Over the weekend, Australia recorded some bizarre temperatures. For two consecutive days, Hobart, which is by far the coldest of the state capital cities on average, recorded the highest temperatures of them all - up to 7 degrees above Darwin 3,750 km or so to the north on the warm Arafura Sea. On one day Hobart had 39 degrees and on the other the temperature reached a round 40 degrees C. Unfortunately, for the apple islanders, tomorrow's temperature is forecast to be less than half their weekend experience at 18C. (i.e. back to normal).
Meanwhile, we continue to have a very cool and wet summer ... by our standards here in Armidale. Temperatures have rarely reached the summer average of 26C and most days have had rainfall so that our landscape vaguely resembles Ireland.
AS
Monday 27 February 2012
global happiness
Have a look at http://boingboing.net/2012/02/25/world-is-a-happier-place-than.html for information on global happiness. It seems that we're not doing too badly down under, especially if we factor in the extraordinary result from Indonesia lying to the north of us. If happiness is a portent of stability and non-aggression, this is a good part of the world to live in. And, by the way, have a look at the scores for some of the BRIC nations, omitting Russia. It seems that rapid growth is associated with happiness. Europe is lagging in the scheme of things, as situation that's going to get worse as the region plumbs recession.
AS
AS
Sunday 26 February 2012
Bridge Lesson
I regularly give intermediate level bridge lessons and, occasionally, master classes in out local bridge club where I'm chief director. Such events are hugely popular and today I had a record attendance for a session on No Trump play. They were mostly people who had recently acquired the rudiments of the game and wanted to improve their skills. Today's session attracted nearly 40 people! I last from 9.30 to nearly 1pm and I received considerable and much appreciated acclaim. Before that, I arrived at 8.30 to set everything up, arranging 9 tables for the play hands, and seats in amphitheatre around the data projector I donated to the club for bridge instruction. If that seems a lot of work, consider the time it took to construct 52 Powerpoint slides, duplicate 13 page (and double-sided) handouts for 40 people on my printer at home, and pre-deal 24 demonstration deals to illustrate the points I was making. It literally took days.
However, the outcome was a lot of satisfied and fired-up players, whose enthusiasm for the game will improve. That will strengthen the Armidale Bridge Club, whose membership is already > 150 and that's one of the largest in our region and indeed in rural Australia. That, in turn improves our balance sheet, which is looking extremely healthy these days. Here are two pictures of me supervising the play hands.
By the way, we own our own commodious club premises as you can see from the images.
AS
However, the outcome was a lot of satisfied and fired-up players, whose enthusiasm for the game will improve. That will strengthen the Armidale Bridge Club, whose membership is already > 150 and that's one of the largest in our region and indeed in rural Australia. That, in turn improves our balance sheet, which is looking extremely healthy these days. Here are two pictures of me supervising the play hands.
By the way, we own our own commodious club premises as you can see from the images.
AS
Saturday 25 February 2012
Lunch in Bendemeer
Dot belongs to an organisation called Probus - mainly populated by professional people who are retirees (or about to become so). Yesterday (Friday) they met for a lunch in a little place called Bendemeer on the New England Highway about 75km south of Armidale. In 1854 the village gained its name after a line in the 1817 poem Lalla-Rookh by Thomas Moore.
I offered to be chauffeur for the day and drove the four of us down there including Dot's two friends. The lunch was held in the local pub, which was sited in an attractive location on the banks of the McDonald River, a tributary of the Namoi, which itself feeds into the Darling river system. The lawns were neatly manicured, the meal was nice, and the company interesting. So, in all, it was a pleasant day out and we were home by about 3pm.
AS
I offered to be chauffeur for the day and drove the four of us down there including Dot's two friends. The lunch was held in the local pub, which was sited in an attractive location on the banks of the McDonald River, a tributary of the Namoi, which itself feeds into the Darling river system. The lawns were neatly manicured, the meal was nice, and the company interesting. So, in all, it was a pleasant day out and we were home by about 3pm.
AS
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Speeding Ticket
Have a look at the article below. Fancy the UK police clocking a vehicle at over 300 mph (480kph) on the A1, a stretch of road I've used frequently (not recently!).
Is it illegal in Britain to use jamming devices like the Tornado's?
AS
Is it illegal in Britain to use jamming devices like the Tornado's?
AS
Friday 17 February 2012
Global Connectivity
A strange thing happened this morning. I received, via Facebook, the same picture twice, but the images were posted in Brisbane and Amsterdam respectively! That's the amusing item below about people's images of professors.
Then Rebecca, serendipitously posted the next image of people's perceptions of planners, which is in the same vein.
I commented on this coincidence on Facebook and, within 30 minutes one of my friends in Japan liked what I had done. Rather than living in splendid isolation, we inhabit an instantly connected world shifting towards a more common culture. It's something I support because shared values are probably the best antidote to the bane of tribal loyalty. I, for one, enjoy zig-zagging from one country to another soaking up different cultures but safe in the knowledge that humans everywhere share largely common knowledge, values, hopes and aspirations.
AS
Then Rebecca, serendipitously posted the next image of people's perceptions of planners, which is in the same vein.
I commented on this coincidence on Facebook and, within 30 minutes one of my friends in Japan liked what I had done. Rather than living in splendid isolation, we inhabit an instantly connected world shifting towards a more common culture. It's something I support because shared values are probably the best antidote to the bane of tribal loyalty. I, for one, enjoy zig-zagging from one country to another soaking up different cultures but safe in the knowledge that humans everywhere share largely common knowledge, values, hopes and aspirations.
AS
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Newport Beach
At the southern tip of LA lies the wealthy community of Newport Beach, and especially Balboa Island. It was a lovely restful day until Bec managed to lose or have stolen her backpack, but fortunately her and Max's passports were back in Anaheim. I guess I should just show a few pictures of the locality. The day was beautiful - imagine 25C and brilliant sunshine in mid-winter!
Note the eucalypt trees in Balbao's main street - a touch of home. Then it was off to the airport through peak hour traffic to LAX for a trip back to see the real thing.
AS
Note the eucalypt trees in Balbao's main street - a touch of home. Then it was off to the airport through peak hour traffic to LAX for a trip back to see the real thing.
AS
And so to Universal Studios
On Thursday last week (Friday OZ time) we took the long 80 minute drive to Universal Studios. Emily has an in-car GPS navigation system, which made getting around very easy, and also GPS in her phone. I've got the same combination back here, and it's potentially very useful in finding one's way around strange places.
Well, US is likely Disneyland, except with a movie theme. So it was a day of rides and theatrical demonstrations like the one on how to train pets to perform - cats, dogs, birds, pigs, and even a rat. More importantly, there were visits to the working studios where productions are under way and tips on how to create impressions vastly different to reality. For example, we visited the neighbourhood where Desperate Housewives is filmed (I call it Desperate Viewers!). The entire streetscape was fake and the filming of interior sequences is done indoors at separate locations. We saw a metro station, shown in one of the following pictures, which immediately transformed itself after an earthquake which unfolded before our eyes. Then we saw part of the set for Jaws - with of course a mechanical shark, and part of a scene involving the crash of a Jumbo Jet. The producer bought a real Jumbo and then blew it apart to get the effects he needed. Then we also watched how stunts with cars flying through the air are conjured up.
Suffice to say we had a fun-filled day including another ghostly thrill - we kept both Max and Ella away from that. Things concluded with Bec and Max having their cartoon drawn by a very proficient artist. It only cost US$10 and was well worth it. I must remember to have my cartoon done when I'm next there.
AS
Well, US is likely Disneyland, except with a movie theme. So it was a day of rides and theatrical demonstrations like the one on how to train pets to perform - cats, dogs, birds, pigs, and even a rat. More importantly, there were visits to the working studios where productions are under way and tips on how to create impressions vastly different to reality. For example, we visited the neighbourhood where Desperate Housewives is filmed (I call it Desperate Viewers!). The entire streetscape was fake and the filming of interior sequences is done indoors at separate locations. We saw a metro station, shown in one of the following pictures, which immediately transformed itself after an earthquake which unfolded before our eyes. Then we saw part of the set for Jaws - with of course a mechanical shark, and part of a scene involving the crash of a Jumbo Jet. The producer bought a real Jumbo and then blew it apart to get the effects he needed. Then we also watched how stunts with cars flying through the air are conjured up.
Suffice to say we had a fun-filled day including another ghostly thrill - we kept both Max and Ella away from that. Things concluded with Bec and Max having their cartoon drawn by a very proficient artist. It only cost US$10 and was well worth it. I must remember to have my cartoon done when I'm next there.
AS
Disneyland
I'm now a week behind in making posts to my BLOG partly because I came down with a heavy cold during the return trip to Australia. Indeed, I might be the first person in the whole world to infected every passenger on an Airbus A380!! Bec and Max came down with a milder version, but poor Ella was hospitalised last night in Palm Springs - after visiting the Joshua Tree National Park / Monument - with the same complaint!
Anyway lets' make up for lost time by saying that our last 3 days in California were action-packed as we took in first Disneyland, secondly Universal Studios and lastly a day at Newport Beach, a really swank suburb on the shores of the Pacific. I'll make a post on each one separately in that order, but before I do I must thank Emily for her superb arrangements. We spent 3 nights at a Marriott Residence Inn at Anaheim, which was very comfortable and within walking distance of Disneyland. The motel was inhabited almost exclusively by families and some of them dressed up (or is it down) for the occasion. One couple with four kids presented themselves at breakfast wearing identical red T-shirts with an inscription on the front. The husband was described as Thing 1, the wife as Thing 2, and so on down in age to Thing 6! I nearly went up to them saying no-thing could be more appropriate, but I was dissuaded.
Emily deserves another gong for her constant attention to Ella, which was made more difficult by the latter's removal from normal routine and fascination with her surroundings. Wow! She was stimulated! Emily also had to sacrifice a few wild rides because they were quite unsuitable for an 8-month old baby. And, finally, Emily deserves a gong for driving long distances on LA's insane road system inhabited by lunatic drivers constantly switching lanes, tail-gating, speeding, illegally occupying as a single driver the HOV (high occupancy vehicles) lanes. Let me just say that considerate drivers were rare and, the bigger the road - as was the case with the Santa Ana Freeway, the worse the driving. Compared with some of the freeways, the Space Mountain Ride at Disneyland was hardly scary. By the way, LA's SMSA (i.e. greater LA has getting on for 11 million people living at negligible population densities by UK standards. The city was vast - roughly 130 x 75 km (or 80 x 47 miles) and it seemed to take hours to go anywhere despite the city's impressive collection of freeways. Alas, the latter were often jammed and it's said that only time to get a more or less free run is 1.00 am!
Enough of introduction. Disneyland was much as I remembered it, and Max certainly did so as it was his second trip there in 4 years. Basically we wandered from one ride or experience on (or in) this that or the other to another: for instance space mountain, splash mountain, the haunted house and pirates of the Caribbean, but also the teacup ride which Ella could take and the replica Mississippi paddle steamer. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and their relatives wandered around, along with bands playing pirate songs. The streetscapes were homely and home to theatre, like the training routine for young kids to fight the Star Wars villains. Alas, we arrived too late for Max to get a gig in this. Still, he had a nice day out and was excluded from no ride on account of size! Some of the above attractions are shown below. Now I come to think if it, Max had his first serious attempt at driving a car and I was terrified!
By the way, many of the scarier rides tried to warn off cardiac patients, but I managed quite a few of them and am still here. I don't know if I, as an academic, should show this last photo. The greatest term of derision for an academic is that their work is Mickey Mouse. However, I take the plunge and I am happy to be seen the gentleman's company. The same couldn't be said of Ella who took an instant dislike to him ... and Donald Duck and, in a later encounter, Shrek.
AS
Anyway lets' make up for lost time by saying that our last 3 days in California were action-packed as we took in first Disneyland, secondly Universal Studios and lastly a day at Newport Beach, a really swank suburb on the shores of the Pacific. I'll make a post on each one separately in that order, but before I do I must thank Emily for her superb arrangements. We spent 3 nights at a Marriott Residence Inn at Anaheim, which was very comfortable and within walking distance of Disneyland. The motel was inhabited almost exclusively by families and some of them dressed up (or is it down) for the occasion. One couple with four kids presented themselves at breakfast wearing identical red T-shirts with an inscription on the front. The husband was described as Thing 1, the wife as Thing 2, and so on down in age to Thing 6! I nearly went up to them saying no-thing could be more appropriate, but I was dissuaded.
Emily deserves another gong for her constant attention to Ella, which was made more difficult by the latter's removal from normal routine and fascination with her surroundings. Wow! She was stimulated! Emily also had to sacrifice a few wild rides because they were quite unsuitable for an 8-month old baby. And, finally, Emily deserves a gong for driving long distances on LA's insane road system inhabited by lunatic drivers constantly switching lanes, tail-gating, speeding, illegally occupying as a single driver the HOV (high occupancy vehicles) lanes. Let me just say that considerate drivers were rare and, the bigger the road - as was the case with the Santa Ana Freeway, the worse the driving. Compared with some of the freeways, the Space Mountain Ride at Disneyland was hardly scary. By the way, LA's SMSA (i.e. greater LA has getting on for 11 million people living at negligible population densities by UK standards. The city was vast - roughly 130 x 75 km (or 80 x 47 miles) and it seemed to take hours to go anywhere despite the city's impressive collection of freeways. Alas, the latter were often jammed and it's said that only time to get a more or less free run is 1.00 am!
Enough of introduction. Disneyland was much as I remembered it, and Max certainly did so as it was his second trip there in 4 years. Basically we wandered from one ride or experience on (or in) this that or the other to another: for instance space mountain, splash mountain, the haunted house and pirates of the Caribbean, but also the teacup ride which Ella could take and the replica Mississippi paddle steamer. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and their relatives wandered around, along with bands playing pirate songs. The streetscapes were homely and home to theatre, like the training routine for young kids to fight the Star Wars villains. Alas, we arrived too late for Max to get a gig in this. Still, he had a nice day out and was excluded from no ride on account of size! Some of the above attractions are shown below. Now I come to think if it, Max had his first serious attempt at driving a car and I was terrified!
By the way, many of the scarier rides tried to warn off cardiac patients, but I managed quite a few of them and am still here. I don't know if I, as an academic, should show this last photo. The greatest term of derision for an academic is that their work is Mickey Mouse. However, I take the plunge and I am happy to be seen the gentleman's company. The same couldn't be said of Ella who took an instant dislike to him ... and Donald Duck and, in a later encounter, Shrek.
AS
Friday 3 February 2012
Pismo Beach
After the trip to Hearst Castle and surrounds we were zapped and headed eagerly to our pre-booked motel in the little seaside resort of Pismo, a surfer's paradise! It was a quiet evening and we retired to bed early to ready ourselves for the tortuous drive into Los Angeles and, more specifically, Anaheim. Imagine my surprise, when I woke up next morning, to see this view from our room. Nice, eh? And the swimming pool is heated.
The motel lay atop quite a steep cliff and I counted the number of steps down when we set off on our early morning walk. It was 110 steps from top to bottom. Pismo beach was very wide and we must have walked about 3km along the sand there and back. It had lots of geological interest and, at one end, some beach volley-ball courts marked out in the sand - like many US beaches I've seen. There were even a few surfers out for an early ride, despite the waves being quite small by Australian standards. Max had great fun exploring caves like the one shown here, and, to our consternation, climbing rock faces - a dodgy activity on the soft rock.
The next picture shows some unusual white rocks at the north end of the beach. My investigation showed that they were not made of chalk. Rather they had a smooth hard, almost igneous, surface. But I am also sure they're not igneous in origin. Help anyone? The same picture also shows an igneous dyke running out from the cliff face - another oddity.
After a morning on the beach, we reluctantly drove into LA via San Louis Obispo and Santa Monica. It was a mostly fine and sunny drive, but the traffic got heavier and heavier the closer we got to LA. We were warned that the freeways are almost always clogged with traffic, except for about 1.00 am!! And so it proved to be. The traffic was horrendous and in many places the often 8 lanes or more of traffic (in both directions) saw cars travelling bumper to bumper at perhaps 10kph. Moreover, it was dark as we tried to find our spot in Anaheim (site of Disneyworld). Fortunately we had a GPS navigation system available, which made the job a lot easier. Don't try to navigate LA without one. The city of 12.8 million inhabitants (the SMSA, not Los Angeles county). They live in a humongously large region 60 miles EW and 40 NS, and it takes hours - even on freeways - to get anywhere. Pubic transport is vanishingly small in volume and doesn't seem to go anywhere we want to travel!
AS
The motel lay atop quite a steep cliff and I counted the number of steps down when we set off on our early morning walk. It was 110 steps from top to bottom. Pismo beach was very wide and we must have walked about 3km along the sand there and back. It had lots of geological interest and, at one end, some beach volley-ball courts marked out in the sand - like many US beaches I've seen. There were even a few surfers out for an early ride, despite the waves being quite small by Australian standards. Max had great fun exploring caves like the one shown here, and, to our consternation, climbing rock faces - a dodgy activity on the soft rock.
The next picture shows some unusual white rocks at the north end of the beach. My investigation showed that they were not made of chalk. Rather they had a smooth hard, almost igneous, surface. But I am also sure they're not igneous in origin. Help anyone? The same picture also shows an igneous dyke running out from the cliff face - another oddity.
After a morning on the beach, we reluctantly drove into LA via San Louis Obispo and Santa Monica. It was a mostly fine and sunny drive, but the traffic got heavier and heavier the closer we got to LA. We were warned that the freeways are almost always clogged with traffic, except for about 1.00 am!! And so it proved to be. The traffic was horrendous and in many places the often 8 lanes or more of traffic (in both directions) saw cars travelling bumper to bumper at perhaps 10kph. Moreover, it was dark as we tried to find our spot in Anaheim (site of Disneyworld). Fortunately we had a GPS navigation system available, which made the job a lot easier. Don't try to navigate LA without one. The city of 12.8 million inhabitants (the SMSA, not Los Angeles county). They live in a humongously large region 60 miles EW and 40 NS, and it takes hours - even on freeways - to get anywhere. Pubic transport is vanishingly small in volume and doesn't seem to go anywhere we want to travel!
AS
Point Piedras Blancas Elephant Seals
Close to Hearst Castle, we came across another magnificent site. This time it was a large 'pod' of Elephant Seals and I gather that there are thousands on this coast. Anyway we washed up, if that is the right word, at Point Piedras Blancas (white rock) Beach and saw the following images. By the way, I looked up the collective noun for seals (there's none specifically for elephant seals) and found it is pod. The site also had a rather distinct and not altogether welcome bouquet, perhaps for reasons mentioned below. The accompanying pictures are in colour, though it might not look like it!
The beach was not only entirely given over to the seals and sea-gulls, but comprised bull seals, calves and their mothers all scrambled together.
Occasionally the seals sparred with each other. I do not know enough about the animals to tell whether these are female or young males for they lack the trunks sported by full-grown males.
And in life there is death (and vice versa). Alas the pup shown below died, but its remains are providing a 'nice' meal for a flock of sea-gulls!
AS
The beach was not only entirely given over to the seals and sea-gulls, but comprised bull seals, calves and their mothers all scrambled together.
Occasionally the seals sparred with each other. I do not know enough about the animals to tell whether these are female or young males for they lack the trunks sported by full-grown males.
And in life there is death (and vice versa). Alas the pup shown below died, but its remains are providing a 'nice' meal for a flock of sea-gulls!
AS
Thursday 2 February 2012
Hearst Castle
Instead of an easy 2 hour drive down to Hearst Castle from Big Sur, the land-slip reported earlier forced us to take the long and 4 hour route via Highway 101, but we made it in time to take the rescheduled conducted tour of the state rooms at 2pm. The 'castle', which is now state managed, is the former home constructed by William Randolf Hearst in the late 19th and earl 20th centuries. He was a cattle baron and newspaper owner who controlled a lot of the politics of his day. He also loved to entertain Hollywood luminaries and overseas persona like Winston Churchill. Anyway, he had a dream and executed it to perfection to create something the British nobility would have loved to own in a spectacular mountainous location high above California's coastal plain. Have a look at these pictures and guess at the ego of someone who draped his walls with priceless European tapestries and 15th century pews taken from European churches; constructed wooden embossed ceilings and surrounded them with heraldic flags; built an indoor Roman baths complex, not to mention an outdoor Greek-style water feature; had a massive dining room like something out of Buckingham Palace; and a home theatre seating dozens of people. The outside looks a bit like a cathedral, and there cottages in the grounds for all his visitors - the cottages adopting a Mediterranean style and surrounded by Greek / Roman statues. The entire complex was supplied with meat and other produce grown in its gardens. The attached pictures give some impression of the place, which is a must-see for anyone on the US west coast. I regret it took me over 60 years to get there, but it was worth the wait.
AS
AS
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