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Suzy McHale’s Journal: 2006

January

Sunday 1/1

Still recovering today after yesterday’s 43°C heat; it didn’t cool down until this afternoon (it is now around 17°C). I got some sleep last night, but have felt very tired and lethargic for most of the day. (It got to 46°C in the northwest of Victoria.)

Watched a movie called Virus that I had videotaped on Friday. The first 10 minutes I liked; after that it got rather too gruesome. I couldn’t work out why it featured the Mir space station until I saw the movie had been made in 1999. An alien spaceship/lifeform made out of electricity approaches the station, zaps everyone on board, then zaps down to Earth via the communications link with a tracking ship, the Academican Vladislav Volkov, «Аладемикан Владислав Вольков». It then slaughters everyone on board there then proceeds to reanimate their corpses by combining body parts and bits of machinery. In the meantime the crew of a U.S. salvage ship has boarded in hopes of making a fortune (if they tow the ship back home the Russian government would have to pay them 10% of the ship’s $30 million value to get it back). They find one Russian (female) survivor (the other female was on the salvage crew, played by Jamie Lee Curtis). They don’t believe her story at first, but then the alien creature comes to life when the crew power up the derelict ship and they start to get slaughtered … A movie not for the squeamish! Blood and body parts abounded. (Two survivors at the end.)

The Russian Mir station and tracking ship were (for once) presented with some authenticity, and I wonder if that ship was a real one – it certainly looked real.

… I just consulted the Russia in Space book and the ship WAS real – commissioned in 1977. So it was sold off at some time (like the rest of the fleet), perhaps bought by the movie producers and destroyed in the making of the film. What a WASTE!!! I am SO disgusted with the way the assets of the Russian space program have been sold off since the 1990s. A few people deserve a kick in the arse. Short-term gain, long-term pain.

Update 21/3/2007: the article “V is for Virus, Volkov, and Vandenberg” at The Space Review says that the ship used in the movie was actually a decommissioned American missile tracking ship, the Vandenberg.

The Cosmonaut Georgii Dobrovol’skii was auctioned off in December last year (see 9/12/2005 entry), so only the Cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev is left, out of a former fleet of 11, and that is mostly inactive.

Tuesday 3/1

Konstantin at Russian Blog on the Natural Gas Wars (and commentary). Which the Western media are, predictably, blowing up into a crisis.

Europeans citizens need to think along the simple lines like this: Ukraine – good, democratic, reasonable, Russia – bad, undemocratic, menacing, and unreliable. So, the recipe adopted for press coverage seems to be this: fewer numbers, more adjectives. Color Russia the agressor and Ukraine the victim. The only numbers allowed are those that show the increase from the previous year’s price. All good propaganda techniques, but some of us actually read blogs. So, thanks.

I have mentioned before (somewhere) in this journal that Ukraine and Russia are similar to England and Scotland in that they have a shared (sometimes acrimonious) history, language and culture, so they have a lot in common (whether some people there like it or not), despite what dunderheads like Viktor Yushchenko might think (no I don’t like him, he is just a stooge of the West). And just where is he getting the money from for a $12-million jetliner?

Am waiting for the predictable commentary from the Tulip Girl (who has a section on the so-called “Orange Ukraine”).

Nothing of interest in space; everyone seems to be away on holidays. I am not. :-(

Below is an example of the frustrations of relying on computer translators (Russian to English). I can “tidy up” the mangled English sometimes (with the help of a Russian-English dictionary), but other times I am completely stumped, as with the paragraph below, especially the last sentence. (As I mentioned in my 27/12/2005 entry, my trying to learn Russian has been stalled for a couple of years.)

Original Russian (from a Novosti Kosmonavtiki article, “Cosmonauts become Candidates”):

А с Сергеем Жуковым была другая проблема. На подготовку он попал на основании решения ГМВК от 29 мая 2003 г. по представлению Росавиакосмоса, так как возглавляет Отраслевой центр по патентно-лицензионной работе и коммерциализации результатов научно-технической деятельности. У некоторых членов комиссии возник вопрос: можно ли присваивать квалификацию человеку, не стоящему на должности кандидата в космонавты-испытатели и не входящему ни в один из отрядов? Были варианты дать ему справку о прохождении ОКП или предлагали ему написать заявление в отряд косм онавтов ЦПК и тем самым встать в «хвост» очереди на полет (Жукову на сегодняшний день 48 лет, а в отряде ЦПК – 11 не летавших космонавтов).

The unedited Babelfish translation:

But with Sergei Zhukov there was another problem. To the preparation it fell on of the solution OF GMVK of 29 May, 2003, by the idea Of rosaviakosmosa, since heads branch center from the patent- license work and commercializations of the results of scientific and technical activity. In some members of commission the question arose: is it possible to appropriate qualification to person, who does not stand on the post of candidate in cosmonaut- testers and entering not one of the forces? Were versions give to it information about the passage OKP or they proposed to it to write statement in the force of the cosmonauts OF TSPK and thus to arise into the “tail” of turn to the flight (to Zhukov today 48 years, but in the force TSPK – 11 the not flown cosmonauts).

My “tidied-up” version (I still don’t know if I have the correct meanings):

But with Sergei Zhukov there was another problem. He began his basic preparations on 29 May 2003 at the decision of GMVK (State Interdepartmental Commission), and at the initiative of Rosaviakosmos, since he headed the branch center for the patent-license work and commercializations of the results of scientific and technical activity. From some members of the commission the question arose: is it possible to appropriate qualification to a person who has not entered as a cosmonaut-tester candidate and is not one of the military forces? Were the versions give to it information about the passage OKP or they proposed to it to write a statement in the TSPK Cosmonauts’ Group and thus to rise into the queue for flights (Zhukov is 48 years old, and in the TSPK group, 11 cosmonauts have not yet flown).

Saturday 7/1

A new nebula and color scheme for the journal today; I was thoroughly sick of the previous one (it was becoming nauseating to look at).

Posting at Space4Peace about the recent coal mining tragedy in Virginia: “Coal miners need justice,” 5/1.

And it’s even worse in China, according to this entry in the Alert and Alarmed blog: “Behind the coal mine disasters in China,” 30/11/2005.

China is really Communist in name only. Workers’ rights seem to have become virtually abolished.

NASA officially announced the Expedition 13 crew of Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams (another “Anonymous Astronaut” whom I have never heard of!).

A little alcohol on the ISS, at last?

… But according to a NASA official, this isn’t to happen. Oh well, they’ll just have to keep smuggling it up. ;-)

“NASA Strikes $44 Million Deal For Soyuz Flights,” Space.com, 5/1. NASA is to pay Roskosmos $21.8 million per passenger on a Soyuz flight (about the same as is charged for space tourists), the rate to be fixed until 2011.

And they need this like a hole in the head: “Russian space city builds new route to heavens,” James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 6/1.

4.5 million rubles (about U.S.$ 150,000) spent on a new Orthodox Church at the Baikonur launch site. Seems that even the “highly educated populace” aren’t immune to superstition. *Sigh*.

Sunday 8/1

The weather is warming up again. :-(

A silly driver managed to swerve and crash through the new fence of a house down the opposite side of the street this afternoon. Heard a tremendous BANG and a CRASH. These were the same houses (two on one block) that were robbed last year (14/8/2005 entry). They still aren’t occupied/sold.

Had a dream last night that involved a Plesiosaur. No idea why.

I was trying to identify some of the birds that visit our garden, and I found a book of Australian birds at the library. I did hunt for websites, but there are not many, and have few illustrations or photos. I have listed them briefly below – limited to those seen in the backyard, not the suburb. We have a small fishpond/waterfall and bird baths, so the birds tend to like to hang out here.

The Rainbow Lorikeets moved into the area perhaps 4 or 5 years ago. They are pretty to look at (colors of green, blue, red and yellow), but not to listen to (they SCREECH rather loudly). They like to go whizzing around the sky in small flocks like miniature fighter jets, turning very sharply at high speeds. I wonder what g-forces they are experiencing – perhaps 20 g’s or so?

The Blackbird has a very nice musical song in the early morning. The Mynahs are a real pest, and a bully to other birds. The Turtle-Doves are also a pest.

A few years ago a White-faced Heron paid a visit to our backyard to help itself to the goldfish in our fishpond! I happened to look out the back door one morning and saw a grey heron gazing hungrily into the pool. The fish had apparently laid eggs before their unfortunate departure into the heron’s stomach, so a few weeks later we saw that new fish had hatched (about 15 or so).

Found a site called NASA Spaceflight.com, with quite a good forum, so I signed up.

Expedition 12’s activities, from TsUP news:

The ISS crew returned to work

According to the information from the Spaceref.com site, on 5 January 2006.

After a short break, the crew of the 12th basic expedition, composed of commander William McArthur and flight engineer Valerii Tokarev, returned to their normal routine on 3 January.

Besides the usual maintenance of the station systems, the crew must also spend much time on conducting of scientific studies and experiments.

Valerii Tokarev already conducted sessions of the “Uragan” (Hurricane) and “Diatom” experiments, observing and focusing the digital camera on the western part of the island Taiwan, the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean in the region of the Galapagos islands and the South American coast of the Caribbean sea. At present there are also favorable conditions for the observing of Morocco (the mountainous region between the coastline and the city of Marrakesh), Peru (the Uaskaran glacier) and Pamirs (the Bear glacier).

The fulfillment of the new Russian experiment “Volny” (Waves) – on the registration of the spectrum of the wave perturbations of natural and artificial origins in the middle atmosphere – continues in the automatic regime.

Furthermore, Valerii Tokarev daily monitors the motion of the “GCF-JAXA” Japanese experiment on the crystallization of proteins.

Commander McArthur is preparing to conduct the “FOOT” experiment, the purpose of which is the development of a measurement for the opposition to influence of microgravity on the bone and muscular tissues of the lower part of the body under the conditions of a prolonged stay in space.

Russian version, Русская версия: Экипаж МКС вернулся к работе.

Tuesday 10/1

The weather is … guess what … hot. Well, about 27°C, but rather humid. Yuck. I can’t be bothered doing anything except visiting Web pages and staring vacantly at them.

I hate buying clothes – more specifically, pants – because I look awful in them and it is hard to get ones that fit properly (i.e. that aren’t too tight). Also I have put on weight in the last 2 years and I am somewhere between a size 12 and 14, and I hate seeing my fat arms and stomach and thighs in the dressing-room mirror. Complete with cellulite! And stretch marks! (Where the heck did I get stretch marks from?) Yuck. I was on the Pill (Diane-35, then the cheaper Estelle-35) for those 2 years but have decided to stop for this year and see if that makes any difference. I was taking it to try to clear up my skin, but it seemed to stop being effective last year.

I hate seeing skinny teenage girls (there seems to be hordes of them around) because they make me feel like a lumbering elephant. Also the clothes fashions seem to be mostly aimed at said teenagers.

I do some exercise each day (mainly walking) and don’t eat piles of junk food (though my diet could be improved – I eat little or no fruit), so I don’t know what else I can do!

In my wanderings I came across a blog with this entry, “Sensory Issues”. There is also a link to a LiveJournal, Sense Defence. I recognize a lot of things there that I have long had problems with. Interestingly, these issues are often also related to Asperger’s Syndrome. There are quite a few sounds and things which seriously aggravate me:

Monday 16/1

Haven’t felt much like writing, or doing anything much. The weather since Wednesday has been mild – low 20s – but is only a brief reprieve.

I went to the optometrist in Bentleigh for my two-yearly check-up. My eyes are fine; nothing changed since my last visit (9 December 2003). I can’t afford new glasses, unfortunately (there are some nice frames available), but my lens prescription alone is around $200! Add another $100+ for frames. I don’t know why the Government doesn’t subsidize eye care, as it really should be considered a disability (if I had no glasses, I would barely be able to find my way around – my eyesight – myopia and a bit of astigmatism – is like looking through a permanently out-of-focus lens). A basic check-up is billed to Medicare, but anything else you have to pay for yourself (and I don’t have private health insurance).

The last pair of glasses I got was in 1999, and they are still mostly OK. For some reason, my eyes improved a little since that prescription; I could do with weaker lenses.

He also checked my eye health (also good) and took digital images of my retinas, to be stored on the computer for future reference. It was somewhere between cool and creepy to see my red-veined retinas on a computer screen! (Actually, I should have asked him to e-mail the images to me, then I could have posted them in my photo gallery!)

“Gang attacks family home,” 16/1, Herald-Sun. Another teenage rampage, and police seem powerless to do anything. It is so frustrating to see these morons virtually get away with murder. (Where the heck are their parents?)

A COUPLE and their two young children cowered in terror as dozens of drunken teenagers laid siege to their home and ute on the Gold Coast. Members of a mob of about 200 youths went on a rampage at Palm Beach on Saturday. They hurled bricks at the home, smashed and torched their ute and threatened to kill them.

Sarah Young said she and her partner, Jason Tax, were woken about 11pm by the sounds of fighting youths and smashing bottles. “We rang the cops and they chased them off but then they came back a couple of hours later and torched the ute,” she said. Eight teenagers were arrested and charged with street offences.

Palm Beach-based Gold Coast councillor Daphne McDonald said she did not know whether a curfew was the answer but youth were totally out of control in the suburb, recently causing thousands of dollars damage at a council playground.

Found this website, Free Linda Walker. She was a woman in Britain who was imprisoned for firing an unloaded air pistol near some youths who had been harassing her for some time. For defending herself, she ended up being imprisoned by the so-called justice system. A pity she couldn’t have shot the obnoxious little bastards with a real gun, but she would have been in even worse trouble. She got a lot of public support, at least. (See 27/9/2005 entry for my rant about all this.)

Tuesday 17/1

Weather warming up again (groan).

“Oh to be evil”: A posting by Anonymous Lefty on the ridiculously extravagant corporate salaries; also another on the monumental rip-off that is the so-called Free Trade Agreement.

A blog I found last week is Case In Point, by an American expatriate called Nancy Case, who is married to a businessman or diplomat or someone like that, and who is currently posted in Russia. They seem to travel all over the place. A life far removed from my dull one (“Competitive Newsletters”). She spends a lot of time in her earlier entries finding ways to do her laundry! (One thing I have wondered, what do people do with their laundry in the Northern Hemisphere winter, when it is snowing – it can’t be hung outside, so how do they dry it?) She also seems to be good at cooking (unlike myself).

Interesting post at Julia’s Blog concerning Russian brides: “Useful Comment”. While looking for the book at Amazon.com, I went through reviews for several others, and came across this review which is somewhere between pathetic and funny, and I don’t mean this as a compliment. I am not surprised he is divorced! It’s worth quoting in full:

A must read for American men who are kidding themselves., July 18, 2005

Reviewer: American Durak (Plano, Texas United States) – See all my reviews

This book is a must read for any Western man considering a relationship with a Russian woman, particularly one they’ve met through an on-line introduction service. Add the following to your database.

Russians are essentially pessimists.

The old saying in Russia, made famous by Viktor Chernomyrdin, is “We hoped for the best, but it turned out as usual.” Russians do not believe that hard work, industry, and diligence produce anything other than a big fat durak with a sign reading “steal from me” around his neck. In Russia, commercial success is usually met with derision and theft. “Who does he think he is? He is no better than us!” Russians will actually destroy private property and infrastructure designed for their common good, rather than witness a neighbor rise from the masses. It is not uncommon for a successful merchant’s store to be burned. Wealthy Russians live in gated communities with armed guards on constant patrol, and drive to work in bullet proof limousines. Why? The only things Russians hate more than their own miserable existence is the thought of someone else rising above theirs.

Because there is no reward for individualism, the Russian mind views everything around them as corrupt. Anyone who gets ahead must be a member of the corrupt bureaucracy and/or organized crime. “Only Mafioski drive Mercedes,” is what my ex used to say.

What does the Russian then think of an American willing to share his financial largess? “He is an idiot.” My ex-wife explained that she had no trouble taking from me because, “I earned it, by putting up with you.”

Russians have a “mir mentality.”

This book does a great job explaining that, for thousands of years, Russian culture was based on the mir. A mir is a small village ruled by a council. Until the Soviet era, the mir was the basic Russian unit of survival, because harsh living conditions made pioneering or entrepreneurship a very risky venture. All decisions were based on the collective good, rather than individual merit. This is what made Russia so susceptible to communism, because Russian had been a collective state from its outset. Outsiders were mistrusted or quickly put to death. All efforts were focused on saving enough food to survive through the next winter.

Why is it important to understand this mir mentality? First, Russians do not trust anyone other than members of their own mir. “I did not grow up with her, why would I wish to be her friend?” as my wife used to say. “You are not my family. I may be married to you, but you are not my blood.” Such things sound horrible to Americans, but this is the basic Russian understanding. Second, Russians bear no hard feelings to horrible acts committed for the greater good. It is nothing to put grandmother out on the ice to freeze, if food supplies are dwindling. “She had a good life.” This survival instinct means that a Russian will steal from you, betray you, or even kill you if she feels her survival depends on it. “You knew I was a Russian when you married me,” should be the saying.

Finally, Russians have the ability to endure untold hardships, survival instinct.

Hitler did not understand the Russian mind. He surrounded both Stalingrad and Leningrad during WW2, laying siege to each. He cut off roads, rails, and air access to the cities. The Battle of Stalingrad raged for 199 days with total casualties of over 3,000,000. That was a cake walk compared to the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted 900 days. Hitler was determined to starve out the enemy at Leningrad (St. Petersburg). In response, the Russians ate shoe leather, boiled bookbindings to extract proteins, even consumed soil with a little sugar mixed in. Citizen deaths from starvation and exposure are estimated as high as 1.5 million people. In the end, the citizens of Stalingrad and Leningrad endured horrible deprivations and death, rather than surrender to a foreign will. Does an American really think he can wait 900 days to change the Russian mind? It will never happen. It’s like that song by Offspring, “the more you suffer, the more it shows you really care, right?”

The history books are full of people who underestimated the Russian will. Hitler and Napoleon being the two most notable examples, but even lesser known Russians like Grand Duke Alexander of Novgorod, who lured a German army out onto the ice of Lake Chudskoye in 1240 where they broke through and drowned. “Nevsky” made a truce with the Mongols, rather than surrender to a Roman Catholic army.

Conclusion

I am sure there are “good” Russians, but proceed with caution. Beautiful Russian women are still the children and grandchildren of survivors who routinely lied, stole, and murdered when the circumstances called for it. They were taught that the mir is the only unit that needs protection or cooperation. They were raised on stories of foolish foreigners who underestimated the Russian will.

I would recommend Wedded Strangers: The Challenges of Russian-American Marriages by Lynn Visson before anyone considers a relationship with a Russian woman, particularly one they met on the Internet.

I will also do a Google search for “Australian women” and see if any “interesting” material comes up! I am wondering what stereotypes are associated with them. Curiously enough, I tend to forget that I am an Australian female, and I doubt I would fit any stereotypes in any case.

“Nice title, idiot.” A withering review at Untamed Sanctions of a book by the sort of male who gives men (and Australian men in this case) a bad name – Nigel Gohl is his name. Says one disgusted commentator, “The best cure for Mr. Nigel Gohl would be castration, without prior use of anesthetics.”

Thursday 19/1

The brief respite from the hot weather ended today, and it is supposed to get up to 41°C on Sunday. I am wanting to slap the TV weather presenters every time they cheerily blather on about our “wonderful” hot summer.

An irate letter from last week’s TV guide in The Age newspaper regarding a TV miniseries about human smugglers:

Still cold-blooded killers

In response to Alessandra Stanley’s article “Traffic gets green light” (GG, 5/1), calling a Chechen guerilla “a Muslim hero” is nothing else than glorifying killers of women and children. They were exactly the same “Muslim heroes” that held hostage and killed almost 300 schoolkids and their parents in Beslan and blew up blocks of flats full of sleeping civilians in Moscow and Volgodonsk. Anyone who ever fought against the USSR or Russia assumes the status of a hero by default. Wake up, the Cold War is over.

– I. Makarov, Elwood

“MSNBC.com: Do astronauts and alcohol mix?” A humorous posting about the prospect of alcohol in space at sci.space.station, from an entry at Cosmic Log, “Do astronauts and alcohol mix?”.

“Jim Oberg” <jameseob … @houston.rr.com> writes:

photo: Cosmonauts gather to have some cognac on the Mir space station in 1997, hours after a flash fire nearly killed them. The picture was taken by NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger, who passed up the opportunity to imbibe. …

I love the looks of “stuck up moralistic holier-than-thou American twat”

– gc

From Jerry Linengar’s autobiography, Off the Planet:

At the other extreme of diversion was our “special medicine” aboard Mir. The Mir had a well-stocked liquor cabinet. When checking out my newly arrived spacewalking suit, I foundd a bottle of cognac and a bottle of whiskey secretly placed in each arm of the suit. While Vasily and Sasha were always cordial in offering a drink, I politely declined. While I respected the right of the Russians to do what they please on their own space station, I complied strictly with the NASA policy of no alcohol consumption on duty.

To be honest, regardless of NASA policy, not being 100-percent ready at all times for any contingency made no sense to me. Vasily and Sasha took no offense when I did not join them since our supplies were limited. This was unlike the situation back in Star City where, if I refused multiple toasts of vodka, whether it be at ten in the morning or in the sauna or at a social gathering, I was more or less ostracized. A Russian who obviously did not care for my nonconformity gave me what he interpreted to be the ultimate insult when he told the press that “Linenger never went along with the group. He did not seem to fit in. He was the worst toaster that I ever saw!”

“Younger Astronauts, Please!” 6/1. A posting at Pausanius on one way of generating interest in the space program: replace those (mostly) bland middle-aged men with younger and sexier astronauts/cosmonauts!

Younger Astronauts, Please! - 2006-01-06

NASA wonders why the space program isn’t generating a lot of interest. Could part of the reason be that the low flight rate has resulted in the astronauts being virtually geriatric by the time they fly? Is anybody interesting in seeing a lot of creeking space cowboys hurtle into orbit? In the sixties, astronauts, and especially cosmonauts, were young, virile rock stars. Yuri Gagarin was 29, and Gherman Titov 24 on their first flights. They had movie-star good looks, their posters adorned the walls of teenage boys and girls alike. Apologies to the current astronaut and cosmonaut teams, but maybe the time has come to consider recruiting some younger folks for the exploration of the moon and Mars.

I was watching an old episode of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, made after John Glenn’s shuttle flight. The STS-95 crew was on, a true rarity in recent decades. The crowd went nuts over these ‘American heroes’. It is true the totally commercialized American media no longer books guests unless they have a new movie or TV series or book to flog. But maybe NASA could cancel its bo-ring and use-less educational outreach programs and hire some Hollywood publicists and agents to get some real face time with the public?

NASA has perfected the astronaut selection process to the point where they get incredibly intelligent, educated, experienced, competent, fit over-achievers. The competition for the few available flight slots makes them excellent bureaucratic team-players, who never get out of line and never rock the boat. It might be incredibly unfair, but maybe instead recruiting young, inexperienced photogenic types with movie-star charisma would do more for the program. The Soviet Union did this in a way, recruiting young pilots with the idea of developing a cosmonaut profession rather than recruiting highly educated engineering test pilots. Or perhaps interested young Hollywood stars could be recruited directly …

Friday 20/1

It is 34°C in Melbourne, and about −30°C in Moscow – which is worse? That’s a 60°+ difference! I have a headache and do not want to do anything.

“Singled out for tax slug,” The Australian, 20/1. With its obsessive focus on “families,” the Government has virtually ignored those who are single. Families get all sorts of tax breaks, but single people don’t. This article, at long last, gives the virtually-ignored issue some attention.

According to Birrell, government economic policy since 2001 has not been kind to the group. “These figures belie the superficial prosperity of Australia,” Birrell says. “It partly reflects the human capital of the males: the ones who have got the least education are going to find it hardest in the new work force. They are predominantly those who don’t have professional, managerial and trade occupations, they have relatively limited post-school education.” That also applies to some females like, ahem!, me. […]

Parents of young children have received significant attention every year since the GST was introduced.

The tax burden on singles, on the other hand, is rising almost as fast as the average-earning family’s net tax liability is falling.

My sister, her husband and their children moved out of Rochester today, heading for the suburb of The Gap in Queensland. (23/12/2005 entry) They are driving up there, stopping first in Canberra for 4 days. They moved to Rochester on 16 January 2001 (previously lived in the suburb of Seaford in Melbourne). Her husband is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (thus all my immediate family are religious – I am under siege!). No more drives for Mum & Dad through the countryside to see them, though.

Dark storm clouds and rain came over before, for some temporary relief, but back to 30° tomorrow, and the dreaded 41° on Sunday.

“Pluto mission lifts off after days of delay,” MSNBC.com, 20/1. NASA successfully launched its “New Horizons” mission to Pluto (I will get a link to an article with the details tomorrow). It will take 10 years to get there, and be the fastest-traveling spaceship ever because of the slingshot effect as it uses assisted flybys past various planets to accelerate. So I will be 45 then!

It will soon be 10 years since Russia launched its last attempt at an interplanetary probe, Mars-96, which failed to reach Earth orbit. No Russian ship has gone beyond Earth orbit since then. NASA, ESA and Japan have all sent probes to various places in the Solar System, but not Russia. The modern Russian space program is a faint shadow of the Soviet-era one.

Saturday 21/1

Another brain-meltingly hot day, and still just on 40°C on the gauge outside. We have an air-conditioner, but it is for the lounge and dining rooms only, and doesn’t extend into our bedrooms (this would strain it too much), so it is like an oven in here, aside from a fan that moves the air around a bit. Not much sleep tonight. Tomorrow to dread.

Sunday 22/1

It is 42°C on the outside temperature gauge (about 110°F). Didn’t get below 27°C last night so I only slept fitfully (having some peculiar dreams), and my bedroom hasn’t cooled down at all, and is still like an oven. I have spent most of the day reclining on my bed, drained of energy. There is supposed to be a cool change late in the evening, but no sign of it yet. To make things worse, temperatures next week will rise again to 40° by Friday. Australian summers are HELL.

Monday 23/1

A cool change came late last evening, and how blissful that was! Unfortunately, again only a temporary reprieve (back to 40° by Thursday). There are bushfires raging across Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia. Victoria is apparently the most fire-prone region in the world! It doesn’t help when quite a few of the fires are deliberately-lit by idiots.

The sunlight has a yellowish tinge from bushfire smoke in the atmosphere.

One of my dreams last night involved me going skydiving – falling through the blue sky and landing on Earth. It is a recurring dream, though I have never done it in reality (though I would like to!).

The sports oval where I go jogging is being dug up by the council and made a mess of (“redeveloped”), which I am annoyed about as it is the only one within walking distance. I think I will have to stop jogging for a while anyway as my left Achilles tendon has become increasingly chronically sore for a few months. I have tried jogging several times over the years, but I seem to always end up with an injury of some sort.

“General Frost”: Posting at Russian Blog.

Thursday 26/1

Hot again (37°C outside) after a more pleasant 2 days.

Dad decided to change his ISP account to the 40 GB download plan from next month! It costs a little bit more, but means we won’t have to fret about going over download limits (500 MB goes VERY quickly). (1 GB = approximately 1000 MB.) I will also have to motivate myself to install my copy of XP, sometime.

I am still wanting to convert my sites to CSS layouts rather than tables sometime, but am still reluctant to make that change as there are so many browser bugs to contend with.

Oooh … Russia’s Cosmonauts: Inside the Yuri Gagarin Training Center is available (discussed here at collectSPACE) … I want! I want! But I don’t think it is available in Australia, and it would be too expensive (about $80, the same as other Springer-Praxis books sold here). *Sigh*.

The book is U.S.$19.77 at Amazon.com – about $26 Australian dollars – but then there are the costs of shipping and currency conversion. Shipping is U.S.$4.99 ($6 Aust.). I don’t have a credit card so the bank would charge me for a money order – last time I did this was in late 2001 and it was an extra $15.

I am not posting articles on my sites anymore as I can’t be bothered keeping these updated; there are plenty of sites which do this anyway. I will still mention some articles of interest here, though.

“Next space station crew’s launch delayed,” MSNBC.com, 23/1. The Soyuz TMA-8 launch is delayed to 30 March because of some problems with devices in the Soyuz control system.

“The Year in Space– 2005”: An overview at Encyclopedia Astronautica.

Friday 27/1

A storm and rain last night, but no real cool change, so now it is hot and HUMID. Aaargh.

A lot of blogs seem to be featuring these stupid and rather pointless quizzes in some entries. I wish they wouldn’t; these are just a waste of space. Please write meaningful entries!

Below, an article I cut out and saved from New Scientist in 1999, about the prospect of skydiving from orbit: “Ride the Fireball,” New Scientist, 31/7/1999.

Doesn’t that sound like fun? It could be used as an alternative escape option from the ISS.

A few years ago there was talk of people from various countries in a competition to break Joseph Kittinger’s long-standing high-altitude skydive record from 31,300 m (102,800 feet). I haven’t heard anything further since. One person mentioning this was former test-cosmonaut Magomed Tolboev, but his site hasn’t been updated since 2003, so I don’t know if he was successful in the experiment described on it.

I would LOVE to try something like that – if any one is looking for a volunteer …! How about a dive attempt from, say, 50 km if it is possible? I am not worried about the obvious risk! (Never mind that I actually DON’T have any skydiving experience …! Though I have done it several times in my dreams – see my 23/1 entry!)

Saturday 28/1

A big monsoonal thunderstorm came yesterday afternoon and cooled things down a bit. Today is rather humid, but a bit above 20°C. Wet and drippy tropical weather. Another brief thunderstorm came and now it is raining steadily. At least it will help extinguish the bushfires that have been raging all week across Victoria.

A Russian news roundup.

Ukrainian Communists criticize PACE for anti-Communist resolution

27.01.2006, 22.10

KIEV, January 27 (Itar-Tass) – Ukrainian Communist Party has condemned an anti-Communist resolution endorsed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“Ukrainian Communist Party urges the Ukrainian and European communities to treat matters of history with understanding and to refrain from mocking history under any circumstances,”said Pyotr Simonenko, the Communists’ leader.

“While passing judgments on our past, the Europeans must recall the horrors of fascism and remember that it was Communists who extricated the European continent from the fascists’ grips,” he said.

“Any somber person in the European Union or in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a politian or a rank-and-file man must realize that this anti-Communist resolution is merely a dirty PR ploy designed by ultra-nationalists, who are driven by emotions but have feeble knowledge of history,” Simonenko said.

“The Council of Europe and European society have for the time being turned into victims of games of primeval anti-Communists,” he said.

The Swedish deputy of the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe (PACE), Joran Lindblad, is on a crusade to have Communism regarded the same way as the Nazis, and to declare it a “criminal ideology”. See next: “Dishonest Right Wing tactic number 385,” 2/1, Armagnac’d blog. Why National Socialism – the Nazi ideology – has nothing to do with real socialism.

There was a particularly horrible case of hazing in the Russian military recently, where a recruit had to have his legs amputated after being tortured for several hours. Have to wonder what it will take to get the military to seriously combat this endemic problem (my initial exasperated exclamation: When the hell are those incompetent f*ckwits in charge going to get off their arses and DO SOMETHING about this?). (See “The Wrongs of Passage” at Human Rights Watch for a detailed description of hazing.) “Russian army hazing stems from neglect of soldiers – Yabloko”; “Hazing investigation continues,” 27/1, RIA Novosti.

Roskosmos has launched its new magazine, «Российский космос», Russian Cosmos. Not published online, unfortunately. Looks interesting, though.

“Celebrating Two Years Of Mars Express Discoveries,” 27/1, SpaceDaily.com. The Mars Express Orbiter is part-Russian, which I wasn’t aware of! It uses some of the same instruments that were on the failed Mars-96 Orbiter.

I used to like Anne McCaffrey’s novels as a teenager. A family friend had a collection of the Pern series at their place and I ended up buying and reading all the “Dragonriders” novels. I also liked The Ship Who Sang. But since the 1990s her novels have become really “dumbed down” – increasingly simplistic and repetitive with incredibly irritating characters. The same type of characters appear in book after book – annoyingly self-righteous, cheerful and perky types. A lot of the 1990s novels are co-authored. Perhaps it is a symptom of her old age (b. 1926); I don’t know. I guess they are OK if you want some light reading, but I have borrowed the newer novels from the library on occasion and am usually unable to finish them. I borrowed a new one today from the library (Changelings [The Twins of Petaybee, Book 1]), and it is execrable.

Update 11/11/2006: Another annoyance is that there is too much singing and trading!

Monday 30/1

Much cooler today (21°C) and the awful humidity has gone. Feel much better.

A repeat of the movie Top Gun last night, some of which I watched (there was little else on). I liked it when it came out in 1986, but 20 years later it is like a curious sort of time capsule. Takes me back to my teenage years, which seem aeons ago! The flying scenes still come up well.

Some humor. Found this via a blog, Megan Case: “The Grass Is Greener”. Russian men vs. American men, from women’s perspective.

Tuesday 31/1

The website administrator at Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine has died unexpectedly. He was only 38. What illness could kill someone at that age – cancer?

Andrey Nikulin has passed away

On 29 January 2006, the administrator of our site, our friend and very good person ANDREI VADIMOVICH NIKULIN passed away in his 38th year of life as a result of severe illness.

The editorial staff of Novosti Kosmonavtiki expresses sincere condolences to Valentina Ivanovna, the mother of Andrei.

Russian version, Русская версия:

Скончался Андрей Никулин

29 января 2006 года на 38-м году жизни в результате тяжелой болезни скончался администратор нашего сайта, наш друг и очень хороший человек АНДРЕЙ ВАДИМОВИЧ НИКУЛИН.

Редакция «Новостей космонавтики» выражает искрение соболезнования матери Андрея Валентине Ивановне.

February

Saturday 4/2

It is my mother’s and uncle’s birthdays today (they managed to be born on the same day, 11 years apart – it was also my paternal grandmother’s birthdate!).

Expedition 12 are currently doing their spacewalk in Orlan spacesuits. Hatch opening was at 22:44 UTC (9:44 a.m. here), about 20 minutes behind schedule, and they will be out for about 6 hours. The SuitSat (an old Orlan suit fitted with an amateur radio transmitter) was successfully “launched”. As some people remarked, it looked rather eerie as it drifted away like a marooned spacewalker!

Expedition 12, Feb 3 EVA live update thread at the NASA Spaceflight.com forum. “Just saw the release on NASA TV. Eerie. Reminded me of the movie 2001. Now all we need to hear is ‘open the pod bay door, Hal’.”

The spacewalk ended successfully after 5 h 43 m, Valerii and Bill closing the hatch of Pirs at 04:27 UTC. Unfortunately the SuitSat/Радиоскаф failed transmitting after only 2 orbits, perhaps because the batteries were too cold.

Sunday 5/2

The weather was much cooler last week, thankfully, so hopefully the worst of the hot weather has finished. Autumn next month! :-)

My sister and her family moved into their new home at The Gap in Queensland last Wednesday (see 23/12/2005 entry).

One of the few programs I like to watch on TV are airline disaster documentaries! They are morbidly fascinating. The commercial TV stations screen them on irregular occasions. The one last week was from the Air Crash Investigations series, about the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 in 1985. One thing learnt from these documentaries is how a careless oversight by someone maintaining an aircraft can create a chain of events that leads to a big disaster. (Small mistakes lead to big disasters.) There was also a dramatized documentary called “Mid-Air Collision” about what might happen if two airliners collided over England (it was based on the Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 disaster in 2002).

Wikipedia: List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners grouped by airline.

The new Airbus A380 briefly visited Melbourne Airport on 14 November last year. There was a two-part documentary about it just before then, which was quite interesting, but I couldn’t help thinking of the awful disaster should the 800-passenger version ever crash.

MiG-31 – Firefox Online Resource: I found this nice site devoted to the fictional MiG-31 Firefox, the jet featured in the Craig Thomas novel and Clint Eastwood movie.

I am scanning in some photos of my teenage bedroom (1988 & 1989). Thank goodness I took photos back then otherwise I would have no memory of how it was otherwise. I had so many books and posters then! A strange assortment, too. I will upload them to my gallery in my Suzy site. I scan photos in as large TIFF files at 300 dpi, then use an image editor to reduce them and change them to .jpg files so they are suitable for uploading to my website.

… I just realized that I will have to rename my personal photos yet again so the date format will be yyyy-mm-dd (e.g. 2000-06-05). The date is backwards so the computer will display them in the correct year order. I seem to have over a hundred photos or on my Suzy site, so that is my chore for this afternoon, then I will have to reupload them all. *Sigh*.

Something I have been meaning to mention for a couple of years. This would be funny if it weren’t real: Saparmurat Niyazov, the president of Turkmenistan. You have to read this to believe it. “Eccentric” is a mild description.

The January edition of Northstar Compass is online.

Tuesday 6/2

I spent the whole day renaming a lot of photos on my website. I think I have gone cross-eyed.

I thought today that 20 years ago I was beginning Year 10 at school. Where has my life gone since then?

One thing I used to like to collect was quotations. Here is an evocative one from an article in Saturday’s The Age on the death of a parent:

I remembered from my mother’s death, a few years earlier, the vast hole in the world that opened and could not be pulled closed.

– Author Annie Proulx

It appears that SuitSat/«Радиоскаф» is not quite dead after all; faint radio transmissions have been picked up by various amateur radio operators.

SuitSat Status 4 February

Paraphrasing Mark Twain … the demise of SuitSat-1 is highly exaggerated!!

It is now nearly 24 hours since the successful deployment of the SuitSat-1 experiment. These past 24 hours have been a wild ride of emotions … tremendous highs … deep lows when people reported no signals and said SuitSat-1 was dead and now … some optimism.

It is absolutely clear that SuitSat-1 is alive. It was successfully turned on by the ISS crew prior to deploy and the timing, micro-controller functions and audio appear to be operating nominally. The prime issue appears to be an extremely weak signal.

I have heard several recordings and have monitored two passes today. When the signal is above the noise level, you can clearly hear partials of the student voices, the station ID and the SSTV signal. One of the complicating factors in reception is the very deep fades that occur due to the spin of SuitSat.

Based on the information we know thus far, one can narrow down the issue to the antenna, the feedline, the transmitter output power and/or any of the connections in between. Through your help, we would like to narrow down the issue further and also gather some internal telemetry from the Suit.

If the transmitter is running at full power, we would expect the Suit to end operations in the next few days to a week. If it is not, then it will operate much longer. Since we do not know how long this experiment will last, we ask for those with powerful receive stations to listen for Suitsat – especially during direct overhead passes when the Suit is closest to your area. If you can record these passes and send the audio to us, it would be most appreciated. We will continue to be optimistic that this issue will right itself before the batteries are depleted. So please KEEP LISTENING!

Wednesday 8/2

Warm today; around 30°C, but not as bad as 2 weeks ago.

Looks like the Melbourne gangland wars have flared up again with the shooting yesterday of Mario Condello, giving the media an excuse to revel in the phrases “Melbourne’s underworld,” “gangland war” and so forth.

Apparently the hitman who shot Mr. Condello was paid $150,000! What a way to make a living!

Thursday 9/2

I had another dream of parachuting/skydiving last night. I was in a room with some dream characters before the jump, looking at a map of where we were to land. The place on the map was in the country, with many lakes and open fields. I was worried about landing in one of the lakes! I then jumped and was falling through the sky, and my parachute didn’t seem to open properly, though I landed OK, but a bit fast. I looked at the parachute afterwards (which had shrunk to a small pink piece of material) and saw that the drogue hadn’t opened properly.

I asked the bank about the fee for an International Money Order/Transfer (see 26/1 entry), but it is $28! That is nearly double the fee since when I ordered some World Spaceflight CDs from the U.S. in 2000.

Found an interesting site via the Maaskva blog: American Reflections from Moscow. These feature a collection of essays by Stephen Lapeyrouse. He is dismayed by the empty materialism in American culture, and the slavish adoption of this by Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Lots of thought-provoking reading here.

Saturday 11/2

On Thursday afternoon there was a thunderstorm and heavy downpour of rain (like a waterfall) for about ½ hour.

“McMansion” is a derogatory term for the oversized, wasteful houses that have been appearing in plague proportions in Australia since the 1990s (the concept imported from – where else? – the USA). The Wikipedia article is quite scathing about them, and rightly so – these homes are a blight on the landscape and environment. They have sprung up around my own suburb like ugly toadstools, looming menacingly over the older (more modest) suburban homes. I call them “Buglies” – an abbreviation of “Big and Ugly” or just “Bloody Ugly”. Around Melbourne, there are whole housing estates of huge two-storied Buglies, acres of bleak, razed, treeless wastelands crammed with these abominable box-shaped monstrosities. The backyards are tiny, with little room for children to play in.

In Australia, such houses have started to appear since the 1990s, in outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, often fuelled by new freeway projects (such as the M2 in the Hills region of Sydney). These are generally in the form of tract housing (by companies such as “Homeworld”) and are often within their own gated communities. They have come under considerable criticism lately. The term can also (though less often) be used to describe houses situated within existing urban areas. Usually, smaller cottage-style houses have been demolished to make way for these houses. Unlike their US counterparts, they are not usually built as a “development cluster” which is managed by a homeowners association. Rather they are built by their owners as a single dwelling. Styles are often used with names such as “neo-Georgian” or “neo-Federation” and which evoke the appearance of Georgian or Edwardian / Federation houses. In Melbourne, they are often known as “Toorak wedding cakes” because of the three-laye red front that they have.

The other trend here is to squeeze as many units/apartments as possible on a normal-sized block of land (after the original home has been demolished).

The Winter Olympics have started. Russia is (again) not expected to do well.

Olympic Team Hopes for Fair Shot at Medals

By Carl Schreck, Staff Writer
The Moscow Times, 10/2/2006

It was 50 years ago this month that the Soviet Union swept to victory in its first Winter Olympics in the Italian Alpine resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo, immediately establishing itself as a winter sports powerhouse.

But with the collapse of the Soviet sports machine and persecution fears stemming from the controversy-ridden 2002 Salt Lake City Games, few expect a triumphal return to the Italian slopes and ice rinks as Russian athletes begin their medals quest this Saturday at the 20th Winter Games in Turin.

Russia is sending a total of 178 athletes to compete in the 15 Winter Olympic disciplines, but sports officials have been hedging their medal expectations after the trauma of four years ago. In Salt Lake City, Russian athletes won just five gold and 13 medals overall to finish fifth in the medals table – the worst Russian performance since the 1956 Soviet debut.

The Salt Lake City Games also plunged the Olympic movement into its worst crisis since the Cold War, with an avalanche of protest from every corner of Russian society damning the perceived bias against Russian athletes. President Vladimir Putin characterized the 2002 Games as “a flop,” and said North American athletes received “a clear advantage,” while the Orthodox Church called the Games unfair and protests were held outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Amid the acrimony at Salt Lake City, Russian officials threatened to mount a boycott and Russian Olympic Committee head Leonid Tyagachyov accused IOC officials of singling out an unfair number of Russian athletes for drug tests.

Vyacheslav Fetisov, the head of the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports and head coach of the 2002 Olympic hockey team, has predicted that this time Russia will capture around 25 medals, and called seven gold medals a realistic goal.

The United States captured a total of 34 medals to win the overall medal count in 2002.

Tyagachyov has been more reserved in his predictions for Turin, telling reporters last month that the team could “theoretically” compete for 25 medals.

“But what color they will be depends on mere seconds and judging,” Tyagachyov said.

Gold medal hopes largely rest on the sports that the Soviet Union traditionally excelled at, including hockey, the biathlon and figure skating.

Irina Slutskaya and Yevgeny Plushenko, neither of whom has won Olympic gold in their illustrious careers, appear primed to lead Russia to sweep the four figure-skating events.

Both are favorites in the singles events, while World and European champions Tatyana Totmyanina and Maxim Marinin are expected to excel in the pairs and Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov are the favorites to capture the ice dance title.

Figure skating was at the center of the Salt Lake City judging scandal. French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne said she had been pressured to underscore Canadian duo Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who were beaten in the pairs by Russia’s Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. After an intense populist media campaign across North America, IOC officials awarded the Canadians duplicate gold medals.

After U.S. favorite Michelle Kwan stumbled in Salt Lake City, Slutskaya looked certain to win the gold. But American Sarah Hughes outscored a nervous Slutskaya, who responded incredulously to her low marks.

“Those bastards, idiots,” Slutskaya said, reacting to the marks the judges gave her, Gazeta.ru reported at the time. “Are they blind?”

Russia protested the decision, saying Slutskaya should be awarded a gold as in the pairs, but the protest was rejected.

In the wake of the scandal, a new judging system has been introduced for Turin, aimed more at objective point values than judges’ subjectivity.

Led by Olga Zaitseva, the Russian women’s 4x6 kilometer relay team in the biathlon will be looking to follow up its 2005 World Championship title with gold in Turin.

But Russia’s most intriguing squad looks to be the men’s hockey team, which, with a collection of National Hockey League and Russian Superleague stars assembled by new general manager Pavel Bure, is aiming to win its first Olympic gold since 1992.

The team finished a disappointing third in Salt Lake City, and Fetisov accused a referee of favoring the U.S. team as a Russian equalizer was disallowed in the third period of its 3-2 semifinal loss.

“He just killed us,” Fetisov said after the game, referring to Canadian National Hockey League referee Bill McCreary. The referees “live here, they work here, they get paid by the NHL, therefore it’s only natural that in crucial situations they will not make any calls against the United States or Canada,” he said. “It was designed to be a U.S.-Canada final, and now they have it.”

Bure, a former Russian national team and NHL star who was named head coach of the national team after he retired late last year, has said that only “true patriots” will be playing for the squad in Turin – and that nothing less than gold will do.

With the Russian Olympic team featuring only one athlete who competed in the Games under the Soviet flag, biathalon veteran Sergei Chepikov, sports historian Alexander Nilin said Turin would see a final break with the Soviet sports era.

“Russian athletes have been succeeding in the Olympics since the fall of the Soviet Union, but this success has been due simply to inertia,” Nilin said.

In fact, given that state funding for sports dried up after the Soviet collapse and the country’s pool of potential athletes has shrunk dramatically, Russia’s success has been quite impressive, Nilin said.

“But this is the last group of athletes trained under the Soviet system,” Nilin said.

The Soviet breakup also left many athletic training centers outside Russian borders, and sports and government officials alike have lamented the slow pace at which new facilities have been built.

“I mean, the Russian bobsleigh championships are held in Latvia,” said Oleg Shamonayev, a commentator for the magazine Pro Sport, in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Shamonayev said if Russia were to finish fifth in the medals table it would be “a remarkable achievement.”

Whether the type of scandals that plagued the Salt Lake City Games will recur in Turin remains to be seen. But at a meeting with Putin on Monday, Tyagachyov said he was leaving nothing to chance.

“A team of lawyers has been sent to Turin ahead of time to address anything that could be used against our national team,” Tyagachyov said, Interfax reported.

Monday 13/2

Had another dream about September 11 last night, though it was set in Melbourne. It has faded a bit now so the details are hazy. One of the buildings had collapsed, and I ran through a covered shopping arcade, which was filled with a cold white mist from the building. I went into a second-hand bookstore in the arcade and told the shop owner in there to turn on his TV to see the news about the event. For some reason I went back to the building that was still standing, and took an outside elevator up to the top with a few other people. I realized on the way up that this building would collapse soon also, so as soon as they got out I jumped in the elevator and rode it back down again (it went in a circular spiral track around the building). I ran away as fast as I could.

I was looking up the September 11, 2001 attacks at Wikipedia yesterday, so this probably triggered off the dream. It has become an occasionally recurring dream, though (I mentioned one in my 23/2/2005 entry).

From the Saturday The Age. Someone else who feels the Commonwealth Games are a waste of time and (taxpayers’) money: “One major event we can do without,” The Age, 11/2.

“Bracks spin’s out of control,” Herald-Sun, 13/2. I haven’t mentioned Victoria’s (Labor) Steve Bracks Government much at all, but they have, in their own way, become just as bad as the previous Jeff Kennett (Liberal) Government. They have spent obscene amounts of taxpayers’ money on self-promotional ads (propaganda by another name). They are not really a “left-wing” government at all.

UP TO $60 million a year is now being spent by the Bracks Government on spin doctors to protect its image and control the flow of information to Victorians. A survey of state departments and agencies has revealed 316 communications staff have been hired by 48 government bodies at a cost of more than $20 million. A further 82 departments and agencies, which refuse to disclose numbers or costs, could take the tally of taxpayer-funded spin doctors to more than 850. This would push the annual taxpayer bill to about $60 million. One communications adviser in Premier Steve Bracks’ office is paid about $218,000 and at least 40 others earn more than $100,000.

Deputy Premier John Thwaites has 47 spin doctors under his control – 25 at the Department of Victorian Communities and 22 in the Department of Environment and Sustainability. Victoria Police tops the list of spin-happy agencies – it has 31 media and project officers – followed by VicRoads, with 27 communications staff, and WorkCover with 21. The Premier’s 21-member media unit – which costs taxpayers about $1.3 million a year in wages – was among the media minders not disclosed.

Deputy Opposition Leader Phil Honeywood accused the Government of putting spin ahead of front-line services such as police, teachers and nurses. “After six years of failing to deliver on promises, frittering away taxpayers’ money and incompetence at managing major projects, Steve Bracks and his government have resorted to multi-million dollar advertising blitzes, slick PR campaigns and an army of communication staff employed to feed Labor’s PR machine,” he said. “What are Victorians getting for this huge wage bill?”

Mr Honeywood said that despite the mass of communications experts, most departments and agencies – including the Department of Human Services and the Department of Education and Training – could not say how many such staff they employed. Most departments and agencies said it would cause an “unreasonable diversion of resources” to list the number and cost of their communications staff.

Tax Justice Association national director Peter McDonald said governments should be required to report and justify to Parliament the employment of all PR staff. “One of the great criticisms of the Kennett government was how they manipulated the media, and it seems that Labor may have taken it to a new art form,” he said. “Those media units are there not to provide information but to ensure people really don’t get access to information that might be embarrassing.”

Last month the Herald Sun revealed the Bracks Government was on track to spend more than $80 million selling itself to voters before this year’s election. A government spokesman defended government spending on PR and communications staff. “It is necessary for any government or department to be able to inform the public and media about what is happening,” he said.

I meant to watch the Olympics Opening Ceremony (repeated in the evening) but fell asleep … I find such ceremonies tedious anyway, rather like some overlong school pantomime for grown-ups! Perhaps they should just cut this out, and feature the athletes marching in and torch-lighting only. In fact, bring the whole Olympics “back to basics” and cut out the more frivolous sports (ping-pong? Snowboarding? Beach volleyball?).

Saturday 18/2

It was hot again yesterday (35°C), but cooler today.

Spent the last few days fussing with (guess what) my website, and fretting over the fonts used. There might be a few changes with the latter.

The SuzyMcHale.com e-mail address is malfunctioning again, so apologies for anyone trying to e-mail there!

Had a dream of flying last night; the recurring one of myself flying, where I flap my arms and am able to rise into the air, though only up a few meters. In this one I was hovering above a busy road, and watching something (the dream has faded, as usual). The sensation of flying like this is quite real in the dream. I was then dragged back to Earth as always. A bit later, a former school classmate called Lee-Anne approached me and I tried to get away by flying again, but couldn’t get airborne this time as I couldn’t focus properly.

I got my driver’s licence renewal form this week. I have a 10-year licence (1996). There was a note saying I had earned a discount on the fee because I had no licence demerit points or traffic offences. Rather amusing because I haven’t driven since I got my original licence in 1991! The fee is $106.80 with the discount – still not cheap. (Everything seems to be so expensive here.) I suppose I will have to gather my courage and re-learn to drive one day – my parents won’t be driving forever.

“Full Speed Ahead”: Blog entry at Jellyfish Online. At least I don’t seem to be the only one in the world who can’t drive!

“Nation Weeps For Lost Kerry”: Mr. Lefty on the taxpayer-funded memorial service for Australia’s very own oligarch.

“If you are Russian ….” at The Accidental Russophile, with a link to a page, American Culture, with people writing about their various cultures. Some aspects are amusing, others alarming!

I am getting rather annoyed at the Energiya site. They are very tardy in updating their news, and don’t seem to mention activities on the ISS at all now – they haven’t issued a press release for the spacewalk of 2 weeks ago (the Russian section doesn’t have one either). None of the Russian sites (TsUP, FKA) keep detailed reports and photos of ISS crew activities (or any news of the Cosmonaut Group) in the way that the NASA site does. Very disappointing!

I really hate that Javascript menu that the TsUP site uses; it is composed of dozens of small images and takes some time to load; the site is also inaccessible without the menu if you have Javascript disabled (i.e. there are no alternative text menu links). If you visit with images turned off in your browser it is also nearly impossible to navigate. (I still have images turned off a lot of the time when visiting sites as they load much faster; some are difficult to navigate though, as they don’t have proper alternative text for the images.)

Probably the worst site is the IMBP (Institute of Medical and Biological Problems); it is one big image map (with no alt text) in a frame. Yuck. Badly needs redesigning.

«20 лет назад был осуществлён запуск орбитальной станции «Мир»»: On the 20th February it will be 20 years since Mir was launched in 1986.

Sunday 19/2

Fence vandalism

Am FURIOUS again. Our fence was bashed in yet AGAIN by some youths going past last night (around 1 a.m. – a bang woke me up). This, the fourth time, is the worst damage so far (see photo at right). I wonder if it was the same thugs who did damage last time (see 27/9/2005 entry). I am wishing that they could be caught and knee-capped (yes, there is a Wikipedia entry about this). Then they would be unable to wander around at night.

The fence is colorbonded steel which, as has been shown, is unfortunately easily damaged. Wish my parents could have afforded a solid brick fence – can’t kick that in.

Am rather wishing that those Mafia guys (see 8/2 entry) could be brought in somehow to sort the little bastards out. No one would dare mess with them! I doubt they would dare to vandalize a Mafia boss’s property.

I couldn’t get to sleep until around 4 a.m. because of people wandering around the street outside (Friday and Saturday nights are the worst nights for this).

They are rather like vampires, who appear when it becomes dark, then disappear before sunrise.

My SuzyMchale.com e-mail address is working again!

Somehow the file that controls the email routing got a slight bit corrupted. I looked at it and fixed it now. My tests show all is working again.

I spent the whole of yesterday fretting over font-sizing which, like CSS page layout, is a vexed issue.

Monday 20/2

I spent the whole day just reading entries from two Livejournal communities I came across: Childfree Community and Customers Suck!. I wish the latter site had existed when I was at That Awful Place! (Which I quit in October 2001.) It would have been a therapeutic place to vent.

Dad hammered out most of the dents from the latest fence-bashing (see 19/2 entry), but the steel is like paper – once a dent or fold is made, it can’t be completely erased no matter how much you try to flatten it. A brick from the house next door was used by one of the little thugs to throw at the fence. (I would like to throw it at their heads. And why the heck are parents letting their brats roam the streets at 1 A.M. IN THE MORNING?? Do they know of the concept of PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY?)

I haven’t been jogging for about 3 weeks now (still am walking, of course), but my left ankle’s Achilles tendon is still tender and sore (mentioned in 23/1 entry).

Today is 20 years since the launch of Mir! I was 15 then … is it really that long ago? Mir Chronology: “Highlights of Mir’s 15 spectacular years” at Russian Space Web.

Friday 24/2

The hot weather has made an unwelcome return (mid-30s). Go away!

In the last part of a dream this morning, I was supposed to board a spaceship for a 50-year (light-year) journey, but I didn’t want to go; I think I was running around outside our house trying to avoid it. The dream has faded so I can’t remember it clearly.

Via this page at FP Space, “Best ISS in front of Luna film yet,” I found this cool page featuring various ISS lunar and solar transits captured on video by Ed Morana. The videos are short as the ISS only takes a few seconds to whizz across the Sun or Moon’s disk! It almost seems as if the ISS were orbiting these. Ed’s ISS Transits Page.

Sunday 26/2

“Wild weather lashes Melbourne,” Herald-Sun. A big storm came across the city yesterday at 2 p.m. and caused the usual havoc. I saw it coming and just got the washing off the clothesline in time.

“Beloved John”: Anonymous Lefty. Our PM has been in power for 10 YEARS this week; The Age was running a series of feature articles about this, which I am not going to detail as I find it all too depressing to contemplate.

Below, a dismaying article from The Age about young people under the Howard Government. (I reproduce it here as 1) articles are removed and 2) The Age site is so annoying to visit – pop-ups, required registration, etc.). I would hope that it does not speak for everyone in that age group!

Howard’s young people are shallow and disengaged

Date: February 23 2006

There is a new generation of young Australians who have grown up knowing no other political reality in their voting lives beyond that of the present Liberal Party. For those people, the consequences of living for 10 years in the shadow of John Howard are profound and alarming.

If we chart the social and cultural implications of Howard’s leadership on the generation now roughly between the ages of 18 to 30, there is strong evidence of a cultural malaise resulting in massive disengagement with the political realities that will affect their future lives. There are many demonstrable manifestations of this cultural malaise.

The language of the Howard Government on religious minorities and refugees has resulted in a generation desensitised to the very human realities and manifestations of global inequity and ethnic difference. When Howard talks of “queue jumpers” and “illegals” to describe refugees, there is a knee-jerk tendency among young people to apportion blame rather than feel empathy. This is a state of affairs that Howard has personally overseen, a significant paradigm shift that entrenches a deep and pernicious ethos of social hierarchy and privilege.

Simultaneously, there is a tendency of young people to flock to evangelical religious movements in the past five years, particularly in the outer suburbs of our capital cities. Without wishing to speak disparagingly about young people seeking spiritual depth, we can say that within these new popular religious movements disengagement with mainstream political reality is fostered. To many of these groups, “family values” becomes a code for being anti-gay, anti-euthanasia and anti-abortion. It is alarming to hear how frequently young people today embrace this kind of neo-conservatism, almost like a race to see who can be more right-wing.

Moreover, with Howard’s constant talk of a very white-bread brand of traditional family values being paramount to a good society, we have seen a sudden rush of young people to get married early, get a home loan and shift to the suburbs at the first opportunity. This obsession has even extended into the gay community, which after fighting for 30 years to keep the government out of the bedroom, now appears to be fighting for the approval of Howard for their relationships.

Coupled with this, we have witnessed in Australia a new kind of hyper-consumerism. The social centre of town on any given evening is now the local shopping centre. Young people are all too eager to get the biggest credit limits possible, and max their Visa cards out with the casualness of a walk in the park. Indeed, the Howard era has brought us closer to US-style ultra-materialism, where “retail therapy” is the new buzz word. Feeling bored or depressed? Better get to Chadstone shopping centre. The so-called metrosexual male has become little more than a crass marketing ploy.

These trends are compounded further in popular culture directed at young people. The most popular new magazines for Australia’s youth include titles such as Vice, Alpha Male and Ralph. Slick sexy pictures and throwaway humour create the illusion of a cool, sophisticated read. But read between the lines – these hugely popular titles seek to anaesthetise readers by making a joke of all critical political thought, and exhorting the virtues of fashion, vanity, laziness and apolitical hedonism. The magazines have become one of the publishing success stories of the last few years in Australia, attracting the biggest advertising revenues because advertisers always cotton on to a good con when they see it.

This generation has also been the generation to feel the impacts of the transition to a privatised society the most deeply. We have witnessed public transport losing its emphasis on personal service, while suffering a tangible decline in efficiency. And the “user pays” mentality that has now infiltrated health care, higher education and the utility sector has ultimately chipped away at the notion of the common good, that as individuals we are willing to make a collective sacrifice for the betterment of society as a whole. It’s the inverse of socialism, the death of big picture idealism – lost to the ethos of debt, competition, user-pays culture, and rampant individualism.

And because young people in Australia under Howard have been given (or have taken) few opportunities to vent their spleen or collectively analyse their predicament, there is the tendency to bury our heads in the distractions afforded by new technology.

The internet, with its great promise of being a social leveller and liberator, has all too often been the place where young people waste their time, the prime years of their lives no less, in chat rooms, lapping up pornography, or feeding personal egos in the blogosphere. IPods, Xboxes, Playstations, you name it – these consumer technologies, revolutionary as they seem, serve to isolate young people further and further from one another, and line the pockets of the biggest multinationals.

Gil Scot Heron rapped in the ’70s that the revolution will not be televised; I am equally convinced that the revolution will not be downloadable to your iPod.

Make no mistake, the Howard era, commensurate with the global rise in unchecked hyper-consumerism and commercial technological overkill, has precipitated an era of compounded political disengagement among young people in Australia. Do I overstate things? Is the Howard Government actually sensitive and open-minded to the needs of young Australians? Are the young actually engaged and in touch with their own best interests?

Consider this. In December 2004 the Federal Government downgraded the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, held at the time by Larry Anthony, to the status of a junior parliamentary secretary role.

Then just last month, with no fanfare and barely registering the slightest ripple of protest, the Government scrapped the Youth Affairs portfolio from the Federal Parliament altogether.

Not only is this Government completely out of step with the realities of the lives of young people in 2006, but the present generation of young Australians, after 10 years of Howard, is utterly anaesthetised and practically disengaged from the political processes that governs it.

No wonder they have got away with it for so long.

James Norman is a journalist and author. He is researching a book on the Howard decade and its impact on young people.

I HATE what Australia has become under this government; it is a mean, insular, greedy, selfish society. I must confess that I am uninterested in the refugees issue; I am more concerned with the privatization mania (there is a curious parallel with Russia’s own chaotic privatization) that has dismantled the sense of security we had when assets such as public transport, water, power, health care, etc. were government-owned and run, and replaced these with businesses whose first concern is how much money they can make for their shareholders, and bugger the public whom they are supposed to be serving. Prices for EVERYTHING seem to be always going up and up and this hits the less-well-off hardest.

And charities cannot be relied on to take care of these people, as charities themselves rely on donations from the public, and this is a precarious way of getting funding. The reason for having the government control essential services and provide welfare is so that these services can function without the constant worry of having to placate shareholders. (I will have to write an essay about this sometime and try to arrange my thoughts more coherently.)

Those who voted for Howard don’t seem to realize how much Australia has lost by embracing economic rationalism and associated ideologies. I can only hope that a future government (and also one in Russia) will renationalize all these institutions and begin to repair the damage to society.

“SKI Magazine – Down and Out in Krasnaya Polyana”: An entry at The Accidental Russophile on a rather silly article (original story link).

Tuesday 28/2

Annoyed and disgusted (yet again). Another dumb stunt for the Russian space program – a cosmonaut (Pavel Vinogradov, ISS-13) is to hit a golf ball off the ISS to promote some golf company:

March

Wednesday 1/3

Summer is OVER! Hooray!! Though there are some hot days coming up at the end of the week :-(. I have been feeling rather tired and cranky, and haven’t much felt like writing.

The low wages paid to TsUP specialists (in comparison to their Western counterparts) have long been a source of dissatisfaction there. From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 536:

28/02/2006/00:01 – Russian TsUP staff are dissatisfied by low wages

Russian TsUP specialists, who are responsible for the accuracy of the International Space Station (ISS) flight control and the ballistic calculations of spacecraft dockings, are dissatisfied by their low wages. “At TsUP, wages have not risen for two years. We have staff who are at present forced to work and to survive on three thousand rubles per month. This is humiliating – I am the leader who co-ordinates the ballistic calculations of the most complex space operations, I have worked here since 1977, i.e., almost 30 years, and for this I am paid less than ten thousand rubles,” said Aleksandr Kireyev, the chief of the TSUP of the ballistic service coordination group.

According to him, the mean wages of unique specialists, who calculate to an accuracy within a centimeter the orbit flights, dockings and undockings from the ISS of the Soyuz spacecraft containing cosmonauts and Progress cargo ships, at present comprise an average of approximately five thousand rubles. “Sooner or later this will affect the general quality of our work,” noted Kireyev.

The problem of aging personnel is also cause for concern – the average age of the specialists of Mission Control Center exceeds 50 years, but young specialists do not seek to work in TSUP because of the noncompetitive wages. Some Russian specialists consider transferring to the American aerospace agency (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). “One of our colleagues, who transferred to the Russian representation at ESA, was immediately appointed a payment of more than 1000 Euros. He has the capability to live worthily and work normally. Who will govern the flight of the ISS, if all were to depart?” remarked the chief of the group of the coordination of ballistic service at TSUP. RIA Novosti reported this.

Russian version, Русская версия: В российском ЦУПе недовольны низкой зарплатой.

Friday 3/3

Hot today, about 32°C. Would someone please tell the weather gods that summer is OVER!

My 2006 Driver's License photo

My new Driver’s Licence came in the mail today, and I don’t look too bad at all in my photo, much to my relief (my face looked bloated in my 1996 licence photo, and I was stuck with that licence for 10 years!).

My computer mouse is beginning to behave a bit erratically, so I might have to get a new one. It has lasted for nearly 3 years and thousands of clicks.

“Kliper choice delayed,” Flight International, 14/2. The Russian Federal Space Agency delayed the selection of the contractor (contenders are Energiya, Krunichev and Molniya) for the new spaceship until April.

“Launch failure stings Russian space program,” MSNBC.com, 1/3. The Proton launch of Arabsat 4A failed when a booster failed to deliver the satellite to its orbit. There is a possibility the satellite could be rescued – by slinging it in an orbit around the Moon! “Experts study moon-rescue plan for off-course Arabsat-3,” James Oberg, at the FP Space mailing list.

Tuesday 7/3

I have been reformatting my websites yet AGAIN, so I won’t be doing much else this week. I have to go through EVERY SINGLE PAGE and manually tidy up various things in the underlying HTML code. Which is no fun when there are 300+ pages to trawl through. I feel tired and brain-dead. Last week was the 10th anniversary of our Dear Leader’s seemingly endless reign, which didn’t help my mood. He has been in power for longer than some dictators. Sadly, he has no real challengers.

Thursday 9/3

The weather is warming up AGAIN. Summer is, er, over …?

In a dream last night, I was back at my old school (Kilvington) and fleeing from various people (teachers). A dream character was waiting outside in a silver car and I got into it and he drove off. This is another recurring dream (the character makes occasional appearances).

I got a letter published (anonymously) in the local paper regarding the recent vandalism (see 19/2 entry)! I won’t quote it here. But it is somewhat disconcerting seeing one’s own words in print!

Mum said today that Grandpa (her father – my maternal grandfather) had been a real Lefty – practically a Communist! Cool! (He apparently had a lot of Communist-type literature, but my uncle later burned this :-(.) He believed very strongly in unions. He was a music teacher (violin) before the 1930s Depression, but couldn’t get students when the economy went bad, so his other job was as a fitter-and-turner in a factory, and he was in several strikes. I never really knew him (he died in 1982), unfortunately. He would likely be appalled at how the gains over the last 100 years have virtually been erased today, under the Howard Government (he hated the Liberal Party).

Learning that about my grandfather today cheered me up somewhat! I have been despondent due to various things all week.

“Business leader backs call for more IR changes,” ABC Online. Last night, Finance Minister Senator Nick Minchin was secretly recorded as saying that the recent Industrial Relations reforms had not gone far enough. There are clearly people in the government and businesses who won’t be happy until slave labor is introduced.

Last Friday, SBS repeated the documentary “China Girl,” about the shortage of women in China; it featured a young man who had to go find work in Beijing; I mentioned this, and a letter in the newspaper, in my 7/11/2005 entry. The working conditions on the building construction site were appalling: 7 days a week, 11 hours a day for a bare minimum wage. No unions or any form of protection. That is how many employers would like things to be here.

“Unions prepare for Qantas job cuts,” ABC Online. Every month it seems that a factory or business here has to close or outsource to China or a similar low-wage country because they can’t compete with the cheap labor there. Qantas (what used to be the national airline before it was privatized like everything else) is the latest company to try to outsource maintenance to China. Qantas has previously had a good safety record because of the skilled and well-paid engineers here.

A sort-of-related article at Northstar Compass: “Fearing Unrest, China Tries to Rein in Unbridled Capitalism”.

Various corporations and entrepreneurs are virtually foaming at the mouth in eagerness as they regard these countries (China, India) as vast new consumer markets in which they can make vast profits. Never mind the cost to the environment, or the many people in those countries who will not share in that wealth. “Economic growth” is the dominant religious cult of our times.

On Four Corners this week there was a documentary called “How The Kids Took Over,” about the cynical marketing to children by various marketers. I haven’t watched it yet (I videotaped it), but this is another symptom of how sick the consumer/capitalist society is. This is endemic not only in the Western world, but also in former Communist countries like Russia and China – and these countries now have the same social problems as us, particularly with their younger generations.

What is it going to take to bring people and governments to their senses so that they see how warped and wrong this way of living is?

Mum had to get a tooth removed yesterday; it had died. The other option was to have a root canal filling, but this would have been too expensive. The worst part of getting a tooth removed are the injections needed! I had my two lower wisdom teeth removed when they became infected; the lower left tooth was removed in December of 1994; the right lower tooth on 2 February 1996. The top two wisdom teeth came through okay. Mum went to a private dentist. If a person can’t afford this (and my parents aren’t wealthy) they have a very long wait in the public system – the Howard Government cut funding for the national dental program in 1997. There are a lot of low-income people who have waited for so long (years) that they have to get most or all of their teeth removed when they eventually get to a public dentist because their teeth have become so bad. (My maternal grandparents got all their teeth removed when they were in their 30s because it was the accepted practice at the time!) For this situation to exist in a supposedly prosperous country like Australia in the 21st century is a disgrace. And I hate to think of how much worse it is in Russia, which also had public health care under the Communist system.

The Commonwealth Games begin next week. How much better would it have been for the millions spent on it to instead be put into fixing the state’s dilapidated public transport system (and renationalizing this).

Saturday 11/3

As I have been doing all this week, I spent the whole day yesterday going through this journal and tidying the HTML up – there were quite a few errors. Not fun! I just want the code to be perfect, and this obsessiveness tends to absorb all my energy. (I suppose that wouldn’t be a bad thing if I were writing computer code, which I don’t know how to do.) I discovered the <cite> (citation) and <q> (inline quote) tags, so have been hunting through my pages and adding these manually (though I decided against using the <q> tags, which don’t display properly in some browsers, and just added <span class="quote"> instead).

Two Air Crash Investigation air disaster documentaries were screened over the last two weeks, featuring FedEx Flight 705 (“On April 7, 1994, FedEx flight 705 is just finishing its climb out of Memphis, U.S. when an off-duty FedEx flight engineer suddenly storms the cockpit. Bashing in the crew members’ skulls with a hammer and armed with a spear gun, the crazed attacker seems intent on killing the crew and taking over the plane”) and a postal delivery airline that was hit by a surface-to-air missile over Baghdad late in 2003 (“In November 2003, terrorists fire a surface-to-air missile at a DHL plane on a routine mail drop to Baghdad. The left wing is engulfed in flames and the steering system completely destroyed. Remarkably, the terrified pilots manage to land the stricken plane, a feat never achi eved before. This unprecedented success was captured on film by a nearby US military helicopter”). (Descriptions from the Air Crash National Geographic home page.) I was somewhat distracted in the second documentary by thinking one of the actors was rather nice-looking :-).

I wonder if there is a flight simulator game that simulates various air disasters?

Sunday 12/3

Hot weather again.

I am bored with the space program. I have said this before, but I was thinking about this earlier, and all the enthusiasm that I initially had in 2001 has evaporated. I am bored with the ISS and the dreary sameness of it, and bored with the limited Russian space program – all they do is give rides to bored rich space tourists, and make cosmonauts perform in stupid ads. The Stupid Golf Stunt that Pavel Vinogradov will have to perform during ISS-13 might really be the last straw for me. (I am cringing in anticipation of how the media will cover it – “Oh, look what silly stunt those Russians are doing now! They must be hard-up for cash again” – that sort of thing.)

When I have felt this way with previous interests, I usually have ended up doing a massive purge – dumping/destroying all the related material (books, etc.) I collected – then I am restless and agitated for a period of time before I latch onto another interest. Problem is, I have run out of interests! I kind of don’t want to lose interest in space, but maintaining the sites has become a chore. Also, my Internet identity is tied to spaceflight. Don’t know what I will do, at the moment. Maybe I need a break, but I have nowhere to go in the real world! I have had the same thoughts going around in my head for years, and I feel brain-dead.

That is one reason why I never had a career – I could not decide what I was interested in; what I wanted to do.

I am still interested in aerospace stuff, though – I think that is a permanent interest. And I still like Russian stuff, even if I do get exasperated at the country, sometimes. (I really would like to go there and ORGANIZE things.)

Monday 13/3

Got some much-needed rain this morning, at long last.

Mum and Dad have been married 38 years today!

Mum will have to return to the dentist as she has been very sore since the procedure was done on 8/3 (see 9/3 entry) and it seems a bit of tooth was left behind, so she might have to get that re-extracted. She is obviously not happy!

Today is Labour Day; supposedly a public holiday, but really only a holiday for office workers. It is just another working day for those in the retail industry :-(.

“Poland: Winter of death for impoverished,” World Socialist Website. The dark side of the economic reforms that Poland and other East European countries have endured. So many economists and free-market proponents rave about how wonderful all these “reforms” are, but the reality is rather different. They have well and truly deceived governments, and have a lot to answer for.

Poland’s homeless population is composed of many different elements: divorced husbands and fathers, alcoholics, drug addicts, ex-prisoners, the long-term unemployed, and elderly people abandoned by their families because of expensive health care. Also included are those with psychiatric disorders, unmarried mothers rejected by their families and closest friends, women ill-treated by alcoholic husbands – in short any and all of those thrown overboard as Poland destroyed social protections and embraced the free market. […]

The government, now dominated by the far-right and nationalist Law & Justice (PiS) Party, has done little or nothing to alleviate the situation – only 1.3 million euros a year have been allocated to the homeless problem. These funds go largely into Poland’s miniscule and deteriorating network of short-term urban homeless shelters, which rely on private assistance as a secondary source of support. But since the country embarked on its road of capitalist “reforms” and “integration” into the European Union, these funds have been gradually diminishing. […]

The opening up of the Polish economy to private capital after the fall of the Stalinist regime in 1989 has resulted in disastrous consequences for vast segments of the population, whether it has been caused by substantial job reductions, the destruction of domestic industries, or cuts to food and fuel subsidies. This has been a consistent phenomenon in all of the post-Soviet countries after 1989. Every single Polish government since, whether the Social Democratic (SLD) “Left” or the Election-Action Solidarity (AWS) “Right,” has pursued these “market reforms” unabashedly and unreservedly. Not a single one has been re-elected, despite glaringly low voting turnouts.

Whereas previously Stalinist Poland had an extensive system of social welfare funded from the national budget, with both health care and social security benefits being both free and comprehensive, after 1989 this sector underwent substantial “restructuring” and “decentralization.” Poles now have to pay much more directly for health care and other welfare provisions. For example, exorbitant fees are now being charged for medical care in hospitals.

Beggars and homeless people became common sights after being virtually nonexistent during Stalinist rule, even though, as a response to the large increase in the unemployment rate after 1989, jobless benefits were expanded. These were quickly eviscerated, however, as laws passed shortly afterward drastically reduced the scope of the unemployment program.

Now, whatever remains of unemployment benefits in Poland is insufficient even for survival. The majority of the working population barely makes ends meet and many young adults are compelled to work two jobs. Some have even found an extra source of income in collecting scrap metal from rubbish heaps or searching for lumps of coal in abandoned pits.

The average Polish wage has dropped from 625 euros per month in 2001 to 536 in 2003. At the same time, a ruling elite in Poland has emerged, which has been able to enrich itself through “restructurings” and privatizations of virtually every economic sector. Political decisions at all levels are characterized by corruption and nepotism.

The introduction of a revised constitution in April and May of 1997 led to a further deterioration in living standards for vast segments of the Polish working class, explicitly committing the country to “a market economy” and “private ownership of enterprise.”

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter successfully entered Martian orbit on 10/3. It successfully evaded the “Great Galactic Ghoul” that has swallowed up so many probes. I will refrain from lamenting (yet again) on Russia’s now non-existent unmanned space exploration program …

“From The Moon with love ….” at the Fly me to the Moon blog (yes that is me “D.J. Vader” mentions :-), about Don Mitchell’s excellent collection of Soviet-era interplanetary missions images (Soviet Space Image Catalog). I think I mentioned these images a few months ago.

Thursday 16/3

Watched some of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony last night. Wasn’t too bad (aside from some silly scenes). The Yarra River outside looked much more spectacular, with the river illuminated and a fireworks display from the tops of nearby tall office buildings. There were two F/A-18 Hornets slowly circling throughout to enforce the 75 km exclusion zone. They must have got midair refuelling to stay up 2 hours. I heard and saw them (they were high up).

Mum went back to the dentist and the soreness (see 13/3 entry) is due to an infection, not a bit of tooth left behind.

Russian cosmonauts might be flying on the Space Shuttle again, after all. There is a possibility a U.S. astronaut might command a Soyuz flight (unfortunately, no chance of a Russian cosmonaut commanding the Space Shuttle!):

Russia cosmonauts to fly to ISS on U.S. shuttles – Perminov

07/03/2006, 13:37

Moscow, March 7 (Itar-Tass) – Russian cosmonauts will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on U.S. shuttles, the head of the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) said on Tuesday.

By 2010, U.S. reusable spacecraft are scheduled to make 18 flights – 16 basic and two reserve ones, Anatoly Perminov said.

Roskosmos and NASA, he said, are concerned about the problem of continuity and exchange of experience. Russian cosmonauts will be delegated to participate in missions on board the U.S. shuttles, and U.S. astronauts with a flight record, appointed crew commanders on Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Perminov said.

“Space shuttle launch delayed until July,” MSNBC.com. The launch of STS-121 has been delayed AGAIN because of various small problems (the fuel sensor glitch that delayed STS-114’s launch last year).

The NASA Spaceflight forum has become very popular; unfortunately it means that there is now a subscription-only section where all the really interesting space community news and gossip is – subscription is U.S.$100 a year. :-(

Friday 17/3

NASA Spaceflight: “X-Prize’s Ansari aims for the ISS,” 16/3. Yet another thing to make me feel inadequate. The backup for the next space tourist (Japanese Daisuke Enomoto) is a woman, Anousheh Ansari.

She is the “co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI) and multi-million co-contributor to the X-Prize foundation, is in training in Russia as backup cosmonaut to SFP Daisuke Enomoto (Japan).” She was “Born in 1967 in Iran, Ansari immigrated to the United States in 1984 and attended the George Mason University, where she became a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and computer science. She went on to receive her master’s degree at George Washington University.”

Attractive, intelligent and wealthy – the media will LOVE her. (Yes, I AM jealous.) *Sulks* >:-(

I wonder how Nadezhda Kuzhel’naya will be feeling upon learning that (Nadezhda was the last professional female Russian cosmonaut, who retired in 2004 because she was never given any flight opportunities).

More profiles:

(Why the f**k do I bother existing.)

Sunday 19/3

At Cute Overload: Cuteologist Profile (and a heated discussion at a related Livejournal site). Features a purebred Persian kitten which is what I can only describe as “ugly”! If there is one thing I dislike about the pedigree cat and dog breeders it’s the extremes to which some go to turn normal animals into grotesque mutants which could barely survive without humans to look after them. Examples are flat-faced dogs (Bulldogs) and some cat breeds (see below). Says one commentator from the Livejournal page:

That’s not cute, that’s repulsive. This is a perfect example of why I loathe the American Cat Fancy. if you look at Persians of even fifty years ago, they still had muzzles. Now they’re being intentionally bred to have a recessed face, which causes a nightmare of sinus and ocular problems. How anyone can consider this healthy or attractive is absolutely beyond me.

Two extreme examples at the Cat Fanciers’ Association website:

Tikky, circa 1983

Mum had a Siamese cat called Tikky (1968-1984), who was given to her by my aunt (who had bred them from her queen, Sam). Tikky was the older-style Siamese, with a fuller body and round head. (I don’t have any really good photos of her, unfortunately.) The Wikipedia Siamese Cat article has some more photos. I don’t find the modern version of the breed attractive at all – they resemble anorexic supermodels!

Tuesday 21/3

Fine and sunny weather again, though the mornings are getting chilly. Warm weather towards the end of the week. The newspapers are full of how many gold medals Australia is hauling in during the Commonwealth Games; the rest of the non-Commonwealth world is indifferent. So am I.

Been fussing over my website. Should I use div’s or tables for layout? Is the navigation adequate? I spend so much time dithering about this.

Watched on Sunday the first part of a 2-part documentary about the Blitz in London – “The Blitz: London’s Firestorm” – which was quite riveting! Dad was about 6 years old when World War 2 started; he was with his parents in Manchester, England, but was evacuated to Binbrook during the war. It seems like ancient history! As awful as last year’s terrorist bombings in London were, they pale beside the terror Londoners endured during WW2.

“Antiglobalist Alexander Lukashenko,” Johnson’s Russia List. Some predictable fuss and bother over the elections that reinstalled current Belarus president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, for a third term. The West sees him as corrupt and hope for another “Color Revolution,” which will see Belarus undergo the so-called necessary economic reforms which are so detrimental to the less-well-off.

In my 13/3/2003 journal entry I mentioned that I had bought a science fiction novel called Belarus by Lee Hogan, set 10,000 years into the future on a planet called Belarus. One over-sensitive reviewer at the Amazon.com reviews took offense to this.

Journal extract from 13/3/2003:

I bought a science fiction novel called Belarus by Lee Hogan, a female American author. I rarely buy sci-fi or fantasy books anymore (in fact I’ve not bought any for a long time); I just don’t find other people’s worlds of much interest now, preferring my own. This novel, however, was quite a good read. It got mixed reviews on the Amazon book website and one nitpicking Belarussian was particularly critical. But it’s still a good read, and the cover art is nice! Perhaps the only thing I didn’t like was the resurrection of the Imperial/Tsarist past – a brutal system which saw tyrants oppress much of the population for centuries. One of the main problems with that system is that the people’s welfare depends upon the personality of the tsar or ruler: if you get a benevolent ruler things aren’t too bad, but get a bad one and everyone suffers. The Russian Revolution was intended to dump that bunch of despots … unfortunately, another lot of despots took over under the Communist system. The original ideals got corrupted – the philosophy perhaps was a little too idealistic for the real world.

There are still royal families, of course, in Europe and Britain, but I’ve come around to thinking that they are an outdated institution. They live at taxpayers’ expense and don’t do anything particularly useful! The last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were shot by Bolshevik revolutionaries – and I can’t help feeling, good riddance! I seem to remember reading some years ago that there was some Russian movement to reinstate their Royal Family. Not on your bloody life! Countries are better off without that lot of freeloaders.

I might note that when a referendum was held a few years ago on whether Australia should become a republic, I voted “No” – but would vote “Yes” now. My attitudes have changed greatly.

It’s interesting to note that nearly all fantasy novels – from The Lord of the Rings onwards – feature royal families ruling various feudal systems in whatever fantasy world the authors have invented. Perhaps that is a remnant from our evolutionary past: desiring a strong tribal leader.

Another theme I didn’t like in Belarus was the continuation of religion – in the form of the Russian Orthodox Church there. Another anachronism that has regrettably appeared since the fall of Communism, along with a host of other religions and wacky cults. One hopes that humans would have evolved beyond the need for religion 20,000 years into the future.

While doing a Google search for the author, I came across the review on a nationalist Belarus website, which I present for your amusement: Belarus by Lee Hogan: The thief that stole a whole country: A review by Uladzimir Katkouski. Mate, get over it.

Looking at the rest of the site, they are a group of Russian-hating nationalist fanatics. Yawn. Nationalism and religious fanatics are the two greatest curses of humanity.

Expedition 12 relocated Soyuz TMA-7 from the nadir port of Zarya to the aft end of Zvezda yesterday (the second time they relocated it). Expedition 13 has arrived at Baikonur to prepare for their upcoming launch.

And just what every ISS crew needs, a blesséd cross to take with them! I suppose it could be regarded as a good luck charm …

20/03/2006: The blessed cross of Gospoden will be sent to the ISS

Yesterday, the holiest patriarch completed the godly liturgy in the Uspenski cathedral of the Kremlin. On the second Sunday of Lent [Великого поста], the Russian Orthodox Church noted the transient day of the sacred memory of Grigorii Palamy, archbishop Fessalonitskii, and also the holiday in the honor of the Mother “Heavenly Protector” icon of Bozhiyei.

After the divine service the holiest patriarch invited into his Kremlin residence for conversation the Federal Space Agency leader A.N. Perminov, the airman-cosmonaut A.A. Leonov, and A.I. Gal’kevich, the general director of Satellite Communication Systems Enterprises.

The holiest Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Aleksei Vtoroi, entrusted to the Federal Space Agency leader Anatolii Perminov the blessed cross of Gospoden, which will be sent to the International Space Station within the framework of the conducted international charitable activity “Easter in outer space.” Being located on the ISS, the cross of Gospoden will fly around the Earth and protect the cosmonauts and astronauts who work on the station, and also all Earthlings, from misfortunes, catastrophes and unfavorable natural phenomena.

The holiest Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, Aleksei Vtoroi, awarded Anatolii Perminov the order “Holy Danil of Moscow[?] («Святого Даниила Московского»)” of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Roskosmos leader Anatolii Perminov and Airman-Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov invited the holiest patriarch to visit the Baikonur spaceport during the launch to the ISS of the next international Russian-American-Brazilian space crew.

Russian version, Русская версия: Благословенный Крест Господен будет отправлен на МКС.

I have to admit that I do rather like the Orthodox priests’ outfits – they look like sorcerers from a fantasy novel!

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 540:

20/03/2006/15:31 – TsUP are ready for contingency situations with the departure of cosmonauts from the ISS

Mission Control Center is ready for possible contingency situations with the embarkation of cosmonauts from the International Space Station, said Vladimir Solov’ev, certified flight control officer of the ISS Russian segment. “if we see that the descent to the Earth is not nominal, then we issue onboard a so-called ‘Form 14’. This is a table in which are prescribed engine firing times for each turn, so that the cosmonauts could calculate everything and land in the zones determined by international agreements according to space,” he said to journalists on Monday.

According to Solov’ev, besides Kazakhstan this includes the territory of the Ukraine, Belorussia, and also some European countries. “This region, for example, exists in the south of France, are provided also sea landings,” specified the flight control officer.

As Solov’ev noted, if the descent vehicle is deflected from the predetermined trajectory of descent in the territory of Kazakhstan, in TsUP they know the other calculated places of its landing. “We know where to search for the crew if necessary,” he said. Speaking about the upcoming reorganization of the cosmonaut space search and rescue service, Solov’ev guaranteed that this will not influence the incipient departure of the 12th ISS Expedition, considered for the beginning of April. “With this landing nothing will change – the same quantity of aircraft, helicopters and personnel will be in operation,” he said.

Russian version, Русская версия: В ЦУПе готовы к нештатным ситуациям при посадке космонавтов с МКС.

Wednesday 22/3

Poor Sasha (our Bichon Frise) has to have some teeth removed next Tuesday! He hasn’t had bones to chew on for a few years (they made him sick) so his teeth have got very bad.

Friday 24/3

The weather is STILL warm (and a bit humid). Not happy!

I have been fretting and fussing with the site navigation again, so I am trying having it at the top of every page for now.

Last week’s Cyclone Larry in Queensland has nearly decimated the banana industry, which means there will be a shortage of bananas for the next few months. I don’t normally eat them, though Mum and Dad do.

Daylight Savings is extended by a week this year (ends Sunday 2 April) due to the Commonwealth Games. :-(

Watched an episode last night from a series called “Force of Nature” on ABC TV about various adventurers who get themselves into trouble. “In 1994, a British Army expedition of 10 men set out to become the first to explore Low’s Gully in Borneo. Armed with 10 days’ rations and a video camera, they descended into the abyss.” The somewhat innocuously-named gully was a really creepy place: an immensely deep chasm (originally formed by a glacier) that resembled a descent into the Underworld. The locals believed the place was haunted by dead souls, and this wasn’t hard to believe after seeing that scenery. Awesome Mount Kinabalu.

Expedition 13 launch next week on Soyuz TMA-8, on 29 March at 21:30 UTC, so it will be 30 March 08:30 here (+11 hours with Daylight Savings).

“Gangsters smuggling 100,000 puppies a year into Germany,” The Australian, 23/3. Those horrid humans who traffic and sell women from Eastern Europe are also doing the same with dogs – and you can be certain the dogs (like the unfortunate women) aren’t treated humanely. I would love to have these bastards shot.

MORE than 100,000 puppies a year are being smuggled into Germany from eastern Europe in a hugely profitable racket by gangsters using similar methods to human traffickers. Although Germany is regarded as the main gateway, the animal trade is growing in many north European countries and attention was focused on it yesterday by a pathetic find at the Swedish port of Karlskrone. A batch of Rottweiler and Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies were impounded after being discovered hidden in car boots on a ferry from Poland. The smell led customs investigators to the dogs. Three men and a woman have been arrested. Because the puppies, aged between six and eight weeks, were too young to be quarantined they were put down.

Animal rights activists in Germany claim the illicit trade, designed to exploit a shortage of dogs, is booming. “In Poland, Hungary or the Czech Republic, you can buy a West Highland or a Yorkshire Terrier for E40 ($67),” says Renate Zipp, of the League Against Animal Abuse. “Take them to Germany and you can pick up over E1500.” Prices in Sweden are said to be higher, and the profit margins are even larger for puppies smuggled from Ukraine. There, gangs have set up breeding centres to feed the west European demand for fashionable dogs.

Dog ownership in Germany is tightly regulated, involving supervised injections, microchips, canine identity cards and the payment of a regular dog tax. The rules make the acquisition of a dog highly expensive. But the dog smugglers avoid all this by placing personal advertisements in local German newspapers on behalf of the east European gangs. They present themselves as genuine breeders. “As soon as half-a-dozen prospective buyers have responded to the adv, the order is passed on,” Steffen Seckler, of Germany’s Animal Protection League, said yesterday.

The east European breeders send their price lists to dog traders in Germany, and fake documents are drawn up to establish a pedigree for the animals and boost the price. The techniques are similar to those used by brothel-owners in Germany, who either order in young women from people-traffickers or who are offered possible prostitutes by gangsters trawling east European suburbs. They too are smuggled in vans across the Ukrainian-Polish border and given false papers.

German police have found it difficult to determine the scope of the illegal dog business. But according to animal rights experts, at least 100,000 puppies are imported, some legally, and a large but unknown quantity of dogs have been brought into the country illegally by people posing as breeders.

The demand is for fashionable dogs: small terriers (easily smuggled), Labradors, Golden Retrievers and hunting dogs such as Rhodesian Ridgebacks. The animals are drugged when they are taken across borders. Ms Zipp has found evidence of Hungarian puppies being sold as far away as Spain. Animal activists say illegally acquired dogs are regularly sold in French and Italian pet shops and at car boot sales.

Google is at long last initiating its own web hosting service (Google Page Creator), though this is still currently in the “beta” (test) stage and only open to those with a Google Gmail account (if anyone wants one just sent an e-mail to my Gmail account via my Contact page – as of this writing I have about 100 invitations to use up!). There is 100 MB of storage! I suppose there will be the Google ads on the pages, though these are not as irritating as the Geocities or Angelfire ones (their ads on the free hosted sites are so annoying that I am reluctant to visit any sites hosted by them now). I probably won’t do much with this account, but it is a useful backup if I ever need it.

Saturday 25/3

Had a strange dream involving my grandmother’s home last night; a doorway in her bedroom led into an underground cellar or labyrinth filled with lots of books.

I watched this week’s “Air Crash Investigation” episode that I had videotaped, this concerning the controversial EgyptAir Flight 990 accident. The NTSB determined that the relief copilot, Gameel Al-Batouti, had put the jet into a dive to commit suicide due to his personal problems. The Egyptian authorities rejected the evidence for this and insisted the jet had suffered mechanical failure. (NTSB Aircraft Accident Brief.)

I am considering deleting my MKS site and reintegrating it back into Kosmonavtka. It probably would be better there as it is about the ISS Russian segment only (i.e. not a comprehensive site about the whole Station). It would also be one less site to manage!

Sunday 26/3

I deleted the MKS site and it is now back inside Kosmonavtka. (Linking to any pages in my site is dangerous, as I tend to keep changing URLs; I can’t decide on what to name some pages!)

Update 11/11/2006: … And in June I decided to reinstate it!

I turned on my digital camera this morning and the LCD screen had become distorted and jagged. The camera was fine when I used it 2 days ago. Dad said the LCD had gone. Don’t know if it is repairable.

I discovered (via one of the sites listed below) that a period (.) can be used for separating website file names, as well as a dash (-) and underscore (_). A period is easier to type than an underscore, so perhaps I will rename all underscored files (and images) using this … *sigh* More fussing with files coming up. (Actually I should have used a period in my domain name, too – suzy.mchale.com – but too late now.)

A few sites I have found in my wanderings are personal sites that I like the design of because they are simple, unlike the web designers’ sites. The sites, listed below are full of interesting information on various topics. The authors are generally technical or academic types who have been using the Internet/WWW for many years.

Monday 27/3

The Games are over, at long last. Two RAAF F/A-18 Hornets were circling high up again yesterday evening, from around 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., enforcing a no-fly zone (no passenger jets came over during that time). The fighter jets came from the south-east, so looking at the location map on their site, the base would perhaps have been East Sale. If I had a radio scanner, perhaps I would have been able to eavesdrop on their conversation! They would have had an awesome view from up there. (The RAAF site isn’t too bad in design – it uses a Dreamweaver template – though it needs some modernizing and they should do away with the Flash intro.) If my life had been different, perhaps I might have joined up … but too late now (and definitely not under John Howard’s regime, where military personnel might get sent to Iraq to get blown up).

I have been doing a LOT of file renaming (I decided to use dashes), sorry … there might be a few broken links.

The graffiti vandals were at work in the neighborhood again last night; the gate next door got “tagged,” though they missed our fence (this time). I would like to get the spray paint cans off them and cover their clothes with paint – see how they like it then! The corner shops up the road have been covered in graffiti for the last few years and look awful.

Tuesday 28/3

Sasha (the dog) has to get his back teeth out today! He will be under a general anaesthetic, so he can’t have anything to eat before the operation (10 a.m. this morning), and is looking quite bewildered at not having his breakfast. Hope he won’t have a bad reaction to it (he turned 10 years old last September; he was born 2 September 1995]).

Oh, what irony: the parliamentary elections in Ukraine have seen President Viktor Yushchenko lose the elections and the former president, Viktor Yanukovych, regain power. The newspapers in the West are reporting this in gloom-laden tones (the possibility of Ukraine becoming closer to Russia again has them all upset). Yulia Tymoshenko is also still in contention.

And a sarcastic opinion piece on the recent fuss about Belarus: “Belarus: So, where is the Revolution?,” Pravda.ru, 21/3.

(If Pravda.ru want to be taken more seriously, they should dump the naked-lady photos – don’t all rush there at once! – and silly UFO stories.)

Sasha got through the operation and seems to be OK (if a bit wobbly from the anaesthetic). :-)

Thursday 30/3

I am still fretting over the site navigation, and page names. I think I have “obsessive-compulsive website rearranging disorder”! I am paralyzed with indecision so I haven’t done anything else. I feel tired and have a headache.

Total eclipse over Baikonur (Yahoo! News)

Expedition 13 launched on a Soyuz rocket today at Baikonur at 02:30:20 UTC. There was a total solar eclipse in the Northern Hemisphere, including over Baikonur, as the photo above shows (from Yahoo! News). As the launch went well, the eclipse was evidently a good omen! The eclipse was also seen from the ISS (photos ISS012-E-21343 and ISS012-E-21351).

April

Saturday 1/4

A cold change came in overnight so it feels like Autumn, at last.

The Grand Prix is on tomorrow in Melbourne, and there was an F/A-18 Hornet flying overhead yesterday afternoon.

“Darkness of the Eclipse a Call for Enlightenment,” NASA. Jeffery Williams gushes about the eclipse inspiring exploration and discovery, Pavel Vinogradov apparently is rather unmoved by the event. I would have remarked that the eclipse or its shadow (from orbit) resembled a black chasm opening into the Underworld! It also resembled that black monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was a gateway or wormhole (a Star Gate) leading to other distant regions of the Universe. All that was needed was for one of the ISS crew to exclaim, “Oh my God – it’s full of stars!”

Another success for the Russian space program! Soyuz TMA-8 docked right on time at 04:19 UTC (3:19 p.m. here). (I never take good launches, dockings and landings for granted!) I just caught the docking on NASA TV. The crew spend about 1.5 hours checking airlocks and equalizing the pressure between the ISS and Soyuz before opening hatches.

Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov (backup for Marcus Pontes) is rather nice-looking! (2 years, 7 months younger than me.) But married.

Sunday 2/4

Daylight Savings is OVER! Such relief! I wish it could be abolished everywhere.

Got ANOTHER puncture in my rear bicycle tyre while out riding this morning (I got two punctures last year), so a nearly half-hour walk home. My bike is old, clunky and a pig to ride, and I hate the damn thing.

Got a copy of Office 2003 and FrontPage 2002 off a family friend. FP2002 is only a very small improvement over FP 2000. (*Covets Dreamweaver*) The search-and-replace is a tiny bit better (can select specific pages in Folder List view to search, rather than have to go through the whole Web as FP 2000 did).

I just found out in Windows XP how to enable typing in Cyrillic in search boxes in non-Unicode programs:

Control Panel → Regional and Language Options → Advanced → Language for non-Unicode Programs, then select the languages you want to be able to type in. Cool!

Monday 3/4

Today I changed and repaired my bicycle’s punctured rear tyre ALL BY MYSELF! Woo-hoo! :-) It took me a rather long time, but I did it eventually. I couldn’t find what caused the puncture, though. And getting the tyre off and on the frame was a big effort in itself, not to mention figuring out which way the chain went on the gears!

Forgot to mention last week that the Government’s new Industrial Relation laws came into effect last Monday. Quite a few employers are taking the opportunity to sack their workers. Anonymous Lefty: Disaster!: Sarcastic post from Mr. Lefty.

Am still fretting about the navigation for my site, and page URL names. Expect more alterations. *Sigh* I have this exasperating habit of dithering: being unable to make a decision. I am this way when trying to decide whether I want to buy something; I sometimes change my mind later and end up returning the item to the store!

A certain cosmonaut made yet another guest appearance in a dream last night; for some reason he was staying in the spare bedroom of my parents’ home!

An entry from the Pausanius blog, at Encyclopedia Astronautica (I don’t know who writes it – Mark Wade?), who sounds as exasperated with the continuing Shuttle delays as I feel. (Accept the risks and just launch the bloody thing!!! Like last year, the launch date seems to be a mirage that moves away every time you approach it.)

Fear grounds shuttle forever? – 2006-03-23

Meanwhile, NASA keeps the shuttle grounded, now for problems with a fuel sensor that has acted up on previous missions. Reading between the lines, one wonders how the shuttle, purportedly designed in the 1970’s for “airline-type operations,” has a fuel gauging system that shuts down all three engines in the event of the failure of a one of three redundant quantity sensors. Airlines regularly fly with fuel gauging systems completely inoperative (with rare catastrophic consequences, as with the recent airliner crash off Sicily and the dead-stick landing of a DC-10 on a Canadian drag strip in the 1980’s). Instead NASA should admit that the Shuttle system will inherently fail catastrophically around 1 to 2% of the time and simply operate it accordingly. Whatever will fail next time will by definition be something you haven’t identified now. And endless downtime and reworking of everything only increases the risk that something else critical might be damaged in the process.

So quit mucking about and instead fly the remaining ISS missions with minimum crews willing to accept this level of risk. Quit stuffing each mission full of seven astronauts. Or if this is politically untenable, fly the shuttle unmanned in order to deliver remaining ISS elements and use the Soyuz for ISS crew rotation. NASA has now been freed by Congress to order as many Soyuz as needed until the CEV flies (if ever). But somehow, wind the shuttle up as quickly as possible and move on to something safer. These endless delays only increase the likelihood that the shuttle will never fly again, and the ISS never completed.

Thanks to Aleksandr Krasnyansky, I found that there is a real live cosmonaut blog online, by cosmonaut candidate Sergei Ryazanskii! (He is in the most recent training group, selected in 2003.) It is in Russian, at Livejournal: Мысли ни о чем, или обо всем сразу (the bad Babelfish translation is “Thoughts not about which, or about everything immediately”).

At least one cosmonaut knows how to use the Internet! ;-)

Tuesday 4/4

The proper Autumn weather arrived this week, at long last!

There was a 4 Corners program on last night called Sex Slaves, which I missed as I had fallen asleep, but Mum and Dad were talking about it in the car this morning on the way to Southland. It focused on the evil trade in women sex slaves in Eastern Europe and Russia. And what an indictment on Russian society today when even my parents remarked that people there were better off in the Communist era (when there was at least social welfare)! I don’t think that this scourge would have been tolerated then. The ruthless (mostly male) humans who propagate this trade deserve execution. After the collapse of the USSR, a lot of women in those countries became impoverished and desperate to get out, so they are vulnerable to exploitation by criminals. And the governments of these countries are too apathetic or corrupt to bother to do anything. (There is an organization called the Angel Coalition fighting the sex slave trade.)

The most negative aspect of Russia’s liberalized economy has been widespread corruption and criminal activity and the failure of government to contain them. One of the most dangerous results of this inaction has been the rapid rise of international criminal trafficking in human beings – including children – for purposes of prostitution into Russia. In just a single decade, Russia has become one of the main source and receiving countries for the international trafficking in women and children, child prostitution, child sex tourism and child pornography. These forms of violent exploitation are so widespread in Russia that they are a daily threat the lives and well-being of tens of thousands of youth and children.

Although sexual exploitation of minors occurs in all regions of Russia, it manifests most acutely in Moscow. As the nation’s largest and most influential city – the gateway to Europe – it serves as a magnet not only for homeless children looking for work but for pimps and traffickers who import women and children into Moscow from economically depressed regions and former Soviet republics for purposes of prostitution and sexual slavery.

According to the Moscow militia more than 70,000 victims of trafficking for prostitution are currently in Moscow. Ninety percent of them are women and girls and 80% of them are under 18 years of age. Exacerbating their fate is the fact that there is currently no system of rescue or rehabilitation for these girls – only deportation if they are caught by police.

– Trafficking from Russia & the CIS: History & Trends

Wednesday 5/4

From “10 Questions for Mikhail Gorbachev,” by Sally B. Donelly, Time Magazine, 2 April 2006 (I won’t link to the URL as articles are archived after one week with paid-only access).

Q: Why did you write your new book about perestroika?

A: We think the introduction of perestroika in the Soviet Union [in 1985] was one of the three most significant events in Soviet history – the others are the 1917 revolution and the victory in World War II. On the 20th anniversary, we thought it important to note it and explain it. And while there has been sharp debate in Russia about perestroika – many people have considered it a bad thing for the country – I think people are starting to change, and polls are showing people appreciate what it did for the country. Seventy-seven percent of Russians say they want to live in a free and democratic country. That is the legacy of perestroika.

Q: Who still thinks perestroika was bad for Russia?

A: The old ruling class, the former communists, veterans. I understand – they have very hard lives now. Life is very difficult for some in Russia today. But I want them to think about it again.

Q: What is the root of the current difficulties in the lives of many Russians?

A: [Former President Boris] Yeltsin ruined the country. He allowed the wealth of the country to be taken by a few people. And the West was never critical of Yeltsin. I think President Vladimir Putin is correcting the mess that Yeltsin made.

Q: Is Putin on the right track?

A: Putin is trying to move toward more social-democratic policies – to improve health care, education and the like. But just as Russia is beginning to rise again, the West doesn’t accept it. America is intoxicated by its position as the world’s only superpower. It wants to impose its will. But America needs to get over that. It has responsibilities as well as power. I say this as a good friend of America.

Q: The U.S. seems worried about some antidemocratic developments in Russia, such as Kremlin control of the media.

A: The U.S. should be concerned about Russian domestic issues if Russians are concerned. Yes, the media are under some assault. There are some authoritarian methods being used. That is not in the interests of the people. Democracy is fragile.

Q: Do you think we are moving back toward a cold war?

A: I think some people may be pushing President Bush in the wrong direction. I don’t think the U.S. can impose its will on others. This talk of pre-emptive strikes, of ignoring the U.N. Security Council and international legal obligations – all this is leading toward a dark night.

Q: Is Condoleezza Rice one of those people?

A: Oh, I don’t think so. She is a knowledgeable person, a person who knows Russia, a cultured person. She is one who is committed to political and diplomatic solutions. But she is having a difficult time. So did Colin Powell.

I have been reading through a rough translation of cosmonaut Sergei Ryazanskii’s Livejournal, and he echoes some of my thoughts: He is concerned about the lack of flight opportunities for unflown cosmonauts, and was very unimpressed with Sergei Polonskii being a potential Russian space tourist (referring to him as a “bandit” or “gangster,” бандита). I remarked on my 2004 Cosmonaut News page:

An article appeared in The Moscow Times about another prospective space tourist, a rather dubious character called Sergei Polonskii, as described in “Construction Mogul Bargains for Space Ride”.

“It’s not hard to have a lot of money,” he mused. “It’s hard to know how to spend it with style.”

… Polonskii’s reputation, meanwhile, is at best mixed. On the record, his peers say he is known for keeping his word and there’s no project he has started and not finished. Off the record, they paint a less rosy picture, describing him as young and arrogant, someone known to stand important business partners up.

… Flying to space would not be the first way Polonskii has spent stylishly to distinguish himself within glittering Russian social circles.

In other words, he’s the type of arrogant sh*t who thinks he can buy anything with his millions, and only wants to go into space to impress his equally arrogant wealthy mates. Despite his millions, he is too mean to even pay the full fare (trying to negotiate down to $8 million). Those in the “glittering Russian social circles” mentioned were the sorts who got shot during the last Revolution. And good riddance, too!!!

This carry-on will only be another excuse for the Western media to make fun of the Russian space program.

And I still think he (and others like him) deserves to be shot!!! (I can envision his personality exactly – a charming con-artist. And a certain type of woman would find him attractive.)

Sergei Ryazanskii also has a small website, Сергей Рязанский (for some reason, the narod.ru host server is VERY slow on my link). He was born on 13 November 1974, so he is 1463 days (4 years 2 days) younger than me! (Calculate duration between two dates) He also likes parachuting :-).

It started off sunny today, then a cold front came through in the afternoon with rain and it is now about 10°C. I like being able to pile on layers of clothes or huddle in bed under my blankets with an electric blanket! A relief from the awful misery of 40° heat.

Ten years ago (1996) my main interest was UFOs and conspiracy theories. The X-Files was screening on TV; a favorite program of mine then (a few years later it had reached its used-by date, and I lost interest). Some of my favorites were the secret underground bases such as at Area 51 (Groom Lake); mysterious aircraft, a secret cabal controlling the world and so forth. (I now think these appealed in part because they implied that someone, or some people were in control of the world – which seemed preferable to the insane chaos of the real world.)

In my imagination, as I always did for my interests, I created stories and characters for my daydreams. These interests had evolved from a few years earlier (after I exited my anorexic phase in 1993) which were focused on mythology and fantasy. I spent the entire 1990s living inside my imagination! Once the interest in UFOs, etc. faded, I moved onto the spaceflight program.

Anyway, I mentioned all that (I will have to go into more detail sometime), as a favorite related subject then was Remote Viewing and the Russian and American government programs supposedly involved. I read a book called Psychic Warrior by David Moorhouse, which I liked then (although a lot of it was apparently embellished – Truth About Dave Morehouse). For some reason all that just popped into my head earlier (I was trying to remember the name “Remote Viewing”).

Since my teenage years (and after reading the Stephen King novels Firestarter and Carrie when I was 13 or so) always wished for psychic powers of some sort to zap annoying/threatening people with! And being able to astral travel would be cool (if you can’t afford air fares in the real world, go astral traveling instead!). In reality, though, the existence of these abilities in humans seems to mostly be wishful thinking. I am dubious of a lot of so-called psychic phenomena, though I would not discount it all entirely; I believe there are some things about the human mind that are a long way from being understood. I can’t recall having any psychic experiences myself (much to my dismay!), although Mum did mention that an aunt seemed to have some inclinations in that direction. Also I can have very realistic night-dreams (e.g. traveling to various places). A part of me WANTS there to be more to life than the r ather mundane reality around me; wants mystery and magic! But I am wary of being deceived.

Friday 7/4

This week’s Air Crash Investigation concerned the hijacking of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, which graphically illustrated (via a fortuitous home video) what happens to an airliner when it hits the water! And also why not to inflate your lifejacket until after you exit the aircraft. Last week’s ACI was about Philippine Airlines Flight 434.

Was thoroughly disgusted to learn that Melbourne is to get yet another sports stadium, a high-tech contraption costing up to $190 million, most of it funded by taxpayers. “The sporting capital of the world is on another winner”! chirrups the Herald-Sun editorial. I suppose the Victorian government is unaware of the phrase “Bread and circuses”.

Sunday 9/4

Expedition 12 & Marcos Pontes undocked last night in Soyuz TMA-7 at 20:28 UTC 8 April (I forgot all about it!) – 6:28 a.m. Melbourne time today (Sunday 9 here). They are due to land at 23:48 UTC (9:48 a.m. here).

Deorbit burn begain at 22:58 and just ended at 23:02, so they are safely through the atmosphere. Now for the parachutes to open …!

Module separation was at 23:22.

23:41: Parachutes have opened, and there are 7 minutes to landing.

23:48: Landed safely! Right on time.

Tuesday 13/4

A family member has to have some neurological tests in May, and a family friend has come down with shingles, so I haven’t felt inclined to write anything much. Everyone around me seems to be getting old and increasingly affected with ailments.

I forgot yesterday (12 April) was Cosmonautics Day, день космонавтики: 45 years since Yurii Gagarin’s flight and 25 years since the launch of the first space shuttle (STS-1, Columbia). (Yurii would be 72 if still alive; he was born one year later [1934] than Dad and in the same month, so it is easy to remember!)

In an Novosti Kosmonavtiki news item (№ 545) for 11 April, the ever-entertaining Nikolai Sevast’yanov (head of Energiya) has stated that he wishes to fly around the Moon with none other than cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov!!! (Could I come too?)

Russian version, Русская версия: Глава РКК «Энергия» хочет лично облететь Луну.

Пятнца 14/4

A cold front came through this afternoon and it has been raining since then. The neighborhood thugs were at work again last night; I saw on my afternoon walk down a nearby street that the glass windows of two bus shelters had been smashed, two street signs uprooted and another sign smashed. I wish for a shotgun.

Today was a real public holiday for most (instead of for office workers only) – i.e. almost no shops open. Such a novelty now, and how quiet it was.

Saturday 15/4

It’s been cold and wet all day, though this had abated somewhat by the afternoon.

I had one of those awful nights where I could not get to sleep at all until around 2 a.m. (arose as usual at around 5 a.m. – I never sleep in), so I am rather tired. It was one of those episodes where I had so many thoughts going through my head that I couldn’t settle down – as well as it being so quiet that I seemed to be able to hear every noise in the neighborhood, and fretting about vandals possibly coming past our house (they didn’t this time).

Went for a walk this afternoon around the neighborhood. Autumn is a nice time of year to walk. My suburb used to be a pleasant area, but the graffiti and vandalism which I keep ranting about are evident, and it is become crowded and overdeveloped, ruining the character of the area (either huge and ugly “McMansions” are being built after the original smaller house is demolished, or two or three townhouses are crowded onto a single block of land). I wish at times we could move, but where? The suburb is an old one, close to all amenities and public transport, and I have lived here all my life so far, and would miss it very much if we ever do move. I wish it had not become so unpleasant to live in.

I love deciduous trees (Northern Hemisphere ones – maples, birches, liquid ambers, oaks and such), whose leaves turn gold and red in the autumn. There were quite a lot planted in the area decades ago, but these are gradually being felled and usually not replaced. The council seems to only want to plant ugly native trees (of which I am generally not a fan), which are almost useless for shade in summer. In a hot climate, shady trees are vital for people walking about outside, to protect them from the sun, and for a pleasant atmosphere. Only the deciduous trees seem to have this pleasing, cooling aspect in summer; most of the native trees don’t (they tend to be dry and scraggly). There are also fanatic environmentalist-types who believe that only native trees should be planted (I refer to them as the “Natives Nazis”).

It would be nice to live near a forest and be able to walk through it.

I think I am living in the wrong country sometimes … but where would I go, if I could afford to?

On a whim, I looked up the author H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925) at Wikipedia and found that my favorite novel by him, She, is online at Gutenburg Books. I am not sure when I first read this novel; perhaps when I was a teenager, but it has evocative writing and scenes which left an impression, especially the ancient and powerful woman of the title, Ayesha. I like his style of writing, which is quite eloquent. Also, he tells a compelling story without resorting to crude sex scenes or swearing! A rarity in writing these days.

Below, Ayesha first reveals herself to the narrator:

She lifted her white and rounded arms – never had I seen such arms before – and slowly, very slowly, withdrew some fastening beneath her hair. Then all of a sudden the long, corpse-like wrappings fell from her to the ground, and my eyes traveled up her form, now only robed in a garb of clinging white that did but serve to show its perfect and imperial shape, instinct with a life that was more than life, and with a certain serpent-like grace that was more than human. On her little feet were sandals, fastened with studs of gold. Then came ankles more perfect than ever sculptor dreamed of. About the waist her white kirtle was fastened by a double-headed snake of solid gold, above which her gracious form swelled up in lines as pure as they were lovely, till the kirtle ended on the snowy argent of her breast, whereon her arms were folded. I gazed above them at her face, and – I do not exaggerate – shrank back blinded and amazed. I have heard of the beauty of celestial beings, now I saw it; only this beauty, with all its awful loveliness and purity, was evil – at least, at the time, it struck me as evil. How am I to describe it? I cannot – simply I cannot! The man does not live whose pen could convey a sense of what I saw. I might talk of the great changing eyes of deepest, softest black, of the tinted face, of the broad and noble brow, on which the hair grew low, and delicate, straight features. But, beautiful, surpassingly beautiful as they all were, her loveliness did not lie in them. It lay rather, if it can be said to have had any fixed abiding place, in a visible majesty, in an imperial grace, in a godlike stamp of softened power, which shone upon that radiant countenance like a living halo. Never before had I guessed what beauty made sublime could be – and yet, the sublimity was a dark one – the glory was not all of heaven – though none the less was it glorious. Though the face before me was that of a young woman of certainly not more than thirty years, in perfect health, and the first flush of ripened beauty, yet it had stamped upon it a look of unutterable experience, and of deep acquaintance with grief and passion. Not even the lovely smile that crept about the dimples of her mouth could hide this shadow of sin and sorrow. It shone even in the light of the glorious eyes, it was present in the air of majesty, and it seemed to say: “Behold me, lovely as no woman was or is, undying and half-divine; memory haunts me from age to age, and passion leads me by the hand – evil have I done, and from age to age evil I shall do, and sorrow shall I know till my redemption comes.”

And an extract from Chapter 26, “What We Saw,” about Ayesha’s ending:

Then came a few moments’ pause, during which Ayesha seemed to be gathering up her strength for the fiery trial, while we clung to each other, and waited in utter silence.

At last, from far far away, came the first murmur of sound, that grew and grew till it began to crash and bellow in the distance. As she heard it, Ayesha swiftly threw off her gauzy wrapping, loosened the golden snake from her kirtle, and then, shaking her lovely hair about her like a garment, beneath its cover slipped the kirtle off and replaced the snaky belt around her and outside the masses of her falling hair. There she stood before us as Eve might have stood before Adam, clad in nothing but her abundant locks, held round her by the golden band; and no words of mine can tell how sweet she looked – and yet how divine. Nearer and nearer came the thunder-wheels of fire, and as they came she pushed one ivory arm through the dark masses of her hair and flung it round Leo’s neck.

“Oh, my love, my love!” she murmured, “wilt thou ever know how I have loved thee?” and she kissed him on the forehead, and then went and stood in the pathway of the flame of Life.

There was, I remember, to my mind something very touching about her words and that embrace upon the forehead. It was like a mother’s kiss, and seemed to convey a benediction with it.

On came the crashing, rolling noise, and the sound of it was as the sound of a forest being swept flat by a mighty wind, and then tossed up like so much grass, and thundered down a mountain-side. Nearer and nearer it came; now flashes of light, forerunners of the revolving pillar of flame, were passing like arrows through the rosy air; and now the edge of the pillar itself appeared. Ayesha turned towards it, and stretched out her arms to greet it. On it came very slowly, and lapped her round with flame. I saw the fire run up her form. I saw her lift it with both hands as though it were water, and pour it over her head. I even saw her open her mouth and draw it down into her lungs, and a dread and wonderful sight it was.

Then she paused, and stretched out her arms, and stood there quite still, with a heavenly smile upon her face, as though she were the very Spirit of the Flame.

The mysterious fire played up and down her dark and rolling locks, twining and twisting itself through and around them like threads of golden lace; it gleamed upon her ivory breast and shoulder, from which the hair had slipped aside; it slid along her pillared throat and delicate features, and seemed to find a home in the glorious eyes that shone and shone, more brightly even than the spiritual essence.

Oh, how beautiful she looked there in the flame! No angel out of heaven could have worn a greater loveliness. Even now my heart faints before the recollection of it, as she stood and smiled at our awed faces, and I would give half my remaining time upon this earth to see her once like that again.

But suddenly – more suddenly than I can describe – a kind of change came over her face, a change which I could not define or explain, but none the less a change. The smile vanished, and in its place there came a dry, hard look; the rounded face seemed to grow pinched, as though some great anxiety were leaving its impress upon it. The glorious eyes, too, lost their light, and, as I thought, the form its perfect shape and erectness.

I rubbed my eyes, thinking that I was the victim of some hallucination, or that the refraction from the intense light produced an optical delusion; and, as I did so, the flaming pillar slowly twisted and thundered off whithersoever it passes to in the bowels of the great earth, leaving Ayesha standing where it had been.

As soon as it was gone, she stepped forward to Leo’s side – it seemed to me that there was no spring in her step – and stretched out her hand to lay it on his shoulder. I gazed at her arm. Where was its wonderful roundness and beauty? It was getting thin and angular. And her face – by Heaven! – her face was growing old before my eyes! I suppose that Leo saw it also; certainly he recoiled a step or two.

“What is it, my Kallikrates?” she said, and her voice – what was the matter with those deep and thrilling notes? They were quite high and cracked.

“Why, what is it – what is it?” she said confusedly. “I feel dazed. Surely the quality of the fire hath not altered. Can the principle of Life alter? Tell me, Kallikrates, is there aught wrong with my eyes? I see not clear,” and she put her hand to her head and touched her hair – and oh, horror of horrors! – it all fell upon the floor.

“Oh, look! – look! – look!” shrieked Job, in a shrill falsetto of terror, his eyes nearly dropping out of his head, and foam upon his lips. “Look! – look! – look! she’s shriveling up! she’s turning into a monkey!” and down he fell upon the ground, foaming and gnashing in a fit.

True enough – I faint even as I write it in the living presence of that terrible recollection – she was shriveling up; the golden snake that had encircled her gracious form slipped over her hips and to the ground; smaller and smaller she grew; her skin changed colour, and in place of the perfect whiteness of its luster it turned dirty brown and yellow, like an piece of withered parchment. She felt at her head: the delicate hand was nothing but a claw now, a human talon like that of a badly-preserved Egyptian mummy, and then she seemed to realize what kind of change was passing over her, and she shrieked – ah, she shrieked! – she rolled upon the floor and shrieked!

Smaller she grew, and smaller yet, till she was no larger than a monkey. Now the skin was puckered into a million wrinkles, and on the shapeless face was the stamp of unutterable age. I never saw anything like it; nobody ever saw anything like the frightful age that was graven on that fearful countenance, no bigger now than that of a two-months’ child, though the skull remained the same size, or nearly so, and let all men pray they never may, if they wish to keep their reason.

At last she lay still, or only feebly moving. She, who but two minutes before had gazed upon us the loveliest, noblest, most splendid woman the world has ever seen, she lay still before us, near the masses of her own dark hair, no larger than a big monkey, and hideous – ah, too hideous for words. And yet, think of this – at that very moment I thought of it – it was the same woman!

She was dying: we saw it, and thanked God – for while she lived she could feel, and what must she have felt? She raised herself upon her bony hands, and blindly gazed around her, swaying her head slowly from side to side as a tortoise does. She could not see, for her whitish eyes were covered with a horny film. Oh, the horrible pathos of the sight! But she could still speak.

“Kallikrates,” she said in husky, trembling notes. “Forget me not, Kallikrates. Have pity on my shame; I shall come again, and shall once more be beautiful, I swear it – it is true! Oh-h-h –” and she fell upon her face, and was still.

On the very spot where more than twenty centuries before she had slain Kallikrates the priest, she herself fell down and died.

There is a sequel, which I haven’t read: Ayesha, the Return of She. (Unfortunately the only format available is a text file, .txt, not HTML.)

Sunday 16/4

“Privatizing for profit,” Space4Peace blog. In the U.S., as in Australia, governments there are keen to privatize everything that was publicly-owned, putting profit-motivated corporations in charge of what should be public assets. It means that costs to the public will go up and up while service decreases, as the corporations want to minimize costs and maximize profits for their shareholders. This trend is going to be sorely regretted one day.

That hairstyle again (see 21/8/2005 entry). From a fashion section in last week’s The Age:

Not long after Ukrainians swarmed into the streets to protest against corrupt politicians (to cut a long story short) in the Orange Revolution of 2004, a rash of plaits hit catwalks across Europe. A bone-fide fashion revolution. The coiled “frau” braid particularly suddenly wasn’t dopey any more. The reason wasn’t immediately apparent, but became obvious when footage of the-then Ukrainian prime minister – a key leader in the Orange Revolution – was beamed around the world

What a frau. What a revolutionary. In her mid-40s, Yulia Tymoshenko looked 30, with angel eyes and a honey-blonde halo of perfect, shiny plaits. What a knockout. And not just for a politician. It was the hair, bleached back to corn silk from natural brunette, but it was also the self-assurance that enabled her to claim such a daggy hairdo – nonetheless loaded with cultural historic meaning – as her own.

I am not suggesting we all pop out for peroxide and adopt the frau plait, as designer Riccardo Tisci did for the Givenchy collection show in Paris last month (pictured). But an upsurge in plait activity generally – as textured tendrils mixed into free-flowing hair, as single drops down the spinal column or swung over one shoulder, as classic “Heidi” braids, or as plaited bangs in a neo-Raphaelite hairdo – has been noted on catwalks and in glossy fashion mags of late.

I mention it only because you might fancy a plait of your own to rival a revolutionary’s.

– JBB

I have to wonder if Yulia would have got so much attention had she been plain-looking and dowdy.

The March edition of Northstar Compass is online.

A documentary screening on SBS last night, which I mostly didn’t watch as it seemed to have the usual gloomy atmosphere of most documentaries about Russia:

As It Happened – The Secret Story of a Mummy

The adventures of Lenin’s mummy throughout the 20th century reflects the history of the Soviet Union. “Forever Lenin: The Secret Story of a Mummy” charts the journey Lenin’s embalmed body has made throughout Russia and explores the trend of mummification that has reappeared in recent times. In the 1920s, several mausoleums appeared in Red Square. In 1941, before the German army reached Moscow, Lenin’s mummy was hidden in the Ural Mountains. In the 1950s, many communist politicians were embalmed. Stalin himself was embalmed and for a time shared the mausoleum with Lenin. In October 1961, in the Khrushchev years, the Party ordered that Stalin’s sarcophagus be removed from the mausoleum. With the fall of communism, the mausoleum laboratory went bankrupt and was later resurrected when eternal life became fashionable among Russian mafia gangsters and nouveaux riches.

– From France, in French and Russian, with English subtitles

I did have the rather wicked thought that perhaps the souls of these gangsters are still trapped inside their mummified bodies (as the bodies have not been buried and decayed), aware and unable to do anything! A suitable punishment. And the mummified corpses looked like wax mannequins.

One older Russian man with a grey beard was talking quite eloquently about the wrongness of the concept; I did not videotape the documentary so I can’t recall his exact words, alas. He said that mummification was against the natural order of things, in which a body will decay and return to the earth, to be recycled. He also said something about Russians having a mentality of oppression since the time of the Mongol invasions, but I can’t remember this bit clearly.

I don’t much like the idea of mummification myself; as I mentioned, what if one’s soul ends up trapped and aware in the corpse for centuries? (Think of the Ancient Egyptian kings and queens and how their mummies looked when uncovered thousands of years later!) Well, that’s just a whimsical concept, but I do remember reading some fairy tale or short story about a king who wished for eternal life, but when he was granted this wish his soul was trapped in a statue to remain there, alive and aware but unable to speak or communicate for eternity! The moral being, “Be careful what you wish for.”

Perhaps they could clone Lenin! Though, as with twins, the cloned version would not be an exact replica of him – i.e. have his thoughts and ideas. In Frank Herbert’s Dune novels, there was a character called Duncan Idaho, a ghola who had been cloned; and a new copy could be created and grown when the previous one died in battle. Somehow each clone carried the genetic memory of its predecessors; a form of immortality.

Monday 17/4

This morning was the first chilly morning of the year – only 5°C!

I had an almost-lucid dream last night where I was on a high clifftop overlooking the secret Area 51 base (I mentioned this in 5/4 entry, so it obviously crept into my dream from there). It was night and I could see the lights of the base a kilometer or so below. I thought quite clearly that I didn’t want to do anything to disturb this moment.

Wednesday 19/4

Family health concerns at the moment. Feel trapped and frustrated.

Yesterday there was a huge factory fire in the industrial area of Moorabbin, a few kilometers away, sending a dark column of smoke into the atmosphere.

The Intelligent.ru site has lots of interesting articles which are generally more reasoned than other sites. Some of interest:

Friday 21/4

Rather cold outside, with wind and rain; only 10°C!

Because of the increase in oil prices, everything else will go up too as a follow-on effect. Everything keeps getting more and more expensive, and there seems to be no respite from this. Why can’t someone design a system where prices don’t keep increasing all the time; where things are stable? Why does there have to be inflation? It makes life that much harder for those who aren’t wealthy.

And (relevant to oil prices) two words for the Iranian President: Shut up!!!!! I wish someone would stuff a sock into his mouth the next time he opens it.

I visit a lot of websites by girls younger than me (teens to twenties) and I realize how hopeless I am at design – I absolutely can’t do graphic design at all. Their sites look so professional. (Two examples: Jemjabella and Tyomnaya-noch.net.) A lot use content management systems such as Wordpress.

Yet another depressing documentary series about Russia is screening on SBS next week: Russian Godfathers.

Cutting Edge – Russian Godfathers – “The Fugitive”

Russian Godfathers is a three-part documentary that investigates the fierce battle between President Putin and seven of the world’s richest men for control of their nation. This is the inside story of the world’s highest-stakes poker game, upon which the fate of the entire nation of Russia hangs in the balance. On one side is the President, with the support of a people disgusted to find that seven men effectively owned their country, and on the other are the billionaires who are deploying all their power and wealth to try to wrestle back control. With the active involvement of the Russian government, these so-called “oligarchs” ran perhaps 70% of the entire economy: from oil and gas to rare metals and retail services, textiles and food processing to real estate and the media. They rose to power via a mixture of bribery, influence-peddling, insider-dealing, intimidation and sheer ruthlessness. Now, their story is told via archive material and interviews with the prime players themselves , as well as journalists, politicians, bankers, economists, police investigators and the men and women whom the “godfathers” pushed aside, employed or discarded on their way to the top.

– From the UK, in English, Russian and Ukrainian, with English subtitles; Part 1

If there isn’t already, a task force should be created to hunt them down and destroy them! Their immense (stolen) wealth would then be reclaimed by the government and used for social programs, etc. One mentioned is Boris Berezovskii, who apparently (among many other things) funded the so-called “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine. He (like some of the others) is living in exile, he in England (and why the British government harbors the likes of gangsters like him is beyond my comprehension).

However powerful and wealthy the oligarchs may be, they are still human and mortal, and therefore defeatable.

More articles on the Dumb Golf Stunt:

Monday 24/4

A news item from an Australian paper today which got me rather annoyed:

Business of babies

A businessman is spending $200,000 on newspaper ads urging Aussies to have babies.

Electronics multi-millionaire Gary Johnston, 56, aimed to draw attention to the population woes in full-page ads in major papers.

“Where are the next-generation Shane Warnes or Ian Thorpes going to come from?” the Sydney father of four asks.

“The few young people left will be too busy taking care of old people, alongside being taxed out of existence.

“Something must be done to reverse the declining birth rate, and I hope this ad may help bring the matter to the attention of people still in a position to do something about it.”

Mr. Johnston, 56, has also put up $1 million for research into Australia’s water crisis.

– Herald-Sun

I wonder if he has made the connection between Australia’s INCREASING population and the water crisis. All he has to do is look at China, which has a huge population and is undergoing an environmental catastrophe. Given the environmental problems such as global warming and ever-scarcer resources that face humanity in the coming decades, urging people to have more children is irresponsible in the extreme. The main reason why businessmen like him want an increased birth and immigration rate is so that they can make more money from more people.

Conservative Australian politicians have been bleating about the declining birth rate for the last few years. As far as I am concerned, the fewer people the better. I certainly have no plans or desire to have children.

(A relevant website: The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement :-D See the Economics page for arguments against Gary Johnston’s actions).

An opinion piece from the 17/4 Herald-Sun:

RAAF deserves the best

By Terry McCarthy

Continuing juvenile threats from Indonesia over recent days because of a minor incident, after all our recent help at their time of great need, clearly demonstrate we can never afford to completely trust them.

Nor can we afford to equip the RAAF for the next 20-odd years with the F-35 joint strike fighter – an aircraft already inferior in many ways to the deadly Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter now being bought by Indonesia and China.

Clearly, many in Indonesia look forward to the day when they have air superiority over Australia. Indonesia’s ability to buy more Flankers as their economy improves is bound to happen over time.

Australia clearly must buy the greatly superior F-22 Raptor for the RAAF’s next fighter.

Only three countries in the world are trusted enough by the United States to be allowed to buy the Raptor, the world’s best fighter. One of them is Australia.

Our fighter pilots deserve the very best if one day they have to go up against Flankers.

Terry McCarthy is a Herald Sun reader from Cherrybrook, NSW.

I have a better solution: Australia should buy Su-27s! They are already available and are cheaper than the F-35 or F-22. Alas, that prospect is unlikely under the Howard Government, which seems determined to turn the Australian military into an auxiliary branch of the U.S. military.

And finally, a letter from last week’s local newspaper that echoes my irritation at the incompetent Council f*ckwits mutilating the trees in the area:

More tree chopping

What is it with the Kingston Council and trees? Currently we have contractors going around the Cheltenham and Mentone streets cutting back trees to 3.5m high over the roads from the gutter out – and cutting them far back so that they can’t regrow into that space again over three to five years.

They are cutting off real limbs. This is not pruning, it is amputation.

The excuse seems to be that trucks must pass. But trucks do not drive with wheels in the gutter in suburban streets. Indeed, they cannot.

Even the rubbish trucks (which at once a week are the only significant truck traffic where I live) drive a metre or so out from the kerb and are forced further out when they come to parked cars.

On the power lines side, trees are being gutted in addition to being cut back over the road.

We lose shade on the bitumen, nature strips and footpaths which is a Godsend in summer, we lose wind protection in all seasons, and we lose a pleasant, treed and green street vista with trees of varied shapes and sizes which not only is restful for the eye and the spirit, but it actually adds value to our homes and units.

Look at the devastation of the Peter Scullin Reserve, that turned a shaded, sheltered, interesting foreshore area into a sun-blasted and windswept paddock with a few trees left standing.

It will take years to grow trees and under-storey back to return the area to a pleasant, sheltered family reserve.

– Geoffrey Heard, Cheltenham

Tuesday 25/4

I FINALLY got motivated to reinstall Windows XP today (a legitimate version), but it took four attempts as I did not realize for the first 3 that the install does not format and wipe clean the disk, but instead installs over a previous version (and include remnants from the previous install). So I had to format the disk with my Windows Me boot disk (using the FORMAT C: DOS prompt) and proceed from there. Aaargh. So that used up most of the day, along with reinstalling all the programs I use. Next is to do the updates (I have XP SP2 installed). I am rather tired. The installation detected the network and Internet connection with no hassles (thankfully!) so I am back online again, and my files (in My Documents) restored.

A certain family member is unable to drive for a few months because of a medical condition (they are still having tests, so it is not yet certain what it is); whether this is to be permanent is yet unknown. It is a real upset and inconvenience for them as they have been driving for decades. I now wish I had kept up driving, but I lost my nerve in 1991 (not long after I barely got through my license test), and haven’t tried since. Lessons are now prohibitively expensive (about $35 per session, and the fuel crisis may push these prices up even more).

I am still not happy with the site navigation (it looks too crowded along the top) so it may change (yet again).

Tuesday 27/4

The nice Autumn weather has begun, with chilly mornings, clear sunny days and the leaves on the (deciduous) trees turning red and yellow.

I had a whole lot of security updates to download for XP (over 20 MB). It is annoying that there seems to be no way to download them so that they can be burnt as individual files onto a CD and kept for using again should you wish to reinstall XP. And getting the downloads was a frustrating process. I loathe the way Microsoft seems to be demanding more and more control over users’ computers.

FrontPage 2002 also has an annoying tendency to crash if I have more than one tab open; I think it is a bug, but haven’t been able to find a solution for it.

Last night’s Air Crash Investigation episode was Aeroflot Flight 593.

“Elegant Aerospace Design” (not!), NASA Watch. A canopy on a new F-22 Raptor jet got stuck and after 5 hours the pilot was eventually freed … with a chainsaw. :-D

“Russian Bombers Flew Undetected Across Arctic,” Spacewar.com. Oops, someone wasn’t awake :-D.

Two articles from Intelligent.ru:

“Critical Overpopulation of the Planet”. Similar to what I mentioned in my 24/4 entry.

What happens to plant or animal species whose numbers have reached a level that is critical to the ecosystem and is threatening to upset the existing ecological balance? The answer is obvious: inhibition of population growth or disastrous collapse that will eventually match the numbers of the given species to resources available in the environment; at times it may spell death for the whole ecosystem. […]

The same author draws certain parallels between the way animals react to signal factors and changes in man’s behavior in conditions of overpopulation. This includes, say, enhanced aggressiveness of animals faced with external trouble or cramped conditions, and intolerance toward “newcomers” or “aliens” that human beings display in similar situations. Also belongs here a drop in fertility and abandoning the young in overcrowded natural populations, family disintegration, women’s liberation movement, and growing numbers of single mothers observed in many contemporary nations. Another development is the spread of various perversions (sexually deviant behavior) that excludes increasingly large numbers of individuals from reproduction. Finally, there are the so-called collapsing concentrations where animals lose interest in fighting over territory and bunch together in dense, sometimes migratory groups, where breeding virtually ceases. A certain similarity to such concentrations is displayed, according to Victor Dolnik, in urbanization, in people concentrating in vast numbers in huge megalopolises that act as a sort of demographic “black hole” bringing birth rates down to half or one third of what it used to be already in the second generation.

“Cold War 2: Assault on Russia”. Another scathing editorial (see also 19/4 entry).

“What is said to have come to Russia from the West was market economy, freedom and democracy; what the Russian people have experienced at first hand, often very painfully or fatally, was social injustice, impoverishment, crime, corruption, collapse of the country as they had known it all their lives, persecution and killings of their relatives in the “near abroad,” repeated robbery of their savings on a national scale, destruction of the health system, incredible decline in moral standards attributed to the Western, TV-propagated cult of personal gain at all costs, and a host of other ills.”

I just found out, after wandering through Astroaddies and finding a post by Mgr. CSc. Antonín Vítek, that Cosmonaut Viktor Afanas’ev had retired on 17 March due to reaching the age limit for military service (he was born in 1948). Another experienced cosmonaut gone :-(. I deleted him from my Cosmonaut Group pages.

Progress M-56 successfully docked yesterday at 17:41:31 UTC yesterday, after launching on 24/4 at 16:12:14 UTC.

Sunday 30/4

The Russian word for Sunday is the hardest to remember for me! :-D Fourth month over. A wet and drizzly day, and all the Autumn leaves are starting to fall off.

A peculiarly grim week in Australia, especially Tasmania: Three miners lost (one found dead; the others are yet to be rescued or recovered); the 10th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre; a family of three killed in a boating accident; the farcical mix-up over an Australian soldier’s body going missing and the mystery over his death.

FrontPage 2002 is still crashing – it was driving me mad yesterday. It seems to have trouble if more than one tab/page is open at a time.

Still trying to think up a name for my Suzy personal site. Only name I can think of is Silent Forest, or something similar. There are a lot of sites around (mostly by teenage girls, or those in their 20s) with names like (visiting links at random:) Travelling Skies (does “traveling” have one or two l’s? I can never decide), Spirited Wings, Inner Reflection, Lost Dreaming, Obsidian Rhapsody, etc. Another name that appeals is Rusalka (yes, it is a bit morbid :-D.

URL renaming warning! I have changed the folder name of my journal from /kosmoblog/ to /journal/ which is more generic; I may want to change the name “Kosmoblog” to something else one day.

While mentioning mythology, a great site to visit is Myth*ing Links by Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D; a site online since 1998 with a huge amount of resources and links about the world’s mythologies (and these still have relevance in the modern world).

May

Tuesday 2/5

I decided on the name “Rusalka” for my Suzy site. Don’t know what to use for a picture, though. And I am still messing around with the navigation. *Sigh*

A rescue mission is underway for those two miners in Tasmania who were, amazingly, found to be alive (after I finished my previous entry last month when it was assumed they had perished). They have spent nearly a week in a small cage nearly a kilometer underground, which is akin to extreme torture (not to mention having no toilet facilities – ugh).

The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, announced yesterday (Labor Day) that she was nationalizing the country’s gas fields. “Ms. Morales became president in January on vows to exert more state control over natural resources, reflecting a growing backlash against free markets and foreign investment in Latin America. The president chose Labor Day, May 1, to announce the nationalization, which stipulates companies will have to leave Bolivia unless they sign contracts within six months recognizing state control.” :-) If only that were to happen in Australia and Russia! A reaction against the hateful “privatize everything” economic cult that has dominated for the last 15 years or so, and brought so much misery to the poor.

Thursday 4/5

I went into the city this morning for my usual aimless wander around (I haven’t been in since 7/11/2005). It takes about 20 minutes to reach the CBD from my suburb (I alight at Melbourne Central Station).

While in the Minotaur Bookshop, I glanced through a novel called Warp Speed by an author called Travis S. Taylor. Wasn’t too impressed as it was the usual gung-ho American characters vs. the bad guys (Russia and China). Ho-hum. No surprises as to who wins. The main character is irritating, and there is also a Beautiful Woman(TM). If a novel is written by a man there will invariably be a Beautiful Woman(TM) somewhere, who makes this writer feel inadequate and jealous. Grrr.

Another book I recently read was Orbit by John J. Nance. It wasn’t too bad, despite being written in the first person and present tense, which I dislike. I managed to finish it. I tended to skim over the main character’s confessions and writings (I am not much interested in “relationship stuff” in novels).

The first major airline crash for this year: Armavia Flight 967, an Armenian airline on its way to Sochi, on the coast of the Black Sea. All 113 on board killed.

“Russia Left with No Satellite Surveillance,” Kommersant.com, 3 May. Russia now has no reconnaissance satellites in orbit at all, after Kosmos-2405 deorbited on 29 April. That would have been an unthinkable situation in the Soviet era! Can you imagine the USA getting itself into such a situation? Of course not, and they have I-don’t-know-how-many in orbit (some keeping surveillance of Russia). Russia has launched satellites for other countries.

Friday 5/5

A nice shady liquid amber tree in the front yard of a house opposite us is being felled, which is upsetting. Probably because the house will be sold. Update 23/9/2014: It wasn’t, so far (2014)

I would like to see property developers rounded up and shot. I hate the whole property market scene and the greedy bastards involved in it. I wish it could be destroyed; that individuals be forbidden from owning more than, say, one house each, and the government also provide housing for the less-well-off. I am sick of living in what seems to have become a permanent construction zone; of our suburb (and others) becoming ever more overdeveloped with ugly and oversized “McMansions” and apartments; of trees and vegetation vanishing. This useless excuse of a council seems to do nothing to stop inappropriate development.

Another tree is murdered

The photo below shows the tree almost gone (it isn’t very visible; the stump is right next to the white truck in the foreground). Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos before it was felled (it was a big shady tree that covered most of the house). (You can also see how council workers have mutilated the tree near the powerlines – see letter in 24/4 entry.) That tree will be sorely missed on a 40°C summer day.

Energiya photo-report: 28 April 2006. Shows prospective space tourists Anousheh Ansari and Daisuke Enomoto getting a tour of a Soyuz at Energiya. *Annoyed and jealous*.

Saturday 6/5

The two trapped miners are still underground; they have been in that confined space for 11 days now. They are not expected to be freed until tomorrow at the earliest. Wikipedia article: Beaconsfield mine collapse.

I am going to have to go through my journal yet again and correct minor errors *sigh*, as well as other pages on my website.

“Banks accused of bullying”: Program on a current affair program last night. “A former bank employee has claimed that the big four institutions were pushing their customers into debt with aggressive sales tactics.” (The “Big Four” are the major banks.) (I ranted about how the bank I am with eroded my savings in my 13/6/2005 entry.) The Government should re-regulate the banks and force them to act like they used to, i.e. serving the public. Bugger the shareholders.

Yet another gloom-and-doom article about Russia in The Age this morning (in a big black headline!): “Russia, where foreigners live in fear,” about a spate of racist attacks in St. Petersburg.

Two articles from Intelligent.ru:

Sunday 7/5

I had to reinstall Windows XP yet AGAIN because a brief power blackout yesterday somehow corrupted some files at startup. The culprit seems to be the hot water heater (mentioned in my 15/11/2005 entry); it switches off in the early morning and if the weather is cold and damp corrosion in the switch sends a surge which trips the safety switch in the fusebox, which cuts the power. This has happened several times before; the older version of XP that I had previously installed did not seem to be affected. XP restarted and did a disk check (though there was a remark that some file was damaged – I didn’t write this down), then proceeded to start up OK. I used the computer as normal all day, but when I restarted it in the evening, it refused to start in anything but Safe Mode. I tried System Restore and Last Best Known Configuration, but nothing worked – when rebooting it kept coming back to the same DOS screen. I copied my files to my second disk when in Safe Mode, and decided to reformat the disk this morning and reinstall XP, which I did, and things now seem OK. Some files obviously got corrupted during that power cut, but it is beyond my knowledge to diagnose and fix them. So I am rather tired. Then there is downloading all the updates yet again, but I will leave that chore for another day.

Went for my bicycle ride later this morning as there was heavy rain and wind at the usual time I go (after 6 a.m.). There was a strong cold south-west wind, and the Bay was very rough. It was behind me on the way home, which was nice (South Road goes up a long series of shallow inclines, and having a headwind then is very discouraging). I find SW or S winds invigorating (they come from over the ocean), but north winds horrid (they come from the inland deserts).

Monday 8/5

I am still having problems with FrontPage 2002 crashing; it seems to happen most when I have more than one page open in tabs. I can’t find anything specific through Google, though the crashing was mentioned as a design fault. I installed Office SP 3, but it made no difference. It is maddening.

I am more disgusted with this current Government than ever. The conservative ministers (e.g. Peter Costello, the Treasurer) are totally obsessed with families (I lose count of how many times they mention “families” – meaning a husband, wife and numerous young children – in news reports) and increasing the birthrate. From recent articles in The Age:

Many thousands of families with three children will get an extra $250 a year from the extension of the large family supplement in tomorrow’s budget, as Peter Costello urges Australians to have more children.

Extra child care, including assistance for mothers returning to work, and enhanced family benefits are also in a budget that has an eye on boosting the fertility rate as well as alleviating the financial pressures on families from high petrol prices and now a rise in interest rates.

“I encourage people who can, if you have the opportunity, if you’re young enough, to have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country,” Mr. Costello said yesterday, invoking the formula he first used after the 2004 budget.

Mr. Costello said he wanted people to think of a three-child family as normal – certainly not a large family. The extended payment was “an additional benefit for families with three children” and might encourage other families to have an extra child.

See my comments about overpopulation in my 24/4 entry. People should be encouraged to have no more than two children, if any.

And, imitating President Bush, high-income earners are likely to get tax cuts:

The budget may also provide capital gains tax relief. The $500,000 threshold for capital gains tax kicking in when a small business is sold could be raised.

Mr. Howard said every nation needed a percentage of people “who are high income earners because they are outstanding”.

“We should never allow envy to creep in if we are to have a total society in which we recognise that there are some people always that will be more heavily rewarded than others because of their skill or good fortune and the returns they get for taking a risk,” Mr. Howard told 3AW [a radio station].

Tuesday 9/5

“Beaconsfield celebrates mine miracle,” ABC News Online. The two trapped miners in Tasmania, Brant Webb and Todd Russell, were freed at long last this morning.

According to this posting at FPSpace, “Russia’s ISS crewing plans,” Sergei Krikalyov will be making his seventh flight in 2009! This is, of course, only an early plan which is subject to change. Only six of the non-flown cosmonauts will be getting their first flight (or serve as backup).

It looks like Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari will become the first female space tourist in Autumn next year (2007) :-(. The last Russian female cosmonaut (Nadezhda Kuzhel’naya) must be feeling very put-out upon learning that; she waited 10 years for a flight that never came, and the nearest she got was backup for the TM-33 crew (before retiring in 2004). I guess it helps if one has $20 million.

Thursday 11/5

Watched last night a curious documentary/film on SBS (recorded from last week) called Brothers of the Forest:

This is the true story of Ulo and Aivar Voitka, two Estonian brothers who were arrested in February 2000 in their own family farm house. For fourteen years, the brothers lived in the forest and were hunted by the police. In 1986, when the Voitka Brothers fled into the woods, Estonia was still a part of the Soviet Union. Ulo and Aivar, along with other young men from the Baltic States, were facing conscription into the Red Army. To evade conscription, they stole a tractor and drove it deep into an ancient forest where they dug themselves into the ground. They maintained their freedom at all costs and swore an oath to never surrender. For fourteen years they lived off the land, survived on fish and stolen supplies. The authorities searched for them without success and the media and the population gave them the tag of “Robin Hoods,” and drew comparisons with the legendary partisans of the Baltic resistance many years previously. When the police finally cornered them in February 2000, Aivar was found to be schizophrenic and sent to a psychiatric hospital and Ulo was sentenced to two years and eight months prison for their crimes.

– From Finland, in Estonian, English subtitles

They were not much older than me. The isolated life they led took its toll on their health (physical and mental). I found the idea of living in the forest like that oddly appealing (though in reality it would be rather uncomfortable).

Today’s “Doom-and-Gloom” Russian book, looked through at the Borders bookstore in Chadstone, is Bandits, Gangsters and the Mafia: Russia, the Baltic States and the CIS Since 1991 by Martin McCauley. A book similar in tone to Black Earth (see 23/6/2005 entry).

Tuesday 16/5

The sun is out today at last, after some gloomy overcast days; the nice gentle Autumn sun in cold crisp air, not the burning harsh sun of summer.

Ooh, I do like Dreamweaver; it has so many useful features. And the Search-and-Replace is excellent; you can even search for multiple-line phrases!! (Most S&R, such as FrontPage’s, are limited to one-line commands.) I do a lot of S&R. It is a bit memory-intensive, though (uses about 50 MB in the “Processes” display box [bring up by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Delete]; the Firefox browser uses up rather a lot – 63 MB).

There was a power surge of some sort around 1 p.m. yesterday and the modem/router lost the Internet connection (didn’t sort it out until this morning, when Dad rang the ISP to reset it). The surge wasn’t enough to trip the safety switch in the fusebox.

I received an official “Notice of selection for jury service” yesterday with a form I had to fill and post in. As I have no reason not to be excused from it, I had to say I was available. The selection period (when I could be called up) is from 19 June to 29 September. I am rather apprehensive, to say the least! Actually I am dreading the prospect of having to deal with strangers and having to say “unemployed” when I am asked my occupation. I am a semi-recluse and have become very out-of-touch with the “real” everyday world.

“It’s all about priorities”: Anonymous Lefty on the Budget. I was thoroughly disgusted with last week’s Federal Budget, which favored the rich and those with children (preferably lots of them). Single people are non-entities as far as the Howard Government is concerned.

Last night’s Four Corners program, “A Deathly Silence,” was a study of one teenager’s suicide and those who were affected by it. Suicides often seem to be bright and intelligent people with promising futures who for some reason decide to end things. (My only irritation with the subject is the focus on “young” people, those under 25 years – as if the suicides of older people are less important or tragic.) As I can remember things, I first started getting depression and suicidal thoughts when I was about 15, in 1986 – before that I had unhappy moods, but no suicidal thoughts. I was rather too cowardly to act upon them though! (Considering the dismal way my life turned out, it would not have mattered much had I “done myself in”.) In 2000 a very distant cousin of mine (third cousin – I don’t know if I ever met him) was found dead in his car at Broadford, Victoria (72 km north of Melbourne); he had been missing since 12 November the previous year. He killed himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. He had been an apprentice jockey and was working as a carpenter; he was popular and had a bright future. But some sort of personal problems (relationships?) led him to take his own life.

Thursday 18/5

Went into the city today. It is (if you can ignore the usual unattractive elements – graffiti, humans, etc.) pleasant to walk around this time of year, in the mild hazy sunlight and chilly air, and the plane trees shedding their leaves. I went to a secondhand (used) bookstore I sometimes visit and got a couple of paperbacks about life in the USSR (written in the 1960s/1970s) which I thought might be interesting/fun to read; when Russia was all a big mystery (like China is now). (Incidentally, the April edition of Northstar Compass is also online.)

Our Dear Leader is currently in his version of heaven, being lavishly hosted by President Bush (John Howard is his Best Buddy and thus merits Special Treatment) and that wrinkled gnome Rupert Murdoch fawning over them both. It is somewhere between nauseating and funny to see them all together on the news.

There has been quite a bit of media attention focused recently on Melbourne’s increasingly ailing public transport system. The rail network hasn’t been extended since the 1930s. Privatizing the whole system was the biggest mistake ever. An article in today’s The Age:

A plan with no one in charge

May 18, 2006

Melbourne’s secretly prepared transport statement persists with a privatized system in crisis, writes Paul Mees

Melbourne’s only Ikea store is at Victoria Gardens shopping centre in North Richmond. The centre, which opened three years ago, also has a Kmart, eight-screen cinema, bowling alley and 70 shops. People living east or west of Victoria Gardens can get there on the № 109 tram along Victoria Street, but for those living to the south or north there is no public transport access.

Victoria Gardens fronts on to Burnley Street, which runs south and connects across the Yarra to Toorak, but there has been no bus service along this street for 15 years. Nor are there any plans to provide a service, despite ample demand from shopping centre patrons, the growing number of residents, and passengers from the seven rail lines that pass through Burnley and Toorak stations. If we can’t even fix a simple problem like this, no wonder bigger issues such as building new train lines in the outer suburbs are not being tackled.

The reason nothing is happening is simple: nobody is in charge of providing a comprehensive public transport service in North Richmond, or anywhere else in Melbourne. Connex isn’t responsible: it runs trains; Yarra Trams run trams; bus companies operate individual bus routes. The Department of Infrastructure’s “office of the director of public transport” monitors the private operators and their byzantine franchise agreements. The local council employs “sustainable transport officers,” who spend their time promoting cycling.

An army of managers administers the existing dysfunctional system, which eats up more than a billion dollars a year in fares and subsidies, but nobody plans any significant improvements. Instead, the Government tries to create the illusion of action by trumpeting minor changes such as bus services being “upgraded” to run once an hour (but not along Burnley Street), while offering excuses for doing nothing substantial. That’s what yesterday’s Transport and livability Statement was about.

Meanwhile, Vancouver has displaced Melbourne as winner of those “most liveable city” awards we used to dominate, thanks largely to its success in improving public transport. In July last year, Vancouver’s regional transport agency, Translink, published its five-year plan for the inner city, covering equivalent areas to North Richmond.

How different the Vancouver-UBC Transit Plan is from yesterday’s statement in Melbourne. The Melbourne document was produced in secret by unnamed officials and leaked in stages to journalists. The Vancouver plan is the result of a year-long public process, which involved Translink working with the local council, community and the University of British Columbia to identify problems and gaps, then fix them. There was full disclosure of information about revenue, subsidy levels, patronage and other things that are “commercially confidential” here.

The Vancouver plan does not discuss providing services to shopping centres that opened three years ago – that was sorted out in advance by the previous five-year plan. The main problem it addresses is overcrowding caused by the success of the previous plan, which has enabled the University of British Columbia to eliminate 3000 on-campus parking spaces. The busiest express bus lines will be replaced with rail services; the busiest regular bus routes will be converted to express operation; service frequencies will be improved across the system; new routes will be added to serve emerging travel demands; staffing will be increased at stations to improve safety.

And the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Public transport fares are lower in Vancouver than Melbourne, and so is the public subsidy, measured per passenger or per head of population. Public transport’s share of motorised trips has increased from 12 to 13 per cent in the past five years (the Melbourne figure is believed to be stuck at 9 per cent, but nobody is sure because we don’t do regular surveys).

So what explains the difference? Transport planners in Vancouver are astonished to hear that Melbourne is doing worse than them: we have a much bigger rail system, we kept our trams, and we have a higher population density. But when Melbourne’s system of private franchises and public non-responsibility is explained, the Vancouver planners can instantly see what our problem is. The only thing that confuses them is why Melbourne persists with privatization when it has failed here and everywhere else it’s been tried.

That is the question the transport and livability statement needed to answer. The Government needed to promise that when the Connex, Yarra and bus contracts expire over the next two years, it would seize the opportunity to establish a competent, dynamic, accountable agency of the kind found in every city with successful public transport. It is the silence on this issue, even more than the absence of new train lines, that marks yesterday’s statement as a failure.

Paul Mees teaches transport planning in the urban planning program at the University of Melbourne

Saturday 20/5

Fussing with my site again. The layout of images need tidying up, and a lot of pages need redoing. I am still uncertain how to organize the navigation; keep dithering about it. *Sigh*

I was doing a lot of driving around the countryside in my dreams last night (I seem to drive a lot in my dreams, despite not having driven since 1991 or so). The region visited in my dreamscape is usually northwest of Melbourne, around the Ballarat region (my family used to go on long daytrips in the 1970s and 1980s), and for some reason I like it around there. There are long winding roads and vast spacious landscapes. I was fleeing something, or looking for someone. I tried to find my way through the city and out with a map. I visited the airport (Melbourne Airport – Tullamarine) at one point. I really wish I could stay in my dreams, sometimes. I do a lot more in them than in the real world!

… I just managed to crash Dreamweaver again – though after having it open (and doing intensive file search-and-replaces, etc.) most of the day. The message is similar to what I was getting when FrontPage 2002 crashed (but too complex to try to type it out here). I wonder if it is a memory problem – as I mentioned in my 16/5 entry, it and the Firefox browser use rather a lot of memory.

Sunday 21/5

Ooops! Yesterday I was trying out the CHMOD function with WS_FTP and accidently denied visitors access to my webpages! Fixed that, now.

Had another dream last night of flying; the type of flying where I can’t get far off the ground. This is a recurring dream: I was in the backyard of my parents’ home, trying to escape by flapping my arms and flying over the back fence. But no matter how hard I tried, I could barely get higher than the garage roof. It was very frustrating. I was fleeing from … family members? Dream characters? The dream repeated itself a few times.

It was only 4°C when I went out on my bicycle ride after 6 a.m. this morning! Wore fingerless gloves, silly me, though my fingers unfroze after about ½ hour.

Tuesday 23/5

Our ISP has been having trouble with its connection, which has been affecting us the last few days – the external connection from their server has been dropping out for an hour or more at random intervals (I can get through to their website, but not ones outside it). Very annoying. The explanation on their website:

Chariot sincerely apologies to ADSL customers experiencing slowness causing degradation of their connections. This is due to ongoing delays of a network up-grade by our wholesale provider. Chariot is pressing for a speedy resolution by our wholesale provider.

“Delirium of the day,” Russian Blog.

A former Soviet dissident called Aleksandr Zinoviev died on 10 May. There is an article about him at Red Comrades: “At Last He Saw Clearly!” Although he initially opposed the Soviet regeime, he was even more dismayed at what the brutal transition to a capitalist economy had done (and continues to do) to his country. There is a website registered in his name: www.zinoviev.ru. He would certainly have been dismayed at the following:

From the Saturday The Age: more indulgences for the obscenely rich in Russia –

Red Square swank gets green light – for the oligarch who has it all

Date: May 20 2006
By Andrew Osborn, Moscow

Russia’s super-rich will get the chance to snap up elite apartments at what is sure to become Moscow’s smartest residential address: 5 Red Square.

Developers have been given the green light to turn a grand 19th-century merchants’ building, which stands on the famous square opposite the Kremlin, into 100 to 200 luxury apartments. It will be the first time in about five centuries that anyone has lived on Red Square, and there is likely to be fierce competition among Russia’s elite to secure one of the exclusive apartments.

At the moment the only person who maintains a permanent presence on the square is the waxy figure of Vladimir Lenin, who lies in state in a mausoleum beneath the Kremlin wall.

Analysts believe that for the oligarch who has it all already – the Bentley, the London or Paris townhouse, the mistress, and the yacht – the prospect of being one of the few residents of 5 Red Square will be an opportunity too good to pass up.

Visitors to the capital with deep pockets will also be able to get in on the act, since the same building will also house a 195-room, five-star hotel with suites overlooking the square’s undulating cobbles.

A Sotheby’s-type auction house dealing in Russian antiques will also be incorporated into the complex, along with underground parking.

Living on Red Square will not come cheap.

Hotel rooms are expected to start at A$1000 a night, and the apartments will be rented out on long-term leases for hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Guests at the hotel who pay for a view over the square can also expect to overlook the phantasmagorical onion domes of St Basil’s Cathedral and one of the Kremlin’s many red brick towers.

The hotel will also have a permanent exhibition of Russian art on loan from one of the capital’s museums.

The Kremlin’s property department has already approved the project and will retain overall ownership of the sacred site.

Reconstruction of the existing building is due to start next year, and the development should be finished in 2008. The facade of the existing 19th-century structure will not be altered, as it is protected by UNESCO and is deemed integral to the appearance of Red Square.

In tsarist times, the building, known as the Sredny Torgovy Ryady, was used by merchants selling their goods.

In 1917, communist revolutionaries occupied parts of the building, and in the Soviet-era it was used by the Soviet Defence Ministry, which reluctantly parted with it on the condition that 2500 flats will be available for servicemen in return. The redevelopment project is being financed by Russia’s United Industrial Corporation to the tune of $500 million.

Awash with oil money, Moscow is in the grip of a construction boom that has been billed as the city’s most radical revamp since the 1930s, when Stalin ordered many buildings demolished and replaced with hulking, Gotham-city like skyscrapers.

Come the next Revolution, the starving and angry masses will know where to find them >:-)

Friday 26/5

Mornings have been around 3°-4°C for the last few days. After the murderous 40°C heat of summer I won’t complain too much!

Some Russian space news.

Sergei Krikalyov attended the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Energiya Cosmonaut Group. Flowers were laid at Sergei Korolyov’s monument, then there was a gathering and celebration that included Energiya cosmonauts and various dignitaries. The current ISS crew (Expedition 13) made a videolink appearance. Energiya photo report: May 23, 2006. Korolev, Moscow Region.

The next ISS crew spacewalk (wearing Russian Orlan spacesuits) will be on 1 June next week (2 June in Melbourne), starting at 22:40 GMT/UTC. The Dumb Golf Stunt has been postponed until the next Expedition (14), probably because of the already-full timeline: “Orbital tee time postponed until autumn,” MSNBC.com, 24/5.

And yet another thing to get dismayed about concerning the Russian space program: “Russia hopes to double Soyuz trips to space station,” NewScientist.com, 19/5.

Why dismaying? Because the funding is to come from “foreign investors,” meaning space tourists and the like.

Foreign investors would need to provide the extra funding, he said, adding that they would in turn receive seats on the Soyuz. Those seats could go to “anybody with money,” says John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington DC.

That could include foreign governments – such as South Korea – and individual space tourists, who have paid $20 million for the trip in the past.

The plan is in line with an approved Russian government policy to find foreign money for Russian equipment or services, Logsdon told New Scientist. He says Energia has also become more commercially oriented under Sevastyanov, who took the helm in May 2005.

“The company is going to turn space transportation into at least a quasi-commercial undertaking,” says Logsdon, noting that the company is also trying to sell trips around the Moon aboard Soyuz spacecraft for $100 million.

I wonder if they would take up a Russian gangster/mafiya/businessman if he paid enough. Sergei Polonskii almost got a ride (see 5/4 entry). I have a dismaying suspicion that they would (but I hope I am wrong – surely the program has not become that debased?). Bad luck for the cosmonauts still awaiting an assignment and seat for their first flight.

However, this focus on tourism and making a profit has distracted the Russians from their original goal of building interplanetary space vessels. Rather, they are focusing on turning their portion of the ISS into a tourist and entertainment center in order to generate the funds to keep their operation aloft.

– Leaving Earth, Robert Zimmerman

A new group of cosmonauts has been recruited for this year’s intake (no names yet), but they will likely be waiting a long time to fly (if ever).

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 554 Update 11/11/2006: The news seems to have since disappeared from that edition:

The Cosmonaut Training Center has completed the sequential recruiting of candidates for spaceflight

The future candidates for the Cosmonaut Group have been selected from the number of military pilots, reported Interfaks-AVN, quoting the group’s commander, Colonel Yurii Lonchakov.

“For approximately one-and-a-half years we selected aviation candidates to study at the Cosmonaut Training Center. Throughout this time, more than a thousand military pilots passed through the unique filter of medical and other tests. From them has been made a preliminary selection of six people,” reported Yu. Lonchakov.

According to him, the six military pilot candidates will be subsequently joined by civil specialists, selected from the Energiya Rocket & Space Corporation (Korolyov, Moscow region), GKNPTS Khrunichyov (Moscow) and TSSKB Progress (Samara). “I think that the total number of group will be, at a maximum, 11 to 12 people,” said Yu. Lonchakov.

Yu. Lonchakov explained that the recruiting of cosmonauts has been accomplished as needed. The initial general preparation course will take approximately two years.

Russian version, Русская версия:

Центр подготовки космонавтов завершил очередной набор кандидатов на полеты в космос

Из числа военных летчиков выбраны кандидаты в будущий отряд космонавтов, сообщил «Интерфаксу-АВН» в среду командир отряда полковник Юрий Лончаков.

«В течение примерно полутора лет мы отбирали в авиационных частях кандидатов на учебу в Центре подготовки космонавтов. Всего за это время через своеобразное сито медицинских и других проверок прошло более тысячи военных летчиков. Из них, предварительно, отобраны шесть человек», – сообщил Ю.Лончаков.

По его словам, к шести кандидатам из числа военных летчиков впоследствии присоединятся гражданские специалисты, отбор которых проходит в Ракетно-космической корпорации «Энергия» (Королев, Московская область), ГКНПЦ имени Хруничева (Москва) и ЦСКБ «Прогресс» (Самара). «Думаю, общая численность группы будет, максимум, 11-12 человек», – сказал Ю.Лончаков.

Ю.Лончаков пояснил, что набор в космонавты осуществляется по мере необходимости. Курс общекосмической подготовки рассчитан примерно на два года.

Tuesday 30/5

It was about 2°C early this morning. For some reason it seems to get colder just after sunrise.

My computer made alarming clanking noises when I turned it on this morning, so I turned it off. When I tried it again later it seemed back to normal. Perhaps a cooling fan that has become misaligned? Update 17/11/2006: It had become choked with dust.

The Internet connection has been unavailable yet AGAIN all day (see 23/5 entry). This is getting so annoying. Dad rang them up late this afternoon and they said they had been doing network maintenance (“to upgrade the speed of the backhaul links for VIC ADSL” and neglected to reconnect us! Aaargh. So it is fixed again (for now).

Be warned, I am changing many file names/URLs yet again (sorry, bad habit of mine, I know). I am trying to make some shorter.

Editorial for this week from Intelligent.ru: “Democracy and human rights,” 26 May. Sardonic commentary on selective democracy.

“No doubt about it – human rights watchers are very selective in deciding what to watch and what to let go unnoticed. In the above, I touched only briefly on the human right to live and the way it fared in the transition to democracy. There is yet another big chapter in this odyssey – how the human right to a dignified life was trampled on in the course of the plunder that transition to a market economy turned out to be; how the lives of millions of people degenerated and were cut short by the privations which that process entailed. Again, do we hear much from the human rights watchers about these violations of the rights of millions? No, but we hear a great deal about the sufferings of one of those plunderers; the billions he had stolen clearly weigh more than the sufferings of millions on the peculiar scales used by our honest human rights watchers. And no wonder – democracy is at stake! Putin is backtracking on democracy!”

June

Thursday 1/6

First day of winter!

I decided to reinstate the MKS (International Space Station) site again … the Kosmonavtka site is getting too big with it. I also changed a whole lot of file names, so more broken links for the search engines … *Sigh* I am this indecisive when it comes to other things, like buying clothes. Seems to be a pathological disorder with me! Though I really don’t care about my search engine ranking or how popular my site is or not – it is primarily my own little project/obsession. Years ago I used to make plans to do projects around whatever my interests were (e.g. do a book of drawings), and I would spend ages planning and buying materials for them. More often than not the projects never got started, but the fun was in the planning of them. The website is the latest manifestation of this, but it can be done a lot quicker.

I found a site with lots of Soyuz and other diagrams, including that of the cockpit and control panel: the MARS Center (Microgravity Advanced Research and Support Center, an Italian site). Just what I was looking for! The spaceship technical stuff is in the Topics section. Unfortunately the site design is rather image-intensive and uses Flash animation for navigation (yuck).

Friday 2/6

Something that I have been thinking for a while is that there are too many countries! And the independence fad is very overrated. (It is very “politically-incorrect” to have this opinion.) A letter from The Age earlier this week (30 May):

Maybe the West Papuans should think again about independence. The break-up of the USSR has led to despotism in the Caucasus and chaos in Georgia, while Yugoslavia’s break-up led to genocide and bedlam. Most of the Pacific nations are close to bankruptcy. Now East Timor is a basket case. You have to wonder whether it’s all worth it.

Perhaps the way to go is unification not separation. A United Europe may well start a new and safer trend.

– Simon Jenkins, Fawkner

Expedition 13, Pavel (Pasha) and Jeff, successfully completed all their tasks during a long 6½-hour spacewalk today. (After all the reorganizing of my site yesterday, I feel as tired as they must do.) They started at 22:48 UTC 1 June, and finished at 05:19 the next day (8:48 a.m.-3:19 p.m. here in Melbourne).

Tuesday 6/6

Temperature for 4 June 2006 - 3°C

A week of cold mornings (3°C or so) and chilly sunny days. A bit hard to get up in the morning, my hands seem permanently corpse-cold and the washing on the clothesline barely dries, but nice all the same! At right is the morning temperature for last Sunday – contrast that to the outside thermometer photo in my 31/12/2005 entry! That is about as cold as it gets in the suburbs of Melbourne; further out in the country it gets down to a few degrees below zero. It is such a bloody relief from that awful hellish heat. Unfortunately, only 4 months to go until October, when the weather starts warming up again …

A giant 500-km-wide possible meteor crater, tentatively named the Wilkes Land crater, has been found under Antarctica. If it is an impact crater (it is hard to get samples as the surface is buried under 1.6 km of ice), the meteor strike would have been 6 times larger than the one that made the dinosaurs extinct, and caused the greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history. It possibly also created the Australian continent, helping split it off from the Gondwana supercontinent. That impact would have been awesome to watch!

“Russia’s Lunar Return,” Spaceref.com. “Russia, which pioneered and then abandoned robotic exploration of the Moon after loss of the Space Race and collapse of the Soviet Union, is starting the development of its first lunar mission in 30 years.” Russia hasn’t sent any unmanned missions beyond Earth orbit since the failed Mars 96 probe in 1996, so hopefully this one will come to pass. (Just go somewhere! Anywhere!)

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 554:

25/05/2006/00:03 – The “500” medical experiment, which imitates flight conditions to Mars on Earth, will begin in 2007

The “Mars-500” experiment in which six volunteers will participate, will begin at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (part of the Russian Academy of Science) in the latter half of 2007, Airman-Cosmonaut Valerii Polyakov, the chief scientific worker at IMBP, told Interfaks-AVN.

“The previously-stated period for conducting the experiment has been moved. This is connected with the need for more thorough preparation of the unique scientific research and medical base required for ‘Mars-500’,” Valerii Polyakov said.

The “Mars-500” experiment is planned as an element of preparation for the flight of a manned spacecraft to Mars. Such flights, according to the estimations of experts, can take place within 30-40 years. The experiment assumes permanent crew of six people to stay in the closed space, which imitates intravehicular accomodations. In this case it is planned that participants in the experiment will fulfill the functional duties of crew members, conduct scientific studies and maintain equipment. They will be under the constant observation of physicians, who will study their fitness for work and collective behavior in the microclimate.

According to V. Polyakov, an official announcement about the collection of volunteers for the participation in the experiment will be declared in the middle of summer 2006.

Russian version, Русская версия: Пятисотдневный эксперимент, имитирующий на Земле условия полета на Марс, начнется в 2007 году.

I think the experiment will cost about U.S.$10 million … they could almost build a real spaceship and send people around Mars (but not land on it) for that! A similar experiment has been done before. Why not leave an ISS crewperson or two up in orbit for a year or more and study the effects? (And the IMBP website is, in a word, horrid – it badly needs a makeover!)

As happened on Mir, the ISS crews are increasingly losing track of all the stuff on board. From NK news № 556:

04/06/2006/21:19 – On the ISS, important things are beginning to be frequently lost

The astronauts who work at the International Space Station are encountering an increasingly frequent problem of having to search for lost important objects. For example, during preparations for the recent spacewalk it was impossible to find a special airtight packet intended for toxic objects removed from the external casing of the station. Also lost was a special support for the feet, which was planned for use during the work in open space. All things aboard are marked by bar codes. The computer tracks their position, but if an object does not appear in the designated place, then finding it is very difficult. In such cases, it is necessary for NASA to turn to astronauts from previous expeditions with a request to recall the last time where they saw the lost thing. Recently, similar problems are increasingly appearing more frequently, in proportion to the increasing amount of equipment on the ISS, reports “Radio Freedom”.

Russian version, Русская версия: На МКС стали часто теряться важные вещи.

Friday 9/6

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (Zarqawi the Beheader) is dead, killed in a U.S. air raid. Good riddance.

Last night I watched a movie that I recorded from TV earlier this week, The Cell. For some reason I actually went to see this in 2000 when it was released in the cinema. It is rated R for good reason – it contains some gruesome and disturbing imagery (though the only female nudity is in the form of corpses) – but is nonetheless worth seeing for the bizarre and compelling dream-mind imagery scenes. Some of the imagery seemed to be influenced by H.R. Giger’s creepily elegant artwork. “Although the story made be impossible to believe and much of the dialogue seems contrived, the one and only important thing to remember when contemplating watching this movie is that it contains some of the most amazing and disturbing imagery ever put on film. It is as if Salvador Dali decided to make a crime drama. A must see for anyone seriously interested in cinematography and the use of the film cell as a canvas on which to display true works of visual art. I would have to give this movie a 9/10 for its amazing visual display.” (Reviewer “asthmaticpunk” at the IMDB site.) There is a small gallery of stills at the IMDB site.

Scene from "The Cell" Scene from "The Cell"

Sunday 11/6

A windy bike ride early this morning (from 6 a.m.), a cold southerly wind. A real struggle for me to ride against on my old and heavy mountain bike, and how offputting it is to see other riders on racing bikes go whizzing past me! The lights of the city were strung out along the Bay like a string of pearls, and the Tasmanian ferry was lit up like a Christmas tree on the horizon, spotlighted by a ray of moonlight from behind a cloud, over the dark sea.

Rather a lot of people in the world are currently fixated on an activity that involves a group of men kicking a spherical ball around an oval. Alas, this writer does not share the same enthusiasm, and is somewhat baffled by (and a bit bored with) all the fuss.

I actually managed to finish a novel, Black Widow by Sandy McCutcheon. It was quite good.

Wednesday 14/6

We finally got a new fence erected between us and the house next door (on the north side – the one that was demolished in March last year; see 24/3/2005 entry). It is a huge rectangular house that nearly fills the whole block of land (but thankfully only a one-story house). Virtually no room for a garden. It still needs landscaping and finishing off. We have spent all that time with the front yard next door littered with construction rubbish in one form or another.

Another Liquidambar was cut down in the street behind us yesterday. It is a massacre! All these tall shady trees are being exterminated (see 5/4 entry). I hate the ugly sound of chainsaws, signifying the murder of another big tree. I hate the overcrowding and overdevelopment that is ruining this suburb (and many others), and the clueless morons who design oversized ugly houses with no room for a garden or big tree.

The tree’s actual name is Liquidambar (not Liquid Amber as I thought), common name “Sweetgum”. It is similar to a Maple, with the same colorful Autumn display. They are also quite climbable! Unfortunately my family never had one in our garden. They also tend to grow rather tall for an average suburban garden, and their roots go everywhere. But they are still nice to look at.

I love big trees, and old trees! I was looking at some relevant sites a few days ago, and came across this one, The Ancient Bristlecone Pine. The oldest living entity on Earth is a pine called “Methuselah”; it is 4767 years old!!! It was a seedling when the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids were being built. Another site about it is NOVA Online – Methuselah Tree.

I would love to see the Californian Redwoods. To stand in a forest of these tall and ancient giants would be awesome, like being in a cathedral.

Australia, particularly Tasmania, also has its own tall trees (Giant Trees Consultative Committee site), and I mentioned New Zealand’s Kauri trees in my 15/11/2005 entry.

The greatest danger to all these trees are humans! When people in earlier times (1800s-early 1900s) discovered them, they cut them down. And in many places they are still being cut down.

Reading about them is an antidote to the human violence, misery and chaos in the world. I wonder if, having lived that long, they have developed any form of consciousness, rather like the Ents in The Lord of the Rings! Perhaps some rudimentary form of awareness? Who knows.

(Found, after some Googling: Do trees talk?)

Saturday 17/6

I have spent the last few days doing a lot of reorganizing my site (yet again!) “behind the scenes” (in the HTML code), so I am rather tired and have done little else (including *cough* not looking at emails). I have 300+ pages to wade through when I do this; search-and-replace in Dreamweaver makes it a lot easier. But I still have to upload them all manually!

For some reason I have also developed a sore tailbone (at the base of my spine) the last two weeks or so, presumably from sitting at my computer. I am sore and achy all the time. It would be nice to have a laptop to use when reclining in bed, but that is a dream for the future.

There is another Russian documentary coming up on SBS next week (Tuesday), on the cheery subject of the AIDS crisis in Russia. Someone at the channel station must have been assigned the task of finding as many gloomy Russian documentaries as they can to screen.

Cutting Edge – Russia: Sex, Needles and Roubles

Russia has the fastest growing HIV infection rate in the world. An epidemic that, ten years ago, could have been relatively easily contained, is now threatening to engulf the country. But how has the crisis reached such alarming proportions? Russia: Sex, Needles And Roubles takes us on a journey to the cold winter nights of St. Petersburg, where we meet some of its young drug-addicted prostitutes. For most Russians, the fall of Communism has come at a heavy price. Tight social controls have vanished, giving way to a pleasure-seeking economy, burgeoning prostitution and corruption. Unemployment is rife and access to healthcare and social services limited. Like many of Russia’s prostitutes, Oksana is addicted to heroin and shares needles with other addicts. Ostracised and stigmatised by society, her main refuge comes from harm reduction programs, like the one run by Alexander Tsekhanovitch, which offer a needle exchange program. But many politicians, like Moscow’s Mayor, Yuri Lushov, oppose these programs. Currently, Russia’s annual health budget only covers the cost for treatment for 500 AIDS patients and in 2007, this is estimated to rise to 7 million. This documentary explores how this short-sightedness will eventually endanger the entire population and HIV will continue to spread unrestrained throughout the Russian population.

– From the UK, in English and French, English subtitles

The clueless f*ckwits in the government, who are in denial, certainly don’t help things.

The Elektron, «Электрон» oxygen generator on the ISS stopped working again on the 8th, but was reactivated by Pavel by reattaching a grounding wire.

Noise is still a problem on the Station: “High Noise Levels On ISS Harmful For Astronauts Say Doctors,” SpaceDaily.com.

From an ARISS-Europe news bulletin for 15 July; answers to some student questions. I sometimes wish I could be a student (and young) again … Just thought they were interesting:

Astronaut Jeff Williams Talks with British Students on Space Camp

Tuesday 13 June 2006 at 13:38 UTC, British students had an exciting space talk with US astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, onboard the International Space Station.

About 60 students and their teachers from Gillingham School, Dorset, UK are on Space Camp this week at the Euro Space Center. ESC is a residential (100 beds) Space Camp for youngsters (8-18), located in Belgium near Bastogne (see Battle of the Bulge, Christmas 1944). Youngsters from many European countries come on Space Camp to ESC where monitors handle several languages. ESC also hosts a permanent Space Expo and a restaurant open to visitors, as well as amateur radio club station ON4ESC.

This week, the ISS passes over Europe occur at night. Therefore, the ARISS School Contact at ESC was done per telebridge. ARISS ground station W6SRJ, located in Junior College, Santa Rosa California, established the radio contact with the ISS and Verizon Conferencing offered the phone link to Belgium. W6SRJ was operated by Bill Hillendahl, KH6GJV, assisted by Don Dalby, KH6UAY. Will Marchant, KC6ROL moderated the contact. At the Euro Space Center, operations were handled by Gaston Bertels, ON4WF and Philippe Van houte, ON5PV.

Twenty students (age 15-17) had been prepared carefully for the space talk, queuing to read their question loud and clear in the microphone, without losing any time. Once the contact established, all twenty questions were answered by Jeff Williams:

Thursday 22/6

Monday morning was the coldest so far this year – about 1°C! The winter solstice was yesterday, so the days now gradually lengthen as the dreaded months of summer approach.

Dad installed Google Earth on his computer and was able to zoom in on our suburb and house! I downloaded it so I will install it sometime and post some screenshots.

A well-known U.S. doughnut franchise with the initials of KK has opened in Melbourne; an article about it described the bizarrely cult-like aspects of working there:

The hopefuls waited for their turn to shine in a footy function room, all dressed up before a panel of doughnut managers, in a scene not a million miles from an Australian Idol audition. Some hopefuls waited five hours, during which they were indoctrinated into the corporate thinking behind the food cult that is KK.

The company’s human resources manager, Michelle Filo, ran the show, co-ordinating group exercises such as the “human knot” to detect “leadership qualities” and “the ability to have fun”. Applicants also addressed the group as a way of assessing their confidence. Then she introduced the product – the fabled doughnuts. A buzz of anticipation filled the room. “Stand up if you have never tasted a KK,” she said, at which point company staffers at the back of the room – in uniform – scurried forth with boxes, holding them aloft in one hand like silver-service waiters carrying Michelin-rated exotica. People whooped and hollered. Doughnuts were inhaled. “What do you think?” asked Filo. “Yum, huh?”

She then asked the mob to recite where the first Melbourne store will be, when it will open and what time – 6.30am – which, amazingly, they all know. She gave a spiel about the company and how great it is: “Who would have ever thought a doughnut shop would have a 24-hour drive-through!” She outlined the bubbly attitude necessary to work there. “It’s all about helping people,” she said. “Helping your workmates and the customers. Helping someone to their car with 20-dozen Original Glazed, helping the barista to make milkshakes if he is snowed under, cheering up a customer if they come in with a bad attitude.” Applicants then waited for one-on-one interviews, in which they were asked questions about expectations, frustrations, accomplishments, personality type and conflict resolution.

Later, Filo says the detailed hype-laden process is to find “people aligned to our culture, people with bounce, energy and passion”. She says the company subscribes to the famed Fish! Philosophy, from the “cold and smelly” Pike Place fishmarket in Seattle where all the workers are constantly happy and productive.

– “Horde of the rings,” The Age, 20 June 2006

Weird. Do people really take this indoctrination seriously? Especially for a lowly doughnut?? It is all so forced and fake; a very American way of working which has unfortunately infected Australia. There were aspects of this in my former Job From Hell, and I was simply unable to act like this because I hated it. I can’t fake jollity and happiness, and resent being forced to, especially for something essentially worthless. If this is what humanity aspires to, maybe we deserve extinction!

Friday 23/6

Another tree murdered! This one a 400-year-old River Red Gum:

Tree was there first, but it had to go

Liam Houlihan, 23 June 2006

A 400-year-old tree that threatened to stump the Eastlink tollway has been chopped down by road builders. Dandenong council rallied to save the ancient River Red Gum, but was refused a last-ditch attempt for heritage protection.

Eastlink builders felled the tree about 9 a.m. yesterday, clearing the way for work to continue on the Dandenong Southern Bypass. Road builder Thiess John Holland said there was no feasible way to save the tree, near Hammond Rd, Dandenong South.

Dandenong Council admitted an oversight meant they had failed to protect it earlier. “I feel very sad today,” said Cr. John Kelly, who led the push to save the tree. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get our interim heritage order.” He said he was now pushing for the council to investigate whether there were similar old trees needing protection.

The tree was lopped just two days after its plight came to public attention.

“That might have quickened the process up,” Cr. Kelly said.

The main body of the tree was lifted onto a truck by a crane yesterday afternoon to be taken to council offices. It may be made into sculptures or art or erected in the ground with a plaque.

A tree that had been growing long before the first European settlers arrived here is now no more, no thanks to heartless developers and the overpopulated state’s insatiable need for more roads. It was rather isolated, the only tree near a busy road and housing developments. Perhaps it was once surrounded by forest.

Progress M-55 undocked on 19 June at 14:06:50 UTC and was deorbited. M-57 is due to launch on 24 June at 15:08:14 (01:08:14 on Sunday 25 June here). Space Shuttle STS-121 is to launch on 1 July.

“The Future of the Russian Space Program,” James Oberg, June 2006. A somewhat pessimistic look at the program, which will be largely dependent on foreign funds to keep going. The experienced space workers in the industry are aging and there are few from younger generations to replace them. “The generational handover that has yet to begin in earnest cannot be put off much longer unless Moscow invents an immortality serum for its veteran engineers. Second, it’s clear Russia is irremediably addicted to foreign funding for all significant improvements to its space capabilities. There are really very few potential foreign clients with deep enough pockets to play this role, so they – not the Russians – usually hold the better hand (and the game is a lot more like poker than chess).” The Kliper spaceship also appears in doubt.

Sunday 25/6

Passed two drunken (or drugged) young males on my bicycle ride this morning who yelled a couple of things at me – “On yer bike!” being the best they could manage – but I had gone past before they could do anything else. Wish I had a gun!

Google Earth view of home

I installed Google Earth and got it working; and found my parents’ home after some searching (typing in the co-ordinates took me to another part of Australia for some reason, so I just searched visually and found the suburb after a few minutes). The resolution is, however, disappointingly low! Very blurry closeup; the image at right is the best it could manage, at an altitude of around 1000 feet; any closer and it becomes too blurry. I only have my old 800 × 600 monitor from my first computer, and the screen is very cramped. The photo was taken earlier this year as the two liquidambar trees that were felled (indicated by white arrows) on 5 May and 13 June and are still there. North is at the top of the image.

It’s rather disturbing to contemplate all those satellites up there that can image your suburb or house without you knowing! The U.S. spy satellites would have a far higher resolution (which is classified); perhaps enough to see each individual leaf on a tree!

Progress M-57 launched at 15:08:18 UTC on 24 June (after 1 a.m. early this morning here) and is to dock at 16:43:±3 on the 26th (2:43 a.m. on the 27th here).

After more hunting, I think I found Star City, Звёздный городок, in Russia (the Yurii Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center), using this JPL radar image as a guide, at approximately 55°55′N, 38°06′E. Again, the image is unfortunately blurry (Shchelkovo Airfield west of it is quite clear, with aircraft parked on the tarmac). Perhaps this is intentional as ZG is a military base, or Google just doesn’t have high-res imagery for the area yet.

Had a nasty surprise later when I found Internet Explorer had become the victim of a browser hijack (CoolWWWSearch). I am not sure how it got infected, but as far as I can tell it happened when Google Earth was accessing the Internet via IE. I used Spybot Search & Destroy to remove it (as far as I can tell). Found a help page here. I am not sure whether to use Google Earth again after that – if that’s how the hijacker got in. I haven’t installed anything else today. I hate IE and how it is integrated with the operating system – the stupidest innovation ever.

Wednesday 28/6

I decided to (*embarrassed cough*) reformat my hard disk after that browser hijacking (see 25/6 entry), just to be sure it had all gone! I have a somewhat obsessive compulsion to do this if any program stuffs up or malfunctions somehow. I like everything to be perfect! The disk is still formatted as FAT 32, not NTFS – the procedure for formatting the latter seems to be different (i.e. not use a startup floppy disk, type format c: at the DOS prompt and proceed from there. I have been reluctant to convert to NTFS for that reason. Doing a reinstall with the Windows XP disk only reinstalls the system alongside the previous one (as I found out doing that on a previous reinstall – the folders are hidden).

Four Russian diplomats were killed by the insurgent thugs in Iraq (didn’t rate a mention in the newspapers here). Have to wonder at the mentality of a person who can hack someone’s head off.

Moscow has the dubious honor this year of being the most expensive city in the world to live.

Moscow fat cats welcome price tag

Adrian Blomfield, Moscow, June 28, 2006, The Age

Fancy a bargain? Buy one of the new houses in Moscow’s exclusive Rublyovka suburb – starting price about A$17 million – and they’ll throw in a helicopter free of charge. And where better to celebrate your purchase than over dinner at Turandot, a A$75 million faux-rococo restaurant, where you can sit in the lavish Venetian courtyard and sip on a A$4100 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1990 as bewigged harpists entertain you.

In a city that revels in its image of decadence and opulence, there was much pride but little surprise when it was announced this week that Moscow had overtaken Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city. “This is wonderful,” said Dmitry Kolosov, a sales manager. “It makes up for not qualifying for the World Cup. It shows that we have arrived, that we are the boom town to be feared and admired by the rest of the world.”

According to its annual survey of 144 cities, human resource consultant Mercer estimates that Moscow is now 12 per cent more expensive than London, the fifth dearest in the world. Researchers looked at the comparative cost of more than 200 items, including rentals, clothes, food and entertainment, that an expatriate would expect to face.

The disparity of rich and poor in Russia, however, remains stark. Just a few hundred metres past the bullet-proof luxury cars outside Turandot, in the underpass, the poverty of Russia’s communist past has not disappeared. Tearful babushkas who lost their savings in the economic crash of the 1990s beg passers-by for small change while tramps blankly sip moonshine.

Russia’s 36 richest people are worth A$160 billion, or 24 per cent of gross domestic product. Sociologist Yuri Levada says Moscow has grown so expensive because of a minority of the nouveaux riches who benefited directly or indirectly from the dubious privatisations of state companies in the 1990s. For New Russians, as they are known, outrageously flaunting your wealth to show your social status is all important. One popular joke tells of one New Russian boasting to another that he had paid $500 for his tie. “You idiot, I got the same one round the corner for $2000,” the second replies.

But it is the price of housing of which there is a serious scarcity, which is mainly responsible for Moscow reaching the top of the cost-of-living index. Property prices rose 30 per cent last year and although the middle-class in Moscow has grown to about a fifth of the city’s population, only a few can afford to buy a place of their own. With prices for a modest, even shabby, bedsit in central Moscow starting at about A$200,000, many Muscovites don’t even bother saving to get onto the property ladder.

With a short-term belief that high oil prices will keep the energy-dependent economy stable, middle-class Russians choose instead to have a good time. Gone are the empty shelves of the Soviet era. In their place are fancy restaurants and luxury shops that often charge a great deal more than they would in the rest of Europe – and can get away with it.

“For New Russians, as they are known, outrageously flaunting your wealth to show your social status is all important.” Makes them easy targets for the next Revolution (*evil smile*).

STS-121 launches on 1 July – 3:49 p.m. EDT Saturday in the U.S.; 19:49 GMT/UTC. In Melbourne it will launch at 5:49 a.m. on Sunday. The ISS will at long last gain a third crew member – Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency. His mission is called “Astrolab”. I have to admit I am rather looking forward to it!

I am a bit concerned about the ISS On-Orbit Reports posted at Spaceref.com as these have become very infrequent and erratic the last two months or so, with days or weeks missing. They are the only detailed source of daily life onboard the ISS. (The NASAspaceflight.com forum has them also, but unfortunately they are only available in the paid suscriber L2 section.)

Friday 30/6

It’s been school holidays for the last 2 weeks, so the roads have been so much quieter in the mornings and afternoons. Bliss! Unfortunately it is back to chaos next week.

I downloaded some Windows Updates from the WindizUpdate site (you can download these from non-IE browsers after installing a small plugin). I ended up saving each one manually, so I could burn them to CD and install each one separately. A cumbersome process, but I prefer it to the annoying intrusiveness of the offical Windows site.

I would not use IE at all now (though it is still needed to get updates from the official Microsoft site); it is a security nightmare. The A Troubleshooting Guide to Windows XP site has a page on Setting the Internet Zone for Additional Security ( Tools → Internet Options → Security → Custom Level), a somewhat bewildering list of settings:

I still have a sore lower back from sitting at my computer desk, so it makes using my computer rather uncomfortable!

July

Sunday 2/7

This June was the driest since 1858! We’ve had virtually no rain at all. The reservoirs that supply Melbourne keep dwindling as the population keeps increasing; an ominous portent for the future.

Had a somewhat uncomfortable night as my throat was dry and scratchy (hope it’s not precursor to a cold), and some vivid dreams of my grandmother’s home.

The launch was scrubbed this morning because of the pesky weather (threatening storm clouds). Next try: 5:26 a.m. tomorrow (Monday); in the U.S., 3:26 p.m. EDT Sunday.

Tuesday 4/7

The sore throat mentioned in the previous entry has turned into a head cold, so I am stuffy and miserable with a runny nose. Don’t feel like doing anything.

A small chunk of foam separated from the External Tank of Discovery after the last launch scrub, but it was determined that repairs were not necessary, so the Shuttle is still cleared for launch tomorrow (2:37 p.m. EDT in the U.S/18:37 GMT/UTC/4:37 a.m. AEST). The weather, however, is still uncertain.

Wednesday 5/7

Am sick and miserable. Head colds are the worst form of torture. I recall standing for 5 hours at my former job with a head cold and feeling absolutely rotten; a constantly runny nose and aching sinuses. It’s a constant battle to keep my nose unblocked with gallons of nasal spray, and violent sneezing feels like it will burst my arteries. I am just staying indoors today.

“The New American Cold War,” Stephen Cohen, Intelligent.ru. A lengthy and critical article about America’s contradictory and damaging policies towards its former foe.

A lot of happy people today – Discovery finally launched! Launched at 18:37:55 UTC. The External Tank inevitably shed some small amounts of debris, though there is no cause for concern (the Orbiter will be inspected when in orbit).

Friday 7/7

I felt somewhat better yesterday and even better today, though I will be a bit stuffy-nosed for a few days yet. Am otherwise rather bored and lifeless.

“The Black-Gold’n Horde: How America Is Conquering Russia,” Exile.ru, 3 June 2005. Another article similar to the one linked to in my previous entry.

But the fact is that America has, by any objective standard, been at war with Russia for nearly two decades, a grossly one-sided war in which the US is quietly conquering more and more territory with the kind of tireless efficiency and success not seen since the days of the Golden Horde.

This isn’t just Russian paranoia. There’s plenty of analysis and gloating in America, you just don’t hear about it. As the CIA-connected intelligence newsletter Stratfor pointed out a few months ago, with Ukraine now firmly in the West’s orbit, America, with NATO and the EU, has managed to succeed exactly where Hitler and Napoleon failed: it has dismantled the Russian empire, leaving the rump state exposed, weakened and essentially at the West’s mercy. Indeed right after last December’s successful US-funded revolution in Kiev, Stratfor observed, “Without Ukraine, Russia’s political, economic and military survivability are called into question … To say that Russia is at a turning point is a gross understatement. Without Ukraine, Russia is doomed to a painful slide into geopolitical obsolescence and ultimately, perhaps even non-existence.”

Weird, but rather fun: “Stalin vs. Hitler,” in superhero-comicbook style, by Aleksei Lipatov. (Found via the Soviet Union LJ community.)

Discovery docked to the ISS at 14:52 UTC to PMA-2 (00:52 a.m. in Melbourne). Thomas Reiter is now officially part of Expedition 13 after installing his custom-made Soyuz seat liner into TMA-8.

This site, Real Time Satellite Tracking, shows the locations of many satellites (including the ISS). Need Javascript enabled to view it.

Sunday 9/7

Suzy in 1971, crawling on the floor

Saw something rather uncanny when watching a scene of the movie One Hour Photo (2002, starring Robin Williams) last night. About 30 minutes or so into the film, Williams’ character was wandering through an outdoor market and stopped to rummage through a box of old photos. One of the photos he pulled out bore an unsettling resemblance to the one of me at right – taken in 1971, when I was an infant! I looked at it and felt instant recognition – That’s me! – but how could it be? (How could an old photo of me find its way to the USA – very unlikely!) I would have to compare the two images (I didn’t videotape the movie, or have it on DVD) to be certain. But seeing that was weird. The movie has been on TV before, but I didn’t notice that scene then.

Monday 10/7

Annoying north wind today.

S7 Airlines Flight 778 is the latest airline disaster in Russia, the second in two months (the last was Armavia Flight 967).

“A Dumb Question From CollectSpace”: A certain website editor earned the wrath of “Grumpy” Keith Cowing from NASA Watch! Grumpy Keith himself asked “A Serious Question About Space Exploration”. “Does Anything Make Keith Cowing Happy?” wonders a reader at collectSPACE.

Wednesday 12/7

A cold front came through last night and I was caught in a hailstorm when I went out on my usual walk early this morning – and, would’t you know it, I didn’t bring my umbrella as it was fine when I went out the front door. First there was a light drizzle, then it began to get ominously heavier and heavier until I was pelted by hail. It had finished in the ½-hour it took for me to get home. At least my head cold has gone! The weather has been mild for a few days, but today is about 7°C.

I splurged a bit today at Borders bookstore in Chadstone and bought a travel book, Letters from St. Petersburg by Victoria Hammond (A$28 for a paperback – ouch! I buy books very rarely). I saw an article about the book in The Age in 2004: “To Russia with elan”. It features (amongst much else) an intimate encounter with some none-too-hygenic toilets (ewww!). I am of the opinion that a country can’t call itself truly civilized unless it has clean public toilets!!! I like my creature comforts.

But seriously, basic sanitation is vital for any society’s health. On Foreign Correspondent last week there was a story, India – Untouchables, about millions of people still not having access to decent toilets and having to do their business in the open, and an organization, the Sulabh Sanitation Movement, working to change things.

Shamil Basayev is dead! Killed yesterday in an explosion in a truck convoy. The circumstances are still a bit unclear (deliberate or accidental?), but good riddance in any case. One less unpleasant human in the world.

“The Destabilization Game,” Tom Engelhardt, Intelligent.ru. Continues the topic of “The New American Cold War”. “No major cover stories are yet taking on the ultimate destabilization gamble of this administration, the fact that they are playing not just with the fate of this or that superpower or set of minor powers, but with that of the human race itself.”

Tuesday 18/7

Bored. Nothing of interest. Since Saturday it was grey, dreary and rainy (though the rain is needed) but today the sun is out at last.

Mum and Dad are going away for a week from Friday to Rosebud, a coastal town on the Mornington Penninsula, about 100 km south down the coast, so I will have a lonely week. I feel so trapped and isolated sometimes, stuck in this nowhere place, my life of utter insignificance.

A new nature documentary series, Planet Earth, has screened on TV for the last two Sundays, featuring spectacular scenes of wilderness areas on Earth, including exhilarating images of soaring over high mountains. It is best viewed on large screens or an IMAX cinema (not my little 38 cm TV!). Watching it, you would have the impression that Earth was an unspoiled paradise (there are no humans visible); unfortunately you would soon be disappointed! If humans were to vanish tomorrow, most of the Earth’s other inhabitants would continue their existences unfazed. It would take the Earth’s ecosystem centuries to recover from the ravages of humanity though, but it would recover in time (after all, it has survived devastating asteroid impacts).

After all the fuss and bother, STS-121 Discovery landed safely last night. Undocking and landing times:

Friday 21/7

This morning it was 0°C at around 7:30 a.m., the coldest morning yet! (See 6/6 entry.) Even a little below that. Below is a photo to prove it! This sort of weather is only bearable if you have a warm heater to huddle near! In contrast, Europe and North America are enduring another heatwave. I prefer the cold to that any day though, and am dreading the coming summer here.

Outside thermometer temperature for today - 0°C

Another liquidambar tree is being felled in a nearby street (see 14/6 entry), with the ugly accompanying grinding screech of chainsaws and a tree branch mulcher. That’s three gone this year. :-( There are a few others in the suburb and I wonder how long they have left.

Monday 24/7

Parents are away. I have done nothing much, as usual. I am somewhat depressed, as usual. I literally have no other people to see or talk to in the real world.

Watched the first Lord of the Rings DVD yesterday (Dad’s) – The Fellowship of the Ring. One of those rare movies that you can rewatch, at intervals. Unfortunately Dad took the other two DVDs with him, so I can’t do a LOTR marathon as I was hoping to! I love seeing the awesome imagery and vast landscapes.

I was annoyed and disgusted enough about these two articles, “Great Aussie breeders” and “Baby, Costello’s a wonder of science,” to make my first post, Breeding for Australia, at the ChildFree Hardcore forum. I have never seen anyone as obsessed with fertility as the Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello. And I can’t believe the irresponsibility of urging people to have more children in an already overpopulated world.

“NASA seeks help for human exploration of Mars,” NewScientistSpace.com. Apparently NASA is feeling they can’t explore space all by themselves. Nice to see Michael Griffin acknowledging the other countries/partners for once!

“Spacewalks to be sold for $15 million,” NewScientistSpace.com. Space tourists might get a chance to go outside the ISS in the future – but at a cost of an EXTRA $15 million! On top of the $20 million for the journey up and back. Where the heck do they come up with these prices? (How much do the spacewalks done by crews cost, I wonder?) That being said, if I had a chance to go up (yes, very unlikely in this lifetime), I would love to do a spacewalk, too!

Thursday 27/7

I decided to ride my bicycle to Chadstone Shopping Center this morning, something I haven’t done in 2 or 3 years, just to visit the Borders bookstore there (my weekly book browsing fix). (I usually go with Mum in her car – I can’t drive.) The weather was fine and not windy, so the ride was not too unpleasant – took about 30 minutes each way. The main hassle, as always, is the traffic. I left at 9:30 a.m. when the worst of peak hour was over, but you have to be constantly alert when cycling. Debris on the road (stones, broken glass, etc.) is another hazard. Bought a book called Moscow: The Beautiful and the Damned: Life in Russia in Transition ($23.76 with a discount voucher).

Mum and Dad arrived home from Rosebud a day early just after I returned – they found the motel beds too uncomfortable!

I am still unhappy with the navigation on my sites – I can’t decide between what I have now (navigation on contents pages only) or the more conventional main navigation on every page.

July edition of Northstar Compass.

“The Old Testament Revised,” Intelligent.ru. Pointed commentary on the latest (unnecessary) conflict.

Za! is a Russian website that features reports of Russian issues in a more positive light.

Expedition 6 has inspired a play! Expedition 6 – The Play was posted at collectSPACE today, from this article, “Aerial Acts” at the BaltimoreSun.com website. Yes, it’s the rather clichéd “stranded in space” theme again! As has done been done with Sergei Krikalyov numerous times.

The daring young men on the flying trapezes kick off from the ground, and for a moment, appear to achieve liftoff.

There are three of them, and each grasps the bar with one hand while angling his remaining limbs in the shape of an arrow. Their forms, lit from above, are silhouetted against the black backdrop and ceiling. They swoosh around and around the Theatre Project stage, weaving in and out of each other’s paths, creating a pattern as intricate as lace.

If you go An open rehearsal of Expedition 6, written and directed by Bill Pullman, will be held at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St. Admission is free, but there is a suggested donation of $25. Reservations encouraged. 410-752-8558 or missiontix.com

In my 24/4 entry I mentioned overpopulation and the The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) site. The Space Review features an article responding to this, “Destroy all humans!” in which the author makes clear his disapproval of VHEMT’s philosophy. While VHEMT are perhaps a bit extreme, they do have a strong point. Humans have become a plague species plundering the Earth and its environment, as I have remarked in previous entries. Another point is that humans can also be extraordinarily cruel to each other, and to other species, and from a moral perspective perhaps they deserve to die out. I have come across awful stories of animal cruelty on some websites. (For some general examples, read the Factsheets at the PETA site.)

Monday 31/7

Changed the navigation for my site (yet again!), so I will try this for a while.

Today the unwelcome news was given that our Dear Leader is to run for election yet AGAIN next year. Kill me now. (Or, better, him – that boy holding a screwdriver missed a prime opportunity.) At this point it seems that the majority of people will be stupid enough to elect him again.

Expedition 13 (Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter) are to do a spacewalk on 3 August in U.S. EMU spacesuits, beginning 13:55 UTC (11:55 p.m. in Melbourne): Shockless Future Spacewalkers’ Aim. Pavel Vinogradov will supervise from inside.

August

Wednesday 2/8

“Dog cull in China to fight rabies,” BBC.com: The latest animal cruelty in China; a place where there is rather too much of it. “China has a poor record of animal protection. There are no laws to prevent cruelty to pets.” I wish the authorities who instigated this could themselves be clubbed to death. I really hope that there is such a thing as karma.

Friday 4/8

The pink flowering cherry blossoms have been out on the naturestrips in the area for the last 2 weeks or so.

Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter successfully completed the spacewalk from the Quest airlock in NASA EMU spacesuits, as described in Status Report #06-36. Exit was at 14:04 UTC and entry 5 h 54 m later was at 19:58. With Pavel supervising from inside (and helping them suit up), they did not have to prepare the ISS for unmanned operations for the first time since 2003 (the Quest airlock spacewalk on 8 April).

“A little piece of Mars in Moscow,” BBC.co.uk, 27 July. Volunteers are being selected for the “Mars-500” experiment. Perhaps they could film it as a “reality TV” show – it could only be better than the execrable “Big Brother” series that just finished here; and the participants would certainly be more intelligent! There is a section at the IMBP site: About the Project “Mars-500”.

“China and Russia Challenging the Space Leadership of the United States,” Global Security, 21 April. The “leadership” obsession. Well, the USA got to another world first, so it is only fair that other countries get a turn! And the “Paranoid Patriots” there will just have to live with it.

“Kliper: too many unknowns,” RIA Novosti, 8 August. It appears the Russian government, through the Russian Space Agency, will not be funding the Kliper manned spaceship program after all, disappointingly. I posted this at the NASAspaceflight.com forum: Kliper canceled?. “To summerize, the Kliper is not canceled, the RSA tender and thereby government support ended with no winner and Energia says it will develop the Kliper by itself, although where they will get the money is a big questionmark.” So they will be stuck with the Soyuz for a few years yet; though it has served well it is rather cramped with no decent toilet!

RSC Energiya: Concept of Russian Manned Space Navigation Development, Energiya site, 24 May. “The meeting-interview between S.Kh. Shamsutdinov, editor-correspondent of the News of Cosmonautics journal and N.N. SEVASTIYANOV, Korolev RSC Energia President, General Designer.” The interview was originally published in NK No..7 (282), July 2006. This is the English translation (at last!); Russia’s (or Energiya’s, at least) “Vision for Space Exploration.” It doesn’t include the recent developments regarding Kliper, but has lots of nice computer diagrams.

Also, Cosmonaut Yurii Malenchenko and (2nd) wife Katya Dmitriev became parents to a baby girl at the end of June (“A baby for ‘space bride’,” Cosmic Log). Not sure of the girl’s name – is it the Kamilla mentioned? She is Yurii’s second child (he had a son to his first wife).

Saturday 5/8

The massacre continues: Second Chinese dog cull planned. The only word that comes to mind is “barbarians”. No country has an exemplary record concerning animal welfare, but some are much worse than others. China’s Culture of Cruelty.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

– Mahatma Gandhi

On Four Corners this week was the report “Junk History”. In my baloney! Admiral Zheng He was real enough, but the author of the book embelished his voyages rather a lot.

Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine № 08/2006 July has a page online with updates concerning the Cosmonaut Group: «Сформированы экипажи МКС-15», “ISS Expedition 15 is formed”.

Monday 7/8

Nearly 0°C this morning, turning into a fine sunny day. This sort of weather is nearly at an end for this year, unfortunately.

Yes, I’ve changed the navigation back to the previous version again … (Hit Ctrl + F5 to fully reload the pages if they don’t display properly.)

“A slow death by progress: If our global civilization dies, what’s left to replace it?,” TheStar.com, via FP Space. A speech by Ronald Wright that warns of the unsustainability of our society (and more eloquently echoes what I have said earlier in this journal).

Our present faith in an ill-defined material progress and our capitulation to the market forces that claim to drive it (the very forces that turn fields into parking lots and forests into paper towels) may not seem religious, but is hardly less dangerous or delusional. When, how, and above all why did we start believing that the stock market must run the world? […]

The bets our ancestors unwittingly placed when they invented civilization now rest on a single high-stakes throw. We have in effect one big civilization, feeding on the whole world at such a rate that we can observe the exhaustion of natural capital within our own lifetimes, whether it be the loss of wildlife, clean water, coral reefs, rainforests, or topsoil. We are cutting old-growth trees everywhere, we are irrigating everywhere, we are mining and fishing everywhere. And no corner of the biosphere escapes our haemorrhage of waste. As each year goes by, the world loses an area of farmland greater than Scotland to erosion and urban sprawl, while 70 million extra human mouths must be fed.

Some years ago, I called civilizations “pyramid schemes,” partly because they build pyramids (costly but unproductive projects that may take the form of colossal statues, extravagant tombs, sumptuous temples, office towers, or missile shields) but mainly because civilizations often behave like “pyramid” sales schemes: thriving only while they expand, paying the present by stealing from the future, collapsing suddenly in political and environmental bankruptcy.

“Co-operation is key for humans’ future in space,” NewScientistSpace.com, 4 August. Michael Griffin at last says something I approve of :-). Despite the nationalistic bleatings of the Paranoid Patriots from a certain country, humans from all nations will only survive into the long-term future if they co-operate, not compete (and fight wasteful wars). (There are quite a few Paranoid Patriots on the NASAspaceflight.com forum for example, but that is to be expected – they seem to be prevailent in the space community/industry. They are easily spotted when they mention “USA” and “leadership” in the same sentence.)

Tuesday 8/8

Had a headache (not quite a migraine) for most of the day.

This is the way I feel about cities in general:

London “filthy, lawless, expensive”

August 8, 2006 – 8:35 a.m.
Sydney Morning Herald

London is a “filthy, lawless and expensive” city to live in, a prominent British design critic said today. Stephen Bayley, an art and culture guru, said the British capital was a “frightful mess” where “very few of the patiently evolved systems that support the daily movements and transitions of the megalopolis work properly. “Most of them are getting worse. London is filthy, lawless and expensive. These are not great conditions for civility to flourish.”

His scathing assessment was being submitted to the main opposition Conservative Party’s policy group focusing on quality of life. “Putting 10 million aggressive hominids into close proximity and inviting them to engage in serial acts of competitive individualism … for jobs, schools or parking spaces, could not be considered a reasonable idea,” Bayley said. “You put rats in claustrophobic circumstances and they become homosexual, murderous and cannibalistic in no time at all. Instead humans find ingenious solutions, underground car parks, coffee shops, Chinese takeaways, one man buses, cycle lanes, tall buildings.”

Bayley recommended to the Conservatives that the urban design landscapes needed to be better to improve the social and economic life of the city. He said present conditions insulted residents and deterred investors. New Conservative leader David Cameron has made “quality of life” – which includes a strong focus on the urban environment – one of the six main challenges facing Britain.

Like many old cities, London has grown organically over time so it is not a planned city. (Curiously, there is a web design article mentioning this at AListApart.com: Thinking Outside the Grid.) Humans are really not suited to living so close together in huge numbers, and the pathologies mentioned in the article are symptomatic of such awful places.

“Mars aboveground,” The Space Review, 7 August. Review of the Robert Zubrin documentary-movie The Mars Underground (mentioned in my 10/9/2005 entry). Reading about some descriptions of Robert Zubrin there, he seems to have some traits of Asperger’s Syndrome:

Robert Zubrin is not really the best spokesperson for his movement. In public speeches he has trouble making eye contact with his audience and has a number of common nervous verbal mannerisms – like saying “um” in between his sentences and “okay” at their end – that diminish his message. Nevertheless, he is smart, passionate-verging-on-zealous, and has a message that appeals to the human desire to dream.

And an obsessive focus on his interest: going to Mars, in this case (and impatience with people who do not share this passion).

Friday 11/8

Today I received the dreaded callup for jury duty, selection beginning on Friday 25 August in the city. Not something I am looking forward to, being away from home in a strange situation with a whole lot of unfamiliar people. It looks to be a long and tiring day (or more). I also don’t have any formal/business-type clothes to wear. I am going to spend the next 2 weeks fretting. At least it is easy to get there using the train. Information: Victoria’s Jury System. (It is a similar feeling to that experienced when called up for the military draft, though at least I don’t have to worry about being sent somewhere to be shot at or blown up.)

A major terrorist plot was averted at London’s Heathrow Airport yesterday. It caused major disruption, with passengers severely restricted in what they could carry onboard. The terrorists planned to blow up 10 jets enroute to the USA over the Atlantic using liquid explosives. The suspects (mostly British citizens) are the usual Muslim extremist fanatics.

Saw a book of some relevance to this in a bookshop today: The End of Faith by Sam Harris, who argues that organized religion is basically incompatible with modern civillized society, especially in an age where weapons of mass destruction are readily available.

Our world is fast succumbing to the activities of men and women who would stake the future of our species on beliefs that should not survive an elementary school education. That so many of us are still dying on account of ancient myths is as bewildering as it is horrible, and our own attachment to these myths, whether moderate or extreme, has kept us silent in the face of developments that could ultimately destroy us. Indeed, religion is as much a living spring of violence today as it was at any time in the past. (page 25)

We live in an age in which most people believe that mere words – “Jesus,” “Allah,” “Ram” – can mean the difference between eternal torment and bliss everlasting. Considering the stakes here, it is not surprising that many of us occasionally find it necessary to murder other human beings for using the wrong magic words, or the right ones for the wrong reasons. How can any person presume to know that this is the way the universe works? Because it says so in our holy books. How do we know that our holy books are free from error? Because the books themselves say so. Epistemological black holes of this sort are fast draining the light from our world.

– Page 3

Saturday 12/8

Concerning the Jury Duty (mentioned yesterday), I won’t know until the night before whether I have to attend or not (sometimes the callup is canceled).

I made this post in the NASAspaceflight.com forum today, in the “Favourite Sci-Fi” thread. I was quite pleased with it! Don’t know if it will get any reaction though (going by past experience) :-(. The Howard Carter quote is from King Tutankhamen’s Tomb. I want to go to Mars and find “wonderful things”! A favorite daydream.

Update 6/12/2006: The post, in case it disappears:

(A somewhat rambling post :-)

A few years ago I rented Event Horizon on video. Loved it! Ended up watching it several times. Creepy with awesome imagery. Loved the idea of the wormhole stardrive. The spaceship itself – Event Horizon – was also totally cool. I wish they would make a sequel – I want to find out where the ship went for those 7 years!

A novel I read a few years ago also is Titan by Stephen Baxter. It’s possibly the most gloomy novel ever written, but has lots of interesting ideas. There are also some uncanny parallels with what is happening now (the decay of the space program, the rise of China as a space power, religious fundamentalism in the USA, etc.). I like to re-read the parts where the characters are traveling to Titan – all the little details of life onboard.

I have virtually stopped reading or watching sci-fi though – I find a lot of it irritating or boring (most of what is available in Australia comes from the USA and can be a bit too tediously patriotic/nationalistic at times *cough*), and I prefer space stories set now or in the past (though that can also be annoyingly nationalistic, etc.).

As a child my family watched Dr. Who on TV in the 1970s and 1980s. My favorite episode was The Pyramids of Mars, where I fell in love with the Sutekh character. I thought he was the coolest! I remember trying to draw him – I loved the mask he wore. I like the combination of Ancient Egypt and aliens.

Another movie is Mission to Mars – in this I like the idea of discovering that alien visitors have been on Mars previously. It is my secret wish that remnants of alien visitors will be discovered whenever the first Mars expedition takes place – that the astronauts and cosmonauts will come across “wonderful things”[1] like the alien spaceship in the movie. It would be the most marvelous moment in human history. Unfortunately the reality is likely to be a lot duller – just some dead rocks and maybe a few microbes. I liked the ending when one of the astronauts gets into the alien spaceship and heads off to a nearby galaxy. Cool! Just the sort of thing I would do.

I like space movies with mystery, magic and wonder. I don’t like sci-fi where all people do is fight (like those innumerable “Space Marine” genre novels). There is too much of that on Earth.

Other things I watched when little, screened on Saturday afternoons as I recall: the original Star Trek series, Battlestar Galactica.

The original Alien movie. I remember seeing an article about it in Omni magazine (does anyone remember that mag?) around 1980 (my family stayed at a holiday house for a week near the beach; an annual thing, and the family who owned it had copies of the magazine lying about. But I digress …) H.R. Giger’s art fascinated me.

Today marks 15 years since Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine first launched! 1991 doesn’t seem that long ago …

Monday 14/8

Spring is unofficially already here.

I actually found a pair of pants that fit me today, in Katies in Southland - joy! Plain black formal-type pants (I only have jeans and tracksuit pants to wear but nothing more formal, i.e. a female business suit) that were short enough for me. I don’t have long legs, and most pants are made with extra length to accommodate taller women, so finding a pair that fits is usually an exercise in frustration. The pants weren’t too expensive ($30). Unfortunately, like virtually all clothes these days, they are “Made in China”. It is nearly impossible to find clothing actually made in Australia. There were several other colors; I might just get a brown-colored pair later on (I have learned that if you find something you like, buy two of it, if you can afford it, as it is likely you will not find the item again!).

I am struggling to finish Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the End of Revolution (a library book) as it is one of the most depressing books about Russia I have yet read. (Is there anything about Russia that isn’t depressing?) Where do I start … the Beslan and Kursk bugger-ups, the bloody, brutal mess that is the seemingly endless war in Chechnya (atrocities by both sides), the culture of bullying in the military, environmental destruction and degradation, a declining and unhealthy population (the AIDS epidemic will soon rival that of similarly-afflicted African nations), a barely-functioning health system, endemic corruption in the government and legal system … the grimness goes on and on. (The Amazon.com reviews for the book, though, are mixed.)

I wonder if Russia will exist as a country at all by the end of the century! It seems possible that China will seek to occupy it – the population in the Siberian east is declining, and across the border is China with its burgeoning population:

The future threat of broad instability due to Russia’s demographic decline was already on display in the Far East, the sprawling, largely empty outpost of empire along the Pacific Rim just north of a burgeoning China. On the Russian side of the border was a seemingly endless expanse of land rich in resources and light on population, occupied by a mere 7 million Russians and fewer with each passing year due to the country’s high death rate and out-migration from the region. On the Chinese side was a bursting-at-the-seams society desperate for breathing space and raw materials to feed its modernizing economy, with 77 million people living in just the three provinces bordering their northern neighbor. The imbalance seemed precarious. “We have the psychological sense that it’s dangerous for us,” Sergei Drozdov, head of passport and visa services in the Far East capital city of Khabarovsk, Хабаровск, told us. “The Russian population is declining. Nature doesn’t tolerate a vacuum. When there’s a full bottle there and it’s empty here, at some point the bottle will burst and spill over to here.”

There was an article in the 12 August 2006 edition of New Scientist magazine: “Fell a forest, build a nation: Russian forests represent a lucrative expanse of flat-pack furniture and building materials to neighboring China – but what is the cost of this devastating timber trail?” (Not available online unfortunately, but I’ll scan in the article as soon as I can find the edition at the library.) China’s rapidly-growing economy means it has a rapacious appetite for resources, and the once-vast forests of Siberia are sadly becoming victims of this – yet another environmental catastrophe to equal the disappearance of the Amazon rainforest. (Australia’s mineral and metal resources are also being exported to supply China.)

“Some assembly required,” New Scientist, 12 August.

Interesting Wikipedia entry: Russians in Australia.

Wednesday 16/8

Today was very bright (too bright) and sunny with a strengthening (and very irritating) north wind – nearly gale-force.

I went into the city this morning to see where the jury pool room is – just 5 minutes from Flagstaff Station, so it’s easy to get to (indicated by the red star in the map below – map is from the Australia Map Directory). The Melbourne law courts are in a huge and rather intimidating complex of buildings along William Street.

Map of courts complex in Willam Street, Melbourne

My Achilles tendons are still chronically sore (since from earlier this year – see 23/1 and 20/2 entries), so I was descending sets of stairs rather awkwardly! The base of my spine is still sore also (probably from sitting at my computer), so I am feeling rather creaky! (Not as badly as my parents are, though.)

A posting I made today at the Childfree Hardcore forum.

An article in The Age from last week:

Furious Muscovites say “nyet” to Lonely Planet

Date: August 10 2006

Melbourne-based travel publisher Lonely Planet has incurred the wrath of the Russian authorities with a new guidebook on Moscow that the Russians fear will put tourists off in droves.

Moscow’s tourist chiefs and its powerful mayor believe the guide, which recently hit Russian shelves, is woefully out-of-date and paints an overly bleak picture of the capital.

In particular, they have been incensed by suggestions that prostitutes hang around in large numbers; that visitors are in danger of becoming infested with ticks; that AIDS is rife; that the capital’s shops are awash with counterfeit vodka; and that criminals are numerous.

“This book discredits the mayor of Moscow, members of the police force, and gives an inaccurate impression of the city’s tourist infrastructure and the general situation,” Sergei Tsoi, a spokesman for Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, told the Russian daily Izvestia.

Angry Russian tourism bosses have called the tome an attempt to blacken Moscow’s name and say they are considering legal action.

Lonely Planet defended the guidebook, saying it was accurate and that it had a duty to provide the unvarnished truth no matter how unpalatable it was.

“This is a guidebook for tourists and our integrity rests with our honesty and because we call it like it is.

“The author, while passionate about Moscow, felt she had to provide a frank and honest opinion about the capital,” said a spokeswoman.

– Andrew Osborn

The Lonely Planet guides do tend to be rather negative about some countries (including Russia); I would not read (or buy) them as they tend to scare you off going there!

Via a posting at NASAspaceflight.com from one of the guys at the Loty kosmiczne site, I was directed to this Russian site, Эпизоды космонавтики (Cosmonautics Episodes, all in Russian) with a section containing details of all ISS (and other) spacewalks, including the serial numbers of spacesuits (which I was looking for). Cool!

Saturday 19/8

I had a dream yesterday that I was boarding a jet to fly overseas – a recurring dream that is a distorted memory of my last overseas flight, my 1987 New Zealand holiday. I showed my boarding pass to an attendant then walked through a corridor to a circular lounge area that was also the passenger jet. Some of my school classmates were there (as they always seem to be). The room then morphed into a train that traveled down a mountain slope to a station. I wonder if I will go anywhere again, or be stuck in this nowhere place forever. Part of me wants to go somewhere, another part to stay here where I am relatively safe. Air travel is getting very expensive now, though.

I made a posting at NASAspaceflight.com, ISS EMU spacesuit questions! – there are some helpful people there, at least – Anik provided a list of all EMU spacesuits used up to the most recent spacewalk (including their serial numbers); a Word document can be downloaded from that entry. He also mentions in this post a new variant of the Orlan spacesuit, the Orlan-MK, to be first used in 2007.

Monday 21/8

I am really not looking forward to this week: jury duty selection (maybe) on Friday.

On TV last night there was a made-for-TV miniseries (screened together) called Icon, based on a novel by Frederick Forsyth. I only watched a few scenes (it stretched to 3½ hours, finishing at midnight – way past my bedtime!). The movie plot was quite different from that of the book. It was not particularly enjoyable (featuring a very wrinkly-looking Patrick Swayze running about and being shot at), but if you could ignore the silly plot the movie was quite a nice tourist advertisement for Moscow, having being filmed there. The novel’s plot is even siller (I haven’t read it), as for some peculiar reason the so-called good guys apparently want to restore the Russian monarchy. Which is the last thing Russia needs (though there are apparently a few people there who wish for it). Monarchies are sooo archaic. People sooner or later get fed up with self-indulgent despots and end up abolishing them.

Tuesday 22/8

Nothing of interest. Was looking at clothes in the shops at Southland shopping center as I usually do (“window shopping” – can’t afford to buy them!). The fashions this year are awful – polka dots and stripes, primary colors, frilly flimsy dresses and tops. Yuck. I like more classic-cut, simple clothes with plain colors (not patterns), and I haven’t worn a dress since I was little!

Whoever invented high-heeled shoes for women should be made to wear them in Hell for eternity! They are the modern equivalent of Chinese foot-binding. Unfortunately they never seem to go out of fashion. (Needless to say, I have never worn high heels. My feet are problematic enough as it is!)

Looks like Anousheh might be getting her flight rather sooner than she expected:

Though the item in Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 572 speculates that the real reason may be that Daisuke can’t come up with the full fee for the flight.

Wednesday 23/8

It’s been a bad year for airline crashes in Russia – another jet crashed today, this one in Ukraine: Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612. The cause is still unclear, though it is not thought to have been terrorism. Details at PlaneCrashInfo.com.

Australia has been fortunate so far in that there has been no crashes of major airlines and big passenger jets (though a few near-misses, and plenty of fatalities involving smaller aircraft). I have to wonder how long that will last if and when maintenance is outsourced to China (see 9/3 entry).

Below, an article from today’s TheMoscowTimes.com (they archive their articles after one day, so I can’t link to it instead). China again! I seem to be mentioning them a lot this month.

They’re Looking the Wrong Way

By Yulia Latynina, Wednesday, August 23, 2006.

The Federal Forestry Agency has said it is ready to rent out 1 million hectares of forest to China, and preliminary agreements have been reached with the Tyumen and Sverdlovsk regions on 49-year rental contracts. Russia has not undertaken anything on this scale since selling Alaska to the United States in 1867.

The national media have not covered the deal and there has been no discussion in the State Duma. But 49 years is two generations. Will there be any chance the tenants will leave when the deal expires? Ossetians have been living in Ingushetia’s Prigorodny District since 1944. What would happen if we asked them to give it back to the Ingush?

Suppose 49 years from now Russia realizes there are no ethnic Russians living on those 1 million hectares. How would it ask the Chinese to leave? Given the Chinese people’s diligence and sheer numbers and the country’s ability to think in terms of centuries – as opposed to the Kremlin’s habit of thinking in dollars – will there be a single Russian left?

Not long ago, Kosovo was Serbian territory. In fact, it was the very heart of Serbia and the site of the Battle of Kosovo of 1389 that is so central to Serbian identity. Kosovo is now demanding independence, based on the presence of an ethnic Albanian majority. How many decades will the Chinese need to claim a right to the Tyumen region and the Urals if they follow the model of Kosovo?

Renting out forests is not the only sign of increasing Russian-Chinese friendship. Others include the construction by the Chinese of a toll highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. Given that toll roads are generally more about regulating traffic flows than covering construction costs, the construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway can’t be considered a commercial project. It is a project to build an 800-kilometer-long Chinatown.

Then there is the credit Rosneft received from China to help it purchase Yuganskneftegaz. The loan is tied to oil supplies and experts have put the cost at about $17 per barrel, plus a small current payment dependent on the price of oil. I’m not suggesting that the money was provided as a bribe. In fact, just the opposite: I am afraid the deal graphically demonstrates how much more effective Chinese officials are at looking out for the country’s interests.

Let’s not forget the Peace Mission 2005 joint military exercises with China that were held in Tsindao province. The scenario for the exercises involved terrorists seizing control of an island and included long-range Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS bombers pounding the anti-aircraft installations and air bases of the terrorists’ accomplices. The West said that the exercises were a rehearsal for capturing Taiwan and that Russia’s strategic air capabilities are a threat to Taiwan’s allies. Stalin and Marshal Georgy Zhukov would be turning in their graves at the thought of the Russian Air Force helping China seize Taiwan.

The Kremlin is cozying up to China to spite the United States. At first glance, this policy seems strange. However much the Kremlin dislikes the United States, Washington is not after Russian land or witnessing enormous emigration, and is certainly not interested in Russia falling apart and the appearance of, for example, a Chinese-Finnish border and a Caucasian caliphate.

The point is that everything depends on the goals involved. If we are afraid of the United States not as a threat to Russian territorial integrity, but as a country with an unpleasant habit of raising questions about human rights and official corruption, then getting close to China makes sense. Friendship with China is a club that can be used to brandish at the United States when Russia wants to.

But is it really worth turning Siberia into a potential Kosovo just to teach the United States a lesson?

Yulia Latynina hosts a political talk show on Ekho Moskvy radio.

Thursday 24/8

I won’t find out until after 4:30 p.m. if I have to go to Jury Duty tomorrow. (The suspense is killing me!)[2]

I commented at a blog posting, Going Native, found via my wanderings, about one of my pet peeves, the “Natives Nazis” (see my 15/4 entry). I am really fed up with politically-correct environmentalism as described here.

The usual visit to Borders bookstore in Chadstone today. Had a look through a new book in the Russian history section: River of No Reprieve: Descending Siberia’s Waterway of Exile, Death, and Destiny by Jeffrey Tayler, an American travel writer. As you can probably surmise by the title, it is yet another in what I call the “Russia: Doom and Gloom” genre. It is a travel account by the author of his journey down the Lena River in Siberia with a guide, described in a review as “Vadim, an ill-tempered veteran of the Soviet-Afghan war.” The book seemed readable enough, but I wasn’t going to pay A$52 for it! If the book isn’t bought by someone, I will see if I can read my way through it during visits (I’m a fast reader in English).

Cosmonaut Sergei Ryazanskii’s blog seems to be in hibernation – not updated since March. I am still disappointed that none of the cosmonauts have kept online journals during their stay on the ISS, like the NASA astronaut journals. It would be good PR, and ensure that they got a bit of media attention too (instead of the NASA astronauts getting all of it).

The next Space Shuttle mission, STS-115 (Atlantis) is set to make its first launch attempt on 27 August at 4:30 p.m. EDT in the USA (Monday 28 August at 6:30 a.m. in Melbourne).

The 27th is also a certain cosmonaut’s 48th birthday!

Friday 25/8

Well, I wasn’t selected for the jury after all, but only because my number wasn’t drawn from the ballot box! The large group of jurors (140 summoned, though a few didn’t turn up and they will have some explaining to do to the judge!) gathered in the Jury Pool Room and, after an introductory video, were told we were to be selected for a murder case and were then herded across the road to the Supreme Court (an older 19th-century building with nice wood panelling and plasterwork inside, but horrid uncomfortable wooden seats!). There was a lengthy process of reading out everyone’s number and people had to say “Present” or “Excuse”. The latter ones then had to explain to the judge why they couldn’t attend, and he allowed most of them to be excused (though one lady who said that she felt she couldn’t cope with a murder trial wasn’t allowed to be excused). Then numbers were drawn from the ballot box. Those who weren’t selected trooped back to the Jury Room (myself with my back aching after sitting in the awful 19th-century seats that were similar to uncomfortable church pews!). As things turned out, the second trial we were eligible to be selected for would call jurors in on Monday instead, who were to be another group, so that was it for the day. Then we were let out and I headed home. I won’t be eligible to be called up for 2 years.

The train coming in was very slow, causing me some anxiety – as it turned out, on the news tonight it was reported that at 7 a.m. some silly man with a backpack ran into a tunnel in the City Loop, causing trains to be halted for a short time as he was searched for (but not caught). He was not a terrorist but a fare evader. Trains were delayed until about 7:30, so there was a backlog of delays.

The Age: Your Say: Travel trauma. A lot of irate comments about Melbourne’s rail service! Privatization was the biggest mistake the government ever made (any other countries considering it, take heed!).

I’m tired, and off to bed.

Monday 28/8

Daniel McAdams on Belorus: entry at Russian Blog, and the original article.

Russia’s external challenges in the 21st century at Johnson’s Russia List.

The STS-115 launch was *sigh* delayed by 24 hours due to a lightning strike to the launch pad. Now it looks as though Hurricane Ernesto might force Atlantis to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Next launch attempt is set for Tuesday 3:41 p.m. EDT (Wednesday 30 August at 5:40 a.m. in Melbourne).

Tuesday 29/8

The launch of STS-115 has been called off because of Hurricane Ernesto, so Atlantis is to be rolled back into the Vehicle Assembly Building. NASA is to negotiate with Roskosmos, the Russian Space Agency to delay the launch of Soyuz TMA-9 so that STS-115 can try at that time.

It’s Russia’s fault! (Again!): My posting at NASAspaceflight.com for today, based on “Grumpy” Keith Cowing’s article at Spaceref: “Lightning, Hurricanes, Russians – and Space Shuttles”.

Dealing with the Russians is never pleasant … Weather has always been an issue for launched from Florida – and it always will be. Russians will be as obstinate as they can get away with so long as they are in the equation for American human spaceflight aboard the ISS … As was the case in the movies, the Russians may be difficult to work with at time, but we can still learn a lot from them – and we have no choice but to do so.

It’s Keith in Russia-bashing mode! He was overdue for another bout. *Rolls eyes* (Actually, he is signed up to the forum also, as kcowing. Sooner or later I will get an irate email from him …)

I also signed up at another forum, the Space.com one, Uplink, as Kosmonavtka. I am still mainly lurking there, though.

Wednesday 30/8

The weather is warming up: 21°C today. If if never got much warmer than this (up to 25°C) this climate would be pleasant.

Water restrictions begin from 1 September. The reservoirs supplying Melbourne are only around 46.8% full. I can’t remember the last time they were full. An increasing population certainly doesn’t help. In the country (regional areas surrounding Melbourne) the situation is much worse – they’ve had severe water restrictions for years as rainfall has been inadequate for so long. Melbourne has suffered its worst six-year drought in recorded history. The bad news is that things may get worse with global warming. Melbourne Water – Living with Drought.

One way to solve Russia’s problems: send in the ladies!

Female cops to clean up

August 30, 2006 12:00 a.m.

Russia is to create its first women-only traffic police unit because commanders believe they are less corrupt than men.

The male-dominated traffic police routinely forgive traffic violations in exchange for bribes.

Many believe this culture helps make Russia’s roads among the world’s most dangerous: about 35,000 people are killed in accidents each year.

“The first female platoon of 26 traffic officers will patrol the centre of Volgograd (in southern Russia),” the regional police chief, Mikhail Tsukruk, said.

“There is research which proves that women are not inclined to bribe-taking.”

A few women already serve in the traffic police.

Now, if all male politicians could be replaced with female ones …!

(35,000 people killed on Russia’s roads each year?? That’s the equivalent of a medium-size town being massacred! Australia’s annual road toll is approximately 1600.)

STS-115 was rolled back to the launchpad as it was decided the hurricane wasn’t as great a threat as first though. The launch attempt is set for sometime next week.

Anousheh Ansari has her own small website. I hope she will keep an online diary, though there is no sign of one yet. Count how many times the word “entrepreneur” is mentioned! And what the heck is a “serial entrepreneur”? She has an intimidatingly impressive list of achievements. She had to have the Soyuz Orbital Module (the living quarters) modified for her, mainly the toilet facilities. I made a posting here at NASAspaceflight.com about it (reproduced below):

MKremer – 26/8/2006 2:05 a.m. That’s one of several stories now that I’ve seen making a big deal out of not allowing her to take any makeup on the flight. As if that’s supposed to be something she’s really concerned about? Sheesh!

Because many ladies feel they need makeup to look nice!!!! (Myself being one of them!) Though Anousheh looks ok without makeup (as far as I can tell), so I guess it isn’t a big deal for her.

“A woman’s organism is different, that’s why we need to modify some of the life systems in the capsule,” Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of the RKK Energia space corporation was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying … A Russian space expert, who preferred to remain anonymous, told AFP the main change on the capsule for Ansari would be to provide “special equipment for the toilet.”

Exactly what changes are needed for the Soyuz loo? I am curious as someone wrote in this CollectSpace entry that:

No asked [Olsen] how to go to the bathroom in space, either, but he showed a clip of them literally swapping out the toilet. Olsen gave a neat comparison on the habitation module of the Soyuz, which is filled with garbage and then discarded: It holds 10 of those toilet tanks. Men use a funnel, while women used a sanitary-napkin-type pad which absorbs fluid. Nice to know they still haven’t solved the problem of a unisex toilet.

Ewww! Hope that isn’t true?

No answers, alas …

Guys just don’t get it. Most ladies like to look nice! It’s called “grooming”. And by make-up (cosmetics) I meant the bare essentials (eyeliner, a small bottle of foundation, lipstick or lipgloss) not a whole cosmetics case!

Thursday 31/8

I found a site about what could be wrong with my lower back: Coccydynia. I think the office chair I use to sit at my computer is the culprit! Though the pain only appeared a few months ago (first mentioned in my 17/6 entry), and I have had the seat since late 2004 (I think). Must be a cumulative effect.

I read an entire book in Borders bookstore in Chadstone today: Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. Yeah, it’s a teenager’s book :-*) so it was a quick read (i.e. short and easy to read). The film came out recently and I just wanted to see what the fuss was about. I can see why it would appeal to teenage boys (and a few girls!). I couldn’t help noticing that the actor playing the Alex Rider character in the movie, Alex Pettyfer, is going to be a real stud muffin when he gets older! (Yes, I have an appreciation for nice-looking guys :-)

But … I did notice in the book that the good guys were British and American, and the bad guys were European, Russian and Middle Eastern. The main bad guy wanted to unleash a plague virus on England and said that other countries were helping him because they despised England and everything it stood for (or words to that effect). So the characters were somewhat racially stereotyped – the British characters being portrayed as noble, heroic, etc. in comparison with the “barbaric” other nationalities. Well, maybe I’m reading too much into a simple story, but those were the undertones that were evident to me. I doubt the author set out to consciously portray them such, but there is an element of the British character that tends to look down upon other nationalities. (Yes, I can say that because I am of English descent!)

And the author … his life story seems perhaps a little too colorful? “Anthony Horowitz’s life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm,” the web bio begins. Maybe it was copied from those sources. Maybe I am too suspicious? It’s just that there have been other instances of authors with colorful life histories who turned out to be fake – one of the most recent being Helen Demidenko in Australia.

Footnotes

[1]
Howard Carter discovers the tomb of Tutenkhamun:

Carter immediately sent a telegram to Carnarvon and waited anxiously for his arrival. Carnarvon made it to Egypt by November 26th and watched as Carter made a hole in the door. Carter leaned in, holding a candle, to take a look. Behind him Lord Carnarvon asked, “Can you see anything?” Carter answered, “Yes, wonderful things.”

[2]
… Yes, I have to go in tomorrow. Going to be a long and tiring day.

September

Friday 1/9

Four months until year’s end now. Another year gone too quickly.

Something that made me go Grrr!: “Religion enters Russian schools,” BBC news. I hate how religion generally has seen a resurgence around the world; it is a dismaying trend. For goodness’ sake people, this is supposed to be the technologically-advanced 21st century, not the Dark Ages!

That being said, I had compulsory religious education in school (Baptist Christian), and look how I turned out :-). Though they weren’t really fanatical about it. If religion must be taught, I think it should be taught in the context of mythology – that all mythologies and current religions were humanity’s way of explaining the inexplicable, and of putting a more benign face on the indifference of Nature and the Universe. (Mythologies, after all, are religions that have gone out of fashion – people once believed in, for example, the Greek gods as strongly as they believe in Christianity or whatever today.)

Yesterday (31 August) was current ISS commander Pavel Vinogradovich’s 53rd birthday! Forgot to mention it.

The next launch attempt of STS-115 Atlantis is 12:29 p.m. ET on Wednesday 6 September (Thursday 8 September 2006 at 2:30 a.m. in Melbourne). The launch of Soyuz TMA-9 in Russia has been moved back to 18 September to avoid overlapping with the Shuttle mission.

Roskosmos announced plans for a new station when the ISS is completed . This was initially mistranslated that they would abandon the ISS and begin a new station (as posted at FPSpace). A slightly tidied-up Babelfish translation from Novosti Kosmonavtiki news:

29/08/2006/15:50 The report of A. Perminov and V. Davydov at the International Aerospace Congress

Today the leader of the Federal Space Agency A. Perminov and his deputy V. Davydov made a report “STATE and PROSPECTS FOR THE SPACE ACTIVITY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION” at the fifth Iinternational Aerospace Congress taking place in Moscow. In the report the summary of the agency’s activities were supplied, and some plans for the future were also presented. Extending the Roskosmos press-service report in many respects, they explained the previous communication about the plans of the creation of a new Russian orbital station, which RIA Novosti elaborated upon with reference to Roskosmos deputy V. Davydov.

An extract from the report:

“… In the period 2016-2025 it is planned to complete ISS operations and to begin the creation of a new manned orbital infrastructure, the basic nucleus of which must become a domestic high-latitude multipurpose manned space station. The creation of this system in orbit with an inclination of approximately 70° will ensure the survey of the entire territory of Russia and regions adjacent to it, since at present it is possible to observe only 6-7% of territory of Russia from the ISS Russian segment. This will make it possible to greatly increase the volume of the decided tasks in the interests of the wide circle of Russian users. It is intended to create at this station the experimental-industrial production of materials, preparations and substances with the properties unattainable or not easily attainable on Earth, to develop the methods of monitoring the Earth from space in the interests of the economy and social needs, and to also ensure the commercial use of results of studies and experiments. Furthermore, during this period will be mastered technologies to enable the initiation of interplanetary expeditions to the Moon and Mars.

After 2025-2030 it is intended to begin the preparation and realization of interplanetary expeditions. However, speaking about the programs of the mastery of the Moon and Mars popular today, it should be noted that when making a decision about the implementation of the large-scale and very expensive programs of this type, it is necessary to again analyze benefits from such expeditions, takeing into account the needs of fundamental science, the possibility of the mastery of the extraterrestrial resources and finally the development of new technologies for space and terrestrial application. But if we make in the future the decision to master other planets and extraterrestrial resources – we will begin this only on the basis of equal collaboration and global international partnership ….”

Russian version, Русская версия: Доклад А. Перминова и В. Давыдова на международном аэрокосмическом конгрессе.

“Russia Proposes Extending ISS Service Life,” Space Daily.

Wednesday 6/9

I’ve been fussing with my website again, so back to global navigation *Sigh*. I spent the whole weekend checking the crew and launches tables in my MKS site for mistakes (of which there were quite a few). Not fun. Don’t know why I bother to keep them, aside from a vague obsession to record and categorize things (apparently shared by a lot of people who do space sites).

Rain today, hooray! Haven’t had enough of it this year; we didn’t get the neccessary winter rainfall, as described in this article from The Age: “Warning on water, fires crisis.”

“Deep ice tells long climate story,” BBC News: Data from the extraction of a deep ice core showed an alarming rise in carbon dioxide levels due to climate change. From another article in today’s The Age about the same ice core:

In the past, it had taken 1000 years for carbon dioxide to rise by 30 ppm during natural warming periods. According to the new measurements, the same level of increase has occurred in the past 17 years. […]

Many experts recognise a “tipping point” of 440 ppm of carbon dioxide, after which climate change starts to run out of control. Although opinions differ, it was generally accepted that at some stage a “step change” is reached after which global warming accelerates exponentially, Dr Wolff said.

According to the new evidence, the threshold may now be only a decade away. “We could expect that tipping point to arrive in 10 years’ time,” he told the meeting at the University of East Anglia. The ice core also showed a doubling in concentration of methane.

I am really dreading how the environment will be in the next few decades. It seems we are headed for a catastrophic crash, yet people and countries continue their wasteful lifestyles regardless.

Regarding Victoria’s situation, I wonder if the lack of rainfall could be partly related to the spread of housing developments over once-open land. There seems to be a curious blindness on the part of our governments when it comes to population growth being a major cause of water shortages – they don’t want to acknowledge the connection between these as a growing population is seen as “boosting the economy” and is thus a Good Thing.

The outpouring of grief for Steve Irwin is amazing – I knew of him, of course, but didn’t realize he was so popular. I don’t think I ever saw one of his shows (were they on TV here?), but he certainly was … enthusiastic. A curious way to die.

Space stuff

Encyclopedia Astronautica has a new Poetry section, with poems by Keith Gottschalk (a South African; he posted to FPSpace about their inclusion), Mark Wade and others. The creative inspiration of space and the cosmos seems to get curiously little attention in the media and the forums I visit.

Anousheh Ansari is to keep a blog (not up yet) during her spaceflight. Her website is full of the usual “inspirational” blather that seems to be a product of too many self-help books. There is a sentence giving one of her goals as being “first space Ambassador, promote peace and understanding amongst nations.” Maybe I’ve become too cynical, but it makes me roll my eyes and mutter sarcastically, “Yeah, right!” I wonder how former cosmonaut Nadezhda Kuzhel’naya will be feeling (as mentioned in my 9/5 entry).

Thursday 7/9

The 5th anniversary of “9/11,” the destruction of the World Trade Center, is approaching. Last week a compelling documentary was screened, 9/11: Falling Man, about the photo of a man plummeting to his death from one of the Towers. The DigitalJournalist.org site has an article about the photographer, Richard Drew. The unreality of that strange and terrible day is still overwhelming. Ordinary people went to work on that fine Autumn morning as they had done on countless days before, and before morning’s end some would face the awful horror of choosing between being burned to death, or falling to their death. Also the people in the two airliners who crashed into the buildings (and the two other jets that crashed into the Pentagon and a field) – they boarded the planes expecting to arrive at their destinations and instead ended their lives in fire. The smoke pouring out of the two Towers only hinted at the unimaginable carnage inside.

“Why Nerds are Unpopular”: a thought-provoking essay by Paul Graham (found via Zenith’s AlphaScorpii.net site [formerly SilentSong.net]). Why smart kids are badly treated in American schools (which seem to have a particularly vicious caste system). Also, musings on why teenagers in modern society generally seem to be so troubled:

Life in this twisted world is stressful for the kids. And not just for the nerds. Like any war, it’s damaging even to the winners.

Adults can’t avoid seeing that teenage kids are tormented. So why don’t they do something about it? Because they blame it on puberty. The reason kids are so unhappy, adults tell themselves, is that monstrous new chemicals, hormones, are now coursing through their bloodstream and messing up everything. There’s nothing wrong with the system; it’s just inevitable that kids will be miserable at that age.

This idea is so pervasive that even the kids believe it, which probably doesn’t help. Someone who thinks his feet naturally hurt is not going to stop to consider the possibility that he is wearing the wrong size shoes.

I’m suspicious of this theory that thirteen-year-old kids are intrinsically messed up. If it’s physiological, it should be universal. Are Mongol nomads all nihilists at thirteen? I’ve read a lot of history, and I have not seen a single reference to this supposedly universal fact before the twentieth century. Teenage apprentices in the Renaissance seem to have been cheerful and eager. They got in fights and played tricks on one another of course (Michelangelo had his nose broken by a bully), but they weren’t crazy.

As far as I can tell, the concept of the hormone-crazed teenager is coeval with suburbia. I don’t think this is a coincidence. I think teenagers are driven crazy by the life they’re made to lead. Teenage apprentices in the Renaissance were working dogs. Teenagers now are neurotic lapdogs. Their craziness is the craziness of the idle everywhere. […]

Teenage kids used to have a more active role in society. In pre-industrial times, they were all apprentices of one sort or another, whether in shops or on farms or even on warships. They weren’t left to create their own societies. They were junior members of adult societies.

Teenagers seem to have respected adults more then, because the adults were the visible experts in the skills they were trying to learn. Now most kids have little idea what their parents do in their distant offices, and see no connection (indeed, there is precious little) between schoolwork and the work they’ll do as adults.

And if teenagers respected adults more, adults also had more use for teenagers. After a couple years’ training, an apprentice could be a real help. Even the newest apprentice could be made to carry messages or sweep the workshop.

Now adults have no immediate use for teenagers. They would be in the way in an office. So they drop them off at school on their way to work, much as they might drop the dog off at a kennel if they were going away for the weekend.

What happened? We’re up against a hard one here. The cause of this problem is the same as the cause of so many present ills: specialization. As jobs become more specialized, we have to train longer for them. Kids in pre-industrial times started working at about 14 at the latest; kids on farms, where most people lived, began far earlier. Now kids who go to college don’t start working full-time till 21 or 22. With some degrees, like MDs and PhDs, you may not finish your training till 30.

Teenagers now are useless, except as cheap labor in industries like fast food, which evolved to exploit precisely this fact. In almost any other kind of work, they’d be a net loss. But they’re also too young to be left unsupervised. Someone has to watch over them, and the most efficient way to do this is to collect them together in one place. Then a few adults can watch all of them.

I continued my reading of River of No Reprieve at Borders bookstore in Chadstone (mentioned in my 24/8 entry). A gloomy account of downtrodden, (mostly) drunk people, and insects from Hell, though the Siberian landscape is described evocatively. (That being said, Australia, though having a high standard of living, has many people – particularly many Indigenous Australians – living in Third World conditions.)

I also found a Destination Russia travel articles archive at The Age newspaper.

The launch of STS-115 Atlantis was delayed again … because of a fuel cell anomaly. If all is well, the next liftoff attempt is set for Friday 11:41 a.m. EDT in the U.S. (Saturday 9 September at 1:40 a.m. in Melbourne).

Sunday 10/9

Last night I watched another September 11 documentary: 9/11: The Day the World Changed. It was a docu-drama (dramatized documentary, with actors) of the fates of various people in the Twin Towers after the jets hit. It had a nightmarish aspect to it: people running frantically through an endless labyrinth of corridors and stairs, looking for a way to escape. Some memorable images:

At some points in the documentary you want to scream at various people, “Just get out! Go!” Of course, no-one knew at the time that the buildings would collapse. There were a few almost leisurely scenes of people resting in offices during the evacuation. There were 102 minutes between the jet hitting the North Tower and its subsequent collapse (the South Tower collapsed after 56 minutes – see Collapse of the World Trade Center at Wikipedia). The documentary was just over 2 hours long, so it was almost in “real time”.

I can’t imagine how awful it must have been for people still in the stairwells when the buildings finally collapsed. To look up and feel and hear an ominous vibration and thunder that becomes ever-louder as the building falls down toward you.

The Friday (U.S. time) launch of STS-115 was delayed yet again yesterday because of the reappearance of the misreading fuel sensor anamoly, but it was decided to try again Saturday (U.S. time) and, at long last, it launched! Atlantis launched at 11:14:55.066 a.m. EDT in the U.S. on Saturday – 15:14:55.066 UTC – Sunday 1:14:55.066 a.m. Melbourne time. The truss section it carries is so heavy (17½ tons) that there is a crew of 6 rather than the usual 7.

Wednesday 13/9

I am doing a much-needed rewriting of Russian segment pages in my MKS site (Zarya, Zvezda, Pirs) so I haven’t had much energy for anything else!

Anousheh Ansari’s Space Blog is online. I feel rather envious, but going into space is an impossible dream for me in this lifetime. I wonder what her experience of living in Russia was like.

The P3/P4 integrated truss structure was installed on the ISS during the first spacewalk. The second EVA is today. It is a very busy mission with no rest days for the Shuttle crew.

Thursday 14/9

Encountered my cousin Heather while in Borders bookstore in Chadstone today (actually, Mum met her then they came up to see me). Haven’t seen her (or my other cousins from Mum’s family) since Gran’s funeral in October 2000! She hasn’t changed much at all. She is nearly 6 years older than me (born in December 1964).

A really tall Californian Redwood tree called Hyperion was discovered last week. The tentative height measured is 115.2 m (378.1 feet).

I finished that book River of No Reprieve (see 7/9 entry) in Borders today (which has become my unofficial reading room!). It’s almost unrelentingly grim and I wouldn’t buy it.

“Russian Duma Rejects Madonna Space Holiday,” Space Daily, 13/9. Thank goodness some people there have some sense. I can’t believe that idiot Aleksei Mitrofanov was serious, though he seems a dubious character based on what the article says about him. “He gained particular notoriety for co-writing a screenplay for Yulia, a pornographic movie parodying Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. He also proposed last year that the singers from the world-famous Russian pop duo Tatu, whose performances evoke a lesbian theme, be awarded the Order of Friendship.”

Monday 18/9

Last night I had a rather vivid dream that I was able to travel back in time, back into my past. In the first jump (I did it by holding something like a rock in my hand and jumping into some sort of cloud) I went back to 31 December 1988. I was outside my parents’ home and saw Dad. I told him I had come from the future. We had a conversation. I then jumped onto the garage roof (it was late afternoon as the sun was behind it) as I prepared to jump back further. I landed in 1998 in my bedroom (there was a desk and computer there, though I didn’t have one then), realized it was the wrong year, then jumped back to 1980 in my home. I woke up then.

I really wish I could go back, somehow. See how things were before everything changed, and not for the better; refresh my rather hazy memories. Perhaps I would leave a note to my younger self, warning of what was to come (in my life, and the world) – but would my younger self listen?

A busy few days in space!

Atlantis undocked yesterday at 12:50 UTC/11:50 p.m. Melbourne time and will land at 9:57 UTC/7:57 p.m. Melbourne time on Wednesday.

Soyuz TMA-9 is due to launch today at 4:08:40 UTC/2:08:40 p.m. Melbourne time.

Progress M-56 is to undock today also at 12:28 UTC/11:28 p.m. Melbourne time.

“Stop hyping Anousheh Ansari - just let her inspire people,” NASA Watch. I agree with Grumpy Keith (for once).

Soyuz TMA-9 launched successfully at 04:08:40 UTC and is now in orbit.

“Rocket sends female passenger into orbit,” MSNBC.com.

Cosmic Log: Religion in Space post.

Tuesday 19/9

Today has got 28°C – this early in the season – with an annoying gusty north wind. Not happy. Cooler weather should return later in the week (thankfully).

The Elektron oxygen generator on the ISS has been misbehaving itself yet again: leaking potassium hydroxide this time. “Oxygen generator problem triggers station alarm,” Spaceflight Now, and “Space station crew cleans up toxic spill,” MSNBC.com. From the NASA site:

Shortly before 7:30 a.m. EDT, the International Space Station Expedition 13 crew reported an odor in the Zvezda Service Module and manually activated an alarm to begin emergency procedures. The source of the odor was quickly determined to be an apparent leak of potassium hydroxide in the station’s Elektron oxygen generation system. Potassium hydroxide, or caustic potash, can be an irritant to crew members, but is not classified as a life-threatening toxin.

The crew donned surgical masks, goggles and gloves for protection from the apparently small leak. Continual measurements of the station atmosphere have indicated levels of any contaminants are very low. The crew also has begun a standard procedure to scrub the air onboard to ensure no potassium hydroxide vapors remain.

Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov reported to Russian flight controllers at about 7:45 a.m. that the situation had stabilized and that he cleaned up a chemical near the Elektron oxygen generation system.

International Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini said the incident will have no impact on the upcoming arrival of the Expedition 14 crew on Wednesday.

Spectacular photos of the ISS with its new solar arrays are now up – STS-115 Flight Day 9. There are currently 12 people in orbit! I think Progress M-56 undocks today (not yesterday).

Wednesday 20/9

Yesterday got to 30°C. From The Age:

At 3.02 p.m. yesterday the temperature in Melbourne reached 30.1 degrees. The date, September 19, 2006, will go down as the earliest day after winter that the mercury topped 30.

The Bureau of Meteorology said there were only four 30-degree September days on record. Meteorologists said it was possible yesterday’s high temperature was due to global warming.

With the heat came wind – and a foretaste of bushfire season. Across the state gusty, hot conditions resulted in the Country Fire Authority attending 206 fires. All but 18 were out by 5 p.m.

While Melbourne had its fourth hottest September day since records have been kept, the rest of the state experienced temperatures of between 25 and 32 degrees, well above September averages. After the heat, rain set in last night as the mercury dropped eight degrees in an hour, to 19.5 degrees at 7 p.m. The rain was accompanied by strong, gusty winds that lifted roof tiles and sent tree branches crashing.

I rather like Ted Turner (even if he is a businessman!). Wish he could be U.S. President! An article from Reuters:

Ted Turner says Iraq war among history’s “dumbest”

Tue Sep 19, 2006 7:34 p.m. ET
By Daniel Trotta

New York (Reuters) – The U.S. invasion of Iraq was among the “dumbest moves of all time” that ranks with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the German invasion of Russia, billionaire philanthropist Ted Turner said on Tuesday.

The founder of CNN and unabashed internationalist also defended the right of Iran to have nuclear weapons and the effectiveness of the United Nations and, in a jocular mood, advocated banning men from elective office worldwide in a Reuters Newsmaker appearance.

Alternately combative and humorous, Turner spoke nine years after his pledge to donate $1 billion to the United Nations over 10 years and on the same day President Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly a mile away.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq has caused “incalculable damage” that will take 20 years to overcome “if we just act reasonably intelligently.”

“It will go down in history, it is already being seen in history, as one of the dumbest moves that was ever made by anybody. A couple of others that come to mind were the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the German invasion of Russia,” Turner told the forum.

“It literally broke my heart. You don’t start wars just because you don’t like somebody. … I wouldn’t even start a war with Rupert Murdoch,” Turner said, referring to his onetime cable network rival.

Often contrarian, Turner called it a “joke” that Bush demanded that Iran abandon any ambitions for nuclear weapons while at the same time hoping to ban all such bombs.

“They’re a sovereign state,” Turner said of Iran. “We have 28,000. Why can’t they have 10? We don’t say anything about Israel – they’ve got 100 of them approximately – or India or Pakistan or Russia. And really, nobody should have them.

“They aren’t usable by any sane person.”

Power to the women

One way to reduce such dangers in the world would be to leave women in charge, said the former husband of Jane Fonda.

“Men should be barred from public office for 100 years in every part of the world. … It would be a much kinder, gentler, more intelligently run world. The men have had millions of years where we’ve been running things. We’ve screwed it up hopelessly. Let’s give it to the women.”

In the meantime, the United Nations represents the best hope, Turner said.

While the world body is ridiculed as ineffective and irrelevant by its harshest critics and often criticized by its strongest advocates, Turner offered what was then one-third of his net worth to the world body nine years ago.

“I am absolutely certain we would not have made it through the Cold War without the U.N.,” Turner said. “When Khrushchev at the U.N. took his shoe off and hit podium he was so mad, but he had a place to let off steam. If the U.N. hadn’t been there, that would have been war right then.”

When a questioner from the audience challenged Turner on the United Nations’ value, Turner shot back.

“The war between Lebanon and Israel and Hizbollah would still be going on if it hadn’t been for the U.N., and that’s only in the last two weeks, Bubba.”

Soyuz TMA-9 successfully docked to the ISS at 05:21:20 UTC/3:21 p.m. Melbourne time, to the aft (rear) end of Zvezda. Progress M-56 undocked yesterday at 00:28 UTC/10:28 a.m. in Melbourne.

Thursday 21/9

STS-115 Atlantis is due to land about 8:21 p.m. Melbourne time tonight. It was delayed a day due to some nearby floating debris being sighted.

Pale Blue Orb: A photo of the (very tiny!) Earth taken by the Cassini spacecraft from Saturn.

“Female space passenger reaches station,” MSNBC.com. Reading this article, one gets the impression that all the Russian space program does now is provide tourist rides to rich people and (potentially) celebrities :-(. And apparently Anousheh might get a chance to go up again.

Friday 22/9

There’s been a gusty north wind blowing since last night. I hate north winds; they seem especially irritating.

My rant at the Livejournal VHEMT site today – Go away! Below, the article that raised my ire (too many damn humans – i.e. overpopulation):

Victoria enjoying population boom

Nassim Khadem
September 22, 2006

Victoria’s population has soared as migrants and overseas students and workers flock to the state, with figures showing the highest growth in 17 years.

More births and more migrants have helped boost Australia’s population by 263,200 people in the year to March, bringing the national population to 20.55 million. This represents a growth rate of 1.3 per cent since March 2005.

The population is expected to grow by more than 1 million over the next five years.

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, Victoria’s population grew by 1.3 per cent, or 65,700 people (roughly the size of Ballarat), to 5.08 million – the largest increase since 1989.

The majority (37,063) of the increase in Victoria was due to net overseas migration (permanent and long-term visitors who come to live, study or work).

The remainder was due to a natural increase (excess of births over deaths) of 30,959.

Victorian Treasurer John Brumby said the State Government’s $6 million skilled migration strategy had helped make Victoria “the number one choice for migrants”.

The figures show solid population growth in every state and territory.

Queensland recorded the fastest growth of 2.0 per cent (80,200) to 4.04 million. Queensland also had the highest net interstate migration, with an increase of 26,800 people in the year to March 2006. Tasmania had the weakest growth of 0.7 per cent over the year (3600) to 488,700.

The resources boom helped Western Australia’s population to increase most over the March quarter by 11,800.

Net overseas migration reached 45,691 in March, with 33,339 permanent arrivals (compared with 19,926 departures) and 92,725 long-term visitors (compared with 60,447 departures).

Based on preliminary figures, total births across the country in 2005 are estimated at 265,031, up more than 15,000 from the year before.

Federal Treasurer Peter Costello – who in May 2004 encouraged Australian couples to “have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country” as a response to the aging population – said the estimate was the highest since 1971.

“The higher birth rate reflects confidence in Australia’s future,” he said.

Australia’s population is projected to grow by more than 1 million by 2011 to 21.7 million.

Victoria’s is tipped to grow by over 240,000 to 5.31 million.

I also loathe Richard Pratt, an Australian billionaire businessman. He is a greedy bastard who wants to increase Australia’s population to 50 million or so, and more recently proposed that water bills be doubled to solve the water crisis. Of course that would affect the less-well-off hardest, and I can’t see how it would help – FEWER HUMANS would improve the situation. I posted a comment to the article: “Richard Pratt is a greedy businessman (I am refraining from stronger language) whose opinions should be ignored. He is the same fool who wants to increase Australia’s population to 50 million or so, despite water shortages. Access to water is a basic human right. And, as has been pointed out, STOP ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO BREED!”

Grrr!

I have been fretting over whether I should start crossposting entries to an external web journal, such as a blog at Blogger, Livejournal or Wordpress, etc. The point of which would be to enable people to comment. I considered using the free Haloscan comments system for this journal, but wasn’t happy with the way it was set up, and comments can’t be turned off. I like the Livejournal (I have an account there, and am a member of several communities). But my concern is, how long will these free accounts and hosts be around – how permanent are they? If they go out of business, all your journal entries are gone, too. And how much data can you store? It is why I prefer my old-fashioned manual journal.

La Russophobe (“fear of Russia”) is a peculiar woman (at least, I think she/it is female) who posts vitriolic comments on other people’s blogs (such as Russian Blog). She posts negative articles about Russia on her own blog. Russia certainly has problems (and I get exasperated with aspects of the country, also), but she is just antagonizing everyone whose blogs she comments on. Name is Kim Zigfeld.

STS-115 Atlantis landed safely at 10:21 UTC yesterday. The next mission is STS-116 Discovery, currently set to launch on 14 December. It will install the P5 Truss.

Saturday 23/9

Some varmits (pesky teenagers) sprayed a bit of graffiti on a neighbor’s fence two doors up from us. I heard some wandering past last night after 10 p.m. (some girls giggling and shrieking). I wish there could be a curfew and a ban on the sale of spray paint – I’m sick of seeing those stupid squiggles sprayed on every available surface. Also am furious at irresponsible parents letting their obnoxious offspring roam around without any supervision. (I wish for a shotgun!)

It’s September school holidays also (two weeks, beginning this week) so the little pests are more prevailent than usual. (Perhaps they are in fact vampires as they only seem to appear at night.)

“10 Western Media Stereotypes About Russia: How Truthful Are They?,” Russia Blog; found via Very Russian.

Professor Vladimir Sergeevich Syromyatnikov at Energiya, a major developer of Russian docking systems, died this week. I just realized he was the same age as Dad (but born 1 year later).

Monday 25/9

It was windy yesterday morning, then got worse when a cold front came through with gale-force winds. New South Wales was affected by unseasonal bushfires. And unwelcome news (via The Age) that the worst fire season yet is upcoming:

“Worst fire season ever” on way

September 25, 2006 – 10:56 a.m.

The State Government has hired extra firefighters to cope with what experts are warning will be the worst bushfire season ever.

Victorian Environment Minister John Thwaites said 200 seasonal firefighters – more than the usual number – were being hired and were starting work one month earlier this year to help prepare for the fire season.

“We have been doing fuel reduction burning and seeking to do it earlier, but the conditions are so dry and so adverse that we’re already having to wind down fuel reduction burning,’’ Mr. Thwaites told reporters.

Firefighters were now in the process of building trails and fire breaks in key areas.

“We are very concerned that this summer will be one of our worst bushfire risks ever.

“The state is extremely dry. We’ve had 10 years of below-average rainfall. Areas like the Otways and the Dandenongs, which weren’t burnt in the 2003 fires, are particularly at risk.”

“Horror” fire season

Australia is on the brink of a horror bushfire season, a bushfire expert has warned.

With the Bureau of Meteorology reporting the hottest, driest August on record, these extreme conditions, teamed with a severe drought across most of the country, is posing a major threat to people living in bush areas, Kevin O’Loughlin from the Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre, in Melbourne, said today.

Mr. O’Loughlin said the massive fires, which blazed across NSW at the weekend – combined with bad fires in Victoria last week and the 200 fires already reported in Tasmania this month – could be a taste of things to come.

“Just looking at what we’ve seen already, this is a major concern,” Mr. O’Loughlin told ABC Radio.

“It’s a major concern that fire seasons seem to be starting earlier and lasting longer.

“We’ve got to get a greater understanding on this, on the frequency of fires, the earlier start to the season and if there’s any connection to climate change.”

Mr. O’Loughlin said the dangers were heightened by the increasing number of people living in areas at risk of bushfire.

“If you’re talking about the driest August on record and the warmest August on record and you set that against a period of drought, then you would have to be concerned that this could be a bad fire season,” Mr. O’Loughlin said.

“The agencies, no doubt, will be taking precautions and would be stressing that people who lived in properties at risk of bushfires make very, very serious preparations for potentially a very bad season.”

Anousheh Ansari has been making blog entries from space. Somewhat dismayingly, though, she reveals:

I do not have realtime access to email. The email process is a batch process so it happens three times a day. I will do my best to get at least one entry in per day. I do not have access to a web browser so I cannot read all your comments.

No internet access from the ISS! They spend 100 billion dollars and have the latest technology – but no internet access! Horror! It’s a question I have been trying to find out for years. (I posted about this on the NASAspaceflight.com forum.)

She also noted in the same post that she had got a bit spacesick on the first day. In today’s post she gives some details of hygiene in space (I am sorely tempted to ask how she finds using the toilet, but I don’t think it would be polite to ask!). The comments on her blog are mostly positive, though there are a few like this:

Greetings, Ms. Ansari:

Although numbers cannot be placed on what your social workings have done for US and Iranian citizens in a time of tension, and your commitment to the advancement of space technology is great, I must be the one negative comment on your blog …

As an aerospace engineer in continuing education, I have met countless persons in the field who are extremely frustrated – trying to get their ideas off the ground, so to speak, only to see software enterpreneurs that can pay for a vacation on the ISS at a price that could well-fund most research and development projects for years.

Why would someone who has given millions in the pursuit of advancement squander such an amount on a personal experience? We understand there is some scientific value in your experimentation, but nothing that could not have been performed otherwise – Are you not confident that the private space industry will have week-long trips to space in less than ten years? Or is it that your wealth is so great, this amount of money is negligible to you?

I do not wish to dampen your spirits, but I have been unable to find where you might have mentioned why you are so deserving of this fun little excursion while other developers and innovators are barely able to stay afloat. Please let us know – we’re hoping to hear it addressed. Many wishes for a productive flight and a safe return.

– Comment by Frustrated Aerospace Engineer – September 23, 2006

Tuesday 26/9

Some little bastards graffitied neighbors’s fences again last night (the fence next to us, and the one two doors up that was hit last Friday – he won’t be very pleased to have to clean it off again; see 23/9 entry). For whatever reason our fence was untouched (though it has been bashed in four times since my parents had it erected in 2003). I emailed a letter to the local paper again, though I doubt it will have any effect. It is school holidays also, and parents seem not to care if their little brats are roaming around at night unsupervised. Our suburb (and many others) look like ghettos because of all the “tagging” on every available surface. It has become really bad since the 1990s.

“Vandals cop a spray,” Victoria Police site. The Tripwire devices mentioned in the article are a great idea – they are needed in every suburb! I am all for public surveillance if it helps reduce crime and vandalism.

“Spam + Blogs = Trouble,” Wired.com. A dismaying article about the plague of “splogs” (spam blogs) infecting the Internet. As soon as something good comes along, there are selfish bastards who will try to spoil it.

People in the industry disagree about how to beat back spam, or whether it can even be done. But there’s no dispute that if the blogosphere and the rest of Web 2.0 can’t find a way to stop the sleazeballs who are enveloping the Net in a haze of babble and cheesy marketing, then the best features of Web 2.0 will be turned off, and it will go the way of Usenet, which was driven to desuetude by spam.

NASA Learns How To Handle Space Tourists – and Novel Situations: Grumpy Keith at NASA Watch is sniping at Russia’s ISS involvement again. What is his problem?

Friday 29/9

Soyuz TMA-8 undocked at 21:53 28 September/7:53 a.m. 29 September Melbourne time from the nadir port of Zarya, and landed safely at 01:13 UTC/11:13 a.m. Melbourne time.

Saturday 30/9

The weather is warming up again, to reach about 30°C by Thursday. It is unusually warm for this early in the season. The seemingly endless drought is predicted to worsen, with another upcoming hellishly hot summer to dread. And it doesn’t look like you can escape it anywhere on Earth, as Earth’s temperature nears a million-year high. Anyone want to colonize Mars …?

Below, a suspicious email received today! It ended up in my Yahoo! spam box (wasn’t posted to my main email). I was almost convinced for a few moments:

Hey, I am John Wilson. After reviewing your blog, I have to say that your effort and intelligence had impressed me. I think it is great and I like it. So I wondered whether I could share interests and make new friends online with you? Because I encountered error in inviting a friend through the blog directly, I have to send you this email to let you know my request. The link of my blog is: funszre.blogspot.com/ . Could you give it a visit and add me as your friend if you feel it to be acceptable? Thank you! I have uploaded very funny pics to share, just take a look and have fun! :)

– Best Regards, John Wilson

It’s either a splog (see 26/9 entry) or some sort of phishing scam. I won’t visit the link, anyway! The email is non-specific – it doesn’t mention the topics on my sites, just gives some generic compliments.

As you could probably surmise, I wasn’t too impressed with all this carry-on concerning the burial of an empress:

Mother of Last Tsar Reburied in St. Pete

By Christian Lowe
The Moscow Times, Friday, September 29, 2006

St. Petersburg – Russia on Thursday reburied its last tsar’s mother, who was forced into exile by the Bolshevik Revolution, in an act of reconciliation with the country’s bloody past.

Empress Maria Fyodorovna fled Russia after her son, Tsar Nicholas 2, was murdered by the Bolsheviks. Eighty-seven years on, she was reburied beside her son and husband in accordance with her final wishes.

As a choir sang the Orthodox liturgy, eight black-suited men lowered her coffin down into the imperial crypt at St. Petersburg’s SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, resting place for the tsars since Peter the Great.

Danish Crown Prince Frederik and descendants of the Romanov family filed past, sprinkling earth onto the coffin. The white marble cover of the crypt was then put back in place.

Artillery guns fired a salute and flags around the cathedral flew at half-mast.

The return of the empress’s remains from Denmark was a personal initiative of President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent who has revived some of the country’s old imperial grandeur to symbolize its revival.

“This will be another sign that Russia is overcoming the enmity and divisions brought by the Revolution and civil war,” Orthodox Patriarch Alexy 2, who led a mourning ceremony in St. Isaac’s cathedral before the burial, told the preachers.

The burial closes a chapter in the country’s history left open for decades: The former empress was the only ruler from the Romanov dynasty not buried in the crypt.

“I am convinced that the best tribute to her memory will be a resurgent Russia that will once again go along the path of Christ, a Russia that strives to live in wisdom and in truth and by the eternal moral laws,” Alexy said.

Unless Russia revives its monarchy – which is highly unlikely – she will be the last to be buried there.

Maria Fyodorovna was born as Princess Dagmar into Denmark’s royal family. She changed her name and converted to Russian Orthodoxy when she married the man who later became Tsar Alexander 3.

She died in exile in Denmark in 1928.

Putin did not attend the ceremony. The reburial was earlier postponed after Moscow accused Denmark of giving refuge to violent Chechen separatists. The issue still clouds relations.

Many Russians view Maria Fyodorovna with affection because they associate her with the golden era of the Russian empire.

After her son took over, the country slipped into war and misrule that eventually led to the Revolution.

“She was one of our better empresses. She did not meddle in politics and she lived a good Russian life,” said Yevgeny Levashov, 77, a pensioner.

“I think it is worth reburying her. A wife should be laid to rest next to her husband,” he said.

Combines my two most disliked elements of Russia: the Church and the Tsars, which I have grumbled about in earlier entries (see extract below). Those two entities kept Russia in ignorance and poverty for centuries (though there were a few exceptions, such as Peter the Great) and I do not like the resurrection of these after the end of the USSR. The Church has already wormed its way back into public life (see 1/9 entry), and there are people who would like to see the Russian monarchy resurrected. As far as I am concerned, monarchies should be relegated to history – they have no relevance in our supposedly enlightened times.

17/7/2003 Journal entry:

Read this article on The Moscow Times website, which got me rather irate:

Church on the Blood Consecrated

By Alexei Vladykin, the Associated Press, Thursday, July 17, 2003

Yekaterinburg, Ural Mountains – Surrounded by crowds of Russian Orthodox faithful, clerics on Wednesday consecrated a golden-domed memorial church on the spot where Tsar Nicholas II and his family were shot to death by the Bolsheviks 85 years ago.

Russian Orthodox priests wearing gilt-edged red robes chanted and carried crosses under lowering skies in Yekaterinburg, where the last tsar, his wife, Alexandra, and their five children were executed in a cellar on July 17, 1918.

The Church on the Blood, a white-walled structure topped by several shining gold-colored onion domes at different levels, was built on the murder site at a cost of 328 million rubles (about $1 million), much of it donated by large companies, Itar-Tass reported.

“I am delighted that I am here on this historic day. This place is known to everyone as the Russian Calvary,” a descendant of the Romanovs, Olga Kulikovskaya-Romanova said at the ceremony.

Other family members and well-known people, including Mstislav Rostropovich, joined about 1000 pilgrims who arrived for the consecration.

Some traveled hundreds of kilometers on foot and stayed at a tent camp set up in a nearby field, NTV television reported. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II has been ill lately and was advised by his doctors not to travel to Yekaterinburg, Itar-Tass reported.

In a message, Alexy said the consecration suggests “a possible historic turn” for Russia and called for unity between the Russian Orthodox Church, the state and the Russian people. In imperial Russia, church and state were extremely close and the tsar was considered to have the divine right to rule. At the main entrance to the church stands a sculpture depicting the last minutes of the Romanov’s lives – surrounded by members of his family, Nicholas clutches his son, Alexis, to his chest.

Nicholas, who abdicated in March 1917 as revolutionary fervor swept Russia, was canonized by the church in 2000, along with his family, after years of debate on the issue following the collapse of the Soviet regime.

Nicholas and his family were detained and in April 1918 they were sent to Yekaterinburg. Three months later, a firing squad lined them up in the basement of a merchant’s house and shot them. The building was demolished in 1977 on orders from Boris Yeltsin, who was the top regional official at the time. The remains of the royal family were unearthed from a mining pit near Yekaterinburg in 1991 and were buried in St. Petersburg in 1998.

I was incensed enough to send off this e-mail:

I read this article with absolute dismay. The Church and Tsars kept Russia in ignorance and poverty for centuries, and I can’t believe that people want to resurrect this retrograde nonsense – it will do Russia no favors. If there was one good thing about the Revolution, it was getting rid of these backward and corrupt institutions, including shooting the Royal Family. Good riddance! Unfortunately, the Church has been all too eager to get its claws back into the Russian people after the fall of Communism. Even more alarming is the Patriach’s suggestion of merging Church and State. This is the worst thing you could do for a country – just look at fundamentalist Muslim countries like Iran. Keep them well and truly separate.

Even more obscene is that $1 million was spent on this pointless memorial. Better to have spent the money helping the poor!

Don’t know if it will get published, but at least someone might read it! If there’s one thing I hate about modern Russia, it’s this revival of religion and monarchism. Institutions best done away with. And apparently they have “canonized” the last Tsar. How dumb can you get?

October

Sunday 1/10

Third-last month of the year. Another year almost gone.

I had another September 11 dream last night. Again, I was both in Melbourne and New York, and the dream repeated itself several times with different scenes. I walked along a street and looked up at a high building. I saw the jet coming and told the other people around me. The jet hit the corner of the building and went through it and onwards. Building fragments started their long fall downward, and I said we had better get out of the way of the falling glass. I and other people ran along a series of plazas and steps. At one point I held a book over my head to protect it as small glass fragments fell around me. In another scene I was on the roof of the building that got hit, and other people were jumping off, and there was smoke around me. I decided to jump off too, and went soaring off over the other buildings. I woke around 3 a.m.

Monday 2/10

From The Age yesterday – this would have been unthinkable in Australia a decade or so ago:

Australian teeth worst in developed world

Date: October 1 2006
Peter Weekes

A national advertising campaign similar to the successful “Slip, Slop, Slap” push against skin cancer is needed to stop the nation’s teeth from rotting, says the Australian Dental Association.

The association wants the Federal Government to take overriding responsibility for promoting dental health as figures reveal that Australia has the highest tooth extraction rate in the developed world.

The average Australian will suffer serious decay in at least 10 teeth by their late 30s.

And our overall dental health is second-lowest among developed nations.

“We have the second-worst health for adults and there are disturbing trends with kids at the moment,” the association’s president, Bill O’Reilly, said.

“Dental disease is completely preventable. If you have a good brushing and flossing routine, you shouldn’t have a problem.”

Dental experts say people with poor teeth endure ongoing pain, difficulty in eating and talking, gum disease and bad breath.

Decayed teeth have also been linked to premature, low-weight babies, heart disease, brain damage, diabetes and obesity.

Professor John Spencer of Adelaide University, who is conducting a new national audit of the country’s teeth, has published two major reports on the state of the nation’s teeth.

“Since the 1990s we have had some deterioration in oral health, which we think is due to lack of exposure to fluoride or due to increased exposure to dietary-rich factors,” he said.

“The jury is out on which of those played a more significant role.”

After fluoride was added to tap water in the 1960s and ’70s, the rate of tooth decay plummeted. Many now think society’s newfound love of bottled water and filtered tap water may be eating away at our teeth.

Sports drinks and fizzy drinks are likely to be even worse, Dr O’Reilly said.

The results of the audit will not be known for about 18 months.

However, a 2004 study by Professor Spencer found dental health was deteriorating, with a widening gap between the “haves and have-nots.”

“There is nothing to suggest this has changed, only accelerated,” he said.

Typically, low and middle-income earners have the poorest teeth and availability of care “either because of the inadequacies of the torn and tattered safety net of public dental services or their inability to purchase an adequate scope of private dental care,” he said.

There are an estimated 650,000 pensioners and other healthcard holders on the national waiting list.

This week, the State Government announced that the wait here for general treatments had been cut to 23.5 months from 30.9 months, and for dentures to 22.4 months from 34.6 months.

A health union-commissioned Newspoll survey last week found 92 per cent believe Medicare should be expanded to include dental, with 4 per cent opposing.

The public waiting list grew after the Federal Government scrapped its dental scheme in 1996. It now funds only war veterans. Since then, the states have partially filled the shortfall but they argue the Commonwealth has a constitutional obligation to contribute more.

Professor Spencer argued that treatment was “rationed by delay, dilution (long waits encourage people to seek quicker, but less appropriate care) and price.”

Nearly 60 per cent of all care from public dental services is emergency care, with more than a tooth per minute pulled every hour they are open.

Rural and regional areas are also about to be hit with a dentist shortage. The shortfall is partially being made up with foreign dentists, who are now here in record numbers.

“There are predictions that by 2010 we would be 1500 dentists short and that will be most acutely felt in rural and remote areas – the waiting lists in those areas are disastrous,” Dr Reilly said. (With Brydie Flynn)

All I want for Christmas …

Source: Australian Dental Association, Adelaide University and Victorian Government

My teeth still seem to be OK (I will have to get an appointment again sometime; my last checkup was in January 2003); I have yet to get any holes. I drink tap water; bottled water is a waste of money when the tap water here is perfectly good.

Update 25/1/2007: Well, I got a checkup on 25 January 2007 and had to get my first filling! :-(

Something that made me fume: “Russia Mulls Childless Tax to Encourage More Births,” Mosnews.com, found via the Baby Not on Board blog. Why the hell should childfree people be penalized for the government’s incompetence in not providing adequate living standards so that people who want children would feel secure in having them? This stupid policy is also in place in a few other countries, as the article notes.

New Scientist magazine this week (30 September) has an article on the falling birth rate and why this is not necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately it is only available to paid subscribers online, so I will have to look out for the edition in the library and scan in the article. (“Enough already,” New Scientist.)

Wednesday 4/10

Yet another fine, warm day (about 28°C) with a strong north wind and little prospect of good rain. “Near record September temperatures seen in western Vic,” ABC News Online.

Much of Australia could become uninhabitable by the end of this century, mainly due to running out of water. I had a thought today that most of the population could thus move to Siberia, in Russia and settle there! Russia’s population is declining so an extra 20 million or so in that region might be welcome (as long as it was done in an environmentally-sustainable way). We’ve had a 10-year drought and there seems no end in sight. One reason for this could be the extensive clearing of the forests that once covered south-eastern Australia, a misguided practice that has been ongoing since European settlers first came here in 1770, and the extensive building of housing estates over what was once farmland.

I saw the ISS last night at 7:17 p.m., SSW to ESE at 21°. I haven’t looked for it since last year, so I thought it was about time I did! The sky has been clear for a few evenings. The ISS was more noticeably golden in color at some angles, with its new solar arrays.

“Liberating Afghanistan”: partial chapter extract from John Pilger’s latest book, Freedom Next Time, about the USA’s machinations in Afghanistan over decades in order to get power and influence there – and access to the oil reserves. Their intention – led by the evil schemer Zbigniew Brzezinski (whom I call “Wormtongue”) – was to weaken Russia’s influence there also. They also created the Taliban, who later turned on them. The sheer hypocrisy of those involved is breathtaking. The rest of the book also is a dismaying read (see C. Middleton’s review in the linked Amazon.com page) and a condemnation of the Western nations.

Saturday 7/10

Our ADSL modem dropped offline yesterday and Dad had to ring up the ISP support in the afternoon and have them reset it remotely. Rather annoying – this has happened before. It’s because the modem gets scrambled or confused for some reason and drops the connection. I feel so out-of-touch without an Internet connection! I am now so used to going online and getting up-to-date news and information instantly.

I’ve seen the ISS the last 2 nights also (8:03 p.m. Thursday and 6:50 p.m. Friday).

More alarming news about the consequences of climate change, from The Age: “Drought may hit third of all land,” 5/6.

I neglected to mention back in June that the Accidental Russophile had a blog entry, Игорь Шпиленок – Igor Shpilenok’s Nature Photography, featuring the wonderful Russian wilderness photos of Igor Shpilenok. Surprisingly there are still some unspoiled wilderness areas in Russia, and people dedicated to protecting them (though they are inevitably under threat from poachers, illegal loggers, corrupt officials, etc.). Some of the photos look otherworldly.

I also scanned and uploaded the article about Russian forests being decimated – see 14/8 entry.

A short article about a very lucky teenager from this week’s local newspaper (Moorabbin Glen Eira Leader):

Sky’s the limit for Melinda’s space venture

A Dingley Venturer will mix with some of Russia’s top cosmonauts when she competes in the International Space Science Olympics this month. Melinda Blake, 17, will join the 10-day competition in Korolev, Russia from October 15-28. Melinda, from Carrum, will work with a research partner to present findings into the beneficial effects of breathing pure oxygen. She said studies showed blood clotted faster in astronauts breathing pure oxygen when “spacewalking” outside spacecraft. Melinda will be among 250 students at the Space Olympics.

Sunday 8/10

Yesterday evening a golden Harvest Moon rose. I also saw the ISS again at 7:13 p.m., heading NE.

I am thinking my site needs a redesign of some sort; I am rather tired of it. Perhaps something a lot plainer, removing the decorative images and headers, as it is rather cumbersome to maintain. There are nearly 400 pages and a lot of text and information. I am stuck for inspiration, though.

Wednesday 11/10

Hot today (30°C) and tomorrow, and no rain in sight. Strong northerly winds from the inland desert. The fire season is on us already, with bushfires in some states. I am not particularly worried about North Korea’s detonating a nuclear bomb and the consequent foolish macho posturing of world leaders, but I am worried about water shortages.

Thursday 12/10

Today was the hottest October day in around 90 years: 36°C with gale-force northerly winds. Very dry; little humidity (high humidity would be even worse). Bushfires raging in various states. There was a brief power cut for a few seconds this afternoon and my computer shut down; it restarted and no damage was apparently caused, though I lost a page I was working on (I redownloaded it from my website).

The 2006 cosmonaut selection group was announced on the Russian Federal Space Agency site (thanks to Olaf Neumann for the alert!). I got the names from the Novosti Kosmonavtiki forum. Details are disappointingly few. There is one woman out of the group of 7: Elena Serova, wife of Mark Serov (2003 cosmonaut candidate selection). Hopefully she will make it and put a Russian woman into orbit again! (The last Russian woman in orbit was Elena Kondakova, way back in 1997.)

RGNII TsPK selection

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Misurkin
Александр Александрович Мисуркин

Born 23 September 1977, Major, the VVS and PVO 4th Army (Rostov-on-Don) (zone of responsibility – North-Caucasian VO)
Род. 23 сентябрь 1977, майор, 4-я армия ВВС и ПВО (Ростов-на-Дону) (зона ответственности – Северо-Кавказский ВО)

Oleg Viktorovich Novitskii
Олег Викторович Новицкий

Born 12 October 1971, Lieutenant Colonel, the VVS and PVO 4th Army
Род. 12 октябрь 1971, подполковник, 4-я армия ВВС и ПВО

Aleksei Nikolaevich Ovchinin
Алексей Николаевич Овчинин

Born 28 September 1971, Major, the 70th individual test-training air regiment of the special designation named after Seregina RGNII TsPK
Род. 28 сентябрь 1971, майор, 70-й отдельный испытательно-тренировочный авиаполк особого назначения имени Серегина РГНИИ ЦПК

Maksim Vladimirovich Ponomarev
Максим Владимирович Пономарев

Born 20 February 1980, Captain, the Special-Purpose Command (staff – Moscow) (zone of responsibility – Moscow VO)
Род. 20 февраль 1980, капитан, Командование специального назначения (штаб – Москва) (зона ответственности – Московский ВО)

Sergei Nikolaevich Ryzhikov
Сергей Николаевич Рыжиков

Born 19 August 1974, Major, the VVS and PVO 14th Army (staff – Novosibirsk) (zone of responsibility – SibVO) (now entire military aviation is subordinated to armies VVS and PVO, but not to military districts; there is no Transbaikal military district now generally, it was included SibVO)
Род. 19 август 1974, майор, 14-я армия ВВС и ПВО (штаб – Новосибирск) (зона ответственности – СибВО) (сейчас вся военная авиация подчиняется армиям ВВС и ПВО, а не военным округам; Забайкальского военного округа сейчас вообще нет, он был включен в состав СибВО)

Energiya selection

Elena Olegovna Serova
Елена Олеговна Серова

Born 22 April 1976, works in TsUP.
Род. 22 апреля 1976 г.; окончила МАИ; супруга космонавта М.Серова

Nikolai Vladimirovich Tikhonov
Николай Владимирович Тихонов

Born 23 May 1982
Род. 23 мая 1982 г.; в 2005 г. окончил МАИ, медкомиссию в ИМБП начал проходить будучи еще студентом.

Monday 16/10

It’s been much cooler since the awful hot Thursday last week, but still no rain! The spring rains have been absent for September and October (they are pushed away to the south by large high-pressure fronts), and the various governments and media have at long last realized the water shortages are getting serious. Melbourne is to move to stage-2 water-use restrictions in November. It is much worse in the rural areas of the state. The reservoirs supplying Melbourne are currently 44.7% full.

I found the password to the old Angelfire site I created (see my 6/12/2005 entry) – it was in an email buried deep in my Yahoo! email account – so I logged in and changed the page, just putting a link to this one. I am surprised the account was still active after over two years. I kept a copy of the page – my technique has changed greatly since then! Though it wasn’t too bad. I only had about 18 pages in total then!.

I got my second letter published in the local newspaper last week (anonymously, as I requested). Same topic as my first letter (see 9/3 entry) – grumbling about vandalism. Not that it seems to do any good, but I just wanted to vent. Also, a bus shelter down a nearby road got a glass panel smashed by the usual thugs on Saturday night (for the second time this year). Glass-paneled bus stops are not the best idea – at least it was hard to damage the previous concrete ones. This was a nice neighborhood once, but it is resembling a ghetto in places, with graffiti and vandalism evident.

The base of my lower back (coccyx) has stopped hurting as Dad taped some foam together to use as a cushion a few weeks ago, and it seems to have been effective! The office chair I have (a student-style chair) is definitely the culprit as I never had that problem before. I still have chronic tendonitis in my Achilles tendons, though.

Thursday 19/10

Mum is flying up to Brisbane, Queensland next Tuesday for one week to visit my sister and her family. It will be the first time Mum has flown anywhere since my family’s last holiday to England in 1978! Also the first time Mum has gone by herself. She will take a shuttle bus to Tullamarine (Melbourne) Airport and a 2-hour flight up.

“Imagine Earth without people,” NewScientist.com: one news item that has been going around since last week concerns the speculation of how the natural world would react if humans were to disappear overnight. The general consensus is that it would be mostly good for the Earth’s environment and other living creatures (though domestic animals that were dependent upon us would not cope well – but they would eventually evolve back to their predomesticated, natural forms).

All things considered, it will only take a few tens of thousands of years at most before almost every trace of our present dominance has vanished completely. Alien visitors coming to Earth 100,000 years hence will find no obvious signs that an advanced civilisation ever lived here. […]

But these will be flimsy souvenirs, almost pathetic reminders of a civilisation that once thought itself the pinnacle of achievement. Within a few million years, erosion and possibly another ice age or two will have obliterated most of even these faint traces. If another intelligent species ever evolves on the Earth – and that is by no means certain, given how long life flourished before we came along – it may well have no inkling that we were ever here save for a few peculiar fossils and ossified relics. The humbling – and perversely comforting – reality is that the Earth will forget us remarkably quickly.

Friday 20/10

I feel isolated, trapped and depressed. There is nothing for me here; this place is dead. All my dreams lie elsewhere, but I do not know how to reach them. The same stale thoughts keep churning over and over in my head. I seem to have been trapped in this limbo for an eternity. I am not living; just existing. I am no-one and have no identity.

Sunday 22/10

My site was offline yesterday; don’t know why yet!

Was woken around 1:30 a.m. this morning by three teenage boys in the street, walking along in hooded tracksuit jackets, one TALKING VERY LOUDLY into a mobile phone (which was what woke me). They looked about 15 or 16 (I was peeking out the loungeroom window). No damage ensued, but what the heck are their parents doing, letting their kids roam around at night? I wish a curfew could be imposed. Everytime I go on my Sunday morning bicycle ride I see damage from the drunken idiots roaming around the night before – broken glass from beer bottles on the road and footpaths, uprooted saplings, graffiti everywhere, street signs pulled up, etc. I keep ranting about this – it is unacceptable behavior in any society, but there seems to be an apathy on the part of the authorites to do anything about it. (I bet they didn’t have these problems in the Soviet Union. Sometimes I think, from a law-and-order point of view, that a police state isn’t all bad.)

Progress M-58/23P is to launch tomorrow on the 23rd, at 13:40:34 UTC (11:40:34 p.m. Melbourne time) and dock at 14:28 on the 26th (12:28 a.m. on Friday 27th in Melbourne).

Russia again did not do too well at the 2006 World Gymnastics Championships, finishing 8th in the medal count. Doesn’t bode well for the Olympics. The men’s team managed to win a medal this time (silver) and the women’s team (bronze). China dominated, followed by the USA. Even Australia won a gold medal.

Monday 23/10

There was a small earthquake last night, about 10:30 p.m., though I didn’t feel it (disappointingly!). It affected the south-east suburbs. I did hear a sheet of iron fencing fall over outside and something running across it a few times (perhaps the resident possums upset by the earthquake). The previous earthquakes I have recorded as experiencing in a personal chronology I was keeping were in 2000 (Monday 24 July and Tuesday 29 August). More information: Australian earthquakes at Geoscience Australia.

Tuesday 24/10

Warm again today. Mum left for Brisbane and made it there OK. Sasha the dog has been off-color.

Spent yesterday and today checking and repairing broken internal links in my site, of which there were rather a lot! I also changed the anchor links for the days in this journal.

Progress M-53, the 23rd Progress to the ISS, launched yesterday at 13:40:36 UTC. It is due to dock on the 26th. Another flawless (and unheralded) Russian launch.

Thursday 26/10

The reason my site was offline (see 22/10/2006 entry) is that the new hard disk played up and George had to do an fsck scan to check it for errors, which took about 26 hours to complete.

“Words to fear” by Bob Clarebrough at The Space Review. An article that seems to be an excuse to attack the European political and social system and contrast it with the U.S. free enterprise economy.

If it moves tax it. Over the last 60 years, the countries of Old Europe have created hugely expensive, taxpayer-funded state welfare systems providing a dazzling range of lavish benefits. Even as the architects of this “No citizen left behind” policy admire their own achievements, the Law of Unintended Consequences has kicked in. When the ever-rising cost of welfare benefits, leading to yet more taxation, is combined with stringent employment regulations, the effect is to weaken Europe’s competitiveness and stifle innovation. Exceptions to costly labor laws and tax breaks to help new firms are virtually impossible to introduce: change the rules for one section of the economy and soon all companies will demand the same. In turn, this prospect has caused voters to be scared of innovation in case it leads to the unraveling of their precious welfare state, and politicians won’t make radical changes that would upset their constituents. The result is paralysis. Space entrepreneurs will not find it any easier or less costly to get started than other innovators do.

Well, I would rather live in a country/society that had higher taxes and used these to look after its citizens properly, rather than the laissez-faire capitalism that unfortunately dominates the USA and Australia (and in a more extreme form, Russia), and essentially leaves people to fend for themselves – the “survival of the fittest/law of the jungle” philosophy. The latter is also a society in which there are a few obscenely rich and a lot of poor, and a place of constant uncertainty and job insecurity. Just look at Russia after the fall of Communism and how many people suffered when a vicious form of capitalism was imposed. (Wikipedia has a page summarizing the various economic systems.)

That leaves these fundamental questions: Do Europeans really care about space? Do they have anything close to Americans’ visceral feel for the notion of “frontier” and the boundless opportunities waiting on the other side? Instead, the nations of Old Europe have hung a sign on the frontier that reads, “Do not disturb.”

America is young and energetic while Europe is old and stagnant is the gist of that last paragraph. A rather silly assumption as weren’t the people who colonized the Americas from Europe? Also, many other countries have their own frontier epics – Russians exploring Siberia, or Europeans exploring Australia, for example. The “visceral feel for the notion of ‘frontier’” is not the province of one country alone – it is a characteristic of humanity as a whole.

A few months ago I read a novel called The Sunborn by Gregory Benford, and below is an extract which states the same assumption:

In cultural profile High Flyer’s crew was like hers. By no accident, most spacers were from North America or Asia. Those were the cultures, mid-twenty-first century, where young people still asked, When can I do X? The Europeans usually said, with dread, How do we stop people from doing X? And X could be just about anything technological. Genetically modified food, screening for future disease risk, opening up the asteroids for mining of scarce metals, living longer through genetic tailoring, beaming microwave power from space, living half-time in virtual villages, sending a beacon signal to the stars.

ISA was mostly backed by Asians and Americans. Euros didn’t go into space – you could die! It would cost a lot! – and were busy shoring up their aging societies with plentiful taxes and fearful politics, eyeing the ever-growing population of Muslims in their midst … Shanna was quite glad to be out here, away from the swamp of Earthside.

“Violent rap video culture trashes our youth,” Neil Mitchell, Herald-Sun: a response to a particularly ugly incident involving a group of teenage boys assaulting a girl, filming it and distributing the video over the Internet. There will be the predictable response from some liberal types that computer/video games, music etc. are not responsible for such behavior, but I would beg to differ. The constant barrage of violent and sexually-explicit images from TV, movies and the Internet DOES have an influence. But society and their parents are also to blame – there has been a decline of moral standards and discipline over the last few decades, and Western society has become increasingly child-centered to an unhealthy degree, resulting in spoiled, bored, overindulged children and teenagers.

THE rap culture is the ugly American in black. It is aggressive, arrogant and violent. It sprang from the ghettos as a form of racial rebellion and developed into an industry built around sexism, obscenity and a language of its own. So what the hell is it doing on the streets of Werribee?

Perhaps after the past few days we know where technology is capable of leading us and it is directly to the age of pack brutality. That is the only way to describe adequately the atrocity that has unfolded in our town and it hints at why Melbourne is so horrified by what a group of 10 or 12 youths filmed themselves doing. On part of this video the kids talked like rappers. They mimicked a rap-culture TV program called Pimp My Ride, using the gestures and violent language that are the currency of rap. They also degraded and dehumanised a young woman, in the way of so many rap videos.

But that said, awful things happen every day. There are murders and rapes and children are molested. So why has this Werribee atrocity shaken even those used to such human ugliness? The Premier, the Chief Commissioner of Police, even an experienced detective from the sex crimes unit who has seen more horrible things in weeks than most could stomach in a life time, have all expressed their shock and disgust. Why has this hurt so much?

First, what happened was hideous. A young girl was lured to a meeting, attacked and humiliated. You know the details. She was sexually abused and morally degraded. She had urine tipped over her. That was shocking, but equally horrifying was the behaviour of her tormentors. They were pack animals, driven by a form of blood lust. Think of hyenas and their deadly co-operative hunting. They harass the victim as a team. They dart in, snapping and snarling and biting until they drag it down and rip it to pieces. This was the same. This was “civilised” young men surrounding the woman, mocking her, jabbing at her and dragging her into the final humiliation of urine and fire. These weren’t kids from Werribee. They were not even comparable to hyenas. Animals kill to survive. THESE boys were driven by the pack and their frenzy came from some sick search for gratification and notoriety.

But there was more reason for the public horror. This was so organised, so professionally marketed, so cruel, so callous, so brazen and so American. Names purporting to be the organisers were used on the video “credits”. With that, did they really expect not to be caught? Much of it was filmed in family houses. Did they think nobody would recognise them? The videos were sold around schools and streets. Did they expect the police would not find out? Perhaps they didn’t care. Perhaps this was part of the ritual, an in-your-face rap style challenge to authority.

And these were not kids from the wrong side of the tracks, angry with the deal the world had offered. They had modern video equipment. They had computers to edit the filth. They had machinery to burn DVD copies.

The girl was not the only victim, although she continues to suffer along with her shattered family. A flare was dropped on a homeless man’s legs. Walls were smashed and vandalised. Cab drivers were attacked and “egged”. Now after the initial shock, it is time to ask: why? What transports the ugliness of black rebellion to middle-class Melbourne?

That is where technology carries blame. In some ways these kids were emulating the trash television that jams pay TV. Shows such as Jackass and Wildboyz where young men do stupid and dangerous things to themselves, to animals, and to unsuspecting members of the public. It is a type of violent street theatre that doesn’t set out to attack victims but does create an atmosphere of stupid risk and filming for shock value. It’s also the technology these thugs have grown up with, probably spending hours playing video games where they get points for out- running police, bashing by-standers and raping prostitutes. It’s the digital gear that makes it so easy to film their stupidity and package it to make money and an impact. And finally it’s the internet, which allowed them to contact their young victim and to expose their deeds to the world through video sites.

But technology can’t be banned. There’s no licence to use a computer. Video games can be dangerous and although they can be restricted it is impossible to control them because they are so easily copied and circulated. There are other reasons behind this and they probably go to boredom, to a need for the approval of the pack and to a lack of parental discipline. That means parents are culpable. So too are the schools because they took too long to wake up to what was happening. Falling community standards probably played a role too.

BUT these are explanations, not excuses. The final responsibility sits with those who did it and those who watched. When the courts decide who is guilty of what there can be no half measures. The punishment must be extreme because what happened deserves an extreme reaction.

No doubt there are more young thugs walking around Melbourne today capable of the same pack-driven lunacy. They must be given the message: forget the excuses and hard-luck stories. We don’t care if you are disaffected or misunderstood or swayed by the rap culture. What happened was atrocious and you must pay the price for doing it. This will not be tolerated. Unlike you, this society is civilised.

NEIL MITCHELL broadcasts from 8.30am weekdays on 3AW. Copyright News Limited Oct 26, 2006

Next, an article from Saturday’s The Age about the poorly-designed and planned housing estates blighting the land around Melbourne. These are dreadful barren places crammed with hundreds of “McMansions” with little room, vegetation or privacy. They are ridiculously oversized and environmentally-unfriendly, requiring extensive heating or cooling: “New housing ‘failing future generations’,” 21/10.

Friday 27/10

I had to change my rear bicycle tyre earlier as it had gone flat – it was flat last Sunday when I looked at it; I pumped it up, and went for my morning bike ride, but was flat again when I looked at it today. I couldn’t find a hole, so I changed the inner tube for another. A rather tiring exercise! Getting the tyre on and off the bike then the tyre rim is quite difficult! I am not used to such physical exertion.

Progress M-58 docked successfully last night (14:28:46 UTC), but not before some drama! After the initial soft dock at 14:28:46, the hard/full dock was delayed when onboard software indicated that one of the Kurs automated docking system antennas, the 4AO-BKA orientation antenna, failed to retract. (NASA diagrams: Progress Kurs Antenna System - Oct. 26.) After 3½ hours of discussion and evaluating photography of the ship by the crew (the ISS being placed into free drift in the interim to avoid jarring the Progress loose), TsUP engineers decided to try for a full dock, and the Progress hard-docked successfully (latches pulling it into place). A software glitch could have caused the initial false reading.

The next space tourist, Charles Simonyi, has his website up: Charles in Space. A nice site – unfortunately it is entirely Flash-animated, which makes it impossible to copy photos or text (for quotes, etc.)! (Well, I can take screenshots, but having to do so is a real nuisance.) Flash sites are a bad idea – HTML is quicker and far more accessible. He will be keeping a blog – but it looks like it will be in Flash also! Aaargh.

Saturday 28/10

A cold front came in overnight and there was heavy rain and hail, which have not been experienced for 3 months or so!

The dreaded Daylight Savings begins tomorrow, so I will be getting up at the equivalent of 4 a.m., which I am not enthusiastic about, though I will continue to do so as it is my routine and I am obsessive about sticking to it.

Abortion has been outlawed in Nicaragua (as it is in a few other, mainly Third-World and religion-dominated countries) no thanks to the malignant influence of the Catholic Church which has a far-too-powerful influence in such places. The hapless women there have been dragged back to the medieval era. I can’t believe that this archaic religion (or any religion) still has so much influence in the so-called enlightened modern era. For some reason the Vatican is allowed to exist as a separate city-state and have embassies and a seat in the United Nations. Why should they get special treatment? (*Thinks wicked thoughts about where I’d like to drop a nuclear bomb*)

Sunday 29/10

Daylight Savings begins (*yawn*).

The overindulgence orgy known as the Millionaire Fair is on in Moscow again, as described in the article below from The Age. I like the comment in the last paragraph.

Fun at fair for Russian big spenders

Kevin O’Flynn, Moscow
October 29, 2006

Russia’s new rich are preparing for an orgy of spending as a lavish Millionaire Fair opens in Moscow. Oligarchs, “minigarchs” and humble millionaires are expected to spend more than half a billion euros at the fair.

Described by its founder as a cross between Harrods and Disneyland, the fair offers all the luxury goods – from desert islands to helicopters – that a millionaire could desire. Moscow’s elite, dizzy on the riches of a petroleum boom, have become big spenders.

“I really like the Russian mentality,” said the fair’s founder, Yves Gijrath. “They madly love spending money.” The fair is also staged in Amsterdam, Shanghai and Cannes, but Russians are the biggest buyers of luxury goods, he said.

The fair, held in a squat expo centre, is expecting 40,000 visitors. There are said to be 88,000 euro millionaires in Russia, while Moscow is reputed to have more billionaires than any other city, apart from New York. Exhibitors have searched for the brightest, sparkling and most expensive items for the event.

The world’s most expensive phone – a diamond-encrusted model by the Swiss company Goldvish priced at €1.4 million (A$2.3 million) – joins the most expensive car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron, selling at the same price.

Only one sale of the glittering phone has been made in the world so far – to a Russian businessman at the Millionaire Fair in Cannes earlier this year.

French cosmetics company Guerlain will sell a specially made perfume for the fair: one bottle priced at €35,000.

In a country with an average monthly wage of about A$500 and where a quarter of Russians live below the poverty line, the fair is seen by many as crass.

“I think that such fairs are needed,” said one Communist deputy, Victor Ilyukhin, “so that we can put snipers around the outside and shoot all of the visitors like parasites. None of them have made their money honestly.”

Some news tidbits from Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 585.

25/10/2006/20:05 Russia will allocate over 170 billion roubles for space activity in the next few years

Russia will allocate 171.7 billion roubles till 2010 for the realization of space programs, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, declared on Wednesday, answering questions of citizens on the air. About this reports the agency Interfax.

“As for general expenditure, this will be increased in addition by the federal target program (GLONASS – “IF”) in the near future in order to accelerate it. It is 41.8 billion roubles. From 2008 to 2010, 129.9 billion roubles will be allocated to the federal space program,” V. Putin said.

He has emphasized that Russia should accelerate full input in building the GLONASS global navigating satellite system – analogous to the American GPS. “And I very much expect that the participants of economic activities will be switched to national global navigating system as soon as it will earn,” V. Putin said. The president noted that now the orbital grouping of satellites of system GLONASS comprises 14 devices. “Still, it is necessary to produce some devices, and they will provide full coverage over all the country’s territory. And the next step will be for their coverage to be global,” V. Putin said.

He noted, that Russia “is considerably more advanced than the European partners” in the satellite navigating system project. Now the incorporated group creates its own navigating satellite system, “Galilleo”. Meanwhile the first and unique satellite of this system, whose orbital grouping should total about 30 satellites, has been launched.

Russian version, Русская версия: Россия в ближайшие годы выделит на космическую деятельность свыше 170 млрд рублей.

Parts of the following article are somewhat incoherent as I could not figure out their translation!

25/10/2006/00:05 Why Russia is relinquishing its position in the global space market

In the 24 October edition of the newspaper New News («Новые известия»), Nikolai Orlov’s article, “Why Russia is relinquishing its position in the global space market,” was published. In the publication the article describes the critical state of affairs in the domestic space branch, and fears that the next few years will not be good for Russian astronautics.

Below are some extracts from the article.

“[…] Roskosmos persistently does not wish to recognize the obvious: year by year, Russia relinquishes its position in the space market. Today it is significant that our country (from shares of 40%) is represented only in a segment of commercial launches which falls within up to 70% of its space export. But the annual volume of this segment is estimated to be 2.5-3 billion dollars while the segment of manufacture of commercial satellites makes already about 10 billion, the segment of the navigating equipment and services comes nearer to 20 billion, the satellite communication segment and D33 at a level of 60 billion. Thus, if the immediate prospects for markets of launch services and satellite manufacture are stagnant (as is predicted by the majority of experts) the growth of other segments, on the contrary, remains respectable. So, in five years altogether the volume of the satellite communication market is estimated to be already at 150 billion dollars, D33 – at 50 billion, and the navigating equipment and services – at 70 billion. As a result by 2010 the global space market should reach a total of 300 billion dollars. And what will be the Russian share here even if it will be possible to eliminate the market consequences of launch failures?

What lies ahead? On the way, the Russian space enterprises will be superseded by competitors in the less profitable markets of the new space countries which only start performance of national space programs and where our enterprises still can act in the role of a “donor” of space technologies. But even here the inexplicable passivity of Roskosmos leads to paradoxical situations. So, of the two countries in the Kazhakstan-Russian space cooperation with an obvious difference of space power ratios … Astana plays the leading part! Russia only goes downstream, and all initiatives – the Ishim and Baiterek projects, the creation at Baikonur of tourist space center (modeled on the organization of tourism in the American space center at Cape Canaveral) are initiated by Kazakhstan.

Another example: in May of this year Nigeria accepted a program of outer space exploration according to which, in particular, a flight to the Moon is planned for 2030. To such plans of the country receiving considerable means from export of oil, it is possible to concern, certainly, with irony, however Ukraine already prepares for a number of agreements with the National Agency of Space Development and Researches of Nigeria. They actively work with this country and China. And here on the Roskosmos site Nigeria is not mentioned at all in the list of potential participants of international cooperation. […]

But then that in an active? Than, if not strategy of development of branch, the management of Roskosmos is engaged? Apparently, a lot, but it is more likely connected not with the development of the branch, but with the circulation of monetary flows.

For example, one year ago a number of leading enterprises of the country created the International Association of Space Activity Participants (МАКД, Международная ассоциация участников космической деятельности, MAKD). The purpose of the association seems good on the surface – to increase the level of coordination and interaction, but strange on closer examination – in fact almost 90 % of the enterprises of branch are FGUPy, and the major share of the state capital remains with them. In other words, for the decision of these problems – coordination and – the state has just created interactions and finances special federal agency – Roskosmos. And then it is stranger, that the chairman of board – joint agency MAKD – the government official – the head of Roskosmos is selected. Thus according to the MAKD charter he individually carries out powers of a joint agency – the MAKD board, which gathers only twice a year. Moreover, he is not required to have his actions approved by the MAKD board. Similarly, this is a new trend in Russian corporate practice. Yes, as it happens, our high officials are selected to control the commercial and noncommercial organizations – in the supervisory councils, boards of directors. But never before did they enter into agencies and were not engaged in operative management! Cunning to the point of irrationality – the head of Roskosmos without the power of attorney works on behalf of MAKD.

In truth, the Association is an individual agency – the president of the Association is the dear academician of the Russian Academy of Science, Nikolai Anfimov. But the developers of the charter have reduced his functions to participation in board meetings and the performance of his assignments. Such is the “ZITs (Regional Informational Center)-chairman.”

What is the Association for Anatoly Perminov’s rule? A Hobby comprising a lot of free time, or a buffer for the future? Can, therefore the head of Roskosmos, and in combination chairman of board MAKD (or on the contrary, in combination head Roskosmos? In fact frequently him represent so!), at any opportunity does not get weary of reminding of the existence and necessity of such organization. But what then do the members MAKD receive? According to the charter: assistance in reception of the license for space activity, services on selling production and performance of contractual relations, etc. And according to the MAKD charter, the MAKD board chairman, Anatoly Perminov, represents these state bodies’ interests, so, and in Roskosmos. Whether and then there is at the enterprises of branch a choice? Whether they can find the decision of the problems in Roskosmos if will not be presented there by chairman of board MAKD? […]

Comments, I think, are superfluous.

Russian version, Русская версия: Почему Россия сдает позиции на мировом космическом рынке.

25/10/2006/00:05 The Soyuz modernized spacecraft will not be ready earlier than 2010

The Soyuz modernized piloted spacecraft will be created from 2010, Roskosmos deputy Viktor Remishevskii informed journalists today, as ITAR-TASS reported. The “modernized” Soyuz “will be created with improved characteristics,” he specified. “From 2010 we should receive this ship which can carry out piloted flights, and it will be real.” As he said, the modernized ship can carry out lunar expeditions around the Moon and returning to the Earth, and flights to the International Space Station.

Answering a question on prospects of the Kliper piloted ship, V. Remishevskii said that “it will be a forthcoming stage of piloted Russian astronautics.” “It is supposed that it will be the six-seater ship a universal type which can fly to the ISS and carry out lunar expeditions,” he noted.

Russian version, Русская версия: Модернизированный космический корабль «Союз» будет готов не ранее 2010 г.

24/10/2006/13:06 Roskosmos complains of a shortage of money for construction of Kliper

The 9 billion roubles allocated Roskosmos for the Kliper project till 2012 to construct a new piloted spacecraft is impossible. This was declared by the Roskosmos deputy Viktor Remishevskii, reports RIA Novosti.

“As is known, the Roskosmos competitive commission has suspended the tender for construction of a new piloted reusable spacecraft. And I headed this competitive commission,” said Remishevskii.

“We have really looked at things and have understood, that means at a rate of 9 billion roubles till 2012 and from them about 500 million roubles till 2010 is an extremely insufficient sum, and to construct a new spacecraft with this money is impossible,” he said.

According to Remishevskii, it is necessary to involve tens of billions of unappropriated funds.

“Besides there were doubts as to the planned winged constuction of the new piloted ship – it has not been examined, besides it is very expensive,” added Remishevskii. As the Roskosmos deputy has noted, the ship’s weight was 13-14 tons and any new booster rocket would not be ready to carry it.

Russian version, Русская версия: Роскосмос жалуется на нехватку денег для строительства «Клипера».

24/10/2006/00:05 Nikolai Sevast’yanov stated that RKK Energiya will radically renew its fleet of spacecraft

The Rocket-Space Corporation Energiya is realizing a program of the radical renovation of its fleet of manned and cargo spacecraft, stated the President of RKK Energiya, Nikolai Sevast’yanov.

The “first stage of program is the modernization of the Soyuz. This will make it possible to increase its capabilities, to reduce cost, to increase commercial attractiveness,” reported N. Sevast’yanov on Monday at the spaceport Baikonur, where he was present for the launch of the Progress cargo ship M-58. According to N. Sevast’yanov, today the Soyuz spacecraft can fly to space and return to the earth with two professional cosmonauts and one nonprofessional aboard.

“The crew will be able to consist of one professional and two nonprofessional cosmonauts on the modernized Soyuz. The first launching of this new Soyuz is planned in 2011,” said N. Sevast’yanov. The new Soyuz, he emphasized, “will fly not only to the ISS, it will be able to fly, also, to the Moon.” The “modernized” Soyuz “will be capable of returning from the Moon to the Earth with planetary escape velocity; on it will be installed an astronavigation system and a number of other systems,” Sevast’yanov said.

It is planned that the new Soyuz will be launched from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana with the aid of the Soyuz-2 carrier rocket, noted N. Sevast’yanov.

In the second stage of the program implementation, he said, will be created the “Parom,” «Паром» reusable transport system, which will replace the Progress cargo transport ships. “The fact is that today the Progress delivers to the ISS 2.5 tons of dry and liquid cargo. But this is a one-flight mission. We plan to solve the task of a significant reduction in the cost of cargo delivery by approximately four times,” he emphasized. In this case N. Sevast’yanov added that the “Parom reusable orbital module system will be located in the composition of the Station, and from the Earth they will launch containers with loads of up to 12 tons.”

In the program’s third stage will be created the Kliper ship, reported the RKK chief. It will be based on the technologies that will be developed in the first two stages. The onboard systems will be utilized from the modernized Soyuz spacecraft, the program elements from the Parom system, noted N. Sevast’yanov.

“We have special hopes for Kliper. This is an transport industrial system of new qualities. When a fleet of Klipers is created, they will be based at Baikonur. Hence ships will launch and return here. This will give a big impetus to the development of the Baikonur infrastructure. For the care of the fleet of Klipers will have to create the valuable operational company, which will assume Kliper, to prepare it for the following flight,” said N. Sevast’yanov.

When the ships of the Kliper series begin to fly, he noted, this will make it possible to considerably increase the number of cosmonauts. “The prime cost of cargo delivery will be lowered approximately three times. From other side, the overheads which appear with launch and landing, will be lowered considerably, which will make it possible to expand the circle of participants in the flights,” added the Energiya leader. About this reports the Interfax Agency.

Russian version, Русская версия: Николай Севастьянов заявил, что РКК «Энергия» коренным образом обновит флот космических кораблей.

November

Wednesday 1/11

October was the dryest in 92 years. Reservoir water levels are at 43.5% and we enter Stage 2 water restrictions. Only good thing is that we haven’t had the unpleasant humidity we normally get at this time of year.

The Victorian State elections happen this month, on the 25th. I suppose I will vote Labor again, though they have proven disappointingly similar to the previous Liberal (right-wing) government in many respects, such as wasting millions of dollars on various dubious projects and sporting events. I will probably vote for the Greens first (though I don’t agree with all their policies) followed by Labor.

My 36th birthday next week! I can’t believe I am that old.

I posted a cartoon at NASASpaceflight.com. Well, I thought it was funny. The space program people take themselves a bit too seriously sometimes.

Some Russian space news tidbits, from SpaceDaily.com:

The Elektron oxygen generator has been offline since September, so spare parts were brought up on the recent Progress M-58 supply ship. Mikhail Tyurin installed the new parts and tried to bring it online:

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin resumed work on the Elektron oxygen-generation unit after it shut down in mid-September. He replaced valves and cables in an effort to bring it back online. An initial attempt to turn it on failed, but a second attempt did activate the unit. It ran for a short period before failing to its backup pump where it now continues to run. More data analysis is underway.

Thursday 2/11

Lots of much-needed rain last night and this morning; it is also a bit humid.

Mum flew home from Queensland on Tuesday with no problems (I forgot to mention). She stayed with my sister and her family up there for a week. Her first jet flight anywhere since my family’s last holiday to England in 1978! Now, if only I could go somewhere … (guess where). My last holiday anywhere was to New Zealand in 1987.

I started a tentative blog at Blogger.com called RuSpace, about (you guessed it!) the Russian space program, mainly selected news tidbits and my comments. I am not sure if I will keep it going (or if anyone will bother to read it), as this website takes up a lot of my energy, but I like having a comments facility. It is for Russian spaceflight only – there is an abundance of blogs covering the U.S. space program. Somewhat to my alarm, it got a mention on The Accidental Russophile!

Update 11/3/2007: Deleted it, and some annoying company has grabbed the URL – ruspace.blogspot.com

The daily ISS On-Orbit Status Reports have been erratic all this year – none issued since 6 October now. I sent an email query to Spaceref.com and the reply was:

If we do not get them, we cannot post them. I am trying to find a more reliable source. I miss them too.

And guess who the email was from – Keith Cowing! (I hope he doesn’t read this journal …) I have said a few things about various people which I somewhat regret now, but that was the way I was feeling then. I seem to have (generally) moderated a bit.

As I noted some time ago, the On-Orbit Status Reports are posted in the L2 section of NASASpaceflight.com, but that section is subscriber-only.

Sunday 5/11

A neighbor got their fence “decorated” with graffiti yet again last night – the third time it has been vandalized (the previous ones being on 23 and 26 September). I hope they will call the police and report it. I dread Saturday nights because of all the drunken idiots and vandals who wander around – I see the damage the next morning when I go out on my bicycle.

The movie The Core screened on TV on Friday night. It was quite good for such a movie – not really scientifically accurate (no surprises there) but entertaining nonetheless. Of the six characters who went down in the subterranean ship Virgil, four were killed one by one in various unpleasant ways! Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy has a review of the movie (this version with plot spoilers).

Watching it on TV though is almost unbearable with all the ad breaks, and the annoying popup promotions for other programs during the movie scenes – the latter trend has been introduced in the last few years and is very intrusive. You can’t even watch the end credits in peace as they get overlayed by yet more program promotions. There are endless letters to the newspaper TV guides complaining about this (also the TV stations’ seeming inability to start programs on time – another deliberate strategy). I do not watch any of the popular TV shows, only occasional movies (usually recorded on video), documentaries and the news. TV as a medium is increasingly outdated – why endure whatever the programmers choose to show you when you can get whatever you want off the Internet. I just wish I had a laptop so I could use a computer while reclining in bed – sitting at a desk is not a comfortable way to watch movies!

It’s the horse racing season again, and it is being promoted in the media ad nauseum. The Melbourne Cup is next Tuesday (two days before my birthday, this year). As I have said in previous years, I hate the whole culture, which is essentially one of cruelty (horses are disposable commodities). See the website Horse Racing Kills.

Monday 6/11

I have been debating whether to delete my Rusalka personal site as I am a bit concerned that I have put up too much personal information, and I am not that interesting anyway. It is hard to decide how much or how little information I should include. I want people to understand me, yet I don’t want to divulge too much information that could be misused. I think I will just reduce the amount of detail for now.

The anorexic twins, Claire and Rachel Wallmeyer (mentioned in my 19/9/2005 entry), were featured in the “Two of us” interview in The Age’s Good Weekend magazine. They are still (barely) alive. They are a little older than me (36) but look like wizened old women. They have been anorexic for 22 years, which means they have been like that for two-thirds of their life so far. I do not think they are treatable – they are too far gone – and their bodies are badly damaged from the prolonged starvation. Theirs is a bleak and limited existence. Like me, they have wasted their lives.

Watched the first of a new documentary series, Wild Europe, on ABC TV on Sunday night.

Wednesday 8/11

My last day of being 35 :-(. The transit of Mercury across the sun happens tomorrow, beginning at 6:12 a.m. AEDT and lasting for five hours. My family saw the transit of Venus on Tuesday 8 June, Dad projecting the image through a telescope onto a sheet of paper. Mercury is apparently too small to see by the same method (though there will be webcasts).

I am considering removing some of this journal off my site – everything before October 2004, which is when I began keeping an online journal. The previous entries were really for my private computer journal. I rather wish I had begun a blog at Blogger.com instead, as I had considered doing then!

My posting at NASASpaceflight.com, in irritated response to the “Paranoid Patriot” being quoted. Grrr!

Friday 10/11

My birthday yesterday was quiet, as usual. In four years I will be 40 – hard to accept. I feel like I am 26, not 36. The years are slipping away and my life is being wasted.

I know I shouldn’t laugh, but a silly soldier found out the hard way why not to stick a firework rocket up his rear end … and light it. They don’t say “Don’t try this at home” in movies and TV shows for no reason!

The person called “Coach” replied to my posting at the NASASpaceflight.com topic mentioned in the previous entry. A Cranky Conservative he certainly is. Unfortunately I couldn’t think of a coherent response to his post (below):

All countries share the world, no-one “leads” or owns it. If humanity is to survive into the long-term future (and go into space), co-operation will be essential. This nationalistic chest-beating is soooo childish.

While running the risk of turning this discussion into a political brewhaha, let me make these points. My view is not about selfish American ambitions, childish chest beating or anything of the sort. It is simple pragamatism. We can try to live in this warm and fuzzy world of equal share cooperation but the reality is that those who lead will control the frontiers of space. It is the nature of mankind to lead or follow. I would welcome the cooperation of many nations in the pioneering of space, including the likes of China and Russia. It makes for good relations. As I mentioned, co-operation is a virtue. But be careful not to absolutely demand co-operation for simply the sake of it. The result would be exactly what we are experiencing with the ISS. Russia couldn’t even pay for their portion of ISS so guess who picked up the tab? The US taxpayers.

Actually, only the Zarya module was funded by NASA (built by Khrunichev in Russia) – the other Russian modules were fully Russian-funded.

Even if everyone agreed that international cooperation in full were the best route, it simply can’t be done to the degree that many speak of. Space is expensive. It is the USA in the form of NASA, aerospace giants like LM and Boeing and hopefully, some upstarts like SpaceX, Rocketplane/Kistler and Bigelow that drive manned space endeavours. Who will pay for the return to the moon? Don’t bet on any government returning to the moon in the near future except the USA’s. It simply costs too much. China has the best chance followed by Russia but I don’t think Russia has the will much less the finances. I have been of the opinion that private aerospace companies today will set foot on the moon before NASA. I may be wrong on this but NASA can so easily fall to prey to the prevailing political winds of Washington, DC. NASA could be back on the moon in 8 years if it were an absolute priority, but it’s not. There are many elections and budget votes between now and 2019.

Russia does have the will (but sadly not the finances, at this stage).

In summary, the US will be the first back to the moon, first to Mars, first to the asteroids and those rockets will be paid for by US tax dollars or corporate earnings and it is in the best interest of the world that the resources in space will be made available by democracies and capatalists. No one else has the upfront money to make it happen. If governments control the resources of space, we’ll have the exact same situation with middle eastern oil today on a grander scale. Thus, leading to yet more future conflicts.

Would a corporate-controlled world or space colony be better? I don’t think so. Corporations are essentially a form of dictatorship and the prime reason for their existence is to make a profit. They therefore seek to minimize costs (such as paying their workers the lowest possible wage). If governments did not regulate corporations the latter would run amok, destroying lives and the environment. As things stand, corporations have far too much power already, and are not averse to using slave labor in the form of workers in developing countries who work in appalling conditions for almost nothing.

Governments, in theory at least, are there to serve the population who elected them and look after their welfare. If we did not have governments to regulate things, we would not have such necessities as public education, roads without tolls, public transport, sanitation, town planning and so forth.

The so-called “alt.space” (alternative space access) movement tend to regard themselves as active pioneers of the space frontier, in contrast to what they see as the stodgy, stultified, bureaucratized government space programs (in the form of NASA) and believe that competition and commerce can solve all problems. The reality is, though, that the alt.space companies do not have the funding and resources of the governments, or the long-term vision. The companies can easily go bankrupt and disappear.

My view is that private space companies will be successful in earth-orbit space tourism ventures, but serious long-term colonization of space and planets will be done by the world’s governments in co-operative ventures. I could be wrong, of course, as I am no expert on the subject.

In response to your quote about all countries sharing the world and no one leads or owns it, have you ever read John Locke?

The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property.

– John Locke

IMHO, the word “society” can be replaced with the word “space” and the spirit of the quote retains its meaning.

Actually, no I haven’t (I linked to the Wikipedia article). He is one of the founders of liberalism. Not a philosophy I find appealing – for a good rebuttal, see What’s wrong with libertarianism at Mark Rosenfelder’s Metaverse.

Maybe I come across as naive, but I stand by my comments. If humans continue to live as they do now, in a society that is founded on the idea of endless consumption of infinite resources, then we will bring about our own extinction, whether through war, environmental collapse, etc. At the risk of gender stereotyping, the promotion of competition seems to be a typically male point-of-view. Women are generally more inclined to a co-operative social model.

Sunday 12/11

A summary of a Russian exhibition in Peking, paraphrased from reports in Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 588 and some reports at the Roskosmos site.

Roskosmos, the Russian Space Agency, was part of a larger Russian exhibit in Peking, China, from 6-12 November: “Russia and China: new ways of commercial and economic collaboration in the 21st century.” The Roskosmos chief Anatolii Perminov was there, along with various dignitaries. The Russian space organizations who had displays at the exhibitions were: RKK Energiya (РКК «Энергия» им. С.П.Королева), FGUP GNPRKTs Progress (ФГУП ГНПРКЦ «ЦСКБ-Прогресс»), FGUP NPO Lavochkin (ФГУП НПО им.С.А.Лавочкина), FGUP NPO M.F.Reshetnev Applied Mechanics (ФГУП НПО прикладной механики им. М.Ф.Решетнева), FGUP RNII KP, Jet Propulsion Scientific Research Institute (ФГУП «РНИИ КП»), VNII Electromechanics (ВНИИ электромеханики), TsNII Comet Central Scientific Institute (ЦНИИ «Комета»). (Sorry, names of organizations are confusing and I don’t know how to translate them properly – see Russian Institutes & Industry at ESA Permanent Mission in Russia, and R&D Organizations in the Soviet Space Program at Soviet Web Space for some.)

It was the largest Russian exhibition in China in the last 50 years. 2000 people from 46 regions of Russia participated.

On 7/11, A. Permoniov said at a press conference that a Russian-Chinese project on the study of the Moon could be realized in 2010-2011. It assumes that in 2007 the Chinese pilotless apparatus will complete a flight around the Moon, and Russia would actively be connected to the project in the later stage. Provisions would be made for landing apparatus on the Moon, photo-reconnaisance and soil samples. The mission would be launched from China.

The Russian-Chinese collaboration in the region of space during 2007-2009 was affirmed at the exhibition. Chinese ministers spent more than the planned time at the Roskosmos exhibition, apparently pleased by it.

The USA has also made outreaches to China concerning its space program. NASA chief Michael Griffin earlier visited China in September, and a Chinese delegation visited America at NASA’s invitation in Autumn for talks about the possibility of China participating in NASA’s plans for return to the Moon. There was a suggestion that NASA was considering the Chinese Shenzhou ship as an alternative to its crew being transported on Russian Soyuz ships. Nikolai Sevast’yanov, during a videoconference between Moscow and Peking on 10/11, cast doubts on this proposal. Russia is considering increasing Soyuz production so that four ships can fly each year, thus increasing the crew on the ISS. Energiya is also developing a cargo version of the Soyuz spacecraft that would be able to deliver and return to Earth 500 kg of cargo. The Chinese manned program also did not currently include plans for flights to the ISS, and thus far the negotiations of Russia and China about the flight of a Chinese cosmonaut to the ISS were not carried out, Sevast’yanov replied in answer to a journalist’s questions.

The chief of NPO Lavochkin, Georgii Polishchuk, said that there were plans to include a Chinese micro-satellite on the Phobos-Soil, «Фобос-грунт» mission to the Mars moon Phobos, which would deliver a soil sample back to Earth. Ten countries were participating in the mission, planned to launch in October 2009.

The Roskosmos deputy, Yurii Nosenko, stated in the Moscow-Peking videolink that he did not fear that China would surpass Russia in its space program in the near future. They would more likely move in step within the context of their partnership. It also depended upon how the Russian space program continued to develop, for it had been badly retarded in the turmoil of the last 10-15 years. Things had changed somewhat with the adoption of a federal space program. He also said that Russia was opposed to the militarization of space.

Tuesday 14/11

I was having a nice dream this morning, but my alarm woke me up, much to my annoyance! I could have had an hour extra if it weren’t Daylight Savings. Grrr!

If there is one thing I detest about environmentalists here, it is their “politically-correct” view that all exotic trees and plants are evil, and that only native plants should be planted. This blog entry at The Age website, Bah humbug to Greens councillor, explains the issue – the chairman of Melbourne City Council’s environment committee, Greens councillor, Fraser Brindley, said earlier this week that only native trees should be planted. Well, bugger that. As others pointed out, European trees (elms, oaks, liquidambars, etc.) are part of Melbourne’s heritage and appearance, and they are lovely and shady in summer, and colorful in autumn. Native trees (eucalypts etc.) aren’t – a lot of them are dry, scraggly and ugly. It is an issue I feel strongly about. The article, and the paper’s editorial the next day: “Dry city faces loss of its exotic green heritage;” “Let our garden grow and our heritage survive.”

(I posted a comment expressing my views on the blog entry under the name Suzy, and a few responses have been a bit irate! The issue seems to bring out a quasi-religious fanaticism in some people.)

Dismaying news that the High Court dismissed the states’ and unions’ challenge to the Federal workplace relations laws. A plague on all those who voted for Howard the Horrible! The laws destroy everything that unions in Australia have fought for over the last century (penalty rates, overtime, job security in general).

Been playing around with my Blogger account, but there are a few things I do not like: mainly the way dates are formatted (in the U.S. month-day-year style, with no other options). (There is a posting here – Greg’s blog: Raison d’être – on a similar topic at Greg Lehey’s site – he also keeps a manual diary.) Also there are the privacy concerns (what does Google ultimately intend to do with all its hosted blogs? I think of the saying, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” – in other words, you will eventually have to pay in one way or another for the “free” things.

“Space station veteran glad to be home,” MSNBC.com. Astronaut Jeff Williams comments about his stay on the ISS as part of the ISS-13 crew. But why is nothing ever heard from cosmonauts? Did Pavel Vinogradov have any opinions?

Wednesday 15/11

A cold front came through from Antarctica this morning, so it is only 8°C outside! The gas heater has been on most of the day. There is snow on the mountain ranges. Contrast that with the 36°C we had last month, 12/10! The weather seems to have bipolar disorder!

The modem dropped out again this morning (it is left on all the time, and can occasionally “drift” and lose the connection – last time was 7 October – 7/10 entry). So Dad had to ring the Internet provider and they helped him reset it. Then it later dropped off again, but this time it was the Ethernet hub, which he finally figured out after an hour or so of frustration! Dad simply switched the connection cable to another port and the Internet was back online again. The computer manuals never seem to cover these problems!

Two lucky ladies are and have been in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia, respectively. I just remain trapped here. :-(

Feeling rather daring, I emailed two questions to the Charles in Space website:

Would you be able to post a timetable/schedule of your weekly training at Star City? Are you planning on keeping a blog from space like Anousheh Ansari did? I am also finding the technical details of your training in the Soyuz and Sokol interesting (useful information for my site!).

Thursday 16/11

I decided to remove all journal entries/pages before November 2004. I have checked for broken internal links to those pages; there might be some I have missed! I doubt anyone reads them, anyway.

One of my irritations when going out (to shopping centers/malls) is the hordes of women pushing enormous prams. They seem to be everywhere. A lot of them walk fast in an aggressive manner, expecting others to jump out of their way. The prams are those three-wheeled “SUV” strollers that have unfortunately become popular in the last few years (an unwanted American trend). The nickname is used on the Childfree Hardcore forum as the things are reminiscent of the oversized and ugly Sports Utility Vehicles (yet another unwelcome American import). Another irritation is being unable to go into any café without being confronted with screeching infants or children! Anyone opening up a childfree café (no children under 12 admitted) would get patronage from me. I just want some peace and quiet! (There is a blog devoted to the topic: Control your kids!) Quite a lot of people are becoming fed-up with the overindulged brats the “Permissive Parenting” fad has produced. Blame Dr. Benjamin Spock for that.)

Saturday 18/11

I have been tidying up this journal (yet again!) – there were still quite a few errors, even after previous tidy-ups.

“The New American Cold War,” The Nation; found via Very Russian. The collapse of the USSR proved disasterous for a lot of people in Russia, plunging them into dire poverty while a few became obscenely wealthy: a breeding-ground for resentment and instability. U.S. policies towards Russia are not helping matters.

Sunday 19/11

After the cold weather on Wednesday (see 15/11 entry) it has warmed up again, to around 30°C today.

“The Big Questions: What comes after Homo sapiens?,” FPSpace, a posting of an article from New Scientist Space (the original article is subscriber-access only). It looks at the concept of transhumanism, humans evolving further (and hopefully into something better). With the prospect of genetic engineering, humans can potentially control this evolution – perhaps moderate the aggressive and darker parts of our nature. The usual religious and conservative types, though, feel threatened by transhumanism – as though our flawed selves now are somehow better? They are fixated on the idea that the human form is somehow “sacred” and must be preserved; that to try to change it is sacrilege.

Abortion is now officially illegal in Nicaragua, no thanks to the malignant influence of the Catholic Church there. It is a bad day for women there, and is an example of why religion and politics should be kept separate. Despite the fight for women’s rights over the last century, these are still vulnerable to being eroded, and I am sure religious fanatics in other countries (e.g. the USA, Australia) would love to see this inhumane law enacted in theirs. “The former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega was a defender of Nicaragua’s limited abortion rights and a critic of the Catholic church when he led a left-wing Nicaraguan government in the 1980s. He has since been reconciled with the church and has become a strident opponent of abortion.” I am disgusted with him.

The November edition of Northstar Compass is online.

The Dumb Golf Stunt is set to happen during the spacewalk on 22/23 November, performed by Mikhail Tyurin. I really hate this aspect of the Russian space program; I am sure none of the cosmonauts joined their profession in order to be glorified salespeople. It’s undignified and the Russian government should increase their funding so that the space agency gets enough money and doesn’t have to resort to such tacky commercialism. The government space programs should be about exploring and colonizing space, not this nonsense.

It will likely be mentioned in the Australian media; I am cringing in anticipation.

Expedition 14 Mission Status Briefing Materials, NASA ISS site.

Charles Simonyi added an HTML blog to his site, but has yet to start writing in it. He is posting photos; unfortunately only small Flash-animated photos. The details of his training are interesting. But the Flash site is still annoying; it reloads everytime I visit it! He is also, like the other spaceflight participants, focused on young people: “I hope to accomplish three things: advance civilian space flight, assist research for the International Space Station, and involve young people in the science of space travel.” The focus on “young people” seems to be a curious obsession in the space community – don’t older people matter? I find it rather irritating, no longer being a young person myself. (“Young” meaning anyone 25 or under.)

Wednesday 22/11

From winter to summer in one week … 36°C yesterday until a windy cool change came through last night. Much cooler today (thankfully).

Bitch fight! Have a read of these two posts: Pants: swimchick.net by “Jemjabella” (a non-too-complimentary review of another girl’s site) and tsk tsk, the response from the other girl (Jessica), and the consequently spiteful sniping between the devoted followers of the two young ladies. Jem is about 21 years old, Jessica is 18. This is so typical of the nastiness that can occur between teenage/early 20s girls, and brings back a few unpleasant memories for me: of the gossip and sniping between various girls and cliques when I was at school. We did not have the Internet then, though. Now, however, such fights can be literally spread around the world. From an older perspective, it seems so petty and childish.

Found while Googling “Horus” and “Mars”: NASA gives Zarya/Horus the (3)3rd Degree. A conspiracy theory on the launch of Zarya by Richard Hoagland! I was doing such a search as I wanted a name for a Mars spaceship; “Ares” has been “claimed” by NASA, and I found some alternatives in this entry at The Spacewriter’s Ramblings, Forget the Greeks, I want Assyrian Names!.

Well, I have some news for Dr. Goudis. With all due respect to the tremendous contributions the Greeks made to astronomy and science (and they are considerable), astronomy as a science and in nomenclature didn’t start with the Greeks. There have been just a few other people over the centuries who have made good contributions, too. For example, anybody of Assyrian descent could feel rightly slighted that we’re being forced to call that ringed planet “Saturn,” instead of the older and more ominous-sounding “Lubadsagush.” That’s a name that dates back well before the dawn of Greek civilization.

Or, how about that famous Babylonian planet, Nirgal? Also known as Salbatanu to the ancient Akkadians. Also known as Horus the Red to the Egyptians, Nabu to the Babylonians, Verethragna to the Persians, and Artagnes to other Persians well before it became Pyroeis to the early Greeks, Ares to the later Greeks, and finally Mars to the Romans and the rest of us. Which name gets priority in this lengthy and ancient progression that stretches back well beyond many early cultures?

I have a story for a Russian expedition to Mars percolating in my head, hence the topic!

Gold mask of King Psusennes 1

There is an exhibition that has just come to Australia: Egyptian Antiquities from the Louvre: Journey to the Afterlife. Unfortunately it is not coming to Victoria; only museums in Canberra, South Australia and Western Australia. Which is disappointing as I have not gone to any exhibition for a very long time and would rather like to have seen it! It is not cheap, though: $20 to get in, and $40 if you want a catalog (no photography allowed). My family did go to an exhibition in 1989, “Gold of the Pharaohs,” featuring an exquisite gold mask of King Psusennes 1, at right (we still have the catalog). I love the gold mask as his gaze is serene and calm. I also like the statue of the winged Isis.

Expedition 14 is to begin their spacewalk from the Russian Pirs airlock at 23:00 UTC on 22 November (10:00 a.m tomorrow in Melbourne) and finish at 04:47 UTC (3:47 p.m) on 23/11.

Some news tidbits from Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 591:

22/11/2006/00:05 A new order for RKK Energiya

The Energiya Rocket & Space corporation named after S.P. Korolev has received from the Federal Space Agency the order for the creation of the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM, МЛМ) for the Russian segment (RS, РС) the International Space Station (ISS, МКС). The company press-service announced this.

On the press release published on the RKK Energiya site, it is emphasized that the state contract for the carrying out in 2007 of works on creation of the МЛМ is signed by the heads of Roskosmos and RKK Energiya on 3 November 2006. According to the contract the Corporation is certain by the general contractor of these works. Other participants in the project are: GKNPTs Khrunichev, NIITP (НИИТП), RNIIKP (РНИИКП), NIIAO (НИИАО), VNIIEM (ВНИИЭМ), NPP Quantum, NIIMASh Submicron, NPP Zvezda, etc.

The MLM will be created for the purpose of research & development, applied and functionalities of the Russian segment of the Station and increase the economic efficiency of its use due to an increase in volume and the list of given services. Its start into a circumterraneous orbit and incorporation into the structure of the Russian segment is planned to be carried out in 2009.

To effectively achieve the MLM’s intended use, universal and specialized workplaces on technology of replaceable useful loadings will be placed onboard, the onboard complex of management on the basis of modern devices and the equipment will be installed, and the configuration of its internal volumes in the interests of an increase in space for scientific equipment and payloads will be optimized. In the structure of the module it is planned to install a number of developments of the European Space Agency: the ERA manipulator and the DMS-R multipurpose onboard computer.

Russian version, Русская версия.

21/11/2006/15:05 The financing of space science in the Federal space program for 2006-2015 totals 26 billion rubles.

The financing of space science in the Federal space program/ФКП for 2006-2015 is planned to reach 26 billion rbl. The deputy head of the Roskosmos Federal Space Agency, Yurii Nosenko informed a press conference today about this.

Having reminded them that the common financing of the ФКП totals 305 billion rbl., he has informed that 16 percent (that is 26 billion rbl). This sum makes only 2 percent from the means allocated in the world on a space science is allocated for science, has emphasized the Roscosmos deputy.

According to Y. Nosenko, ITAR-TASS reports, in the FKP ФКП 12 large scientific projects are incorporated in three directions: astrophysics, researches of solar-terrestrial communications and research of the Solar system.

Now Russia does not have any scientific space vehicles. “We only participate in foreign scientific projects,” ascertained Y. Nosenko regretfully. Among these projects he has named five foreign astrophysical projects and five projects on studying the Solar System. According to the Roskosmos deputy, the Russian devices are installed on foreign space vehicles, and “work very successfully.”

Russian version, Русская версия.

Friday 24/11

I only slept fitfuly last night as some unpleasant-sounding people went past around 12:30 a.m. (though no vandalism done here as far as I could tell). I hate the sickening feeling of dread when I hear their voices; my heartbeat skyrockets.

State elections tomorrow. I decided my voting preferences – unfortunately the party I was going to put first, the Socialist Alliance, has no canditates for my electorate in either the Upper or Lower Houses, so I’ll put Labor, the Greens and the Democrats in the top spots. (I don’t agree with all the policies of either four groups; it’s a matter of choosing the most palatable options.) There are some religious parties running (Australia is regrettably following the American trend of religious groups trying to influence politics). I make it a policy not to vote for such groups, or any with “Family” in their name. There has been so much propaganda aimed at “families” (the narrow definition being a man, woman and their several young children); I am thoroughly sick of hearing about them (single people never get a mention – we’re not voteworthy).

I removed the posting times from my entries as they are not really accurate; I sometimes add more things throughout the day.

I had a look in Borders bookstore, and a few Australian online stores, for the DVDs Out of the Present and Space Station 3D but, wouldn’t you know it, none are available here – not in Region 4 for Australia. Very annoying – I would like to see Out of the Present especially. Whoever invented the region coding concept should be hanged, drawn and quartered! The greed of movie studios has resulted in a big inconvenience to consumers.

Expedition 14’s spacewalk yesterday suffered a few glitches. The exit from Pirs was delayed by 1h 17m as Mikhail had to exit his spacesuit to straighten a kinked cooling suit hose. They also had some trouble opening the hatch because of an obstruction. There was also problems setting up for the golf stunt (wasting about 38m) and Mikhail only managed to get off one shot before having to move onto the other tasks. The initial order of the successive tasks was subsequently changed. The spacewalk was shortened as the initial delay meant they used up consumables (the lithium hydroxide CO2 scrubbers in their spacesuits); TsUP tend to be conservative with spacewalk length. You can follow the LIVE: ISS Expedition 14 Spacewalk and Golf Stunt thread at NASASpaceflight.com.

I initially thought cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov was doing the Russian communications between the cosmonauts and TsUP, but it turned out to be another Sergei K – Kireevichev – so I was rather disappointed about that!

The spacewalk lasted 5h 38m, from 00:17 to 05:55 UTC.

“Spacewalker takes orbital golf shot,” MSNBC.com. Naturally the golf stunt got the most attention from the media, no doubt pleasing the company who sponsored it, but (again) making the Russian Space Agency look like cheap salesmen who would pawn their own grandmothers to get some cash. (The media usually include the phrase “cash-strapped” whenever referring to the Russian space program.) I would like to have a few choice words with those in the RSA who make cosmonauts do these stupid promotions. It is not what the Russian space program should be about.

It follows other commercial ventures at the space station that the Russian space agency has allowed, sometimes to the chagrin of NASA. The cash-strapped Russians have allowed Pizza Hut to paint its logo on a rocket and have a pizza delivered to the space station. And it once charged PepsiCo $5 million to have cosmonauts float a replica of a soda can outside the Mir space station.

NASA has taken a grin-and-bear-it attitude. The U.S. space agency is indebted to its Russian partner for flying U.S. astronauts to the space station while shuttles were grounded after the Columbia disaster.

An unrelated source of dismay is that the daily ISS On-Orbit Status reports seem to have stopped (the last posted 6 October, and they have been very erratic this year). As I mentioned in my 2/11 entry, an email I sent to Spaceref came back with the reply that they had stopped receiving them, for some reason. The Reports are posted in the L2 section of NASASpaceflight.com, but that section is paid subscriber-only, which I can’t afford (I don’t have a credit card, anyway). I am very disappointed as they were the only detailed source of daily life on the ISS (I think they are for NASA personnel in the ISS program).

Oh, and Charles Simonyi answered one of my questions (mentioned in my 19/11 entry):

Q: Is there Internet access aboard the International Space Station? Will you update this Web site from the space station?

A: Yes, there is Internet access and voice-over-IP phone. These are US government assets and have to be contracted for and paid for separately. I am signing up for full access so I’ll be able to make updates to this site during the flight.

So apparently there is access, but it has to be paid for! I am somewhat confused! The previous ISS visitor, Anousheh Ansari noted in a blog entry that:

I do not have realtime access to email. The email process is a batch process so it happens three times a day. I will do my best to get at least one entry in per day. I do not have access to a web browser so I cannot read all your comments.

Tuesday 28/11

I was feeling rather unwell last night, with a headache and vague aches elsewhere. I still feel a bit off-color and listless. In the previous two weeks, Mum and Dad both got a virus of some sort that lasted for two days or so, accompanied by aching and nausea, so I wonder if it is my turn.

The Labor government got re-elected (thankfully). I went early to a nearby voting center with Dad (walked up there and back; only 10 minutes away). Mum was ill for most of the day, but managed to get herself to the voting center (Dad drove her and one of the officials brought her out the ballot papers). Voting is compulsory, and there is a fine if you do not vote (unless you have a good excuse).

Some of the websites for the political parties looked rather amateurish! They would do well to hire a professional web designer – or find someone who can do a good site – as such things do make an impression!

I was feeling rather tired of my website background patterns, so I removed them and just left the plain colors. Don’t know if I like it or not. Patterns just seem so 1990s and rather tacky.

Who wants to be a cosmonaut? Not many, according to this article at MSNBC.com, “Cosmonaut careers are losing their luster”. Also commented on at Slashdot: The Incredible Shrinking Cosmonaut Corps. There was one rather dismaying comment by a “PeterAitch”:

I’ve just come back from Korolev (aka Space City) as a paying guest of Energia Corporation. I was there with some 17-18 year olds for the “Space Olympics,” an annual international event where the Russians are trying very hard to enthuse the next generation about Space Exploration in general. At the same time, they are making shed-loads of money out of their "guests": very New Russia.

Having met five cosmonauts (4 active; 1 retired) on this trip, it’s my impression that they are all still struggling to some extent to come to terms with life in modern Russia. Mostly in their late 40’s or early 50’s, they seemed tired and somewhat cynical, or even bored with the endless PR. Many of the technical support people have baled out, either to administrative jobs within the same sector or elsewhere completely. There was a definite “Soviet” feel to the trip, as our Russian hosts have not made a complete psychological transition from the old ways when they were truly elite. For example, we were not permitted to visit any working churches (e.g. St Basil’s in Red Square) and they kept driving us round and round Moscow to ensure that we ran out of time rather than allow this visit. Lenin’s mausoleum was, naturally, “highly recommended” (i.e. mandatory).

Even so, most of those in Space City proper (which strictly is a separate part of the much bigger city of Korolev) are still an elite by Russian standards. They have bigger apartments – twice the average floorspace – and much better shops. The best schools (e.g. Lyceum № 11) are eye-opening for someone from the UK educational system. Although not amazingly lavish in terms of resources (although still good), the attainment of their top students is awesome. Their performance in science, mathematics, foreign languages and performing arts was extremely impressive.

On the other hand, traffic is utterly chaotic, the food was mostly appalling and their organisation (general, rather than specialist) was quite poor. Medical care was surprisingly cursory (I fell ill during the visit) and they certainly don’t trust the banking system – I had to go to the airport exchange booths in the middle of the night to cash travellers’ cheques to pay them in CASH for our visit. (Very unsettling for someone from the West!)

There are certainly enough technically-minded young Russians (and Kazakhstanis) around to keep the system supplied with cosmonauts – at least within a few years’ time. They currently fund specialist scholarships to Moscow State University and have a range of other incentives. Crucially, they are all still very proud of their long legacy of cosmonautics (edited for deaths and maimings, inevitably) and it was a real thrill even for me to be able to physically grab hold of Yuri Gagarin’s re-entry capsule, which is displayed with loads of other hardware in Energia’s museum.

Then again, when the Russo-American-European ISS has become the world’s highest advertising platform with this recent golf-drive stunt, who can really be sure what the future holds for science and scientists? When I trained 30 years ago, I never really expected to end up teaching young adults, even when moving towards the sunset of my working life.

The Australian team actually won the “Space Olympics” he is referring to! (Well, it was mentioned on the news somewhere, though I can’t find it The competition is mentioned at the Scouts Australia site, and a site for the American students. The students appeared to have had a great time! And how I envy them, and wish I was young again!

Wednesday 29/11

I woke up this morning and the illness of yesterday had mostly gone (see 28/11 entry). Curious! I wonder what it was? I was unable to eat dinner last night, but my appetite was mostly back this morning. The illness felt rather like the onset of the ’flu (headache, slight fever, body aches and pains), but without the head cold.

Thursday 30/11

Last day of spring. 30°C, though it was rather cold this morning. Three months of summer HELL ahead. There has been no good rain since the cold front of two weeks ago (15/11 entry).

I still feel a little off-color. Mum hasn’t quite recovered either from the virus, or whatever it was.

Went to look at some sandals in a shoe shop in my suburb with Mum (possible Christmas present). Was annoyed to find that they were $160 and “Made in China”! The company is an Australian one. No way am I paying that much for shoes made with slave labor (only “Made in Italy” shoes would be worth that much!).

On the drive homewards through the back streets, it was dismaying to see the appalling overdevelopment and overcrowding that is ruining this suburb (and many others). We live in an older established suburb and many of the streets are narrow and winding; not built to cope with large amounts of traffic. As a consequence, many streets are almost impassable because of the many cars parked in them. The huge ugly “McMansions” and overcrowded townhouses which have been built since the 1990s are ruining the ambience of the area. There is another house up our street with the dreaded “yellow notice” posted in front of it – an application to demolish an old but perfectly good brick home and replace it with two double-storey townhouses. I am so sick of this, of the wastefulness of it, and of living in what seems to be a permanent construction zone, but there seems to be no way to stop it as it is the State Government urban “planning” policy (a sick joke of a policy). See the Save Our Suburbs site for more.

I did a random Google search of Sergei Krikalyov’s name and a link to my pages about him appeared here at the Singing Bridges site!

December

Saturday 2/12

I (and Mum) still feel vaguely unwell from the virus or whatever it was earlier this week. I don’t feel like eating much, am lethargic and I felt sore and aching when I got up this morning. Even sitting at my computer is an effort.

A neighbor two houses down from us has spent months banging about and renovating his house; in the last two weeks he has had the roof taken off and seems to be pulling the house apart. What the heck is he doing? Who knows. Having our next-door neighbor’s house demolished last year and rebuilt was annoying enough.

When does art become just plain silly? I can’t resist quoting the description of this performance art piece from today’s The Age:

Felt is the Past Tense of Feel

Artist Catherine Bell sucks the ink from 40 squid, then spits it onto her dead father’s suit, in a torrid video work full of violence, grief and the purging of emotion.

Update 28/12/2006: Poor squid! There is some evidence they have intelligence. Stephen Baxter featured a genetically-enhanced squid steering a spaceship in his Manifold: Time novel.

Tuesday 5/12

It is very dry and hot, and there will be a few days like this during the week. Saturday is to get up to 37°C. Bushfires are burning across the state; I could smell the smoke in the air this morning, being blown down this way by a northerly wind. The drought is worse than in 2002, and water storage levels continue to drop; there is simply no rain around.

I seem to be feeling normal again at last; the remnants of the illness have vanished.

Wednesday 6/12

Somewhat cooler today, but no rain and only a brief respite from the heat.

I have been trying to recall a U.S. TV series I watched in the early 1990s that was screened here for a while. It was about a group of specialists who hunted exotic and deadly viruses. In one particularly spooky episode they somehow got inside a victim’s mind and were transported to this other dimension with a black sky from which flashed green lightning and that was populated by sinister beings in dark robes. That’s all I can remember, but the imagery stayed with me. Frustratingly I can’t remember the series’ name! Nothing resembling it has come up in my searches at IMDB, so I am stuck.

I wish I hadn’t destroyed my creative work from that period (early 1990s). I had this evolving fantasy world and characters which I created from about 1993 (when my eating disorder period ended) to 1997, and I wrote and drew immense realms of notes and ideas. It was a somewhat convoluted blend of mythology, aliens and conspiracy theories. But it is all gone now.

One created mythology that I read in that period, and still like, is the Cthulhu Mythos initiated by H.P. Lovecraft. It features immensely powerful and ancient creatures from beyond the stars that have names like Azathoth and Nyarlathotep, and possess titles such as Lord of the Great Abyss, Lord of the Universal Spaces, Who Waiteth in the Outer Dark, Lord of Dead Dreams, Lord of Interstellar Spaces, and God of the Cold White Silence (to pick some titles at random from the Great Old One page).

Also this story by Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow, and in particular the peculiar imagery of this poem:

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink beneath the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.

– The King in Yellow

I just like this stuff as it stimulates my imagination; it is also an escape from the rather dreary real-world space program and the endless, wearisome politics and bickering (such as found at the NASASpaceflight.com forum and innumerable blogs about the U.S. space program). The fantasy has a feeling of grandeur that the reality is sadly lacking in (see my remarks about sci-fi in my 12/8 entry).

Thursday 7/12

I reinstated the webpage background patterns again; they look a bit barren otherwise.

The next few days are going to be bushfire hell, according to the news reports, particularly Saturday (37°C forecast). Much of the north-east of the state could become one big super-blaze if all the fires join up. Firefighters are being imported from New Zealand (and possibly the USA and Canada) as the ones here are becoming exhausted and overstretched. (Special Reports: Bushfire season, Herald-Sun.) It is as if they are preparing for an attack and siege from an advancing army.

Friday 8/12

The first launch attempt of STS-116 Discovery is just over 40 minutes away (7 December 9:35 p.m. EST in Florida/01:35 UTC/1:35 p.m. in Melbourne). It is all weather-dependent! Not only does the weather need to be clear at the launch site, but also at the TAL emergency landing sites in Spain (Zaragoza, Moron) and France (Istres).

… The launch was scrubbed after the T −5m hold because of a low cloud ceiling and thick cloud cover. The launch window (so the Orbiter could get into the right orbit) was exceeded. Frustrating! The weather is set to get worse over the next two days, so next launch attempt might not be until Tuesday (Wednesday here).

Update: next launch attempt will be on Saturday 9 December at 8:47 p.m. EST (01:47 UTC/12:47 p.m. Sunday 10 December in Melbourne).

I also found PDF transcripts of Part 1 and 2 of Boris Chertok’s memoirs/books at the NASA History Series Publications page, under the “Management Histories, NASA SP-4100” heading.

Saturday 9/12

Bushfire smoke haze Bushfire smoke haze

The day heated up to 35°C at 2:30 p.m.; very dry air. It is still 36°C after 6 p.m. and our house is now very warm, so it will be an uncomfortable night. The warm weather also brings out more idiots than usual at night. Smoke from the bushfires raging in the northeast of the state was covering the sky this morning, as is evident in the photos I took, and still is. The sun through the smoke image is not dissimilar to the Martian sunset photo taken by Spirit (a similar hazy sky); the sun is notably smaller in the Mars photo, though!

I can still remember the Ash Wednesday bushfires in February 1983, when the atmosphere was dark with smoke and the sun shining through it turned red.

Where is everyone? A lot of the blogs I visit haven’t been updated, and my email box only receives spam. Perhaps they are away on holidays.

“The Last of a Dying Breed,” Wired.com. This era has become one of excessively narrow specialization.

Which is probably the biggest reason John didn’t care about computers. Yes, they’re efficient and good for business, if business is what you care about. But sitting at a computer when you don’t have to is to be cripplingly passive, even if you’re playing the bloodiest, most maniacal shooter game ever. Sorry, podnah, but that doesn’t make you Billy the Kid. You’re just a couch potato with twitchy fingers. […]

Which makes it really important for your balance and well-being to get out into the world in your free time and do something – anything – that doesn’t involve some kind of software.

I find that sitting in front of a computer has deadened my attention span and I feel too tired to do anything afterwards (particularly anything creative). The Internet is the only connection I have with other people in the world, though.

Fear of a Chinese Planet? entry at Russia Blog. Russia’s somewhat ambivalent attitude towards an ever-more powerful China.

Charles Simonyi has updated his site; in the Blog section he says that “My crewmates, Oleg Kotov and Fyodor Yurchikhin, will soon start posting about their professional cosmonaut experiences.” Some comments from cosmonauts at long last! I also noticed there is now a “Kid’s Space” section; I mentioned in my 19/11 entry about this curious obsession with children in the space community (as though older people don’t matter).

Nasaspaceflight.com now DOA? Posting at sci.space.history regarding L2 at NASASpaceflight.com. “… Ed, I have problems with it because they’re charging for disseminating info that we taxpayers have already paid for, and they’re overcharging for it at that. *NO* news site is worth the $100.00 a year they want, and what they’re offering isn’t that much more than the other news sites have been offering. In fact, a lot of the PDF documents they want you to charge for, Rusty can find for free with a little effort.”

Sunday 10/12

It is 38°C outside. Supposed to be a cool change sometime this afternoon (hurry up!). Air is still smoky. The rising sun was blood-red when I went out on my bike ride early this morning, and the city skyline was obscured by the smoke.

Space Shuttle STS-116 Discovery successfully lifted off at 8:47 p.m. EST (01:47 UTC/12:47 p.m. Sunday 10 December in Melbourne). I remembered there was a launch and tuned in only five minutes before liftoff. It was the first night launch in four years, and the last launch on Pad 39B (which is to be refurbished for the next generation of U.S. manned launchers).

A welcome cool change just came through after 3 p.m. and the temperature is dropping below 34°C; it was 40°C before that! The house will take some time to cool down, though.

Monday 11/12

42.1°C in Melbourne yesterday! From The Age:

Melbourne had one of its hottest December days on record as the temperature reached 42.1 at 2.45 p.m. yesterday. But within 30 minutes, as the cool change swept in from the south, the temperature dropped more than 17 degrees to about 25. It was Melbourne’s hottest early-December day since 1898 and its sixth-hottest December day. The hottest December day on record was on December 31 last year, when the mercury hit 42.9 degrees.

Only a sprinkling of rain early this morning.

Sy Liebergot is a “Paranoid Patriot” (perhaps typical of the cranky conservative types of his generation, though). A posting by him at CollectSPACE (in the Griffin says space shuttle was a mistake thread):

I was part of the original Space Station design and program office 1979-1986) before the program office was moved to Reston, VA. In my very personal opinion, NASA’s next big mistake was involving Russia and moving it into an orbital inclination of 51.6 deg. You see, one of our major forward planning features was to use the Station as a transportation node, i.e. construct upper stages on-orbit and head back to the Moon and on to Mars. We even planned a sample isolation module for Mars return samples. All that went away when we gave up on i=28.5 deg. and approx. 30% of payload lift capability. All this to save money. But then I rant.

Would be interesting to hear the Russian point-of-view about that!

Wednesday 13/12

Sun through smoke haze

A thick haze of bushfire smoke has been hanging over the suburbs and city all day. The sun was blood-red again this morning, and the Moon golden through the atmospheric smoke. This page at the NASA Earth Observatory shows the pall of smoke yesterday.

Google has a Russian translator (in beta) at long last on its Language Tools page. As one of its founders, Sergei Brin, is Russian, it is curious that there wasn’t a Russian translator from the service’s beginning! (The other translators I use are Promt and Babelfish; the latter, though, has been erratic and unreliable for the last month.)

The Encyclopedia Astronote (Космическая энциклопедия ASTROnote) site got hold of portraits of the latest cosmonaut selection (see 12/10 entry). Low-resolution photos, but better than nothing. Quick links to the photos on the site: Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Misurkin, Oleg Viktorovich Novitskii, Aleksei Nikolaevich Ovchinin, Maksim Vladimirovich Ponomarev, Sergei Nikolaevich Ryzhikov, Elena Olegovna Serova, Nikolai Vladimirovich Tikhonov.

Thursday 14/12

Disgusted, thoroughly disgusted! The new leader of the Labor Party, Kevin Rudd:

… has decisively moved to modernise the Labor Party’s view of itself, rejecting socialism as an “arcane, 19th-century” doctrine and defining Labor’s values as equality, solidarity and sustainability. “It’s critical that when we say to the Australian people that we want to construct an alternative vision for Australia, that they know the values for which we stand. Socialism isn’t one of them,” Mr. Rudd told The Age. “Any political party has to be absolutely confident in the objectives for which they stand. I am not a socialist. I have never been a socialist and I never will be a socialist.”

Traitor! I think that my Grandpa would be equally disgusted (see 9/3 entry). The Labor Party is barely distinguishable from the Liberals in many respects, now. Though some of the language he uses is rather socialistic – perhaps he thinks of socialism as Communism and doesn’t want to associate the Party with that. But these “arcane” doctrines are more needed than ever in a world of brutal laissez-faire capitalism – particularly in countries like Russia, where many people have suffered greatly (and a few have profited illicitly) from the imposition of “gangster capitalism”. Some of the basic ideals of socialism (as I see them) are fairness and equality; of not allowing the powerful to exploit the weak.

Friday 15/12

I am feeling frustrated at my lack of computer graphics skills! I would like to be able to cut an image out and merge it with another, but there seems no easy way to do this, and I don’t have the patience to do the fiddly selecting with the mouse that seems to be required. I only have Photoshop Elements 2 (came with a scanner Dad bought) and it doesn’t have the neccessary features to enable this.

“The breakup of the Soviet Union ended Russia’s march to democracy,” The Guardian. Found via a posting at the Space.com Uplink bulletin boards.

… So why did so many western commentators hail the breakup of the Soviet Union as a “breakthrough” to democracy? Their reaction was based mainly on anti-communist ideology and hopeful myths.

While browsing through the USSR Airspace site I was rather dismayed to come across this photo of cosmonaut Yurii Malenchenko SMOKING!!!! I thought the cosmonauts would be health-conscious, but apparently some aren’t! :-( Looks like a job for the Quit campaign.

Saturday 16/12

I inherited Dad’s 17-inch CRT monitor today (which he inherited from someone at the church my parents go to), replacing my old 15-inch one that came with my previous computer and which was feeling rather cramped! (Its normal resolution was 800 × 600; the 17-inch displays 1024 × 768 more comfortably.) The only and obvious disadvantage of the CRT monitor is its bulk and weight.

Woke up about 1 a.m. last night after a curious dream and not long after there was the SCREECH of the tyres of some stupid young male driver racing around the street corner down the road (a notoriously bad intersection). There were a few similar SCREECHes later, as well as two or three cars zooming down the hill at about 100 km/h or so (in a 60 zone). A regular occurence around here (particularly on Friday and Saturday nights), and sooner or later there will be a fatal accident. I have no sympathy for drivers who kill themselves in accidents due to their own stupidity.

Alpha Scorpii screenshot

I am still unhappy with the look of my site (surprise!). I rather like the current look of the Alpha Scorpii site as seen in the screenshot (the layout will change eventually, so I took a screenshot update 30/11/2007: now offline): clean and simple. The white background is rather glarey though (as the author herself has noted), so a pastel or dark color of some sort would be easier on the eyes. I am just not good at website design.

Found this website via FPSpace: NPO InterCoS – International Cooperation in Space, a Japanese site “introduces the Space Activities and Culture of such countries of Russia and Ukraine to the world, and promotes the cooperation with them. It also promotes peaceful use of Rockets.”

Monday 18/12

A bit of rain last Thursday, but that was all. The reservoirs supplying Melbourne continue to drop inexorably (now at 39.9% full). Stage 3 water restrictions are to come into force on New Year’s Day. Could go to Stage 4 (the most severe) next year if no good rains come. The prospect of cities running out of water in the future does not look too unrealistic.

Canadian conservationist Maude Barlow, a keynote speaker at the International Landcare Conference in Melbourne this week, says both cities will run out of drinking water unless governments take urgent action.

“We’re looking at a situation where Sydney is vying with Mexico City and Beijing to be the first capital in the world to run out of water,” she said. “Where Melbourne may hit the wall in 15 years, where you have polluted and depleted your river systems and your aquifers at a truly unprecedented rate. You’re in water crisis but not water crisis that’s recognised in anything other than just kind of a language of drought.”

Where would the population go?

Earlier this year there was a documentary on Australian Story, “Of Droughts and Flooding Rains” about a farmer, Peter Andrews, who found ways to repair his damaged land using unconventional methods. The story caused quite a stir as it seems to provide real hope for repairing and managing Australia’s damaged landscape. See also “Continent at risk of a dry tsunami,” Sydney Morning Herald. I was looking through his book in a department store today and interestingly, he is not against using exotic plants to help repair the land: “We sustain the destructive fantasy that only ‘native’ plants should be encouraged, even though the entire continent has been irreversibly changed by the introduction of more then 200 animals and hundreds of species of plants. Nativist ideology is a pedantic luxury in the face of disaster.” (See my 14/11 entry for grumbles about the “Natives Nazis”. I do like some native plants; it’s the people who get fanatical about them who irritate me.) There is also a website about his methods, Natural Sequence Farming. (It is also applicable to the environments of other countries, too.)

“UN ‘International Year of Deserts’ ends with stark warnings,” Space Daily, 17/12. Apparently this was the International Year of Deserts and Desertification; first I heard of it! Overpopulation and climate change pose a real threat to humanity’s future. I really am dreading the future; both my own personal one, and that of the wider world.

Some Russian news from Space Daily:

Thursday 21/12

Hot today; up to 37°C. A thick smoke haze from the bushfires in the east covered Melbourne again yesterday.

STS-116 Discovery undocked yesterday (9:10 a.m. Wednesday in Melbourne; 22:10 UTC on Tuesday 19) and as usual the mission has been reported in breathless detail by the world’s media. It was a spectacular mission that involved four complex spacewalks by the Shuttle crew.

In contrast Russian missions are rarely reported by the mainstream media as they probably seem rather dull in comparison and aren’t doing anything noteworthy, apart from transporting crew. There’s been no Russian ISS components added since Pirs in 2001, and the MLM isn’t to be added until 2009 at the earliest.

Sunita Williams has replaced Thomas Reiter as the third crew member; she will be the third American woman to stay for a long-duration ISS mission. Again Russia is a sorry contrast; they have not sent any Russian women into orbit since 1997 (Elena Kondakova on STS-84) and whose sole hope for another woman cosmonaut, Elena Serova, is only beginning her training, and (assuming she succeeds) it will be many years before she gets into orbit.

More Russian news from Space Daily:

And an article from Interspace News: “Russia’s Plans For The Next 26 Years In Space”. A detailed examination of Russia’s space plans for the future – but will the Government support them?

Still waiting for Charles Simonyi to begin his blog!! He also said that his two Russian cosmonaut crewmates, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, will be posting entries too, so I look forward to that! (I might add again that I really hate Flash-animated sites as I have to “load” the site every time I visit, and I can’t copy-and-paste text to quote it! The photos are also Flash, so I can’t save them to my computer unless I take a screenshot and open it in a photo editor. Annoying!)

Saturday 23/12

Got yet another dent (#5) in our front fence from some morons overnight, though I didn’t hear them or notice it until this morning. Wish there were CCTV cameras installed everywhere (as there is in England) so that the neighborhood thugs could be kept under surveillance and caught if they caused any damage. Civil liberties be damned; a lot of people (mainly Stupid Young Males) can’t be trusted not to damage things. For previous damage, see entries: 19/2, 27/9/2005.

A photographer called Noah Grey, who had trouble with neighborhood vandals (younger children in this case), managed to catch one of the little varmints in the act, by taking a photo of him.

I have been wanting a multi-zone DVD player (to play DVDs from other countries outside of Australia’s Zone 4 region) and bought one advertised for $60 at Target, but returned it as it was rather flimsy and made in China (well, I couldn’t expect much for that price). The DVD region code system is a damned curse and nuisance to consumers, and ought to be made illegal. I can change the region on my computer DVD player (CyberDrv CB511D Combo) for a limited number of times (3 remaining); after that it locks into one region. (Control Panel → System → Hardware → Device Manager and click on properties for the player.) This aspect is embedded in the player’s firmware, so reinstalling Windows won’t reverse this. One way around it is to download new firmware and “flash” it as described here, but that is way beyond my ability and confidence level (if it goes wrong your DVD player is permanently disabled). (I had a look for firmware for my player, but could not find any!) The other way is to install third-party software that hides the DVD’s region from the player – but you have to pay for this.

I did download the open-source VLC player mentioned at the end of the Wikipedia article and have been using it for a few months (it is quite good, though a bit buggy sometimes); it says it “overrides regional protection,” though I am not quite sure how to enable this?

After two hot days a cool change finally arrived after 7 p.m. last night, with some heavy rain. A summary from today’s The Age on the capricious weather:

Finally, it broke. The skies across Melbourne and Victoria opened last night – and the result was flash flooding in northern and eastern suburbs and relief for firefighters and towns threatened by fire. State Emergency Service volunteers attended 200 calls in relation to flash floods. The worst affected areas were Doncaster, Northcote, Malvern and Nunawading. Trees were blown onto cars in several places. Some roofs were also lifted. And just to spice things up a little, the people of the alpine communities have been told to expect snow on Christmas and Boxing days.

Thursday night, meanwhile, was Melbourne’s hottest December evening in 40 years, with the minimum temperature being 27 degrees at 12.40 a.m. The rain was the first in seven days and only the second this month. It arrived in Melbourne last night from the west, accompanied by fierce winds, and was heading for the state’s fire-ravaged alps and Gippsland, where it was expected to deliver 5 millimetres. It was a godsend for those on Mount Buller, trapped as fires advanced and roads were closed.

The long-term outlook for the climate here is grim: “Climate set to go from bad to worse,” The Age, 23/12.

And it doesn’t help when developers continue to construct environmentally-unfriendly houses and apartments: “Melbourne’s energy guzzlers still living the high life,” The Age, 23/12.

There was a rather biased report on Newshour with Jim Lehrer about Big Bad Russia bullying other countries with its gas supplies:

Russia’s Energy Imperialism: Simon Marks reports on how Russia uses its energy wealth to throw its weight around with neighbors such as Ukraine and Georgia.

STS-116 Discovery landed safely earlier (forgot about it!) at 22:32 UTC on 22 December (9:32 a.m. today here in Melbourne) on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center.

Movie review: State Of Weightlessness outstanding: Interesting-sounding documentary (via James Oberg):

The outstanding State of Weightlessness avoids dry discussion of hard science in favor of a bluntly funny, mournful and moving exploration of the Russian soul. Rocket men from Herman Titov, the second man in space, to Valeri Polakov, who spent a record 241 days in orbit in 1988, discuss the mystical feelings inspired by space flight, the anxiety of re-entry, cures for space station homesickness (flushing the toilet), and the need for the Soviet Psychological Support Service to provide long-term space pioneers the kind of movies lonely men like. Peppered with unique insights (space is not black but gray; prunes are a must in orbit) and tough questions (was sending men into orbit worth the effort?), this is the kind of anti-PR film NASA would never produce.

Monday 25/12

In contrast to last week, today has been cold, wet and windy; below 10°C! Snow in the mountains. There has been quite a lot of rain. The coldest Christmas on record! Nice Christmas Day weather! In some years we get this cold front for a few days around this time.

A quiet Christmas at home with Mum and Dad. No relatives to visit, or come visit. I spent most of the day on the Internet, as usual. I always get depressed at Christmas.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was screened on TV last night. Still a movie that is enjoyable to watch.

“Australia ponders climate future,” BBC news, about the continuing severe drought. Is it due to climate change, or a part of the natural cycle here?

This site, Интернет-выставка: «К 100-летию С.П. Королёва», is an exhibition site (in Russian only) for the 100th anniversary of Sergei Korolyov’s birthday with lots of photos and images.

Wednesday 27/12

From yesterday’s The Age on Melbourne’s wacky weather:

Weather records tumble as Christmas cold snap hits

Date: December 26 2006
Daniella Miletic

It didn’t break the drought. Nor did it completely end the bushfire threat. But it certainly set some records for extreme weather.

A cold front crossed Bass Strait on Sunday night, turning Christmas Day into a wintry lock-in for millions of Victorians.

Melbourne’s maximum temperature of 14.5 yesterday made it the city’s coldest Christmas Day on record – eclipsing the 15.9 recorded on December 25, 1935, and falling more than 10 short of average for this time of year.

The coldest place in the state was Mount Baw Baw, where locals experienced they type of conditions they were denied for most of the 2006 winter – snowfall and a maximum temperature of minus 2.

Snow also capped other peaks across Victoria, southern NSW and Tasmania, including Hobart’s Mount Wellington.

Lower-lying areas in south-eastern Australia were lashed by high winds, rain and hail after the cold change arrived.

Rainfall totals varied up to about 30 millimetres, but Melbourne had received only 7 millitres by late yesterday.

This post at FPSpace has a link to download the book Rocket and Space Corporation Energia – The Legacy of S. P. Korolev in PDF format (and in English). It is a 13 MB download in a zipped file. If you don’t have the software to unzip the .rar file, try the open-source ZipGenius. This book was also published by Apogee Books; I saw it in a bookstore a few years ago for A$50! Don’t know how long the link will be available.

“Russia Won’t Transfer Space Technology”: via NASA Watch, seems like Russia is at long last realizing that selling off its space technology to China may not be in its best long-term interests. About time! Russia has sold too much in the last decade.

Some resent the way in which the rocket program’s family silver has been sold off at bargain basement prices to rivals who stand to gain huge profits from their lifetime’s investment. The joint ventures have drawn criticism that they will lead to a brain, patent and knowledge drain to the United States and that the once-great Russian rocket industry will lose its ingenuity and ability to innovate.

– Russia in Space: The Failed Frontier?, Brian Harvey

Friday 29/12

The weather is warming up again, unfortunately. The weekend to dread, because of the idiots who roam around at night. Especially with New Year’s Eve upcoming.

I hate the way my site looks, but I can’t think of something new for it. I spend too much time agonizing over various details of it and I get a kind of mental paralysis. I get tired of it.

I was hoping my host would install PHP support (a scripting language that a lot of sites use now for various functions) but he hasn’t got around to it and I don’t want to pester him.

Found a webpage (at Project Gutenberg of Australia) with all H.P. Lovecraft’s stories on it (be warned it is a very long webpage - 3 MB!). A very short story I liked is reproduced below (see also 6/12 entry):

Nyarlathotep

By H. P. Lovecraft

Nyarlathotep … the crawling chaos … I am the last … I will tell the audient void ….

I do not recall distinctly when it began, but it was months ago. The general tension was horrible. To a season of political and social upheaval was added a strange and brooding apprehension of hideous physical danger; a danger widespread and all-embracing, such a danger as may be imagined only in the most terrible phantasms of the night. I recall that the people went about with pale and worried faces, and whispered warnings and prophecies which no one dared consciously repeat or acknowledge to himself that he had heard. A sense of monstrous guilt was upon the land, and out of the abysses between the stars swept chill currents that made men shiver in dark and lonely places. There was a daemoniac alteration in the sequence of the seasons – the autumn heat lingered fearsomely, and everyone felt that the world and perhaps the universe had passed from the control of known gods or forces to that of gods or forces which were unknown.

And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences – of electricity and psychology – and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare. Never before had the screams of nightmare been such a public problem; now the wise men almost wished they could forbid sleep in the small hours, that the shrieks of cities might less horribly disturb the pale, pitying moon as it glimmered on green waters gliding under bridges, and old steeples crumbling against a sickly sky.

I remember when Nyarlathotep came to my city – the great, the old, the terrible city of unnumbered crimes. My friend had told me of him, and of the impelling fascination and allurement of his revelations, and I burned with eagerness to explore his uttermost mysteries. My friend said they were horrible and impressive beyond my most fevered imaginings; and what was thrown on a screen in the darkened room prophesied things none but Nyarlathotep dared prophesy, and in the sputter of his sparks there was taken from men that which had never been taken before yet which shewed only in the eyes. And I heard it hinted abroad that those who knew Nyarlathotep looked on sights which others saw not.

It was in the hot autumn that I went through the night with the restless crowds to see Nyarlathotep; through the stifling night and up the endless stairs into the choking room. And shadowed on a screen, I saw hooded forms amidst ruins, and yellow evil faces peering from behind fallen monuments. And I saw the world battling against blackness; against the waves of destruction from ultimate space; whirling, churning, struggling around the dimming, cooling sun. Then the sparks played amazingly around the heads of the spectators, and hair stood up on end whilst shadows more grotesque than I can tell came out and squatted on the heads. And when I, who was colder and more scientific than the rest, mumbled a trembling protest about “imposture” and “static electricity,” Nyarlathotep drove us all out, down the dizzy stairs into the damp, hot, deserted midnight streets. I screamed aloud that I was not afraid; that I never could be afraid; and others screamed with me for solace. We swore to one another that the city was exactly the same, and still alive; and when the electric lights began to fade we cursed the company over and over again, and laughed at the queer faces we made.

I believe we felt something coming down from the greenish moon, for when we began to depend on its light we drifted into curious involuntary marching formations and seemed to know our destinations though we dared not think of them. Once we looked at the pavement and found the blocks loose and displaced by grass, with scarce a line of rusted metal to shew where the tramways had run. And again we saw a tram-car, lone, windowless, dilapidated, and almost on its side. When we gazed around the horizon, we could not find the third tower by the river, and noticed that the silhouette of the second tower was ragged at the top. Then we split up into narrow columns, each of which seemed drawn in a different direction. One disappeared in a narrow alley to the left, leaving only the echo of a shocking moan. Another filed down a weed-choked subway entrance, howling with a laughter that was mad. My own column was sucked toward the open country, and presently I felt a chill which was not of the hot autumn; for as we stalked out on the dark moor, we beheld around us the hellish moon-glitter of evil snows. Trackless, inexplicable snows, swept asunder in one direction only, where lay a gulf all the blacker for its glittering walls. The column seemed very thin indeed as it plodded dreamily into the gulf. I lingered behind, for the black rift in the green-litten snow was frightful, and I thought I had heard the reverberations of a disquieting wail as my companions vanished; but my power to linger was slight. As if beckoned by those who had gone before, I half-floated between the titanic snowdrifts, quivering and afraid, into the sightless vortex of the unimaginable.

Screamingly sentient, dumbly delirious, only the gods that were can tell. A sickened, sensitive shadow writhing in hands that are not hands, and whirled blindly past ghastly midnights of rotting creation, corpses of dead worlds with sores that were cities, charnel winds that brush the pallid stars and make them flicker low. Beyond the worlds vague ghosts of monstrous things; half-seen columns of unsanctifled temples that rest on nameless rocks beneath space and reach up to dizzy vacua above the spheres of light and darkness. And through this revolting graveyard of the universe the muffled, maddening beating of drums, and thin, monotonous whine of blasphemous flutes from inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond Time; the detestable pounding and piping whereunto dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic, tenebrous ultimate gods – the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is Nyarlathotep.

Saturday 30/12

It is going to be warm-to-hot all next week, which I am not happy about. The atmosphere is hazy again from bushfire smoke, though not as bad as last week.

Nearly year’s end; another year wasted for me. Achieved absolutely nothing. A few things that were promised by someone didn’t eventuate, so that was also disappointing (I don’t want to elaborate). Every year I vaguely hope that things will somehow, magically change for the better, but they never do and I continue in my apathy and watch my life pass by.

I have been feeling that I want to delete my website; it has turned into a burden and is too big. I am just tired of it and hate the look of it (I have wasted countless hours fretting about and tinkering with the design and coding). It does give me something to do each day but ultimately seems rather insubstantial and pointless. I have done similar things earlier in my life: when I lost interest in whatever I was obsessed with, I destroyed whatever I had created concerning it, and gave away books and other things about it. Then I existed in a sort of aimless void until I found something else to be interested in. I still like spaceflight (I think it is a long-term interest, like aviation), but have become so disillusioned with many aspects of it (mainly the politics and bickering). The magic of it has gone and I don’t know how to get it back.

“Money talks, way out west,” The Age. Australia’s “Wild West” is in the midst of a mining boom and they can’t get enough people. It is in the Pilbara region, a place almost as remote and hostile as Mars, with ochre-red soil and azure skies. “The rocks of the Pilbara are among the oldest in the world; the iron ore formed before there was oxygen in the atmosphere, about 2.4 billion years ago.” I have never visited any other parts of Australia (outside of Victoria).

Christmas Cheer in Russia, Russia Blog. This entry made me dismayed and annoyed. The rise of any religion is not a good thing (though the author seems to think so)! I really, really hate it.

I also found the Air Force ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation at Wikipedia and was equally dismayed to see that damned double-headed eagle (the symbol of Tsarist Russia) plastered all over the insignia (replacing the red star). I hate the way the government is reviving those dreadful imperialist symbols; it’s as though the Revolution were all for nothing. Both the Tsars and the Church kept Russia in darkness and ignorance for centuries, and to see these both revived is an abomination.

Interesting site: Red Pilot – Soviet and Russian flight gear. I seem to have a fascination with this stuff! There was an article published in Air & Space Magazine (December 1999/January 2000) called “Gear Heads,” about the men (well, they were all men in the article) who collect survival gear.

Sunday 31/12

Saddam Hussein was “hung by the neck until he was dead” yesterday. “‘One of the guards pulled a lever and he dropped half a metre into a trapdoor. We heard his neck snap instantly and we even saw a small amount of blood around the rope, they left him hanging for around 10 minutes before a doctor confirmed his death and they untied him and placed him in a white body bag,’ Mr. Askari said.” (Couldn’t resist quoting that.) I wonder what his last thoughts were. Death by hanging isn’t particularly pleasant, but he certainly had a more merciful death than a lot of his victims.

With Saddam’s execution, that makes three unpleasant people who have been dispatched from the world this year, the previous ones being Shamil Basayev (“Shazza” – my silly nickname for him) and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (who liked to chop people’s heads off). Now all they need to get is “Ozzie” (Osama bin Laden)!

(After reading this BBC article, I learned that George W. Bush gets up even earlier than me! I usually arise around 4:45 a.m. or so.)

Weather is still warm and humid, but not the hellish 43°C it reached last year at this time.

Mum and I went for a quick walk yesterday evening up the road to see some houses decorated with Christmas lights. One house, inhabited by a somewhat eccentric woman, would be a candidate for the Ugly Christmas Lights.com site! It accumulates more and more exterior decorations each year (she doesn’t take them down; they keep growing in an almost organic mass) and it looked like she was charging people a small fee to wander through her front yard.

Charles Simonyi has posted some more answers on his blog (but still no blog entries yet!). Some of the questions are (unintentionally) amusing.

Q: I’m psychic in a sense … but please … don’t take this initial trip you’re planning. I have a very bad feeling about it. I’m sorry if it discomforts you in any way … but I have to do what I can, good luck. (Leah, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

A: Dear Leah. Thanks for your concern. My feelings are very positive. But then I am not a psychic.

Oh, dear, hope that isn’t an omen!