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1964

By comparison with 1963, 1964 was a non-event for the World, unless you count the introduction of birthday-ballot for the conscription of 20 year old boys in Australia to allow us to commit troops to the escalating Vietnam conflict.  My birthdate did not come up so I missed out on a free trip to Vietnam, as did my brother, a couple of years later; unlike a number of our ex-classmates from high school. Many years later, in 2010, I would pay to go to Vietnam to see what I'd missed. Read more...

1963 was my last year of technical, if not legal, childhood. At that time we were not legally adults until our 21st birthday.

1964 was my first year at University with all its new experiences and revelations. One excitement, that we superior beings at University looked down upon, but still became involved in, was the arrival of a band called The Beatles.  They caused a virtual riot among hormonal teenage girls, some of whom, we had to admit, were rather attractive.  Damn English mop-heads turning up and turning the heads of our women! 

My schoolboy fantasies remained intact until the last day of the year, when on that balmy New Year's Eve, on a blanket, on Sydney's Newport beach, they were made real by a young woman named Elizabeth, unrelated to Her Majesty, who shared many of Christine Keeler's alluring attributes. She taught me a lot, including that The Drifters hit song that year: Under The Boardwalk  should carry a sand alert:  'On a blanket with my baby' is not always 'the place to be'.

Thereafter, I preferred The Stones' contemporary version of Little Red Rooster.

 

 

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Travel

The Greatest Dining Experience Ever in Bangkok

A short story

 

The Bangkok Sky-train, that repetition of great, grey megaliths of ferroconcrete looms above us.   

All along the main roads, under the overhead railway above, small igloo tents and market stalls provide a carnival atmosphere to Bangkok.  It’s like a giant school fete - except that people are getting killed – half a dozen shot and a couple of grenades lobbed-in to date.

Periodically, as we pass along the pedestrian thronged roads, closed to all but involved vehicles, we encounter flattop trucks mounted with huge video screens or deafening loud speakers. 

Read more: The Greatest Dining Experience Ever in Bangkok

Fiction, Recollections & News

Are we the same person we once were?

 

 

 

I was initially motivated to write this cautionary note by the controversy surrounding the United States Senate hearing into the appointment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court that was briefly called into question by Dr Christine Blasey Ford's testimony that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were both in their teens.

Kavanaugh is but one of many men who have come to the attention of the '#MeToo' movement, some of whom are now cooling their heels in jail.

Like the Kavanaugh example, a number of these cases, as reported in the media, seem to rely on someone's memory of events long past.  Yet as I will argue below after a decade or so our memories are anything but reliable.  After that time we should be respecting the accused's legal right to be presumed innocent, unless there is contemporary immutable evidence (diaries photographs and so on) or a number of non-colluding witnesses or others who have suffered a similar assault. 

Now in the news another high profile person has been convicted of historical sexual assault.  Cardinal George Pell has appealed his conviction on several charges relating to historical paedophilia.

There is just one accuser, the alleged victim.  A second alleged victim took his own life some time ago. The case was heard twice and in total 22 of the 24 jurors decided in favour of the alleged victim, despite the best defence money could buy.  Yet, as with the '#MeToo' movement in respect of powerful men, there is currently worldwide revulsion (see my Ireland Travel Notes) at sexual crimes committed within the Roman Catholic Church, such that a Cardinal is likely to be disbelieved, just as at one time a choir boy's accusations against a bishop or a priest would have been, and were, dismissed.

Both trials were held in closed court and the proceedings are secret so we have no knowledge of any supporting evidence. We do know that the two alleged victims were members of the Cathedral Choir and at least one other ex-choir boy also gave evidence. So justice may have been served. 

Yet I'm just a little concerned about the historical nature of the charges.  How reliable is anyone's memory? 

Read more: Are we the same person we once were?

Opinions and Philosophy

Death

 

 

Death is one of the great themes of existence that interests almost everyone but about which many people avoid discussion.  It is also discussed in my essay to my children: The Meaning of Life on this website; written more than ten years ago; where I touch on personal issues not included below; such as risk taking and the option of suicide.

Read more: Death

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