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Travel
At last, in July and August 2022, we were able to travel to Europe again. This diary comes in instalments:
> Europe 2022 - Part 1
In July and August 2022 Wendy and I travelled to Europe and to the United Kingdom (no longer in Europe - at least politically). Part 1 of this report touches on places in Germany; then on a Baltic Cruise, landing in: Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden and the Netherlands.
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In 2021 we counted ourselves fortunate to get in a trip into Central Australia before the inevitable quarantine breach (this time a driver transporting air-crew) and consequent travel restrictions. And it wasn't until earlier this year that normality began to return. In February 2022 we were, at last, able to travel interstate again to Victoria without any COVID-19 restrictions.
> Road Trip to Melbourne
In February 2022 we were, at last, able to travel interstate to Victoria without and COVID-19 restrictions.
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> Uluru - Alice Springs - Kings Canyon
In June 2021 Wendy and I, with our frequent travel companions, Craig and Sonia (see: India; Taiwan; Japan; China; and several countries in South America), flew to Ayer's Rock where we hired a car for a tour to: Uluru - Alice Springs - Kings Canyon - then back to Uluru to fly back.
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Energy and the Environment
With world media attention no longer on the Covid Pandemic, except in China, the spotlight has moved on to the war in the Ukraine, and at least in Australia and the UK, to the rocketing cost of electricity.
> Electricity Woes
The new Federal Government, that came to power on a promise to substantially cut power bills, has had to concede, that instead, there will be substantial price increases. During the election campaign the Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy repeatedly asserted that the solution lay in increased wind and solar generated electricity, that he asserted were now cheaper than fossil-fuel generated electricity. Meanwhile, last July (2022) Wendy and I had occasion to visit the town of Rønne on the small Danish island of Bornholm. There on the quayside were a dozen huge wind-turbine nacelles. As I had some spare time on my hands, I looked on-line and discovered that they were Vestas V174-9.5 MW units for installation off the coast of Germany, for either the Baltic Eagle or Arcadis Ost 1 project. I compared the published project cost with other large energy projects around the world. Suffice it to say, that wind-generated electricity is not price-competitive with modern fossil-generated electricity - it's just a lot cleaner.
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> Electric Cars again-and-again
Electric vehicles like: trams; trains; and electric: cars; vans; and busses; all assist in achieving better air quality in our cities. Yet, to the extent that the energy they consume is derived from our oldest energy source, fire: the potential toxic emissions and greenhouse gasses simply enter the atmosphere somewhere else. So are they actually more environmentally friendly than conventional, petroleum-fuelled, vehicles?
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> Climate Change - a Myth?
Several friends and acquaintances of my generation continue to assert that the climate is beyond our control or that 'Climate Change' is a myth. Might I be mistaken in other ways?
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Biology - we can't escape it
> The Prospect of Eternal Life
When I first began to write about this subject, the idea that Hamlet’s apprehension concerning 'that undiscover'd country from whose bourn no traveller returns' was still current in today’s day and age seemed to me as bizarre as the fear of falling off the Earth should you sail too far to the west. Yet it has become apparent to me that some intelligent, educated, people still identify the prospect of eternal life, in either heaven or hell, as an important consideration when contemplating their own life and death. |
> Gaia
During our recent trip to Central Australia, I found myself wondering if there is more or less 'life' out here than there is in the more obviously verdant countryside to the north south east or west. Perhaps the entirety of the Earth's biota - James Lovelock's Gaia - is optimised by 'survival of the fittest' to fully exploit the prevailing conditions, so that, at any one time, the total mass of living cells the planet can support has been maximised? Then, maybe, given the present planetary environment, the total biological cake can't get any bigger - it can only swap one: individual; species; order; phylum; etc; for another? This is, of course, pure, unsubstantiated, speculation - born of my 'peripatetic musings'. What do you think? |
> The Chemistry of Life
This article - that begins with 'What everyone should know' was written back in 2013 as an appendix to The Meaning of Life, my wide-ranging essay for my children about understanding: what we can know and what we think we do know. |
Miscellaneous
> The McKie Family
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. |
> Luther - Father of the Modern World?
Continuing the religious theme, 2017 also marked 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his '95 theses' to a church door in Wittenberg and set in motion the Protestant Revolution.
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> Alternative Facts and other Untrue Tales
Most fiction has its roots in real events. Yet the flights of fancy (untruths) these inspire can be more fun. Some of these tales can be read in a few minutes others like: The Cloud and The Craft, require a good bit longer.
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