Who is Online

We have 226 guests and no members online

 

 

 

In the past, when visiting Los Angeles, we have stayed around Hollywood somewhere. You can see the 2012 photo album by clicking on the pictures below (in Hollywood). If you are contemplating visiting, you may be interested to read about out unfortunate experience 2017 here... 

This time we rejected Hollywood in favour of downtown LA. The Millennium Biltmore. It's central and a lot nicer than the places we've stayed over there.

The Millenium Biltmore Hotel and the nearby Public Library
- lower right - a most impressive building

During the afternoon I spent an hour or so in the Public Library, waiting for Wendy to return from her grand shopping expedition to the outlets. I also took a walk up the street (hill) to the local Art Museums: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) and the BROAD.  I would visit the BROAD another day.
To see some of the artworks at MoCA and BROAD click on the pictures below.

I subsequently discovered that they can be reached, without climbing the hill, by staying on the lower streets. These lead around to the local produce market and the Angels Flight Funicular. You know: 'Funiculi Funicular'. It costs $1 to be taken up. But it's a longer walk.

There is also a bus service, for less than a dollar, but it's infrequent or you can take the Metro to the markets (one stop). 

Chess players near the Mall metro station; The gallery/concert precinct; Angels Flight Funicular; In the metro station;
In the Walt Disney Concert Hall foyer; Local architecture of interest (Art Deco etc)

To see some of my photos of the art in MoCA and the BROAD click on the image above (top-right).

The BROAD is adjacent to the architecturally spectacular Walt Disney Concert Hall. It's more impressive outside than in the foyer (see above) but I understand that the auditorium itself is equally marvellous.

  Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA. Architect: Frank Gehry

 

No comments

Travel

Istanbul

 

 

Or coming down to earth...

 

When I was a boy, Turkey was mysterious and exotic place to me. They were not Christians there; they ate strange food; and wore strange clothes. There was something called a ‘bazaar’ where white women were kidnapped and sold into white slavery. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, or was it Errol Flynn, got into all sorts of trouble there with blood thirsty men with curved swords. There was a song on the radio that reminded me over and over again that ‘It’s Istanbul not Constantinople Now’, sung by The Four Lads, possibly the first ‘boy band’.

 

Read more: Istanbul

Fiction, Recollections & News

A Discourse on History

 

 

 

On Australia Day 2011 again we hear the calls: Change the Flag; become a Republic; reparations for the White Invasion...

There are strong arguments for progress in each of these areas but as the following article discusses we first need to ensure that the changes that must be made are indeed progress; that we don't sacrifice that which has been achieved already.

Read more: A Discourse on History

Opinions and Philosophy

Electric Cars revisited (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.

Back in 2005 I calculated that in Australia, due to our burning coal, oil and sometimes rural waste and garbage, to generate electricity, grid-charged all-electric electric cars had a higher carbon footprint than conventional cars.

In 2019, with a lot of water under the bridge; more renewables in the mix; and much improved batteries; I thought it was worth a revisit. I ran the numbers, using more real-world data, including those published by car companies themselves. Yet I got the same result: In Australia, grid-charged all-electric cars produce more greenhouse gasses than many conventional cars for the same distance travelled.

Now, in the wake of COP26, (November 2021), with even more water under the bridge, the promotion of electric cars is back on the political agenda.  Has anything changed?

 

Read more: Electric Cars revisited (again)

Terms of Use

Terms of Use                                                                    Copyright