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Member Login
> South Australian Blackout
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South Australia has just experienced a total blackout. If you are interested in the possibility of this happening elsewhere you might want to re-read one or two historic articles on this Website: Electricity Pricing was written in 2012 about the Carbon Tax that is no more. But it outlines the operation of the National Electricity Market (NEM) - still current - and touches on the peculiar situation in SA and Tasmania drawing attention to the high cost of blackouts. It also points to aging grid (transmission tower) infrastructure in some States. Renewable Electricity was an earlier paper published in 2010. It discusses the disadvantages of too a high reliance on Wind. For example the turbines can't be run in a high storm, transmission towers or not and they can't easily be re-started if the grid is down. This paper forecasts problems in South Australia if they pressed on with too much wind. Since then they have not desisted and have actually decommissioned base load generation. The vulnerability of our grid is not new news. In Electricity Shocks I encouraged readers to have a look at my daughter Emily's paper 'Sustainable Smart Grid', that points to these very risks.As she says: "Brittle energy infrastructure is optimised for efficiency, but efficiency isn’t very robust. A robust system would operate even when part of the system fails. The smart grid has vulnerabilities that are not robust." |
> Southern England
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In mid July 2016 Wendy and I took flight again to Europe. Those who follow these travel diaries will note that part of out trip last year was cut when Wendy's mum took ill. In particular we missed out on a planned trip to Romania and eastern Germany. This time our British sojourn would be interrupted for a few days by a side-trip to Copenhagen and Roskilde in Denmark (later posts to come). |
> South Korea (& China)
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I hadn't written up our trip to South Korea (in March 2016) but Google Pictures gratuitously put an album together from my Cloud library so I was motivated to add a few words and put it up on my Website. Normally I would use selected images to illustrate observations about a place visited. This is the other way about, with a lot of images that I may not have otherwise chosen.
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> Bali
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At the end of February 2016 Wendy and I took a package-deal to visit Bali.
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> Greyhound Racing
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Rather bravely, the New South Wales State Government has accepted the recommendation of the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Greyhound Racing Industry in NSW and announced the end of Greyhound Racing in the State from July 1 2017. The Australian Capital Territory Government quickly followed suit. Some years ago I remarked, in an article on NSW history, that it was the NSW State Government that started the Greyhound Racing industry. That was in the Depression, in the time of 'Big' Jack Lang, and a great deal of harm ensued. Lang was later dismissed by the NSW Governor. But it was not for further impoverishing families 'doing it tough'. By that time dog racing had already become endemic in the State. For 'Big' Jack Lang's role - Read More here... Like many people, I have always been concerned about how attractive gambling can apparently be to people who can ill afford it. If people like the Packers want to gamble for recreation or a thrill that's one thing but a mum or dad spending the rent and grocery money on a slim chance to get rich is quite another. Greyhound Racing has always been targeted on these very people Sure, poker machines are even more insidious but that has proven to be an issue that's just too much to bite off and chew. Greyhound trainers have made themselves an easy target. It's hard to be cruel to poker machines and they don't need to be blooded on rabbits. |
> A little fiction...
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If you have previously read one of my stories and enjoyed it you might like to have another look. An advantage (or disadvantage) of e-publishing is that writings are not cast in hot type and committed to a printed volume. This allows an author to revisit them from time to time; to re-imagine passages; to tidy up; and expand on ideas. Thus they e-books are works in progress. The risk is that stories get over-baked and ruined. Let the reader be the judge. Here are a few of a dozen I have published - click on their name to open them. The Time Lord (science fiction?) was recently updated and extended. The Secret (a travel tale) is a similar length - it's been changed several times. If you would like something shorter and more comic try A Twisted Pigs' Tale (a twisted fairy story) His Life in a Can (a domestic tragedy) is also a quick read but rather more dark. The Password (another travel tale) will take you a little longer. It's my fantasy revenge on the pair who stole my wallet in BA. The Soul of the Matter (yet another travel inspired story) and April Fools' Day (paranoia on a ferry) are longer again. But if you want to read a novel length story on your device then you should read my latest: The Craft, a prequel to The Cloud (a dystopian-Shakespearean science fiction) still very much under development - my writing process on display. WARNING The Craft contains adult themes and witchcraft and a couple of naughty words. |
> Recollections of 1960 - the U2 Incident
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The 2015 Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies recalls the U-2 Incident, one of those seminal moments when the world would take a new path into the future. In 1960 this otherwise mundane spy flight would swing the result of a US election and thus set the tone for the coming decade. The new President was to make US confrontation with the USSR a hallmark of his term in office. The Cuban Missile Crisis; escalation of the wars in Indochina; conscription; draft dodging; protest; flower-power and a spate of assassinations; can therefore all trace their roots to this incident. |
> Berlin
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I've been to Berlin several times but have been reluctant to offer an 'off the cuff' summary of this complex city.
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> Now I am Seventy
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An edited speech made on the occasion of a garden party to mark my achieving my seventieth year.
It's self explanatory. |
> Skydiving
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For my 70th Birthday Wendy took me at my word and bought me a voucher to go Skydiving. I've always wanted to try it and 75 is a limit for insurance. |
> Climate Change - a Myth?
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Partly in response to my article Carbon Footprints (below) several friends and acquaintances have told me that Climate Change is a myth. Might this be true?
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> The McKie Family
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This is the story of the McKie family down a path through the gardens of the past that led to where I'm standing now. Other paths converged and merged as the McKies met and wed and bred. During that time Newcastle grew from a small port town into one of the World's most important and innovative cities. Thus they contributed to the prosperity, fertility and skill of that blossoming town during the century and a half when the garden there was at its most fecund. |
