It is incredible how the media can help to instill serious panic. As Christmas approached, the front page of the seriously sensationalist NT News (see earlier blog "No news is good news") got scarier and scarier, warning us about a cyclone (hurricane) that was travelling towards us. There were radio ads with a man with a very stern voice warning people to take it seriously. I imagine there were TV ads as well (we don't have cable). Some locals scoffed at the warnings, while others went completely berserk, emptying all the stores of canned goods and bottled water and waiting in huge line-ups at gas stations to fill their tanks. Some stores even had seriously overpriced "cyclone kits", which were comprised of first aid kits, batteries, flashlights, candles, waterproof matches, and pr
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