Who is Online

We have 52 guests and no members online

101 Tower

 

We returned via Taiwan’s longest tunnel 12.9 km and several shorter before re-entering the amazing network of flyovers elevated highways and cloverleaf’s that is Taipei’s road system. 

We were going to visit what was, when it was built, the world’s tallest building and in earthquake-prone Taiwan, the only really tall building: 101 Tower.  It stands alone. 

 

It's obviously a vanity project and can't be a viable business proposition.

But it is impressive.

 

Then we were taken to our last but not least hotel. 

The entrance was unimpressive – almost like entering a factory.

The corridor on our floor was fine but unusual.  There were two doors on the room an outer unlocked heavy sliding door screened off the corridor.

We were amazed when the bathroom was almost as big as the sizable bedroom and featured an elaborate shower with numerous jets and pressures a separate spa-bath and even a little garden.  There was an elaborate sound system in addition to a large screen TV and push button lighting controls.

 

 

At breakfast everyone in the group was abuzz.  It turned out to be a ‘sex hotel’, designed for lovers, illicit and otherwise. It was deliberately anonymous on the outside and apparently it could be entered directly from a secret car park.

But I was most annoyed to discover the others in our party had discovered much more interesting programs on TV than the CNN that we had watched.

C'est la vie.

 

 

No comments

Travel

Canada and the United States - Part1

 

 

In July and August 2023 Wendy and I travelled to the United States again after a six-year gap. Back in 2007 we visited the east coast and west coast and in 2017 we visited 'the middle bits', travelling down from Chicago via Memphis to New Orleans then west across Texas, New Mexico, Nevada and California on our way home.

So, this time we went north from Los Angeles to Seattle, Washington, and then into Canada. From Vancouver we travelled by car, over the Rockies, then flew east to Toronto where we hired a car to travel to Ottawa and Montreal. Our next flight was all the way down to Miami, Florida, then to Fort Lauderdale, where we joined a western Caribbean cruise.  At the end of the cruise, we flew all the way back up to Boston.

Seems crazy but that was the most economical option.  From Boston we hired another car to drive, down the coast, to New York. After New York we flew to Salt Lake City then on to Los Angeles, before returning to OZ.

As usual, save for a couple of hotels and the cars, Wendy did all the booking.

Breakfast in the Qantas lounge on our way to Seattle
Wendy likes to use two devices at once

Read more: Canada and the United States - Part1

Fiction, Recollections & News

Religious Freedom

Israel Folau refuses to back down, tells Rugby Australia he’s prepared to quit code

(Headline - Weekend Australian - 13 April 2018)

 

Israel Folau is a fundamentalist Christian Rugby League footballer who was asked on Instagram: "what was God's plan for gay people??".  He replied: "Hell... Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God".

Read more: Religious Freedom

Opinions and Philosophy

Carbon Capture and Storage

 

 

(Carbon Sequestration)

 

 

The following abbreviated paper is extracted from a longer, wider-ranging, paper with reference to energy policy in New South Wales and Australia, that was written in 2008. 
This extract relates solely to CCS.
The original paper that is critical of some 2008 policy initiatives intended to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions can still be read in full on this website:
Read here...

 

 

 


Carbon Sequestration Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

This illustration shows the two principal categories of Carbon Capture and Storage (Carbon Sequestration) - methods of disposing of carbon dioxide (CO2) so that it doesn't enter the atmosphere.  Sequestering it underground is known as Geosequestration while artificially accelerating natural biological absorption is Biosequestration.

There is a third alternative of deep ocean sequestration but this is highly problematic as one of the adverse impacts of rising CO2 is ocean acidification - already impacting fisheries. 

This paper examines both Geosequestration and Biosequestration and concludes that while Biosequestration has longer term potential Geosequestration on sufficient scale to make a difference is impractical.

Read more: Carbon Capture and Storage

Terms of Use

Terms of Use                                                                    Copyright