically whining about in the last post wasn't inconvenient so much as massive and devastating.

I was expecting a bit of damage. Instead, Silkwood has practically been wiped out, Tully isn't doing so well and no one is even mentioning Mourilyan. I don't know if that's a good sign or not.

Obviously, my thoughts are with the people who live in the region, but I'm also thinking about the history.

When a massive catastrophe hits a town, most people are justifiably thinking about saving lives and loved ones, but there was at least one museum in that region at some point. After Cyclone Larry, I was wondering if it would still be there. After Yasi, I'm guessing it probably isn't.

What happens to the local collections in the small community museums when the towns are taken out by flood, fire or storm? You can't think about these things when there's a major disaster looming with the promise of death and destruction, but how many of those small museums have disaster plans for their collections?