Bolivia

In October 2011 our little group: Sonia, Craig, Wendy and Richard visited Bolivia. We left Puno in Peru by bus to Cococabana in Bolivia. After the usual border form-filling and stamps, and a guided visit to the church in which the ‘Black Madonna’ resides, we boarded a cruise boat, a large catamaran, to Sun Island on the Bolivian side of the lake.

My car owning philosophies

I have owned well over a dozen cars and driven a lot more, in numerous countries. 

It seems to me that there are a limited number of reasons to own a car:

1. As a tool of business where time is critical and tools of trade need to be carried about in a dedicated vehicle.
2. Convenient, fast, comfortable, transport particularly to difficult to get to places not easily accessible by public transport or cabs or in unpleasant weather conditions, when cabs may be hard to get.
3. Like clothes, a car can help define you to others and perhaps to yourself, as an extension of your personality.
4. A car can make a statement about one's success in life.
5. A car can be a work of art, something re-created as an aesthetic project.
6. A car is essential equipment in the sport of driving.

A Carbon Tax for Australia

 12 July 2011

It's finally announced, Australia will have a carbon tax of $23 per tonne of CO₂ emitted.  This is said to be the highest such tax in the world but it will be limited to 'about 500' of the biggest emitters.  The Government says that it can't reveal which  these are to the public because commercial privacy laws prevent it from naming them. 

Some companies have already 'gone public' and it is clear that prominent among them are the major thermal power generators and perhaps airlines.  Some like BlueScope Steel (previously BHP Steel) will be granted a grace period before the tax comes into effect. In this case it is publicly announced that the company has been granted a two year grace period with possible extensions, limited to its core (iron and steelmaking) emissions.