Column 8

"Does anyone know what the red horizontal lights at the top of the Westpac tower in the middle of Sydney signify?" asks Richard Evans, of Belrose. "There are eight lines, facing south, that illuminate in an apparently random fashion, but maybe it's more sinister than that." Sorry, Richard, they are not very sinister. The Herald has reported that "Sydney's skyline boasts a giant barometer", and that's what it is. Each bar represents a change in air pressure of five hectopascals, apparently, starting at 990 hectopascals.