Travel 2025-26
> Indian Ocean Cruise - Mauritius to Cape Town - 2026
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At the end of January 2026, Wendy and I embarked on our first trip for the year. This was a cruise beginning in Mauritius and ending in Cape Town South Africa, followed by a few days in Dubai. We flew to Mauritius and after a pleasant night in town we joined the ship. When we were younger, we would never have considered a cruise. But recently we have become cruise cognoscente. Azamara Journey is a smaller cruise ship than others we have sailed on. She is not as fast, quiet or luxurious as the Queen Elizabeth, nor does she have the spectacular theatre, and range of live entertainment offered by the Celebrity Apex. Yet, I rank her as among the most comfortable ships we have sailed on. I found the port stops very interesting, if somewhat alarming, too. |
> Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan 2025
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In 2025, after a seven year absence, Wendy and I returned to Central Asia. This time, we would visit the less well travelled 'stans' Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In part, our choice of Central Asia was governed by a desire to be away during the worst of Sydney's winter. As we don't speak Russian, nor either of the local languages, we looked for a guided tour. As it turns out, we were the only two who booked the package, so we had a personal guide and driver, together with a large Toyota 4 wheel drive for most of the trip. Central Asia is a region that I learnt almost nothing about at school except, perhaps, colloquial references to Genghis Khan. Yet, Central Asia has had a profound influence on the development of all our human civilisations and is endlessly fascinating. In the case of these two 'stans' the impact is even more contemporary. |
> China and Japan 2025
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In May 2025 Wendy and I returned to China. Our past visits have been self-organised (Wendy-organised) but this time it was a TripADeal - almost all inclusive, except for some meals and extras, at a price we couldn't resist, as it also included a cruise to Japan and back, out of Shanghai. At present, the Chinese government appears to be on a 'charm offensive' when it comes to Australians. The previous, bureaucratic and intrusive, visa application has been eliminated for short trips. Tourists are now more than welcome with more than 20,000 Australians visiting in the first five months of 2025 on a TripADeal alone. The total in 2025 is projected to be well over 50,000. After China, we took another package-deal: to Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. So, I was a bit tardy in writing-up this China trip. But last week, China has been in the news, with a huge military parade in celebration the 80th anniversary of the allied victory against Japan. Of course, the principal purpose was to send a message to China's potential military opponents. Several of China's one-time allies, in that conflict, declined to attend. In his speech, President Xi seemed to be saying that China's intentions are peaceful but don't mess with us: China 'speaks softly but carries a big stick'. Recently American foreign policy has become more hawkish against China. This week President Trump renamed the US Department of Defence: the US Department of War, presumably to reinforce that message. Australia remains a staunch military ally but is more nuanced when it comes to trade. So the trip was very interesting. |
> Mexico 2025
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In March 2025 Wendy and I flew from Sydney to Los Angeles and caught a shuttle bus, south, to San Diego. After a couple of days in San Diego we joined an eleven day cruise to Mexico, aboard Holland America’s ‘Zaandam’. We first visited Mexico on our way to Cuba in 2012. I didn’t write about the Mexico or California components of our trip back then because I didn’t want to detract from the Cuba story.
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Biology - we can't escape it
> The Prospect of Eternal Life
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In three weeks I will turn 80 so this is a matter that I will soon test first-hand. I'll get back to you if I'm wrong. 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
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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
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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. |
Energy and the Environment
> Australia's Hydrogen Economy
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I've nothing against hydrogen. It's the most abundant element in the universe. And I'm very fond of hydrogen oxide (or more pedantically: dihydrogen monoxide), commonly known as water. I've made the argument against the electrolysis (green) route several times since launching this website fifteen years ago; largely to deaf ears. Now, at last, I feel a little vindicated. The principal prophet of 'Green Hydrogen' has been Australia's richest man, billionaire, Andrew (Twiggy) Forrest, former CEO of Fortescue Metals Group. On September 25th, just in time for my birthday, Fortescue rejected their commercially problematic hydrogen option and placed a US$2.8bn order for electric mining equipment and vehicles, including 360 battery-electric trucks, from Liebherr.
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> Climate Change - a Myth?
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Several friends and acquaintances of my generation continue to assert that the climate is beyond our control or that 'Climate Change' is a myth. A friend who is sceptical about sea level rise, recently asserted that I was wrong when I claimed, that as a result of flooding during king tides, I had observed sea level change of six inches to a foot during a lifetime of ferry trips on Sydney Harbour. So I checked. Between 1914 and 2007 sea levels at Fort Dension in Sydney Harbour rose by between 0.73 - 1.13 mm/yr. That means that during my lifetime the average sea level in Sydney Harbour has risen by 51 - 79mm (2 to 3 inches). So my friend was both right and wrong. He's right in that it's not possible that I have correctly remembered water levels well enough to distinguish a median rise of 65mm in a tidal range of 2.1 m. Yet he is wrong in suggesting that there has been no sea level rise in Sydney Harbour AAP FactCheck. Might I be mistaken in other ways? |
Miscellaneous
> 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. |
> Alternative Facts and other Untrue Tales
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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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ChatGPT
Long ago, in my essay to my children: 'The Meaning of Life' I suggested that: "...if we ever make computers (or computer programs) that evolve without our aid, memes may find computers a better medium for their future survival and evolution. That would threaten our existence or make us the unwitting slaves of technology". In addition, my novella: 'The Cloud' and its prequel 'The Craft' both posit an intelligent cloud. Now several of my friends have asked me what I know about ChatGPT. I've had to confess that I'd never tried it. So, recently, I decided to rectify this.
> Testing ChatGPT
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As January 26th approached I decided not to repost my usual, unchanging, comments on the date and instead ask ChatGPT about the date. This is what it told me: Australia Day according to ChatGPT I have now seen Oppenheimer - the movie twice (see the review below). So I gave ChatGPT the task of explaining the background to the Manhattan Project and the development of the Atomic Bomb. This is what it told me: The Atomic Bomb according to ChatGPT Updating a broken link to the popular song of the period: How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've see Paree? in my article : Love in the time of Coronavirus, I'd made the point that it was the American 'Dough Boys' who introduced the Spanish Flue to the trenches of WW1, where it became the most deadly modern pandemic, killing up to 50 million when the troops returned to their homes. By comparison: Covid19 has killed 7 million (to date) while world population has grown four-and-a-quarter times. This relative success is entirely due to effective vaccines. So, I asked ChatGPT to tell me about the song. This was what it told me: How 'ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm? But how would it go writing fiction? Well judge, or try it, for yourself Here... It takes less than half-a-minute to write a thousand words or more. By default it writes stories in the third-person around characters and/or places and/or circumstances that you supply in your request. To that extent, it is quite predictable but it gets much more interesting when you ask for a story in the first-person. Then it has to come up with a character's motivation. In the context of a future, self-aware, World Wide Web trying to imagine what motivates humans (or machines?), I found this quite disturbing. For I am Margery, a modern-day witch, and I will stop at nothing to achieve my goals. With my familiars by my side, I will carve out my place in this world, bending reality to my will and ruling over all who dare to defy me. And woe betide anyone who stands in my way, for they will feel the full force of my wrath. But for now, I bide my time, weaving my spells and ensnaring my prey, until the day comes when I will emerge from the shadows and claim my rightful place as queen of all I survey. And on that day, the world will tremble at the sound of my name, and they will know that Margery, the modern-day witch, reigns supreme. |
