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Suzy McHale’s Journal: 2007

January

Wednesday 3/1

So begins another year. Wonder if it will be any different. It will be warm to hot (up to 35°C) and rather humid all week, so I am not happy. My skin doesn’t like this weather, either. Hard to believe there was snow in the mountains last week! I am looking at some nice photos of snow in Europe (thanks Christian!) to try to cool myself down! Wish I was there!

I have been spending the last two days dithering over whether I should begin a “proper” blog at Blogger.com (I have a blog reserved), but will stick with this one, for now.

I have made some color and heading changes for some of my sites (if you can’t see them, do a hard refresh – Ctrl and F5, or empty your browser caché). I am undecided upon some, so they may change a few times. I have been spending inordinate amounts of time fretting over whether I should use definition lists or tables to lay out data *sigh*.

More ugly graffiti appeared in my street earlier this week (the usual unsupervised teenagers roaming around “tagging” in the early hours of the morning); no-one (i.e. the Council or the police) seems to be doing much to prevent it. Feel powerless and frustrated.

I ignored New Year’s Eve as normal and so woke up without a hangover. Two articles about the alcohol and binge-drinking problem in Australia (Butts out but boozing is up) and England (Britons just like getting drunk, says minister). “‘I don’t know whether we’ll ever get to be in a European drinking culture, where you go out and have a single glass of wine,’ said Labour Party chairperson Hazel Blears. ‘Maybe it’s our Anglo-Saxon mentality. We actually enjoy getting drunk,’ she told the Sunday Times newspaper.”

We have entered Stage 3 water restrictions, and could be on Stage 4 by Autumn if there is no good rain. Two letters from The Age:

They think we came down with the rain

In celebrating the heroes of 2006, let us not overlook the achievements of the Victorian Government’s communication advisers on the water crisis. Judging by your letters page, they have managed to persuade a large number of otherwise intelligent people of several palpable untruths:

We must hope they find a less gullible audience in 2007.

– Peter Acton, Hawthorn

Civil disobedience

IF I were a Melburnian, I would not reduce my water consumption until Premier Bracks has abandoned his crazy plan to bring another million people into Melbourne. Why should I save to have my saving squandered by an irresponsible Premier and leave my children in an even worse situation than today?

– John Coulter, vice-president, Sustainable Population Australia, Scott Creek, SA

“Russia’s Reckless Liberals Wreak Havoc,” The Moscow News.

Friday 5/1

It is still hot, and I am miserable and have no energy to do anything. A cool change will not arrive until tomorrow. It has been up to 35°C during the day and not below 20°C at night. I don’t have air conditioning in my bedroom (it is too expensive to run all the time, in any case) but a fan, and I just can’t function very well in this heat. There is also the unwelcome news that 2007 will be the warmest year on record.

I also watched the Saddam Hussein execution video out of curiosity. It is not particularly gruesome, and is rather chaotic and very blurry, being filmed with a mobile phone camera. There are shots of him being led up to the gallows by men in black balaclavas, and the noose being put around his neck and the hangman’s knot being positioned at the side of his neck. Then the trapdoor opens and – whoosh! – he drops through it. You don’t actually see the moment of his death (i.e. his neck breaking). Then there is a shot of him after he is taken down, with his head hanging to one side. And that’s it. (All the details of hanging at Wikipedia, if you really want to know. Also, Thoughts on the death penalty at another site.)

Poem: “The Death of Saddam Hussein,” by Hugh Cook

Iraq is in more of a mess than ever. The American military death toll reached 3000 earlier this week, and who-knows-how-many Iraqis have been slaughtered. “End of Another Year ….” at Baghdad Burning.

I still don’t like my website appearance (the headers, mainly) and considered not having header images at all as I just can’t do nice ones. I don’t have the graphics or design skills. An example of really nice design is at “Zenith’s” Tyomnaya Noch site.

“Interview with a link spammer,” The Register. One of the plague-carrying rats of the Internet tries to justify his nuisance occupation. And he continues to make money because stupid people click on his links.

“Decline and fall of the Roman myth,” The Sunday Times. The “barbarians” apparently weren’t so uncivilized after all!

Sunday 7/1

The cool change FINALLY came today after five days of HELL. Relief! Now I can function normally again. Even though I have grown up in this climate, I am finding it increasingly unbearable (in summer) as I get older.

“Small is beautiful,” The Age 9/12/2006. Finland seems like a nice place to visit, even to live. The main challenge is the language! (I am assessing my options should Australia become unliveable in the future due to climate change. It is just a theoretical exercise as I have no money to enable moving, and don’t know what I would do for a living, in any case. But it is nice to dream!)

“Cashing in on the tween dream,” The Age 6/1. Of concern is the increasingly intensive marketing to young girls (described with the stupid made-up word “tweenagers”).

It’s a market thriving on padded bras for flat chests, dolls that look like hookers, electronic makeover games your six-year-old daughter can plug into the TV set, and magazines that tell her how to look hotter, and older, faster just like the tweenage heroines, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie. […]

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, psychologist and author of The Princess Bitchface Syndrome: Surviving Adolescent Girls, says girls are growing up so fast they are missing the latency period entirely – that “waiting room en route to teen years.” He regards the craze for sassy (read sexy) fashion dolls with horror, aligning their look with “behaviour we see on morning TV video clips. It’s all about sexualisation and the objectification of women … about being attractive to boys and I hope there are generations of collective feminists rolling in their collective graves looking at his stuff because it’s so retrograde. There is absolutely nothing positive about it, and I think it’s sending all the wrong messages to an already confused and bemused bunch of kids, and what worries me is that it’s the parents who are very often talked into buying these things.”

It is the antithesis of what feminism was supposed to be (telling girls they were worth more than their appearance). The fashions and attitudes promoted seem to be modeled on that of prostitutes. (I wonder, were I a teenager now, how this would have affected me? I liked cosmetics and such as a teenager, but was not intensively obsessed with this dreary “girly” stuff, as far as I can recall. I liked fighter jets, too!)

A left-wing site: Left Russia – a political weekly. Some interesting articles.

Back In Time - Moscow Takes the Lead: A posting at NASASpaceflight.com linked to this 5 October 1987 TIME magazine article, “Surging Ahead: The Soviets overtake the U.S. as the № 1 spacefaring nation.” It is similar to the October 1986 National Geographic article, “Soviets in space: are they ahead?” (stored on my site as it isn’t available online – don’t tell anyone!). These articles were published four years or so before everything imploded, and are a poignant reminder of how much has been lost or squandered. Glasnost was initiated with good intentions (much-needed reforms of the Soviet government) but turned out to be a death sentence for the country.

Indeed, space experts in the U.S. and Europe are now conceding publicly what they would have found laughable a decade ago: although the Soviets lag far behind in electronic gadgetry, they have surged past the U.S. in almost all areas of space exploration. If unchallenged, Moscow is likely to become the world’s dominant power in space by the 21st century. Says Heinz Hermann Koelle, a West German space-technology professor and former director of future projects at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center: “American pre-eminence in space simply no longer exists.” Warns James Oberg, an expert on the Soviet space program: “If the Soviets can aggressively exploit this operational advantage, they can make us eat space dust for a long time to come.” […]

The new rocket will make possible the deployment of larger, more sophisticated Soviet space stations. Says Bogodyazh: “There will be a Mir-2.” Explains Alexander Dunayev, head of Glavkosmos: “Space stations weigh up to several dozen tons. What’s needed are stations that weigh several hundred tons. We should soon learn to build big structures out there, not tens of meters but kilometers across, multifunctional platforms. Cosmonauts may well live there permanently. And from these structures, there may be flights to other planets.” If so, then first on the agenda, undoubtedly, would be Mars.

The lure is strong. Mars is the only other known planet that may be habitable – and thus the only realistic location for a space colony. That makes it a logical target for the Soviets, who are committed to establishing a permanent presence in space for both scientific and military reasons. Besides, the national prestige resulting from a visit to Mars would be immense.

As the article notes, however, the Soviets were well behind the USA in electronic technology.

For all these accomplishments, Soviet microelectronics and computers are ten years behind those of the U.S. Military satellites sometimes break down in a matter of weeks. Photoreconnaissance satellites literally drop their film to earth for processing. The ultraconservative Soviet military is just now beginning to experiment with the techniques of electronic imaging developed by U.S. scientists years ago. Still, admits Geoffrey Briggs, NASA’s director of solar-system exploration, “it’s not clear that you need state of the art to be effective.”

“Russian Space Goals In The Early 21st Century,” Space Daily.

Charles Simonyi has started his blog at long last (beginning from December).

Wednesday 10/1

The bushfire smoke haze returned yesterday and continues today (the inside of my mouth had dried out from the smoke when I woke up this morning), and the hot weather is returning today (tomorrow it will get up to 38°C, then a brief respite before reaching 39°C).

I downloaded the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 file formats (27 MB) as it has the six new Vista fonts included: Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas, Constantia and Corbel. They are nicer than the old Arial, Verdana and Times New Roman fonts that are the current standard. But I think they are meant for LCD screens with ClearType enabled (right-click on desktop or Control Panel → Display → Appearance → Effects → Advanced and select ClearType from Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts), as they are somewhat blurry on my CRT monitor.

Paul Lutus has a page at his website, Boycott Microsoft, on why the operating system is so bloated, restrictive and generally awful. Vista, despite its glossy appearance, is going to be even worse as the company is taking over more and more of your computer, controlling what files you can install. I have not tried any version of Linux, though perhaps I will one day (but it is still not as user-friendly as Windows). Even if I could afford it (it starts from A$385 or so), I am certainly not going to buy Vista because it is far too intrusive. There is also a site called BadVista by the Free Software Foundation.

One thing I have begun using for my site are link relations. The Link Bars page explains them. They enable you to navigate a site using a browser toolbar. On some browsers you need to install an extension (Firefox needs the Link Widgets extenstion). In Opera, select View → Toolbars → Navigation bar. I have Start (site home page), Contents (site map), Up (section home), Previous (previous page) and Next (next page) enabled.

Friday 12/1

I hope no one is using a version of Internet Explorer lower than 6 to view my site, as both versions 5.5 and 5 mess up the display a bit. They are rather old browsers now, though. I test how my sites look at Browsershots. Arranging images on a page can also be troublesome if you have several, as positioning them can be awkward.

I might discontinue the detailed crew and launch data tables in my MKS site as I am getting tired of maintaining them! There are many others doing the same data collection.

A mild cool change came yesterday but with no rain. It is to get up to 39°C on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. The continuing drought is also taking a heavy toll on Melbourne’s many trees. A letter from today’s The Age:

Desertification is not the answer to our water woes

There is a disturbing culture growing that it is somehow good and noble to have a brown shrivelled garden. This whole idea of letting plants and gardens die is disturbing and counterproductive. By letting trees die we intensify drought, deprive native fauna of habitat and are spiritually poorer.

Live trees give off water vapour through a process called transpiration. They regulate our planet’s water supply. Plants store water in their roots then carry it up into the leaves for nourishment. The excess is released through leaves into the air to form clouds and when enough water is up there, it rains.

My average suburban garden in the south-east of Melbourne has four 20-year-old birch trees; one shades the run for our two contented hens, sparrows rest in the one near the house in between their foraging for flies and moths. The other two large birch trees provide a playground for our possum family, and are also often filled with silvereyes and other small birds. At the rear of the garden a lemon-scented gum is a staging post for the local ravens and magpies. And all through the year my garden is filled with wattlebirds and other honeyeaters feasting on native blossoms.

A garden gives so much. I entertain my friends and family in the garden. I find peace and solace from a sometimes unkind world. I take pleasure in growing some of my own food, we eat eggs from contented hens. I have taught meditation classes there and I often meditate there myself amid the sounds of the birds.

Water saving is laudable and necessary, but there are numerous ways of saving and husbanding this precious resource that don’t turn our cities and suburbs into barren wastelands.

– Diana Thurbon, Keysborough

A political news site of interest: 21st Century Socialism. Some articles: The Soviet Model and the economic cold war (perhaps the Soviet economy was not as inefficient as its detractors have made it out to be), Venezuela to nationalise key industries (if only that could happen here!) and Crimes against ideology (Communist party banned in the Czech Republic; also, the USA is to set up an anti-ballistic missile installation either there or in Poland. “Interesting” how the U.S. seems set on colonizing the former Soviet countries!).

Anik said in the NASASpaceflight.com forum that cosmonaut Sergei Treshchyov retired voluntarily on 30 November last year (2006). He will continue to work at RKK Energiya, in the 291st test department. Konstantin Kozeev and Aleksandr Lazutkin are also due to retire in the near future. Konstantin had some problems keeping his weight down (I can relate to that problem! But it seems an odd reason for retiring). Aleksandr had heart problems (faintness, a feeling of heartburn, chest pains) when he was in Houston on 1 August 2005 for training as part of the Expedition 12 backup crew. He was taken to hospital and an ECG revealed an abnormal heartbeat. He had a blockage in an artery, which was removed by the insertion of a catheter. He recovered well from the ordeal, but it effectively grounded him from spaceflight.

Another three experienced cosmonauts gone (well, one gone and two to depart soon); that will only leave thirteen with flight experience!

“Russia kicks off big year for space history,” James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 11/1. Tribute to Sergei Korolyov, who would have been 100 this year.

Sunday 14/1

Anti-Putin Panic Attack: posting at Copydude providing another perspective on the gas dispute that was (predictably) sensationalized by the media, with a link to Thank God (for NATO) – we’re at war with Russia (sarcastic title, if it isn’t obvious), which provides more details. Once more this demonstrates that the mainstream media can’t be relied on for objective reporting.

There was a posting at NASASpaceflight.com with a link to some NASA PDF documents, the one of interest to me being a huge publication about the ISS – a 182 MB download. I did download it (yay for broadband!) and it is worth it! Lots of technical diagrams of all components (including diagrams of the insides of the Russian modules, which I have been wanting for years). The download page is here at the NASA Technical Reports Server. It seems to be the same book (SP-2006-557) mentioned in postings at CollectSPACE and NASASpaceflight.com.

Unfortunately a LOT of computer memory/RAM is needed to open and view it – my 512 MB is barely adequate and the PDF slows my computer down so much after a while it is almost unusable! I did manage to view most of it, but what a struggle! Looks like I will have to add more memory sometime this year. They should have divided the document into several small PDF files.

Update 21/1/2007: you can download the document in separate PDF chapters at Spaceref.

There is an interview with cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov in Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine № 1 2007 (issue 288), in Russian: «Рассказывает командир МКС-13 Павел Виноградов» (“ISS-13 commander Pavel Vinogradov tells”), in November 2006. Near the end of the interview he makes it clear he is not happy with the current state of the Cosmonaut Group and the Russian space program, which can be summed up as moribund. Actually he echoes much of what I have been saying. I could not make sense of parts of the computer translation (my Russian is very poor anyway), so I will paraphrase most of what he said:

There is nothing for the new cosmonauts to fly as all the third seats are sold to foreigners; he does not understand Roskosmos’ policy on this at all. It is a worthless policy. The tourist flights could be delayed until they could build extra Soyuzes and fly them up on short visiting missions. He feels that the Russian manned space program is at a dead end. The agreement with the Americans to provide six crew places at the Station means that the required Soyuzes are being build now, and at NASA’s insistence they are the older versions as they do not wish to fly in the modified ship. When the Americans begin constructing their new Orion ship, Russia will be stuck with their old ships and not be neccessary to anybody.

Roskosmos does not support Energiya’s initiative to update the Soyuz, or create a new transport system and the Klipper.

Now we try to assemble crews from inexperienced cosmonauts. Yurchikhin will fly with Kotov. Feodor, though he flew on a shuttle, practically did not see our segment and he will be the Expedition commander. The next crew: Sergei Volkov has spent about 10 years in the group. Of them, only Lonchakov has flown. It seems to me that it is necessary to change the system of general preparation of cosmonauts, and for this purpose there must be more funding. What is now happening at TsPK is incomprehensible. Simply unbelievable! It has completely ruined our preparation! The people who could train as cosmonauts are simply not present! Thank God, the old men are still going … It is all different and all bad. And it is no better at Energiya. I had the impression, that at Energiya the majority works to work, instead of for the sake of results. Nothing advances. No ideology, which, of course, should motivate Roscosmos. When the MOM (Мinistry of General Мachine Building) existed, everything was clear. Now, as weeds from under asphalt, ideas make their way from the bottom and are cut off at the roots …

There are no cosmonauts in any management positions of the piloted program to represent those in the Cosmonaut Group. In comparison, NASA has astronaut representatives in six out of eight posts in their management.

In the previous six months of 2006, the relations between Roskosmos and Energiya took a turn for the worse. N.N. Sevastyanov, whom A.N. Perminov at first supported, broke away and refused to support the Roskosmos program.

In five to six years the Americans will tell us “good-bye”. In fact they now tolerate us only because they need the time in order to create the “Orion”. Then we will be left with our 40-year-old Soyuz … Everything, all is absolute the astronauts who flew on the Soyuz, say: “It is so primitive!” For them it is a shock. And they are not simple people – among them are many test pilots who have flown a lot, so they have much to compare the Soyuz to. Jeff, when he was pulled out from the Descent Module, remarked: “This is a soft landing? What is a hard one?” Laughs

In comparison, in Soviet times there was a space strategy and a State policy. Many of the Russian experiments date from Salyut and Mir and it is not clear what they are advancing. Funding for the experiments is inadequate. Over half of crew time is spent on Station maintenance, in any case.

In general the situation is pitiable. It seems to me, it is necessary to develop as soon as possible a strategy of piloted space, to create cooperation throughout the industry and science, to make appropriate adjustments in the unambitious space program of Russia and to achieve state financing.

Given all this, it is hardly surprising that cosmonauts are retiring!

Tuesday 16/1

After a brief respite the weather is unfortunately warming up again (at 4:11 p.m. it is 40°C outside) and it will be in the 30s until Saturday. Days of misery ahead!

I made an appointment to see a dentist; could not get in until 25 January. The last time I went was at the beginning of 2003; like many people it is not something I enjoy! My teeth need cleaning again. I hope it is not too expensive.

“The Magic Mountain,” Harpers.org. This is how millions of humans still live in the 21st century – scavenging for a living in huge toxic garbage dumps. It is a grim and hellish story, and makes one despair for the future of humanity. After reading it I want to escape the teeming, chaotic madness of humanity for another world.

“Bleak outlook for Russian-U.S. space cooperation,” RIA Novosti, 15/1. Is the Russian-American space partnership in danger of faltering?

An interesting comment from someone who seems to be Chinese in the “Why China will be the pre-eminent space power” thread at the Uplink forum. The Chinese program is progressing slowly, but seems to be in a lot better shape than the Russian one.

6:19 p.m.: To make things worse on a hellishly hot day, a massive power cut caused by bushfires has caused blackouts in much of Victoria. My suburb in the south-east has not been affected so far. The main electicity supply line between New South Wales and Victoria has been damaged by the fires.

Wednesday 17/1

The night was very warm and uncomfortable, so I am feeling listless today. And this will be another boring entry where I grumble about the hot weather! Well, I have to vent somewhere.

Yesterday’s power cut chaos was reported at the BBC news site, which demonstrates how bad it was! As I noted yesterday, my suburb was not affected, but the power cuts could continue today, and people are being urged not to use air conditioners (this could become mandatory). We last had a situation like this in early 2000, though the power cuts were for different reasons. Probably the worst essential services crisis was on Friday 15 September 1998 when a gas explosion at Esso’s Longford plant killed two workers and shut down Victoria’s gas supply for two weeks (here there are gas pipelines supplying gas to every house). No hot water (for us), gas heating or cooking. It was the most serious power crisis the state had experienced, and everyone coped as best they could. Mum and Dad decided to convert back to electric hot water, and the electric water heater was installed on the 30th. The gas was finally turned back on for us on Thursday 8/10.

A cool breeze came through around mid-afternoon, which has dropped the outside temperature to a more bearable 25°C (it did not reach the threatened 37°C).

I hope no one is using Internet Explorer 5 to view my site as the browser messes up the display somewhat (i.e. it interprets the Cascading Stylesheet badly). It is an old browser anyway (released 1999!) so it should be on its way to extinction, like Netscape 4 (an equally awful browser)! I get screenshots for testing at Browsershots.

I uploaded some screenshots from the big NASA PDF mentioned in my 14/1 entry, of the Russian modules, to my Photobucket account (link on the front page of my site – I won’t link to it here in case the URL changes).

Friday 19/1

The weather is now rather unpleasantly humid, but there was some rain, at least. A cloud band stretching from the north is bringing this tropical weather. Aside from the continuing bushfires (burning for 50 days so far), there was also flooding in some parts of the country! In Europe and the USA there have been severe winter storms.

Worth reproducing is this opinion piece from today’s The Age, a scathing indictement on the misguided privatization of water:

Slaking profit’s thirst

As water becomes rarer, it is being treated as a costly commodity by governments.

Late last year, I had the great privilege of giving a presentation at the International Landcare Conference on the global water crisis. What I observed as well as what I have researched about Australia’s water crisis disturbed me deeply and led me to write these words of warning.

With a few exceptions, your politicians are not dealing honestly with you about the water crisis looming on your horizon. The use of the word “drought” leads people to believe that this is a cyclical situation and will end. That is not my reading. Annual rainfall is declining; salinity and desertification are spreading rapidly; rivers are being drained at an unsustainable rate; aquifers are way over-pumped – groundwater extraction skyrocketed a whopping 90 per cent in the 1990s – as well as being contaminated from the 80,000 toxic dump sites under the major cities; and many surface management areas now exceed sustainable limits. Ask any farmer: Australia is running out of water.

Yet, at the very moment that massive conservation plans must be implemented and the need for public oversight of diminishing water supplies has never been greater, your governments are promoting or planning at least six ways in which your water is being wasted, exported and privatised for corporate profit.

First, obsessed with the ideology of unlimited growth, politicians refuse to question the massive export of “virtual” water from water-intensive agricultural industries such as beef (almost two-thirds of which is exported), dairy and cotton. It is simply unsustainable for the driest continent on earth to be a net exporter of virtual water – about 4000 million megalitres a year – when this water is so desperately needed at home. Not surprisingly, these water exports benefit the big agribusiness companies while bleeding water (and livelihoods) from smaller farmers growing for the domestic market.

Instead of rethinking this dangerous and short-sighted policy, your Federal Government is negotiating a free trade agreement with China which, by the way, has destroyed its own water resources in its drive for economic dominance.

Second, the big European water companies are running water and wastewater systems in many of your cities, making huge profits from your scarce water resources. Residents of Sydney and Adelaide don’t need to be reminded of the problems they have experienced with Thames Water, Vivendi and Suez, but you need to know that these companies have provoked a huge reaction all over the world for their outrageous water rates, poor service and environmental transgressions. At the fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City last March, the United Nations documented the global failure of water privatisation and called on governments to provide water for their citizens as a public service, not for profit.

Third, your governments are busy handing out massive bottled water licences to companies big and small for a pittance so they can put your precious water in plastic bottles and sell it back to you at exorbitant rates, all for shareholder profits. (Why would anyone choose bottled water over Melbourne’s beautiful tap water if given a choice?) There are hundreds of domestic water brands in Australia with annual domestic sales of around 600 million litres. Moreover, your precious water is now also being exported in designer bottles to the rich in other countries. A recent example is the new Coca-Cola bottling facility outside Melbourne. This is terrible public policy.

Fourth, your governments have set the stage for massive water trading, brokered by private middle operators, between cash-starved farmers and growing urban populations. The idea is to use each drop of water in the most profitable way. (For the record, this is what China did and is now experiencing a huge grain shortage, as its water was diverted to industry.) Separating water from land is a recipe for ecological disaster. The rivers and aquifers need more water, not less. And just which farmers will be encouraged by the banks to sell water instead of growing food? The small farmers producing for the domestic market, that’s who. Big agribusiness exporters will still get all the water they need as long as it lasts.

Fifth, your governments are turning to big high-tech, corporate-run “solutions” to the water crisis such as desalination, perhaps powered by nuclear energy. Desalination plants are ugly, dirty, intrusive, expensive, polluting and noisy. They create greenhouse gases and release a poisonous chemical brine back into the ocean. Desalination plants are the hallmark of failure; they are what you do when you have run out of other options. As bad as things are in Australia, you have not run out of options.

Finally, there are plans afoot to move bulk water by tanker from Tasmania to the thirsty cities of the coast, operated of course, by private companies for profit. There are myriad problems, ecologically and economically, with massive bulk water transfers. By and large, nature put water where it is intended to be; mass movement of water must be carefully thought through and the decision for such a serious undertaking should never be left to those who would stand to profit from it.

There is a historic and profound shift taking place in water policy in Australia just at the time it is becoming clear that you have a severe water problem. Until recently, your water was considered a common heritage and your governments had the constitutional responsibility to manage it in your collective name. Now, your governments have decided that water is a commodity, like running shoes, and has set out to sell it to those with the deepest pockets.

This is a tragedy.

International water conservation campaigner Maude Barlow was a key speaker at last year’s Landcare conference in Melbourne.

And an equally scathing letter concerning the trend for building huge houses (“McMansions”) that are completely unsuited for our climate:

A profligate quick fix for poor design

I suppose it’s good that the Government is recognising that rampant use of air-conditioners is putting our power system under enormous pressure during these increasingly frequent heatwaves, but the fact that it could even consider outlawing their use (The Age, 17/9) brings the term “knee-jerk” to mind, and highlights the pathetic long-term planning that successive governments have been doing.

A generation ago, air-conditioners were a rarity in Melbourne, yet people survived the summer because houses were built with features such as eaves to block out the hot summer sun (and were not so big that heating and cooling them was akin to heating and cooling the tennis centre). Eaves have gone completely out of fashion, it seems, and most new developments these days are designed and built around central heating and cooling systems with no regard for passive climate control. Good insulation is all very well, but the benefits are completely negated if the sun can blast straight through large west and north-facing windows with no shading.

The building industry has clearly got a terrible track record when it comes to energy-efficient housing design. Knowledge of how to build houses that keep themselves cool in summer and warm in winter is available and has been for a long time, yet most architects and builders ignore it. Most people buying houses are not equipped to know what their options are when it comes to housing design so get what the industry gives them. When their houses turn into ovens, they can therefore be forgiven for wanting to turn on their air-conditioners, which now come as standard.

Our governments should be leading the way by seriously regulating issues such as good house design as part of a comprehensive energy strategy. Yet, true to form, nothing is done until disaster strikes. And then the response is pathetic.

– Paul Tyndale-Biscoe, Flemington

Progress M-59/24 P (24th Progress to the ISS) launched successfully on 18 January at 02:12:15 UTC. There are some nice snowy scenes (well, they look nice during a sweltering Australian summer) at the Energiya site of the launcher being rolled out to the launchpad on the 16th. I wish Energiya would post high-resolution versions of their photos! There are some also posted at the NASA Human Spaceflight Gallery: JSC2007-E-03078, 03079, 03080, 03801, 03802, 03803, 03804.

There was a portrait of Sergei Korolyov on the side of the Soyuz rocket as part of his 100th birthday celebrations (what would have been his 100th birthday). If he were still alive today, I wonder what he would think of the current Russian space program? Probably not much! I think he would be very annoyed at the rather dismal state it is in (though it is somewhat better than it was ten years ago). It is a pity he died so prematurely (during an operation).

(And “Darth Vader” mentioned it too ;-) More Sergei articles (his name is pronouced Korolyov, in Russian Королёв (like Sergei Krikalyov’s surname) (Korolyov means “king,” appropriately enough!):

Energiya president Nikolai Sevast’yanov was reprimanded by Roskosmos (По поводу «приступов лунатизма», “On the matter of ‘Lunar assaults’”) for his somewhat overenthusiastic proposals in the past year about going to the Moon!

Roskosmos has regretfully corrected the rhetoric, repeated by a number of mass-media, by the president, the general designer of Energiya N.N. Sevast’yanov, regarding the as yet-unformed program of Russia on flights on the Moon.

Roskosmos, together with other interested departments and organizations, works above a definition of the strategy of development of domestic astronautics, including in the piloted area. However, it is premature to speak about the existence of national decisions on the development of the Moon and other planets.

The desire of the parent organization Energiya to accept the most active participation in realization of such decisions will be necessarily accepted in attention as soon as decisions on a lunar theme are formulated.

More at Space Daily: “Russian Space Agency Irked By Moon Program Debate”. Perhaps though Roskosmos should be more ambitious – it would interest people more than the current rather limited program.

Mentioned in Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 602 is this new site, Федерации космонавтики России (Russian Cosmonautics Federation). But on following the link – yikes! The site design looks like something from ten years ago, complete with a garish animated starry background (reproduced below, in case they [hopefully!] change the design). The designer should pay a visit to Web Pages that Suck and take note!

Also from Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 602:

19/01/2007/00:08 RKK Energiya will develop a variant of the Soyuz spaceship for returning cargo from orbit

The Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya is preparing for Roskosmos a proposal for the creation of a variant of the Soyuz spacecraft, the РКК Energiya president, Nikolay Sevast’yanov, told journalists on Thursday. “Considering, that from 2010 the American shuttles will stop flying to the ISS, we are preparing the project “Reusable/revolving cargo Soyuz” (грузовозвращаемого «Союза»), explained N. Sevast’yanov.

As he said, the need for an additional vehicle for returning cargoes from an orbit will increase, as by 2010 the Station will be completed and will begin functioning at a high capacity, and on it the quantity of experiments will increase. It will be necessary to return results of experiments to Earth.

According to N. Sevast’yanov, the reusable cargo variant of Soyuz will differ in that the cosmonauts’ seats and other equipment will be removed. These Soyuz will then be able to return to the Earth in an automatic mode with up to 500 kg of various cargoes, reports Interfax.

Saturday 20/1

A rather humid and wet day, with steady light rain all day. The plants are loving it!

Another website image redesign; I removed the images from the headers altogether as I was tired of them and I can’t think of anything new, so I will just go plain for a while. You might need to hard refresh the page so the browser reloads them properly (Ctrl and F5).

Progress M-59/24P made a perfect docking today at 02:58:53 UTC; I watched it come in on NASA TV (there is a thread about it at NASASpaceflight.com). It’s quite clever how the cargo ship docks automatically (via a system called «Курс», Kurs (“Course”); something the general media doesn’t appreciate (as usual).

A user called spaceflight101 started a thread about Space dreams – how many of you have had them? so I couldn’t resist posting a rather long list of mine. I seem to have had a lot of dreams about the Shuttle blowing up!

Thursday 25/1

Cooler weather returned on Sunday and this week it has been in the low 20s – much pleasanter.

My visit to the dentist today. Oh, dear. It cost a LOT more than expected – $230!!! – and I got my first filling!!! :-O My umblemished record of filling-free teeth is broken, to my dismay! One of my alignright back molars was developing the signs of decay (but not a full hole yet) so the dentist drilled it out and put some enamel filling in (I didn’t need anesthetic), as well as cleaning the tartar buildup off my teeth (which hurt more!). I have been sensitive in that area for a few years. The last dentist visit was on 31 December 2002, so I guess I should have made an effort to go every year (that visit – a basic check and clean – cost $60. Why has it gone up so much?). I am the world’s worst procrastinator. But I did not expect it to cost so much. The filling itself was $110.

It is criminal that the govermnent does not fund a basic dental checkup through Medicare (eye checkups are Medicare-funded). (See comments in 9/3/2006 entry, and article in 2/10/2006 entry.) The only reason I could afford it was because my parents paid. Basic public health care IS the government’s responsibility (a healthy population means less strain on the public hospitals).

A letter from today’s The Age:

Count your blessings, Australia

We have just returned from your beautiful country after a month-long visit in Melbourne and a few days in Brisbane. I feel duty bound to implore all Australians to cherish what they have got. So often one tends to become used to all the little things in life that you no longer appreciate them and even complain if they are not 100 per cent to our liking.

First, the fact that you can go anywhere in safety without fear of attack or personal injury is something that most people don’t even think about. It is such a pleasure to see houses without the two-metre walls and fences as we are used to, not to mention barking vicious dogs, blaring burglar alarms, car guards pestering you for money and the ever-present danger of hijacking or being caught in the crossfire during a cash-in-transit heist.

Second, your efficient, reliable, clean and regular easy-to-use public transport system is a gem by South African standards and even when compared to a lot of other systems in other countries. You have got a lot to be proud of.

Third, your clean cities, streets, rivers, parks etc are another blessing. The local councils’ efforts with their mechanical brooms and contraptions to catch debris in the rivers are doing a great job.

Fourth, probably your greatest asset is the friendliness and helpfulness of your people. We often had to ask our way about on the transport system and in and around towns, and not once were we treated in an unfriendly manner. In actual fact, most times we were given more assistance and guidance than asked for.

The general calmness and even serenity in your people is noticeable to us outsiders and also contributed to our feeling of wellbeing and to the enjoyment of our holiday. So thanks, Aussies, for a great time. Keep it up. We will pray for good rain for your country and a speedy end to the devastating fires. God be with you.

– Douw Kruger, Amanzimtoti, South Africa

(Pity about the current Federal Government, though!)

I neglected to mention last month that the rather eccentric President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, departed this world last 21 December, as noted at Very Russian.

Community of interest: European Tribune.

I have been spending some time wandering through the Sith Lords and related entries at Wookieepedia. I find the bad guys quite interesting as usual! (Some other favorites are Sutekh and Sauron.) These are bad guys of the supernatural variety (not the rather mundane human ones in real life) and have a rather appealing dark majesty (and cool costumes!).

A book series that has been multiplying in alarming numbers at my local library is the Left Behind series, a fundamentalist Christian tale of the Apocalypse that is interpreted literally. I tried a few and all were execrable (I was also extremely irritated by the anti-abortion preaching). You wouldn’t think Armageddon would be boring, but the authors have managed to make it so. The only interesting character is the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia. The Slacktivist blog has a funny ongoing postings of reviews of the books (which he is gamely ploughing his way through).

Mixed messages on Russian space tourism at Personal Spaceflight; commentary on this article, “A journey to space is not a jaunt to the Caribbean,” at RIA Novosti. It is a bit hard to figure out the author’s opinion in the second article, though he remarks:

I am no judge of the future tourist’s professional training or the value of his scientific program “in the interests of several space agencies.” But one thing is clear: the Russian-U.S. manned program, which just now pulled out of its critical nosedive with tremendous pain, and which is the only one in the world except for China’s, badly needs experienced and practiced professionals rather than amateurs.

As I have said many times before, Russia should prioritize sending up its own professional cosmonauts rather than space tourists. Roskosmos seems eager to fly up the paying guests of other countries, but this is demoralizing for its own cosmonauts (the Cosmonaut Group only has two flight opportunities a year – one seat per Soyuz flight).

Another article at RIAN (29/12/2006) reports that five volunteers were chosen for the Mars-500 experiment, to begin later this year. No names have been released yet. Be interesting to follow this and see how the crew cope with being locked up for a year-and-a-half! Maybe I should have volunteered (I have spent years as a semi-recluse already) but my embarrassing lack of any qualifications would preclude this. It sounds like it will be a real endurance test, though! And it will hopefully be more successful than the previous experiment in 1999 (Sphinx-99), described in this James Oberg article, “Violence and Sexual Assault in ‘Space’”.

Sunday 28/1

Today’s hideous website background (previous one in my 19/1 entry), from this site (my eyes! Aargh!):

An interview with Stephen F. Cohen at Johnson’s Russia List. He is author of the book Failed Crusade: America and the Tragedy of Post-Communist Russia and discusses it here. It is dismaying reading on what a monumental stuff-up the collapse was. There is also some non-too-complimentary commentary on the way the USA has mismanaged its relations with Russia:

My view is that not all, but a large part of the negative content of American-Russian relations today – and that relationship is very, very negative, as bad as it has been in many years – is the result, primarily but not only, of the Clinton administration’s decision to treat Russia as a defeated nation in the Cold War. … What we said was, that’s not what happened, without Gorbachev the Cold War would not have ended, so Russia deserves as much credit as the United States, and secondly, Russia is weak now, and you can get away with using and abusing Russia, as we did when it was ruled by Yeltsin, but, we warned, that’s not going to last. And if you treat Russia like this now, you are going to regret it. Because when Russia rises to its knees, it’s going to be resentful about how it was treated. And that’s what’s happened. […]

… The second thing we did which was equally bad, and this is often forgotten, that in 1990-1991, when Bush asked Gorbachev to permit both a united Germany and a united Germany in NATO, and Gorbachev agreed and that was a historic agreement, Gorbachev was promised, Russia was promised by Bush, and I’ll quote his secretary of state at the time, James Baker, that “NATO will not move one inch to the east.” […] But Clinton during the 1990s violated that solemn promise and began to expand NATO eastward toward Russia, and that continues today. That expansion of NATO and the violation of that promise that has driven the conflicts with Russia over both Ukraine and Georgia, and so long as NATO continues to take those former Soviet republics in, that conflict will continue to exist. After all NATO is a military alliance, right to Russia’s borders. NATO is now in Ukraine, bases are in central Asia, Russia sees itself as being encircled, and so long as that is happening, so long as Russia has that view, there will be no good or stable relations between Russia and the West. […]

… I believe that to the extent that the United States and Russia lost a historic opportunity to end the Cold War after 1991, it was lost, and in my judgment, it was primarily the United States that caused it to be lost, but ordinary people had nothing to do with it; it was the political elites of the two countries who messed everything up. And in those political elites you have to include the mainstream press, which during the 1990s eulogized Yeltsin’s so-called reforms, called them wonderful, called them democracy, called them the transition to a free market society at the very moment that about 80 percent of the Russian people were being plunged by those so-called reforms into poverty. […]

… I believe the single most important factor is property. Every poll taken in Russia tells us that, overwhelmingly, 70-80 percent continue to deeply resent the fact that the wealth of the Soviet Russian state was given to a small, rapacious band of men who have brought perhaps 300 billion dollars of their profits abroad, who flaunt this wealth with their excessive consumption and their lavish homes and their soccer teams abroad, who flaunt their wealth in Russia as well. It has never happened, I mean there were rich people in the Soviet system, but they kept it secret, there is going to be a reckoning over this property, about that I am convinced. What I don’t know is how that reckoning, which Russians call social justice, and we have to remember that for Russians, social justice is still a very virtuous concept, and that concept, that ancient concept of Russia, social justice, with this profound sense of injustice having been created in the 1990s the property was turned over to a few and the great majority fell into poverty – that is a time bomb ticking inside the Russian political-economic system today. […]

Q: WP: In light of all this, how do you see U.S.-Russian relations evolving in the near term?

Cohen: It’s going to get worse. It’s going to get worse for a lot of reasons. But one reason is that first of all, the resentment in Russia about the United States is growing. They are just fed up with us, with our lecturing, our double standards: We can meddle in Ukraine but they can’t; Georgia is ours now, it’s not theirs; we can reward our friends with subsidized prices and foreign aid but they can’t reward their friends with subsidized oil and gas; we tell them to get with the market system, but when they raise prices of their natural resources for the former Soviet states we say they are being neo-imperialist with their energy. It’s all preposterous, and they hear it and they think we are either crazy or we are living by a neo-imperial double standard of our own. So things have gotten bad.

The candidates for the next U.S. election in all parties are also “are advocating a much harder line against Russia” which won’t help matters.

Update 31/1/2007: More articles by Stephen Cohen are at The Nation, including “The New American Cold War”.

Wednesday 31/1

After nearly two weeks’ respite, the weather will be warming up again near the end of this week (up to 38°C on Sunday). Summer isn’t over yet, unfortunately.

Sergei Krikalyov was insulted in this article, “Race to the Moon,” Newsweek/MSNBC, which starts off with a none-too-flattering remark about him! We are not amused! As the article goes on, it seems that Sergei is (not surprisingly) unhappy with the chronic underfunding of his country’s manned space program, which is bad for morale. (He isn’t the only cosmonaut who is – see 14/1 entry.) The reporter gets a virtual punch on the nose from me!

For a space hero, Sergei Krikalev is something of a grump. Krikalev holds the world’s record for time spent in outer space – he has logged an incredible 803 days, including time on Russia’s Mir space station back in the 1980s, when the International Space Station was still a distant dream. Between flights, Krikalev works at Energiya, which makes some of the biggest and most reliable rockets in the world. Despite these accomplishments, however, Krikalev, like many of his colleagues in Russia’s space program, seems to spend much of his time complaining about a lack of funds. He may have a point. Energiya’s glass and concrete offices outside Moscow are drab 1970s retro. Salaries at Energiya average a mere $400 a month, though Krikalev, at the top of the scale, gets $1000.

This legendary stinginess is the bane of Krikalev, and Russia’s ace in the hole. Although it lost the moon race in the 1960s, since then Russia’s space program has made a habit of performing heroic deeds on a shoestring – in many respects besting its well-heeled U.S. rival. While NASA struggled with its unreliable and fabulously complex space shuttle, Russia was racking up the mileage with its simple, durable Proton boosters – even during the chaotic years following the Soviet Union’s collapse. Now, despite Krikalev’s complaints, Russia’s space program is emerging from the lean years.

(Comments at CollectSPACE on the article. I added a short comment to the article: “Sergei is actually quite nice and well-respected! If you were underpaid, you’d be complaining too.”)

Some brief summaries from Novosti Kosmonavtiki № 603:

Colonel-General Vladimir Popovkin of the Space Forces (Космические войска) said that an officer from the Space Forces could go into space in five years to carry out “experiments in the interests of the military department.” One Space Forces officer has already done a short flight: Yurii Shargin. C-G Popovkin also thinks that Russian manned spaceflight should have a “national idea.” The Space Forces are now at 100% strength in staffing levels.

He also said that Svobodny Cosmodrome is to be closed, or at least not used for rocket launches. (There seems to be some confusion about this as it is not officially confirmed?)

(Svobodny Cosmodrome to closed in 2007 at NASASpaceflight.com, and “Russia to stop spacecraft launches from Far East in 2007” at RIA Novosti.)

On 30 December 2006 Michael Fradkov, the Chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, signed the order № 1860-P which approved the prospective financial plan of the Russian Federation for 2007-2009. According to the plan, the financing of Federal Space Agency activities in 2007 is stipulated in volume of 32,985,322.3 thousand roubles, in 2008 – 34,327,724.8 thousand roubles, in 2009 – 36,903,201.1 thousand roubles. From these sums it is supposed to allocate for national defense 4,103,067,6; 3,758,094.0 and 3,861,377.5 thousand roubles accordingly, and on national economy 28,818,454,7; 30,486,976.2 and 32,951,892.0 thousand roubles accordingly. The rest of the means allocated from the budget to the Federal Space Agency, will be spent for housing-and-municipal construction (55,800,0; 60,654.6 and 65,931.6 thousand roubles accordingly) and on social policy (8,000,0; 22,000.0 and 24,000.0 thousand roubles accordingly). In spite of the fact that in the budget of the Federal Space Agency financing works in the field of national defense, not all of money which Russia spends for military space is stipulated. Some amounts “are buried” in the budget of the Defence Minister.

In Novosti Kosmonavtiki № 605 Nikolai Sevast’yanov made some more pronouncements. Energiya proposes four phases of the Russian space program up to the year 2050:

  1. Modernization of the existing Soyuz transport ship by 2012 which would increase its load by 7-15 tons;
  2. Creation of the “Parom” ferry to replace the Progress cargo ship; it would increase the cargo weight carried into orbit from 2.5 to 15 tons;
  3. A piloted flight to the Moon by 2015 and an operational base by 2030;
  4. A mission to Mars by 2030 and colonization to begin by 2050.

All these plans and schemes seem to keep moving into the future like a mirage … I will be 60 in 2030 and 80 in 2050! Hopefully things will happen sooner than that!

Russia is also considering a longterm plan to keep the Station operational until 2025 (article also at RIA Novosti). NASA also has changed its mind about supporting the ISS; it initially planned to stop support after 2016 but now plans to extend space station support to 2020.

A page on the Energiya site commemorates the 100th anniversary of the practical cosmonautics founder, academician Sergei Pavlovich Korolyov.

Andrei Kislyakov on the 11 January destruction of a satellite by China: “Oriental satellite killer: case № 1”: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

“Astronaut diaries used to study mood,” MSNBC.com, 30/1. Unfortunately these diaries are not for public viewing! They would make interesting reading. The diaries posted at the NASA Astronaut Journal site are all cheery and perky, which can get a bit tedious. (See my imagined astronaut journal in my 3/6/2005 entry.)

A Sea Launch Zenit exploded on its pad destroying a communications satellite it was carrying. No one was injured. (Sea Launch site.) (There is an interesting post describing the Sea Launch procedures at NASASpaceflight.com.)

February

Tuesday 6/2

I have spent the last few days dithering over whether to delete this journal or not … I just feel unhappy with my site as it is.

Went out for lunch yesterday with my parents and two family friends to lunch in Frankston, at an Italian-style restaurant near the pier. My parents and I were stunned by the size of the servings provided – the meals were ENORMOUS. I ordered a small burger-flavored pizza, thinking I would get one slice. Well, I got a whole PLATE! (Four big slices on a smallish plate.) Far more than I could eat, so I had to leave most of it (I didn’t like it anyway). The desserts were equally huge. I ordered one serve of mint chocolate-chip ice-cream which I did like. On observation of others’ orders it turned out the normal serve is several scoops of ice-cream heaped up in a rather precarious tower! If this is the normal size of food served now (I rarely go out, so I wouldn’t know), no wonder Australia has an obesity epidemic! We seem to be following America in “super-sizing” food portions, unfortunately.

Also sitting outside dining alfresco on a hot summer’s day (~36°C) is not a good idea – we had to constantly fend off flies from our food!

Melbourne’s rail transport has been in crisis, with brake failures affecting the new Siemens trains introduced in the last few years. Over 30 were withdrawn from service this month by Connex, the private operator currently running the network (there have been a bewildering succession of private operators since privatization was introduced). The Public Transport Users’ Association says that Connex should be sacked. The privatization of public transport has been a disaster (as it has for other previously public services such as electricity and water) and these should be renationalized.

Some letters collected from The Age that I agree with:

Back to square one

If there was ever a case to take back the train system under State Government control in 2008, the current situation demands this occur. The Siemens trains and the brake and computer problems are only a manifestation of the collective non-responsibility shown by state governments in recent years on the rail network.

The experiment has not worked. The privateers have failed. They are more interested in their profits than maintenance and timetables. This Government injected more than

$1 billion into the system in recent years – the excuse for the tolls on the Mitcham-Frankston “ex”-freeway – to no avail.

– Peter Allan, Blackburn, 1/2/2007

What do you think we pay taxes for?

John Roskam seems to have it backwards (“It’s time for parents to pay fees to government schools,” Opinion, 31/1). Government schools are not “free”; there’s something called “taxation” that is meant to provide the funding for government services – including health and education.

Millionaires or anyone else with the financial means can choose to opt out of government services and spend their money sending their children to expensive private schools and have their medical needs catered for in private hospitals. Of course, if millionaires chose to use the public health or education systems, they would be fully entitled to do so, being taxpayers themselves.

It’s a pretty simple concept, really: health and education services for all provided by taxation from all, with a private sector catering to those who wish for something different and have the means to pay for it. Sadly, it’s long since been hijacked by successive governments of all stripes to deliver the ridiculous situation where billions are spent on subsidising the private health insurance of the wealthy few while public health services are left crumbling and where public funds are pumped by the hundreds of millions into the county’s elite private education sector at the expense of public education which is left to crumble and wither.

No amount of pontification from either John Roskam or the Prime Minister can alter the facts that the poor and the working majority are being robbed blind to fund the private luxury choices of the rich. Cease public funding of private enterprise and private services and there is automatically an abundant amount of cash for all government services – which is exactly how it was always meant to be. (Adrian Bain, St Leonards, NSW (1/2/2007))

Personally, I preferred Australia with a small population, plenty of water to go around, no economic growth, and high interest rates.

– Madeleine Love, Benalla, 5/2/2007

The limits of growth

I read the letter “No scientific consensus” (5/2) with growing amazement until I got to the end and saw the writer was Des Moore, director of the “Institute for Private Enterprise” – and all became clear.

The Club of Rome may have got a few details wrong but generally their warnings have been shown to be only too accurate. The world is running out of resources just as they predicted. Hasn’t Mr. Moore heard about water shortages or peak oil, to name two obvious examples?

It may suit proponents of private enterprise, although only the very selfish or short-sighted, to push the view that the world can support endless economic growth. But the population at large and even politicians are starting to accept that this simply isn’t so. The big question now is will politicians have the courage to do what still can be done to minimise the damage we are doing to our planet and its atmosphere.

– Julia Blunden, Hawthorn, 6/2/2007

There has been some major drama in the NASA Astronaut Group! Reported at MSNBC.com and the Sun Sentinel: a female astronaut called Capt. Lisa Nowak (married with three children) attempted to kidnap a female air force officer, Capt. Colleen Shipman, apparently believing her to be a rival in love for Cdr. Bill Oefelein (married, two children; he piloted STS-116). She botched the attempt and was later arrested. Sounds like a case of obsessive love. Wonder what she was planning to do with all that equipment she was carrying?

There is a thread discussing the drama at NASA Spaceflight.com, but some are getting all moralistic and huffy about discussing it, and it looks like the thread will be deleted. *Rolls eyes*

The charges for attempted kidnapping are quite serious: life in prison! Perhaps she will get a reduced sentence because of mental instability. Such obsessions can affect and unbalance anyone. You can’t tell what dark thoughts are lurking in people’s hearts.

Guess it demonstrates that even highly-educated professionals can screw up their lives! From the viewpoint of someone who stuffed up hers, it is oddly … comforting (perhaps not the right word?).

“Cruising For A Space Flight,” Andrei Kislyakov, Space Daily. A continuation of a previous article, “A journey to space is not a jaunt to the Caribbean”.

Sunday 11/2

There has been a gale-force wind blowing this afternoon from an unusual direction, the east, and it has caused some havoc.

I am still uncertain what to do with my website and journal (I am going through one of my unsettled moods at the moment). I was considering splitting this blog into two: a personal and a spaceflight one. I have been posting at my Blogger.com “RuSpace” blog but am thinking of closing that and posting here instead. I am somewhat concerned about these “Web 2.0” “free” services (blogs, video hosting, email, document hosting, etc.) and how long the providers (Google, in the case of Blogger) will be able to provide them; also they could claim ownership of entries as these are posted on their sites – not to mention privacy concerns. If a company hosting your blog closes, all your content vanishes with it. (See: Another case of the inherent vulnerability of centralized apps.)

I was reading this posting, How to Protect Your Online Identity. The problem with a domain name is that it is only yours as long as you can pay for it. Perhaps there should be a government-funded system where people could register their own personal names, though I don’t know if that would be workable.

Another vexed question is a static HTML journal (like this one) verses a content-managed blog (like those at Blogger, Wordpress, etc.). The content-managed blogs have a lot of nice features like comments, categorizing entries, etc. but they can only be viewed via a server with the right software (usually PHP, which my host doesn’t have installed) – the pages are “assembled” by the server they are hosted on before being passed to the browser. “Old-fashioned” static journals like this one are flat HTML files that, while limited in function, can be viewed offline and through any browser. (See “The folly of content management” for more thoughts.)

Some other static journals like mine are: The Progress Report by sci-fi author C.J. Cherryh, Greg’s diary by “Greg Lehey, a kernel hacker specializing in UNIX” and Blog – kosmonautika by Tomáš Přibyl (in Czech). In a way, I kind of like the “old-fashioned” pages and sites. They are easy to create and you don’t need to be a computer programmer to maintain them.

This article in today’s The Age, “Some kind of beat-up,” describes the difficulties of African migrants integrating into Australian culture. I found the following extracts indictive of our overly-permissive society:

In Footscray, Raul and Bol blame a surfeit of unaccustomed freedoms and overly-acquiescent service providers and community workers for a breakdown in parental authority and for encouraging teenage boys to leave both school and home. Centrelink gives income to teenage drop-outs, they claim, while child protection officers indulge youths who claim their parents are abusive. “The young people who normally go to Sunshine and gang there are usually people who are separated from their family – the people who the social workers have advised ‘Live alone, don’t live with a family, don’t live with an uncle, don’t listen to them’,” says Bol. “They go there and when the violence happens the community is blamed.”

From a similar article from last month:

Another cultural problem affecting the Sudanese was the perceived role of the Department of Human Services in undermining traditional parental control in Sudanese families, said David Ajak Deng Chiengkou, 27, an IT specialist and nurse. He said that after arguments with parents over clothes or staying out late, children may tell their parents, “you’re not in Africa now,” and call the police, who side with the child. “Child-care groups tell them to call the police,” he said. “It is not helping the (Sudanese) society.”

There is this ridiculous law where teenagers can leave home at 16 years and the parents can’t stop them because the stupid law undermines parental authority. Another example of a permissive society gone too far. Certain social workers and institutions need a sharp reprimand and this law urgently needs altering.

At the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy, President Putin gave a strongly-worded speech that caused a bit of a stir. “The Russian President declared that only the UN, and not the EU or NATO, can sanction the legitimate use of force. According to Vladimir Putin, NATO expansion represents a serious provocation that diminishes mutual trust between countries. As opposed to the UN, the Alliance is not a universal organisation. First and foremost NATO is a military and political coalition, the Russian head of state emphasised.” As noted in the interview with Stephen F. Cohen (mentioned in my 28/1 entry), NATO is encircling Russia as former Soviet countries join the organization. (Looking through an article in an aviation magazine on one joining up last week, I read that the countries are also required to replace their Soviet or Russian aircraft with Western ones.) “There doesn’t seem much that Russia can do to stop this trend, aside from “accidentally-on-purpose” dropping fuel-air bombs on the bases during “training exercises” (my evil scheme :-D. The Presidents’s comments on NATO below:

I think it is obvious that NATO expansion does not have any relation with the modernisation of the Alliance itself or with ensuring security in Europe. On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust. And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion intended? And what happened to the assurances our western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today? No one even remembers them. But I will allow myself to remind this audience what was said. I would like to quote the speech of NATO General Secretary Mr. Woerner in Brussels on 17 May 1990. He said at the time that: “the fact that we are ready not to place a NATO army outside of German territory gives the Soviet Union a firm security guarantee”. Where are these guarantees?

His speech is online at the Kremlin.ru site. The media are predictably hyping it as some sort of return to the Cold War.

The January 2007 edition of Northstar Compass is online.

There was an article in yesterday’s The Age Good Weekend magazine about the current rather thuggish Prime Minister of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov (taken from a The Independent article, “Ramzan Kadyrov: The warrior king of Chechnya”. Seems to be a typical bully who has risen to power by intimidating others. People like him become powerful because others let him – they let themselves be intimidated, and others are prepared to support him. But without his sycophantic followers he would be a nobody. He is only a mortal human, not a demon lord from the underworld with supernatural powers (as the article makes him out to be)! He can be destroyed just like any other human.

Mentioned in the Energiya official press release: February 5, 2007. Korolev, Moscow region, Sergei Krikalyov was given a new job as Vice-President of Manned Flights; his flight status is unchanged (backup for Soyuz TMA-12 to launch in March 2008, and commander of Soyuz TMA-14 in March 2009). (Discussed in this thread at NASASpaceflight.com.) Various other appointments were made in the organization. There is also speculation that the current President, Nikolai Sevast’yanov, might be replaced, a contender being Yurii Koptev (who was head of Rosaviakosmos in the 1990s, replaced by Anatolii Perminov), as some are unhappy with Nikolai’s performance and his tendency to make outlandish statements about Energiya’s future space exploration plans without the funding to back them up. His appointment was controversial in 2005 (see my 15/5/2005 entry). There would be problems with Yurii Koptev’s appointment though, as listed in Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 607:

The shareholders’ meeting is in May, so see what transpires then.

The deputy director of the Institute of Medical-Biological Problems, Valerii Bogomolov, said Russia had no plans to strengthen the psychological testing of its cosmonauts following the Lisa Nowak case, as the psychological requirements are already at a high level. It is the first time something like this has occurred in the NASA Astronaut Group, and is not related to her space flight which was over half a year ago. In the near future, Russian experts will discuss the case with NASA medical personnel and those of other countries in the ISS program, and advise them to strengthen the psychological requirements when selecting astronauts, as Lisa Nowak’s case has caused unfavorable publicity. It will also not affect the selection of candidates for the Mars-500 isolation experiment.

Monday 12/2

After all that fussing around on the weekend, I decided to reinstall my Rusalka site after all! The culprit of my unsettled mood: “That time of the month”. Note to myself: Musn’t make important decisions then! I suppose I will keep things going as they are.

After a mild two weeks, the hot weather is making an unwelcome return, to be in the 30s all week. Misery. The reservoirs supplying Melbourne keep dropping inexorably; they are down to 35.6% of capacity. This stupid government, though, is fixated on its agenda of increasing the population to fuel economic growth. Extract from “State builds on boomtown stats,” Herald-Sun, 12/2:

But Monash University population experts have warned that Victoria’s jobs growth would be in danger if the property and construction boom ended. Monash’s Centre for Population and Urban Research argues it is primarily this boom keeping the economy running. Its report, “Melbourne’s Second Speed Economy,” says the Bracks Government promoted population growth because the economy was addicted to construction. “The heart of the Victorian economy is now not about technological innovation, but also population growth and the associated expansion of ‘people servicing’.” Should inbound migration slow, that continuing prosperity would be in jeopardy.

Reality check: we have a drought and water shortages. How the hell is this state to support a million extra people? I for one don’t want population growth – it means overcrowding, stress, competition for ever-scarcer resources, nearly-impassable roads due to heavier traffic, more land covered by housing developments … there is nothing good about more people.

My Achilles tendons are still chronically sore; they have been so since January last year (see 23/1/2006 entry), so I am hobbling around rather awkwardly (I am still jogging, but only a little), and have various other aches and pains.

Friday 16/2

The weather has returned to being hot and unpleasant. Still no rain. I have a headache.

I changed my mind yet again and deleted the Rusalka site.

Watched an interesting documentary last night: The Lost Civilisation of Peru, about the Moche civilization. They created beautiful pottery and jewellry, yet also practised bloody rituals such as human sacrifice; one of those cultures that is a curious and disturbing mixture of beauty and violence. Their civilization eventually disintegrated; the main theory is climate change – a particularly strong El Niño event. (Seems rather analogous to our situation today.)

“Temples Of Doom” is a morbidly fascinating article about the Moche and human sacrifice. (Well, I find it fascinating!) As the sacrificees were mostly male, I wonder if it was, at a subconscious level, the society’s method of culling aggressive young males. (Something that this society needs to do! ;-)

At least 70 corpses had once littered the ground of the temple plaza. All who could be identified belonged to a select demographic group: young, healthy, physically active males. Indeed, the mean age at death was just 23. Many, it turned out, were old hands at combat. One in every four bore healed rib, arm, leg, and skull fractures.

To other less gruesome but more annoying things, there is the dismaying news that a new United States military satellite communication facility is to be built in Western Australia. Colonization by stealth? Australia is too close to the USA as it is, militarily, and we should aim to become more neutral (close the U.S. bases here, for one thing). All countries hosting U.S. military bases should demand that, for the sake of fairness, they in turn be able to establish a military base each in the USA!

A space movie with the innocuous title of Sunshine is due for release in March this year. In the tradition of Armageddon and The Core, it has a rather absurd plot and a bunch of Americans saving the world. Ho-hum. It has a “R rating for violent content and language”! Maybe I will make an effort to see it (the last movie I saw in the cinema was The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in 2003). If it is anything like The Core, some of the main characters on the spaceship will be killed one by one in various gruesome ways!

Some Russian army conscripts were allegedly hired out in St. Petersburg as male prostitutes. WTF …? The Army seems to be its own worst enemy. Was it this bad in the Soviet era or has it become this dysfunctional since the collapse of the USSR? If Russia were invaded, would the country be able to defend itself at all?

Saturday 17/2

It is brain-meltingly hot. 37°C or thereabouts.

“Take it like an ally”: posting at the Anonymous Lefty blog about the Australian government’s ill-informed decision to buy the Joint Strike Fighter jet when there are better alternatives available – such as the Su-35! (He provides a link to the Su-35 page at the Air Power Australia site.) We are currently encumbered with crappy old F-111 multirole fighters (which have a habit of crashing) and increasingly obsolete F/A-18 Hornets. Our government is too in thrall to the USA to consider the Su-35 option, though, sadly. But wouldn’t it be cool to see Su-35s with RAAF insignia? But we have never even had a visit from a Russian president, so the country doesn’t get much attention here (except for doom-and-gloom stories in the media).

“Putin Breaks Silence On U.S. Foreign Policy” at The Moscow News; commentary on that speech. Anonymous Lefty was critical of him, calling the Presdent hypocritical considering the problems in Russia – the Army problems mentioned in my 16/2 entry, and the mess that is Chechnya – but one commentator remarks:

Putin is right. On Chechnya, how do you think the US would react if California declared itself an independent Country and announced its intention to adopt Islamic law? Grozny is now 5 metres lower in altitude than it was prior to the Russian clamp-down but do you honestly expect the Russian people not to support a man who took the war to the terrorists? The Chechnyan Islamists were killing Russian civilians in their “war for independence” long before September 11. While I understand your abhorence towards the war in Chechnya, don’t be fooled by American propaganda that Putin and the Russian people are barbarians.

I was looking through a Stargate TV series guide book in a bookstore and there was a page about the Russian involvement. At Wikipedia there is a page about the main Russian character (who has a minor role in the series), Colonel Chekov. And, naturally, the Russians are villains – or quasi-villains in the series. As described in the plot summary, Russia discovers a Stargate but their program is short-lived for some reason and they end up selling their Stargate to the U.S. side (as if you would sell such valuable technology??) and blackmailing the American team into involving the Russians. I used to watch the series but got a bit bored and stopped (it hasn’t been screened here for a few years, in any case).

Monday 19/2

A cool change of sorts finally arrived yesterday evening, with a little rain, after another scorching day. We had the first four-day February heatwave in nearly 40 years. It is still rather humid today.

Looks like someone else had the same idea of Australia’s buying Su-35s! (See 17/2 entry.) A letter from The Age, 19/2:

In view of the controversy that has arisen with regard to the purchase of a new fighter aircraft for the RAAF, why doesn’t the Defence Department follow the old saying: “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” In other words, if the Sukhoi Su-27/30 is such a great aircraft ( The Age, 16/2), why not buy a few squadrons of them for the RAAF? I’ll bet that they’d be a lot cheaper than anything that the Yanks could offer.

– Bill Pearce, Kensington

Below are a few paragraphs of a scene from a story that has been percolating in my head for a long time; I wrote these this afternoon. Probably won’t go anywhere, but it contains the elements I like, such as a fierce warrior culture and the things I mentioned in my 6/12/2006 entry, as well as the Moche documentary mentioned a few days ago (16/2 entry). I am just making it up as I go along.

“So, Lord Sipan, my brother,” said Lord Chepen to the bound figure kneeling before him, surrounded by four of the Royal Guard, “you tried to overthrow me and you have been defeated. As much as it pains me, I must punish you for your treason.”

The warrior, adorned in black armor and robes, painfully raised his masked face to glare at his younger and only brother, green eyes incandescent with hate. “I … am … not defeated,” he gasped, barely able to speak from a broken jaw after weeks of the systematic ritual tortures that were inflicted upon warrior-captives. His gaze focused on the raised platform behind his golden-armored brother – the ritual sacrificial altar, its black carven obsidian surface stained and streaked from the innumerable killings performed on its surface. Lord Chepen would execute his brother himself, as tradition demanded; assisted by the High Priest and Priestess. “You … did not slay all my forces ….”

“They will be hunted down and destroyed, on whatever worlds they have fled to,” replied Lord Chepen coldly. “Guards, release his bonds.” One of the silent blue-armored Guards reached down and undid the thin carbon nanotube ropes that wrapped around his wrists and neck; the immensely strong composite ropes had cut through his armor deep into his skin and dark blood dripped onto the stone beneath him. Sipan collapsed forward, almost unable to move. The captive Lord had initially been forced to walk to the pyramid – watched by the residents of the city gathered around – then begin climbing its thousands of steps, despite the broken bones in his feet. When his strength gave out the Guards had merely continued dragging him upwards, face down; his arms, pulled at an impossible angle behind him and over his head, had dislocated from his shoulders. Throughout all this, he had not uttered a sound.

The group stood on the tallest flat-topped pyramid in the city of Charnath, which spread out in every direction, its buildings – temples, pyramids, residential areas – illuminated in the dull glow of the planet’s red giant sun that dominated the blue-black sky. Parts of the city were in ruins from the savage years-long civil war between the two brothers and their respective forces.

Lord Sipan managed to struggle to his knees, though he was unable to use his arms to lever himself. “Do … what you will. But I will … not bow to you,” he snarled, thinking, My escape plan must work – I have no more chances … Monarch, are you up there? He telepathically called to his starship, the Monarch of Night, via the transmitter embedded in his brain, of which his captors were unaware.

Blood, torture and human sacrifice, yay! Sometimes I am just in the mood to read or write about such things (pity my characters!). It is an escape from the limitations and boredom of the real space program, which I get so frustrated with. I don’t think I have enough in me to write a novel, though – I am always fantasizing but these are scenes rather than whole stories. One name is from the Lord of Sipan; I just choose names I like the sound of. Other influences include Sith Lord, Charn, Cthulhu Mythos, Event Horizon, Great Old One, Pyramids of Mars, Sutekh, Sardaukar, Sauron, and Stargate (film). I don’t know if “my” aliens are humanoid aliens or alien aliens (if that makes sense), or perhaps an ancient civilization who left Earth long before recorded history. They are a mixture of high technology (spacefaring) and barbaric rituals.

Thursday 22/2

It has been rather humid (~70%) all week, so not too pleasant weather. No rain here, though there has been plenty in the north of the country.

I have been working on my story mentioned in my last entry (19/2 entry), so I have not felt inclined to do much else! It is a nice diversion from the usual boredom and frustrations of the real-world space program.

I was looking at a Star Wars novel, Path of Destruction: A Novel of the Old Republic (Star Wars: Darth Bane), in Borders today and it seemed a reasonably good read (unlike many of the SW novels). But only the hardback edition was available for A$55 and there is no way I will pay that for a novel! I would have bought the paperback were it available, so I will (rather frustratingly) have to wait till it is released. The bad guys are, in my view, the most interesting characters in Star Wars (the Jedi, etc. bore me) – namely the Sith Lords, and the old era ones at that. The rather obvious appeal is that they have immense power and can retaliate against those who would hurt them – in the real world, I am powerless and unable to retaliate (see incident described in my 21/6/2005 entry for an example).

“Poland needs U.S. base to cede from Russian influence,” RIA Novosti, 20/2. The current right-wing Polish government seems to be doing as much as it can to suck up to America and spite Russia. Poland is right next to Russia (the two countries have invaded each other over the centuries), so a U.S. missile base will be seen as a real provocation.

The current ISS crew, ISS-14 (Mikhail Tyurin and Michael Lopez-Alegria), are to do a spacewalk in Russian Orlan spacesuits tonight (10:00 p.m. Melbourne time, 10:00 UTC) to try to free the stuck Progress M-58 antenna. I turn my computer off before then so I will have to wait till tomorrow to learn how it went.

Space junk in Siberia, CollectSpace.com. Russia launches its rockets over land as its launch centers are not near any ocean, and the accumulated debris is a source of environmental pollution from the toxic fuels used (though the locals can make a trade in scrap metal from the rockets). The photo essay Spaceship Junkyard at Slate.com shows images of crashed rockets. I am not sure if there is any organized clean-up by the government. It poses a vexed question of whether the environment or space program should have priority.

A RIA Novosti letter:

Sir, thank you for producing such an informative and useful online resource. I am writing today in response to the opinion editorial piece by writer, Andrei Kislyakov. As a person who came of age during the “bad old days” of the cold war space race, I was steeped in the competitive nature of those endeavors. Now that I have gone back and studied the awesome and heroic achievements of the Soviet and Russian space programs, I really appreciate the talent and courage displayed by Korolev and the cosmonaut community. NASA has a great deal to learn from the logical, step-by-step approach used by Russia’s space pioneers. Too often our space program is driven by short-term politics in Washington. You can count me as one American who does not ever wish to see again the close-minded space races of the past. America and Russia should work together and share their strengths, not work against each other. Thank you for the fine piece. Ad Astra!

– Vernon Helvey, 21/2

Friday 23/2

I was glancing through a silly action-adventure novel in a department store today: Pirate by Ted Bell. Featuring “dashing, deadly, and devastatingly handsome, Lord Alexander Hawke: British super-spy, master of warfare, and one of the toughest men you will ever find circling the globe in search of the bad guys.” I am unsure if the books are a parody or not … It is the usual tedious scenario of the condescending Americans and British against the “barbarians” (other non-Western, non-Anglo-Saxon countries). (Similar to the Stormbreaker novel mentioned in my 31/8/2006 entry.) In this novel the Chinese and French are the bad guys (in others the Russians are up to their dastardly schemes yet again – there has to be a Russian bad guy somewhere!). We would like to see a novel where the situation is reversed! (Looks like a writing job for me, one day … well, I do have a Russian Special Forces character called Andrei lurking in my head, awaiting a plot … ;-)

Hawke is obviously a copy of James Bond, down to the bedding of lots of beautiful women. Yes, this is clearly a men’s fantasy novel! I think this reviewer sums it up rather well.

“Station spacewalkers fix faulty antenna,” MSNBC.com, 22/2. Yesterday’s spacewalk went successfully (the Progress antenna was unstuck), though Mikhail Tyurin had some problems with his spacesuit overheating and his visor consequently fogging up. He was also getting a bit irritated at TsUP constantly chattering at him! Michael Lopez-Alegria now holds the record for the most spacewalk hours, surpassed only by Anatolii Solov’yov (they’re catching up! Get your space program organized!) Forum thread at NASASpaceflight.com. The spacewalk lasted 6h 18m (10:27-16:45 UTC).

“Why are we fighting for the Moon again?,” Andrei Kislyakov, RIA Novosti, 19/2 on why is the space race to the Moon being re-enacted again?

Sunday 25/2

The humid weather has gone at last, though it is warming up toward the end of the week. A little rain yesterday, but that is all. We could be on tougher water restrictions by May. As usual the government is doing too little, too late.

I am thinking of deleting my MKS/International Space Station website (again!) as I am just tired of it, I want to “downsize” my site and the interest I had, has faded (I felt most enthusiastic between 2001-2003 but since then this has dwindled). I am really rather tired of the space program in general, and spaceflight as depicted in science fiction and fantasy only exacerbates this. The real-world program seems to be going nowhere slowly.

I might move my journal to the top level of my site (i.e. link from the navigation menu there) and not call it “Kosmoblog” any more as it sounds stupid. I will keep/continue the journal for now as I need somewhere to grumble about things!

I added a page about my favorite villains to the top level of my site; I just wrote it today. Rather enjoyed doing it!

Wednesday 28/2

The journal is now part of my main site. I decided to delete my MKS Space Station site (yet again!). I have become disillusioned with the project over the last three years (I was enthusiastic about it initially from 2001) as it is rather boring and nothing new is being discovered. The crews just go round in circles and do the same things over and over again. (Sounds like my life.) The real-world space program is disappointingly dull and limited beside those of science fiction.

Some dismaying news that Melbourne has the fastest-growing population of Australia’s capital cities. The government is very happy (the usual “good for the economy” blather) but it is bad news for the environment and our water storages (which continue to drop). It also means increased traffic, overcrowding, overdevelopment, more pollution, more violent crime (especially if there are more young males), overinflated house prices, etc. The streets are so crowded with cars that it is almost impossible to move. As I keep repeating, population growth is bad. The government badly needs a reality check – they should be aiming to stabilize or decrease the population, not increase it, if Melbourne is to be a liveable city in the future rather than an overpopulated ghetto. They are too obsessed with “growing the economy” to realize this, though.

Melbourne is experiencing its biggest growth surge since the 1960s, with its population now increasing by almost 1000 a week and dwarfing that of any other Australian city.

Melbourne added about 49,000 people in the year to June 2006 – far more than Sydney (37,000), Brisbane (29,500) or Perth (30,000), according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

And the figures, showing that Melbourne’s population reached 3.68 million, understate the real growth. Thousands more people are settling just beyond the official boundaries in areas such as Bacchus Marsh, Gisborne, Kilmore, Wallan and Warragul, in search of cheaper housing. […]

But Melbourne is also booming closer in. For the first time in memory, every suburban municipality grew in population, as increasing redevelopment saw a third of the city’s population growth go into built-up areas. […]

Treasurer John Brumby was jubilant. “The secret is out: regional and rural Victoria is a great place to live, work and raise a family,” he said.

“The Bracks Government has directly facilitated more than 390 new investments worth $7 billion outside Melbourne, that have directly contributed to the creation of 113,000 new jobs.”

A redefinition of the Gold Coast with wider boundaries has seen it overtake Newcastle to become Australia’s largest city outside the five main capitals. The bureau now estimates the Gold Coast has 554,628 people, and has grown by almost 80,000 in the past five years.

The next Space Shuttle launch, STS-117 Atlantis, has been delayed until April at the earliest due to … hail damage (launch date was to be 15 March). The External Tank got very pockmarked from hail during a storm on Tuesday.

More details on the retraction of the stuck Progress antenna during the last spacewalk – it took quite a lot of effort – and the problems with Mikhail Tyurin’s Orlan spacesuit (the “phantom torque” experienced on previous spacewalks does appear to be due to “high-velocity water molecule ejection by the sublimators of the Russian spacesuits.”

A possibly interesting new novel featuring a Soviet cosmonaut. I hope the ending isn’t disappointing – i.e. that he defects! Probably won’t be available in Australia though (as usual). Though the excerpt (which I just read) is somewhat stomach-churning (involves rape and graphic violence). Ugh – maybe I will give it a miss!

The Soyuz launch base construction site in French Guiana was officially opened on 26 February. A commemorative stone from the Soyuz L-1 launch pad at Baikonur was placed at the new site. It is possible that manned launches could take place there in the future (especially if Russian relations with Kazakhstan break down). Though French Guiana is a colony (which some people there oppose); it has many social problems.

March

Thursday 1/3

I went into the city and bought two graphic novels. I won’t do that too often – rather expensive! I like the artwork, though. I bought a lot of comics in the early 1990s for my fantasy world of then but lost interest and gave them away – which I regret now! I do not like the way women are depicted though, with impossibly-proportioned figures and skimpy clothes; considering most of the artists are male, I guess that is inevitable.

The Independent Safety Task Force’s final report is online (as a PDF). Makes for some interesting reading! The Russian Segment unfortunately doesn’t get a good report, though the problems are old ones. Some extracts:

Acoustics (p.57)

An important aspect of human space flight is the control of the ambient noise level in the crew’s working and sleeping environment. The ISS acoustic environment has been high in the Russian SM, with continuous noise levels exceeding limits by 5-10 dBA in work and sleep areas. Hearing protection systems have been provided and are necessary for the crew while in the SM; however, comfort and the operational need to communicate prevent continuous use of hearing protection. Acoustic mitigation hardware has been developed and launched for the highest noise-contributing hardware in the SM, and installation of some of this hardware has improved the acoustic environment. As limited crew time is available, additional hardware will be installed that is expected to bring the SM acoustic levels to within design specifications. Hearing acuity of the crew is monitored before, during, and after the mission. There has been a permanent hearing threshold shift (hearing damage) at the highest frequency tested (8000 Hz) in one U.S. ISS crew member. There have also been temporary hearing deficits documented in other U.S. and Russian crew members, all of which recovered to pre-mission levels. The ISS Program continues to monitor the acoustic environment, and is making efforts to adequately address this threat to crew health.

5.1 Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (p.60)

It should be noted that Russians technical specialists believe that the U.S. models are too conservative in their predictions related to potential MMOD damage. This is based upon their experience from operating the Mir space station, where only four MMOD events are known to have occurred in its 15 years of flight. The Russians have a debris strike measuring system deployed on the Station that measures MMOD strikes on the system.

In general, NASA, ESA, and JAXA elements meet the specification for MMOD protection. The Russian docking compartment does not meet this requirement; however, it is a small contributor to the total MMOD risk. Russian hardware elements that were designed before they were intended for use on the ISS (i.e., Russian SM, Soyuz, and Progress) fall short of meeting the specifications. Modifications are being implemented to increase the SM MMOD protection as follows:

  1. Conformal debris panels installed on the SM outer skin
    • Flight UF-2 delivered six debris panels in June 2002 that remain stowed but uninstalled.
    • Flight 12A.1 delivered 17 more debris panels in December 2006 to be stowed on orbit.
    • Installation of these panels is planned during spacewalks in April 2007.
  2. Orientation of the SM solar arrays in the vertical position relative to the velocity vector (this option is available after the NASA power configuration is completed, enabling NASA to supply additional power to the Russian elements)
  3. Deploying additional “wings” forward of the SM arrays

Technical agreements on possible enhancements to the Russian Progress and Soyuz vehicles have been made, but implementation is pending a Russian decision to proceed. The primary impact of the enhancements would be approximately 48 pounds of additional launch weight for each vehicle.

Probabilities of MMOD impact for the Assembly Complete configuration are:

  Existing ISS design With SM augmentations in place With SM augmentations plus Progress and Soyuz enhancements
No penetration 45% 54% 71%
Repairable penetration 9% 8% 5%
Isolate the penetrated element 19% 16% 11%
Penetration leading to ISS abandonment 18% 14% 8%
Penetration leading to loss of the ISS and/or its crew 9% 8% 5%

The data above do not include the Russian multipurpose laboratory module (MLM), which is currently under development. The MLM meets the Program’s specified requirements for MMOD protection, and its installation does not significantly alter the overall ISS MMOD posture.

5.11 Service Module Windows

Observations

The 13 SM windows are Russian-heritage hardware for which designers did not consider currently available data regarding MMOD in their design. The design consists of a two-windowpane (primary and secondary) configuration with the volume between the panes pressurized. This results in the external pane being the primary pressure pane. Unlike other windows on the ISS, most Russian windows do not have an external debris pane to protect against MMOD or an internal scratch pane to protect against damage caused by inadvertent crew activities. The probability of a critical failure (i.e., loss of a primary pane) is estimated by NASA to be one chance in six for all SM windows combined and one chance in nine for SM windows 1 and 2 over a six-year period. Loss of the primary pane would result in loss of redundancy in the window with respect to maintaining ISS atmospheric pressure. Early in the NASA assessment of the SM windows there were concerns that failure of the primary pane might cause failure of the secondary pane as well due to near instantaneous change in differential pressure since the volume between the two panes is pressurized. However, tests conducted by NASA using SM window hardware have demonstrated that the loss of the primary pane does not result in the loss of secondary pane.

Should the primary window pane fail, the concern is the need for protection of the secondary pane from damage that might cause a loss of ISS pressure. This protection involves first the determination that the primary pane has failed and then the installation of an internal cover to prevent further damage that might result in a failure of the final remaining pane. There are insufficient pressure covers on orbit at this time to protect against existing and future damage to primary window pressure panes.

Detection of a primary pane failure requires regular and methodical inspection and photography of the SM window so that analysis can be conducted to determine the structural integrity of the pane in question. Well-defined window inspection and photography procedures have not been developed to date, and routine inspections and photography have not been performed. NASA and Russian technical experts agreed on an implementation plan in September 2006, but it is unclear whether Russian management will implement its part of the plan.

Recommendation

5.11.1 The ISS Program should proactively, methodically, and routinely monitor the SM windows for critical damage and be prepared to implement protection of the secondary pane by having hardware available on board or as launch-on-need for implementation.

There are also some concerns about the upcoming ATV flight:

Observations (ATV)

There will be no test flights of the integrated ATV before the first vehicle will rendezvous and dock with the ISS. The ATV safety strategy is operationally implemented at three levels.

  1. On the first flight, flight safety demonstrations will be conducted before the proximity operations safing functions might be required.
  2. A two-fault-tolerant vehicle design protects the ISS from critical and catastrophic hazards.
  3. Flight crew and MCC monitoring and control protect against unexpected scenarios.

The guidelines for the safety demonstrations are that:

While this is a sound approach, the ATV systems that are used to accomplish a safe rendezvous and docking are complex and require a high degree of human interaction. To guard against failure, all aspects of vehicle design and operation must rigorously adhere to the defined safety strategy. Additionally, new rendezvous technology has been flown on two previous missions: the Japanese engineering test satellite (ETS) series and the NASA demonstration of autonomous rendezvous technology (DART). Both missions had problems with their autonomous rendezvous; and, in fact, the DART spacecraft collided with the target vehicle. The Japanese ETS rendezvous was eventually successful, but only after a month of on-orbit troubleshooting and modifications. With no planned test flight and two instances where other automated rendezvous systems had initial performance problems, the ATV is scheduled to rendezvous and dock with the crewed ISS on its very first mission. Without first requiring a successful test flight, and given the complexities of the new MCC in Toulouse, new flight controllers, the cultural and language differences among the three control centers of France, Russia, and the United States, and U.S. Export Control/ITAR restrictions that limit data exchange and conversations among the technical integrators and operators; the plan to demonstrate safety functions during an actual rendezvous on the first mission is considered ambitious.

I posted this at NASASpaceflight.com also update 10/3/2007: but no one else was interested.

Russia also announced it is looking for a new launch site in case Baikonur is unavailable. The main contender is Kapustin Yar (love the sound of that name!).

Saturday 10/3

Had a major fit of depression last week and deleted my whole site … but am feeling somewhat better and put it back again. The journal is back to being “Kosmoblog,” and there are a lot of pages to reorganize and redo (as usual), and maybe some broken links. I am still not happy with it but I am totally lacking in any inspiration for a different design or look. Also the space sites seem to be the only thing I have some sort of Internet recognition for, so I guess I should leave them up. I am still undecided whether to make the main page a portal and put my personal stuff back into the “Rusalka” subsite (I can’t think up another name for it), or not.

My site email address is also changed – beginning with suzy@ rather than kosmonavtka@ – easier to remember.

I have also had a cold this week (probably picked up while traveling on the train to the city last week) so have also been miserable for that reason too! My first cold of the year.

It is now officially autumn and summer is over (yay!), though there is still some warm weather left (not as intense as it was a month ago). There was a heatwave in Western Australia this week (along with a cyclone), with temperatures over 40°C for several days – nearly 48°C in one area.

“Getting ready to say the hardest of life’s goodbyes,” The Age. An article that is all too relevant (aging parents). Only objection to the article is that the writer assumes that the children of the aging parents all have children themselves! (This one doesn’t.)

Watched a movie on TV last night called I, Robot. It was actually rather good (well, I stayed awake for all of it!). It was apparently not based on Isaac Asimov’s novel (which I haven’t read). I found myself thinking that the premise of the “robot revolution” in the movie was not necessarily a bad thing:

The central positronic brain, V.I.K.I. (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence), continuously uploads fresh software to each of the NS-5s and has developed an interpretation of the Three Laws which supports the robots running Earth as a benevolent dictatorship, preventing humans from self-harming behavior such as crime or environmental damage: The result is a revolution of the NS-5s.

Humans are doing a poor job of regulating themselves – you only need to read the daily news headlines to be innundated with grim tales of wars, murders, environmental damage and so forth – so the prospect of being made to behave by other entities (robots or more powerful aliens) has a certain appeal! Humanity is on an inexorable path to its own self-destruction, otherwise.

Sometimes I wish I had some form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to talk with. Something that would be intelligent, calm and rational. Don’t know what form I would prefer it to be – a type of robot, or a disembodied voice.

Some articles:

Lisa Nowak was officially fired from NASA. Every time she is mentioned at the NASASpaceflight.com forum, the threads keep getting locked, rather annoyingly! People keep saying in moralistic tones, “We really shouldn’t discuss this,” but they do anyway :->. It makes a change from the mind-numbingly dull discussions about COTS and so forth. (I have no idea of what COTS is; I just pulled that up at random. :-D

Some of the emails between Colleen Shipman and Bill that Lisa had collected were released. I guess some people still don’t know that emails are not a private form of communication! One quote from the mails that made me grin:

Will have to control myself when I see you. First urge will be to rip your clothes off, throw you on the ground and love the hell out of you.

*Snort*

*Giggle*

Do people actually write that sort of thing?!

More:

These are awesome! I don’t see the charm, though!

*Pant, pant* Oh … I’m just not seeing it!

It’s like those erotic hidden picture games that they have at the bar … only you’re fully clothed in the picture … and I’m looking for my charm …

OK, not like those hidden picture games at all, but the thought of you without clothes is pretty nice *sigh*

Sunday 11/3

There was a rather large huntsman spider near the ceiling in the hallway, so I got a mop, knocked it off the wall and managed to shove it outside. Ugh! (Resisted killing it this time! See 1/4/2005 entry.)

I deleted my RuSpace blog last week in the same fit of depression, and now some annoying company has grabbed the URL to redirect it to their stupid commercial site. (I hate opportunists and think they should be executed.) There does not seem to be an option to undelete it (Livejournal has a 30-day grace period where a deleted journal can be retrieved). Oh well, perhaps I could start another elsewhere, maybe at Wordpress. Most of what I wrote at the blog is in this journal; it was mainly a supplement to what I put here.

I did send an email to Blogger asking if the blog could be retrieved (it is very hard to find their contact details as they want you to use the online help, but there is nothing about retrieving a blog there) – the email is support@blogger.com. I don’t hold out much hope of retrieving it, though.

One of the things I don’t like about blogs is having to think of a title for every entry! I just can’t be bothered doing that (I don’t in this journal). I don’t know how people who write lots of entries for their blogs manage to think of a title for each.

I didn’t see Comet McNaught when it was most visible in January, but saw it yesterday and this morning, resembling a bright star low in the south sky. It is so light-polluted and built-up around here that it is difficult to see anything.

Last Thursday on TV there was an earthquake documentary called “The Next Megaquake,” about a particular type of earthquake called a “megathrust earthquake” that is due to occur off the northwest coast of the USA sometime – the last one in the area was the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. The MT earthquake is a lot longer and more severe than a regular earthquake. If and when it occurs again it will of course be a lot more devastating because of the urbanization and high population in the region. Old brick masonry buildings will be deathtraps because they are not earthquake-proofed. It is not known how modern skyscrapers will cope with such a quake (worst-case scenario: they collapse!). There will also be a tsunami to face after the initial quake! It would seem the safest place to be during a MQ is in an open wilderness area on high ground away from the coast. It is a nice region (with the redwood forests), but I would have serious concerns about living in the cities there!

Why Russians Feel Squeezed by NATO Expansion, Russia Blog. “The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to endorse further enlargement of the NATO alliance which will allow admission of two former Soviet republics – Ukraine and Georgia.”

Visiting Charles Simonyi’s Flash-animated website is a real pain now as it takes nearly three minutes to load, on broadband! (All the content has to be loaded before being displayed in the animation.) Using Flash for a whole website (rather than just small animations here and there) is a bad idea – HTML text is much preferable (and faster!). Aside from that gripe, there is a lot of interesting stuff on the site.

New article posted at the Energiya site: MoonGasTransport Inc., “The interview given by Nikolai N. SEVASTIYANOV, the President and Designer General of the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia to a reporter from ITOGY weekly Svetlana SUKHOVA.” More ambitious schemes from Mr. Sevast’yanov – he just needs 2.5 billion dollars to implement them! Perhaps one of the oligarches could do something useful with their billions and donate to the cause.

Tuesday 13/3

The biennial Australian International Airshow takes place near the end of this month at Avalon Airfield (a place that holds a sad memory for me as a career-that-never-was). General Chuck Yeager is to make an appearance as Guest of Honor. My brother-in-law and his oldest son (a nephew) are flying down there. But I baulked when I saw the ticket entry price for an adult: A$45!!!! Forget it.

I downloaded the Wordpress blogging program, one of the most popular used, just to look at its structure. By itself it is 2.3 MB and has 53 subfolders! Too bloated for my liking.

I just finished a novel, Warlock, by Wilbur Smith. I think that is the first novel by him I have read. I read it in two days or so; it was quite engrossing and the characters were likeable – but to describe it as violent and bloody is an understatement, as people in the Amazon.com reviews have commented! Not to mention the explicit sex and rape scenes. It is certainly not for the squeamish! An example quoted below (during the siege of Babylon):

To confirm him in this belief, Trok had the pregnant women stripped naked and marched forward one at a time. Then, while all the city watched, their swollen bellies were slit open, the unborn infants ripped out and the tiny bodies piled on the threshold of the Blue Gate.

“Add these to your army, Sargon,” Trok bellowed up at him. “You will need every man you can get.”

One wonders if the ancient world were that violent (not that the modern world is any less violent), but I am not a historian and no one can time travel to see for themselves.

(The server for my website seems to be offline, so I will have to upload this tomorrow, or whenever it comes back.)

Cosmonaut deployments (thanks to Rex Hall at Astroaddies!) (posted in my Cosmonaut News section, but I will repeat it here):

Designated ISS crews
Crew Prime Backup
MKS-14 Tyurin; Lopez-Alegria (NASA)
Shuttle S. Williams (NASA)
MKS-15 Yurchikhin, Kotov, Simonyi (SFP) Romanenko, Kornienko, Chamitoff (NASA)
Shuttle Anderson (NASA)
MKS-16 Malenchenko, Whitson (NASA), Malaysian cosmonaut Sharipov, Fincke (NASA)
Shuttle Tani (NASA) Magnus (NASA)
Shuttle Eyharts (ESA) De Winne (ESA)
MKS-17 S. Volkov, Kononenko, South Korean cosmonaut Krikalyov, Sura’ev
Shuttle Magnus (NASA) Stott (NASA)
MKS-18 Sharipov, Fincke (NASA) Lonchakov, Barrett (NASA)
Shuttle Wakata (JAXA) Noguchi (JAXA)
Shuttle Chamitoff (NASA) Creamer (NASA)

Wednesday 14/3

An interesting-looking movie to be released in April in Australia is 300. Features lots of blood and battle scenes, and is rated R. Just my sort of movie (except it has “some sexuality and nudity” *grumble*). Iran has taken exception to it as it has a not-too-flattering depiction of Persians. Links to some small screenshots (from the IMDB site):

All the Spartan warriors are running around in underpants and capes, looking like they are auditioning for a Superman movie and turned up at the wrong set. *Giggles* I don’t think Iran should take the movie too seriously!

According to this FAQ, the real Spartans did wear a bit more:

Did Spartans actually fight with virtually no armor?

No. In fact, it was the Spartans’ heavy armor and perfect phalanx that helped give them such staying power versus the lightly armored Persians. Spartan and other Greek troops wore a breastplate, a bronze helmet with cheekplates, greaves, and a bronze-plated shield approximately 3 feet in diameter, called a hoplon (from which the word “hoplite” derives). All total, their armor weighed about sixty pounds (27 kilograms). Their primary weapon was a spear around 2.7 meters in length called a dory. Since this tended to break in battle, they also carried a 60 cm thrusting sword called a xiphos. Less commonly used was the Greek sabre called a kopis.

Afghan opium crop plagues European streets: transcript of a short and depressing news item on The 7:30 Report last night about the heroin scourge in Russia, coming from Afghanistan. Maybe a virus could be genetically-engineered that would wipe out the opium poppies?

Friday 16/3

I borrowed Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith from the library – two weeks of waiting for the previous person to return it so I could grab it! So now I have seen it (two years after everyone else). It was quite good, though it is best seen on a large screen, not on a computer monitor. Was rather disappointed with the portrayal of General Grievous! The fight scene in the volcanic lava fields at the end was awesome.

That spider (see my 11/3 entry) reappeared in the laundry not long ago! Got it outside with the mop again.

The new name of NASA’s ISS Node 2 module is … Harmony.

“Space and the end of the future,” The Space Review. This is quite a good article about how the reality of the future – the present time – failed to live up to the dreams of the earlier decades. The dreams of an Utopia of leisure and an ending of poverty never came to be; instead there is a bleak, highly-stressed and souless society whose religion is economic growth and consumerism. Modern science-fiction shows also reflect the current bleakness.

Saturday 17/3

An artist whose work I came across in the early 1990s is Wayne Douglas Barlowe. I happened to find his site today via David S. F. Portree’s links page. I had a Wayne Barlowe art book for a while but it vanished in one of my purges *sighs*. His art is compellingly creepy; two series of his are the Expedition (visiting an alien planet) and Inferno (scenes of Hell). The Inferno paintings are particularly nightmarish and reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch’s creepy scenes. My favorite is The Wargate – would love a poster of that on my bedroom wall! The colors – red, black, grey and gold – look dramatic together. Wish the paintings on the site were a bit larger, though, as I can barely see any detail.

“The Story Of Women In Space,” Space Daily. Russian women were faced with many barriers to getting into orbit, one of the major ones being sexism from their male counterparts; something which is still apparent today. Only three Russian women have made it into orbit so far (the last in 1997).

Snarky post by me at NASASpaceflight.com in response to an article about yet another U.S. politician getting panicked at the prospect of the loss of “leadership”:

“[…] There is no more visible sign of American global leadership than our space program. To lose that position to other countries would be a tragedy. […]”

And another post to get annoyed at; by one of the anti-international-co-operation types.

Sunday 18/3

Today is the Melbourne Grand Prix which I am totally underwhelmed by. (Can hear them from our backyard, a distant buzzing like angry hornets.) “Event full?” in yesterday’s The Age questions the State Government’s obsession with Big Events. The main objection is the use of taxpayers’s money to fund them, which is an abhorrent and illegal use of public money, in my view. “From killing Christians to killing the planet” provides more criticism (mainly centered on the Grand Prix). (I also wonder what environmental damage the race, held in the city, is causing to the trees and creatures in Albert Park – the horribly loud screech of the car engines must be damaging the latters’ hearing.)

To top it off, this madness has just cost the state of Victoria another $30 million. Thirty. Million. Dollars. If you say that really slowly you can really ruminate on what that kind of money might buy. A public transport system that works. There’s an irony. A public health system that works. There’s another one. Water cartage into rural communities that are at breaking point. That’s not irony, it’s tragedy. It’s a list that just keeps on keeping on.

It seems too much to hope for to have a Government that would spend public money wisely and on necessary projects. The current Labor Government (under Steve Bracks) is as bad in its own way as the previous Liberal one (under Jeff Kennett).

There is also alarming claims that the Thomson Dam, the main reservoir supplying Melbourne, will be dry in a year.

Melbourne’s main source of drinking water, the Thomson Dam, could be bone dry in a year. And with the dam’s capacity decreasing about 1 per cent a fortnight, it will reach a “dead water” level in 12 weeks, not at the start of next year as Melbourne Water claims. The multimillion-dollar equipment needed to pump dead water from the dam is not yet in place, meaning Melburnians could have delivery and quality problems, and an immediate move from stage 4 restrictions (set to come in next month) to an unprecedented stage 5. And almost half the water from the dam every day is flushed down the Thomson River to fulfil environmental flows and irrigation contracts.

These are claims made to The Sunday Age by former Melbourne Water hydrologist Geoff Crapper and engineer Ron Sutherland. These predictions follow their startling claims about Thomson Dam last year, which contradicted Melbourne Water’s but were proved true. “The Government is taking a punt on the weather to solve the crisis, while an outrageous amount of water is being wasted every day,” said Mr. Crapper, who has based his predictions and observations on Melbourne Water’s figures. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist. The arithmetic is simple. The Thomson was at 42.6 per cent this time last year. At the moment it’s 19.4 per cent (as of yesterday). If the weather pattern stays the same, or only slightly improves, the dam that was meant to drought-proof the city will be empty in 12 months’ time. This is a worse-case scenario, but it doesn’t appear to be in the Government’s reckoning,” Mr. Crapper said.

Yet another thing to get stressed out by is the continuing overdevelopment of the suburbs. Every time a house goes up for sale there is the worry it will be demolished and ugly townhouses or an oversized “McMansion” built (two in our street, and one behind, have been or are to be sold). The houses that are demolished are generally perfectly good houses which only need a bit of renovation. One cause of this are greedy property investors; they are a reason why house prices are ridiculously high and hardly anyone can afford to buy a house but has to borrow money and face decades of repayment. I think there should be some sort of law restricting an individual to owning no more than one house (the one they live in) or maybe two. A book I have seen has a title something like Zero to 100 properties in five years, which I thought of as greedy and selfish – who needs 100 houses?

300 Spartans vs nation of Iranians: more on the Iranians’ reaction to the 300 movie. Perhaps they should make their own version of the movie!

Am sulking because my reply to a “Nice General Grievous avatar” comment in the forum topic yesterday got removed by the administrator. Well, it was getting off-topic, but the original topic was boring anyway! (I replied in a Private Message instead.)

I have mostly been working on the story I mentioned in my 19/2 entry; it has expanded a lot since then! I may put it online, though it is rather bleak. I probably won’t finish it; it is just a diversion from other frustrations (e.g. the real-world space program) and a creative outlet. I don’t know how people manage to make a living as a writer (or artist) – it is very difficult to get published, and then you have to keep coming up with new ideas and plots. Only a few become very successful, such as J.K. Rowling.

Another observation from the Revenge of the Sith movie (watched this afternoon with my parents) is that the villains spend too much time speaking to their victims (and uttering Evil Laughter(TM)) rather than just killing them! (Mistakes #6 and #20 from the Evil Overlord list.) And the droids have to be the most ineffective fighting machines ever.

The ridiculously wealthy oligarch Roman Abramovich has divorced his 39-year-old wife, trading her in for a younger (25-year-old) model (who is, literally, a model – which is probably indicative of her intellect [i.e. hasn’t got any]). Irina won’t be badly off, though – she gets a A$2.5 billion settlement. He seems to be a bit too close to President Putin. I hope Abramovich (and the other oligarches) loses all his wealth and ends his days in obscurity and poverty (or better still, gets arrested and imprisoned) – wishful thinking though.

Monday 19/3

Saw some odd flashes of light in the sky this morning, about 5:15 a.m. on my morning walk. There were three immense blue-white flashes in the eastern sky – flat, not jagged like lightning – and they covered the whole eastern sky. I thought they might be a sprite, but these are reddish in hue; maybe a blue jet (described lower in the Wikipedia entry)? Or just heat lightning, but there were no thunderstorms around (though there were some clouds; I think the flashes were above the clouds) and the temperature wasn’t warm.

I haven’t seen any news items about those flashes, so I guess they will remain a mystery.

Spent most of the day screencapping the General Grievous scenes from the Return of the Sith. A tedious process! It is also difficult to capture a frame as the VLC player runs on for about four frames after I press the pause button. A lot are also rather blurry as there is so much movement. I then renamed 252 files manually as VLC has a peculiar naming system (batch renaming won’t work as I want to use the time each screenshot was taken in the movie). Headache!

Letter from the “Youth forum” in today’s Herald-Sun – some children feel the same way I do about overdevelopment (see yesterday’s 18/3 entry):

We strongly believe there are too many houses being built around Melbourne.

We know that around Hoppers Crossing there are thousands of new homes.

It is important to save the land and all the animals living on it.

When they build new homes, builders destroy the environment and the animals end up dying.

If there are too many houses around Hoppers Crossing, we can’t have animals, ride horses, have farms or pretty countryside.

– Madison (9), Lara (8), Saffy (8) and Mohammed (9)

Through this post at NASASpaceflight.com, found a document written by Sergei Krikalyov (27 December 2004), stored at the Русский фонд (Russian Fund) site. They are the PDF documents (in English and Russian) at the top of the page (the Russian one is online). (I posted this on the 2004 News page at my Sergei site.)

The report on international programme for Earth defense from asteroid-comet threat is prepared under a Russian Federation patent from 27.12.2004 (RU 2243621 C1) “Method and device for generation of directed and coherent gamma-radiation”. In this patent under physico-mathematical and quantum analysis as well as work over constructional and technical details there is shown a unique and real way of defense a human civilization from a ruthless outer space.

In other words, using a laser to zap rogue asteroids!

Tuesday 20/3

There was a critical report on The 7:30 Report last week about the Government’s decision to spend A$6 billion acquiring 24 F-18 F Super Hornets as a fill-in to replace the F-111 until the Joint Strike Fighter is ready. (Su-27! one wants to yell at them. See 17/2 entry.)

President Putin seems to spend a disturbing amount of time visiting various religious sites and people.

Two recent articles by James Oberg at MSNBC.com:

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 614; criticism from the State Duma Deputy Valerii Rashkin over the closing of Svobodnyi Cosmodrome:

15/03/2007/16:56 – The Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Valery Rashkin: Russia does not wish to have free access to space

The deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Valery Rakshin has made a statement in connection with closing of the Svobodnyi Cosmodrome. In the statement he said:

“As it became known today from press statements, the Governor of the Amur area Leonid Korotkov has declared Svobodnyi Cosmodrome, which is located in this region, closed.

“The second is closed remained on territory of our country the space project focused on peace and military use of space. There is the Russian-only northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome. For all educated people it is clear that the more northern the cosmodrome (further from the Equator), there are subsequently reduced opportunities for the launch of large and heavy objects into orbit, let alone devices for distant orbital piloted space flights. The well-known Baikonur Cosmodrome remains in Kazakhstan; we only rent it. The Sea Launch project does not exist without problems and is not wholly Russian. The Kourou Cosmodrome is under the jurisdiction of France.

“Authorities of Russia, having made grand statements for ten years about new space projects and creation of the high-grade Russian Svobodnyi Cosmodrome, have again acted pragmatically and not strategically. They have shown only average thinking at the management level. Almost on the quiet (through the statement of the governor of the area – not that status of event) the country refuses space, scientific and innovative ambitions. And again hundreds and hundreds of qualified experts of the Military-Space forces will be dismissed. If this is innovative Russia with independent democracy, where is the innovativeness and especially the sovereignty?”

(Russian version, Русская версия)

Too Far from Home is a book mentioned in this thread at CollectSPACE.com. Seems to be yet another example of inaccurate reporting, if the reviews are anything to go by:

Though extensive accounts of the Americans’ backgrounds seems at first to put the brakes on, it’s a necessary counterweight to parallel passages about the little-understood Russian space program – essential information because the three eventually took “an accelerated, lung-crushing dive” in a Soyuz capsule.

Um, the Russian program is reasonably well-understood by now?

Too Far from Home vividly captures the hazardous realities of space travel. Every time an astronaut makes the trip into space, he faces the possibility of death from the slightest mechanical error or instance of bad luck: a cracked O-ring, an errant piece of space junk, an oxygen leak … There are a myriad of frighteningly probable events that would result in an astronaut’s death. In fact, twenty-one people who have attempted the journey have been killed.

Everytime a person ventures on the road in a car they face the possibility of maiming or death in an accident, occurences that happen to people every day. Thousands of people are killed on the roads each year. And people think space travel is dangerous …?

With the launch program suspended indefinitely, these astronauts had suddenly lost their ride home. Too Far from Home chronicles the efforts of the beleaguered Mission Controls in Houston and Moscow as they work frantically against the clock to bring their men safely back to Earth, ultimately settling on a plan that felt, at best, like a long shot. Latched to the side of the space station was a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-1 capsule, whose technology dated from the late 1960s (in 1971 a malfunction in the Soyuz 11 capsule left three Russian astronauts dead.) Despite the inherent danger, the Soyuz became the only hope to return Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit home.

The crew always had a ride home – the Soyuz served as a backup should the Shuttle be canceled (as it was). The technology in the Soyuz has been upgraded since the 1960s! And the last Soyuz fatalities to date were in Soyuz 11 (though there have been some near-misses).

From another review:

He wrote an award-winning article for Esquire on how American astronauts Donald Pettit and Kenneth Bowersox and Russian engineer Nikolai Budarin were stranded on the International Space Station after their ride home – the shuttle Columbia – exploded on re-entry Feb. 1, 2003. With the remaining shuttles grounded, there seemed to be no way to retrieve them.

– They eventually returned aboard a Russian space capsule

*Exasperated sigh* No, the crew were not stranded … Inaccuracy really, really irritates me!

Wednesday 21/3

Autumn Equinox today! Official start of Autumn.

Abortion is very hard to get in Poland; as in Nicaragua (see 28/10/2006 entry) the country is religion-dominated (Catholic Church). A Polish woman was awarded damages by the European Court of Human Rights after nearly going blind as she was forced to have her third child. (I don’t think birth control would be readily available there, either.) There are so many countries where women have limited or no reproductive rights (i.e. control over their own bodies), and it is a disgrace upon humanity that this situation still exists.

A few weeks ago I read the latest Dune novel, Hunters of Dune. Like the other Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson novels in the series, it was readable enough, but somewhat bleak and amoral.

In my 1/1/2006 entry I wrote about a horror movie called Virus. In this week’s The Space Review there is an article by Dwayne Day about the movie – “V is for Virus, Volkov, and Vandenberg”! Turns out that the ship used in the movie was not the Academican Vladislav Volkov, «Аладемикан Владислав Вольков», but a decommissioned American missile tracking ship, the Vandenberg.

“Russian contradictions,” Taylor Dinerman, The Space Review. A typical neoconservative view of Russia’s intentions in politics (President Putin’s “vicious anti-American speech,” which can be read at Kremlin.ru, was stating a few truths and was hardly vicious), but does point out that Russia is doing quite well in its space program.

Regarding The Space Review site, Nicolas Pillet says in this forum thread, Article dans The Space Review sur le programme russe (in French) (approximate translation):

Before even reading the article, I would like simply to warn those who do not know “The Space Review” that it is an extremely “patriotic” media (I put quotation marks because actually it is necessary to include/understand “nationalist” …) It is the kind of magazine which, at the time of the war in Iraq, told off the “enemies of the freedom” which we are … I do not know any more which article it was, but once they said (one can more explicitly) Europe could not make anything in space, except for Italy which had modest experience in the construction of habitable modules … They are hardly nicer, I believe, with the “Soviets” … Then mistrust …

Taylor Dinerman seems to be one of the resident “Paranoid Patriot” writers there; articles by him (which Nicolas might have meant) include “How much international cooperation is really needed in space exploration?,” “NASA and ESA: a parting of ways?,” “Italy: seeking to maintain its political equilibrium in space,” “More international delusions,” “The French ‘non’, the Dutch ‘nee’, and their impact on Europe’s space policy,” “The European (French) response to Bush’s space strategy”. He has the typical neoconservative view of disliking Europe and its “welfare state”. (The neos wish to cut taxes, eliminate welfare, give corporations free rein and leave people to fend for themselves.)

I neglected to mention that 6 March was Valentina Tereshkova’s 70th birthday. (She is a year older than my mother!) RIA Novosti had an article about her (in Russian): «Валентина Терешкова открыла тайну, которую хранила 40 лет» (The first woman Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova reveals a 40-year-old secret) – no English version, unfortunately (there is a French version which might be easier to translate). At the end of the article:

At present, Tereshkova dreams to go to Mars, “a marvellous and mysterious planet”. “I am ready to go there, perhaps never to return,” acknowledged the woman cosmonaut.

Thursday 22/3

Hot again, today and tomorrow :-(.

Had a 40%-off Borders voucher for this week so I bought another graphic novel (for the General Grievous story, of course).

Also looked through a book, 300: The Art Of The Film. It certainly looks more like a fantasy movie! “Blood-soaked orgy” is a description that comes to mind. The pierced-chain guy is King Xerxes (not a priest, as I initially thought), who looks more like a drag queen! Complete with g-string gold underwear and eyeliner (photo link again for reference). *Giggles* Australian actor David Wenham (who was Faramir in The Lord of the Rings) also makes an appearance (as the Narrator).

Go see 300: comments on the movie from a more right-wing blog (I hate these stupid “right-” and “left-wing” labels, as if a person can only be one or the other). I liked the comment from “Mad Minerva”. I tend to be somewhat left-wing in my views, but have long been fascinated by war and warrior culture, and make no apologies for that. I had vague thoughts about joining the military over the years, but my personal problems – especially with interacting with other people – precluded it. Anyway I would probably end up in some hot and horrid place like East Timor or Iraq. I also would fear being wounded and horribly maimed, as has happened to so many soliders in Iraq.

I got the link from the Mail #457 at Jerry Pournelle’s site (“Chaos” is an apt description; it is appallingly messy and hard to find anything!). He tends to be right-wing/libertarian in his views, so I just roll my eyes and ignore most of it (I haven’t read his novels). A reader on that page also commented on women in the military:

Some comments on women in the military, for what it’s worth.

  1. Women were becoming prevalent during my father’s (a NCO) mustering-out tour (Germany, ’79-81). He once said something to the effect that most of them were there to get pregnant and get back to the states – with full medical – as quickly as possible. I have no data to either confirm or contradict.
  2. I was however closely involved with a coworker who was a VMI graduate at the time they were required to integrate. He maintained that it was wholly inappropriate for women to be involved in combat. He – and other VMI graduates of my acquaintance – were very disturbed both at the reduction in physical standards, and the necessity to eliminate hazing as an element of building camaraderie. He was actually involved in a program – not quite defunct, though unlikely ever to be funded at this point – to establish a private school that would continue the traditions of all-male education in military style.
  3. In my own opinion, I have no problems with women being in uniform in jobs that they are physically capable of doing, and certainly gender doesn’t make a lot of difference in any number of positions. However, most of those are behind the lines, and I dread the day when a mixed unit goes down where an all-male unit would have survived, particularly since I see at least a portion of the males taking extra risks to try to protect their female counterparts under fire. For what it’s worth.

A possible (if contentious) solution to the first point is that it be compulsory for women who would serve in combat roles to be sterilized! That might deter any who had thoughts of “getting pregnant and getting out”. The second point … hazing seems to be a necessary male ritual, though it can get out of hand (as happens in the Russian military). Women can be quite bitchy towards each other, though! I don’t know what the solution to that is. The third point … there does seem to be a vague male instinct to protect women (which we should not be ungrateful for!); perhaps a solution is to have single-sex (all-male or all-female) units.

Friday 23/3

A hot day with a scorching northerly wind; up to 37°C. Not a good day to be at the Avalon Airshow!

There was a fiery crash in a privately-operated underground tunnel in Melbourne this morning that incinerated at least three people. Horrible way to die. The Burnley Tunnel has been trouble-plagued since its inception and this is the worst incident so far.

I don’t play computer/video games as such, but can admire their graphics and art (and am always on the lookout for inspiration for my own characters). A new one coming out is Hellgate: London. (Though, as is typical for these games, the female characters don’t wear very much and have impossibly perfect figures.)

A not-too-surprising report that racing games “breed” bad drivers.

Made this post in the “When are we going to Mars??” thread at Uplink/Space.com – reproduced below:

An article from 2005 that came to mind when reading through this thread: The Dream Palace Of The Space Cadets :-)

Visiting or colonizing another planet is the hardest task humans will ever do, and I don't think people like Elon Musk fully realize that (when making silly statements as in the Space Review article). Going to another world is very different (physically and psychologically) from colonizing another land on Earth. (Just my inexpert opinion!)

(Though while looking at Earth analogies for Martian colonies, has anyone read about the First Fleet? That was an 8-month voyage to what was essentially an alien land, and the people never saw their homeland again.)

Saturday 24/3

In happy contrast to yesterday it is now 10°C outside and wet! A cold front and lots of rain came overnight. And Daylight Savings ends tonight, at long last!

Government’s water shortage: entry at a libertarian blog, Thoughts on Freedom. The libertarian “solution” to the water crisis here? Privatize water! Let the corporations take over, sell water for profit, drive up prices and ensure only the well-off have access to drinking water. Never mind that such access is considered a basic human right (along with food, shelter, education, etc.) The libertarians are of the opinion that the free market will provide solutions to everything.

After looking it up, there is no specific mention of water but Article 25 states:

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

I assume “food” includes water? Those are things only a responsible government can provide. The free market cannot be trusted as a substitute! Their sole reason for existence is to make a profit.

After more Googling, found a page at WHO: The right to water.

“Privatization” of water services is often a controversial issue, and the involvement of the private sector in water delivery has accelerated over the past decade. In many countries, private sector involvement has extended beyond selling water from trucks and supply of infrastructure to the full operation and management of water delivery systems.While governments under international human rights law may permit private sector involvement, their responsibilities remain the same. Steps must be taken to ensure that the sufficiency, safety, affordability and accessibility of water are protected from interference as well as ensuring that everyone will enjoy the right in the shortest possible time.Where it is involved, the private sector should be encouraged by governments to participate effectively in ensuring people’s right to water.

Articles from today’s The Age:

“A nation without the capacity to care”. Australia’s economic growth has seen its society become more greedy and selfish.

For the best part of 30 years, we have gone through a large and for the most part highly successful restructuring that has seen us move from a manufacturing and more collectivist economy to one characterised by services, consumption and never-ending competition. We have boosted efficiency in ways we could never have imagined, and which has much of the rest of the world looking on with envy as we notch up a record-breaking 60 consecutive quarters of crisp economic growth delivering rising incomes and affluence. But the cost of this has been high. Whereas once we had many points of personal contact with our core economic institutions, today this is only at the point when you buy. […] Put simply, we have become an efficient society but along the way our institutions have lost the capacity to care. It is here, in this uncomfortable world of rising efficiency and material wealth for some! but declining levels of care, that the seeds are being sown for a new politics and policy agenda.

“Single, ignored and irate”. An article similar to one mentioned in my 20/1/2006 entry (now offline, annoyingly), about a virtually-ignored group in society (of which I am one!): single people. Politicians are obsessed with getting the vote of families – namely nuclear families (two parents with young children), and single people are off the radar. And not all singles (including this one) are high-income professionals!

“Lost … in the blink of an eye”. Special report on the impact of a traumatic brain injury on a young man’s life – essentially it is ended, with him being in a permanent vegetative state. Every week there are reports of assaults (usually by young males) and this can be one of the results. I hope that, should this ever happen to me, my life support would be turned off – I have no desire to be kept alive for years as little more than a shell. What would be the purpose? Mark L. Irons has a page on his website expressing the same wish. I suppose the boy’s parents do not want to let their son go, but do they seriously expect to maintain such a level of care for the rest of their lives?

Sunday 25/3

I noticed that the Soyuz Crew Operations Manual (SoyCOM) – final (258 pages) is available in the subscription-only L2 section at NASASpaceflight.com. *Covets* Seems like all the good stuff has been moved over there!

The Kliper spaceship concept is to be resubmitted to Russian Space Agency by late 2007.

Expedition 15 cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov said they would be happy to carry out a spacewalk with an appropriately-trained space tourist.

Monday 26/3

Rather chilly this morning! So I was wearing winter clothes for the first time :-).

My (perhaps somewhat naïve) comment at the Government’s water shortage libertarian blog entry got three replies – disagreeing, of course (what did I expect?). Might as well bash my head against a brick wall – no point in trying to argue. I will refer you to What’s wrong with libertarianism at Mark Rosenfelder’s Metaverse.

A letter from last week’s Herald-Sun, responding to criticism about the Melbourne F1 winner, Kimi Raikkonen, being supposedly too quiet:

Australians need to realize that not everyone is like them. Having a go at Kimi Raikkonen because he doesn’t smile or say much doesn’t seem very fair to me (“Ice man is cool on the track, not so hot off,” March 19). Having lived in Finland, I know that Finnish customs are of a whole other dimension compared with Australian customs. Finnish people are very private and aren’t attention-seekers like many Australians. They rarely smile when having their pictures taken. Being shy people, they are hesitant speaking another language, which keeps them from expressing themselves. But they are some of the best people when you get to know them, so I wish people would stop picking on Kimi. It just gives him another reason not to smile and to say even less.

– Brittany Tonkin, Charlton

Information via Anik at NASASpaceflight.com:

New information from Sergey Shamsutdinov (one of editors of Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine): On March 6 the Russian Main Medical Commission (GMK) has declared Konstantin Kozeev and Aleksandr Lazutkin unusable to spaceflight due to medical problems, therefore they will leave RSC Energia’s Cosmonaut Group very soon … Also the new commander for the backup Expedition 17 crew is Gennadii Padalka now (instead of Sergei Krikalyov) … And Yuri Lonchakov, not Michael Barratt, will be the commander of the backup Expedition 18 crew …

Tuesday 27/3

My RuSpace blog (ruspace.blogger.com) is back from the dead! Got an email today from Blogger saying they had restored it (and presumably evicted the annoying spammer who was squatting at the URL). So I won’t delete it again! I may consider transferring it to Wordpress.com, which has a facility for importing blogs – though I can’t edit the CSS (which requires a paid account), which is a real annoyance – I noticed the style sheet does things like display the cite tag as a block element (on a line by itself).

I set up an account at Wordpress (ruspace.wordpress.com) and tried the import; it worked! I don’t know if I will use it, though – not being able to edit the CSS is a real nuisance (though you can if you have the free edition of WP installed on your site, which I can’t as my host doesn’t have PHP support installed).

I’ll just leave it for now. Too tired!

Dad’s birthday coming up this week (I won’t say how old he is – 70+, hard to believe!) so I have been hunting for a birthday card. It is so hard to find anything that appeals; they are either too saccharine or too crude (the “humorous” cards) and he doesn’t like golf, cars, fishing, boats or beer (the usual motifs on men’s cards).

Something I have noticed in my parents (and our dog!) is the crossover between middle age and old age; it is when one’s body becomes saggy, stooped and hollow; the skin becomes loose and thin. It is a subtle (and rather dismaying) change.

The Russian swim team at the World Championships (which I have not been following as it bores me) have got some bad press due to some misdeneamours: a 14-year-old swim team member was caught shoplifting at a Dandenong shopping centre earlier this month (let off with a caution) and a swimming coach was charged with assault – “drunkenly grabbing a hotel security guard on the breast”. One would think the appropriate response to the latter (from the assailed) would be a slap or a knee to the groin.

I actually went swimming for a few months a long time ago (1993-1994) at a public pool some distance away; rode my bicycle there. I did not know any swimming strokes (though I had learnt to swim – at least, more-or-less stay afloat – when younger) so I taught myself a couple and plodded up and down the lanes in a somewhat awkward manner about three times a week. I stopped as I got tired of cycling up there, and also tired of bumping into other people! I would not go swimming now as I look awful in bathers.

Tuesday 28/3

Rain this evening; it has been overcast all day, with the swirly lavender-and-cream cloudy sky that comes with a north wind before such a change. The rainfall pattern gradually seems to be returning to normal; the previous rain was on Saturday.

There was the ugly sound of another house getting demolished somewhere in the neighborhood. The suburb in which I have spent all my life so far is being altered, and not for the better. A quote from a NSW Sutherland Shire page:

What is Overdevelopment?

It is a community’s perception that its quality-of-life is being eroded by crowding – by excess of buildings and vehicles, which cause congested roads, difficult parking, noise/air/visual pollution, overstressed services/infrastructure, loss of trees/greenspace/urban bushland, all attended by rising vandalism and crime.

What Must Be Done About It?

Urban growth always, everywhere, reaches a point where further growth begins to erode quality-of-life.

That is certainly happening here, but no one seems to be doing anything about it – the State Government is determined to continue its stupid population/economic growth policy, and VCAT can override council decisions – too often in favor of the developers. As a resident I am frustrated and powerless.

Moscow Diary: Accident-prone, BBC news, 26/3. A dismaying diary entry of the huge road toll in Russia – 35,000 killed each year! – and fatalities from other accidents (the recent mine disaster, aircraft crashes, etc.) – 17,000 killed in fires last year. Not to mention those who would be permanently maimed from such accidents.

“It's fate,” my friend said. That seems to be an element of the general attitude to accidents here. And widespread corruption means that almost all rules and regulations – including fire regulations and the rules of the road – can be got around. Russia needs to address these two issues if it is to have fewer national days of mourning in the future.

Incidently, Energiya president Nikolai Sevast’yanov was in a car accident on 3 March in Moscow (NK News № 611); he collided head-on with a 23-year-old driver in a Opel Astra who came out of a side-street unexpectedly. He got a brain concussion and various injuries, but he evidently recovered as it was not mentioned on the Energiya site, and he was attending meetings a week or so later.

“The first Soyuz mission – forty years on,” RIA Novosti, 23/3.

“Space station trip will push the envelope,” James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 28/3. The Soyuz TMA-9 spaceship will have stayed in space longer than any previous Soyuz (214 days – previous record is 210 days).

Friday 30/3

Unlike last Friday (23/3 entry) today is cool with some showers.

Went to the city this morning and bought a C.J. Cherryh novel, The Faded Sun Trilogy. I read it years ago and liked it. She is one of my favorite authors. I tend to like her science-fiction novels better than her fantasy.

Was dismayed to see two more hideously ugly “McMansions” – oversized two-storyed ostentatious houses – had been built in a nearby street which I had not walked along for months. Enormous boxes sitting on a wasteland of concrete; not a tree or shrub to be seen around them. Whoever designs these abominations should have their eyes gouged out! A slogan I thought up: “Save our suburb – SHOOT a developer!”

Some things found after doing an Australian Google search for McMansions:

When we detonate and rebuild inevitably the community loses out. Instead of a small cottage, with a leafy front garden, a Frangipani beside the front steps and a twin-strip concrete driveway down the side to the garage in the back, we get a McMansion. The new two-storey McMansion has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a home entertainment room, a three-car garage, cement-rendered brick veneer walls, a black concrete tile roof and no eaves. It takes up almost the whole block. The old front garden is no longer visible behind the new high brick fence as is the glimpse of greenery you used to get down the side passage. The new house casts shadows over its neighbours and locks itself off from the street with its privacy wall and locked metal gates. A security camera monitors the entrance and the movement-activated spotlights come on as you walk past at night. Pity the poor boy, who tries to retrieve his football from over the fence.

Even the owners of the new McMansion lose out. Imagine having six bathrooms to keep clean and stocked with loo paper, soap and hand towels. Imagine the cost of running the air conditioning to overcome the heat build-up caused by lack of eaves and cross ventilation. There is also the on-going problem of what to do with all that space, when there are only two of you living there.

Then there is the less tangible loss of the old house as a memory bank. The old house told a story about the people who lived in it, about how it was built and who built it, and it tells a story about the suburb and how it developed. These connections back into the past are essential for maintaining our sense of place and community.

– Renovate or detonate?, Tony Coote

Some examples can be seen in this photo-essay.

“Is bigger really better? The great house-size divide,” Renovation Nation blog at The Age (I added a comment).

“The Castle,” Sixty Minutes report.

My parents’ home – the one we still live in – is a single-story weatherboard built in the 1940s with three bedrooms (originally two; one room was added by the family who lived here before us), one bathroom, a laundry, a kitchen, a dining room, a lounge room and a hallway. It did not seem inadequate – though admittedly another room or two would be nice for extra storage space! I have the awful feeling that if it is ever sold, it will be demolished – and sixty-plus years’ worth of memories will go with it.

The latest ZoneAlarm firewall update has jumped from 13 MB to 38 MB. Seems that you are actually downloading the 15-day trial of the full version, which reverts to the free after this, according to this post at the ZA forum. I am not very happy about this as it seems rather sneaky, so perhaps I will revert to using the Windows XP firewall, though it only blocks one way (incoming) traffic. There doesn’t seem to be many other free firewalls to choose from, though Comodo seems to get good reviews.

“China And Russia Plan Mars Mission,” Space Daily, 28/3. A small Chinese satellite is to be launched with the Russian “Phobos Explorer” spacecraft.

“China To Pursue Space Instead Of Socialism,” Space Daily, 28/3. Andrei Kislyakov opinion piece.

“Fireball fears stoked by space history,” James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 29/3. A fireball seen from a Chilean airliner was initially thought to be the deorbiting Progress M-58 cargo ship, but this was later discredited. The sea dump site is in the South Pacific, 45°S and 140°W.

Progress M-58 undocked on 27/3 at 18:11, deorbited at 22:44:30 and was destroyed at 23:30:22.

“Space brings Russia glory but not money – experts,” RIA Novosti/Gazeta (news roundup for 30/3):

On Thursday, the Presidium of the State Council, which comprises Russia’s regional leaders, held its visiting session in Kaluga, a city south-west of Moscow, to discuss how the national space program could benefit the economy. The Presidium said the Russian economy could only benefit from communication satellites, while experts doubt their efficiency.

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) is just about the only cost-effective space program to date. Although pocket personal computers and cell phones still cannot operate outside the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia and the European Union are working hard to develop their own navigation systems. The EU’s satellite-navigation system Galileo faces serious problems; and the European Commission even threatened to terminate the project, unless the parties reached a consensus on principled issues.Russia’s GLONASS project is not very successful either because only eight GLONASS satellites are currently in orbit.

In early March, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, one of the likely candidates to succeed President Vladimir Putin, said the GLONASS system will be opened to commercial users late this year. But analysts doubt the system’s market prospects. Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group, said Russia does not need a GPS-type system. He said the GLONASS system will be adapted for civilian use to make it profitable. But it will not be very popular because few people will install GLONASS receivers into personal pocket computers and cell phones, Murtazin said. The GLONASS system will become cost-effective only if the Government persuades corporate users to adopt it, he told the paper.

This project has political implications because Russia will elect its parliament and president in December 2007 and March 2008, respectively. By promoting the GLONASS system, Russia wants to prove that it is not dependent on Western technology, Alexei Makarkin, deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies, said. He said the Kremlin is trying to improve its reputation through space programs, and society thinks Russia is therefore reasserting itself as a powerful and influential country.

April

Sunday 1/4

Letters of interest at RIA Novosti:

Re. “U.S. asks Czech Republic to deploy missile defense radar”. I am an American, and I wish to cause NO problems, but the world has seen first hand the lies and invasionism President Bush has inflicted so far. It is his (Bush) goal to “govern over the entire world”. If I were the leader of any country, I would definitely be leary of any involvement of any type with the U.S. or its politicians. I can promise that any guarantees or promises he or the U.S. might make to any other country would be as a lie and an objective of gaining control of the country in question.

– Bob Hoferer, 22/1

What a pity that countries that have been part of the Soviet Union and tsarist Russia for over 300 years cannot see that they are economically, racially and historically tied in a way that the more these regions split, the more they lose. They think that kissing up to the west will solve all their problems. When will they learn that the world is looking at their countries as places to exploit their human and natural resources and is designed to weaken Russia so that the world can steal all its human and natural resources. Surely these regions can unite in a new governmental order to protect their borders, their peoples and their natural resources. People of the former Soviet Union, wake up and work together before all is lost. (Stefanya, 30/1)

Americans wanting to see the IL-76 waterbomber in action were unfortunately unable to do that when NBC’s Nightly News ran a feature on new firefighting airplanes last fall. Now, thanks to YouTube, both the waterbomber in action and the Nightly News item can be found directly at waterbomber.com or separately at a YouTube search “waterbomber”. This writer feels that US influence has kept the waterbomber away from firefighting in the EU, Canada, and Australia, among other areas-in-need. In Austria, when the IL-76 waterbomber was shown, one influential photographer called the aircraft “most spectacular in show”.

– John Anderson, 22/3

“600-800 000 people in Russia are members of religious sects,” RIA Novosti, 20/2: cranky religious cults have infested Russia like cancers.

Some unflown cosmonauts from the Cosmonaut Group appeared on a show called What? Where? When?, «Что? Где? Когда?» on 30 March on the First, Первому channel, competing against television viewers. The participants: Sergei Zhukov (team captain), Anatolii Ivanishin, Sergei Ryazansky, Aleksander Samokutyaev, Anton Shkaplerov, Mukhtar Aimakhanov (Kazakhstan). Unfortunately they lost (6:3). (NK news № 617, № 618)

Monday 2/4

Fence graffiti

Two weeks of school holidays and the usual morons (on skateboards) “decorated” some fences last night – a nearby fence, below:

The house two doors up also got their fence done for the fourth time (see 5/11/2006 entry). Spray paint is very difficult to remove from unpainted brick or stone fences; it leaves a permanent stain.

Watched an interesting documentary last week, Cuttlefish: the Brainy Bunch, about how intelligent cuttlefish are. They can morph their skin into different shapes and produce brilliant color displays. They are the most intelligent of all invertebrates, and are probably as close to an alien intelligence as humans will encounter. They don’t live long though – less than two years.

At the lower end of the intelligence scale are programs like Pussycat Dolls, brief scenes of which I watched while channel-surfing in boredom. Brief scenes were all that I could tolerate – consisting of girls in their early twenties wearing very little and screeching “WOO-HOO! YEAH!” with alarming regularity. If this is what girls aspire to, then feminism is in a sorry state!

Press releases for and interviews with the Dolls or Robin Antin have often included statements about the group representing or modeling “empowerment” of women and girls. This empowerment includes (but is not restricted to) encouraging women to be openly expressive of sexual desire, and to “take control” in their relationships. In this, and other aspects, they take a similar approach to the Spice Girls and their promotion of “Girl Power”. Critics including Edward Wyatt of the New York Times and Jim Schembri of The Age have commented on the supposed paradox of third-wave feminism asking “Can sexually-provocative dress and behaviour be empowering to women, or is it solely pandering to male fantasies?”.

Most definitely the latter.

The Expedition 15/Soyuz TMA-12 crew launch on the 7th, so they are now at Baikonur Cosmodrome. Charles’ site takes about two minutes to load (on broadband) and you have to wait for it all to load before anything is visible. Flash-animated sites are evil!

Sergei Krikalyov was there as part of Energiya management: in Energiya photo-report, March 27, 2007. Baikonur Cosmodrome, RSC Energia’s branch. Sergei was at the Baikonur cosmodrome Krainii, Крайний airport with other Energiya managers to greet the Soyuz TMA-10 prime and backup crews. He appears in photos 3 and 6. Also in Energiya photo-report, March 28, 2007. The crew report on their readiness to proceed with their final training phase to General Designer N.N. Sevast’yanov and other managers. Sergei appears in photos 4 and 13.

Tuesday 3/4

Regarding intelligent creatures, forgot to mention in my 30/3 entry last week that on the train ride home from the city I saw a raven perched on the edge of a rubbish bin, determinedly pulling up the plastic bin liner with his beak and claws so that he could access the food inside. Which I thought was rather clever!

From a posting at European Tribune; London is being overrun with Russians (of the obscenely wealthy variety):

One night last June, 400 A-list guests and several packs of wolves descended upon Althorp, the ancestral home of the late Princess Diana. The guests – who included Orlando Bloom, Elle MacPherson, and Salman Rushdie – had been invited to attend a fund-raiser for the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation, which helps childhood cancer victims in Russia. The wolves, who were led about the estate on leashes, had been hired to provide ambiance – specifically, that of a “Russian midsummer fantasy.” Creating a tableau that, according to the London Times, not even “Keith Richards at the creative summit of his hallucinogenic powers could have conjured up,” the wolves and celebrities were joined by a bejeweled camel, Cossacks on dancing horses, people in eighteenth-century costumes sitting in trees like a “scene from a Watteau painting,” and – for a touch of contemporary flavor – U2’s Bono, via video link from Dublin, and the hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas. After a dinner that included jellied borsch with smoked sturgeon and golden Osetra caviar, the guests took part in a charity auction, bidding for prizes: a private dinner with co-host Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow; a flight in a MiG fighter jet; and, for those yearning to experience the tough love of the Putin regime, a night in a Russian maximum-security prison.

This extraordinary party, wolves and all, was underwritten to the tune of $2.3 million by Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB spy who now owns one-third of Aeroflot-Russian Airlines. The elder Lebedev maintains his primary residence in Moscow, but his 26-year-old son Evgeny went to British schools and now lives in the upscale neighborhood of Knightsbridge. The Lebedevs are part of a new generation of Russians who have invaded London, rippling Britain’s aristocratic classes more than any group since the Arab sheiks arrived in opec-fueled limousines in the 1970s. These days, the main dining rooms at the Ivy and Cipriani are as likely to be tinkling with Russian as English. London real estate agents have estimated that 20 percent of all houses sold for over $10 million are sold to Russians. Of those sold for over $30 million, the figure climbs to 50 percent. “Today, effectively, the Russians are the richest buyers we’ve got,” says Trevor Abrahamson of Glentree Estates.

ESA prepares for a human mission to Mars, ESA news, 2/4. ESA is also partaking in the Russian Mars-500 experiment, contributing to the research. The actual experiment seems to have been moved back to 2009 (from the latter half of 2007), with two shorter 100-day missions to take place in 2008 that will test the facility and procedures. A diagram of the complex can be found in a PDF on this page; I posted it at NASASpaceflight.com.

Friday 6/4

Fine and sunny today, and hopefully that awful hot 37°C day two weeks ago (23/3) was the last of summer.

Watched a documentary last night called Women Of The Holy Kingdom, about women in Saudi Arabia. It was a dismaying demonstration of how far women’s rights have to go in some countries. Women there cannot go anywhere without a male escort, a restriction unthinkable in Australia, and wearing a headscarf and veil is mandatory. Some women there, though, regard the Western version of feminism as immoral. For me, feminism means not being restricted from doing activities because of the mere fact that I am female. Feminism also means having control over one’s body – i.e. access to contraception and abortion.

Poland’s Hunt for Red Octogenarians: blog entry at European Tribune (which has become a favorite community to visit) by “redstar,” about the Evil Twins who rule Poland, “two far-right, homophobic and xenophobic demagogues” (President Lech Kaczynski, and Prime Minister Jaroslaw), and who are going “on a good old fashioned purge of former Communist party members” when they aren’t making abortions nearly impossible to get. Having twins in power sounds like a scenario from a fantasy novel; these two are definitely representing the Dark Side! Also, an earlier entry on the missile defence system to be stationed in Poland.

Two dismaying blog entries at ET by “myriad” on how the Howard government has destroyed all the achievements of unions for workers with its industrial relations reform. I can’t express adequately how much I hate, loathe and despise this government.

Soyuz TMA-10 will launch at 17:31:09 UTC on the 7th – 3:31 a.m. on the 8th Melbourne time, so I will miss the launch, unfortunately. They are doing a late afternoon rather than a morning launch at Baikonur for some reason.

Monday 9/4

Fine sunny autumn weather, but the reservoirs supplying Melbourne are down to 31.6% of capacity.

Quite a lot of people seem to have gone away for the Easter holiday, so the roads are nice and quiet. Sadly that is only temporary.

A somewhat silly article about blogs; these sorts of stories appear occasionally in the mainstream media as though the reporters have just discovered a new phenomenon. A blog is merely an online journal – a newer form of what humans have been keeping for millennia. And the term “cyberspace” became outdated by the late 1990s.

A gloomy BBC report on a polluted Russian city, Norilsk, and a somewhat different view from columnist Timothy Bancoft-Hinchey at Pravda.ru.

30 March marked 150 years since the USA purchased Alaska from Russia for not-very-much. Would have made the Cold War more interesting had Russia still owned Alaska!

Another ridiculously wealthy rich person is now in orbit. Somehow I just can’t get very excited. Soyuz TMA-10 launched on the 7th (8th in Melbourne) at 17:31:14 UTC, with no problems.

The promised blogs of cosmonauts Kotov and Yurchikhin at Charles Simonyi’s site failed to eventuate, disappointingly.

Tuesday 10/4

Forgot to mention last week that a French high-speed train set a new world record of 574.8 km/h (discussed at European Tribune). A high-speed train would be very useful in Australia, but is one project that state governments talk about but have never yet implemented.

“America’s Broken-Down Army,” Time, 5 April. Well, it is still in better shape than other countries’s armies, but it is being overstretched. Found this quote of interest:

The Army is the heart of the U.S. military, practicing what democracies sometimes manage only to preach. All soldiers are created equal; race and class defer to rank and merit. Except for the stars, the general wears the uniform of the private in combat. The Army is the public institution that sets the pace for others to follow, makes the stakes higher, the demands greater. Its rewards are paid in glory and blood. A volunteer Army reflects the most central and sacred vow that citizens make to one another: soldiers protect and defend the country; in return, the country promises to give them the tools they need to complete their mission and honor their service, whatever the outcome.

A pertinent article at MSNBC.com: Russians fear becoming space cabbies – “Space experts worry new role will take away from needed development.” Which states exactly what I grumble about every so often. The Russian space program has been reduced to a taxi service for bored rich space tourists and if that is all it is to be, they might as well end it. Sergei Korolyov would not be impressed with the way things are now.

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.

– Robert Zimmerman, Leaving Earth

Soyuz TMA-10 docked at 19:10:44 on 9 April to the nadir port of the Zarya FGB module.

Some news tidbits, from Space Daily:

Wednesday 11/4

I have a dry and scratchy throat, so I think I have another cold developing *groan*.

Three weeks ago there was a report on 4 Corners about virtual worlds, the main focus being on Second Life. Curiously enough I did not find the world of Second Life appealing (the unsavory elements of it being one). It seems to be yet another ploy to extract money from people, and I would rather spend my time daydreaming (my own virtual reality!) or doing creative things. I already socialize virtually through forums and such, though this is rather like talking to ghosts. I am not much interested in the “social networking” fad, nor the online games like World of Warcraft. I can admire the graphics, but am just not interested in playing.

There are some nice screenshots online at the EVE MMOG. I wish I could do computer art and design alien spaceships, but I can’t.

Online sci-fi story: “The Days Between” by Allen Steele, found via the Free Speculative Fiction Online site. A crewman on a 230-year voyage is woken up too early from hibernation (three months into the mission) and is unable to return to sleep. Rather nightmarish! [Another story that precedes it: “Stealing Alabama”.]

Another good story is “The Chief Designer” by Andy Duncan; a tale of Sergei Korolyov.

The type of science fiction I tend to prefer is that which is written fairly straightforwardly, with spaceships and wandering around the Universe, rather than being stuck on one planet; the latter scenario I dislike as it is too similar to my real-world situation of being stuck/trapped in the one place all the time. I also like stories including aliens! (One gets rather bored with humans.)

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 619:

The number of people wishing to become cosmonauts has decreased considerably

For modern youth, a cosmonaut career has ceased to be prestigious, Pavel Vinogradov, the chief of the flight-test department of Rocket & Space Corporation (RKK) Energiya declared to journalists at the Baikonur cosmodrome. “If in 1985-1988 RKK Energiya examined some hundreds of applications in a year from candidates for the cosmonaut group, now the number of interested persons is only 20-30 people in a year,” Vinogradov complained. In the autumn of 2006 he returned to the Earth after a six-month expedition on the International Space Station. According to Vinogradov, the decline of prestige of the cosmonaut profession in society is in many respects connected with the low level of material compensation for work of the cosmonaut who receive the salary, “as ordinary engineers.” Interfax reported this.

(Russian version, Русская версия)

Thursday 12/4

I still have a sore throat and a phlegmy cough (phlegm is a difficult word to spell!), and a headache. Had a rather uncomfortable night. I suppose the cold will follow the usual progression into my sinuses, where I will be even more miserable with a stuffy and runny nose.

A few weeks ago I bought the Star Wars novel Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (who can resist a novel with the magic words “Dark Lord” on the cover?). A reasonably good read for a SW novel (most tend to be somewhat bland), but then it is about one of the bad guys :-D. I also finished the Darth Bane novel at Borders bookstore that I mentioned in my 22/2 entry.

The movies 300 and Sunshine both opened in Australia this week, so I am considering whether to go and see them. The cinemas have cheaper ($9) tickets on Tuesdays so that is the only day I would go.

Happy Cosmonautics Day! С Днем Космонавтики! It is 46 years since Yurii Gagarin was launched.

Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin said that Bill Gates is considering a flight into space (he could probably afford to fund his own space program if he were inclined to).

Planets around other stars could have differently-colored foliage depending upon the star’s color (unfortunately they do not go into detail about what star classification would produce a particular plant color), and water has been identified in an extrasolar planet’s atmosphere (well, more accurately, “strong evidence”).

Some of the curious items found in astronaut Lisa Nowak’s car included bondage photos and drawings on a CD.

Friday 13/4

My throat is not quite as sore, though I am still hacking and coughing.

No rain this week, or next week. More gloom and doom with the news that power and water prices are to rise sharply, which will hurt those on low incomes.

In my occasional theoretical exercise to find countries to evacuate to should Victoria/Australia become unliveable due to drought and climate change, Canada seems a reasonably nice place to live.

Unwelcome news for early risers like me is that, from this year, Daylight Savings is to be extended – from the first week of October to the first week of April. Not impressed!

I walked down to Moorabbin (20 minutes away) and found two books I had been looking for, in secondhand bookstores: Hunter of Worlds by C.J. Cherryh and Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. (I am garnering ideas for my own aliens.) The latter novel I don’t particularly like (I read it in the mid-1990s), but am more interested in the idea of the alien invasion (the aliens are difficult to take seriously, though, resembling … baby elephants). The authors are conservative/libertarian types (they blame the liberals for everything), and the Russian characters (the novel was written when the USSR still existed) are primitive stereotypes, as noted in this review:

I’ve read a lot of reviews and I havn’t seen anyone else mention how shallow and one-dimensional the humans are in this book. It might be just me. But the people in this book are driven first by their sex drive and second by their sex drive. Now this book doesn’t have any explicit descriptions or anything like that, but the people are rock stupid. For example, Russians are on an alien ship as captives. They learn more captives are brought on board, including a few women. The first and knee-jerk response of the Russians is to say “Women!!!” “It’s been such a long time!” Are you kidding me?? And here’s paraphrased dialogue: Jeri and the others were placed in a cell with three Russians. She was scared in her new alien surroundings. She saw the Russians and her eyes were drawn to one in particular. He was looking at her and she couldn’t look away. He was strong and she hoped that they would get to know each other a lot better and hopefully have sex. Ok it wasn’t exactly like that, but I swear the effect is the same. It’s like the authors knew sex would draw readers but had no clue about how to put it in. It’s super clunky and unbelievable. Every notable character in this book except for one or two people is having sex with people they just meet. Nearly every married person has an affair. I’m serious. It’s weird.

– Aaron Lohr

Being a european (swedish) reader I was a bit disturb by the clichélike portrayal of Russian/Soviet society and the gloryfying of USA. Maybe it takes someone from outside of US to notice this “twisted” and totally wrong portayal of Russia. But after the first 62 pages the good (US) and bad (Russia) became a bit greyish. I still resent the way the Russian characters were the “bad” and the stubborn and good old congressman was the “good” guy. The world is not according to the US. There are more faults and incoherents in the US than in the Euroean countrys combined.

I doubt an alien invasion would be any worse than what humanity is already doing to itself!

“The Missile-Defense Flap,” Space Daily, 11/4. Opinion piece on the rather-too-convenient positioning of U.S. anti-missile defence systems in countries on Russia’s borders. “Iranian missiles would find it more convenient to travel to the Western Hemisphere via Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain. When you realize this, it becomes clear that U.S. anti-missiles in Poland are meant to intercept Russian, rather than Iranian, missiles, because one of their possible trajectories to the United States would go over and across Europe.”

“Really Old Stars Perhaps Ideal for Advanced Civilizations,” Space.com, 12/4. Class-M dwarf stars are long-lived, plentiful and though cooler than the Sun, life might be able to evolve on planets orbiting them. (Stellar classification at Wikipedia.)

Saturday 14/4

Watched an Online Newshour report last night about the financial and emotional costs of treating brain-injured Iraq war veterans. Because of the advancements in medical care, soldiers are surviving horrific injuries that would not have been survivable in previous wars (Vietnam, etc.). But many will not recover from such injuries and thus be permanently disabled. Looking at some, I wonder if death would not be more merciful. There is also a story at Discover.com, “Dead Men Walking” (I don’t know how long the story will be posted online), on Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI).

Heroic measures may be yielding unprecedented survival rates, but they also carry a grim consequence: No other war has created so many seriously disabled veterans. Soldiers are surviving some brain injuries with only their brain stems unimpaired.

My own feeling when reading that is, if I ever received such an injury I hope that someone would have the mercy to shoot or euthanaise me. It would not be worth it to prolong my life merely for the sake of it; without quality of life, it is just not worth living. The brain is such an alarmingly fragile organ which holds our entire identity and personality. An injury to the frontal lobes can alter a personality permanently. Saw a program about this last year, where a man who had suffered a concussion – with the frontal lobes bouncing against the sharp protrusions inside the front of the skull – underwent a personality change; he lost all capability for empathy, and his wife and child could not relate to him any more.

Monday 16/4

Still coughing and snuffling; the cold is now in my sinuses (*groan*).

From RIA Novosti, 12/4:

ISS is a mistake we fear to acknowledge – cosmonaut Grechko

“Manned orbital stations lead nowhere, I wrote in my report back in 1978, after a flight that set an endurance record,” Soviet pilot-cosmonaut Georgy Grechko has told the newspaper. “I said that human crews on the stations did not always combine happily with automated instruments. There are plenty of situations where a human being is a nuisance to automatic devices, rather than a help. I argued that stations should be visited only when their equipment needed repairs or replacement.

“Twelve or so years after I wrote that, the United States launched its automatic Hubble telescope into orbit. Since then, astronauts have mended it three times, and are now thinking of doing it a fourth time. The Hubble has made dozens of times more discoveries than all the orbiting stations taken together, complete with their crews and supply craft.

“Experience has shown that I was right 30 years ago. But we are all still sitting snugly on the International Space Station (ISS), in effect keeping it merely alive. For it to bring a profit, it must have a standing crew of six, while the actual number is mostly two. And they have no time for science. My colleague Sergei Krikalyov told me that when he was on board the station he could do science only on Sundays.

“A six-member complement on board the ISS is so far out of the question because no rescue ship that size exists in case something happens. Our Soyuz is a fine craft, but it no longer matches up to new tasks. Even following several upgrades, it is morally outdated.

“The Americans have money both for winding up the ISS program and for launching an interplanetary travel project. But when our state wants to make money on space tourists, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Russian pioneering space scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky said that space would bring us mountains of bread and a heap of might. But tourists bring neither. And I am not sure that the $20 million paid by the present tourist will all go to benefit space studies.

“As President Boris Yeltsin said in his day, commenting on a $5 billion IMF credit: ‘The devil knows where it has gone’.”

“Russia-Australian launch pad project unfeasible – expert,” Interfax, 15/4. Rather disappointing news that the co-operative project with Russia on building a launch pad at Christmas Island is unlikely to go ahead, due to lack of finances and the building of a launchpad at Kourou.

MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax-AVN) – The resumption of the program to turn Christmas Island (Indian Ocean, Australia) into a launch pad and to launch Russia’s upgraded Soyuz vehicles from it is hardly possible, Yury Zaitsev, an academic advisor with the Engineering Sciences Academy, said. “By all accounts, it would be unrealistic to get funding for making one more medium-class launch vehicle and for its launches from a fourth pad in addition to Plesetsk, Baikonur and Kourou (French Guiana,)” he told Interfax-AVN. Zaitsev was commenting on reports claiming that the Asia Pacific Space Center is weighing plans to resume talks with Russia on building a launch pad on Christmas Island and on using Russian medium-class launch vehicles.

A contract was signed in December 2001 by Rosaviacosmos (now Roscosmos) and the Asia-Pacific Space Center on commercial launches of Russian launch vehicles from Christmas Island. Under the contract, Russia was to provide the launch vehicles and Australia the launch pad, in which it planned to put $450 million. The first launch was to be carried out in the middle of 2004 with the use of the Aurora launch vehicle – an upgraded Soyuz with the Korvet upper stage. The launch vehicle was to carry a 12-tonne payload to a support orbit and some 2 tonnes to a geostationary orbit. Four-five launches were to be carried out each year. But given the lack of financing the APSC froze the project, Zaitsev said.

A launch pad is currently being built in Kourou for the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle. “Geographically, it is seven degrees closer to the equator, while the Soyuz-2, unlike the Aurora, is ready and has been tested launched four times from Plesetsk,” he said. The discussion of a plan to build a cosmodrome in the Indian Ocean at one time seriously accelerated the talks on building a launch pad in Kourou, he said.

Discussion at NASASpaceflight.com of an ISS Russian module, the Docking Cargo Module (don’t know the Russian name), to be delivered aboard STS-131/ULF4 in 2009. It is part of the extended NASA contract with the Russian Space Agency.

With the modification, NASA also is purchasing the capability for the Russian Docking Cargo Module (DCM) to carry 1.4 metric tons of NASA cargo to the space station. That module is scheduled to fly in 2010. By adding the module, NASA will be able to fly outfitting hardware for the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module on the DCM, eliminating the need to fly a cargo carrier and some ballast on a shuttle flight. NASA is obligated to deliver the Russian outfitting hardware to the station under a 2006 addendum to the ISS Balance of Contributions Agreement between NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency.

A spectacular symmetrical nebula nicknamed the Red Square was discovered.

Tuesday 17/4

A dreadful shooting massacre at a U.S. university, Virginia Tech (BBC and Wikipedia articles), killed 33 (including the gunman). Shooting began at 11:15 UTC (late last night in Melbourne). There were two sets of shootings. The motive is as yet unknown (there are reports that the gunman had some sort of argument with his girlfriend), and the gunman’s name has not been released. It is the worst such U.S. school shooting so far (the Port Arthur massacre saw 35 killed).

I found a hairdresser salon in Southland that charged $7 for a basic cut, rather than the $15.50 similar places charged, so I had my hair trimmed there today. A much more reasonable price! My hair is all of one length so all it requires is the ends trimmed and tidied up every two or three months. For some reason women’s haircuts are usually more expensive than men’s.

China’s economy is reaching the limits of its growth and the country faces environmental disaster if it does not find an alternative method of growth; there is simply not enough fuel on the planet to sustain it using the Western model.

Postings at Russia Blog: Russian Prosecutors Open New Criminal Cases Against Berezovsky (why is England hosting a robber baron like Berezovsky? “Boris Berezovsky would sell his grandmother for some western attention and a pat on the head and a table scrap. He represents the trailer trash of Russia, the sophisticated criminal, the eloquent scum bag, and the gourmet stench of Western hypocrisy that financed the Beslan school massacre,” is one scathing comment) and Just How Pro-Russian is Yanukovich? (more turmoil in Ukraine politics *yawn*).

Following a link in the comments there, Alexander Litvinenko: Blackmailer, Smuggler, Gangster Extraordinaire at Antiwar.com, a sardonic overview of the media hysteria surrounding the radiation poisoning of the ex-KGB officer in November 2006. (I noticed a book about him had appeared at Borders bookstore.)

Another big problem for the “Putin did it” advocates is that the truth about Litvinenko is coming out: he wasn’t the “human rights” campaigner and noble dissident his supporters have portrayed, but a man who hoped to profit from his inside knowledge of KGB/FSB affairs. He was also a blackmailer, and may have been involved in the smuggling of nuclear materials from inside the Soviet Union to the West and parts unknown. He was, in short, a man so enmeshed in the underground world of the Russian mafia, in shady deals and off-the-books arrangements, that he could have been the victim of any number of criminal gangs.

“The Space Partnership Between Russia And Brazil,” Space Daily, 17/4.

Thursday 19/4

My cold is somewhat better, but I still have an annoying cough; my throat is irritated.

The Virginia Tech gunman was a South Korean immigrant named Cho Seung-Hui. He seemed to have mental problems and depression, and was an angry, depressed loner. He wrote some disturbing plays that were full of anger and violence in an English class.

Found this blog entry yesterday, Seatbelts Save Lives, on the importance of wearing them. (There are a lot of comments – 600+.) In October 1975 my Mum, my sister and I were in an accident while driving to Gran’s home; we stopped at an intersection and a car behind ran into the back of us. I think that the wearing of seatbelts were required then in the front seats only, so my sister and I were unrestrained; I recall hanging tightly onto the back of Mum’s seat as we were propelled forward. Fortunately the driver was not traveling fast so we were unscathed (except for some shock). A family living in a house on the road took us in until Dad came to collect us in another car from work. If it had been going faster we might have gone through the windscreen! Below is a photo of what the rear end of the car (a Renault-12) looked like:

Car accident in 1975

Russia and the CIS have the dubious honor of the highest aircraft accident rate for 2006.

A Russian blog and site of interest: Russophile.net.

Of some amusement: Why Russian Women Don’t Marry Russian Men at Copydude. (Probably a bit mean, though!)

The return of Soyuz TMA-9 has been delayed by one day (to the 21st) because of spring thaw flooding in the usual northern Kazakhstan landing zone to a more southerly location near Dgezkazgan.

Friday 20/4

The water supply situation continues to get worse, with news that irrigation of much of Australia’s farmland in the Murray-Darling river system will be cut off if there are no rains in the next two months. A lot of Australia’s food supply (41%) is grown here and is dependent upon irrigation to survive. Food such as grains, vegetables, fruit and dairy products will become more expensive (and have to be imported). So anyone thinking of immigrating here should perhaps reconsider! Parts of the country could become uninhabitable by mid-century if the drought and climate change continue.

Saturday 21/4

I had two sets of dreams last night about the Space Shuttle launching from the backyard of my grandmother’s home! In one dream a person was trying to plant a bomb on it for some reason.

A dedicated person at a Livejournal community screencapped the whole 300 movie (1728 screenshots!) and made them available for temporary download.

A yacht was found drifting on Wednesday off the Great Barrier Reef, its crew of three having disappeared mysteriously. They have not been found. They were not wearing lifejackets.

There was a hostage drama at Johnson Space Center in Houston (early hours of this morning, Melbourne time), where a NASA contract worker took a man and woman hostage in an office building on the campus, then shot the man and himself. (NASASpaceflight.com and CollectSPACE threads)

Soyuz TMA-9 is due to land today, with undocking at 9:11 UTC (7:11 p.m. Melbourne time) and landing at 12:30 UTC (10:30 in Melbourne).

The novel Ascent by Jed Mercurio (mentioned in my 28/2 entry and at CollectSPACE) got a brief review in The Age today, so it is being released in Australia – unfortunately in the large paperback format so it is $32.95.

Ascent is a novel from Jed Mercurio that tackles a fictive secret history. Yefgenii Yeremin is a talented teenager. Brutalised in a Stalingrad orphan age, Yeremin almost never gets the chance to make his mark. But an act of violence saves him and paves the way to his future. Yeremin is trained as a Russian fighter pilot. Carrying out secret missions during the Korean War, he downs more American jets than anyone else. He’s known to his comrades as “Ivan the Terrible” – but he remains obscure to history. After the war, he’s exiled to the Arctic Circle where he observes the beginning of a new aerial battle – the space race. Five years down the track, he’s on his way to the moon. Ascent is a page-turner. Mercurio’s adventure behind the Iron Curtain might be a trashy entertainment, but it’s skilled, superior trash. With vivid characters, cinematically drawn landscapes and a plot that rockets along, Ascent is infinitely readable.

If the excerpt is anything to go by the novel is rather bleak, though (and the scene sounds somewhat exaggerated).

“Military Industry Makes Up 70 Percent Of Russian Science Production,” Space Daily, 20/4. Of interest is the mention of nanotechnology: “The importance of nanotechnology for Russia was also stressed Wednesday by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said the state would spare no effort to provide financial support to nanotechnology research programs.”

Via NK news № 622, oligarch Roman Abramovich, looking for more ways to spend his ill-gotten wealth, has expressed interest in a flight around the Moon on a Soyuz spaceship, costing $300 million – mere small change for him. “In my opinion, it is much better for Russia than buying foreign football clubs,” remarks news editor Aleksandr Zheleznyakov somewhat sardonically. Perhaps one of the crew could shove Mr. Abramovich out the airlock. (News items at FP Space and RIA Novosti)

Sunday 22/4

My annoying cough has almost gone. Got some rain last night and today.

Guardian Editorials: Berezovsky - Continued Asylum or Extradition? at Russophile.com, referring to two Guardian editorials.

Soyuz TMA-9, with Expedition 14 (Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin) and Charles Simonyi aboard, undocked yesterday (21st) at 09:11 UTC and landed at 12:31:30. It was the longest stay by a visiting crew (13d 19h 0m 16s – delayed by one day due to flooding in the original landing zone) and the longest stay by an Expedition Crew (215d 8h 22m 48s). Sunita Williams remains onboard and will accumulate the longest stay by a female NASA astronaut when she eventually returns home (on STS-117, launch delayed to at least 8 June because of damage to the External Tank from hail when it was on the launchpad in February).

Monday 23/4

My site needs some “housework” done (pages updated) so I will do it when I can be bothered!

Two 16-year-old girls disappeared from their homes last week and were found dead yesterday in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. The linked article does not give details, but they committed suicide by hanging themselves.

One of two teenage girls found hanged in bushland east of Melbourne yesterday had written on her website: “Let Steph n me b free.” Police believe the girl, Jodie Gater, and her friend Stephanie Gestier, both 16, died in a suicide pact after they left their homes about 9.30 a.m. on April 15, ostensibly to go shopping. A resident of Ferntree Gully made the grisly discovery of the two dead girls hanging from a tree yesterday afternoon. Their bodies were suspended from the one branch by the same piece of rope with two nooses tied in it. The bodies were low to the ground and facing each other.

The two girls were part of the “emo” subculture, named after a type of music characterised by an emotional and confessional tone. Emo fans are classified as introverted, sensitive, moody and alienated, and are derided by other subcultures for self-pitying poetry commonly posted on the MySpace website.

Jodie had a MySpace profile titled “let Steph and me b free”. An image of a glass full of absinthe and the words “let us blow your mind” were among simple decorations on the page. The last message she posted on the site was dedicated to her boyfriend, Allan. “I luv you sooo soo much Allan, Miss u heaps and heaps xoxoxo I will always remember u,” the teenager wrote. A picture of Jodie and Allan kissing was posted next to the message.

Jodie last updated her page on April 14, a day before she and Stephanie went missing. In an online message to her boyfriend last Christmas Eve, Jodie wrote: “I’d rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not.” Her own web page featured a flashing message that said “f--- this world/everything that you stand for/don’t accept/don’t give a s---/don’t ever judge me”. On her website, Jodie describes her friends as her “heroes”. “Also got to love my crazy friends for being there for me even when I’m being really annoying, a c--- or a complete stupid f--- that u would just wanna punch out. Thank you all so much guys, luv yas.”

After their disappearance, several friends posted messages urging the girls to contact them via MySpace. Yesterday, a simple message on one website read: “R.I.P. Jodie and Steph”.

A lot of teenagers think of suicide (I certainly did!) but there is a huge gulf between thinking and actually carrying it out.

The Russia Profile site has gone to paid subscription for access to articles, so some of those which I linked to (not very many) are now unavailable *grumble* and I didn’t save them. Including the blog – what is the point of having a blog if people can’t access entries? This is the main annoyance of linking to news items on the Internet – they either disappear or are made subscriber-only.

“Presenter refuses to reveal MTV Russia film winner,” ABC news, 22/4. The generation gap.

A review of a new Chingiz Aitmatov novel from Russia Profile (paid-only access, but I did save it). A few years ago I found an earlier novel by him at Borders bookstore, The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years.

When Mountains Crumble by Chingiz Aitmatov

Reviewed by Dmitry Babich

A Return to the Epic

Chingiz Aitmatov is back. Not only is he back in the public spotlight, but he has also returned to his epic, journalistic narrative style. In his books, the existential quest for the meaning of life is intermingled with the burning issues of today’s world. After his dizzying success in the 1980s, when Gorbachev organized global forums for peace in his native Kyrgyzstan, using the writer as a sort of a spiritual prop for his policy of “new thinking,” Aitmatov took a break for most of the 1990s. In his new book, When Mountains Crumble, Aitmatov returns to his roots, setting the action in contemporary Kyrgyzstan. The story revolves around a pair of Arab princes who arrive to hunt snow leopards in the region.

In the Soviet period, it was common to divide writers between those who accepted the “new society” and those who didn’t. Aitmatov clearly and unequivocally does not accept the post-Soviet society. Nor does he embrace the global technocratic civilization, of which post-Soviet society has become a part.

Aitmatov’s critique is scathing and it does not leave any of this society’s “pillars” untouched. The cruel and senseless pop culture that steals the sweetheart of the main character, the formerly pro-Gorbachev journalist Arsen Samanchin, is emblematic of the plight of a writer in a society hostile to fiction; the poverty and degradation of the local villagers, all of whom lost their jobs after the collective farms were disbanded, and who try to improve their condition by taking the Arab hunters hostage; and the hypocrisy of the newly resurgent “religious leaders,” who complain to the authorities about Samanchin’s somewhat deistic views because they don’t correspond to the dogmas of Islam and Christianity.

Some critics might find Aitmatov’s style old-fashioned, writing off his views as the useless carping of a disgruntled Soviet idealist. However, it is important to remember that Soviet literary criticism used the same rhetoric against the old writers who did not accept the new society. History proved the Soviet critics wrong.

(Azbuka-Klassika, St. Petersburg 2006, 476 pp.)

Wednesday 25/4

Today is ANZAC Day. A fine sunny Autumn day.

Former president Boris Yeltsin died of heart failure on 23 April aged 76 (he had a history of heart problems – and he was only two years older than my Dad), leaving behind a rather ambivalent legacy in Russian history. Commentry at: European Tribune, Russophile.com, Sean’s Russia Blog, The World Today.

An interesting entry from Sean’s Russia Blog: Putin the Traumatic – “Could a trauma from the collapse of the Soviet system explain Putin’s governance?”

Yesterday marked 40 years since the death of Vladimir Komarov in Soyuz-1 when the spaceship’s parachutes failed to deploy during descent and it crashed.

An entry of some interest by James Oberg via Curmudgeon’s Corner:

Jim Oberg, who is a renowned expert on Soviet and Russian space efforts, has dropped me the following note that I should like to share:

I would like to draw the world’s attention to what looks like a bogus Bill Clinton quote with alarming implications for current Russian government propaganda campaigns against opponents both domestic and foreign. I’ve rarely seen such a blatent falsification – usually it’s more a matter of selective editing or semantic shifting. That it is being disseminated in a “house organ” of a Russian defense industry giant is additionally worrisome.

The original article, published March 28 last in Russian, here. Its title (my translation) is “We Have Exhausted the Right to Geopolitical Mistakes: Information-Ideological Influence – New Class of Weapon” and it appeared in the “Voyenno-Promyshlenniy Kuryer” (“Military-Industrial Courier”), a weekly newspaper that focuses on military and defense industrial complex issues. It is published by “Almaz Media,” a subsidiary of the defense industrial firm Almaz-Antey which builds, inter alia, Russian anti-aircraft missiles.

My translation: the author, Leonid Barinov, writes that

Bill Clinton, the then US president, spoke on 25 December 1995 sic! Christmas Day!! at a private conference of the committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and this is what he said: “For the past 10 years policy regarding the USSR and its allies has convincingly shown the validity of the course we have adopted to eliminate one of the strongest world powers, and also a very powerful military bloc. Taking advantage of blunders of Soviet diplomacy and of the extraordinary presumption of Gorbachev and those around him, including those who were sworn pro-American, we achieved what President Truman had intended to do to the Soviet Union with the atom bomb.

With one appreciable difference, true – we acquired a raw-material vassel, not a state destroyed by atom bombs, that would have been hard to create. Yes, we expended for this many billions of dollars, but that is even now close to what the Russians are calling cost-recovery.

In the last four years we and our allies have acquired various strategic raw material for $15 billion, hundreds of tons of gold, jewels, etc. In the years of so-called perestroyka in the USSR many of our military and business experts didn’t believe in the success of these impending operations.

They were wrong. Having torn loose the ideological foundations of the Soviet Union, we were able to bloodlessly remove from the struggle for world domination the one state that constituted America’s main competition. When, in early 1991, CIA officers reallocated to the East $50 billion to put our plans into effect, and subsequently the same amount one more time, many politicians and military personnel also didn’t believe in the success of the venture. Now, however, four years along, it is evident the tour plans have begun to materialize. But this doesn’t mean that there’s nothing for us on which to ponder: yes, we permitted Russia to remain a power. But only one country – the United States – will be an empire. end extract …

This is a blank check to persecute and prosecute ANY anti-Putin people as paid agents of Western powers. BTW, I checked with the Clinton library, they refused to comment on the speech’s validity (they demanded I file a FOIA), but did look up for me Clinton’s Xmas schedule. He was home at the White House with family, and no official activities listed.

The sentiments expressed in the extract don’t sound implausible, though.

An Earth-like planet has been found, orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581 which is 20.5 light-years away.

Thursday 26/4

The demolition of another house in my street has begun as I write this at late afternoon. It will be replaced by two double-storey townhouses. The destruction of my suburb’s character and history continues, and there seems to be nothing that can be done to stop it. See my 30/3 entry for previous opinions on this.

Saturday 28/4

I did some minor site design changes – changed the colors of the main section – so if it looks odd, empty your browser caché.

Some rain overnight – and more for this week; the heaviest rain in months for farmers.

There was an article in The Age Good Weekend magazine about Lincoln Hall, who miraculously survived being left for dead when climbing Mt. Everest. (The article is not available online.) Almost every year some climbers die in their attempts, and I think of this as the Mother Goddess of the Earth (the mountain’s approximate native name) taking her sacrifices from the people violating her. The mountain certainly has a rather intimidating presence.

There was another article about the woman who lost her legs in the 2005 London bombings. I thought her remarks about her viewing her severed legs were curiously poignant:

Just as a mother might want to see and hold her stillborn child, Gill Hicks needed to be reunited with her legs. Not everyone thought it was a wise decision to see the limbs that had been severed in the London terrorist bombing of July 7, 2005, but she was sure it could be no worse than what she had seen in the wrecked tube carriage that day. So they took her to the hospital morgue in a wheelchair to say goodbye.

“There, on a large cushion, lit by a downlight, were my limbs,” she says. “I didn’t expect to see both of them, because one had been lost in the tube tunnel, and I thought how wonderful that they were together. The legs didn’t look like legs, of course. They were completely blown apart. But the feet were perfect, with their immaculately painted toes, wearing my favourite nail polish. It was beautiful seeing them that way, unharmed, protected by the shoes I had been wearing.”

She asked to be left alone for a moment. All the apprehension she had felt on entering the room was swamped by tenderness as she touched each toe, memorising the shape, the familiar crinkles, the curve of the arch; remembering what it felt like to have feet.

“Up to that point,” she says, “I had mostly been longing for the use of my limbs. But seeing them, I realised I missed them. ‘Hello, my legs and my dear, dear feet,’ I said. ‘I am so sorry.’ I wanted to let them know that I would never forget.

“It was an odd experience, being with your dead self. Nothing could have prepared me for it. But it was a good thing to have done – an important part of my recovery to be able to process the fact that my limbs were gone, that my amputations were permanent and my new prosthetic legs were my future. I realised I would never leave another footprint.”

Russia has frozen a missile treaty in protest at the stationing of anti-missile bases in Eastern Europe, causing consternation at the NATO talks in Olso, Norway. Comments at European Tribune. “There is no possible negotiated agreement with NATO since NATO speaks for the US only. Since there is no strategic advantage to this spat for any European Country, NATO should be dissolved and the EU should negotiate with Russia. This is impossible because what makes this whole thing possible is Polish and Czech pathological need to stick it up to Russia. If the EU leadership were not Atlanticist, they might have allowed themselves to lean on the Polish and Czech governments.”

Using Yandex.ru, I came across a recent interview with Sergei Krikalyov (in Russian), which I have roughly summarized in my Sergei news section (including the happy fact that he isn’t religious. Yay!). Note: site deleted

May

Tuesday 1/5

Today is May Day, a day more significant than ever as workers’ rights continue to be destroyed.

I had a dream of flying last night; the usual scenario of not being able to ascend more than a few meters above the ground. I was fleeing from something chasing me; flapping my arms and flying backwards over houses and trees.

I almost went into the city yesterday and got as far as the station, but trains had been canceled or delayed 40 minutes because (as reported in the newspaper today – it wasn’t made clear at the time) a tram derailed at the Glenhuntly station level crossing, disrupting services along the Frankston line. Commuters in one of the trains had to get out and walk to the next station, Caulfield. There was an increasingly large crowd of commuters gathering, so I decided to try again Wednesday and walked back home.

While looking up Extraterrestrial Life at Wikipedia there was a link to an article, Xenopsychology; an interesting speculation on how different aliens could be and the different routes the evolutionary process can take.

“Animal Extinction – the greatest threat to mankind,” The Independent, 30/4: an alarming article on the mass extinction of species silently taking place around us – the sixth in the history of Earth (the fifth being the dinosaurs) – much of it due to human activity.

We now understand that the majority of life on Earth has never been – and will never be – known to us. In a staggering forecast, Wilson predicts that our present course will lead to the extinction of half of all plant and animal species by 2100. You probably had no idea. Few do. A poll by the American Museum of Natural History finds that seven in 10 biologists believe that mass extinction poses a colossal threat to human existence, a more serious environmental problem than even its contributor, global warming; and that the dangers of mass extinction are woefully underestimated by almost everyone outside science. […]

All these disappearing species are part of a fragile membrane of organisms wrapped around the Earth so thinly, writes Wilson, that it “cannot be seen edgewise from a space shuttle, yet so internally complex that most species composing it remain undiscovered”. We owe everything to this membrane of life. Literally everything. The air we breathe. The food we eat. The materials of our homes, clothes, books, computers, medicines. Goods and services that we can’t even imagine we’ll someday need will come from species we have yet to identify. The proverbial cure for cancer. The genetic fountain of youth. Immortality. Mortality. The living membrane we so recklessly destroy is existence itself.

It seems that humans will only try to do something about this when it is already too late … what is needed is a radical change in lifestyles, the economic system, social structure (and a reduction in human population); to systems that are more sustainable than the current orthodoxy of endless consumption. I hope the grim prospective future of humans fighting for declining resources in a devastated and barren world can be averted, but I am not optimistic.

“The Legacy of Boris Yeltsin: Corruption, crony capitalism, and Russia’s near-demise”: a scathing article at Antiwar.com (found via the American Leftist blog).

An updated list of the Cosmonaut Group was posted by Anik at NASASpaceflight.com.

There was some confused reports that Anatolii Perminov said that NASA had rejected a proposal to co-operate in exploring the Moon, but as reported by New Scientist Space, NASA has denied this. In any case, the relevant thread at NASASpaceflight.com brought out the usual “Paranoid Patriots”. *Yawn*.

Thursday 3/5

The reservoirs supplying Melbourne have dropped to 29.9% capacity. Australia isn’t the only developed country with water supply problems – a 5 April MSNBC article describes a mega-drought for the American Southwest through the rest of this century.

I had a Borders discount voucher so I bought the novel Ascent by Jed Mercurio (see my 21/4 entry). Novels about cosmonauts are very rare – I have another called Adrift in the Oceans of Mercy by Martin Booth, a story of a cosmonaut stranded on board a space station.

The autobiography of astronaut Tom Jones was also instore, so I had a glance through it. Much of the usual stuff. He does seem to be very against the U.S.-Russian co-operation in space, so I would be less enthusiastic about his opinions than many of the book reviewers seem to be. He is also religious.

Another space-related novel of some interest is Challenger Park, about a female NASA astronaut (reviewed at The Space Review). The paperback is not due out until August.

The universe will keep expanding until it is a cold dark wasteland, the galaxies receding out of the sight of observers in the distant future, propelled by the mysterious substance known as dark energy.

Court documents have been released regarding Lisa Nowak: “Astronauts called Nowak smart but selfish: Documents summarize interviews with her colleagues,” MSNBC, 1 May. Yes, I am fascinated with the case! Perhaps one reason being that even smart and highly-successful people can stuff up their lives (a curious comfort for someone who has failed at her life like I have). Her personality seems rather fragile and brittle.

In yet another bad luck incident for NASA, a bridge collapsed under a train carrying solid rocket booster segments for the Space Shuttle.

“On trip to Mars, NASA must rethink death,” MSNBC, 1/5. Describes the grimmer issues astronauts on long-duration interplanetary missions may have to deal with.

“Space station lights its ‘big engines’,” James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 1/5. The test-firing of Zvezda’s main engines (which had not been used since the module was launched in 2000) was successfully attempted.

A short list I have been compiling of space clichés – worn-out phrases that are regurgitated with wearisome predictability by the media for any space-related story:

Saturday 5/5

Mum and Dad left yesterday for a week’s holiday at Kyneton. If anything were to happen to them I would be totally … lost. I have few life-coping skills (or any skills, for that matter) and would not know what to do. The activities that most people my age take for granted, I don’t do. I have been the way I am for so long though that the thought of change is utterly terrifying. I don’t know what to do or where to go.

“France is not in decline and the last thing it needs is ‘reform’”: entry at European Tribune in response to the ubiquitous gloomy media reports about the country’s supposed economic crisis (there was such a report on SBS news last night). The so-called “reform” involves adopting the free-market system that the USA, UK and Australia have – and the subsequent increasing inequality gap between the rich and the poor, and the privatisation of government services.

Newspaper letters saved from past weeks. On the erosion of public holidays:

In past years a “public” holiday meant a family day and maybe a picnic. Essential services were the only staffed services. Enter public demand for other entertainment (such as movies and sport), which in turn required food to be provided and transport to get people there. Successive governments bowed to the pressure of the people who welcomed those changes. Then more demand came for Christmas, Easter and Anzac days to also have those same “freedoms”. The only thing is that the very public making those demands now expect the fairies to supply them. Sorry, don’t blame the IR laws, blame the greedy people who refused to go without those “luxuries” on any given public holiday; the greater the demand the greater the workforce needed.

– Nola Martin, Preston, 25/4

Not enought water, too many people:

How does adding people help?

South-East Queensland’s water crisis is a model of what our Government would do in a similar situation in Victoria. Saving water and creating more dams, yes, but with no consideration for capping our increasing population, these tactics would be counterproductive.

The economy, according to John Howard, is more important than climate change. With no water, there is no economy, no agriculture, no business, just famine. The absurd obstinacy of our governments, refusing to cap our increasing population, needs to be challenged. There should be no more building permits or land made available for housing or industry. We need to stop our immigration programs and learn to live within our means, and make fewer demands on our environment, if we are to survive.

Some native animals, such as kangaroos, die from hunger when they outbreed their allotted feeding ground. Culling in these cases is considered justified. Past human civilisations have died out with famine and overuse of resources. This can happen to us unless we use superior intelligence and past experiences to save what is left of our natural resources in one of the driest continents in the world. We need politicians with vision, flexibility and ideas, not just short-sighted economists.

– Vivienne Ortega, Heidelberg Heights

More is really less, Mr. Premier

With Victorians on severe water restrictions and anticipating that this situation will worsen, Steve Bracks wants 10,000 more skilled migrants (Bracks to urge migrant boost, Age 26/4). Why would he want more water consumers? Victoria’s housing is not keeping up with demand, and housing affordability is diminishing.

Our roads are not coping with traffic, creating increased need for expensive solutions, and Port Phillip Bay is under threat from proposed channel dredging for the increased size of import-laden ships. Why would he want more demand in all these areas?

Unless we work towards supplying our own skilled labor, we will forever be playing catch up. Let’s train our own.

– Jill Quirk, president Sustainable Population Australia [Vic Branch], Frankston

Tuesday 8/5

Nicolas Sarkozy was elected as French president; another Conservative/right-wing world leader. European Tribune: “Nobody I know voted for him ….”. The election of such leaders seems to be a dismaying trend (and bodes ill for the upcoming Australian Federal election later this year – John Howard elected yet again …? A horrifying prospect). Sarkozy is full of plans for the usual dreaded economic “reforms” that favor business and the wealthy.

“China warns of population growth,” BBC, 7/5. The last thing China needs are more people, but the one-child policy is being flouted. Humans tend to get irrational where having children are concerned.

A related topic is this blog entry, “The Inevitability of Children”. The author is an Australian of Chinese descent. Her views are an example of what could be regarded as cultural enslavement:

I wonder if I only feel the urge to have children because I’m Chinese. Culturally speaking, the Chinese hold the family unit in high regard. An individual puts the family’s benefit before their own. You’re considered a disgrace to the ideals of filial piety, etc. (gleaned mainly from the ideas of Confucianism) if you don’t have your own children and continue the family line.

Since I was young, I’ve grown up with the unspoken but implicit command of my parents to eventally marry and have children. Admittedly, having children isn’t as big a deal for me as it will be for my brother, as my children will never carry my family’s surname – thus, they aren’t as important as those who will. Yet I’ve always known that that’s what I’ll do … as that’s what every good Chinese girl does. […]

By the way I’ve been brought up, there’s no such thing as being too selfish to have children. You do it, not necessarily for yourself, but for the benefit of your parents who suffered twenty-plus years to bring you up. You give them the next generation to content themselves with when they’re older so they can perform their duty as doting grandparents.

While I can understand her point of view to some extent (regarding family loyalty), I feel a surge of horror at the thought of being obligated to have children (which is one of the worst reasons to have them that I can think of). I am thankful that I grew up in a culture that is not so hidebound by tradition – and with parents who did not care whether their children produced grandchildren or not. I have asked Mum specifically about this, and she said she only wanted to see my sister and I have good careers (unfortunately, neither of us achieved these).

Quite a few commenters in that blog entry disagreed with her: “I must express my dislike of the idea that you have children because you ‘owe’ them to your parents.”

Regarding the care of elders:

Along the same lines, I don’t understand the concept of aged care. We simpy don’t put elderly family members in aged care, nursing homes, retirement villages – that’s not being filial. You could never claim being “too selfish” as a reason to abandon your family to the care of others. Older family members live with and are taken care of by the family. It’s not unusual to find four generations living under one roof: great grandparents, grandparents, father/mother, children.

You’re born into the arms of your family. You maintain and develop that family. You die in the arms of your family. That’s the way my family have been for a millennia. That’s the way I’ll be bringing my children up to think – to put family first before anything else.

Well, I can agree with that to some extent – but what happens when the elderly person requires a high level of care, such as with Alzheimer’s Disease, or senility? If the carers are not trained nurses, they will find caring for such a person stressful and difficult – especially with tasks involving hygiene (bathing the person, taking them to the toilet and cleaning up any “accidents”). Mum did this for a few years with Gran when she was living in her own house, and it was very stressful. Gran endured a few falls and broken bones, and she eventually had to go into a nursing home. I have to confess that I could not do the same with my own parents – I am impatient, have an absolute horror of unpleasant bodily excretions and would thus be a terrible nurse. (See also my 3/3/2005 entry.)

Update 3/8/2016: I feel a bit differently about the elder care/respect now (though not children). Also the author of that blog entry, Amanda, was crude and promiscuous – “I enjoy pre-marital sex with white men …” – and now, from an older perspective, I find her quite disrespectful.

Scientists have identified the brightest supernova ever observed, designated SN 2006gy, in a galaxy called NGC 1260, 240 million light-years away. It was different to the usual type of supernova, called a “pair instability supernova,” where a very large star undergoes a thermonuclear explosion. The star is too far away to be seen with the naked eye. A similar star in our own galaxy is Eta Carinae, which is 7500 LY away; if it were to supernova the star would be visible in daylight, though the radiation would not affect life here as the energy jets emanating from it are pointed away from Earth. A nearby supernova (10,000 LY away or less) is thought to have triggered the second-largest extinction in the Earth’s history, 440 million years ago via a gamma-ray burst. I love this stuff as the forces involved are so unimaginably awesome!

Thursday 10/5

I rode my bicycle to Chadstone Shopping Centre yesterday (~30 minutes each way) and Southland today (~20 minutes) so I am rather tired! The ride is not particularly strenuous (I go rather slowly) but the heavy traffic is stress-inducing.

“We shop until Chinese workers drop,” Independent, 3/5. A report on the awful conditions factory workers in China endure to produce the cheap products flooding the world’s markets; they are essentially slaves. “Workers’s paradise”? More like Workers’ Hell. If corporations and business could get their way, workers in all countries would be employed in similar conditions. The Chinese workers are increasingly demanding some basic rights, but the Western corporations don’t want this as they would lose their source of cheap labor.

A new TV series called Primeval has been screening for 2 weeks. For some reason, gateways in time have been opening between our time period and the ancient one of dinosaurs, with various prehistoric creatures coming through, most not too friendly. There is no explanation yet concerning the cause of the “anomalies”. Update 28/5/2007: One irritation, though, is the gratuitous scene of the scrawny blond female in her underwear in nearly every episode.

If time travel were possible, I would like to go back to see the dinosaurs; it would be the closest one could get to visiting an alien world without leaving Earth. I would love to see the really big sauropods like Argentinosaurus – an awesome sight! Hard to believe creatures that big could exist.

Creatures such as insects were able to reach enormous sizes because there was a greater percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere during periods of the Earth’s history. “Towards the end of the Carboniferous era (coal age) about 300 million years ago, atmospheric oxygen levels reached a maximum of 35% by volume, allowing insects and amphibians with limiting respiratory systems to grow much larger than today’s species. Today, oxygen is the second most common component of the Earth’s atmosphere (about 21% by volume) after nitrogen. About three-quarters of the free element is being produced by algae and green microorganisms in the oceans, and one-quarter from terrestrial plants.” (Wikipedia Oxygen article.) So if all the plants and algae were to disappear, higher lifeforms would be in trouble! With the destruction and pollution human activity is causing, such a disappearance does not seem unlikely.

New Scientist magazine for 27 April had an article, “Oxygen – the breath of life” (full article is paid-access only), which I might scan in sometime if I can get a copy at the library. “Breath of life,” New Scientist

Reading about the Earth’s billions-years-long geological history is fascinating (and puts one’s own problems into perspective). I wonder who my remote ancestors were, millions of years ago; all humans carry their genes, stretching in an unbroken chain all the way back to the first eukaryotes, about 2 billion years ago.

(And all this is so much more interesting than the limited religious view that humans and the Universe were created by some deity 5000 years ago.)

NASA is to launch yet another mission to Mars on 3 August; the lander is called Phoenix (the mission has a rather nice logo). It is to search for water. I have lost track of how many missions NASA has launched; in contrast, Russia seems to be a lost cause when it comes to interplanetary exploration (yes I am grumbling again).

Sunday 13/5

My parents returned home okay on Friday.

Last week I watched an SBS documentary called Homo Futurus, presenting the theory that humans are still evolving, based on the position of a small bone in the skull called the sphenoid:

Homo Futurus is a documentary about the new, non-evolutionary theory of the story of mankind – our origins and our future.

What made early humans stand up and take their first steps? What is the next step in human development? These are some of the questions raised by this documentary which takes a new non-Darwinian look at our history.

Two researchers, paleontologist Anne Dambricourt-Malasse and orthodontist Marie-Josephe Deshayes, have uncovered a curious fact about the sphenoid, a small bone at the base of the skull. Over millions of years, each change in the sphenoid’s position brought a new species into our primate family.

Dental records seem to point to a new change developing now, caused by alterations in the size and shape of our jaws. Does this mean that progression could be programmed into our cells? A number of scientists who challenge Darwinian evolution certainly think so.

Homos Futurus considers whether we could we be evolving into yet another species. Rather than modern Homo sapiens being the realization of the species, are we really just a stage on the way to the end result? And if anti-Darwinian scientists are correct, what will our descendants look like?

The sphenoid lies flat in mammals, and as it moved upright during the process of human evolution, our jaws got smaller and brain bigger. The next stage of evolution appears to be that our brains and heads will get even bigger! So presumably intelligence will increase.

The problem with this evolution is that the increased size of the head will make childbirth even more difficult. I Googled “childbirth difficult evolution” and came up with some relevant articles about why human childbirth is uniquely difficult compared to other mammals:

Yikes! Another reason to avoid pregnancy! It really is the most dangerous natural procedure a woman can endure, though in countries with proper medical care, birth usually goes well. Perhaps future humans will need to artificially conceive and incubate fetuses in artificial wombs.

“Madcap icecaps,” The Age, 12/5. Article about the isolation people face when staying in Antarctica, and the psychological imbalances that occur in the groups there. It is an obvious analogy to long-duration interplanetary space missions. An interesting observation is that international groups tend to get along better than those that comprise all from the same country.

Monday 14/5

Melbourne’s reservoir water levels keep dropping inexorably, to 29.4%. Towns in regional areas are even worse off, with some literally running out of water and having to have it transported in. A letter from the 11/5 The Age:

Thirsty for change

How remarkably like the climate change crisis is the water problem. The situation grows more critical by the day, yet governments slumber on. Today, Melbourne’s reservoirs will be down to 29.5 per cent full. If there is no rain, as seems possible, at our steady usage rate of 0.1 per cent a day, the city will run completely out of water in 290 days, on March 25 next year. Months before that, we could be drinking mud.

There is no quick fix for such a situation. None of the water supply solutions vaguely contemplated by the Government – not even the most logical, desalination – is capable of creating a new supply of water by March 25. I remain baffled by the total absence of public or government alarm over the impending scenario. What will it take to rouse everybody? Raging thirst?

– Peter Lyell, Brighton

Even if we do get good rain, it would take years for the reservoirs to fill up again, and because the population keeps increasing, the dams are unlikely to do so – rather like trying to fill a bath with the drain unplugged.

“Row over Scientology video,” BBC, 12/5. A journalist’s experience with the sinister Scientology cult. There is another secretive fundamentalist Christian cult called the Exclusive Brethren who brainwash their followers and try to influence elections, as well as dividing families. (Four Corners report: “Separate Lives”.) Governments should not tolerate the nefarious activities of these organizations.

One of the key figures in the Melbourne gangland killings (previously mentioned in my 8/2/2006 entry), Carl Williams, was jailed last week for 35 years. He is my age (born in October 1970) so he will be 71 when he is eligible for parole. An unpleasant and cowardly character whose smirking face has been featured rather too often in the newspapers. (Melbourne’s Underworld section at the Herald-Sun.)

Via an entry in the Lenin’s Tomb blog, is news of the death of a Marines Major called Douglas Zembiec. Update 6/8/2007: Article now offline – Wikipedia entry Of interest are his views and attitude towards war and killing, which are unapologetically (and somewhat refreshingly) honest: he enjoyed it. Certainly not a politically-correct view in this era! In my 22/3 entry I noted that I had long been fascinated by male warrior culture.

In an age when many prefer military personnel to be diffident and reluctant to engage in violence, Zembiec was proudly a throwback. “One of the most noble things you can do is kill the enemy,” he once said. […]

Zembiec seemed to revel in the experience of combat. In the magazine article, he was quoted as calling a firefight in Fallouja “the greatest day of my life.”

“I never felt so alive, so exhilarated, so purposeful,” he said the day after a battle in which two of his troops were killed and 18 wounded. “There is nothing equal to combat and there is no greater honor than to lead men into combat.”

Zembiec was widely admired among Marines. “We can dispute the politics of any war – Iraq, Afghanistan or any others,” said Bing West, author of two books about combat Marines in Iraq, “but we cannot dispute our need for warriors. Doug was our guardian.”

Sgt. Maj. William Skiles, who fought beside Zembiec at Fallouja, said he inspired great loyalty among his troops. “An entire company of Marines would trade places with him right now,” Skiles said from Camp Pendleton. “They would put down their lives for him.”

From an LA Times 2004 profile:

It was the time of his life, he acknowledged later, for by his own definition Zembiec is a warrior, and a joyful one. He is neither bellicose nor apologetic: War means killing, and killing means winning. War and killing are not only necessary on occasion, they’re also noble. “From day one, I’ve told my troops that killing is not wrong if it’s for a purpose, if it’s to keep your nation free or to protect your buddy,” he said. “One of the most noble things you can do is kill the enemy.”

For his Marines, Zembiec asks for respect, not sympathy, even as one-third of his 150-man company became casualties. “Marines are violent by nature – that’s what makes us different,” he said. “These young Marines didn’t enlist to get money to go to college. They joined the Marines to be part of a legacy.”

He knows talk like that puts him outside mainstream America and scares the bejabbers out of some people. Modern America is uncomfortable with celebrating those who have gone to war and killed their nation’s enemy. Maybe it’s because American military hardware is thought to be so superior that any fight with an adversary is a mismatch. Then again, people who feel that way probably have not stared at the business end of a rocket-propelled grenade launched by an insurgent hopped up on hatred for America. […]

“He’s everything you want in a leader: He’ll listen to you, take care of you and back you up, but when you need it, he’ll put a boot” up your behind, said Sgt. Casey Olson. “But even when he’s getting at you, he doesn’t do it so you feel belittled.”

The image of Zembiec leading the April 6 charge had a lasting impact on his troops. Leading by example is a powerful tool. “He gets down there with his men,” said Lance Cpl. Jacob Atkinson. “He’s not like some of these other officers: He leads from the front, not the rear.” […]

My own generation of baby boomers went to college in order to express their individuality. Zembiec was searching for something else at the Naval Academy. “It was a culture of hardness and mental toughness and challenge. You’re there to be part of a team. It’s not about you.” […]

Would you want Douglas Zembiec in charge of U.S. foreign policy? Maybe, maybe not. Would you want him on your side if you – or your nation – got involved in a street brawl? Without a doubt. He is, as his fellow officers say, a military hybrid of modern tactics and ancient attitudes. “Doug is the prototypical modern infantry officer,” Clearfield said. “He’s also not that much different than the officers who led the Spartans into combat 4000 years ago.”

So what is the difference between him and someone like Carl Williams, as both killed people? Zembiec had honor and discipline, and the respect of others. He was not selfish, out for his own gain. Williams’ death would not be any cause for mourning, but Zembiec’s is.

So my attitude is different than that of the LT entry (whose blog I usually agree with).

Wednesday 16/5

Yesterday marked the driest 365 days in Melbourne’s recorded history (since 1855), with only 316 mm recorded the last 12 months. The average is normally twice that. More doom and gloom concerning climatic change in Victoria for the future, with the CSIRO predicting climate change leading to increased energy, water and telecommunications bills for consumers in all states, with increasing strain on infrastructure. The news about this topic just seems to get worse and worse.

As if VP Cheney’s visit in February wasn’t bad enough, the hapless residents of Sydney are to have President Bush inflicted upon them in June for the APEC summit – more accurately, the extraordinarily excessive security the U.S. President seems to require. (My post at Uplink.) I think Melbourne is safe!

The World Swimming Championships in Melbourne cost $63 million. Money that would have been better put towards alleviating the water supply crisis.

The Victorian Government is calling for an end to “McMansions” at long last, though it is too late for the landscape already blighted by thousands of these oversized houses. The Government should go further and ban construction of them altogether, requiring that environmentally-friendly designs be used instead.

A new hummingbird species has been discovered in Colombia, a beautiful bird given the unlovely name of the “Gorgeted Puffleg”. It is black with iridescent emerald and sapphire feathers at its throat. Like too many species it is under threat from human activity. (Link to high-resolution photo, 1.3 MB.)

Found via this Uplink post: “Humans hot, sweaty, natural-born runners,” Physorg.com. Humans turn out to be the best long-distance runners out of all mammals, having great endurance at a slow and steady pace. Humans also can dispel heat build-up effectively via sweating and being able to breathe through our mouths.

Progress M-60, the 25th Progress flight to the ISS, launched on 12 May 2007 at 03:25:38 UTC and docked to Zvezda at 15 May 2007 at 05:10 with no problems.

Alexei Krasnov, the head of the Russian Space Agency’s department for manned flights, said that ISS crews will be increased to six people by 2009 on 11 May.

“A tale of two rockets … with a happy ending,” James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 14/5. 15 May is the 50th anniversary of the R7 rocket, and the 20th anniversary of the first launch of the Energiya booster rocket. Both were originally intended for military purposes, but the R7 became a successful launch rocket for civilian missions, and the Energiya was intended to covertly launch weapons but was canceled after the USSR collapsed.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 627. Nikolai Sevast’yanov told journalists at Baikonur Cosmodrome on 15 May that Energiya would present the Kliper project to Roskosmos at year’s end. Energiya’s primary goal is the development of a new space transport system of a new qualitative level.

Energiya has begun the construction of the 6 piloted Soyuz and 3 Progress cargo spaceships ordered by NASA under contract for nearly U.S.$1 billion. The ships will be completed between 2009-2011. As the construction takes 2-3 years, Energiya has begun “bookmarking” the ships, though the method of financing is not certain yet; the company is beginning the work with its own resources.

“Hubble reveals ghostly ring of dark matter,” MSNBC.com, 15/5. This is the strongest evidence yet for the mysterious substance called dark matter, which is thought to hold the Universe together.

Saturday 19/5

A lot of rain fell across the State the last 2 days, making farmers very happy. There was a torrential downpour on Thursday morning. More rain is forecast for the next few months, thought the drought is not yet over; weather patterns seem to be returning to normal (El Nino being replaced by La Nina).

I was looking at the Alexa ranking for my website. A lowly 6,431,031! Well, I am not getting huge amounts of traffic (I passed 10,000 hits a few weeks ago since I first opened SuzyMcHale.com, though a lot of those might be from search engines). A curious assortment of sites link to me (not very many!) – mainly spaceflight sites as those are the pages that show up in search engines. I keep my journal and personal pages hidden from search engines as I don’t want personal information showing up in random searches! There are some real weirdoes out there (though I consider myself too boring to be a target for stalkers). Most of the people who find my site tend to be interested in spaceflight and seem to be reasonably sane ;-).

Out of interest, I was searching for information on the religions in Arabia that came before Islam. There were pagan religions that worshipped various gods and goddesses. Allah used to be the Moon god and the cresent-and-star symbol is a relic of this. Some pages:

In my early 20s (early 1990s) I did a lot of reading about mythology and, in particular, goddesses. I had a book then called The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, where I first read about pagan Arabia. The accuracy of the book is questioned by many, but it was still interesting reading (my copy vanished in one of my purges *sigh*). The Black Stone that lies in the Kaaba is apparently a meteorite that fell to Earth millennia ago and originally represented the Goddess. Sadly, she was excommunicated when Islam arrived and has almost vanished from history. Women are similarly second-class citizens in the region (as evidenced in that documentary I watched last month). I wonder if there are any secret cults who still worship the ancient gods there (they would have to remain secret as the Islamic state would not tolerate their presence – they would be imprisoned and executed).

The monothesic religions dominating the world today seem to find women fearful creatures, and find various ways to oppress them. The male practitioners are secretly afraid of women – that is the impression I get.

“Faith of ages,” The Age, 27/11/2006. Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion that has a curious appeal; for one thing they don’t go aggressively trying to convert people and women are respected.

Wednesday 23/5

I have been ignoring my site the last few days as I am plowing through some fantasy and science-fiction novels (I tend to have several on the go at once), and laboriously writing my story (mentioned in my 19/2 entry). I don’t know how authors manage to write big thick fantasy trilogies consisting of hundreds of pages! I have trouble even doing one scene. The story is the first creative project I have done since 2003. I get all these wonderful images in my head and have to get them out somehow. I can’t pretend, though, that I would ever be a great artist or writer. I tend to focus exclusively on whatever I am obsessed with and not be able to do anything else. An extract from one of my school reports (Form 7A, 1983) – I was obsessed with horses at that time:

[…] Her horse stories are excellent and show a high degree of originality and interesting style, but she must be prepared to exploit her imagination more fully and transfer this ability to more diverse subjects.

What those “horse stories” were I don’t know; they have been lost to time (like so much of my creative work).

I don’t know why I bother trying to create anything at all (it ultimately seems rather pointless), but I suppose it keeps me occupied. It is also a break from my irritation at the slow progress and tedious politics of the real-world space program (which I have complained about in previous entries …).

A post at the Asperger Livejournal community I can relate to, about people who are intensely involved in their own fantasy worlds and inner life.

A novel I just re-read (first read it in late 1990s) is Raptor Red, a story of the year in the life of a Utahraptor dinosaur and her sister. It is an excellent story, with the dinosaurs presented as sympathetic characters without anthropomorphitising them (presenting them as funny-shaped humans). The author invokes something of how the dinosaurs might think, which is difficult for humans to imagine. It is hard for us to imagine how any non-human creature sees the world, even our closest primate relatives. Perhaps the closest we come to such a worldview is during early childhood, before developing the self-awareness that separates us from other species.

I read with disgust that the State Government is to fund a $270 million sports stadium Update 21/9/2011: Link dead: see AAMI Park. Words fail me. The Melbourne Council is also misusing its rates, with ratepayers facing increased charges. The Melbourne Mayor, John So, spends huge amounts of public money on vanity projects and promotions, and is rather too close to big business. (For some baffling reason he has “cult status”. I really can’t stand people who giggle inanely, as he does.)

The NASASpaceflight.com site is getting increasingly littered with ads. I suppose the owners have to find revenue to maintain the site, but the ads get annoying. I also get annoyed at some of the posters, particularly the anonymous “Jim” (who, like many, provides little personal information, except that he lives in Florida) and has the tagline “Actually, I am a rocket scientist.” His replies are quite terse and I have to restrain myself sometimes from snapping at him. He posts prolifically (I wonder what he does for a living?), but has his post count concealed for some reason.

Sunday 27/5

I spent most of yesterday downloading a large (700 mb) file. This time I used a downloader program, rather than just download through a browser as I had tried to on previous occasions. Much better! The program splits up the file into several streams and reassembles them when finished; this seems to speed up the download somewhat (an average of 24 kb/sec or more; it fluctuates). It took 7 hours 40 minutes. More importantly, the program allows the download to be stopped, and restarted at a later time (which ordinary downloads don’t allow). The program is an open-source one, chosen from Comparison of download managers at Wikipedia. It seems to be a bit buggy (tends to crash). It is hard to find one that is free with no “catches” (i.e. adware and spyware included). It would be helpful if future releases of Firefox could add such features as stopping and restarting downloads to its download manager.

Blog entry at The Age concerning McMansions. A lot of comments. “Is it time to clamp down on ostentatious and energy inefficient new housing?” A resounding YES!

A story from today’s The Age you won’t be able to read without cringing: “To hell and beyond,” of a man who suffered a hideous industrial accident (the skin from his face and scalp was torn off). The aftereffects of such an accident aren’t only physical. Demonstrates why it is important to wear hairnets around machinery! The accident is described here at the WorkSafe site.

Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov are to do two spacewalks in Russian Orlan-M spacesuits, the first being on the 30-31 May (31 May here). It will be the first spacewalk for both of them! The second spacewalk is on 6 June.

On 23 May, Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalyov, Vice-president of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, pilot cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Russian Federation, was elected an honorary freeman/citizen of Saint-Petersburg. This decision was taken by the Deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Petersburg. The honorary title is slated to be given on May 27, 2007. Honorable citizens have the right to introduce laws for examination by the urban parliament, their pensions will be increased, and they do not have to pay public transport fares.

Monday 28/5

Haven’t remarked on Russia for a while, so some news items.

There was a mine blast in Siberia on 24 May that killed 38 miners, coming only 2 months after another accident where 110 were killed. If miners were being killed in Australia in such numbers, there would be a national outcry (recall the huge effort to rescue the 2 miners trapped last year in the Beaconsfield mine collapse), yet there seems to be almost indifference from the Russian government. Miners are similarly killed in huge numbers in China each year, where there is similar governmental indifference.

Looks like Russians are embracing the credit card trap. Might be good for the economy in the short term, but an economy fueled by debt is a precarious one; those debts have to be paid off sometime and if people find themselves unable to, then there is a massive crash. The same thing has been happening in Australia since the 1990s: economic growth fueled by debt; i.e. people buying lots of stuff and putting it all on credit. If interest rates go up (as they will – they have been artificially low for the last few years) a lot of people will be in trouble. The trap with credit is that the loan from the bank or other financial institution must be paid off with interest. So the bought item might end up costing a lot more than its original worth if the debt is not paid off within the due date. That is why I never liked the idea of credit and don’t have a credit card. Unfortunately it makes ordering items online very difficult as the businesses assume that everyone has a credit card. (A Rant about Credit at Mark L. Irons’ site. “I don’t believe in the credit system. It lets people pay for the privilege of getting themselves into debt.”)

The sort of event that gives Russia a bad image overseas (reported on the news here last night). (For the record, I do not care what consenting adults do in their private love lives.) The protest might not be to everyone’s taste, but the images of nationalist neo-Nazi protestors (in Russia! Unthinkable in the Soviet era) in some sort of unholy alliance with the Orthodox Church is disturbing and unpleasant. The neo-Nazis seem to be mostly Angry Young Men (not surprisingly).

The May edition of Northstar Compass is out. They are clearly not fans of the late Boris Yeltsin!

“The West Still Underestimates the Important of World War 2 for Russia,” JRL, 8/5.

“Moscow Tour Guides Ask Authorities To Protect Foreign Tourists From Police Harassment,” JRL, 15/5. A very discouraging aspect for tourists when visiting Moscow (or other Russian cities) is being pressed for bribes by police officers. It might help if the police were paid a decent (liveable) wage. Again such bribery is almost unthinkable in Australia, where police are generally respected. (Maryam’s advice at her blog: “Always keep away from them”.)

Tuesday 29/5

There has been an annoying north wind persisting since last week, and last night and today it turned gale-force, with storms causing damage across Victoria. Last night was the warmest May night on record (17.9°C). Rain started this afternoon, at long last; May has only had half its usual rainfall, and this Autumn has been the warmest on record – all unwelcome records.

I wish there could be some form of weather control, that could do things such as dissipate hurricanes and induce rainfall where needed (the latter desperately needed in Australia!), but that still seems to be in the realm of science fiction.

A warning about the safety of toys made in China. But, in Australia, just try finding a toy that isn’t made there!

Regarding Sergei Krikalyov’s recent award, photos (low-resolution only) of the presentation of the “Honored Citizen” award are available at the Official Portal of the Administration of St. Petersburg website. Photos showing Sergei (note the tie he is wearing!): 2, 8, 9, 10. Governor V.I. Matviyenko thanked cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov for his help to St. Petersburg, his support of many undertakings and projects, and active participation in the public life of his native city.

Wednesday 30/5

Feels like winter at last: 5°C this morning with a cold westerly wind. Yesterday’s storm wreaked havoc. More trees blown down; there have been a lot of these violent storms in the last few years and it is a wonder there are any trees left.

A study by the Public Transport Users Association shows Melbourne charges the highest fare of any Australian city for most trips. (The State Government says the Melbourne fare comparisons are unfair. Of course, they would; I doubt any of the ministers actually use public transport.) A 2-hour Zone 1 ticket (which I normally get, though my suburb is really in Zone 1 & 2 but I don’t want to pay the extra) is currently $3.20; it will rise to $3.30 next week. Prices are raised yearly in line with the Consumer Price Index (or some such excuse). Tickets are getting very expensive, which is not exactly encouragement to use public transport! Quality of service continues to deteriorate. Curiously enough, the Government can find $270 million to fund a new sports stadium. Melbourne could have world-class public transport if the Government really wanted it, but they don’t seem to.

A Ballarat schoolgirl is in trouble for putting her shooting massacre fantasies on the Internet:

Student’s massacre fantasy on net

Dan Oakes
May 30, 2007

A Ballarat schoolgirl who made references on the internet to killing her schoolmates also posted a tribute online to the man responsible for massacring 32 people at Virginia Tech university last month.

Police from the Ballarat criminal investigation unit are investigating the Loreto College student’s comments made on the Vampire Freaks website.

Vampire Freaks – a social networking website, akin to Facebook for goths – came to notoriety last month as the host of an online journal maintained by Stephanie Gestier, one of two Upwey schoolgirls who killed themselves after disappearing.

The 18-year-old Ballarat student, whom The Age has chosen not to name, was removed indefinitely from the college after school authorities became aware of the comments on May 18.

On April 18, the girl posted a picture of the Virginia Tech gunman, Cho Seung-hui, and made approving references to him.

“Well give a hand to Cho Seung-hui the second worst school shooting in the world … that’s a fair efort if you ask me!” she wrote.

Four days later, the girl went into great detail about how she would execute a similar shooting, saying she had put a great deal of thought into it.

However, she then wrote that her words should not be cause for concern because she did not have a gun and would therefore be unable to “kill the stupid pathetic excuse for human catholics of my school”.

The student’s mother accused the school of over-reacting to the internet writings.

“It was just her venting a bit of anger and it was not meant to be taken seriously whatsoever,” she told Channel Nine.

In a statement, college principal Judith Potter said the girl’s parents were asked to collect her from school after the website messages were discovered.

Last September, Montreal college student and Vampire Freaks user Kimveer Gill, 25, killed one person and wounded at least 19. His blog suggested a fixation with high school slights, video games and the Columbine massacre.

Dr Joe Tucci, from the Australian Childhood Foundation, said that technology was making situations like this more common.

“Once upon a time you might have written it in your diary and that would have been a private matter,” he said. “The internet, and any of these sorts of websites where adolescents can post things to, are not private and they’re accessed by other young people. So technology’s facilitating the communication of it.”

The recent spate of school violence was not a coincidence, Dr Tucci said. “I think copycat threats are inevitable when there’s so much exposure to events like Virginia Tech.”

Earlier this month, two year 11 Crookwell High School students in rural NSW discussed shooting students. The two planned a shooting rampage on an internet chat site and drew up a hit list of students and staff they planned to target.

The Ballarat schoolgirl’s blog suggests some emotional tumult.

At one stage, she writes of being “angry at my self”. On another day, however, the girl wrote of her glee ahead of the opportunity to dress like a Gypsy at a school walkathon.

– With Kenneth Nguyen and Ari Sharp

Such violent fantasies were exactly the sort of thing I was writing in my private journal as a teenager, in the mid-1980s. There was no Internet then so these remained between the covers of the exercise books in which I wrote (and sketched). I think that adults would have found them rather disturbing! (I destroyed the journals in 1993, which I rather regret now.) I wanted revenge upon certain classmates and created rather violent scenarios of what I would like to do to them. Of course there is a huge gap between thinking and doing, and being somewhat apathetic it is unlikely I would have acted upon them.

The 20-year reunion for my Kilvington Year 12 class (1988) will happen next year. 20 years!!!! Where has the time gone? Of course, I did not finish Year 12 so, as with previous 5-yearly reunions, I am unlikely to attend. I would be too embarrassed to face my former classmates with the way my life has gone (i.e. nowhere). My classmates still appear in my dreams, as they used to be, 20 years ago.

Another gangland killing in Melbourne.

Thursday 31/5

Below, a letter from today’s The Age echoing what I was saying yesterday (30/5 entry) about gun massacre fantasies:

Teen rage

As a victim of relentless teenage bullying, I can understand teenagers having misguided empathy for the perpetrators of the Virginia Tech massacre or the Columbine shootings (The Age, 30/5). In the 1980s, I fantasised about taking Rambo-like artillery to my high school tormentors and then killing myself in a final act of defiance.

As an emotionally mature adult, I cannot condone such selfish acts of violence. However, I can understand the helplessness and rage that teenagers feel, and the reasons they may identify so strongly with these acts. Peer pressure, feelings of helplessness and teen violence are inexplicably linked.

– A. Jones, Wandin North

Update 16/6/2007: “Voices From The Hellmouth” at Slashdot.com.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov of Expedition 15 successfully completed their spacewalk this morning. There was a 45-minute delay in starting because of communications difficulties, but the rest of the spacewalk proceeded well for 5h 25m (19:05-00:30 UTC). Fyodor Yurchikhin was EV1, Orlan-M № 26 (blue stripes), BRTA-13 telemetry system; Oleg Kotov was EV2, Orlan № 0520025 (25) (red stripes), BRTA-18). (Relevant thread at NASASpaceflight.com.)

This NASA Watch entry, “Petty Politics and Uncoordinated Outreach at NASA,” involves astronaut Marsha Ivins, whose management style seems to have upset quite a few people (the letter in question is a PDF download). “This woman is easily the nastiest I dealt with in over 20 years in mission operations. She is not fit to represent NASA anywhere!” says one irate poster.

Another poster says, regarding NASA’s mission: “If we the USA land on Mars, every other country will know that China couldn’t do it, Russia couldn’t do it, the Europeans couldn’t do it – only Number One could do it.” So much for international co-operation?

June

Friday 1/6

First day of winter. Feels like we have barely had any cold weather at all. :-(

“Russia leads world in prevalence of smoking – lung specialist,” JRL, 31/5. In countries like Australia tobacco is strictly legislated – cigarette advertisements were banned in the 1980s – so tobacco companies seek softer targets such as Russia and China. Along with alcoholism and AIDS, Russia’s population has a real health crisis.

Comments at European Tribune on a BBC article regarding the bickering between Britain and Russia over the Litvienko poisoning case. “The really amusing part was when Russia suggested they’d extradite Lugovoi if the UK extradited Berezovski.”

“Putin says missile tests were response to NATO’s actions,” RIA Novosti, 31/5. Relevant post at NASA Spaceflight.com.

STS-117 Atlantis is due to launch next week; the first opportunity is on 8 June. The mission will deliver the second and third starboard truss segments (S3/S4) and another pair of solar arrays to the ISS.

More NASA Watch gossip concerning astronaut Marsha Ivins (mentioned in my 31/5 entry). She and Lisa Nowak (!) are both to be awarded NASA medals. A few people in that post have criticized Marsha Ivins quite harshly; a few others have supported her.

In support:

I’ve always found her collaborative, grateful, available, inventive, reliable, artistic, respectful, a font of knowledge and always, ALWAYS an enormous asset! Does Marsha suffer fools gladly? In a word, “no”. Does she cut to the chase? Yes! […] Marsha doesn’t particularly indulge nonsense, she doesn’t carefully walk on eggshells when working hard for NASA, she tells it like it is. But I have never ever heard her make anyone feel stupid for asking any question no matter how obvious or uninspired.

And not:

In my twenty years of working on NASA programs, I can honestly say that not only was Ms. Ivins the most unpleasent individual I ever met working there in any capacity, exhibiting a genuine pathological character disorder, but a true detriment to the spirit of our efforts.

I learned a long time ago at school that people will say what they really think of you behind your back. If you happen to be able to listen to this without them knowing, it can be quite … dismaying. I have heard people gossiping about absent others (e.g. at my former job), and what they say can be quite vicious. A sneaky method of finding out would be to purchase covert listening devices (“bugs”) at one of those spy shops and install them in your school or workplace!

Saturday 2/6

Why is it when I am out walking by myself, certain types of people seem to feel the urge to call out rude or sarcastic comments that they seem to think are clever? It would probably not surprise you to know that the main offenders are groups of teenaged boys (or teenagers in general). It’s happened twice this week – the latest early this morning when I passed a group of 5 when out walking – one remarked rather sarcastically, “Good evening.” I say nothing and ignore them as reacting would only provoke them more, but if they could look inside my head they might be a bit alarmed about what I was wishing to do to them (assuming I was carrying a sword):

Someone in the movie "300" loses their head

(I was looking for an excuse to use that 300 screenshot *evil grin*)

If I were a 6-foot-tall warrior carrying a big sharp sword I doubt very much that they would bother me. But as I am a not-very-impressive-looking female, they do. I get so tired of being powerless to retaliate. I wish I had one of these guys as a bodyguard.

I rather like the design of the aliens and spaceships in the HALO computer game, such as the Covenant CCS-class Battle Cruiser.

“Housing affordability crisis requires national response,” ABC News 1/6, with comments. Houses (buying and renting) are ridiculously expensive now and it is only getting worse. A major contribution is negative gearing. Wealthy (and greedy) investors buy dozens of properties, rent these out and live off the income. There have been low interest rates on home loans the last few years, which has also encouraged people to take out huge loans and face decades paying off the mortages – and if interest rates go up the borrowers will be in big trouble.

Sunday 3/6

I put what I have done of my story online (in the Creative → Fiction section in the top part of my site), the one mentioned in my 19/2 entry. It has grown and changed a bit since then! (I may change my mind and remove it. So why am I putting it online? Ummm …) Some of my inspirations include Star Wars (of course!) and the aliens and their spaceships from HALO (as I mentioned yesterday) – the latter being the Elites and the CCS-class Battlecruiser, with the same blue-purple-black colors. (If I wanted to play the HALO game, my computer would not support it – I don’t have an adequate graphics card or memory. And is there an option to side with the aliens and shoot the human characters? :-DD

I get so frustrated with the real-world space program – its agonizingly slow pace, the bickering and politics (as exemplified at the space forums I visit) – and this is a diversion from it for me (or, how I would like things to be).

I have been listening to my very small CD collection, which I haven’t for a couple of years. I have some Enya CDs and some techno-trance collections. The main reason I haven’t listened to them is that the music overwhelms me so much that it renders me useless for doing anything else! I have avoided getting emotionally involved in anything for a long time, so that is one reason I tend to avoid music.

Monday 4/6

“The Root of All Evil,” Richard Dawkins’ 2-part BBC documentary about religion, was screened on ABC TV the last 2 weeks (this blog entry has links). He certainly doesn’t mince his words and has an urgent need to make others see reason. Arguing with religous fanatics, though, is akin to banging one’s head against a brick wall. He described the rather scary Christian fundamentalists in the USA as “America’s Taliban” (which is a phrase I used myself to describe them) and brainwashing children with religion as a form of child abuse. “Deep space, the billions of years of life’s evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity, Dawkins argues, contain more beauty and wonder than myths and pseudoscience.” (From the Wikipedia article.)

Found via the Uplink forum: a short story by Dan Simmons about what the future could be like if the Islamic religious fanatics take over.

An interesting blog: Sentient Developments – “Transhumanist and technoprogressive perspectives on science, philosophy, ethics, and the future of intelligent life.”

“Killing soldiers’ humanity,” The Age, 4/6. Interesting article on how the U.S. military is seeking to overcome soldiers’ natural reluctance to kill by using video and computer games.

Retired marine Colonel Gary Anderson, former chief of staff of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, explained to The Washington Post that their exposure to first-person shooter games make today’s soldiers the “new Spartans”.

“Remember the days of the old Sparta, when everything they did was towards war?” he said. “In many ways, the soldiers of this video-game generation have replicated that.” The same article quotes one Sergeant Sinque Swales on his experience killing an Iraqi with a .50 calibre machine-gun. “It felt like I was in a big video game,” he recalled. “It didn’t even faze me, shooting back. It was just natural instinct. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” As Lieutenant-Colonel Scott Sutton from the technology division at Quantico Marine Base puts it, modern soldiers “feel less inhibited, down in their primal level, pointing their weapons at somebody”. […]

In this way, the digital battlefield fosters remarkably old-fashioned notions of combat as a source of meaning and purpose, even as it transforms killing into an unthinking conditioned response.

It’s no wonder that Steven Green felt so confused. “I thought killing somebody would be this life-changing experience,” he said. “And then I did it, and I was like, ‘All right, whatever.’”

Killing someone from a distance – with a gun or other distance weapon – is still relatively easy, though, compared to doing it “up close and personal” – i.e. using a knife or one’s bare hands.

A lot of people on the space forums seem to be fans of the Firefly series and the Serenity movie (which followed the series). I have not seen either, though I had a quick look through a book about each in Borders bookstore. Both are Westerns-in-space. There are no aliens. The USA and China are the major space powers – so what happened to Russia? The special effects look nice (as usual) but I am not sure that I would be enamoured of the plot. I tend to be wary of things that others get enthusiastic about (maybe it’s just me being contrary).

Wednesday 6/6

Yesterday there was a major train accident in the north-west of Victoria, where a truck ran into a V-Line train at a level crossing. 11 people are so far confirmed dead, and many more injured. Level crossings (where a road and train line intersect) can be deathtraps and there have been several fatal accidents over the years, this one being the worst. It would cost billions to replace them with over- or underpasses.

Monash University’s Eric Wigglesworth told The Age the state’s level crossing system was designed in the 19th and 20th centuries, and was incapable of coping with high-speed trains. Much of the system was designed in the 1800s for horses and carts, before cars were even invented, he said. “Now that we have very fast trains we need to have a total, new examination of the system,” he said. Dr Wigglesworth said Victoria’s rail engineers had done a sterling job with limited money to reduce level crossing deaths by almost 70 per cent between the 1970s and 1990s. There are more than 2500 crossings across the state. The vast majority have neither boom gates nor flashing lights. In the past 17 years there have been 65 deaths at level crossings, most of them in the country.

Australia’s population is soon to reach 21 million. It might be small compared to many countries, but Australia is a mostly arid land with infertile soil that cannot support large numbers of people. We are also in drought with the threat of water shortages. A related post at Childfree Hardcore: Australia’s birthrate highest since 1971. No this is not a good thing (as I keep ranting) – it means more competition for scarcer resources, overcrowding, stress on the environment and so on.

An Uplink post on the 2008 U.S. budget – a huge amount: $2.9 trillion total (1 trillion = 1000 billion; there are two different variations of what a billion and trillion are, rather annoyingly); the military budget is $515 billion.

Much bickering between countries at the G8 summit. President Putin created a fuss when he said Russia would aim weapons at Europe if the US sets up a missile shield (which NATO duly condemned). Then President Bush criticized Russia on “democratic reform”. (Q&A: U.S. missile defence, and a reasonably sensible post on the topic at Uplink.com) Former President Gorbachev also criticized the US “empire”.

The second spacewalk for Kotov and Yurchikhin takes place on 6/6 between 14:30-20:30 UTC – just after midnight tonight, Melbourne time.

“Restricted Zone,” Space Daily, 5/6. Keeping humans from contaminating Mars (too much). The article also links to Astrobiology Magazine, yet another “hidden” NASA site I have never heard of before now!

Friday 8/6

As reported at the Mezzoblue and Jemjabella blogs, there was a big security breach at a hosting provider called DreamHost involving malicious spam code insertions into some of the included files used by the WordPress blogging system. WordPress uses PHP, which has a few security issues (though no programming language is totally secure). DreamHost themselves seem to be a somewhat dubious host.

Bought a 1 GB USB storage drive for $13 today! These are coming down in price. I don’t use floppy discs anymore for storage; they are now hopelessly inadequate.

In today’s The Age is this opinion piece: “Memo humans: stop breeding like bunnies,” the publication of which is cause for celebration! I posted it at the Childfree Hardcore LJ community, where the reactions are equally joyous.

“The most effective personal climate change strategy is limiting the number of children one has. The most effective national and global climate change strategy is limiting the size of the population.” […]

Try to raise the issue of population, or overpopulation, and you get shot down as a misanthrope, a racist, a xenophobe seeking to deny others access to the fruits of Australia, or life to the billions of eggs sitting in women’s ovaries.

And watch politicians and the business lobby jump up and down shrieking that population growth is essential to maintain economic growth and living standards. […]

Yes, a bigger population generates more revenue, but also a great deal more social problems and related costs in terms of civic infrastructure, health, education, law enforcement and welfare, let alone more greenhouse emissions and environmental damage, which politicians and industry keep refusing to count as a cost in their stocktaking.

Yurchikhin and Kotov successfully completed their second spacewalk on 6 June, taking 5h 37m (14:25-20:02 UTC). A micrometerorite or space debris impact hole was found on the Zarya module, as this photo shows.

First launch attempt for STS-117 Atlantis is at 7:38 p.m. EDT/23:38 UTC on 8/6 (9:38 a.m. Melbourne time on 9/6).

Saturday 9/6

In a curious dream last night I had my throat cut and was unable to draw in breath, which was a quite unpleasant feeling.

It seems that every week there are incidents like these, involving thuggish young males (and occasionally females) bashing other people. I wish they could be executed on the spot with a gun. They are a real danger to society and are out of control.

Letters from The Age responding to yesterday’s (8/6) article about the problems of population growth. All are in agreement:

The koala syndrome

Thank you, Sian Watkins (Opinion, 8/6), for bringing that elephant in the room to our attention. It seems a simple idea: that a planet with a fixed amount of resources cannot support an endlessly growing population. But for all our supposed intelligence and sophistication as a species, we demonstrate as much conscience and control as the koalas on Kangaroo Island. All we talk of these days is growth, in quantity not quality. Spreading the butter over a bigger and bigger piece of toast makes for a less satisfying meal, but given the obsession of our “leaders” with all things economic and the natural democratic aversion to bitter medicine, a policy that hampers our most essential drive – to breed – is sadly inconceivable. Globally, the power of the Catholic Church in developing countries, poverty that makes children necessary future assets, and a lack of education will produce a future that is crowded and bleak. The issue of population involves almost all of the essential philosophical dilemmas. Sadly, we seem far from resolving them.

– Tim Martin, Abbotsford

It’s unsustainable

About 140 million children are born every year in this world. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in Australia, China or Africa: in 20 years at least 75 million of them will be demanding a job, car, a house and all the other good things in life. At the same time, progress in medical science will keep old people alive longer and at least physically healthy. Clearly, this is unsustainable and we need immediate action to stabilise population growth globally to deal with climate change.

– Bill Mathew, Parkville

Everyone’s a winner

If we reduce demand on the country’s resources, we all stand to benefit. While nobody denies the joy that children bring, we need to reconsider just how responsible it is to bring more children into a world that cannot sustainably support them in the style we expect it to. In the same way many of us have made the paradigm shift on such habits as buckets in the shower and getting on a bike instead of into the car, those considering having children need to think small rather than big. A friend had a baby just last week and I am seriously concerned about what life will be like for him in 50 years.

– Malcolm Pacey, Richmond

Costello’s folly

Peter Costello will be condemned by history for calling on Australians to have a third child “for the country”. In this grossly overcrowded world in which one more high-consuming Australian will have much more impact on the global environment than a child born in Ethiopia, it is vital we end population growth here in Australia as soon as possible.

– Jenny Goldie, national secretary, Sustainable Population Australia

It’s up to us

Our dilemma of a rapidly deteriorating global environment has its source in escalating population growth and a way of life that chases “excessive amounts of stuff”. When will our so-called leaders recognise the need for a more fundamental approach to such issues as global warming? They kid themselves and some of us that we can solve the problem through technology and the market while continuing to grow. Since vision appears to be such a scarce commodity in political ranks, I suspect that the only possibility for a shift to a new way of life is for an irresistible demand within the community for it to grow.

– Geoff Mosley, Hurstbridge

A culture of alcohol binge drinking is a serious problem amongst young people, as reported in The Age. Excessive drinking damages the brain, so this epidemic has repurcussions for the future health care system. Alcohol is too easy to buy and there are far too many outlets. Drunken idiots are a major cause of assaults and vandalism, particularly on weekends. The Government seems to do little as the alcohol industry has rather too much influence. Alcohol is as deadly a drug as heroin, and it should be a lot more strictly regulated than it is.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Liquor Licensing said Melbourne’s vibrant pub and club scene had contributed to the rejuvenation of the CBD. “While there has been an increase in the number of licensed venues in the past five years, it’s important to note that many are restaurants and cafes that contribute greatly to Melbourne’s most liveable city status,” she said.

There seems to be a peculiar notion – as exemplified in the above extract – that a city with lots of nightclubs and places to eat out is somehow “sophisticated”.

“Crappy forum!”: a posting by “jimfromnsf” at Uplink. I think he is the “Jim” posting at NASASpaceflight.com whom I mentioned in my 23/5 entry. I usually visit both forums daily. NSF is more specialized, while Uplink covers a wider range of topics. I don’t think one is “better” than the other, though Uplink seems to be a bit more tolerant of … eccentricity. (E.g. a comment by me regarding my avatar at NSF got removed by the editor, much to my annoyance – 18/3 entry). Also, NSF is getting littered with ads and the really interesting stuff became paid-access only last year.

There are also the Usenet space discussion groups (now owned by Google), but these seem to be full of stalkers and various weirdoes, so I don’t post there at all (or visit very often).

STS-117 Atlantis launched on time, on the first attempt at 23:38 UTC, which must be a record! No weather issues; the only technical issue was a loose pipe clamp on the launch platform which engineers decided to leave alone. The main focus of the mission is adding another set of solar arrays to the ISS: the S3/S4 (starboard) truss.

Tuesday 12/6

The Apple Safari browser is now available for Windows XP and Vista (in beta form). I mainly use Firefox, and have IE7 and Opera installed, so another browser to try (fun!). I have a huge number of bookmarks in Firefox – about 5.5 MBs’ worth when I exported them just now!

There is a site called Autopatcher where Windows updates are bundled together for easy download (a large download, though!) without having to use the Windows updater. I did a 312 MB download of the May release (there are full releases and subsequent updates each month), so I have finally got around to installing the Windows updates. I can burn them to CD and reinstall them when I reinstall Windows, without having to download them again from the Internet.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, sinister statesman and former National Security Advisor (last mentioned in my 4/10/2006 entry), wrote an article, “How to Avoid a New Cold War” (i.e. with Russia) in the 7 June edition of Time magazine. As one might imagine, the article is not unbiased, and is the usual rather patronizing “how we (the USA in this case) should ‘manage’ other countries”. (Note that the online article will probably be changed to subscriber-only at some point, rather annoyingly.)

[…] Despite the tensions, the uneasy state of the relationship need not augur a renewed cold war. The longer-term trends simply do not favor the more nostalgic dreams of the Kremlin rulers. For all of Russia’s economic recovery, its prospects are uncertain. Russia’s population is dramatically shrinking, even as its Asian neighbors are growing and expanding their military and economic might. The glamour of Moscow and the glitter of St. Petersburg cannot obscure the fact that much of Russia still lacks a basic modern infrastructure.

Oil-rich Russia (its leaders refer to it as an “energy superstate”) in some ways is reminiscent of Nigeria, as corruption and money laundering fritter away a great deal of the country’s wealth. To an extent, Russia can use its vast profits to get its way. But buying influence, even in Washington (where money goes a long way), cannot match the clout the Soviet Union once enjoyed as the beacon of an ideology with broad international appeal.

In these circumstances, the U.S. should pursue a calm, strategic (and nontheatrical) policy toward Moscow that will help ensure that a future, more sober Kremlin leadership recognizes that a Russia linked more closely to the U.S. and the E.U. will be more prosperous, more democratic and territorially more secure. The U.S. should avoid careless irritants, like its clumsily surfaced initiative to deploy its missile defenses next door to Russia. And it should not dismiss out of hand Moscow’s views on, for example, negotiations with Iran, lest Russia see its interests better served by a U.S.-Iran war.

But the U.S. should react firmly when Russia tries to bully its neighbors. America should insist that Russia ratify the European Energy Charter to dispel fears of energy blackmail. The U.S. should continue to patiently draw Ukraine into the West so that Russia will have to follow suit or risk becoming isolated between the Euro-Atlantic community and a powerful China. And, above all, the U.S. should terminate its war in Iraq, which is so damaging to America’s ability to conduct an intelligent and comprehensive foreign policy.

Articles on a similar theme in The Economist (which will also, I think, become subsriber-access only), on how the “civilized West” (Western Europe, Britain, USA, Canada) should deal with those Eastern “barbarians”: “The big chill – America and Europe confront a new freeze in their relationship with Russia” (17/5); “No divide, no rule – A troubling new pipeline deal is a symbol of the West’s inability to cope with Russia” (17/5). Apparently the prospect of Russia asserting itself is a horrifying threat </sarcasm>. Never mind the real barbarians – the Islamic religious fanatics wanting to destroy civilization and return to the Dark Ages (remember Al-Qaeda?).

STS-117 Atlantis docked to the ISS at 19:36 UTC on Sunday 10. It is to undock on the 17th (mission extended by 2 days to enable a fourth spacewalk to fix a protruding thermal blanket on the Orbiter).

Thursday 14/6

This morning was the first 0°C morning of this year! (As recorded on the outside thermometer.)

A rather unsettling dream: I was with Dad in his car, driving through the countryside. We went around a bend and the road ahead was covered with deep water. We went into it before the car could stop, and began sinking underneath.

An article from last year: “Too Many Men Could Destabilize Society,” Terra Daily, 29/8/2006. This mainly focuses on cultures that favor male babies, but of relevance was this extract:

This trend could lead to increased levels of antisocial behaviour and violence, as gender is a well-established correlate of crime, and especially violent crime. Gender-related violent crime is consistent across cultures. Furthermore, when single young men congregate, the potential for more organised aggression is likely to increase substantially, and this has worrying implications for organised crime and terrorism.

The point being that aggressive young males (not all young males, just a certain personality type) can be a real menace in any society – the incident mentioned in my 9/6 entry is all-too-common, with groups of young males going around and bashing people just because they feel like it. Living in a society that focuses too much on “rights” and that does not discipline its young, does not help. (The thugs were, fortunately, caught. I would like to see them confronted with someone who really knows how to fight!) Wars are another time-tested way of culling surplus young males. Many years ago I read a book by nuclear activist Helen Caldicott called Missile Envy (1984) where she wrote that wars were a way for the older males in power to have their younger rivals killed:

It is always the old men who send the young men off to die in their wars. […] It is never the people who make the decision to kill who get killed. It is the boys who usually don’t even know what the dispute is about, let alone understand the intricacies of international politics. The old men act out their fascination with killing, their need to prove their toughness and sexual adequacy by using innocent pawns. This dynamic has been occurring for thousands, if not millions, of years.

On skimming through the rest of that chapter, though, she tends to idealize women being innately peaceful a little too much:

Women are nuturers. They are generally born with strong feelings for nuturing of the life process. One reason for this is that their bodies are built anatomically and physiologically to nuture life. Not all women can have babies, nor even desire them, but many have a will to give birth. Whether mothers or not, most women care deeply about the preservation of life.

She goes on and on about how wonderful childbirth is:

After the births, if one of the babies cried in another part of the house, I was still so attached to them that my breasts prickled with milk. I have never been so fulfilled in my whole life and because it was the most creative thing I ever did, I would have given birth every year until menopause.

Ugh. Enough of that! She can come across as somewhat histronic and overly emotional.

Occasional incidents over the years like the ones described in my 21/6/2005 entry only reinforce my views on this (so far I have not been physically assaulted). A much earlier memory from when I was a child comes from when I was attending St. James Kindergarten in 1974: of being backed against a brick wall, surrounded somewhat menacingly by a small group of boys.

I have been working on my story in a leisurely fashion, so I have felt disinclined to do much with my website, and feel more disillusioned with the real-world space program than ever. The danger with reading science fiction and fantasy books is that they make the real world seem so dreary (well, my reality is dreary).

Friday 15/6

1°C this morning and very foggy.

Had a dream about going parachuting, an occasional occurring dream (I have never skydived in my real life, though it is one of the activities I would like to try!). I was jumping off two tall buildings in Melbourne. In the first jump I was with a dream character; in the second I was by myself.

Computer problems on the Russian segment of the ISS. This happened after the new solar array (S3/S4 truss) was unfurled, so a possibility is electromagnetic interference from the array. I think the computers in question are the Data Management System. It seems to be one of those unforeseen issues that are only revealed in live operation rather than testing on the ground.

“Space station glitch puzzles the experts,” James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 14/6, and “Atlantis ready to support ISS troubleshooting” at NASASpaceflight.com.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 633:

12/6/2007/18:06: The space industry should not be held hostage to commerce

Russia should work out effective ways to ensure national security in the space industry. This was the view of Grigorii Chernyavskii (Deputy CEO Russian Space Research Institute of Robotics and Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences), reports RIA Novosti. Chernyavskii believes that the Russian space industry should not stoop to the provision of space tourists. Unfortunately, Russia has opted for the commercialization of space and space-based services instead of creating and effective space means of ensuring national security, as is customary in the world, said the specialist. According to Chernyavskii, to make a difference, the government must declare the establishment of security at the state level, to measure the number of manned flights with real opportunities and increase public financing for space activities.

(Russian version, Русская версия)

Saturday 16/6

The fog returned last night and persisted into this morning. Not quite as cold (5°C this morning).

Another advocacy for the death penalty: “Attack leaves guide dog scarred and fearful,” The Age, 16/6. A cowardly 14-year-old teenage thug set his vicious dog on a blind woman’s guide dog. His identity remains unknown because of the stupid law not allowing under-18 offenders to be named. His dog was destroyed; pity he can’t be also.

“Shubber Ali” at the Space Cynics blog seems to feel the same way I do: “An Argument for Euthanasia” and “An Argument For ‘Youth’-anasia, Redux”.

Updates on the ISS computer situation (they have got them restarted again):

The situation has predictably brought out the usual ISS critics: “Is the Space Station a Money Pit?,” Time, 14/6.

To a different topic, one of the Paranoid Patriots, Gene Kranz, is at it again with an opinion piece, “Missing Out on Outer Space”at The Hill.com website. The issue (with me) is not the upcoming gap in U.S. spaceflight but his harping on about the USA losing its space leadership (that word again!):

In December 1972, America abandoned the moon. With the completion of the Skylab missions two years later, and after a brief rendezvous with the Russians, our nation’s human space effort was grounded. We had won the battle for space and demonstrated the power of a free people […]

[…] The most technically proficient and imaginative space team in the world would disperse. America had lost its will to explore. […]

The American space effort will be stalled and U.S. space leadership will be running out of time. The American astronauts that will fly to the space station will be totally dependent upon Russia, Japan and Europe. We will have to rely on the generosity and goodwill of other nations to maintain a minimal presence in space, as America will be grounded. […]

Shifts in the world’s geopolitical climate are too unpredictable to rely on our allies for access to space – some who clearly intend on challenging our space leadership and whose governments are willing to make the necessary investments to be successful in space exploration. I challenge Congress to heed the call from our industry leaders and the workers they employ. Give NASA what it needs to keep America first in space.

Monday 18/6

There was a shooting in the Melbourne CBD this morning, with one person killed; it appeared to be a personal dispute rather than a random shooting. Police closed down the city center and are still searching for the gunman.

I removed my stories from my site; they are probably better kept private. My site has become stagnant; I just don’t feel much enthusiasm for it anymore (though I won’t be deleting it again!). I come across people who can draw or write much better than me, and I wonder why I bother trying to do anything creative (I do have a mentality of, “If I can’t be the best, then I won’t be anything”).

Moscow has again been voted the world’s most costly city, though this is for foreign expatriates. Don’t know what it is like for “ordinary” people.

The ISS computer problems appear to be fixed; details in “Teamwork, Expertise and Confidence – solving the ISS’ troubles” at NASASpaceflight.com and STS-117 MCC Status Report #17. The situation predictably brought out the Russia-bashers, such as this post at Habitable Zone.

Wednesday 20/6

Friday 22 is the Winter Solstice here (and Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere); the shortest day of the year. Not a happy day for me as after that day, the days slowly lengthen toward the dreaded season of summer!

I went to a hairdresser for a trim this morning. A chore which is about as enjoyable as going to the dentist (in other words, an unpleasant necessity). I go to one of those cheap haircuts places which are staffed by rather indifferent young apprentices who don’t seem to know the concept of opening on time or being organized (I am turning into a crotchety old woman …). A regular hairdresser is just too expensive to justify – my hair is all one length and only needs the ends trimmed to keep them tidy.

There was a Foreign Correspondent report on North Korea last night, aptly titled a “Parallel Universe”. A curious and somewhat unsettling place, like a hermit that is determined to shut out the world. I wonder how the people will cope when reality forces its way in (as it invariably will – what are their plans after Kim Jong Il dies?). The capital city seemed clean and tidy, but glimpses of the countryside showed people toiling in rather barren-looking fields without farm machinery. I have to admit it was a nice change to see a quiet city without advertising, rubbish, overcrowding, traffic, etc. (corporate advertising is just as much propaganda in its own way as the more traditional sort). Also, it was nice to see children who had not been infected and warped by consumer greed and popular culture – but that will undoubtedly change if and when the regime falls.

The man responsible for Monday’s shooting in Melbourne turned himself in. He was known to police as he had committed previous violent offenses (he was involved with the notorious Hells Angels bikie gang here), though the shooting was the first time he had killed anyone. A nasty thug who will hopefully be jailed for life; he is like a dangerous feral animal. (See my 14/6 entry on dangerous males.)

“Ukraine’s Communists propose memorial to U.S. imperialism victims,” RIA Novosti, 18/6 (mentioned at Russophile.com, in response to the Victims of Communism memorial).

“The Dawn of the Next Cold War,” Newsweek, 26/2. From earlier this year, a somewhat more balanced article about President Putin’s Munich conference speech (found via the Krasnodar Today blog).

In today’s Herald-Sun there was a review (not online) of a new game called Call of Duty 4. A description of the story from the article follows – guess what nationality the bad guys are!

Infinity Ward has spent a lot of time with Hollywood writers to create its current enemy. Zakiev is a Russian ultranationalist backed by oil barons and with an army made up of former Soviet mercenaries and elements of the Russian army.

“The British SAS have been keeping tabs on this guy for quite sometime,” Infinity Ward president Grant Collier says. “One of our main characters, Price, is a member of the SAS and he and Zakiev have a bit of history together. The SAS has been working with loyalist Russians for quite some time trying to trace down Zakiev. He’s about to start a civil war in Russia. But though he knows that he can beat the Russians, eventually the West will get involved and he’s going to have some trouble. So what he’s done is to set up his buddy, al-Hassad, to start a coup in the Middle East knowing that the Americans, being such suckers for any war in the Middle East, will get bogged down there and won’t be able to bring their full weight to bear on Zakiev.”

The SAS has a dossier on Zakiev, labelled “The Four Horsemen” – Zakiev, al-Hassad and their henchmen.

“The game takes place over 30 days,” Collier says, “and we really want it to play out like an action TV series or an action novel. We take the player from location to location and put him in all different kinds of scenarios. The action is constantly changing – we really want to keep the player guessing what’s going to happen next. So you might start off on Black Hawk helicopters going out to the Black Sea to attack а cargo ship and recover Zakiev’s laptop. Then you’ll move to the Middle East, coming in with а flood of attack helicopters for а quick strike.”

STS-117 Atlantis undocked at 14:42 UTC on Tuesday (00:42 a.m. this morning in Melbourne). The crew took some spectacular photos of the now-symmetrical ISS during departure. The Russian computers passed a final test and appear to be behaving again, though the cause of their crash is still something of a mystery:

The best guess as to what caused the computer crash appeared to be some subtle shift in the electrically charged plasma that the station flew through as it orbited 220 miles (350 km) above Earth. The theory is that the shift occurred as the Station’s shape and mass expanded with the addition of the 17-ton truss segments that hold the solar wings. The crash temporarily raised concerns the outpost would have to be abandoned.

The planet that was discovered orbiting the red dwarf star Glise 581 apparently isn’t suitable for life after all (too hot), but a neighboring planet (581d) might be.

Friday 22/6

Winter solstice. Cold and overcast. The reservoir levels actually rose this month (first time in 10 months!) – from 28.4% full to 28.5%. A long way to go yet. This time last year they were about 50%, so if they fall over this summer like they did last year, we will be nearly out of water.

I found my grandmother’s house – more accurately, where it used to be, the block of land now overcrowded with 4 ugly townhouses – using Google Maps (couldn’t get any more detail lower than 100 feet). The canal (Elster Creek Drain) is behind, Bridge Street to the right (east). I miss going over there. I wish I could time travel back 25 or 30 years and visit the places and people of my past who have now gone.

“An Earth Without People,” Scientific American.com, July 2007 issue (article may disappear after a while). If humans were to abruptly vanish from the Earth, how would this impact the environment? In general, it would be favorable (not surprisingly!), though some of our artifacts such as plastic items might take millennia to break down.

An article found via a post in the Asperger community Livejournal: “Beyond diagnosis,” Guardian Unlimited, 3/3/2007.

Then, two years ago, Theo had a depressive breakdown, quit his job and came home to live. […] He saw a psychiatric social worker who said Theo had mild depression and a “Big Dream” – Theo is idealistic and hates the way the world is, and does not want to live in it. He refused therapy – his view of the world was correct, he said, so why should he change it? […]

Children, teenagers and adults with AS can be even more vulnerable than autistic people because their sometimes crippling personal problems are not obvious to other people – lay people, professionals, even parents – and so they get no help. […]

Theo is articulate and charming, shakes hands readily and holds eye contact, but his hatred and fear of change makes undertaking new tasks – or making changes to the way he lives – uncomfortable or frightening, sometimes unthinkable. His inability to imagine the future makes it impossible for him to plan ahead, or to work towards something he cannot envisage. His perfectionism is so extreme that he is paralysed from doing anything. So while as a child he could draw well, and write lively and engaging stories, he thinks he can do nothing now. Theo is reliable, honest and responsible. (His first employer thought so highly of him that when Theo, bitterly unhappy, gave his notice, he was immediately offered a pay rise.) His hatred of being taught, and of taking orders, makes employment problematic. He says he cannot face the stress of another job. […]

The counsellor agreed. She said that while Theo is “living in a capsule” at home with us, he is facing no demands and she cannot help. She says he needs to move out to live on his own by himself, to interact with the world. When someone gets to Theo’s age without a diagnosis, things can be difficult. Young adults are not open to learning coping strategies in the way that children are.

No surprises as to why I quoted the above extracts. Theo is still young, though (22) so there is still time for him to change. For someone in their mid-30s who is in a similar condition, though, things appear rather hopeless. Once a person is no longer “young” (which seems to be about 25 years onwards) they seem to be written off and society’s attention turns to the next generation. Youth suicide, for example, gets more attention than suicides of older people.

There is a faction in the Asperger’s/autistic communities that reacts with hostility towards the prospect of any cure, such as via genetic engineering. This post at the same community demonstrates such a reaction. From my view, having such a condition is a curse and if I found out that a child I would bear had such a condition (severe autism), I would seek such treatment (not that I am likely to have children, so that is a hypothetical situation).

Watched a PBS documentary (on SBS TV) called “Gangs of Iraq”. Mutilated bodies and blood in a blasted and ruined city. I feel sorry for the animals (brief glimpses of malnourished donkeys and stray dogs), who are the real innocent victims, of this or any human war.

Two articles from today’s The Moscow Times.com, reproduced here as they are taken offline after 1 day. In response to events mentioned in a post at Russophile.org:

President Says No Need to Feel Guilty

President Vladimir Putin lashed out at foreign countries Thursday for trying to make Russia feel guilty about “black pages” in its history.

“Others cannot be allowed to impose a feeling of guilt on us,” Putin told a group of social studies teachers at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Interfax reported. “Let them think about themselves.”

While he did not directly name the United States, Putin made an obvious reference to the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and cited the Vietnam War in defending Russia’s past.

“We did not use nuclear weapons against a civilian population, nor did we pour chemicals over thousands of square kilometers and drop seven times as many bombs as were dropped in World War II on a small country, as took place in Vietnam,” Putin said. “We did not have other black pages, like, for example, Nazism.”

Putin conceded that Russia has had “frightening pages.” “Let us remember 1937,” he said, referring to the year of Stalin’s Great Terror.

Russian Speakers Are More Prone to Suicide

By Natalya Krainova, Staff Writer

Highest suicides in 2004 per 100,000 people
Country Percent
1. Lithuania 40.2
2. Belarus 35.1
3. Russia 1 34.3
4. Kazakhstan 29.2
5. Slovenia 28.1
6. Hungary 27.7
7. Estonia 28.1
8. Japan 25.5
9. Latvia 24.3
10. Ukraine 23.8
1 State Statistics Service puts the figure at 32.2 in 2005.
Source: WHO

Russian Internet forums and communities abound with people looking for easy ways to commit suicide and inviting others to join them.

Popular blog site LiveJournal.com alone has 124 Russian-language communities interested in suicide, with names like Self-Killers Club, Suicide World, and Suicide Truth. The Russian Internet is teeming with chat rooms and forums to discuss the issue, such as Last-limit.narod.ru, Pagesofpain.narod.ru and Danaja666.narod.ru.

Many communities and forums say their goal is suicide prevention, but visits over several days found people eagerly exchanging information on how to commit suicide and find a suicide partner.

“Somebody help me, advise me how to accomplish a certain suicide with medicine,” says a comment posted in the LiveJournal community Suicid_mir.

One of the answers to the request reads: “I don’t think drugs are best, most likely jumping from a high floor will do. I am replying to you because I am looking for someone to accompany me. I am scared to do it alone, but together would be easier, I believe.”

The dark deliberations come as no surprise to demographers, who say Russian speakers are more likely to commit suicide than any other group on Earth. Russia has the third-highest suicide rate in the world, with 32 people in every 100,000 killing themselves per year, according to the State Statistics Service figures from 2005, the most recent year available. The leader is Lithuania, followed by Belarus.

Since 1970, the number of people committing suicide in Russia has surpassed the number dying from accidental alcohol poisoning or murders. Twenty-nine people in 100,000 now die from alcohol poisoning every year, and 25 per 100,000 are murdered, according to State Statistics Service.

But it is not all bad news. Russia’s suicide rate has been dropping steadily since reaching record highs in the early 1990s. The highs – which hit a 27-year peak of 41 suicides per 100,000 people in 1995 – have been linked to the turmoil surrounding the Soviet collapse. The period from the late 1980s to early 1990s was one of decaying social values that was very hard on people, said Alexander Appenyansky, co-chairman of the Russian Association of Psychiatrists.

“A lot of changes happened. Many people lost their jobs and couldn’t find new ones, and that is a reason why families broke up,” said Yevgeny Gontmakher, head of the Social Policy Center at the Institute of Economics.

G8 Suicides per 100,000 people
Country Percent
1. Russia 32.2
2. Japan 25.5
3. France 17.8
4. Germany 13.0
5. Canada 11.6
6. United States 11.0
7. Italy 7.1
8. Britain 6.9
Source: WHO

An uncertain life contributes to a person’s decision to end it all, he said.

But life has become a lot more predictable over the past 12 years, fueling optimism throughout the country, according to opinion polls. Levada Center, which has been polling 429 Muscovites about their mood twice a year for the past decade, found that satisfaction with economic circumstances at home and in the rest of country has played a key role in the growth in positive sentiment, said Irina Palilova, a sociologist with the center.

Polling agency VTsIOM has noted a similar trend. “Obvious economic changes have influenced social psychology,” VTsIOM spokesman Igor Eidman said.

The suicide rate, however, remains high, in large part due to a lack of close-knit networks of families and friends throughout much of the country and a near-complete absence of crisis centers offering free counseling. Private counseling is too expensive for many, costing an average of 1000 rubles per hour.

“There are few of these centers in big cities, while in small towns people have nowhere to go if they are depressed or are in low spirits,” said Gontmakher of the Social Policy Center.

He said he advocated the creation of a hotline for psychological assistance modeled after the “02” phone number for police and “03” for an ambulance.

Moscow has 10 crisis hotlines offering free counseling, and St. Petersburg has four, according to Yellowpages.ru. But most of the hotlines keep strict hours and are aimed as specific groups, such as HIV-positive people, victims of domestic violence, drug users and gays – not just anyone contemplating suicide.

Svetlana Marinich, a St. Petersburg therapist who has manned a crisis hotline for the city’s Petrodvorets district for two years, said she gets a suicide call once every few months. “Mostly they are teenagers and young people who call with such thoughts after an unfortunate romance,” she said.

Many other calls come from lonely pensioners, Marinich said.

Marinich noted that women are more likely to attempt suicide, but men are more likely to succeed.

(Suicide trends in Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics)

Sunday 24/6

A letter from today’s The Age on a topic of relevance to me:

Open-ended questions are better for some

In reply to Simon Longstaff, “Is it rude to ask people what they do for a living?” (The Sunday Age, 17/6). The answer in my case, Dr Longstaff, is yes. I read your article and I have to admit to mixed feelings as I scrolled through, then I arrived at the end of your article, and I quote: “… why not ask a better question in the first place? For example, how about starting a conversation with a stranger by asking, ‘Where do your interests lie?’”

My reasons (for finding it rude to ask what people do for a living) are, I was performing my duties well as a Victorian policeman until a simple, everyday event – a phone call one night shift – sent me over the top to become a raging demolition machine, then a bundle sobbing uncontrollably on the floor. There followed various phases in an unnatural working life until I was retired medically unfit for further duties. This, after 26 years’ service.

That was more than 20 years ago. I guess I am still embarrassed at the manner of having to leave my lifetime job and I still dread being asked “What do you do?” To just answer “I’m retired” usually is a trigger to ask, “Yes, but what do you do now?” or “What did you do before you retired?” I sometimes answer, “I’m a depressive, after suffering a breakdown, and wonder each day is it worth being alive” – not a good reply to foster conversation.

So yes, Doc, I like the question, “Where do your interests lie?” That opens up a much more pleasant door, to which I can reply.

– Bruce Fisher, Forest Hill

STS-117 Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base at 19:49 UTC on Friday (5:49 a.m. on Saturday in Melbourne); its landing at Florida delayed then called off due to the usual culprit: weather.

Energiya and Roskosmos are bickering again, with the Federal Space Agency moving to fire Energiya President Nikolai Sevast’yanov (temporarily replacing him with Vice-President Aleksandr Strekalov).

Energiya’s management (including Sergei Krikalyov) signed a statement in support of Mr. Sevast’yanov (currently in Russian; no English translation yet). This seems somewhat ironic, as his election was initially opposed in 2005, and the management of then signed a statement in support of the-then President, Yurii Semyonov! (Details in my 15/5/2005 entry, and the original collective letter. Update 6/9/2007: Gone?) He must have made a good impression since then. At least he had a Vision for the future. Some interviews with him are on Energiya’s Publications page.

These sort of political machinations are wasteful and are hardly likely to inspire younger people to join the Russian space program (of whom it is in desperate need of).

Friday 29/6

In contrast to the start of this month, there has been some rain nearly every day, and heavy flooding in Gippsland, in the east of the state (last summer there were bushfires there).

The Eldritch Dark is a site about a writer who was a contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, who wrote the same type of stories (Cthulhu Mythos and similar fantastic fiction). A third writer of that time was Robert E. Howard, whose life was short and rather tragic (suffered melancholy and depression, and took his own life: “Throughout all of this time, Howard continued to be dogged by fits of increasingly unbearable melancholy and depression, and he maintained his belief in the validity of suicide as an escape from the nightmarish pain”). Some of his stories are online at the Project Gutenburg of Australia site.

I was researching the properties of plasma for the aliens’ technology in my story. There is a Plasma window, which can be used to separate atmosphere and a vacuum; it is similar to what the aliens in the Halo computer game use as barriers on their spaceships. The disadvantage is that the plasma is very hot! 15,000 Kelvins (14,726.85° C using a temperature converter). So then I did a Google search for cold plasma and came across this Space.com article: “Force Fields and ‘Plasma’ Shields Get Closer to Reality,” 27/5/2000; this plasma can be used to cloak objects from radar, deflect energy weapons and for sterilizing objects. (It does need a huge amount of power, though.) Fascinating stuff!

“Mayor of ‘Luzhcow’ for fifth term,” RIA Novosti, 22/6. Yurii Luzhkov, the Mayor of Moscow since 1992, is seeking a fifth term in office. Which I think is rather too long, and the power seems to have gone to his head. Term limits should be introduced!

The city has become a unique place under Luzhkov. It ought to be renamed Luzhcow, I daresay. I don’t feel it is the city I was born in. It is no longer the Moscow I used to know. I no longer love it. I detest its scenic spots now chockfull of casinos, stores and ostentatious office buildings. I do hate its importunate beggars, cheeky parking lot assistants, stinking underpasses, huge ads everywhere-and the all-pervading insolence of the new rich.

“What Is Happening At The Russian Rocket Corporation,” RIA Novosti, 28/6 (also at SpaceDaily).

Saturday 30/6

There was more graffiti attacks on residents’ fences in a nearby street last night, as observed on my morning walk; big ugly scrawls in black spraypaint. F**king sick of these morons and wish there was a vigilante group that would go around at night and shoot them. The once-pleasant neighborhood I grew up in is being destroyed by vandals and also by property developers; this is a continuing source of stress and anxiety. Police and local council seem to do nothing to stop any of it.

“Living with thanatophobia” (fear of death); entry in a blog I came across. A lot of comments in response. My own comment:

I have more-or-less come to terms with the prospect of my own death and don’t particularly fear it – though the thought of loved ones dying does upset me. For me, death will be a relief, to get away from my own sometimes-tormenting thoughts (though the thought of death is still unreal – it’s something that happens to other people). I have been mildly depressed for years and life is grey and rather meaningless (But I am too apathetic/cowardly to try to take my own life, so I guess I will wait around until I die :-). We did not exist before we were conceived, and death is merely a return to that non-existence. That’s as much as I can figure out – everything else is speculation. (I am not religious.)

If a suicide pill were to magically appear in front of me, would I take it? I don’t know. I still have the vague hope that things will work out somehow or that my life will magically change; so far I have spent years waiting in vain, stuck in a sort of limbo. I stopped having any ambitions for my life a long time ago and lost the will to try anything (see 22/6 entry); I have become too fearful of change.

July

Tuesday 3/7

I have been wondering if the United Nations had any plans to deal with a possible alien invasion (unlikely to happen, but interesting to contemplate!). Came across this article describing a book, An Introduction to Planetary Defense: A Study of Modern Warfare Applied to Extra-Terrestrial Invasion. In reality, if the aliens were technologically-advanced (which they presumably would be if they had mastered interstellar travel) humans would not have much chance of fighting them with our present technology. Consider our current operational spaceships:

Unless the U.S. Air Force or Russia have some top-secret space plane at Area 51, it seems that humans would have to surrender (though some form of guerilla warfare could be continued against the aliens). I don’t know if an alien invasion would be any worse than what humans are already doing to themselves in their own wars.

“A Colder War” – a novelette by Charles Stross: a rather creepy short story involving the Cold War and the Cthulhu mythos! [Wikipedia article]

“Yeah. It’s bad news, Roger. We need you back.”

“Bad news?”

“The worst.” The colonel jams his hands between his knees, stares at the floor like a bashful child. “Saddam Hussein al-Takriti spent years trying to get his hands on elder technology. It looks like he finally succeeded in stabilising the gate into Sothoth. Whole villages disappeared, Marsh Arabs, wiped out in the swamps of Eastern Iraq. Reports of yellow rain, people’s skin melting right off their bones. The Iranians got itchy and finally went nuclear. Trouble is, they did so two hours before that speech. Some asshole in Plotsk launched half the Uralskoye SS-20 grid – they went to launch on warning eight months ago – burning south, praise Jesus. Scratch the Middle East, period – everything from the Nile to the Khyber Pass is toast. We’re still waiting for the callback on Moscow, but SAC has put the whole Peacemaker force on airborne alert. So far we’ve lost the eastern seaboard as far south as North Virginia and they’ve lost the Donbass basin and Vladivostok. Things are a mess; nobody can even agree whether we’re fighting the commies or something else. But the box at Chernobyl – Project Koschei – the doors are open, Roger. We orbited a Keyhole-eleven over it and there are tracks, leading west. The PLUTO strike didn’t stop it – and nobody knows what the f**k is going on in WarPac country. Or France, or Germany, or Japan, or England.”

The colonel makes a grab for Roger’s Wild Turkey, rubs the neck clean and swallows from the bottle. He looks at Roger with a wild expression on his face. “Koschei is loose, Roger. They f**king woke the thing. And now they can’t control it. Can you believe that?”

“I can believe that.”

“I want you back behind a desk tomorrow morning, Roger. We need to know what this Thulu creature is capable of. We need to know what to do to stop it. Forget Iraq; Iraq is a smoking hole in the map. But K-Thulu is heading towards the Atlantic coast. What are we going to do if it doesn’t stop?”

Followed the link to Charles Stross’s website. He has a page about visiting a nuclear reactor, “Nothing like this will be built again”. Which I reckon would be a fascinating place to visit, as huge engineering projects are. But also creepy, with that immense and dangerous power barely-contained, like the entities in his story.

The planets Venus and Saturn are close together in the evening sky (north-west), 0.8° apart. Saturn is a vaguely orange-yellow color. Venus is about 12 light-minutes away, and Saturn is 85 light-minutes from us (source). Sadly, we don’t have a telescope to view them! There was also a full Moon on 30/6 (2 full Moons in June, as described at the Bad Astronomy blog).

The unfortunate residents of flooded Gippsland are cleaning up the damage, the floods described as a “one-in-100 year event”. Melbourne’s water storages are back up to 30.4%.

“Australian Drought Turns To Flood As California Dries Out,” Space Daily, 2/7. California has more people than the whole of Australia, nearly double our 21 million – 37,700,000 in 2007! I wonder how they will cope with a severe drought there.

Wednesday 4/7

I videotaped and watched a horror movie called Resident Evil (based on a video game). Can’t say I liked it that much (I prefer movies set upon spaceships, and with aliens!). My main irritation was with the ridiculously flimsy red dress the female lead character spent much of the movie running around in, along with her gratuitious nude scenes (two of them).

There was a delightfully gruesome scene where some hapless soldiers trapped in a corridor get sliced up with lasers, very neatly! (A similar effect to cutting a hard-boiled egg with an egg-slicer.) One soldier got sliced through by a latticework of lasers; he stood there for a few moments with a blank look on his face, then bits of him started to slide and fall off – thud! thud! thud! Eww! Wonder if that is actually possible in reality.

Last week I watched Part 1 of a 2-part documentary, “Gamer Revolution”. There was mention of the StarCraft game, which seems to be popular in South Korea for some reason. (I can’t quite contemplate the idea of computer nerds being “sex symbols” though! The ones shown were rather flabby and pasty-faced specimens. Professional gaming is not a healthy lifestyle!) As usual the graphics are stunning (I seem to be more interested in the graphics/artwork and story of a game, than playing the actual game itself), and I like the Protoss aliens. There is a nice website for StarCraft 2.

I suspect I could get addicted to games if I did not have my own imaginary worlds. I do not know if the games help the imagination or hinder it (as opposed to reading novels, etc.). I did not grow up with computer games; books were my form of escapism and I still prefer them. I subconsciously form mental images of scenes and characters as I read, rather like watching a movie.

The New Scientist article about oxygen mentioned in my 10/5 entry has been transcribed.

“Extreme Sailing: The Biggest Boat in the World,” Wired.com, 26/6. Awesome-looking yacht! [Wikipedia article]

Two NASA Watch entries:

Friday 6/7

“Women’s Combat Roles Evolving in Iraq, Afghanistan”: a report on the Online Newshour about women in combat. I don’t have a problem with women fighting in combat. It is nothing new; there are Wikipedia entries: Soviet women in the Great Patriotic War (World War 2) and a History of women in the military. I had been thinking that a woman would be suited for a position as a sniper, and a comment in the Soviet entry supports this:

The Soviets found that sniper duties fit women well, since good snipers are patient, careful, deliberate, can avoid hand-to-hand combat, and need higher levels of aerobic conditioning than other troops.

(Though attitudes seem to have degraded since then: “Today, the Russian army runs the ‘Miss Russian Army’ beauty contest for attractive female Russian soldiers.” *Rolls eyes in disgust*)

There is still a perception that women are frail and helpless, but this extract from the PBS program contradicts this:

JUDY WOODRUFF: Captain Manning, what does your research show? How are women doing in these jobs?

LORY MANNING: That’s the biggest surprise of the war. Before this, people only guessed, and they guessed that the women would fall to pieces, that they wouldn’t be able to rescue fallen comrades, that, if they were shot at, they wouldn’t be able to shoot back because they’d be so nervous. None of those bad guesses that women would go to pieces have happened: The women have held their own. They’ve done brilliantly well. And there’s been no obvious differences, either over in Iraq or when people come back, the women’s rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and those sorts of things are not that different from the men’s. So what we have learned is, through real experiences, that women can hack it in the military.

Well, duh! I knew that! The main hassle for women, though, are certain physical inconveniences that men don’t have (i.e. to do with the reproductive system).

Molecular nanotechnology is a fascinating technology that could be developed in the near-future. Tiny nanobots, not much bigger than atoms, could manufacture almost anything out of raw materials, and be used in medicine (going through the human body to repair various injuries and diseases). If the technology could be made viable it would change society and the economy radically (which might not be a bad thing) – no need for the immensely wasteful consume-and-throw-away system that the current economy depends upon. Just program your own nanobots to manufacture your own clothing, implements or whatever!

Russia seems to be interested in it. Articles from RIA Novosti last month: “Russian government sets up state council for nanotechnology,” 14/6; “Nanotechnologies promise Russia a bright future,” 18/6; “Russia to allocate $7.7 bln for nanotechnology until 2015,” 21/6. Perhaps Russia could utilize those secret closed cities it had during the Soviet era for high-technology innovations, such as the polluted city of Norilsk (after cleaning it up). They would be secure centers for nanotechnology, genetic engineering (of humans) and such – secure because such innovations would predictably be regarded with fear by some segments of the population and these elements would try to sabotage them.

A lot of people seem to view these technologies with superstitious fear – the “humans should not play God” argument. But if humans are to survive into the long-term future we must embrace such technology. That’s my view – and I get very exasperated with the naysayers. I just wish I were smart enough to participate in the invention of such technology! But I am not.

“Russians still troubleshooting ISS computers,” NASASpaceflight.com, 5/7.

Saturday 7/7

I watched the second part of “Gamer Revolution”. One peculiar trend is for some time-pressed gamers in the USA to pay others to advance their characters up in levels, and there are businesses focused around this. The work is outsourced to cheap-labor countries; Romania was one featured here. Mostly young unemployed men were hired to play, so I suppose it is some sort of social service, though spending an intense 8-hour shift at a computer does not sound enjoyable, or healthy! They were described as “cash-poor and time-rich” (sounds like me – well that could be an employment option!).

The addictive qualities of the MMORPG games was mentioned; the games are deliberately designed to encourage this. There is a website called On-Line Gamers Anonymous, with tales of woe from the addicted.

From today’s The Age:

“Voice for a sick planet”: interview with James Lovelock, environmental scientist. He does not have optimistic predictions for the future.

Instead, Lovelock predicts a troubling descent into increasingly nasty fights for survival over border control and resources, as a massively overpopulated planet of more than 6 billion people works out who will survive and who will not. “I think it will be amazing if 20 per cent of us are alive at the end of the century, it is much more likely to be only a billion or less,” says Lovelock. “It is happening now. Already parts of southern Italy, southern Spain and Greece are becoming uninhabitable in terms of plants. People are only continuing to live there because they have air-conditioning.”

“Meet generation Y, or should that be why bother?”: dismaying survey of the attitudes of people aged 18 to 30 towards politics.

Cameron says the young are cynical, with short attention spans and minimal interest in politics. They identify with no particular political force and the trade union movement is irrelevant to their lives. “They want and expect flexible working conditions. They’ve been brought up to expect a casualised, job-hopping lifestyle, which they want,” he says.

This so-called “flexibility” is anathema to me; I hate the stressful uncertainty of casual work.

I was looking up the prices of Melbourne public transport tickets, displayed at this Metlink page. They are not cheap! There is a 2-hour ticket or a daily ticket. The 2-hour ticket replaced a 3-hour a few years ago, much to the annoyance of many; 2 hours is not quite enough for longer journeys that don’t require a whole day. Even more annoyingly, the prices go up every year because of inflation. (Why does there have to be inflation, anyway? Why can’t someone design an economic system where prices stay the same, and not continually go up?)

As evidence that Russian space toilets are superior :-D, NASA will be paying Energiya $19 million to construct another toilet to be installed in the U.S. segment, to cater for the crew increase to 6 in 2009 (the loo will be installed in 2008). (This was even reported in today’s The Age.) There is a thread on the topic at NASASpaceflight.com.

Monday 9/7

Mum and Dad are flying up to Queensland tomorrow to see my sister and her family for 9 days, so it means another dreary isolated period by myself :-(.

The Federal Government is proposing to release tracts of Commonwealth-owned land to tackle the housing affordability crisis. So if that is done it means more valuable open land will be smothered by housing estates. Not going to help the environment is it? Try thinking laterally and REDUCE THE POPULATION. As one commenter says:

“It’s not a demand problem, it’s a supply problem, you’ve got to boost the supply of housing” How can supply and demand be divorced? If it is a supply problem then it is also a demand problem. Matt of Ballarat points out many ways in which the government has destroyed the dream of home ownership for many. Yet again, though, the main factor behind the problem is ignored. It’s simple folks, we have to stop exponential population growth. Costello’s audacity at claiming housing availability is a supply problem at the same time as promoting unsustainable population growth is breathtaking. The more people there are the more expensive housing will become. Population growth is also largely responsible for global warming, increasingly scarce resources and the current water shortage. This is the most fundamental problem facing humanity and it requires a global solution. It has to stop!!

– Posted by: Luke of Carlton 11:37 a.m. today

And regulate the housing industry so that prices don’t reach such ridiculous levels (banning private auctions would be a start).

Land may be freed for sale

Ellen Whinnett and Matt Doran, July 09, 2007 12:00am

HUGE tracts of Commonwealth-owned land could be released for home hunters in a plan to tackle the housing affordability crisis. Treasurer Peter Costello says the problem is supply, not demand. Land owned by the Defence Department and agricultural research facilities across Australia are among prime sites that would be considered for sale.

With housing looming as a key election issue, the Federal Government and the Opposition yesterday sought to woo voters. Costello said one way to balance property prices to help first home buyers was to release surplus government land for development. “It’s not a demand problem, it’s a supply problem, you’ve got to boost the supply of housing,” he said. “We should do an audit of all land, particularly on outer suburban areas, that should be released for new housing.”

Housing affordability is at its toughest level in 50 years, with the median price in Melbourne climbing to $380,000 in March. But Labor called the plan ignorant, blaming high interest rates as the main problem for home hunters. Labor has convened a summit in two weeks, which members of the housing industry, finance sector and state and local governments will attend.

But frustrated first-home hunters Niall and Jacqui Baird said the Costello plan would be welcomed by home buyers. The Viewbank couple, who have endured months of fruitless searching and a number of rejected bids, are renting just near the Simpson Barracks in Watsonia. “There’s huge demand in this area,” Mr Baird said. “We’d be very keen on buying a place there if the plan went ahead.” Mr Baird said he and his partner had become so frustrated by skyrocketing house prices they had crossed properties going to auction off their list. “House prices across Melbourne just keep blowing out beyond their reserve,” he said.

Mr Costello urged all states to open their books and see what land could be available for housing. “We need more houses to be constructed, particularly for first-home buyers,” he said. “We need more land release, we have to encourage land release, and of course first-home buyers are classically the people who buy houses on new housing sites.”

Federal Labor has developed a policy paper to address housing affordability and on July 26 will convene a summit on the issue at Parliament House in Canberra. Mr Rudd yesterday invited Federal Government ministers to the summit, which members of the housing industry, finance sector and state and local governments will attend. “Mr Costello’s response today was simply to talk around the edges of this debate,” Mr Rudd said. “What this shows is that after 11 years Mr Howard’s government has gone stale and has lost touch with working families across Australia who are doing it tough meeting mortgage repayments.” One of the proposals the Opposition will put forward is to allow first-home buyers tax concessions, similar to superannuation, while saving for a deposit on their first purchase.

The Commonwealth does not have large areas of unused land around Melbourne, but has high-profile holdings at the Simpson army barracks at Watsonia and the area of Point Nepean, which is due to be made a national park and handed to the State Government in 2009. Neither site is likely to become residential.

The Bracks Government, which limits broadacre housing on Melbourne’s outer fringes in an attempt to control urban sprawl, was negative about the Costello push. “Mr Costello’s comments may apply to other states, but not Victoria, as we have the most affordable housing on the eastern seaboard,” spokesman Matt Nurse said. “We have already gotten on with releasing public land for residential purposes – such as the Commonwealth Games village and the redevelopment of the former Kew Cottages site.”

But Mr Costello said he wanted to work with the State Government to conduct the audit of all state and federal land. He said an audit of land held by the private sector would also be required and that the Government would ask private developers who were not releasing land for their reasons for withholding it. The welfare sector is reporting that the squeeze is forcing low-income families into crisis accommodation, motels and caravans as affordable homes dry up.

“Russia and Its Ruling Mafia” at the latest edition of Northstar Compass. I don’t necessarily agree with all of what the magazine says – I can’t use phrases like “bourgeois” and “imperialist” and keep a straight face – but I still think they say some important things and present an alternative view.

I was about to recommend the Phil’s Thoughts site for its technology articles, but then I read his political pages and he turns out to be a Conservative/Libertarian type. Bah! He actually says in all seriousness, “Communism, as Reagan rightly recognized, was the single greatest evil the world had ever produced.” (Emphasis his.) The real “Evil Empire” are the multinational corporations that have more money and influence than some countries, and whose only goal is to make a profit by any means.

Tuesday 10/7

Mum and Dad left earlier this morning and should be at Melbourne/Tullamarine Airport by now (they went via the Airport Shuttle Bus); unfortunately, as reported in The Age and ABC News, there is heavy fog so a lot of flights are delayed or canceled! I am checking the Domestic Departures pages at the Melbourne Airport site for updates. There is a backlog of flights to clear; their 12:15 p.m flight on Virgin Blue is currently pushed back to 1:00 p.m./13:00. (The flight time from Melbourne to Brisbane is 2 hours.) There will be a lot of frustrated passengers today. Thought there would be some technology that would enable pilots to see through fog? Or put giant fans around the perimeter of the airport to clear the fog!

Wish there were a fast train connecting all capital cities! (Not to mention a rail link from Melbourne to the airport!) That seems to be a project governments don’t want to undertake.

Update, 12:38 p.m.: there is a “Boarding” symbol beside the flight now, so it hasn’t been canceled, thankfully! The departure is 13:30.

The flight finally left at 1:37 p.m., nearly 1½ hours late; the sun broke through the fog after 12:00.

“Unsafe at Any Speed,” Newsweek/MSNBC.com, 16/7. Report on the big quality-control problem that “Made-in-China” products have. “China today resembles nothing so much as the United States a century ago, when robber barons, gangsterism and raw capitalism held sway. Now as then, powerful vested interests are profiting from murky regulations, shoddy enforcement, rampant corruption and a lack of consumer awareness.”

Wednesday 11/7

My parents are now in Brisbane; they were very tired after the flight delays yesterday!

I rode my bicycle to Chadstone shopping center; today was fine and sunny so the ride was almost pleasant, except for the heavy traffic. All I do there is visit Borders bookstore.

Found through this Metafilter posting, “Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard” (and another link to “Why learning Arabic is so hard”). Chinese (and the related Asian languages) are as close to a true “alien” language a Westerner can get, as the concept of the language is so different. There is no alphabet, but thousands of characters to learn instead. It is a tonal language; a phrase can have a different meaning depending upon the intonation. It almost makes learning Russian look relatively uncomplicated! A Chinese person learning English has a much easier task, as noted in the article (though English has its own idiosyncrasies as it has absorbed words from lots of languages, and the grammar can be illogical).

I get so bored with the Internet sometimes. The forums I visit become tedious (mainly the spaceflight-related ones) and the blogs I visit aren’t updated very often. I have become somewhat bored with my website, too (this journal is the only element frequently updated).

Wednesday 12/7

I noticed that the middle gear wheel on my bicycle has some worn-down teeth, which is probably why it makes a dreadful clank when I press on the pedals in some gears. The bicycle was bought in 1991 and the gears and chain are the originals from then – and they are showing their age! I also noticed, to my dismay, that the bike shop in East Bentleigh (where I took my bike sometimes) has closed, which is a real nuisance as it was in a convenient location; it has been there for years. I guess the proprietor could not keep going forever, but it is still dismaying when shops that have been open for years or decades close down; they become part of the identity of a shopping center.

Found this topic, Purchasing a New Bike, at the PAL Gaming Network; some useful advice (not that I can afford a new bike at the current time, but useful to keep in mind). Described in this post: Buy a bicycle from a bike shop, not a department store (the latter sell cheap-and-nasty “Made in China” bicycles), and avoid the ones with suspension forks (which add weight and complexity). A lot of bikes seem to be sold with suspension, though, rather annoyingly (seems to be a fad).

“Patient bleeds dark green blood,” BBC News, 8/7. The patient was taking a medication that “had caused a rare condition called sulfhaemoglobinaemia, where sulphur is incorporated into the oxygen-carrying compound haemoglobin in red blood cells.” Different metals produce different colors; the Blood varieties entry at “The Worlds of David Darling” site describes these. Almost every color of the rainbow is possible! (I fancy blue or purple!) Some metals are more efficient at carrying oxygen than others, though. Some sea creatures (such as squid) use hemocyanin instead; this contains copper and turns their oxygenated blood blue (cyan). It is ¼ as efficient as haemoglobin.

“Baby mammoth discovery unveiled,” BBC News, 10/7. Mammoths are regularly uncovered in Siberia; this one was particularly well-preserved. There is a possibility of cloning one if well-preserved DNA can be found. Sadly, poachers are looting the remains and selling these on the black market, thus science loses out.

When my sister and I were young (1970s) my parents gave us a set of science books (can’t remember what they were called); one described the dinosaurs, one mammals and another early humans. (This was before my parents were infected by religion.) I remember reading in them about the mammoths being uncovered.

I read a science-fiction novel (from the library) called The Rosetta Codex by Richard Paul Russo, and found it enjoyable, especially the revival of the aliens at the end. It is somewhat dismaying to consider that humans might continue to create cities of squalor and misery no matter where they are in the Universe (as depicted in the novel). One wonders if humans are deserving of any benevolence; a scene from the ending:

His mother was silent […] “How did you know they wouldn’t try to destroy us?”

“I didn’t,” Cale answered. “I believed they would be well-intentioned, but I couldn’t be sure.”

“And you revived them anyway?”

“It felt like the right thing to do.”

“The right thing for who?” she said with a strange smile, still not looking at him.

“For us. For them.”

She nodded. “There has been bloodshed, of course, but most of it seems to be our own doing. The Jaaprana are showing remarkable restraint.”

According to this news item at Ain’t it Cool News, the villains of the in-production fourth Indiana Jones movie might be … Russian!

The rumor is that the warehouse we see at the end of Raiders is in Groom Lake (aka Area 51) and the Russians are trying to find it in order to one-up the American military might.

Apparently movie producers have yet to be informed that the Cold War ended 16 years ago …

A relevant 2004 article at Johnson’s Russia List: “The Perpetual Bad Guys”.

Goscilo argues that by portraying “good Russians” as well as “bad Russians,” these films accomplished a clever ideological trick. She writes: “These films of alleged affable collaboration […] simultaneously manage to recycle the old ideological threat through their characterization of ‘renegade’ fanatics from former Soviet satellites and to exploit Russia’s new capitalist image as a decadent, crime-ridden society.” […]

Other Russian film critics are also troubled by Hollywood portrayals of Russians. “What bothers me is not the negativism of these portrayals, but the monstrous primitivization of Russians in American films,” said Yelena Stishova of Isskustvo Kino, a film journal. “On the level of the collective unconscious, they don’t seem to acknowledge Russians as being fully human […] I have not seen one single Hollywood film where Russians are presented as a European people.”

The Soviet-era Russian villains were motivated by ideology – which has a certain nobility – but the modern ones (oligarches, etc.) are merely motivated by greed.

“Scholar Challenges Stereotypes Of Russian Men,” Johnson’s Russia List, 3/7.

I found an official website, Angkasawan Programme Website, for the Malaysian cosmonauts to go up on the next Soyuz flight (TMA-11). Spacemen are called “Angkasawan” in Malaysian. They are also keeping a blog, which is interesting reading (though they need to close the earlier entry comments as the pesky spammers are posting). The site is, thankfully, not as cumbersome as Charles Simonyi’s Flash-animated site (though it still uses tables for layout, tsk, tsk).

The programme is part of an offset agreement between Malaysia and Russia in relation to Malaysia’s purchase of Russian-made Sukhoi-30MKM fighter jets. Through this package, the Russian government agreed to train two Malaysians, one of which will make the journey while the other one will act as his backup. The Russian Government will bear the costs.

If the Australian government would buy Su-30s perhaps we could get to send up an Australian in exchange! Wishful thought … (See my 17/2 entry.)

“Russia Declares Its Independence In Space,” Space Daily, 12/7. A short history of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia’s only independent launch center (i.e. not dependent upon other countries, such as the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is).

STS-118 Endeavour is to launch on 7 August.

Saturday 14/7

I followed a link from a Charles Stross blog entry (more on that in a moment) to this Orlan spacesuit page and recognized the authors had copied a few items from my own Orlan page! Mainly the data table near the bottom – “Service life: Up to 15 vykhody (EVAs) over 4 years (no return to the Earth).” I have changed that phrase since then (I use the acronym “VKD” for Russian spacewalks) but recognized that as it was my own peculiar wording (I don’t think anyone else uses the transliteration “vykhody” [выходы, exits]). I am rather surprised that an Orlan-M is for sale ($149,000!) – I thought this would not be permitted?

Recent Charles Stross blog entries:

In my 3/7 entry I mentioned Venus and Saturn being close together; Jupiter is also visible high in the eastern sky in the evening, near the red star Antares in the Scorpius constellation. I just went out and looked at it; the planet is easy to see, as is the red star (it is a huge red giant – bigger than the orbit of Mars!). (Southern Sky Watch page; doesn’t look like the page is archived, unfortunately, so the link might break in future. I am trying to find a site with the Australian/Victorian night sky for each month, but no luck so far! The Sydney Observatory site has a Monthly Sky Guide.) On 17 July, Venus, Saturn and the Moon are grouped around the star Regulus in the western evening sky.

“Oxygen Generating System activated onboard ISS,” NASASpaceflight.com, 12/7. The OGS in the Destiny module has been turned on, so it will be interesting to see how this performs over time! The cantankerous Elektron seems to have been behaving itself the last few months (at least, there have been no reports of any trouble).

Tuesday 17/7

Two cold fronts came through today: one in the morning after 9 a.m., with a NW wind and rain, then a more ferocious one at 3 p.m. with hail, some thunder and a SW wind. Temperature dropped to 4°C after the second, and there was snow in the outer suburbs and country areas (not here, unfortunately!). I stood outside briefly before the second front hit; the sky was ominously dark and I could hear the approach of the leading edge of the hailstorm. The temperature reached 9°C today, the coldest day since 9 July 1998 (8.9°C).

I thus won’t be able to see Venus, the Moon and Saturn tonight :-(.

“Secret of the pyramids,” 60 Minutes TV report, 15/7. A British archaeologist, John Romer, has a convincing theory on how the Great Pyramid was built. The Pyramid is still an amazing feat of architecture 4500 years later, even though it is weathered by time and its original surface was removed long ago. It would be awesome to visit, even with the “tourist traps” and the city of Cairo threatening to engulf the plateau. I wonder if it will last another 4000 years.

“After We Are Gone,” Newsweek, 14/7. Review of a book by journalist Alan Weisman speculating on what the Earth would be like if humans disappeared. This has been speculated on before (e.g. in a New Scientist article).

Sound appealing? Well, it did to Weisman, too, when he began work on the book four years ago. And “four out of five” of the people he’s told about it, he estimates, thought the idea sounded wonderful. Since we’re headed inexorably toward an environmental crash anyway, why not get it over cleanly and allow the world to heal? Over time, though, Weisman’s attitude toward the rest of humanity softened, as he thought of some of the beautiful things human beings have accomplished, their architecture and poetry, and he eventually arrived at what he views as a compromise position: a worldwide, voluntary agreement to limit each human couple to one child. This, says Weisman – who is 60, and childless after the death of his only daughter – would stabilize the human population by the end of the century at about 1.6 billion, approximately where it was in 1900. And then, perhaps, more of the world could resemble … Varosha, the beach resort in Cyprus in the no-man’s-land between the Greek and Turkish zones, where, Weisman writes, thickets of hibiscus, oleander and passion lilac grow wild and houses disappear under magenta mounds of bougainvillea.

“Russia warns UK over expulsions,” BBC News, 17/7. Russia and Britain are feuding again over the Alexander Litvinenko murder case.

“Russia is a troll”: sardonic European Tribune thread.

“MIT team designs sleek, skintight spacesuit”: NASASpaceflight.com forum thread linking to an article describing a skinsuit under development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that is a lot more comfortable than the current bulky pressurized spacesuits. Cosmic Log also mentions it. I was Googling skinsuits some months ago for my Mars story and came across this MarsSkin page at the Mars Society Australia site from 2002 or so. Wonder if there is a connection between them?

“The 1st Russian Space Tourist?”: NASASpaceflight.com forum thread about a rumor that a Russian tourist will be going up in spring 2008 (autumn in the Northern Hemisphere). Hope they are not an obnoxious oligarch or the equally obnoxious Sergei Polonskii (see my 5/4/2006 entry).

Thursday 19/7

Mum and Dad’s flight (DJ316) is currently enroute to Melbourne from Brisbane (to arrive at 1:30 p.m.) as tracked on the Live Flight Radar, so no delays so far!

Their flight has landed at 1:45 p.m.; there was a 15-minute delay for some reason.

A big plane crash of TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054 at Congonhas-São Paulo International Airport in Brazil yesterday; no survivors on the jet and many killed on the ground. This appears to have been a preventable accident; i.e. there had been accidents at that particular runway before and it was not a safe place to land: “Congonhas has been singled out for having safety issues relating to operations in wet weather due to its location and runway characteristics for the traffic it serves.” The city has also grown around the airport, which doesn’t help with safety issues.

There should be a 1- or 2 km buffer zone around all airports where no residential or industrial developments are permitted. In my region, Moorabbin Airport was once in a country area, but residential developments have surrounded it over the decades, and the residents who bought houses there (because the land was cheap) now complain about aircraft noise and safety issues! (There was an opinion piece about this topic some years ago in Air & Space Magazine, but I can’t remember the issue number.)

The August edition of National Geographic has a feature, “Maya Rise & Fall,” so I might make an effort to get the magazine as I like to read about Mayans and such (the human sacrifice stuff! :-D.

… And while visiting the A & S site, found this article by Asif Siddiqi: “Russia’s Long Love Affair with Space,” August 2007.

Friday 20/7

My Epson printer decided to stop working today, not because it was broken but because the ink absorbent pads had filled up (“A part in your printer is worn or needs service – see your dealer”), as described in this blog entry, “Preprogrammed Expiry,” that I found earlier this year (when the previous Epson printer I had did the same thing), and this forum post. I am now supposed to take it to a dealer and have the pads replaced – for a cost of course – but it is not worth the bother. And – of course – the printer can’t be opened so I can do the job myself. That is the third or fourth Epson printer I have gone through since I began using a computer and I am fed up with them and their wasteful procedures. The other printer manufacturers are no better; they all have very overpriced inks (printer ink costs more than expensive perfume). It is time governments did something about this scam as it is very wasteful, not to mention harmful to the environment (how many perfectly good printers are dumped in landfill every year?).

Mum and Dad got home OK yesterday at around 3:30 p.m.

“New UK PM blamed for Russia row,” BBC News, 20/7. The bickering continues. The new British PM seems like a bit of a prat, to be honest :-D – I rather liked Tony Blair, despite his somewhat misguided support of the Iraq invasion. The media is using the phrase “new Cold War” to a tedious extreme, but one would hope that the more sensible people in both governments won’t let things go that far. As several people point out in the comments, Britain continues to harbor dubious characters like Boris Berezovskii.

An ISS crew spacewalk is scheduled for 23 July, with Fyodor N. Yurchikhin (EV2) and Clayton C. Anderson (EV1, red stripes) wearing NASA EMU spacesuits. This will be the first EVA by a Russian ISS crewmember in an EMU suit. The highlight will be the dumping overboard of the Early Ammonia Servicer, which is refrigerator-sized and heavy.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 640:

20/07/2007/10:42 – Scientists will contact the ISS from the bottom of the ocean at the North Pole

The participants of the expedition of the Russian “Mir” deep-water manned devices – who, for the first time in history, will make a dive at a point of the North Pole – plan to communicate from the bottom of the Arctic ocean via TsUP (Moscow Mission Control) with the crew of the International Space Station. The special representative of the president of the Russian Federation – State Duma Vice-President Artur Tchilingarov – announced this in connection with the third International Polar Year.

According to Tchilingarov – who will head this expedition – the beginning of the immersing of the devices Mir-1 and Mir-2 in an area of the North Pole is planned for 29 July of this year.

The “Mir” submersibles appeared in the 1997 Titanic movie.

Tuesday 24/7

In contrast to the previous Tuesday (17/7 entry) today is fine and sunny, with a light north wind. There was heavy fog on Saturday morning, so again there were disruptions (cancellations and delays) at Melbourne Airport.

Another worldwide event on Saturday left me underwhelmed and I feel much the same as John Scalzi does in his blog entry about the books. I actually read the first book in the series a couple of years ago and it was mildly entertaining, but Harry Potter’s world simply does not interest me (I dislike the “English boarding school” setting). I like aliens and spaceships! I would read the HP books if there were nothing else to read (I read the labels on food packaging when there is nothing else to look at!), but in my view they are not great literature. (I read Earthsea series as a teenager – borrowed from the school library – and liked them, though I can’t remember them now.)

A novel I am reading at the moment is War of the Worlds: New Millennium by Douglas Niles, a re-enactment of H.G. Wells’ classic tale set in our era. A reasonably entertaining read. Of interest (and alarm!) is what the alien spaceships do before they reach Earth: send out several massive electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) towards Earth, essentially destroying any equipment that uses computer chips. So aircraft relying on electronics to fly fall out of the air, cars with electronic ignition and fuel injection systems can’t be started, satellites are rendered useless, home electronic equipment is fried, and so on. Modern societies are so dependent upon digital technology now that such an event would devastate them. Older analog equipment is not affected – such as older-model cars, radios and landline telephones. So I guess the moral of that is, hang on to those analog devices if they still work!

A novel I tried to read last week but couldn’t finish out of irritation was Havoc by R.J. Pineiro. The concept was interesting: a nanotech machine develops a mind of its own and goes out and wreaks havoc. But the characters, particularly one CIA agent (Tom Grant), annoyed me so much that I couldn’t keep reading. The CIA agent was a nasty, cynical sleazebag whom I very much wanted to eviscerate. He also kept referring to people as “cat” (and a dark-skinned person was a “black cat”). WTF? There was the obligatory Beautiful Women(TM) characters. There was excessive use of slang and colloquialisms. (Reading the Amazon.com reviews of the book, others also found fault: “he seems preoccupied with combining sexy female spies, males preoccupied with sex and sexual banter, and cyberterror. That about wraps up the book, Havoc. … Remember that old cliche about geeks being preoccupied with having sex … with another person? The author kept reminding me with his characters and their conversations.” Heh.) In fact the oddly-named “Assy” nanorobot was the most appealing character!

To sum up what I dislike in a story:

At school The Time Machine was one of the novels on the English Literature curriculum for study; I enjoyed the novel. I remember doing a pencil drawing of the dying landscape the narrator encounters when he enters the far future; the seascape with the giant crabs (Chapter 11). In the edition we had, there was also a short story at the back, “The Man Who Could Work Miracles,” where a man suddenly finds he can do as the title says. He starts off with small things, then ends up commanding the Earth to “Jest stop rotating, will you,” and it does! As the Earth is rotating very fast, Newton’s First Law means that everything is hurled off its surface:

You see when Mr. Fotheringay had arrested the rotation of the solid globe, he had made no stipulation concerning the trifling movables upon its surface. And the Earth spins so fast that the surface at its equator is travelling at rather more than a thousand miles an hour, and in these latitudes at more than half that pace. So that the village, and Mr. Maydig, and Mr. Fotheringay, and everybody and everything had been jerked violently forward at about nine miles per second – that is to say, much more violently than if they had been fired out of a cannon. And every human being, every living creature, every house, and every tree – all the world as we know it – had been so jerked and smashed and utterly destroyed. That was all.

But another wish sees everything restored to the way it was. (The story is available on this Project Gutenberg of Australia page, but it is a very long plain text page – nearly 2 MB – maybe I will put the story on my site when I can be bothered to convert it.) I recall an English Literature class discussion after reading it where the teacher asked us what we thought would happen if the Earth or other planets were to come to a halt like in the story. Most of the girls seemed to think time would also stand still! I knew that wasn’t true, but didn’t speak up to correct them (I wish I had spoken up more in school).

One aspect of these older sci-fi and fantasy stories I like (e.g. those by H. Rider Haggard – mentioned in my 15/4/2006 entry – and H.P. Lovecraft – 6/12/2006, 29/12/2006 and 29/6 entries) is that they don’t have swearing or sex scenes like many stories do today, but are still entertaining and erudite. There is also a sense of wonder untainted by today’s cynicism.

“Spa game targets female players,” The Age, 19/7. According to this company, the computer games women want are “games about beauty treatments.”

Casual games with themes such as makeovers, prom dresses and cleaning have made the games section of Lifetime’s website its most popular section, with millions of games played each month, Lifetime said.

My disgusted reaction to that: ugh! How bloody boring! Not all women want that, thanks very much!! Some of us actually have brains and imaginations!

I revised the external Links page in the top section of my site so there are more interesting links relating to sci-fi and fantasy, science, astronomy and Russia. One rather quirky page I found is this Hydrogen Atom Scale Model, a very wide page – effectively demonstrates that an atom is mostly empty space!

Clayton Anderson and Fyodor Yurchikhin successfully completed their spacewalk, taking 7h 41m (10:24-18:05 UTC).

Wednesday 25/7

Some letters from today’s The Age expressing disgust (which I share) over the Labor opposition’s policy regarding the dwindling old-growth forests in Tasmania and south-east Australia: keep chopping them down.

It’s bipartisan woodchipping

Once again we are faced with the unedifying spectacle of Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull playing political football with Australia’s forests.

Mr. Rudd has just endorsed Prime Minister John Howard’s forest policy, which supports the destruction of remnant majestic old-growth forests in both Tasmania and south-east Australia. He has done this to curry favour with the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in the run-up to the federal election.

Deforestation and land clearing accounts for about 10 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, yet Mr. Rudd is doing nothing to stop this, despite the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that identifies protection of forests as a key global strategy for combating climate change.

Malcolm Turnbull says he recognises the importance of forests as carbon stores, yet he also supports the continuing destruction of Australia’s forests and the resulting export of 4 million tonnes of woodchips from Tasmania and 1 million tonnes from Victoria each year.

The Howard Government is allocating $200 million to protect forests in south-east Asia, but is unwilling to protect Australian forests that store up to 1200 tonnes of carbon a hectare.

The solution is remarkably simple. We need to protect all remaining old-growth forests to preserve both their intrinsic value and the carbon they store.

Unfortunately, Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull can only see woodchips rather than our trees.

– Peter Campbell, Surrey Hills

Simply wrong

I am sorry, Kevin Rudd, but as one of the thousands of green-leaning voters thinking what a smart option you were for prime minister, I was gobsmacked by your support of the forestry unions in Tasmania.

Are unions important? Undoubtedly. Do they sometimes put their own interests above that of the country and the environment (aren’t they the same thing)? Of course.

Mark Latham’s decision to support the green movement in Tasmania was the right decision at the wrong time. Mr. Rudd, your decision is just wrong.

– Ant McKenna, Palmwoods, Qld

Where’s Garrett?

One minute Kevin Rudd is championing the cause for climate change reform, next thing he’s giving carte blanche to cut down old-growth forests in Tasmania to appease the unions.

Sadly, his environment spokesman, Peter Garrett, who would have once lain down before the bulldozers, was nowhere in sight. Incomprehensible.

– Yvonne Trevaskis, Malvern East

Let me show you

Kevin Rudd, I invite you to visit me in British Columbia. We can fly over this incredible landscape and I’ll show you the heart-breakingly sad scarred landscape that is clear felling country. You can talk to loggers-turned-environmentalists so that you might better understand the mental and physical destruction that goes hand in hand with logging. I can show you the displaced wildlife.

You could then return to Australia and explain exactly how logging is going to benefit the country in the long term. We need trees and we need long-term sustainability, we don’t need short-term economic solutions.

– Louise Page, an Australian in Vancouver

The dismaying photo in this article from 2004 (reproduced below in case the article disappears) shows Mark Latham with Greens Leader Bob Brown in Tasmania’s Styx Forest, standing in a clearfelled area on the stump of what used to be a magnificent large tree. A whole ecosystem has gone too, that took centuries to evolve. The sinister Gunns forestry company has rather too much influence in Tasmania and the government there.

Murdered trees in Styx Valley

A somewhat amusing thread about “Favorite Astronauts” that turned into “most attractive female astronauts” (Tracy Caldwell seems to be the focus for major male crushes). To address this imbalance a little, I posted my selections of nice-looking astronauts (and cosmonauts), after going through the JSC Active & Management Astronauts page. A somewhat disappointingly small selection as a lot did not photograph well! (They might look better in real life). Some I was undecided upon, so I left them out.

Cosmonauts (in current group):

So, what qualifies for “nice-looking”? Reasonably even features, nice smile, posseses most of his hair, well-presented and has good hygiene. Skin color is irrelevant. I tend to prefer clean-shaven, though a neatly-trimmed beard can suit some men. Except for a certain cosmonaut, none made me exclaim “Oooh!”; just a milder “Hmmm!”.

This might seem to contradict yesterday’s grumbles (24/7) about male authors and movie producers being obsessed with featuring Beautiful Women(TM) characters … well, it’s just different. Women admiring nice-looking males is not exploitative in the way the reverse is! :-D

Thursday 26/7

Big bruise!

I bumped against the corner edge of a low fence on this morning’s walk and now have a huge 6 cm bruise and welt on my left thigh! Ouch. Mum said it is a hematoma.

Dad used to have some science fiction novels lying around in the 1970s which I would glance through, and the POA novels were some of them (others included Dune and what I think were E.E. Smith novels – some were about an interstellar circus from what I can recall – the Family d’Alembert series after looking at this book cover). I read parts of them and some of the strange imagery remains with me. I was fascinated with the depiction of a Pnume alien on one of the covers and did a drawing of it. Unfortunately Dad had got rid of the sci-fi novels by the 1980s (perhaps because he caught the religion virus in 1982).

“Tiny finding that opened new frontier,” BBC News, 25/7, about a new TV series on the pecularity of atoms. (Hydrogen Atom Scale Model page.)

That means even the most solid-looking objects we see are predominantly nothingness. Put another way, if you were to remove all the empty space in the atoms that make up a human being, he or she would be a lot smaller than a grain of salt. If you removed all the empty space from the atoms that make up all the humans on the planet, then you could fit all 6 billion of us inside a single apple.

In science at school we learned of neutrons, protons and electrons but I only did science up to Year 10 so I didn’t learn any more. I wish I could go back and … kick myself for the stupid decisions I made then. Wish I had been more motivated to do well at school, and good at maths and science. Perhaps I would now have a career rather than my current useless and pointless existence. Maybe in a parallel/alternate universe a version of me is doing well, but I can’t go there and see for myself.

“Russian North Pole mission stalls,” BBC News, 25/7. A ship enroute to the North Pole had engine failure. They were to contact the ISS during the mission (20/7 entry).

Friday 27/7

Big bruise, day 2

My bruise from yesterday is now purple-black in color and very sore! It is the worst bruise I have ever had, so I keep looking at it with a sort of stunned admiration. (It is rather difficult to photograph, being at an awkward angle.) For your viewing enjoyment:

In news that took everyone by surprise, Premier Steve Bracks announced he was resigning from office this morning.

A posting by me at Childfree Hardcore, “Give children the vote?,” regarding a somewhat looney proposal that children under 18 be able to vote (or have their parents vote for them). Of irritation were his comments implying that people with children were somehow more worthy than those without: “A family of five or six has no more say in our democracy than a couple of two – yet their needs and potential contribution are greater.” The commentators there have poured scorn upon him.

“Earthquake Sets Japan Back To 2147,” The Onion, 23/7. Satirical article regarding the recent earthquake there. If only the technology mentioned were real!

Japanese government officials confirmed Monday that the damage wrought on Japan’s national infrastructure by the July 16th earthquake – particularly on the country’s protective force field, quantum teleportation system, zero-point fusion energy broadcasting grid, and psychodynamic communications network – was severe enough to set the technologically advanced island nation back approximately 300 years to a primitive mid-22nd-century state of existence.

“Japan finds itself in crisis, with our society and culture temporarily reverting to a pre-cyberunification era,” said Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, communicating non-telekinetically for the first time in his nearly 150 years of post-cryogenic life. “Though many citizens have been limited to algorithm-based emotion detection, neutron baths, speed limits below the speed of light, and other barbaric inconveniences for over a week now, I promise we will pull through.”

The Sound of the Big Bang. (QuickTime Alternative player) I read the author’s novel Einstein’s Bridge a few years ago (borrowed from the library – I just checked the online catalog but it is no longer there, dismayingly!) but can’t remember it! The Superconducting Super Collider project was canceled in 1993 as it had become very expensive.

“NASA Releases Findings of Astronaut Health Reviews,” NASASpaceflight.com thread. Drunken astronauts have reportedly been allowed to fly, according to a NASA panel studying astronaut health issues. Watch the media gleefully seize upon this latest scandal! But: “A source who has seen the panel’s draft report confirmed that it referred to the two occasions – but noted that the claims were based strictly on anecdotal reports, rather than hard evidence such as blood tests.” In other words, hearsay rather than confirmed facts.

To the tune of of the Drunken Sailor sea shanty:

What do we do with a drunken spaceman,
What do we do with a drunken spaceman,
What do we do with a drunken spaceman,
Early in the morning?

*Hic* :-D

Also, a space program worker deliberately damaged a computer that is supposed to fly aboard the shuttle Endeavour in less than two weeks, for reasons yet unknown.

Saturday 28/7

Scratchy throat, runny nose: I now have a cold coming on *grumble*.

A theme of sci-fi novels that I tend to find irritating is the “humans rebelling against their alien overlords” theme, where the human race has been subjugated by aliens and rebels against them to gain “freedom.” Never mind that the aliens might be doing a better job of governing a society than dysfunctional and irrational humans themselves could. Humans just seem to rebel from sheer contrariness. The rebellion theme is the subject of a novel called Ragamuffin (with a downloadable first section of the novel; I am addicted to collecting online books!). The human characters seem rather irritating.

Another quote on the same subject regarding a novel called Jaran (which I haven’t read) from a mailing list page:

Was there some motivation given for the rebellion of Tess’ brother against the Chappali? I cannot remember any. For me that’s one of the gaps in the story somebody else mentioned which have to be filled out by the reader. The Chappali are described as alien, but in fact benevolent rulers, introducing new helpful tools and technologies. They certainly disdain the humans. But if there is encroachment or arbitrariness it is at least not mentioned in the text. So, it appears as if Tess’ brother instigates a rebellion for freedom only. Not freedom from slavery but freedom from dominion which IMO is not the same. I don’t want to devaluate freedom and self-respect. But do you think a rebellion is justified simply because a group/species is ruled by an alien group whose dominion is in general benevolent and which adheres to a set of rules?

“Bush to Russia: submit or face the consequences!” Organizing Notes blog, 16/7.

As NATO expands, and signs up former Warsaw Pact nations into the U.S. controlled alliance, all new members must purchase weapons technologies that are “inter-operable” with NATO. What that means is that new members must get rid of their Russian military hardware and buy new U.S. made military technologies that can fit into and operate in the NATO military scheme. It’s a huge boondoggle for the U.S. weapons industry.

“NASA responds to claims of drinking problem,” MSNBC, 27/7. More on the drunken astronauts mystery!

The Soyuz case involved a NASA astronaut who was cleared for launch to the International Space Station, even though there was a concern that the astronaut’s alcohol consumption raised a flight risk. In the case involving the shuttle, Bachmann said the mission was delayed for mechanical reasons and the astronaut wanted to fly a T-38 jet from Florida back home to Houston. A fellow astronaut voiced concern about the flier’s alcohol use, Bachmann said. He said he didn’t know the outcome.

The list of NASA astronauts to fly to the ISS via the Soyuz spaceship isn’t very long, so who might they be, I wonder?

Sunday 29/7

My head is stuffed-up from my cold and I feel miserable. I did not get to sleep until after 2 a.m. last night because of my discomfort, and I got up early as usual, so I am a bit tired.

I watched the Alien vs. Predator film this afternoon; a DVD I bought discounted ($13). I have 4 of these discounted DVDs in my collection so far. I refuse to buy ridiculously overpriced DVDs – $30-$40 is just too much. (If DVDs and CDs were cheaper – under $20 – people might be less inclined to pirate them.) So I just keep a lookout in the department stores for any reduced movies of interest (not very many so far). My other DVDs (all fantasy/sci-fi) are:

AVP was quite good as far as such movies go; the usual assortment of characters who get killed off until there is one left. No boring romance scenes either! And hooray for a female character who doesn’t take her clothes off and who isn’t a simpering damsel in distress or a hyper-aggressive bitch.

Interesting page: What color are the stars? Star color is hard to depict exactly; this site uses web colors which look rather nice. The Sun is actually white, not yellow.

August

Wednesday 1/8

Very windy overnight. My head cold is somewhat better.

Short article from The Age showing the alarming future for Australian workers if we follow the USA’s path:

Americans warn about future workplaces

July 30, 2007 – 6:14 p.m.

Three low-paid American workers on an Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)-funded visit are warning Australians of the dangers of non-unionised workplaces. ACTU president Sharan Burrow said the three Americans were an example of what Australians could expect in the future.

One of them, Iris Flores, works as a full-time bus driver for $US10.89 ($A12.86) an hour and a part-time cleaner for $US8 ($A9.45) an hour for up to 14 hours a day without annual leave, sick leave or private health cover. Her daughter works at a restaurant for $US2.50 ($A2.95) an hour.

“Our earnings don’t equal our cost of living,” Ms Flores said. “Until I came to Australia I didn’t realise how much we were being abused.”

Australians had a stark choice at the federal election, Ms Burrow said. “Australia is becoming more and more like the United States and these workers are here to tell us how hard it is to be a low-paid worker in a rich country,” Ms Burrow said.

“They provide a warning that life could get a lot tougher for Australian working families if the Liberals are re-elected and they make further unfair changes to the IR laws. We want Australian workers to understand how hard it is for Dolores, for Iris, for Allen to make ends meet. This year the power of democracy, the power of vote is held by Australians. Australians have got a stark choice.”

(See also my 29/6/2005 entry for a letter on the same subject.)

“US ‘aims to help’ Mid-East allies,” BBC News, 31/7 – by selling them weapons and military aid, supposedly to counter Iran, in reality to get more influence in the region. And Russia gets criticized for doing similar things in its part of the world! Hypocrisy, much?

A new president of Energiya was elected, Vitali Aleksandrovich Lopota. The company also seems to be in financial trouble (again). Update 2/8/2007: According to this post at FP Space, the “bankruptcy” statement was a slight mistranslation. The Klipper spaceship won’t be displayed at the upcoming MAKS 2007 airshow. The deputy head of Roskosmos, Vitali Davidov, informed journalists on Tuesday that in the Federal space program of Russia, no flights of Russian cosmonauts to the Moon are planned until at least 2012.

Progress M-61 is to launch on 2 August.

Friday 3/8

I was looking up Continental Drift on Wikipedia and there was a link to this site, Earth History. Of interest are the projections of where the continents may be in 100 million years and 250 million years – all huddled together again like the ancient Pangaea continent! The Pacific Ocean will then cover approximately ¾ of the globe.

The Atlantica Expeditions: a website about a project to start an undersea colony. I do not, however, find the prospect of living underwater appealing. In my 4/12/2005 entry I wrote:

I seem to have always had a phobia of deep water; I have a memory of being too scared to go near the deep end of a swimming pool where I was having some lessons when young. I can remember the instructor lowering me in the deep end slowly by the arms and trying to reassure me! And that was only 6 feet of water. I think the phobia is a type of claustrophobia; something associated with the thought of all that weight of water around me. In air or in space it is different; there is light and emptiness. Under water, though, you can’t see the sky, and in the deep ocean there is only a crushing blackness.

Also, you can’t see the stars from deep underwater. Given the choice, I would rather live in a space colony, with the infinity of the Universe around me; I would not feel trapped the way I would underwater.

The Duggar family get occasional scathing commentary at the Childfree Hardcore forum because the mother seems to have turned into a production-line birthing factory. She has just popped out her 17th baby. And she wants more! According to the article, “Michelle has been pregnant for 126 months – or 10.5 years – of her life.” Giving birth is her CAREER. (I posted this at CF.) I regard her with unmitigated horror (and shudder to contemplate the condition of her reproductive organs!). Not to mention that they are not helping the environment or overpopulation problem. They seem to be fundamentalist Christians who homeschool their children (whose names all begin with “J”) – disturbingly creepy types, in other words.

A comment from another blog linked to in the CF comments:

I’d honestly like to know how Michelle has carried 17 children without significant gynecological damage. I was raised in a religion where couples were expected to have large families, and WITHOUT EXCEPTION the women who had more than five children experienced serious gynecological problems, such as a prolapsed uterus or bladder, significant vaginal tearing and bleeding, incontinence, horrible VBAC repercussions – yet still continued to have children against the advice of their doctors. A lot of posters have noted that their grandparents had large families, but none have commented on the health issues their grandmothers faced as a result of repeated pregnancies and childbearing. Also no mention of how common it used to be for women to die in childbirth. I wish the Duggers well for the sake of their children, but feel certain that Michelle has done great damage to her health and will shortchange her family as a result.

– Posted by: madam pince at Aug 2, 2007 6:46:13 p.m.

The Russian underwater dive to the North Pole appears to have been successful, with a titanium flag planted. Some predictable snarking from other countries.

The Progress M-59 cargo ship undocked on 1/8 at 14:07 UTC, deorbited at 18:42 and the remains entered the ocean near Christmas Island at 19:27.

Progress M-61 launched on 2/8 at 17:33:48 and will dock on 5/8.

“Russia’s space effort: one step forward, two steps backward,” RIA Novosti opinion piece, 2/8.

“By 2014, Russia may drop behind the United States, China and the European Union in manned flights unless it continues developing a new spacecraft. By 2014, the U.S. is planning to complete a new ship, the Orion, which will put up stiff competition against our Soyuz craft on the international market. We may seriously fall behind in technologies by that time,” a worried Sevastyanov said. […]

Of course, one can take it easy and continue taking pride in the number of annual launches and link research plans with the number of tourists wishing to have a ride on the ISS. But then it is not clear whether the Russian space effort has any future prospects worth pursuing.

“Soviet Space Art,” Metafilter, 2/8. Links to an article at GlobalSecurity.org, “Pop Culture Materials Highlight Soviet Commitment to Manned Lunar Flight, Provide Hints of Actual Plans” with lots of illustrations of propaganda cards, postage stamps, and so on.

Sunday 5/8

I was trying to remember the title of an animé/cartoon series I watched in the late 1970s, and after a little searching on Wikipedia I found: Battle of the Planets. I liked this series from what I can remember; I was enraptured with the bird-costumes of the main characters. There is also a website, Gatchaman – Home of the White Shadow.

A sci-fi TV series called Ice Planet looks interesting (the website is rather cluttered, but the concept artwork is nice); don’t know if it will ever screen in Australia, though.

Monday 6/8

Wish I could carry a rocket launcher when driving (with my parents) so as to blow up arrogant aggressive drivers, such as the male sh*t-for-brains this morning driving a large black SUV like an arrogant bully. I did get the small satisfaction of giving the moron “the finger” >:-). (Neglected to get his license plate number, though.) The damn cars (and 4WDs) are a menace and should be taxed out of existence – there is no excuse to own one just to drive in the city.

There is a lunar eclipse coming up on 28 August, beginning 07:54 UTC (5:54 p.m. here), with totality beginning at 09:52 UTC (7:52 p.m.).

“What decreasing population?”: posting at Childfree Hardcore about a spate of BBC articles over the supposed population decline in Europe. “There are 7 billion of us out there. Show me some decreasing global population please.” There was one solitary BBC article, “The rise of the ‘childfree’,” though such choices are still regarded as taboo and “selfish” in some cultures. One might argue that it is more selfish to have a lot of children like the Duggar family mentioned in my 3/8 entry. (I think the ideal number of children is no more than two.)

Jonathan McCalmont is the founder of Kidding Aside (The British Childfree Association) Wikipedia link, which was first set up on the internet to lobby for equality for people without children. He is fed up with the way the government is wooing parents with longer maternity pay, paternity leave, flexible hours and family tax breaks. He describes the latter as “simply a middle-class tax break masquerading as social policy.” He is angry at what he says is a redistribution of money from people without children to those with. He contends that childfree people who have other responsibilities – such as looking after an elderly parent – should get the same benefits. “We believe it is up to the individual to decide what constitutes a family,” he says. “It’s not up to the state.”

A new survey has provided more alarming evidence that excessive alcohol intake causes permanent brain damage over time. Binge drinking has become prevalent amongst young people, so that will have a major impact upon the community and health care in the future. (The situation must be even worse in Russia, where alcoholism is also a cultural problem. Britain also has a problem with alcohol.)

Mum was telling me a family anecdote: my maternal Grandpa’s mother’s brother went missing (late 1800s/early 1900s) and no-one knew what happened to him. He used to go to get opals from Lightning Ridge and cut and polish them; he would sometimes visit Grandpa’s mother in Melbourne. It is possible he was murdered as he would be carrying valuable opals. This was a long time ago when there were no Missing Persons records, so his disappearance is likely to remain a mystery. (His name is unknown; Grandpa’s mother was Margaret Jane Cormack – 22 Feb 1863-8 Feb 1916.)

I did some research into my family history in 2000 or so, and collected some family trees and such. (I know some people put their family histories online, but I am uncertain of how safe this is; i.e. if the information could be misused.) It was interesting and oddly haunting to see all the names of these people, my ancestors, whom I would never know. They are only names on paper; I know nothing of their personalities, thoughts, dreams and so on. What aspects of their genes have I inherited, to make me the somewhat odd human I am today?

In my 14/7 entry I mentioned a BBC article by Charles Stross about how future storage methods might enable us to record our lives in unprecedented detail. “We know much less about our ancestors than our descendants will know about us.” This future is beginning now with the Internet and people putting parts of their lives and personalities online.

Progress M-61 docked with the Pirs module yesterday at 18:40:25 UTC.

There was a post about a miniseries called Race to Mars at the Uplink forum. Synopsis:

In the year 2030, the race to be the first to reach the Red Planet is on – and China is leading the way. China has stunned the world by leapfrogging over America’s long-term plans and has landed a series of advanced rovers and robotic landers in their quest to make the most important discovery in history – extraterrestrial life on Mars. Once again, America and its partners, including Canada, are thrust into a winner-take-all space race – but the stakes are higher than the race to the Moon nearly seven decades earlier.

The international team accelerates its plans – when China prepares to send its final wave of rovers, this consortium will surge ahead and at last launch a human crew. Six extraordinary individuals from Canada, the United States, Russia, France and Japan are selected for this gruelling two-year mission. These four men and two women must work together as a team, rise above their secret fears and struggle with the sacrifice of leaving friends and family behind. Training and determination will get them only so far, and when this crew sets out on humanity’s first expedition to another world, nothing can prepare them for the unexpected danger and staggering wonder of what they will experience.

Note how Russia has been reduced to a “bit player” (though at least they don’t seem to be the bad guys), but China is now where Russia used to be in the public consciousness. (I would like to see Russia “stun the world” by putting the first humans on Mars, but realistically that doesn’t seem likely to happen. Would like to be proven wrong, though!)

Tuesday 7/8

I was looking through the wallpaper section of the U.S. Hubble site (there is also a European site) and found this rather striking photo, Lined-Up Galaxy Pair NGC 3314. “A face-on galaxy lies precisely in front of another spiral galaxy. The chance alignment allows us to see the dark material in the front galaxy, thanks to the glow of the galaxy behind it.”

“Is anybody out there?,” The Age, 4/8. Some scientists think beaming out messages into space is a bad idea as the recipients might be hostile!

Australian astronomer Ronald Bracewell, now of Stanford University, warns that other species would place an emphasis on cunning and weaponry, as we do, and that an alien ship sent our way is likely to be armed. Indeed, evolution on Earth is, as they say, red in tooth and claw. And it’s likely that any creature we contact will also have had to claw its way up its own evolutionary ladder and may possibly be every bit as nasty as we are – or worse. Imagine an extremely adaptable, extremely aggressive super-predator with superior technology.

Any sort of alien contact would prove that we were not alone; for humans to be the only sentient species in the whole Universe is a rather depressing thought! So I would not worry too much.

“Enough already,” The Age, 4/8. An excellent opinion piece criticizing the culture of greed and overconsumption that has engulfed Australia, as exemplified by the ugly (and environmentally-damaging) “McMansions” blighting the landscape like an unstoppable cancer.

When I see those large ugly houses I get the same surge of venomous rage I feel when seeing large ugly SUV and 4WD vehicles. Both symbolize arrogance, greed and selfishness; they are “in-your-face”.

STS-118 Endeavour’s first launch attempt will be at 6:36 p.m. EDT Wednesday 8/22:36 UTC/8:36 a.m. Thursday 9 in Melbourne.

Wednesday 8/8

The Accidental Russophile is back posting again (on hiatus from November 2006 to June 2007). Some posts of interest are Putin Plots to Pinch Pole, Spiegel Interview with Alexander Solzhenitsyn, or The Horror of the Nobel Prize Unbound, 2007 Unconventional Forces in Europe – Why Russia Walked Away from the CFE Treaty, Olympic Gold? Escalating Costs of Hosting the Olympics. Also a post mentioning an entry in my RuSpace blog!

There are environmental concerns about the Sochi Olympics, as the construction needed to host the Games could wreck various nature preserves there.

Yet some have seen it as a way for Putin to further entrench his power vertical by commercialising nature preserves. “I think that hosting the Winter Olympics in Sochi will become, and has already become, an excuse for the authorities to “privatize” attractive nature reserve lands,” said Yury Vdovin, chairman of the human rights watch-dog organisation Citizens’ Watch. “Unfortunately, the level of environmental awareness in Russia is still very low. Under these conditions the preparations for and holding of the Olympics in Sochi could cause the environment in the region irreparable damage.”

(Not to mention that the huge amounts to be spent could be better spent on other things … like fixing social problems … Do we really need the Olympics at all …? An entry at Megan Case’s blog.)

Thursday 9/8

“Sochi trips over its first Olympic hurdle,” RIA Novosti, 7/8.

Olympic developers risk becoming embroiled in a loud, public row with environmental activists. Having won the Olympic bid in Guatemala, Sochi has turned from a small local resort into a focal point of global attention. Environmentally conscious Old Europe has learnt that the West Caucasus Nature Reserve forms part of what UNESCO has designated as a World Heritage Site, and Greenpeace Russia argues that large-scale construction will damage it and other natural sites beyond repair.

STS-118 Endeavour successfully launched on time at 22:36 UTC with no delays, in good weather. I tried to watch it on streaming video but, frustratingly, my stupid computer froze up! The virus checker was running so perhaps that was the reason.

“Human failings serve as NASA wake-up call,” James Oberg, MSNBC.com, 7/8. This article brought to mind an extract from Dragonfly by Bryan Burrough:

Human behavior cannot be measured by a slide rule, which is just one reason the pilots and engineers who run NASA have long distrusted anything that smacks of psychology. As far as most astronauts are concerned, the only person more loathsome than a flight surgeon is a psychologist, for the simple reason that the last thing an astronaut wants is to be disqualified for flight by some couchbound know-nothing guessing that he might not perform well in space. For Holland the defining moment of his NASA career had come early on, when the former Skylab astronaut Joe Kerwin turned to him during a meeting after Holland made a suggestion for dealing with a shuttle crew. “Son,” Kerwin said, “you gotta understand, the crews won’t be happy until the last psychologist has been strangled on the entrails of the last flight surgeon.”

I was hunting for a particular photo taken from Mars orbit and found it accidentally while visiting the ESA Rosetta mission site. The cometary probe got a gravity assist from Mars in February and the photo shows the view from 1000 km above Mars, giving an idea of how a human crew would see it.

The latest NASA Mars probe, Phoenix, launched on Saturday 4/8. As described in a James Oberg article, there are a few concerns as to whether it will succeed in landing, as it is the same design as the vanished Mars Polar Lander.

Friday 10/8

After the restructuring of Energiya’s top management on 6 August, Sergei Krikalyov seems to have vanished from the Top Management page (he was elected Vice-President of Manned Flights on 5 February). (First noticed by Olaf.) Has he been removed from his position there after 6 months, or did they just neglect to mention him?

The interviews with Nikolai Sevast’yanov that were at the top of the Energiya website for some time were removed; here are links to all of them at the site:

Tuesday 14/8

Spring is gradually arriving. For the last 2 weeks or so the birds have begun singing in the early morning before dawn, and pink cherry blossom is appearing (my favorite shade of pink).

The Age newspaper has run a 3-part series on teenagers – “Life at 15” – covering the topics Sex/relationships, Alcohol and Technology (mainly the Internet). Some of it makes for rather disturbing reading! As a teenager in the 1980s I had no experience of the first two, and there was no Internet then. I went to a few parties as a child, but can’t recall going to any parties as a teenager (age 13 onward). I find it very difficult to remember my teenage years, though – my memories from that time seem to be partly erased, particularly my most troubled years (1987/Year 11, 1988/Year 12). Perhaps that memory loss is due to the depression I developed then.

“The myth maker,” Guardian Unlimited Books, 4/6/2005. Found this article about H.P. Lovecraft. A lot of it I can strangely identify with!

Those who love life do not read. Nor do they go to the movies, actually. No matter what might be said, access to the artistic universe is more or less entirely the preserve of those who are a little fed up with the world.

As for Lovecraft, he was more than a little fed up. In 1908 at the age of 18, he suffered what has been described as a “nervous breakdown” and plummeted into a lethargy that lasted about 10 years. At the age when his old classmates were hurriedly turning their backs on childhood and diving into life as into some marvellous, uncensored adventure, he cloistered himself at home, speaking only to his mother, refusing to get up all day, wandering about in a dressing gown all night. What’s more, he wasn’t even writing.

What was he doing? Reading a little, maybe. We can’t even be sure of this. In fact, his biographers have had to admit they don’t know much at all, and that, judging from appearances – at least between the ages of 18 and 23 – he did absolutely nothing.

Then, between 1913 and 1918, very slowly, the situation improved. Gradually, he re-established contact with the human race. It was not easy. In May 1918 he wrote to Alfred Galpin: “I am only about half alive – a large part of my strength is consumed in sitting up or walking. My nervous system is a shattered wreck and I am absolutely bored and listless save when I come upon something which peculiarly interests me.” […]

Adulthood is hell. In the face of such a trenchant position, “moralists” today will utter vague opprobrious grumblings while waiting for a chance to strike with their obscene intimations. Perhaps Lovecraft actually could not become an adult; what is certain is that he did not want to. And given the values that govern the adult world, how can you argue with him? The reality principle, the pleasure principle, competitiveness, permanent challenges, sex and status – hardly reasons to rejoice.

“10 Reasons Why Russia Can’t Trust Uncle Sam” at JRL and Moscow News. Hypocrisy on the part of the U.S. Government, in other words! It is mentioned that the U.S. military budget for 2008 is $583 billion dollars – just over half a trillion! – and Russia’s military budget is $85 billion. (Australia’s military budget for 2007 is $22 billion, sourced from here.)

Media attention has been focused on a small but deep gouge found on the underside tiles on Endeavour. “… the tile damage is still historically less than that suffered by orbiters that have previously arrived home safely.”

Wednesday 15/8

I was messing around in the Yahoo! avatar section and came up with this for myself – yes, that is a spacesuit :-):

Yahoo avatar - space girl

I have been trying to remember the name of a comic book series that I read in 1995 and finally found it through Wikipedia: Weapon Zero. This website page has a gallery of the covers. (Story summaries here and here.) I liked the design of the alien armor and drawing style. But, stupidly, I threw them away during one of my possessions purges when I though I had lost interest in my fascinations of then. Aaargh! I could go back and kick myself. Wish I could time travel so I could buy extra copies and bring them back to now!

“The Electric Shepherds”: posting at European Tribune about the banality of the Second Life virtual world.

Readers of a certain age will remember that before the web was asphalted over to make way for shopping carts and PayPal, it was born in an explosive riot of quirkiness. During the web’s earliest years, business wasn’t quite sure what to make of tens of thousands of people putting up pages about whatever the hell interested them, just because they could.

That was then. Now everyone realise that Second Life is not the web, because the features that made the web so interesting – open access, reliability, transparency, low cost of entry, and ease of use – are missing. And other features – specifically a generation’s worth of consumer capitalist Pavlovian conditioning – have become more obvious.

“How Madison Avenue Is Wasting Millions on a Deserted Second Life,” Wired.com, August 2007. What I find annoying is the way corporations latch on to whatever people are creating for themselves on the Internet and try to co-opt this as a new way to market to potential consumers. I am so fed up with living in a society where people are constantly trying to sell me things! And you can’t escape that on the Internet either. “A Note about Freeware” at Arachnoid and another Wired.com article, “We Are the Web: 10 Years That Changed the World,” both mention what the Internet was originally meant to be before corporations and advertisers moved in like hungry locusts.

The fear of commercialization was strongest among hardcore programmers: the coders, Unix weenies, TCP/IP fans, and selfless volunteer IT folk who kept the ad hoc network running. The major administrators thought of their work as noble, a gift to humanity. They saw the Internet as an open commons, not to be undone by greed or commercialization. It’s hard to believe now, but until 1991, commercial enterprise on the Internet was strictly prohibited. Even then, the rules favored public institutions and forbade “extensive use for private or personal business.”

A quote I found from this site:

Why are more people not offended at being so often nowadays called and considered “consumers”?

“Scientists to fuel debate on fusion energy,” ABC News, 15/8. I have been doing a little reading about nuclear fusion. Unlike nuclear fission which is currently used, fusion promises to be a clean source of energy (fusion is what stars use to produce energy). Unfortunately the technology is many years from being developed and implemented! This blog entry gives an estimate of at least 30 years away.

“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Light Pollution,” Wired Science, 14/8. I can barely see the stars where I am, too (in Melbourne).

Andrei Kislyakov opinion pieces:

Saturday 18/8

“What’s up at the Fed?”: Metafilter post on the recent madness of the world’s stockmarkets. (There are a few good replies amongst the usual irritatingly smart-arse ones that tend to litter the posts there; the Slashdot.org site has the same irritation.) Economics is a topic that bores me rigid, and the current system seems like some bizarre quasi-religious cult. An article at SpaceDaily: “China And The Dollar Crisis”.

Being the world’s reserve currency gives us enormous power to soothe our the USA achy joints as we settle into senescence, but where maybe we just once had a bruise, and then a sore … now we have outright cancer, and they’re still prescribing morphine. They will, apparently, continue to do this until the world system seizes up and fails entirely. By refusing to allow recessions EVER, they have completely disconnected us from reality on the ground, and when the bills come due … we’re going to find that we have no capacity left to repay them. All our manufacturing has gone overseas to cheaper markets. Our mortage securities are wildly overvalued, but the Fed is trying to keep the global con job running. […]

As is, the system is fundamentally unstable and cannot last. With our successive stock market, debt, and real estate bubbles, we have most thoroughly painted ourselves into a corner. Bubbles are the financial equivalent of a nuclear weapon, and in attempting to stop the fallout from one atomic bomb (the tech bubble), we set off two fusion bombs instead … debt and real estate.

– Posted by Malor

The oddness of this is that the fuss is over something so ephemeral.

Two-part article on “Nuclear Power in Space” by Yurii Zaitsev: Part 1 (RIAN/SpaceDaily, 13/8) and Part 2 (RIAN/SpaceDaily, 15/8). For an interplanetary mission (e.g. to Mars) a small nuclear reactor would provide a more efficient power source than solar panels (which are increasingly ineffective the further away from the Sun a spaceship gets). Russia developed a unit called “Topaz” during the Soviet era, which has been flown in space on satellites. (I first saw mention of the Topaz in the Stephen Baxter novel Titan).

Unfortunately, with current technology only nuclear fission is used with its unpleasant side-effects of radiation (see my 15/8 entry); fusion would be ideal. There is also the environmental problem of how to bring a reactor back to Earth!

At CollectSpace there has been a lengthy thread, “Another shuttle conspiracy book: A Life in Space (T. Furniss)”. Tim Furniss has authored a number of space books but after reading the thread (and visiting his website – currently offline for “reconstruction”) it appears he is, rather dismayingly, religious (believes in Creationism) and has some dubious “conspiracy theory” views on the Challenger disaster. Perhaps he has become more eccentric as he gets older, but he comes across as something of a crank. Francis French did a detailed review of Mr. Furniss’s autobiography (page 5 – can’t link to the post directly) and the book seems to have rather too much detail about his “personal issues” and love life:

His relationships to women are self-admittedly strained, with explanations such as “trouble is, when they have a bit of bother and start crying, they blame everybody else and complain.” As he enters his teen years, we are given repeated descriptions of Furniss’s furtive fumblings with young girls in movie theaters, and his continued sexual frustrations over his failed attempts to lose his virginity, accompanying descriptions of girlfriends such as a “buxom Greek wench” and “she was completely frigid.” Much time and detail is given to musings that Furniss lived at home with his parents until the late age of 25, that when he moved out he was still a virgin, and that on moving out he remained “a loner, locking myself up in the house far too often.” He eventually sells his house and moves back home with his parents: he does not move out of his home town until the age of 40.

I giggled – I shouldn’t, but really, I don’t think it is a good idea to go into this much detail when writing about oneself! An example of his religious beliefs:

These religious comments tie in to other thoughts given very early in the piece, querying commonly-accepted scientific theories, such as a sudden mention during the chronicling of his childhood that the Big Bang theory “defies belief” – not just in his opinion, but unequivocally. The 1976 Viking Mars missions are described less in terms of their mission objectives and more as a defense of creationism, which Furniss is evidently a strong proponent of to the point that no other viewpoint is apparently credible to him. The Viking coverage quickly becomes a lecture about the “unproven theory of evolution” and annoyance that creationism gets little coverage by a “subjective media.” When talking of the possibility of life elsewhere in the solar system and the universe, Furniss evidently believes that pondering the very possibility is “a way of denying a creator God,” and the idea is thus dismissed out of hand. […]

His interest is put into the context of a shy, bullied and abused young man looking for some kind of comfort and solace in the one area he knew more about than his contemporaries and adults. He describes talking to the photos of astronauts he has on his wall when he was a teen, and going back upstairs to say goodbye to them before leaving the house each day. His greatest moments of fleeting pride as a child seem to come when correcting adults talking about the space program. Furniss repeatedly also describes a “sexual analogy to a lift-off,” a theme which repeats when discussing spacecraft dockings and other space events, such as when he describes having sex as “performing dockings.”

Oh, dear, I will never be able to watch a docking again without blushing!

Sunday 19/8

“The politics of the market crash,” European Tribune, 18/8. Excellent post about the insanity and greed of the current economic system.

Wealth is not defined by how the richest fare, and should not be counted via how much they accumulate, but only by how the poorest amongst us are doing. Society is not doing well when the rich get richer, but when communities care for their members, leave no one behind, and do not focus exclusively on how much money one has to rank and judge members. Richer does not mean better. Together is better. Things built to last are the most valuable, even if they create no profit today. Infrastructure, education, careful nurturing of rare resources are investments that pay for all in the long run and can be handed over to future generations. Many government tasks are investments, not costs.

“Ancient microbes ‘revived’ in lab,” BBC News, 7/8. Ancient bacteria in ice samples from Antarctica were thawed out and revived. The oldest were 8 million years old! Unlike the younger samples (100,000 years), they did not grow very well:

This suggested some microorganisms in this old ice were alive, but only just. Their DNA had been severely damaged by long exposure to cosmic radiation. This radiation is stronger at the poles, where the Earth’s protective magnetic field is weakest. The researchers were unable to identify them as they grew, because their DNA had degraded so much. The researchers found that DNA in the five samples examined showed an exponential decline in quality after 1.1 million years.

This suggests that life could not have arrived on Earth via comets as cosmic radiation would have damaged its DNA too much.

STS-118 will need to come home a day early because of a huge and threatening hurricane (Dean) building in the Caribbean.

“Obsolete space industry,” Space Daily, 15/8: Andrei Kislyakov opinion piece.

For Russia, the ISS is all that is left of its once stupendous manned program. Its loss would shake the industry to its foundations. But the question arises: If Russia is to stay on, which is beyond discussion, then what is to be done and, most importantly, how?

Monday 20/8

I bought Apocalypto today in a DVD sale for just under $20 (normally $30-$40). Haven’t seen the movie yet, but with blood, death and human sacrifice it sounds promising!

I was reading this interview with a new author at the Science Fiction and Fantasy World site. I wasn’t very impressed with his attitude towards the Internet, or the fantasy genre (his first novel did not get a good review anyway):

Q: Do you have any plans to create a website or a blog where potential readers will have the opportunity to read sample chapters and learn more about you?

A: Absolutely not. I loathe the internet beyond all loathing and everything it stands for. Seriously. I sometimes feel I’m the only sane person left in the world, everyone else having become bedazzled by that mindless, flashing, bleeping box of electric trickery, wizardly lies, pseudo-values, and misinformation that is as laughably inaccurate as its readers are gullible. Thanks to the internet the entire human race is now walking around with that sappy, inane smile on their faces, praising the wonders of this new god that has come into their empty, gadget-driven lives, and spouting the most risible cobblers I’ve ever heard this side of Bedlam. Especially those with enough brains that they should know better. Grrr …

Eh? As far as I’m concerned the Internet is a goldmine of information; I have found out so much that I would not be able to otherwise. Also for communicating and finding other people with shared interests. It’s the best invention since the printing press!

Russia has decided to resume long-range bomber patrols, so this gives the media another excuse to use “Cold War” in the headlines. Ho-hum. (Entry at The Accidental Russophile.)

“Russia in $250bn plan to restore its military might,” The Age, 20/8. Russia is building up its military, so apparently this makes it EVIL. The usual alarmist nonsense:

At the weekend, President Vladimir Putin caused consternation by announcing the resumption of regular, long-range nuclear bomber patrols, but there is more to come. Russia is planning to double combat aircraft production by 2025, with more nuclear missiles, aircraft carriers and tanks at the top of Moscow’s shopping list.

The message to the West is clear: the days of being able to dismiss Russia as a spent force are over. Bolstered by the cash from sales of oil and gas and Mr. Putin’s steely determination to re-establish the country on the world stage, the Russian military machine is back in business.

Intelligence sources say Washington and London have been taken aback by just how seriously Russia has viewed the perceived slight of being overlooked as a world power. They admit that in concentrating so heavily on Iraq and al-Qaeda, they took their eye off the ball.

“They were slow to see that these people are still players,” said a former White House staffer, who served both Ronald Reagan and George Bush. “My great fear is that I wake up one day soon to discover that we lost the Cold War – or rather that, like everything else, we won the war and then lost the peace.”

A source close to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who cut her teeth in government as a kremlinologist in the 1980s, said that Middle East issues had diverted her attention from a more rigorous engagement with Moscow. “She wants to spend more time on Russia but that hasn’t always been possible. She said to me that she regrets the fact that she has not done enough on what is, after all, her major area of expertise,” the source said. […]

The alarm may be ringing too late, according to Matthew Clements, Eurasia editor of Jane’s Country Risk. “I think what has not been seen is the way Russia perceives itself as a new great power and how it feels it has not been taken as seriously as it should be,” he said.

Condescending, or what?

“Fallout over nuclear deals,” Herald-Sun, 20/8. Australia is to sell some uranium to Russia. According to Robert Amsterdam it is a bad idea because Russia is EVIL. A footnote at the end says that he was “was defence counsel for Mikhail Khodorkovsky.” Not exactly unbiased, is he? Mr. Amsterdam also has a blog/website, which (after a quick glance) is devoted to describing how EVIL the current Russia government is.

Mr. Putin was photographed on holiday with his shirt off. Is he the stud muffin of the world’s leaders? ;-)

“Bold New Projects Critical To Future Of Russian Space Exploration,” Space Daily, 20/8. Interview with former Energiya president Nikolai Sevast’yanov.

Tuesday 21/8

Around 6 p.m. this evening, the half-Moon, Jupiter and the red star Antares (see 14/7 entry) formed a nearly-perfect equilateral triangle. Just thought I would mention it!

Friday 24/8

Fine spring weather, but dismaying news that the drought is not over yet, with below-average rainfall predicted. The reservoirs are only at 38.4% full.

Post at Childfree Hardcore about what poor farmers resort to in India if their crops fail (they do not seem to have much of a Social Security system there, if any).

“It’’s in the newspaper every day.” he said “Because he can not pay his debts, and can not get seed for next year – he, the wife, the child, the parents if they are elderly, they all drink pesticide together.” […] “There are more than one billion people in India. Everyone wants a job. There are not enough jobs for the people in the cities. The farmers would not get jobs if they moved. There are no jobs for them to go to.”

Was reading Charles Stross’s latest blog entry, “Pernicious Reporting,” and he links to this essay about pre-Chinese Tibet, “Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth”. Seems that it was not the paradise idealistic Westerners believe it to be! It was a religious theocracy, and a brutal one.

Some monasteries had their own private prisons, reports Anna Louise Strong. In 1959, she visited an exhibition of torture equipment that had been used by the Tibetan overlords. There were handcuffs of all sizes, including small ones for children, and instruments for cutting off noses and ears, and breaking off hands. For gouging out eyes, there was a special stone cap with two holes in it that was pressed down over the head so that the eyes bulged out through the holes and could be more readily torn out. There were instruments for slicing off kneecaps and heels, or hamstringing legs. There were hot brands, whips, and special implements for disembowling.

The exhibition presented photographs and testimonies of victims who had been blinded or crippled or suffered amputations for thievery. There was the shepherd whose master owed him a reimbursement in yuan and wheat but refused to pay. So he took one of the master’s cows; for this he had his hands severed. Another herdsman, who opposed having his wife taken from him by his lord, had his hands broken off. There were pictures of Communist activists with noses and upper lips cut off, and a woman who was raped and then had her nose sliced away. […]

To support the Chinese overthrow of the Dalai Lama’s feudal theocracy is not to applaud everything about Chinese rule in Tibet. This point is seldom understood by today’s Shangri-La adherents in the West. The converse is also true. To denounce the Chinese occupation does not mean we have to romanticize the former feudal régime. One common complaint among Buddhist proselytes in the West is that Tibet’s religious culture is being destroyed by the Chinese authorities. This does seem to be the case. But what I am questioning here is the supposedly admirable and pristinely spiritual nature of that pre-invasion culture. In short, we can advocate religious freedom and independence for Tibet without having to embrace the mythology of a Paradise Lost.

Found another computer game site with awesome graphics and cool aliens: Mass Effect.

“Russian scientist calls for fusion research program by year’s end,” RIA Novosti, 16/8. Russia is a partner in the international ITER project in France to develop fusion power.

STS-118 Endeavour landed safely at 16:32 UTC on 21 August.

A roundup of some Russian manned spaceflight news (well, it doesn’t have an unmanned space probe program …):

And why can’t the Russian space program do something similar to this: “NASA and Internet Archive Team to Digitize Space Imagery,” SpaceRef, 23/8. There must be a lot of things in the Russian archives that the public hasn’t seen; it would be a great way of getting their attention.

Wednesday 29/8

Saw the lunar eclipse last night! The sky was cloudy, but it mostly cleared up before totality at 8:40 p.m. The Moon was a copper-red, with a darker patch where the Earth’s shadow was. It looked like Mars. I did not have a suitable camera setup to be able to take photos, but there are some from others at this ABC page. I wonder if the crew on the ISS saw it (and took photos)? The next total eclipse visible from here won’t be until 2011.

I also glanced at Jupiter through binoculars and could just discern one or two of its Gallilean moons.

Friday 31/8

Last day of winter; it hardly seems we have had winter. :-(

“Think small,” The Age, 31/8. An international nanotechnology conference is to be held next week in Melbourne.

Nanotechnology as a concept has been around for about 50 years, but Binks believes momentum has been building in the past 10 years, especially in Victoria. Since 2002, the Victorian Government has invested $280 million in nanotechnology, which includes setting up Nanotechnology Victoria, and committing to build a new Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication.

“Russia flexes its muscles across Asia-Pacific zone,” The Age, 31/8. Apparently this is cause for alarm (note the use of the word “aggressive”), notwithstanding that China and the USA are doing the same thing. Hyprocrisy in our media again. Also: “The Red Star of the Pacific: the forgotten player is back” at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute site.

September

Monday 3/9

It’s officially spring, but there is little sign of the rains that are needed at this time of year. August was a dry month.

Got a flat tyre on my bike ride yesterday, so I had to wheel it home and repaired it. I really hate removing the back tyre as it is so difficult to get off.

A neighboring house is to be demolished and a two-storey attached dwelling built, dismayingly. We have a unit directly behind us (built in 1997) which is bad enough (a one-story unit); it makes us feel hemmed-in, not to mention blocking the view of the sky to the west. The house beside this is the one being developed; it is the same design and date as ours (though the layout is reversed), so another small part of our suburb’s history will be erased. (The nice jacaranda tree in the backyard will also be felled.) I am so sick of all this overdevelopment; it is a continual source of low-level stress as it does not improve the neighborhood environment. (Pertinent article mentioned in my 30/3 entry: “Renovate or Detonate?”)

“Natives under attack from ‘deadly’ humans,” The Age, 3/9. Humans – mainly those since European settlement – are wiping out native plants and animals here. Professor David Lindenmayer also criticizes the obsession with population growth, a major cause of environmental stress:

More controversially, Professor Lindenmayer also called for a national debate on the sensitive issue of population limits, criticising Treasurer Peter Costello’s for his “simplistic quip”: his encouragement for families to have three children, one for mum, one for dad and another for Australia. “This issue normally gets hijacked by people with various religious and political persuasions, particularly over race,” Professor Lindenmayer said. “But this needs to be debated urgently, because […] we’ve already had a massive effect with 20 million people. With rapidly expanding levels of consumption, the impacts of 30 or 40 or 50 million people are going to be enormous.”

Australia’s population of ~21 million is small compared with many countries, but much of the land is old infertile soil and desert that can’t sustain large numbers of people, not to mention the drought and water shortage crisis. Looks like, as usual, governments will not do anything until it is already too late (i.e. ecological catastrophe).

An interesting concept for some population control from a novel:

The Shaa, after their conquest of Terra, were perplexed by the varieties of sexuality displayed by their new conquests, and had wisely made no attempt to regulate any of its variety. Instead they’d insisted, in the most unsentimental, practical way, on minimizing the consequences: every Terran female had to be given a contraceptive implant at some point during her fourteenth year. Any woman having reached twenty-two, the age of maturity, could have the implant removed at any time by a physician, while younger women required the permission of a parent or guardian. The number of unwanted children, though not eliminated altogether, was at least brought within manageable levels.

– The Praxis, Walter Jon Williams

Some would regard that as draconian, but with so many humans either unwilling or unable to regulate their populations, it could be seen as a necessary measure! Otherwise, Nature will, sooner or later, deal with excess populations far more brutally – famine, natural disasters, ecological collapse, etc.

More ideas (which would applied to all countries equally):

Some people would – with tedious predictability – try to subvert these measures (a lot of people seem to lose all rationality when it comes to reproduction) so harsh punishments would be necessary to discourage this.

Tuesday 4/9

Series 3 of the latest Dr. Who episodes has been screening the last few weeks. Last Saturday’s episode was “Blink” and it was rather nightmarish in parts! These being the predatory angel-statue creatures who only moved when their victim wasn’t looking – when the characters looked away then back, or blinked, the angels had moved closer … and closer. The episode was also an interesting lesson in the peculiarities of time!

Found this awesome song/video by a Finnish group called Apocalyptica while looking up a film called Vidocq that I saw reduced at a department store (debating whether to get it or not; the version available is unfortunately the English dubbed version – I hate voice dubbing! – the French version is on the DVD too but with a slightly-inferior soundtrack, according to this forum post). (To save the Apocalyptica video onto disk, copy the URL to the KeepVid site.)

Sydney is in lockdown for the APEC summit this week; pity the residents who have to endure the intense security! Various world leaders including George W. Bush (who has the most extreme security of all) and Vladimir Putin are attenting. Mr. Putin is to come with some business tycoons. If there is one thing I don’t like about his government it is the unhealthy closeness to powerful businessmen and oligarches.

As-yet unconfirmed reports say that a Russian businessman-politician, Vladimir Gruzdev, looks set to be a space tourist in September 2008 or in 2009. I bet the cosmonauts won’t be happy about that! Especially those who have spent years waiting for their first flight (e.g. Dmitri Kondrat’ev – selected 1997, Oleg Kononenko – selected 1996, Roman Romanenko – selected 1997), only to have someone with loads of money “jump the queue”.

Wednesday 5/9

Stupid arrogant young male driver encountered this morning in a white sportscar (UFG-446). Wish there was a website where I could report such idiots!

“Girl gives birth in state care,” Herald-Sun, 5/9. This demonstrates the uselessness of the Department of Human Services when it comes to looking after teenagers – i.e. the DHS’s complete leniency and lack of discipline. The girl in question first became pregnant at 13 while in so-called State care! She has given birth again at 16, though the circumstances are unclear. Cases like this emphasize the need for enforced contraception as described in my 3/9 entry! (See also 11/2 entry for similar comments on the DHS.)

There was a case in Scotland last year where an 11-year-old fell pregnant to a 15-year-old. Though both the girl and her mother don’t exactly seem very educated:

Her 34-year-old mother told the newspaper: “I’m not ashamed of my daughter at all – in fact, I’m proud of her for keeping her baby.” The newspaper said the girl smokes up to 20 cigarettes a day.

Seriously, any girl who gets pregnant that young should be made to abort – her body is not mature enough to cope with the dangers of pregnancy. (See “Difficult Birth: A Scar of Human Evolution”.)

While on the topic of the dangers of childbirth, the National Geographic July 2006 issue had an article, “The Downside of Upright,” which I scanned and reproduced here (I was looking for an excuse to include it!). It discusses why our evolving to stand upright has resulted in the various flaws in the way our bodies are constructed and function – namely in childbirth, back and leg problems. This would seem to be another argument against the “Intelligent Design” creationist theory – why would a Creator design such a flawed model?

In a dream last night I was running along a road fast and effortlessly, as though I were in low gravity on the Moon. Sometimes I can run in dreams like this, which is exhilarating, othertimes I struggle as though loaded with weights.

“Remember our debt to Russia,” The Age, 5/9. A surprisingly reasonable article from, of all people, former Prime Minister Paul Keating. The Russia-related articles published here usually focus on the weird or negative aspects.

Friday 7/9

“No more drought: it’s a ‘permanent dry’,” The Age, 7/9. Gloomy predictions for Australia’s climate. The current drought continues with no end in sight; the promised rains have not eventuated. The reservoirs for Melbourne are only 38.7% full.

Drought will become a redundant term as Australia plans for a permanently drier future, according to the nation’s urban water industries chief. And climate experts yesterday predicted the present drought would continue, signalling a cruel summer for farmers and sparking fears of higher food prices. […]

Bureau of Meteorology national climate centre chief Michael Coughlan said hopes were fading fast for desperately needed rains. “Is this drought over? Certainly not – we can’t predict when this drought will end,” Dr Coughlan said. […]

Mr. Young blamed climate change for the nation’s water woes. “No one predicted how savagely low inflows would be under climate change,” he said. Strong population growth combined with low inflows had created a dual squeeze on city water supplies. Melbourne’s water stores were yesterday at 38.7 per cent, 8 percentage points lower than the same time last year. They have risen by only 0.1 of a percentage point in the past 10 days. The city is on stage 3a water restrictions, but may move to stage 4 bans over summer. Adelaide and Brisbane also face a dire summer of restrictions. Dr. Coughlan said the La Niña weather system, originally predicted as a drought-breaker, had so far dumped rain over the eastern seaboard and into the ocean without sufficient impact on mainland Australia. He warned Australia could face another El Niño (which would bring more severe drought conditions) within 18 to 24 months.

Even the most severe water restrictions will be pointless if the population keeps growing. (Spain is also facing the threat of desertification.)

The documentary on the Moche I saw in February (16/2 entry) mentioned that the civillization was devastated by climate extremes caused by El Niño (30-year drought). Wonder what will happen if Melbourne’s dams run dry?

Autopatcher has been ordered by Microsoft to desist providing downloads for Windows updates, dismayingly. So I won’t bother to update anymore until Service Pack 3 comes out. There seems to be no end to the security flaws found in Windows.

As noted at Metafilter, Riverbend of the “Baghdad Burning” blog posted an update (she and her immediate family were to flee Iraq as they felt it had become too unsafe; her previous post was in April).

The last few hours in the house were a blur. It was time to go and I went from room to room saying goodbye to everything. I said goodbye to my desk – the one I’d used all through high school and college. I said goodbye to the curtains and the bed and the couch. I said goodbye to the armchair E. and I broke when we were younger. I said goodbye to the big table over which we’d gathered for meals and to do homework. I said goodbye to the ghosts of the framed pictures that once hung on the walls, because the pictures have long since been taken down and stored away – but I knew just what hung where. I said goodbye to the silly board games we inevitably fought over – the Arabic Monopoly with the missing cards and money that no one had the heart to throw away.

I knew then as I know now that these were all just items – people are so much more important. Still, a house is like a museum in that it tells a certain history. You look at a cup or stuffed toy and a chapter of memories opens up before your very eyes. It suddenly hit me that I wanted to leave so much less than I thought I did.

President Putin is in Australia, the first-ever visit by a Russian leader! Though he won’t get an ecstatic welcome from Our Dear Leader like George W. Bush did.

Spaceflight

Energiya changed some of the links at their site, so I had to redo most of the links to them on my site (and blog), rather annoyingly! I think they are all working.

Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa!

S.P. Korolev RSC Energia, Korolev, Moscow region. Cosmonaut tester of the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation cosmonaut team Mikhail Borisovich Kornienko, upon his return to Moscow after climbing mountain Kilimanjaro (5895 meters high) as a member of a team of three mountaineers, was received by the Head of the Federal Space Agency A.N. Perminov.

M.B. Kornienko accomplished this climb while being on vacation. On the highest peak of Africa he left one copy of the Roskosmos commemorative badge and planted the flag of S.P. Korolev RSC Energia. The second copy of that badge that had been to the top of Kilimanjaro, M.B. Kornienko handed over to the Head of Roskosmos.

A.N. Perminov pointed out the high level of preparedness of the cosmonaut tester for working in extreme conditions, which allowed him, the only one of the whole team, to overcome the difficulties of the climb in its final phase.

Russian Federal Space Agency: Космонавт вышел на «малую» орбиту – покорил Килиманджаро (Cosmonaut has reached a “small” orbit – he conquered Kilimanjaro).

A Russian Proton-M rocket with a Japanese satellite onboard crashed on launch.

Saturday 8/9

Through a Metafilter post I found this curious website, Ulillillia City, by someone who seems very strange and reclusive; possibly has Asperger’s Syndrome or a similar condition. Parts of it are hard to understand; he is entirely absorbed in his inner world. (Rather like me.) He is in his early 20s and lives with his parents. As one MF reader noted, his condition is reminiscent of the Japanese hikikomori (in my 19/6/2005 entry I remarked that I had watched a documentary about this condition). He seems to spend most of his time in his bedroom and, according to his food history, lives rather unhealthily on pizza and soft drink.

This blog entry by author Sean Williams mentioned an ambient music production called SleepResearch_Facility (Wikipedia entry) whose music style is described as “dark ambient” and I rather liked the samples provided on the site. The Nostromo album is unfortunately not currently available (re-released later this year).

One sound I have long had a peculiar liking for is the deep bass rumble of jet engines while on a passenger jet, a steady and sort of soothing ambient noise. I remember it from my second flight to England in 1978. I have not flown since my 1987 New Zealand holiday though, so I have not heard the sound since then.

Mysterious sounds: the Bloop, the Hum and the Wow! signal.

Tuesday 11/9

Six-year anniversary of September 11. No commemorative documentaries on TV here for this year (see my 10/9/2006 entry). (The attacks began at 12:46:30 UTC/10:46:30 p.m. Melbourne time.)

Adventurer Steve Fossett vanished mysteriously in the Nevada desert last week while on a scouting flight and still has not been found despite intensive aerial searches. The light plane’s emergency beacon was not activated. The desert seems to be a remarkably easy place to vanish in (a few other long-lost airplane wrecks have been discovered during the search).

I have put on more weight than I am comfortable with over the last few years; I am currently 66 kg (height is ~163 cm). It seems to have crept on gradually and I have rather too much fat around my upper arms, stomach, hips and thighs. I exercise moderately (mainly walking) and don’t eat a lot of junk food (though I do tend to “comfort eat”). The weight seems to be stubbornly difficult to get rid of! My comfortable weight would be 55-60 kg.

The dreaded Hummer has also begun to invade Australia. A few months ago I saw a “stretched” Hummer limousine on the road, surely the most hideous monstrosity ever designed! The vehicles should never have been allowed to cross over into the civillan market; they are totally unsuited to traffic and a danger to anything they hit (as are large 4WDs). They should be registered as light trucks and prospective owners made to get a truck driver’s licence, which might put off a few. On Saturday a couple were attacked after admiring a Hummer, though as one letter writer in today’s The Age remarked:

While sympathetic to the victims of the attack by Hummer inhabitants (The Age, 10/9), I’ve got to ask: how could anyone admire a Hummer?

– John Laurie, Newport

And does anyone want people with the thuggish mentality of the attackers driving such a large aggressive vehicle?

Thursday 13/9

Venus has been appearing as the Morning Star the last 2 weeks or so; it is bright and low on the horizon.

“Mirror particles form new matter,” BBC News, 12/7. A new particle called Di-positronium was created by merging electrons with their antimatter equivalent, positrons.

The discovery, reported in the journal Nature, is a key step in the creation of ultrapowerful lasers known as gamma-ray annihilation lasers. “The difference in the power available from a gamma-ray laser compared to a normal laser is the same as the difference between a nuclear explosion and a chemical explosion,” said Dr David Cassidy of the University of California, Riverside, and one of the authors of the paper. “It would have an incredibly high power density.” As a result, there is a huge interest in the technology from the military as well as energy researchers who believe the lasers could be used to kick-start nuclear fusion in a reactor.

Well, I just thought it sounded interesting!

Russia tested a giant fuel-air bomb. “It contains about seven tons of high explosives compared with more than eight for the MOAB but is four times more powerful because it uses a new type of explosives developed with the use of nanotechnology, according to the channel.”

“Russia To Get A New Space Port,” RIAN/SpaceDaily, 11/9.

On the last day of summer, the Russian Space Agency made a sensational announcement. Its head Anatoly Perminov painted an epic picture of Russia’s immediate future in space, specifically its manned part. A week and a half ago, during a final news conference with journalists at the MAKS-2007 International Air Show, to the surprise of many, he spoke modestly about the evolutionary path to be taken by the space industry. “Our primary objective,” he said, “is to stick to existing reliable systems already used in manned flights.” Evidently they found the air show to be the wrong place to disclose the Agency’s truly revolutionary ambitions.

Friday 14/9

I saw a Hummer in Southland car park this morning; an enormous ugly black monstrosity. Last year I found a cartoon (and alternate link) by Ruben Bolling which perfectly demonstrates the mentality of those who buy these abominations. There is absolutely no reason for civilians to have such a car at all, other than to intimidate others on the road.

“Female commanders set for landmark mission,” MSNBC.com, 13/9. Two female NASA astronauts will command the ISS (Peggy Whitson) and Space Shuttle (Pamela Melroy, STS-120 Discovery) next month. No Russian woman has been in space since Elena Kondakova in 1997, and none will for a few years yet (assuming the only current female cosmonaut, Elena Serova, successfully completes her candidate training). Russia are now dismayingly far behind in this area.

Saturday 15/9

I was looking through the Guestbook linked from KJP’s Asperger’s Syndrome Site and found this entry, which I thought relevant (to my previous awful job):

I found your web site very informative. Consider the decline of manufacturing in northern England and northeastern United States as well as the loss of stable employment everywhere. Nowadays, a lot of jobs are customer service-oriented and required much interaction with people. Most customers do not like to see dour faces or aloofness on the part of service workers (the common perception of the British service people is that they are a dour lot) so employers place great demand on (if rather insincere) sociable, outgoing personalities with excellent speaking ability. (As a side note, that is why British tourists are surprised at the high level of customer service whenever they visit Walt Disney World.) Of course, this makes it especially more difficult for those with Asperger’s syndrome. How are they to deal with angry customers all day long? In addition, competition for scarce jobs means that as many applicants to a job opening will be weeded out and narrowed down. Of course, those with Asperger’s syndrome are not immune.

I wish I had been good at maths and science at school so I could have had an interesting career doing cool stuff like nuclear fusion or nanotechnology, instead of facing a dull and limited future in soul-destroying service-type drudgery jobs which I would rather slit my wrists than have to apply for. I can’t see anyway out of my current situation and I feel trapped. Sometimes I hope for a terminal illness like cancer which would save me the bother of suicide (not that I have the courage to attempt it!). I would not seek treatment.

A Soyuz-U rocket successfully launched yesterday with an unmanned Foton spacecraft carrying various experiments (listed in Russian and English at the FKA site). Some fish and Mongolian gerbils (small rodents) are getting a ride into space as part of the experiments. A space tether experiment will also be performed (James Oberg’s comments about it at FPSpace).

I neglected to mention that Sergei Krikalyov turned 49 two weeks ago! (27 August). Wish I could send him a birthday card. Next year he will be 50!! Scary thought. (Also turning 50 next year, incidently, will be Madonna, Michael Jackson and my airline pilot cousin, Colin Sayce.)

Monday 17/9

What I am irate at today: an Australian minority political party with rather too much influence in Parliament has put forward this proposal:

Family First fights for bumper baby bonus for third kid

Parents would get a $10,000 “bumper baby bonus” when having a third or subsequent child under a Family First election proposal. And the minor party wants parents to get an annual $4000 childcare allowance for every child they have under five.

Family First senator Steve Fielding will meet with Prime Minister John Howard tomorrow in the hope that he will adopt the policies. Family First preferences are up for grabs, and with the Government trailing badly in the polls, Mr. Howard may consider the measures. The party will also seek support for the birth incentives from Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd.

The bumper baby bonus would cost an estimated $440 million a year. Senator Fielding said the measures would encourage higher birth rates. Family First’s childcare payment would replace the Childcare tax Rebate. The baby bonus is currently $4133 per child.

Posted at Childfree Hardcore. I object to taxpayers’ money being used for such an environmentally-unfriendly proposal; we have ongoing drought, water shortages and too many people in the world, and these religious wankers want to encourage people to breed! What reality are these morons living in? This is also discriminatory against people without children.

I was reading this LJ community entry about a book in The Black Stallion series and was thinking how much I loved these books when I was in my horse-mad phase (around 9 to 12 years old). (Other favorite series/books then were The Silver Brumby and My Friend Flicka.) I read nearly all the books in the BS series as I recall, but the later books got rather … peculiar, as the entry notes, more like fantasy novels.

A notable element of these books is the near-supernatural portrayal of the main horse characters, all stallions: Shaitan/The Black, Thowra/The Silver Brumby and two horses in the Flicka series: Thunderhead (named after a thundercloud) and his ferocious grandsire The Albino (Flicka herself was not particularly memorable). They were more like mythological creatures than ordinary horses; perhaps that is why they appealed to me (I was – and am – somewhat nervous around real horses! I have not been near one in many years). In the book Thunderhead – or the third one, Green Grass of Wyoming, can’t remember – there was a particularly memorable fight-to-the-death scene between Thunderhead and The Albino. If I can ever find the book again I will quote the scene.

I wish I had kept the books I had then, but predictably they all vanished long ago!

Tuesday 18/9

I read John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War (borrowed from the library) after reading this critical entry at a blog. The novel began reasonably well with a few laugh-out-loud paragraphs and interesting concepts, but near the end I was skimming through pages just to finish. The endless slaughter of one alien race after another got very wearying. I seem to have a bit of an alien obsession this year so I tend to get indignant at books and computer games that depict aliens as just there to be shot at!

Better written than many such out there – better than, frex, Tom Cool’s Infectress, but not actually much more to it philosophically than your standard old-time dungeon crawl exported to outer space, kill aliens/take their stuff so that humanity can Expand To Infinity (paging Dr. Weston!) and devil take the hindmost. […] it reminds me of how David Weber wrote his first aliens as savage ingrates attacking their benevolent colonial overlords for no reason except, you know, that’s what Zulu alien hordes do, so that our white male tokenly-diverse heroes can slaughter them in moral righteousness, with a few tragic casualties, and Save The Day.

*sigh* Yeah. I’m glad now that I rented Old Man’s War from the library rather than buying it outright, because even the skimming that I did (no time to read thoroughly before the book was due) had me bothered about the xenophobia. Sure, there must be vicious aliens in the galaxy, but they can’t all be that way, and why exactly is it that Terrans have an inalienable (hah) right to expand as far into the cosmos as they choose?

This is also my gripe with the otherwise nice-looking computer game Mass Effect where, in the novel prequel (yes, I did buy it *looks embarassed*, mainly because of Saren on the cover), humans generally act like badly-behaved children (“We’ll do whatever you want and you can’t stop us! Nyah!” – what the human ambassador effectively says to the Citadel Council).

“South Korea unveils test reactor in search of limitless energy,” Space Daily, 14/9. South Korea has begun operating a test nuclear fusion reactor – but practical commercial use is estimated to be 30 years away!! The technology is urgently needed now, but a miraculous technological breakthrough would be necessary.

“Dung from mammoths sends warming signal,” MSNBC.com, 17/9. Melting permafrost in Siberia from global warming could expose ancient organic matter that would release a lot of carbon dioxide and methane gas into the atmosphere, intensifying global warming.

“Mice and men: space gerbils blaze trail for humans to Mars,” Space Daily, 14/9. More on the gerbils getting their first and only spaceflight; unfortunately some of the hapless creatures will be dissected after landing. (A brief RIA Novosti news item on the creatures the Foton is carrying.)

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 653:

18/9/2007/00:01: Russian manned spacecraft will fly to Mars, possibly in 2020, Aleksandr Kaleri thinks

A Russian spacecraft with the crew aboard will fly to Mars, possibly in 2020. About this stated the chief of the flying space center of company Energiya, airman-cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri, at the All-Russian astronomical conference the “Space Boundaries of the 21st Century,” that was opened on 17 September in Kazan. “The flight duration will be two years with a one-month stay on Mars,” noted the cosmonaut. It is assumed that aboard the ship with a weight of up to 600 tons will fly the crew of 4-6 people. To put this ship immediately into orbit is impossible, therefore they will assemble it in orbit from the modules, said Kaleri.

According to him, the dimensions of modules and subsistence maintenance system are developed, the methods of creating the large constructions now are selected: so the length of each of two solar batteries will compose 700 meters. Studies with respect to the guarantee of reliability of flight are conducted. For example, for the protection from the solar radiation it is proposed the walls of crew quarters for the cosmonauts are to be filled with inert gas.

According to the most optimistic forecasts, the flights will begin in 2020, with the most pessimistic beginning in 2025. In the first flight only the circling around the “red planet” will be undertaken. The second flight will carry a full-scale landing module, but also without the embarkation of cosmonauts. And only in the third flight half of the crew will land on the planet, the cosmonaut concluded.

(Russian version, Русская версия)

Thursday 20/9

Adventurer Steve Fossett is still missing, and after over 2 weeks it seems he is likely dead. The search goes on, though it is being scaled back. His disappearance is most peculiar – how can anyone just vanish like that? The only other option is that for some reason he wanted to disappear.

Kingdom of Heaven was screened on TV last Sunday. With ad breaks it was very long (3½ hours or so). One of my minor interests at various times in my life is knights on horseback, so the movie had plenty of these! Spectacular landscapes and very bloody battles (every time a sword slashed at someone, fountains of blood erupted!). The main female character was played by an impossibly beautiful actress called Eva Green.

Two weeks ago The Interpreter was on TV. I only watched part of this as I got a bit bored, but having a look inside the United Nations building was interesting. Must be a fascinating place to work in! I kept getting distracted, though, by the unnatural smoothness of actress Nicole Kidman’s skin! She is 3 years older (39) than me and there is not a wrinkle on her face! She’s had some cosmetic surgery over the last few years and I really think she has overdone it – Botox treatments have rendered her almost expressionless. She also used to have curly red hair but it is now rather pale and flat. She is still strikingly attractive, but in a not-quite-natural way. (Some photos in this blog entry.)

The Accidental Russophile alerted me to these two interesting articles about the upcoming “Mars-500” long-duration simulation experiment:

“Russians Prepare to Go to Mars Without Leaving the Ground,” James Oberg, IEEE Spectrum, September 2007. He visited the simulation complex at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. Staying in the simulator for that length of time will be challenging! Like being imprisoned. Once the novelty wears off after about 2 months or so things will start to get “interesting”. Still, I almost wish I could volunteer – I am doing nothing with my life and it wouldn’t be too much different to being in my bedroom – but I am lacking any qualifications whatsoever. (I’d volunteer for a solo Mars mission, though, even if it resulted in my death!) Such an experiment would be bearable if there were Internet access, but unfortunately there isn’t! The crew can only send and receive emails. I’d be having Internet-deprivation withdrawal symptoms after the first week!

The interior of the simulator is constructed with wood – very nice woodwork! – which “is supposed to induce a feeling of cozy hominess.” It does add a warm feeling to the rooms, unlike metal. Couldn’t have wooden décor on a real spaceship though; a fire hazard and too heavy to carry into orbit.

One unresolved problem:

As pieces fall into place, a few unsolved problems stand out in greater relief. Dyomin confesses that one entirely ordinary Earth side process was giving him fits: “We still don’t know what to do with the garbage,” he ruefully admits. Throwing it overboard (as the Russians did on their Salyut and Mir space stations) would cost too much in terms of the air lost with each jettison, and on a real Mars mission it would fill the skies with twinkling garbage bags that would drift for months, confusing stellar navigation sensors and potentially bumping into the ship and fouling exterior mechanisms. Keeping it inside will require strict sanitary isolation. But with decades of long-term human spaceflight experience under their belts, the team will think of something.

In Stephen Baxter’s novel Titan the crew on the journey to Saturn’s moon used this device to dispose of garbage:

She checked the SCWO reactor, the Supercritical Wet Oxidation system. The SCWO was a remarkable piece of gear. Inside, slurry was heated to 480°C and 240 atmospheres, conditions where water went supercritical. It was like liquid steam. If you jetted in oxygen, you could get an open flame, under water. The SCWO would burn anything, any waste they threw into it: crap, urine, food scraps, garbage, mixed up with organic wastes and water. Out came steam, carbon dioxide and a whole bunch of nitrates – compounds of nitrogen they could use in the hydroponic farm.

It looked to Benacerraf as if the temperature control inside the reactor had been a little variable. That was a worry; not everything that happened inside that reactor was well understood. The SCWO was a relatively new technology – the reactor and its backup fitted in Discovery were actually upgrades of breadboard prototypes. There were safety concerns around the high temperatures and pressures in the reactor, and corrosion of the pressure chamber. That corrosion could leak metals into the liquid effluent, which could then end up in the food chain.

“Russia Prepares for Mars Mission with ‘Big Brother’ Experiment,” Spiegel Online, 14/9. Here is revealed that one of the participants is cosmonaut Sergei Ryazanskii!

Sergei Ryazanskii has already passed all the necessary medical and psychological tests. The athletic, blue-eyed, 32-year-old Russian is testing one of the wooden cots in the mock spacecraft’s sleeping module. His grandfather helped build one of the very first Soviet rockets and two years ago he managed to graduate from Russia’s cosmonaut training program. A romantic attraction to outer space simply runs in the family blood. “My wife was the only one who couldn’t understand that,” Sergei sighs. She divorced him.

From his training, Ryazanskii knows how extreme conditions can affect a person’s psychological well-being. “In total isolation with five people, you’re burdened by five times as many problems, and so are the others,” he says. It’s exactly that sort of group dynamic that the IBMP wants to examine.

Divorced! (They had one child.) That must have been recent. He is only 4 years younger than me. (He had a Livejournal, but seems to have deleted it. His website is still online. Hopefully he will keep an online journal for the experiment?)

Saturday 22/9

Tomorrow is the equinox, the official start of Spring here.

“Do women perceive color differently from men?,” Cognitive Daily, 14/7. When looking for infomation about eyesight at Wikipedia I came across Tetrachromacy, where there are 4 color receptors rather than the usual 3, and because of the way the chromosones are inherited, only women could have this variant (men born to such women will get colorblindness instead). There was also a recent BBC News article, “Why girls ‘really do prefer pink’” (21/8) on why women tend to prefer red/pink shades, and both sexes like blue:

Dr. Hurlbert said: “Evolution may have driven females to prefer reddish colours – reddish fruits, healthy, reddish faces. Culture may exploit and compound this natural female preference.” […] No clear explanation exists as to why all humans might also have an underlying liking for blue. Dr. Hurlbert speculated: “Going back to our ‘savannah’ days, we would have a natural preference for a clear blue sky, because it signalled good weather. Clear blue also signals a good water source.”

A lot of birds, insects and sea creatures have even more remarkable eyesight, e.g. the Mantis shrimp.

“Essentially Immortal,” Space Daily, 10/9. Microbes manage to exist in freshwater lakes under kilometers-thick ice in Antarctica. They could thus possibly survive on Mars or Europa.

“More than 150 lakes have been discovered underneath nearly two-and-a-half miles of ice in Antactica,” said Christner, “and most of these bodies of water have likely been covered by ice for at least 15 million years. The environmental conditions in the deep cold biosphere are unlike anything on the Earth’s surface and this represents one of the most extreme habitats for life on the planet.”

Via this Metafilter entry, a non-lethal weapon designed by Raytheon, “Silent Guardian,” that is reminiscent of the “pain box” in Dune.

The system’s antenna emits a focused beam of millimeter wave energy. The beam travels at the speed of light and penetrates the skin to a depth of 1/64 of an inch, producing an intolerable heating sensation that causes the targeted individuals to instinctively flee or take cover. The sensation ceases immediately when an individual moves out of the beam or the operator steers the beam away. Silent Guardian does not cause injury because of the shallow penetration depth of the millimeter wave.

I can think of whom I would like to see the device used on! (Neighborhood vandals and drunken louts)

“Russia aims for new far east space launch pad by 2020,” The Raw Story, 21/9; RIAN 26/9.

Sunday 23/9

The memory of a film I had seen as a teenager came unbidden into my head last night (perhaps because I was reading a Lian Hearn novel), but I could not remember the title. After some keyword searching on IMDB today I found it: Ghost Warrior (1986). As I recall, I rented the video when staying at my cousin Heather’s house and enjoyed it! Unfortunately it is one of those obscure movies that are impossible to find now.

Perhaps the only film ever to bill itself as coming from “the timewarp tradition of Iceman,” Ghost Warrior opens on a scene in 1550s Japan, a mysterious land that bears a suspicious resemblance to the Rocky Mountain region of North America. There, heroic ronin Hiroshi Fujioka makes a desperate last stand to protect his woman from a band of marauders before taking an arrow-stricken dive into a snowy river. After enjoying a few centuries of peace and quiet, his frozen body is discovered by modern cross-country skiers, and promptly (though inexplicably) taken to Los Angeles. That’s where intrepid journalist Janet Julian discovers him, after following hunches and rumors, cynically commenting, “It was the kind of story that sparks the imagination, gives newscasters something to joke about, and then fades into oblivion.” Little does she suspect, however, that through the miracle of whirring machines and beeping monitors, Fujioka will be brought back to life. Confounded by such features of contemporary life as helicopters and W.A.S.P. videos, Fujioka needs to be gently immersed in the 20th century. With the careful use of symbol-bearing flash cards, Julian makes significant progress in this area, and eventually, in what might not be the most carefully considered move, she returns his sword to him. A series of accidents deposits Fujioka in contemporary L.A., where, after a night of confusedly poking holes in car tires, he breaks up the attempted mugging of jovial senior citizen Charles Lampkin. “You damaged the merchandise, man. That was stupid,” taunts one gang member, apparently not suspecting that he’s the stupid one for tangling with a fully armed samurai. After their fight spills into a local sushi restaurant, where one patron mistakes him for Toshirô Mifune, Fujioka finds he has more than gang members on his trail. Soon, he’s eluding government agents unwilling to go public with their 16th-century secret weapon. After some time spent walking peacefully through a meadow with Julian, Fujioka walks into a trap and discovers, in the timewarp tradition of Iceman, that unfrozen warriors from the past don’t have much of a future. After a good fight, he makes like the 19th-century Tokugawa government and falls.

Another samurai film that I saw years ago was Ran. It was screened on SBS and I enjoyed it, but has not been repeated on TV since. I did see the DVD in Borders last week when looking, but is over $30 so will have to wait for a discount voucher. (Though after reading the reviews at Amazon.com, most of the DVD film transfers seem to be of poor quality.)

“The cult of muscularity,” The Age, 23/9. Body image obsession is increasingly affecting many men (mainly younger ones).

Many men, faced with no job security, no new frontier, little chance of owning a home, and a diminished protector role, feel stripped of the traditional markers of manhood. They feel bereft of those things that gave their fathers and grandfathers purpose, strength and sturdiness. Stuck with not feeling much like a man, the need grows to at least look like one. A magazine such as Men’s Health capitalises on this need, with its cover hunks with perfect upper bodies and teaser lines like “Six-pack abs!” and “Your best body ever!”

The Accidental Russophile has a nice post about the Mars-500 articles mentioned in my 20/9 entry, though I don’t feel I am worthy of such flattery!

Monday 24/9

An article from today’s The Age about some remarkably long-lived trees:

Tree of long life endures 4700 years

Schulman Grove, California, September 24, 2007

They have neither the soaring majesty nor the celebrity of the giant redwood, but in one respect the bristlecone pine is the undisputed king of trees: longevity.

Scattered on a remote mountainside of eastern California, these gnarled, twisted specimens are the oldest living organisms on Earth, the most senior among them about 4700 years old.

The bristlecone’s astounding durability is partly explained by the harsh climate they have endured throughout the ages, said Patti Wells, a US Forest Service naturalist, who has studied the trees for 37 years.

In summer, the trees bask in temperatures of 25 degrees, but in winter they are frozen in temperatures that can reach minus 30 degrees.

At a rarefied altitude of 3300 metres, roaring winds of 320 km/h pummel the forest, which is also blanketed in snow.

Only the bristlecone is able to withstand such extreme conditions, botanists say. Because the trees grow slowly, they have developed an impervious resinous wood, protecting them from insect infestations and mushrooms. The high altitude also means that potentially devastating fires do not have as much oxygen to feed them, Ms. Wells says.

Bristlecone pines often appear dead. As the tree ages, outer layers of bark die, leaving only a strip of connective tissue stretching from the roots to the few branches that remain alive. The deadwood of Pinus longaeva is so solid it does not rot.

Yet despite the bristlecone’s resilience, park officials are wary of the dangers posed by man. A relatively small number of tourists visit the forest, and officials want to keep it that way.

I mentioned these trees in my 14/6/2006 entry. The oldest tree mentioned has been growing for most of recorded human history! (From 2700 B.C.) The Ancient Bristlecone Pine site has some details. There is a rather dismaying story of a geography student who cut one of the trees down so as to date it! (4862 years old, it turned out to be.) The trees are probably more in danger from humans than anything else (as the article notes) – see my 23/6/2006 entry for the article about the 400-year-old River Red Gum felled last year to make way for a road.

Continuing from my 22/9 entry, Color Vision: One of Nature’s Wonders: detailed page on color vision (thanks to “place” for finding it!). I don’t think I am a tetrachromat, unfortunately, though my color vision is otherwise fine, as far as I can tell.

In my 8/1/2006 entry I mentioned some of the bird species frequenting our backyard. I found an Australian website, Birds in Backyards, which helps to identify many. The greyish bird with the lovely caroling song is a grey butcherbird. The song on the webpage is a little different from the ones I heard this morning; a bird species in different regions – like humans and whales – have slightly different “dialects”. Another bird I haven’t identified (couldn’t find on the site so far) is a tiny bird smaller than a sparrow that lives in dense shrubbery and is olive-grey in color, and cheeps quietly. It seems to be very shy.

In neighboring suburbs I have also seen galahs (pink-and-grey parrots) and crested pigeons.

“Russian schools in battle over religious divide,” The Age/New York Times, 24/9. The Orthodox Church getting their claws into a new generation.

Opponents assert that the Russian Orthodox leadership is weakening the constitutional separation of church and state by proselytising in public schools. They say Russia is a multi-ethnic, pluralist nation and risks alienating its large Muslim minority if Russian Orthodoxy takes on the trappings of a state religion. […] The dispute came to a head recently when 10 prominent Russian scientists, including two Nobel laureates, sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin, protesting at what they termed the “growing clericalisation” of Russian society. […]

During imperial Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church wielded enormous influence as the official religion, and virtually all children took a Russian Orthodox course known as the Law of God. One of the scientists who signed the letter to Mr. Putin, Zhores 1. Alferov, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000, said he feared that the country was returning to those days. He recalled that his own father had to study the Law of God under the last czar, Nicholas 2. “The church would like to have more believers,” said Mr. Alferov, a member of Parliament in the Communist bloc. “But they can have their religious schools and their Sunday schools. In normal government schools, absolutely not.”

Tuesday 25/9

Another overpopulation rant forthcoming, after reading dismaying reports in today’s The Age and Herald-Sun:

City population overload

Josh Gordon, September 25, 2007

Melbourne could need to house another 1.2 million people over the next 25 years amid an unexpected influx of migrants that is helping to swell Victoria’s population at a record rate.

New figures show the boom exceeding the predictions of government planners, with Melbourne on track for a population of almost 5 million by 2030.

In the year to the end of March, the state’s population grew by 74,431 – or more than 1400 people a week – with most of the growth in Melbourne.

The population explosion will compound anxiety about urban congestion, housing affordability and water security, while adding to pressure on the State Government over how to manage it.

The figures were released on the same day that The Age revealed controversial plans by developer Delfin to build a new mega-suburb to Melbourne’s north, outside the official metropolitan growth boundary.

The latest population figures prompted claims yesterday that Melbourne 2030, the Government’s metropolitan growth strategy, was flawed and already out of date.

According to the Bureau of Statistics, migration accounted for 58 per cent of Victoria’s population growth in the year to March 31, with a net gain of 42,897 foreigners. There was also strong “natural” increase, with births exceeded deaths by 31,131. But there was a net loss of 1844 people to other states, mainly Queensland and NSW.

Population is also surging elsewhere in Australia, with the national increase estimated at 307,100 – the largest annual rise since record keeping began in 1789, two years after the arrival of the First Fleet.

The Housing Industry Association’s Victorian director, Caroline Lawrey, said the supply of new houses was clearly “totally insufficient” to meet the state’s population growth, and called for greater incentives for medium and high-density accommodation.

“We are already building fewer houses than we need for the current population,” she said. “We are getting quite concerned that in Victoria … as demand increases and supply decreases we will be seeing increasingly unrealistic prices.”

BIS Shrapnel senior consultant Angie Zigomanis said overseas migration had not been so strong since the late 1980s. The difference now was that most migrants were skilled, which tended to place a greater strain on inner-city housing.

The bureau predicted that Melbourne’s population could hit more than 4.9 million by 2031, compared with around 3.7 million today.

State Opposition planning spokesman Matthew Guy said the figures showed Melbourne 2030 was “fundamentally flawed” because it had grossly underestimated population growth. The plan originally envisaged total growth of about 1 million by 2030.

“Labor has set aside enough new land for 225,000 Melburnians and expects more than 700,000 people to be accommodated in existing suburbs,” Mr. Guy said.

“However, we will have to accommodate more than a million people in existing suburb developments, which means more high rise and far more high-density construction.”

Jessica Walker, a spokeswoman for Planning Minister Justin Madden, said Melbourne 2030 was flexible enough to absorb additional population growth. “We have always planned for greater housing growth in the first half of 2030 than the second half,” Ms. Walker said.

Mr. Guy also seized on the Government’s refusal to rule out Delfin’s proposed new suburb, saying it showed the weakness of its policies. “The Government said the urban growth boundary was for keeps,” he said. “The reality is that no one believes that … so the urban growth boundary policy has turned into a joke.”

Under the plan, farmland would be turned into a “green” suburb named Lockerbie, housing up to 35,000 people.

Mr. Guy said the plan looked “quite attractive” with its proximity to airports, freeways and heavy rail, but the Government’s planning policy did not allow for this sort of development. He called for greater flexibility.

Greens planning spokesman Greg Barber said the plan should be rejected due to its environmental impact, and that there was plenty of developable land within the boundary.

– With Ben Schneiders, David Rood

The equation: how Victoria grew

Source: ABS Figures are 12 months to March 31 and do not tally precisely due to different census data.

The solution is FEWER PEOPLE, not more houses! Of course the housing industry wants more homes built, seeing as they make more money out of it. Are they expecting to continue building until the whole of Victoria is smothered in housing estates? Drastically reducing immigration would also lessen demand, as would scrapping the baby bonus and encouraging people to have no more than 2 children, but it seems not to occur to any politician to dare to suggest this. If this trend continues, Melbourne will not be a “liveable” city in the future but an overcrowded slum. There is also the problem of the endless drought and dwindling water supplies (e.g. a look at the headlines tagged with “water” at the ABC site gives an idea of the ongoing crisis). (Posted at VMEMT Livejournal)

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 655:

25/09/2007/00:01: The head of Roskosmos is convinced that it is necessary to more actively involve young cosmonauts from the Russian force

The leader of the Roskosmos Federal Space Agency, Anatolii Perminov, is convinced of the necessity of more actively involving young cosmonauts from the Russian force. About this he stated on Thursday during the traditional tea drinking with the prime and duplicating crews of the 16th expedition to the ISS, reports ITAR-TASS.

After noting that the “Cosmonaut Training Center and Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya insure themselves by sending experienced cosmonauts into orbit,” Perminov added: “but I always support those who have yet to fly, since I have no doubts that the young will manage.”

In the Russian group about two dozen astronauts have sat “on the replacement bench” for 10 years or more. They are habitually refered to as “young,” but most of these guys are over 30 years old.

But this 16th expedition, which starts on 10 October, will be very difficult; therefore it is good that an experienced crew flies, Perminov believes.

Friday 28/9

Two letters from The Age, 26/9, on the overpopulation article mentioned in my 25/9 entry:

Invest in youth, not immigration

The housing and environmental crisis in Victoria is due to the hypocrisy of our Government, aiming for more and more prosperity through increasing our population. We are not a small colony any more, but we cannot compete with the massive economies of Asia and Russia. With our huge immigration program, more people are competing for limited homes and resources, pushing up prices and making them scarcer. Australia has only a small green belt that is rapidly being populated. Considering that climate change is driven by human population and use of technology, our increasing population is the greatest threat to long-term survival in Australia. We already are suffering from the worst drought in history, with each state suffering lack of water and loss of habitat for flora and fauna. More people in Australia is what we don’t need. It is not about racism, or lacking skilled personnel, but about over-reaching our carrying capacity. We need to stabilise our population and become a clever country by investing in our youth, not head-hunting the skilled from other countries.

– Vivienne Ortega, Heidelberg Heights

Time for a crime

It must become a criminal offence to turn fertile farmland into housing, as Melbourne’s population adds more millions. We are already importing food, and peak oil will make freight and payments more difficult. Australia has far too little fertile land, especially local farms that do not need irrigation. What we have must be treasured. We do have poor land that can hardly grow anything. That is where housing should be built, all with water tanks and all with fast public transport. The immediate costs will be far less than future costs of present lobbying to “develop” local farmland. How this is done should be open for public discussion.

– Valerie Yule, Mount Waverley

A computer magazine mentioned this game, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. The official site is one of the most irritating I have come across. The whole site is Flash-animated, so my usual gripes apply: you have to wait for it to load (~2 minutes on broadband) before seeing anything; it blares noises at you; pages can’t be linked to directly and clicking on the back button takes you right out of the site, rather than to previous pages on it. I can’t emphasize how much I detest such sites; there is nothing wrong with HTML! (Stand-alone Flash animations, such as small movies, I don’t mind so much.)

Another gripe is the premise of the game: it is yet another “shoot the aliens” story:

The planet of E.D.N 3 is perpetually cold and snowy, originally inhabited by a species of aliens known as Akrid, who forced humanity to abandon E.D.N. 3 by strength of numbers and surprise. Initially, the Akrid deterred humans from colonization, but this changed when T-ENG was discovered. Thermal Energy, or T-ENG, is a powerful energy source, found only in Akrid bodies, made humankind determined to fight them, for which purpose they created the Vital Suit, or VS, technology, essentially mechs powered by T-ENG, carrying mounted weapons.

Well, it’s hardly surprising the aliens are hostile, seeing as their planet is being invaded!

Alien in game scene

I had an idea for a simple shooter game called “Alien Revenge” in which various types of aliens would fight to stop their planet (or planets) from being invaded by pesky humans (probably in the form of the generic “Space Marines” who mostly feature in such games).

A thread at Uplink remarked on this website devoted to stillborn babies. There is a rather peculiar morbid trend to put photos of one’s stillborn child online, along with sickly sentimental terminology (“Missing Angels”). (The Childfree Hardcore forum has occasionally had posts about this, so I am not unfamiliar with it.) This seems to be a part of the cult of excessive displays of grief that our society has adopted since the late 20th century, as this poster remarks:

While I sympathize with the parents of these stillborn children, I have to say that site has more than just a slight preoccupation with stillborn children. I understand the trauma but I think there is something to be said about wallowing in one’s own depression. Some people hold on to their sorrow and feed it. For some, it becomes more important than overcoming it and moving on. I think that site isn’t about trying to recover from the loss of an infant but inviting people to loose themselves in their own depression. It seems to be a result of self-induced therapy gone into the surreal realm of extreme over-compensation. Yes, it is natural to grieve. Yes, it is a terrible tragedy. No, celebrating the “life” of your stillborn baby and holding onto that idealized personification is not healthy or therapeutic.

The Accidental Russophile wrote about a new film coming out, with Viggo Mortensen (Aragon in The Lord of the Rings) as a Russian gangster. One of the commenters linked to this article, “‘Bad Russians’ are back in fashion”. (There was a similar article from 2004, “The Perpetual Bad Guys” – the JRL site it is stored on seems to be offline at the moment.) There is a long and depressing article, “Business as Usual: The Rise of the Russian Mafia” on the film site (which I can’t link to directly as it is an annoying Flash-animated site, as nearly all film sites seem to be). Would like to see them all rounded up and shot.

The reentry capsule for the Foton-M3 spacecraft landed safely on 26/9.

NASA’s Administrator said they aimed to put a man on Mars by … 2037. I’ll be 77 67 then!

“Space Through the Eyes of Soviet Cosmonauts,” English Russia. “These pictures were made by two former Soviet cosmonauts and big friends – Aleksei Leonov and ? Sokolov.” Ignore the idiot comments at the bottom.

October

Monday 1/10

Somewhat ominously, Christmas decorations are appearing in various stores.

I spotted another Hummer on Saturday; a yellow one this time. (See 14/9 entry)

Via Metafilter, the 10 best animated movies for (traumatizing) kids. Watership Down is on the list. I remember going to see the movie with my parents when it came out in 1978, and I cried most of the way through! It is a very dark movie, as is the book; the novel is still one of my all-time favorites (I am re-reading it and it is still as good as I recalled). One commenter mentions the animated movie of Dot and the Kangaroo; I have a dim memory of seeing this when young and the ending was sad.

The next paying space tourist to go up will be Richard Garriott, in October 2008. He has a rather formidable CV, and is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott. Though as pointed out somewhere I can’t remember update 4/10/2007: a NASA Watch reader, he will be the second 2nd-generation astronaut to launch – Sergei Volkov (son of Aleksandr) will launch in April 2008 – not the first as reported by Space Adventures. He is also the creator of a rather nice-looking MMORPG called Tabula Rasa (I have been admiring the graphics on the site and wishing I could design things like that).

“Game guru going into space,” Cosmic Log entry, 28/9.

“India plans manned space mission by 2015,” MSNBC, 27/9. They are planning to use their own indigenous systems and technology. Wonder what the manned spacecraft design is?

Tuesday 2/10

Charles Stross’s latest blog entry is “Arrive Alive (Charlie’s tips for long-haul travel)”. Air travel now sounds like an ordeal you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemy! Especially with the paranoid security measures introduced since 9/11 – those entering the USA have to get fingerprinted! I just realized it is 20 years since I traveled anywhere – my last flight was to New Zealand, 13-20 September 1987. It seems unlikely that I will ever go anywhere again, with the way my life is now.

One day, in the far future, we might have wormhole travel! Imagine having interlinked wormhole gates installed at international airports; all you have to do is – after security and baggage check-in – step through the appropriate gate with your luggage and arrive at your destination in a few seconds.

“Colors Of Alien Plants,” Space Daily, 2/10. An interesting article about how the temperatures of different types of stars would influence the color of vegetation on any worlds orbiting them. Useful information for worldbuilders & science fiction writers! Hotter, bluer stars will cause vegetation to be colored towards the redder end of the spectrum (green-yellow-orange-red), and cooler, redder stars will see blue-black vegetation. The article is part of a series of lectures at Astrobiology Magazine (a very-hard-to-find part of the NASA network! As I noted in my 6/6 entry). Here is a table I found:

The colour of alien leaves
Type of star Colour favored for photosynthesis Possible plant color
Hotter than the Sun Blue
  • White, to prevent light from overdosing pigments
  • Green-yellow-orange-red
Like the Sun Red Green-yellow-orange
Cooler than the Sun Red Green-yellow-orange
Red dwarf All light Black
Infrared Grey-white
Yellow-red Purple, many colours

(Source: The Color of Alien Flora)

A somewhat alarming bit of information about the Sun from one of the lectures:

You may have read in basic astronomy textbooks that the Sun is middle aged, it’s lived for 5 billion years, it’ll live for another 5 billion years, so don’t worry about it. But the bad news is the habitable zone will run out faster than that. The Sun may become about 10 percent brighter in the next billion years or so, and the climate modelers say, not even counting what’s happening with carbon dioxide in our atmosphere right now, but just based on what the Sun is doing, Earth may be uninhabitable in another 500 to 900 million years. So the end is coming much sooner than you thought.”

Wednesday 3/10

A meteor was sighted across the sky over Victoria last night – unfortunately I was in bed so I missed seeing it!

More gloom over how climate change will affect Australia, with a new report saying Australia is heading for a hotter, drier future. A Government site called Climate Change in Australia provides more information.

Emphasising the climate change report, there are bushfires around Sydney with temperatures in the low 30s, disturbingly early in the year. (Doesn’t help when idiots deliberately light fires.)

“Clues Found in Mystery of Antarctic Mountain Formation,” LiveScience, 23/7. Article from July on the origins of the Transantarctic Mountains, with a mention of H.P. Lovecraft!

The frozen continent of Antarctica was the last explored by humanity. The mysteries lurking at its heart inspired the pioneering horror writer H.P. Lovecraft to imagine “Mountains of Madness” there in the 1930s higher than the Himalayas, “pylons of a frightful gateway into forbidden spheres of dream, and complex gulfs of remote time, space, and ultra-dimensionality.”

Neglected to mention that Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna visited Melbourne two weeks ago. It seems there are a few Romanov relatives still hanging around. There are some in Russia who would like to see the monarchy restored – big mistake, in my view. The resurgence of the Church and monarchism in Russia are disturbing trends (was the Revolution all for nothing?). They are best viewed as a historical relic, and are not relevant now. (I tend to get images of the French Revolution and guillotines when considering the monarchy – and the oligarches >:-).) The Romanovs were deposed for a reason – people then were fed up with them! Though slaughtering the children was not particularly pleasant, if they had been allowed to survive, they would have formed some sort of resistance movement. Such is the brutal pragmatism of politics.

Thursday 4/10

Dad saw the meteor over the city on 2/10 when taking Sasha the dog outside; it was a greenish fireball. It may have been some space debris, with a copper element (which would account for the green-blue color). It moved from northeast to southwest at around 9:55 p.m.

A Wikipedia article on the Boötes void, a curious part of space that is almost empty of galaxies.

“The ‘Iran crisis’: an interview with Dr. Stephen Zunes (part one of three),” European Tribune, 21/9. A more measured look at Iran and why the current U.S. regime is so hostile toward the country. There is a paragraph saying that the infamous remark by President Ahmadinejad about Israel was something of a mistranslation:

Incidentally, President Ahmadinejad never threatened to “wipe Israel off the map.” That idiom does not even exist in Persian. What he said was, “Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shaved,” which directly translated means “The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.” An extreme and deplorable statement, to be sure, but he was referring to the Israeli regime, not the nation as a whole, and it was not nearly as direct a threat as implied by the mistranslation. In any case, he was quoting what Ayatollah Khomeini had said twenty years earlier, so he wasn’t saying anything new indicating a more confrontational policy.

Louis Proyect has some entries commenting on the Iranian President’s speech at Columbia University (and that now-infamous introduction by the University president), here, here and here.

Today is 50 years since the launch of Sputnik. Mum said she could remember seeing it from Gran’s backyard (in Elsternwick). The visible object was the spent rocket casing in the same orbit, not the satellite itself (which was too small to see).

In that BBC article it is noted that the Russian space program “have been given $12bn (£6bn) to spend over the next decade – a small amount compared with NASA’s budget but enough for the Russians to have ambitious plans.” NASA’s budget for one year is about $16 billion.

“50 years after Sputnik, Russia revives space ambitions,” Space Daily, 30/9.

As Russia commemorates the 50th anniversary on Thursday of the launch of Sputnik 1 and the start of the Space Race, there is a sense of cautious optimism among its space scientists, says Igor Lysov, an expert with monthly magazine Space Industry News. Next year, state spending on space is projected to equal about 1.5 billion dollars (one billion euros). As Lysov observes: “That’s 11 times less than the financing for NASA but 10 times better than the financing for the Russian space programme a decade ago.” […]

Nonetheless, uncertainty remains due to funding problems and Russia’s difficulties countering a brain drain of its most talented scientists, says the head of spacecraft designer RKK Energia, Leonid Gorshkov. “Even if commercial projects help us survive, the development of the space programme is impossible without state support,” said Gorshkov.

“The discovered space,” RIA Novosti, 3/10.

2007 sees four space related anniversaries: 150 years since the birth of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the theoretician of cosmonautics, who translated the bold dream of space flight into maths; 110 years since the birth of Alexander Chizhevsky, the founder of geliobiology, a new field of research into the influence of solar and geomagnetic activity on living beings; 100 years since the birth of Sergei Korolyov, who put cosmonautics on a practical plane, and 50 years since the start of the space era, ushered in by the launch of the Earth’s first artificial satellite.

“Russian science to ride on NASA probes,” MSNBC.com, 3/10. Plans for Russian science instruments to be installed on NASA probes to the Moon and Mars. The Russian unmanned exploration program seems to only exist in this form now – hitching rides on others’ spacecraft.

Found an article, “What’s Wrong With Libertarianism,” while wandering around the Hard Science Fiction site. There seem to be many people in the space community who prescribe these views (the ones who optimistically believe the private space industry will take over from governments in exploring space). An example of Libertarian thinking was mentioned in my 24/3 entry where I commented on a blog post about privatising water supplies. My view is that corporations and business cannot be trusted to ensure the public good – that is why we have governments.

An example of the space Libertarians is the Space Liberates Us! site (found via NASA Watch, who posted about a contributor who died). There is a place for private space exploration (mainly near-Earth space tourism), but I don’t believe it will ever replace government-funded programs.

Saturday 6/10

In The Age Good Weekend magazine there was a profile of a woman who is a hedge fund manager. After some hunting around online I found the article. My feeling after reading that is that I don’t envy her. The reporter remarks at the end:

She gets up, and I have an odd sense of a horse in harness as she heads out of the office, back to her computer. Did she wish she could do anything differently? “I probably wish I could smell the roses a little bit more,” she concedes. ‘I hope my kids have the joie de vivre that I feel I sometimes don’t. But the goals keep moving and why is it that I never stop at the goal and say, ‘Wow that’s great’? I never think that. All I look at is, ‘Gee, there’s other funds that are bigger or better, how do I get to where they are?’ Then the goalposts move again.” Everything has a price, and I find myself not really envying Karen Finerman as I walk out on to the hot Manhattan street, though I admire her and like her. Certainly I feel like I have achieved nothing compared to her, but as she says, it’s all relative.

The hedge funds industry is in itself a rather dubious activity – it seems to be some form of gambling and is secretive and barely regulated. And what has Mrs. Finerman actually achieved, in the end? She has made a lot of money, and … that’s about it. (She does do some charity work, which is laudable.)

I briefly remarked on the finance industry in my 18/8 entry that it all ultimately seems so ephemeral; all show and no substance. If civilization were to collapse, what use would be all these finance types? (Well, that’s how I tend to think.) Will anyone remember them in the future; will they have contributed anything useful to society? Money by itself is useless; it is merely symbolic. Yet people sacrifice much and even murder to attain lots of money.

I would like to see the whole system – stockmarkets and all the rest – destroyed, and these people left destitute. I find their activities morally abhorrent and wonder how society has come to be so warped.

“50,000 Years of Resilience May Not Save Tribe,” Washington Post, 10/6/2007. The way of life of an ancient tribe in Tanzania is under threat from so-called civilization. A sad but all-too-familiar situation. They “until recently had no use for money, organized religion or standard time.” Contrast their attitude to life with the “sophisticated” finance types above.

I found some fan sites of the Lost Planet X-Box game – criticised in my 28/9 entry – which are slightly less irritating to visit than the official site.

All that is mentioned of why humans are leaving Earth is “The 22nd century, Earth is in ruins, humankind must move on.” Presumably because humans have wrecked the planet?

Luka is the leader of the small band of Snow Pirates that found Wayne frozen in his VS. Her primary goal is to rid the world of the hostile Akrid, the only force which truly keeps humans from transforming ice-covered E.D.N. 3 into a planet that can be colonized. Together with Yuri and her brother Rick, Luka has survived attacks from rival Snow Pirates and Akrid alike. Now with the addition of VS pilot Wayne Holden to the team, Luka is more determined than ever to wipe out the Akrid scourge nest by nest.

From the Akrids’ point of view (they are the original/native inhabitants): rid their planet of the invading human scourge, more like!

The only classical music CD I own is The Planets, which I enjoy (it was a birthday present from Dad sometime in the 1990s). My favorite pieces are “Mars” and “Jupiter”. I very much like the melodious “I Vow To Thee My Country” section in “Jupiter”. Though on reading the Wikipedia article it seems that “political correctness” is making the poem controversial.

Following an article link from the second Wikipedia page, “The sound of silence,” BBC opinion, 14/11/2005.

Sunday 7/10

“Fear of a dry planet,” The Age, 7/10. On the water crisis in Australia.

“Space pioneers look to Australia’s colonial past,” ABC News, 6/10: on how not to repeat the same mistakes made when Australia was colonized (i.e. wrecking the natural environment). The attitude of many on the space sites and forums I visit is that other planets are resources to be plundered. (Posted at NASA Spaceflight.com and Uplink.) The Ice Planet game mentioned in my 6/10 entry also embodies this attitude! In that game it is a repeat of how European settlers decimated native people in various countries (I wonder if the irony there was intentional or not on the part of the game designers).

Doctor Toni Johnson-Woods says she and her colleagues found there is a prevailing belief that other planets and their natural resources are there simply to be exploited. “The focus is on exploitation of the minerals. Basically, it’s just Australia all over again,” she said. “You go out like the British did to Australia, you take everything you bloody can out of a place, and then you ping off.”

Thursday 11/10

“Let’s Die Together,” The Atlantic.com, May 2007, via Metafilter, a fascinating (to me!) article about Japan’s attitude to suicide. (Previous gloomy Japan articles are mentioned in my 19/6/2005 and 26/7/2005 entries.) To my mind their outlook seems logical enough. In Western countries solitary suicide tends to be the usual trend, though the two teenage girls who hung themselves earlier this year (“Web of darkness”) were an exception.

The only countries with higher official suicide rates are Sri Lanka, which is mired in an unending civil war, and the former Soviet republics and their Eastern European satellites, where economic disaster and profound political changes have combined to produce the kind of social disintegration otherwise associated with catastrophic military defeat. […]

Whereas in the West, suicide is generally seen as the needless act of desperate souls, or of the terminally ill, in Japan it is understood as a more-or-less rational decision that can be taken by perfectly sane individuals as well as by groups. Japan has a long history of families committing suicide together, as well as suicides by cults and militaristic groups, including kamikaze pilots, or samurai warriors who suffered dishonor and hoped to wipe the slate clean.

There is mention of an animé called Neon Genesis Evangelion; the series were screened here on SBS a few years ago and I watched them. Found them fascinating, though sometimes difficult to understand what they were about!

Wikipedia has a List of countries by suicide rate. Lithuania is #1, Russia is #3, Japan is #8 and Australia is #33. Most countries in the top 10 are from the former USSR, for the reasons mentioned in the extract above.

Some months ago I saw an opinion piece on the overuse of sarcasm and irony; how few can write seriously about topics without being mercilessly mocked by others. I did not bookmark or save the article, so I can’t recall its title or anything, just the topic. Many of the replies at Metafilter are an example of that. A few days ago someone posted a link to a story on a blog, and the story’s author gets a barrage of sarcastic remarks in the following comments (he wrote a blog entry about some abusive emails he subsequently got). (I didn’t think the story was particularly bad.)

Soyuz TMA-11 launched yesterday at 13:22:39 UTC/11:22:39 p.m. Melbourne time with Expedition 16 and the Malaysian guest cosmonaut on board.

“Our potential in space,” The Space Review, 9/10.

Friday 12/10

I found another nanotechnology novel, this one by John Robert Marlow, imaginatively (not!) called Nano. I ordered it from the library. There are some extracts on his site. There is also another novel out called Plague Year by Jeff Carlson (not in the library). I call this genre “Nanotech gone wild!”. (The previous novel of this type I mentioned in my 24/7 entry: Havoc by R.J. Pineiro). Both Nano and Havoc have the same types of characters: an eccentric wealthy billionaire (or trillionaire in the case of Nano) and the obligatory Beautiful Woman(TM) (or two) – CIA and FBI agents in Havoc, and a pesky investigative reporter in Nano. (Just for once I would like to read about a leading female character who isn’t young and beautiful!)

Nano has got some mixed reviews (the nanotechnology capabilities described in the novel seem to be a bit exaggerated). It seems to have some interesting ideas though and hopefully the characters won’t be as annoying as the ones in Havoc (I still want to eviscerate that CIA agent, Tom Grant! What an a**hole!). I could empathize with this character’s feelings:

John speculated often upon the mechanisms by which intelligent life might have spread itself throughout the Universe. He possessed a fervent hope, almost religious in its intensity, that intelligent life did exist elsewhere; that Man was not alone in the cosmos. And each time he examined his fellow-travelers upon the small and fragile jewel-in-the-void which was Earth, this hope grew more fervent. The reason was simple. He longed for better company.

“‘Old fuddy-duddy’ fights back over Google sacking,” The Age, 10/10. An example of ageism at Google, and emblematic of the near-worship of youth (and beauty) in our culture. The experience of older workers is too often little-valued. I know I would get very cranky if bossed around by a younger person! Maybe Google isn’t such a great place to work, and also the company’s “Don’t be evil” motto is looking increasingly hollow with their increasing power and huge collection of data. I do have a Gmail account, but would not use it for really private messages. My emails – and all the personal data on my computer – are innocuous anyway, i.e. nothing embarrassing!

Saturday 13/10

I was trying to burn a CD-RW, my computer locked up so I had to reboot it, then found that the Disk Check facility had erased my Firefox bookmarks! Very annoying. I had backed them up 3 months ago so I imported these, but the bookmarks added since then are gone. (System Restore did not restore the bookmarks either.)

God’s Demon is a first novel out by artist Wayne Barlowe (whom I mentioned in my 17/3 entry); it looks interesting (though unfortunately first released in hardcover!).

“Skies to be swept for alien life,” BBC News, 12/10.

A TV news report tonight said that the city of Adelaide could run out of water if the drought there continued! Contingency plans were being made to truck supplies of bottled spring water to residents in the worst-case scenario. How will they manage to do this for a city of approximately 1.1 million people? Also, 80% of NSW is in drought and food prices will go up (as they are here).

There is an urgent need for governments to manage population growth, as more water will be used as populations grow no matter how strict the water saving regulations are, but there is a curious reluctance to address this fundamental issue – because it would affect the quasi-religion of economic growth.

Soyuz TMA-11 docked yesterday at 14:50:05 UTC (12:50:05 a.m. today, Melbourne time).

Sunday 14/10

I am reading Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden, the first of a series about Genghis Khan. (For some reason it was given a different title for the USA edition.) It’s a good read, if bleak and bloody in places! I can’t comment on its historical accuracy though, not knowing much about the period. The nomadic life of the Mongols as depicted is unrelentingly harsh, and Temujin (his name before he became Genghis) endures much brutality as he grows up (the first novel ends when he is 18 or so). There is a theme of stoically enduring great hardship.

The cause of dismay for me – and this is a general observation, not a criticism of the novel as such – is the role of women, who are there basically to be traded and married off and produce the next generation. Surely there would have been some women who wished for something other than to be wives and mothers – perhaps to be a warrior – who would have resented and rebelled against their fate? Or was social conditioning so strong that it did not occur to any female that she could try be something else?

This seems to be women’s fate in most societies across history (and still in many countries today, such as in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan), and so being female just … sucks. Really sucks. It is one of the things I hate and resent about being female (the other being the unpleasant reproductive stuff). I am grateful to have not been born at any earlier time in history. The hard-won rights of women in our society could all-too-easily be lost though, if social attitudes were to change.

Wikipedia has a page on History of women in the military. Following a link there is a short page on Khutulun:

Khutulun was the niece of Kublai Khan, and was described as being a superb warrior; one who could ride into enemy ranks and snatch a captive as easily as a hawk snatches a chicken. She would challenge suitors who wanted to marry her to wrestling match, in which the prospective groom would have to forfeit 100 horses if he lost. She gained 10,000 horses this way and never married. Her father, Khaidu, was most pleased by her abilities, and she accompanied him on military campaigns. Marco Polo and Rashid al-Din both wrote of her.

That page also links to another short page on Mongolian women, which is not quite so dismaying to read as the novel. Being a shaman also seems to have been an option for women.

Conn Iggulden is also co-author of a non-fiction book called The Dangerous Book for Boys. It seems to have sparked off a real “Battle of the Sexes” between various commentators! A lot of anti-feminist comments are on the theme that society has become too “feminized” and excessively politically-correct – trying to make boys to be the same as girls – and to some extent I agree with that. But feminism to me is about women having the same opportunities and rights as men, which women have been denied throughout much of human history.

PM John Howard has finally announced the date for the Federal Election: 24 November (Metafilter post). Two changes I would like to see: a fixed election date for Federal Elections (State and Local government elections have fixed dates, but not Federal for some reason) and a 2-term limit for Prime Minister, as the U.S. and Russian Presidents do, which stops any leader from becoming too entrenched.

Looks like Georgia, USA, is also having water shortage problems.

Following a user’s link, an interesting post on the Dreaming (Aboriginal belief system). The Dreaming has a concept of time as past, present and future existing all at once; very different to the linear European view.

Tuesday 16/10

Feeling rather depressed and just “meh”.

I was curious to see how the anorexic Wallmeyer twins, Rachel and Clare, were doing (I last mentioned them in my 6/11/2006 entry) so I did a word search and it seems they have been getting into trouble this year with minor drug-dealing (“Wallmeyer twins caught in drug bust,” “Anorexia ‘no excuse’ for drug dealing” – stored here), and they have been in similar trouble before. Depressing to read. They are only a little older (a few months) than me; their lives have been even more wasted than mine, if that’s possible.

Richard Hoagland, of the “Face on Mars” infamy, has a new book out, Dark Mission: the secret history of NASA.

For most Americans, the word NASA suggests a squeaky-clean image of technological infallibility. Yet the truth is that NASA was born in a lie and has always concealed many truths about its occult origins. Mystical organizations quietly dominate NASA, carrying out their own secret agendas behind the scenes. This is the story of men at the very fringes of rational thought and conventional wisdom, operating at the highest levels of our country. Their policies are far more aligned with ancient religions and secret mystery schools than the facade of rational science and cool empiricism NASA has successfully promoted to the world for almost fifty years. Dark Mission is proof of the secret history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the astonishing, seminal discoveries it has repeatedly suppressed for decades.

Enjoyably silly (there is a PDF of the introduction for download).

NASA would clandestinely confirm with these earliest robotic probes, and then proceed to cover up, the first awesome remains of a once-extraordinary, solar-system-wide, ancient technological civilization on the Moon – precisely as Brookings had predicted. Four years later, the Apollo Program would come to full fruition, and the lunar astronauts themselves would personally witness and extensively document, with tens of thousands of high quality photographs, from both lunar orbit and the surface, extraordinary “glasslike” structures on the Moon! The Apollo crews would also bring back to NASA laboratories not just rocks, but actual samples of the ancient technologies they found–for highly classified efforts at “back engineering.”

Well, it makes great fiction … sadly, the reality is a lot more mundane! I wish it were true!

Depressing thread at CollectSpace on why there are currently no women cosmonauts (aside from the one currently in training, who might never make it into space). Quite a lot of men in the Russian space program deserve a punch in the nose – their attitude towards women just sucks. The Americans have now had female Shuttle commanders, and Peggy Whitson will be the first female ISS commander, and there is no questioning their competence. So why do Russian men have this archaic attitude that women are weak and inferior (“Does Mars need women? Russians say no”)? This attitude pisses me off in the extreme and is one reason I am disillusioned with their program (the other being the focus on space tourism at the expense of exploration – though they don’t seem to have a problem with flying paying foreign female space tourists).

(On the Wikipedia History of Women in the Military page is a mention of military women in Russia. Women fought well in combat in World War 2. But I was disgusted to read: “Today, the Russian army runs the Miss Russian Army beauty contest for attractive female Russian soldiers. Colonel Gennady Dzyuba, of the Defense Ministry, said of the 2005 contest that ‘Those who have served, especially in hot spots, know the importance of women in the armed forces.’” Beauty contest?! WTF is with that bullsh*t?? No wonder women aren’t regarded seriously!)

“Space Station: Internal NASA Reports Explain Origins of June Computer Crisis,” James Oberg, IEEE Spectrum October 2007.

Wednesday 17/10

Before being rudely awakened by my alarm clock this morning I was having a vivid dream of being on Mars; mainly just wandering around an area near the lander and looking at ochre-red rocks. I chipped away at some rocks and found green olivine crystals inside. As the dream progressed some dream characters appeared. Just before it ended we were looking at a newspaper with headlines of some disaster.

Saw this ad in an Australian computer magazine today for: Boobmats! (Boobs of the female variety.) “Introducing Gel-filled ergonomic boob-shaped mouse mats.” The site is at www.boobmats.com.au (I won’t link to it directly) – SFW (barely!)

Feel exasperation when seeing this sort of thing; it seems to epitomize the still-male-dominated and sexist “geek culture”. I suppose the idea is “clever” to some degree, but really … just grow up, guys!

“Russians blast off without space pistol,” Guardian, 15/10. “Russia is sending a cosmonaut into space without a fearsome triple-barrelled ‘space pistol’ for the first time in 20 years, due to a shortage of ammunition.” Yurii Malenchenko is instead taking a normal pistol/handgun.

Friday 19/10

I finished the novel Nano (see my 12/10 entry). Lots of fascinating nanotechnology concepts, which was the author’s purpose in writing the novel. I have put a few extracts on a separate page. John, the creator of the nanotech machines and the nanotech intelligence computer, ends up taking over the world!

NANI hijacked them all, routing the broadcast live save for the small delay required for translation and rendering into the appropriate language for each outlet. By prior arrangement, the president would speak first from the White House, followed by John, from his new abode. John and Jen watched the screen as President Miller appeared, and began to speak.

“I greet you all at the dawn of a new world,” said the president. “A world, as my friend Mitchell Swain said, which will forever alter the destiny of Mankind …

“Mitchell Swain gave his life to bring this new world into being, and I am here to tell you that the United States of America is going to lead the world into this new age. […]

“As of this moment, all nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons on this planet are inactive. In twenty-four hours, they will be gone. A more terrible weapon by far has been created – you saw it abused in San Francisco by rogue elements of the United States government, of which President Miller had no knowledge. Governments cannot be trusted, even when benign. Therefore this weapon, and this technology, will remain under my control. This is fact, and cannot be avoided.

“I will use the power this gives me to enforce the distribution of the technology Mitchell Swain died to give the world. No government will keep it from you, and no one will take it away.”

Pausing, drawing a deep breath, John summarized what he would explain shortly in more detail. “War is over,” he began. “Poverty is over. Hunger, disease, and pollution are at an end. The old shall be made young. The world shall be made new.

“Mankind will gain the stars …

“And the power of governments over their people, is a thing of the past.

“From this day forward – ” said John, raising his right arm and reaching out to one side. Jen – also dressed in white – moved to join him, taking his hand in front of the world.

“ – two people shall rule the earth as guardians of what is right,” John continued, and paused again. His features assumed the severe and implacable cast of the invincible god-emperor he had become as he stared frighteningly into the camera.

“And evil, shall be exterminated without mercy ….”

Well, fine, but yet again here is an example of parochialism – apparently only the USA is qualified to rule the world! That was the one aspect of the novel that really irked me. And, as in a lot of these thriller novels, the U.S. President seems to be a de facto world leader.

I got the impression that the author is not overly enthusiastic about governments in their current form. He does have a valid point – a lot of people in power, elected or otherwise, are corrupt and in office merely for the privileges that politicans get, and care little about actually trying to change things for the better. It takes an extraordinarily strong-willed person to stay focused on the goal of trying to make a difference, and not participate in the endless bickering and power games that beset all governments.

A preferable option for me, though, would have been for John to go to the United Nations and make his statement. The world would henceforth be governed by the UN (under the guidance of John), and a new UN Secretary-General from a different country would be elected each year, and his or her decision would be the final word. No one country would be allowed to get too powerful and the UN would have the authority to intervene and force nations to behave. In essence it would be a World Government (which I believe humanity will need if it is to survive into the future).

I found this blog comment explaining why the current UN seems so ineffectual:

I think most people are rather ignorant about the limitations of the United Nations. There are articles in the UN charter which specifically forbid interference in the domestic jursidiction of any state and civil unrest in Burma is a domestic issue. And yes there are also contradictory articles talking about the need for humanitarian interference but when the shit hits the fan no country wants to give the UN the right or ability to unilaterly walk into a sovereign country without its permission and sort out some mess because every country is scared to death that they could end up being their borders crossed next time. This is generally why the UN has to be “invited” by the government in power to enter a country to help with some situation. Of course this is not going to happen in places like Burma.

And that brings up the other point which is that the UN does not have an army of its own – and no country wants it to have one – and must rely on member countries to supply troops for any peacekeeping mission. You’ll note that in spite of all the moral outrage over the situation in Burma not one single country has made the slightest suggestion that they would be willing to supply any troops to force change in Burma. Of course considering that Burma has a 400,000-man army it’s probably just as well that no one’s in any rush to forcibly “liberate” the country. Isn’t that about the same size as Saddam Hussein’s army when the US “liberated” Iraq? And how is that working out????

I have to admit I do indulge in daydreams of “what would I do if I ruled the world?” and the various things I would like to fix, if I had that autocratic power (I get so frustrated with the way things are now, and I am sure I’m not the only one who is!). Have to do a web page about it sometime, if I can ever motivate myself to!

Sunday 21/10

The first very warm day of the month (just over 30°C); October in 2006 was worse in terms of warm days (see 12/10/2006 entry). Summer seems to be starting dismayingly early.

“Savage attacks on innocent bystanders mystify experts,” The Age, 19/10. There have been many cases of assaults by groups of young males on innocent bystanders; they seem to do it just for “entertainment”. The “experts” indulge in some theories but fail to address one cause: a breakdown in discipline in society and a lack of respect for authority, and little if any severe punishment for anti-social behavior. I have ranted about this before (see 14/6 and 27/9/2005 entries).

Police, academics and doctors have told The Age of their concern at a new trend towards unprovoked bashings meted out by packs of young men. While violence around late-night venues is traditionally seen to be alcohol-fuelled, this new type of assault is often committed by people who are not under the influence of drink or drugs. Police and criminologists say these men travel to precincts such as Chapel Street, Fitzroy Street and the CBD with the sole intention of bashing “innocent bystanders”. The attackers are usually of the same ethnicity, but the trend is not confined to any one ethnic group. “They’re not necessarily drunk; they’re coming in and picking their mark, bumping into people, and it’s not just fisticuffs with a blood nose, they are seriously assaulting people,” Victoria Police Inspector Paul Pottage told The Age. “There’s direct evidence that there are groups of three or four males that are doing that and it’s certainly occurred on a number of occasions on Chapel Street, and in the CBD, where people have literally been set upon and have received savage kickings.” […]

Dr Warren said the culture of fighting had changed, particularly in its severity, and the willingness of participants to gang up. He also said attackers were bashing victims far from their homes before heading back to the suburbs. “The way fighting has evolved, it’s not one-on-one in the car park any more on relatively equal terms, it’s ‘let’s beat the crap out of you because we can win’,” he said. “You combine the collective nature of it with the viciousness and the transience of these young adults, and we’ve got a definite problem. There’s a real predatory dimension to this kind of stuff.”

Curfews for unsupervised under-18s, a ban on consuming alcohol in public, more police on the street and police given greater powers (and weapons such as stun guns, tear gas, etc.) are some solutions I would like to see imposed!

“SETI’s Dilemma: Break the Great Silence?,” Centauri Dreams blog, 15/10. On whether sending out signals into space hoping to contact aliens is a good idea or not! I am all for it – I linked to a similar article in my 7/8 entry – because humanity is destroying itself anyway, and an alien invasion could not be any worse than what humans already inflict upon ourselves. A surprising number of commenters in the blog entry are negative towards the idea, though!

Prologue from a novel by Ray Hammond called The Brotherhood of Angels, in which the U.S. military demonstrates a secret black hole superweapon which goes wrong and nearly devours the Earth! Update 23/10/2007: A relevant article: “A black hole ate my planet”.

A promising – if currently theoretical – type of economy I came across today (while looking at the Wikipedia page for author Iain M. Banks) is the post-scarcity society. In this technology has been used to free humans from the problems currently afflicting society.

Post-scarcity describes a hypothetical form of economy or society, often explored in science fiction, in which things such as goods, services and information are free, or practically free. This would be due to an abundance of fundamental resources (matter, energy and intelligence), in conjunction with sophisticated automated systems capable of converting raw materials into finished goods, allowing manufacturing to be as easy as duplicating software.

Methods to attain this include nanotechnology and artificial intelligences. If it could ever be achieved, this type of society would render the current dysfunctional, inhumane and wasteful economic system obsolete – and a good thing too.

From a webpage describing Iain Bank’s “Culture” society (I have yet to read his novels), a criticism of the current system (neoliberalism/free-market economy):

Let me state here a personal conviction that appears, right now, to be profoundly unfashionable; which is that a planned economy can be more productive – and more morally desirable – than one left to market forces.

The market is a good example of evolution in action; the try-everything-and-see-what-works approach. This might provide a perfectly morally satisfactory resource-management system so long as there was absolutely no question of any sentient creature ever being treated purely as one of those resources. The market, for all its (profoundly inelegant) complexities, remains a crude and essentially blind system, and is – without the sort of drastic amendments liable to cripple the economic efficacy which is its greatest claimed asset – intrinsically incapable of distinguishing between simple non-use of matter resulting from processal superfluity and the acute, prolonged and wide-spread suffering of conscious beings.

It is, arguably, in the elevation of this profoundly mechanistic (and in that sense perversely innocent) system to a position above all other moral, philosophical and political values and considerations that humankind displays most convincingly both its present intellectual [immaturity and] – through grossly-pursued selfishness rather than the applied hatred of others – a kind of synthetic evil.

“Giant leap looming for womankind,” MSNBC.com, 20/10. “It will be the first time in the 50-year history of spaceflight that two women are in charge of two spacecraft at the same time.” I grumbled about Russia’s dismal failing in this area in my 16/10 entry.

Tuesday 23/10

New Scientist magazine for the week of 20 October has an interesting article, “Pangaea, the comeback,” on what the Earth might look like in millions of years when the continents have remerged. Unfortunately it is a premium-access article, so I will have to wait until I can get the magazine at the library and scan it! (The weekly magazine is now A$7.50, which I can’t justify paying. I rarely buy magazines at all, now; I can get most information I want off the Internet.) I mentioned the remerging of the continents in my 3/8 entry. Having one continent will apparently adversely affect the climate:

If we could visit this future Earth we would barely recognise it. The continents have crashed together to form a single gigantic supercontinent, surrounded by a global ocean. Much of the land is inhospitable desert, while the coast is battered by ferocious storms. The oceans are turbulent on the surface, stagnant at depth and starved of oxygen and nutrients. Disease, war, or asteroid collisions have pushed humans and many of the species we know today to extinction and competition has seen off all but the hardiest of the rest.

Update 25/10/2007: After doing a Google search, I found the “Hold infinity in the palm of your hand” blog had kindly posted it! I put it on my site anyway, but the blog entry includes 2 diagrams.

Soyuz TMA-10 landed at 10:36 UTC on 21 October after undocking from Zvezda at 07:14. There was a glitch when the computers for some as-yet undetermined reason switched to the backup, automatically controlled ballistic descent mode, which imposes higher g-forces on the crew.

STS-120 Discovery’s first launch attempt is early tomorrow here (11:38 a.m. EDT, 23 October/15:38 UTC/00:38 a.m. Melbourne time on 24/10). The weather forecast, though, does not look promising (60% chance of weather grounding the Shuttle for the first attempt).

Friday 26/10

“Neanderthals ‘were flame-haired’,” BBC News, 25/10. The study of the DNA from the bones of Neanderthals is revealing information such as their hair color. It is odd to consider that there were once two species of humans. I wonder if they could eventually be resurrected through genetic engineering.

“Extreme survivors”: MetaFilter post on an intriguing creature that can survive almost any environmental conditions. They traveled on the recent Foton-M3 mission. Tardigrades “are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. They can survive temperatures close to absolute zero, temperatures as high as 151°C (303°F), 1000 times more radiation than any animal, nearly a decade without water, and can also survive in a vacuum like that found in space.”

“Virtual worlds threaten ‘values’,” BBC News, 25/10. The product-related virtual worlds are teaching children to think of themselves as consumers and nothing else (corporations want to ensnare children as young as possible so they can build “brand awareness”).

“Are we absolutely sure that this is the very best we can offer young people?” he asked. “Do we really want them to think of themselves as not much more than consumers?”

The United Nations released its Global Environment Outlook report, which is not encouraging reading. Overpopulation is a major cause of the problems, an issue governments seem curiously reluctant to address:

If that was ever feasible, politicians and their advisors now generally consider population growth such a sensitive issue that it has virtually disappeared off the sustainability radar. By pointing out that global population growth is a significant environmental issue, Geo-4 might just encourage politicians to bring it back out of the closet, so that it can at least be discussed again.

Developing countries tend to have the highest population growth. In many of the cultures of these countries, women do not have access to education and contraception. Give women both (force governments to do this if necessary) and this would greatly help population management (improving the living conditions of these countries so that children survive is also another factor).

One computer gadget I might like to get one day is a graphics tablet! I find it nearly impossible to do any photo editing that involves tracing an outline with a mouse, as my hand is so unsteady. I am used to drawing with a pen or pencil and rendering fine detail, so trying to replicate this with a computer mouse is an exercise in frustration (though I have to admit I am a bit impatient and give up if I can’t immediately master a technique).

“Big blunder of Kaczynski brothers,” RIA Novosti, 23/10. Linked to this because the Terrible Twins of Poland are a satirist’s dream – their antics (mostly comprising of annoying Russia and the EU) have to be read to be believed. Comedy genius. (If I were Russian President, I would take great delight in antagonizing them!) I have been trying to think of a suitable nickname for them, but have only come up with the not-very-original “Terrible Twins,” “Dynamic Duo” or “Doomsday Twins”.

“Russia Serial killer Pichushkin says murder made him feel godlike,” RIA Novosti, 25/10. Aleksandr Pichushkin was convicted of 48 (!) murders. His motivations are … interesting:

“I have now been detained for 500 days. All this time, my fate has been decided by a huge number of people – cops, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, jurors … In my time, I myself decided the fate of 60 people. I was an executioner. I decided myself who would live, and who would not. I was almost a god,” he told the court. […]

Speaking from his glass cage in the courtroom, he said the jurors had failed to understand the killings. “They don’t know what happened there in the woods. They weren’t there. I never deliberately chose pensioners. The important thing is that they were my acquaintances. Age was secondary. I don’t agree that I killed with particular cruelty. I did not try to inflict suffering and torment. Very thoughtful of him! I just have my signature. Concepts of good and evil are relative, like pain and painlessness.” […]

He also stressed that he never robbed his victims: “I don’t need junk, even if it’s very valuable. I’m only interested in human life. That is more precious than anything … I took the most valuable thing.”

In his personal view of the world his reasons for killing are logical. He seems to have been motivated by the feeling of power it gave him; perhaps he was otherwise powerless in his life (his former occupation was a supermarket worker – not exactly a prestigious job). Although he likely knew killing people was wrong, he was able to overcome the natural inhibition most people have against killing. Perhaps it became addictive. From an earlier article:

“A first murder is like falling in love for the first time – unforgettable,” he said. “It made a very long-lasting impression on me, and for 14 years I did as I pleased. I got careless, so there is no need for the police to take credit for catching me … I’m a professional.”

I have to admit I wish that serial killers would target people who deserved to be killed – i.e. criminals, thugs and vandals – rather than innocent people. Then I suppose they would be regarded as vigilantes. At least they would be doing a social service. No, I’m not being sarcastic!

Review of the latest “Russian bad guys” film, Eastern Promises, at The Age (mentioned in my 28/9 entry).

China launched its first lunar orbiter, Chang’e 1, on 4 October. If China can do this, why can’t Russia?

STS-120 Discovery launched on the first attempt on 23 October at 15:38 UTC and docked on 25/10 at 12:40 UTC.

Saturday 27/10

The weather is warm (high 20s) and somewhat humid. Daylight Savings begins early tomorrow morning, so up at 3:45 a.m. rather than 4:45 a.m. for me (groan). I am obsessive about sticking to my morning routine, so I have almost never slept in!

There is a comet called 17P/Holmes which suddenly became very bright about 3 days ago. Annoyingly it is not visible from Melbourne; those further north (northern NSW, Queensland) can see it, near the constellation of Perseus.

“The power of the HIA,” The Age, 27/10. The abomination that is the Housing Industry Association is rather too close to the State Government. They just want to build more houses (big ugly McMansions), never mind the environmental cost. Would like to see Ron Silberberg investigated for corruption. There seems to be no way of combating these powerful organizations.

There was a report in the local paper about how ever-increasing rents are forcing the less-well-off to go to charities for food parcels:

Rental crisis hits hard

Paul Riordan, 24 Oct 07

RENTERS beware: rent increases across Glen Eira look set to continue.

The Department of Human Services’ quarterly rental report shows rents rose in the municipality by up to 20 per cent in some cases in three months.

The median rent for a two-bedroom flat in Glen Eira in June rose to $285, an increase of 18.8 per cent. The rent for a three-bedroom house rose 15.6 per cent, to $370. Elsternwick had the fourth highest median rent for three-bedroom houses, with the average weekly rent hitting $565.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria chief executive Enzo Raimondo said the outlook for the rental market was bleak. “In the past, residential property investment has seen only moderate returns, but what we are seeing now is a high-demand market and landlords looking to increase returns.”

Ray White Carnegie business development manager Julie Elordieta said a recent open for inspection in Glen Eira attracted 15 people. She said she received six applications only four hours after the inspection. “The rental market is the strongest I’ve seen it in 10 years,” Ms Elordieta said.

But the high rents are hitting the people who can least afford it. Dingley Neighbourhood Advice Bureau social worker Marion Harriden said more than 80 families had been seeking food parcels each week because many could not afford to eat as well as pay skyrocketing rents. “More and more families are in absolute crisis,” she said. Mrs Harriden said long-time elderly residents, singles who had moved out of their parents’ homes, and residents who had sold houses and wanted to rent in their old neighbourhood were the victims of the rental shortage.

There is no way I could ever afford to move out of my parents’ home, and the prospect of owning my own home is not even a consideration. If my parents were not around my situation would be dire. (I have little sympathy for the third group mentioned – why sell a house then rent?) The whole situation is out of control but governments still refuse to regulate the industry. I loathe property developers and investors in the same way I do vandals (the former are a type of vandal also).

“Water, water everywh–Oh dear.” MetaFilter post on the water supply crisis in the Western United States. This page states that the North American drought is the worst in 500 years.

Warp Speed by Travis S. Taylor is an example of the right-wing/Libertarian genre of science fiction that I loathe (I haven’t read it; not available in the library). The novel’s narrator seems like an insufferably arrogant jerk (the first few chapters are online at Baen Books) and is also a self-insert (“Gary Stu”). (The author seems to be intimidatingly accomplished – various science degrees, a martial artist, private pilot, etc. – is he for real?) The technological aspects look interesting (inventing a warp drive) but the story seems to be the usual irritatingly patriotic/parochial/patronising worldview (USA vs. everyone else – well, China and Russia). Another novel of this genre is Freehold by Michael Z. Williamson (and anything by John Ringo), a Libertarian fantasy (online chapters) which has one reviewer in estatics:

When I first finished this book, my first reaction was, “When can I move?” It was only a few minutes later that I realized that Freehold existed only in the wildly creative mind of Michael Z. Williamson. I also realized that Mr. Williamson had just given me a glimpse into the future – where we, as a human society are headed, and where I wish we would end up.

Kendra Pacelli escapes from a human hell – the kind of Earth most dread, but know deep inside that we could become if we continue on our present course. Human beings are controlled by government, by force, tracked, licensed and regulated. The United Nations, corrupt and power-hungry, governs Earth with a socialist iron fist. Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, Kendra escapes to the Freehold of Grainne – a society of a truly free people that refuses to become part of the UN’s domination plans. In her new home, Kendra learns what it’s like to be truly human – to live, love, work, deserve, achieve and succeed without a power-hungry government controlling her every move. She learns that to be a wholly human means relying on oneself, taking responsibility for one’s own actions and reaping the consequences. She realizes that true freedom is not easy, but worth defending.

As is typical of tyrannies, the UN cannot afford for the Freehold to exist. It cannot afford to allow its enslaved sheep to realize just how subjugated they are. The UN cannot tolerate the existence of a free, uninhibited society, so it attempts to destroy Freehold and the beneficial, successful society its inhabitants treasure. It is during this war that Kendra learns how much she treasures freedom and what she will sacrifice to preserve it.

In the Libertarian view, the United Nations and socialism are the root of all evil. The colony in the story is suspiciously reminiscent of a Wild West town, about which there seems to be a certain romanticism in modern society. In reality (if documentaries I have seen are anything to go by) they were rather brutal places to live. A lot of humans, when given “freedom,” can’t or won’t manage it responsibly, and they thus seek to predatorily exploit others through various means. Which is why we have governments to protect people against the excesses of these types.

Tuesday 30/10

I had one of those annoying nights where I woke up around 1 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep until 3 a.m. or so. I get all these thoughts going through my head and can’t settle down, and time seems to go so quickly then.

I tried this online Aspie quiz (via an entry at John Scalzi’s blog) and my results:

I watched a DVD I had bought of the movie The Core (got for $9). Even if the “science” is somewhat silly, I think the movie is quite good nonetheless and the characters are likeable – one gets rather upset when 4 out of the 6 main characters die on the mission! (I saw it on TV nearly a year ago – 5/11/2006 entry.) I made a list of the methods of death:

I had a look through the Death Tropes at the “TV Tropes & Idioms” site, but couldn’t find one that matches this feature, where a group of main characters dies in various horrible ways at intervals until there are only 1 or 2 left (usually a male and female in the latter version). Examples of other movies that use this trope are Alien and Event Horizon.

Through this entry at “Canon Sues,” came across another author in the same genre as those mentioned in my previous 27/10 entry: Leo Frankowski. He doesn’t like feminists or liberals. I was somewhere between amusement and disgust at his attitude, particularly his writings about Russian women. Yes, he has a Russian bride. She is in her mid-30s (with a teenaged daughter from a previous marriage), he was born in 1943 (according to his Wikipedia entry), so that makes him … 64. Ewww! My first thought when seeing the photo of them on his “Why I Came to Russia” page was: Lady, you must have been desperate! Are Russian women really so desperate to escape Russia that they feel they have to marry elderly sleazebags? I know that looks aren’t everything, but … ewww. “… she has a body like the one on every Frank Frazetta cover. I mean, there's no bra in there, guys.” Meaning if she had been overweight and plain he wouldn’t have bothered with a second glance at her.

As an antidote or “brain bleach” to the above, two Russian feminism sites: Femina/Фемина and Russian Feminism Resources.

Continuing from the Women Warriors topic in my 14/10 entry, I totally love this armor! (From the “Statues of Sauromatian and Sarmatian Women” page.) Women in ancient burial sites in Central Asia have been found with weapons and armor.

“The Sacrifices of Albania’s ‘Sworn Virgins’,” Washington Post.com, 11/8/2007. On an interesting custom in Albania that provided an escape route for women who did not want to be restricted by their traditional role in a patriarchal culture. I did find this assumption somewhat irritating though:

But the virgins in Dones’s documentary acknowledge there are many sacrifices with this lifestyle. The women may enjoy the rights of men, but they are denied their womanhood. They will never experience the pleasures of having a lifelong partner or bearing children.

“Pleasures” that are somewhat overrated (perhaps a reflection of Western culture’s obsession with “love”), and women don’t need these to define their existence!

“Two women spacecraft commanders: the meaning of the meeting,” James Oberg, The Space Review, 29/10. Mentions the issues on Russia’s attitude towards women in space grumbled about in my 16/10 entry.

Wednesday 31/10

Next Tuesday is the Melbourne Cup horse race, and the media is currently innundated with propaganda for the Spring Racing Carnival, which has reached ridiculous proportions in recent years. Two articles that give a reality check regarding the cruel reality behind the supposedly glamorous sport:

I would like to see the industry – and greyhound racing also (many unwanted greyhounds are slaughtered each year) – abolished. Unfortunately, thousands of people make their living from it.

“India’s toilet champion sees human liberation in loos for all,” Terra Daily, 29/10. One man helping the poor get access to basic hygiene (and dignity). I mentioned this in my 12/7/2006 entry last year. Not a subject that people normally want to acknowledge, but sanitation is vital for public health!

“Back in the Space Race: Russian Revival Raises New Questions,” Moscow News, 18/10. NASA’s dependence on Russia for manned space access after the Shuttle retires could become a problem if Russia’s plans change or U.S.-Russian relations become tense. Security at the Baikonur launch site is also an issue (as well as the future of the complex itself) – James Oberg wrote an article about it at The Space Review last year: “Earthly threats for a spaceport,” 26/6/2006.

“China eyes the Moon,” RIAN/Space Daily, 25/10.

On October 4, with Russia and the U.S. apparently unable to do more than talk about flights to the Moon, China, strictly on schedule, launched a Long March 3A rocket carrying the satellite Chang-e 1 on a mission to map the Moon’s surface.

Two ISS issues have appeared during STS-120 Discovery’s stay: metal shavings were found in the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, and a 90 cm tear appeared in a panel during the P6 4B solar array deployment, though the damage does not appear to have greatly affected its operation. The Harmony module was successfully installed.

November

Thursday 1/11

I found out how to add a list of search tags/labels in my Blogger “RuSpace” blog without converting from the old-style manual template (which I prefer) to the new version! The tags are listed on the “Edit Posts” page, so I “View Source” in my browser and copy-and-paste the tags (which are in an unordered list format) into a text editor; a tag looks something like this:

<a href="/posts.g?blogID=36321322&amp;searchType=ALL&amp;txtKeywords=&amp;label=cosmonauts">cosmonauts (22)</a>

The tags are, though, listed with each blog entry as:

<a href="http://ruspace.blogspot.com/search/label/cosmonauts">cosmonauts</a>

So then it is a simple matter of doing a search-and-replace for the part of the url before =cosmonauts"> (which is the same for all tags), and removing the number in brackets before the </a>. Words with spaces have a + sign between them (e.g. Sergei+Korolyov) on the “Edit Posts” page but are Sergei%20Korolyov in the blog page URL, so another search-and-replace takes care of this. The modified list is then posted in the “Edit HTML” blog template page wherever you want in the HTML section of the template (for the old version). If I add any more tags I just edit them manually in the same manner. This just occurred to me today so I felt rather pleased with that solution! I like to do CSS and HTML manually, and the new blog template format makes this difficult.

Unfortunately Blogger does not have an easy way to export a blog for backup; though there is a somewhat convoluted method described in the “Help” section.

The ISS Daily On-Orbit Status Reports are now posted at the NASA Office of Space Operations site (another hidden NASA site!), beginning from 30 October 2007. The ISS On-orbit status News page at Spaceref.com looks like it might be updated again too, after being dormant for a year. The daily ISS reports give much more technical detail than the weekly status reports.

Saturday 3/11

I have been looking for the novel Nano to buy (mentioned in my 19/10 entry), but annoyingly can’t find it anywhere! Borders does not have it. (I don’t buy online for the simple reason that I don’t have a credit card, and shipping costs and currency conversion make it more expensive anyway.)

Another gloomy report from The Age concerning the unending drought here. Food prices are going up because crops such as wheat have had low yields because of the drought.

Melbourne rainfall hits record low

Rachel Kleinman, November 3, 2007

Melbourne has received less than 3000 millimetres of rain in the past six years, a record low that highlights the severity of the state’s drought.

Only 2974 millimetres fell over Melbourne from November 2001 to October 2007, beating the previous low of 3330 millimetres for a six-year period, set in 1904.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s special climate statement, released yesterday, showed the Murray-Darling Basin experienced its equal-driest six-year period, matching the previous record dry of 1939-45.

But Bureau climate chief Michael Coughlan said the present situation was worse in some respects. “Two things make it more severe. The temperatures are much warmer now than they were then, and a bigger population means there is much greater demand on water supplies,” Dr. Coughlan said.

The Bureau’s figures showed the crippling drought had moved well and truly into its 11th year.

“Victoria is standing out as one of the hardest-hit states by this long, dry spell,” Dr. Coughlan said.

As well as record low rainfalls, temperature increases were dramatic, Dr. Coughlan said.

Maximum temperatures across the basin for the six-year period averaged 1.3 degrees above the long-term (1961 to 1990) average. And for Australia’s cropping zones, which encompass eastern and western Australia, the six-year period was more than 80 millimetres drier than the 1939-45 drought.

Melbourne Water spokesman Ben Pratt said that over the six-year period, inflows into Melbourne’s four major reservoirs were 28 per cent below average.

“Combined with below average rainfall for the past 11 years, that has seen storages fall from almost full in October 1996 to 39.8 per cent full,” Mr. Pratt said.

“The appeal of Mars,” RIAN, 1/11 (Part 1 of 2). Russia still wants to go to Mars … eventually!

Ex-Energiya president Nikolai Sevastyanov believes the Martian project could be realized after 2025 and would consist of three stages: a trial expedition around the Moon, a non-landing manned expedition to Mars and then a manned Mars landing. Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos), said: “We are planning a Mars mission after 2035.” The ultimate decision is likely to be made at the top. Before the year is out the government must approve a program for the development of the space industry until 2040.

Much too far away! How about … 2015?

“Protecting Earth Against Asteroids,” Part 1 & 2, Space Daily/RIAN. Russian ideas for trying to deflect threatening asteroids.

Sunday 4/11

I was rudely awoken last night at 1 a.m. by thunder, then there was a proper thunderstorm and heavy rain for about an hour! It is still raining heavily outside; this is the rain that should have been falling the last 2 months. Haven’t had a storm for months. I just wish they would not come at night and wake me unpleasantly!

“And if the food runs out?,” The Age/Guardian, 4/11. World food shortages mean prices are increasing, which affects the poor the most. With climate change and the population continuing to increase, a major disaster is looming.

Monday 5/11

A family friend returned from Western Australia yesterday after driving there and back – approximately 3500 km each way! Australia is approximately the size of the continental USA but with a much lower population density (highest population is along the eastern coastline). The inland is mostly desert and almost empty. I would rather like to see the Outback – the immense emptiness and stars at night would be awesome! (Best not to go during Spring and Summer though – the swarming flies are maddening.) I have not been outside Victoria in all my life (aside from 3 holidays overseas).

King Tutankhamun’s mummy has been put on display. I liked this comment (that stood out from the usual inane ones) at the relevant MetaFilter post:

[…] When I saw Ramses II’s mummy in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, I mean, you stare right down at the guy and you can see his hair and fingernails and everything. And I started thinking about all of the things he did in his ninety some-odd years of life and 67-year reign of Egypt … and that probably the last thing he ever imagined was to end up as a shriveled Halloween corpse under glass for gum-chewing tourists to gawk at, I’d imagine.

And when I walked through the Tut exhibit, there were kids running in circles and screaming and one super rude guy chatting loudly on his cel phone (despite the no-phones signs) and all in all just being disrespectful, I thought. And it just seemed kinda wrong in a way. I mean, this isn’t IKEA, you’re walking through the artifacts of someone’s TOMB, people.

I didn’t go into King Tut’s tomb (costs extra and it was too crowded) but I went into three others at Valley of the Kings. Those tombs were a lot easier to deal with claustrophobia-wise than going under the pyramids (couldn’t deal with that). I really did wish they had left the artifacts in there, though, and put the walkways and glass encasements around them. The wall decorations are cool, but it would’ve been fascinating to see things closer to how they were found. It just seems more respectful, too. I know they took artifacts out to preserve them, but with all of the touring they’ve done I can’t imagine that world travel is so great for them either.

How Egyptian relics travel the world is very political, though. My understanding is that most of the archaeology done in Egypt is done by other countries … they have far more money to spend on it. So then it’s kind of implied that the countries that do the work also get dibs on having exhibitions in their home countries. It’s a really competitive battle that’s been going on forever. Kinda sucks for Egyptians in a way, because a lot of people would rather their artifacts stay on Egyptian soil and weren’t sitting in Vienna or Manhattan or wherever.

– posted by miss lynnster

Tuesday 6/11

This week is my last of being 36! :-O

Venus and the Moon were close together in the sky this morning.

I spent this afteroon installing a new 160 GB secondary/backup hard drive, after deleting the two partitions of the 40 GB drive I previously was using, and reformatting it. Installing the drive was a tedious chore as usual! Unscrewing, fiddling around, pulling things in or out. Computer cases are so damn awkward to work in! I also got the master and slave drives mixed up (couldn’t remember which one was which) so I had to remove and install the 3 different drives until they were sorted out (the master drive has the little black plug on the pins). I got it done eventually (with some help from Dad!). Because of the different ways of measuring gigabytes, the 160 GB drive reads as 149 GB.

I will also have to motivate myself to do my annual reformat and reinstall of Windows; the tedious part of this is reinstalling all my programs!

Wednesday 7/11

The Melbourne Cup was yesterday, so it was a sort-of public holiday (i.e. for some but not for others). A horse called Bay Story broke a leg in a different race on the same day and was destroyed (photo gallery – don’t know how long this will stay up). See 31/10 entry for comments about the industry.

“Humanity is the greatest challenge,” BBC News, 5/11. An environmental activist called John Feeney states bluntly that overpopulation is a main cause of environmental problems – something that governments seem reluctant to acknowledge.

“Astronomers discover new planet,” BBC News, 7/11. There is a gap in the habitable zone around 55 Cancri where an Earth-like planet could orbit; current technology can’t detect planets this small yet.

“Does Russia Have A Nuclear Engine Advantage?,” Space Daily, 5/11..

Sunday 11/11

I am now 37 since 2 days ago.

Weather will be warm-to-hot all this week with no rain forecast; not good.

The first 2 Star Wars movies (Episodes 1 and 2) were screened on TV last week and yesterday. Perhaps Episode 3 will be screened next week, though I have it on DVD. The only thing I liked about Episode 1 was Queen Amidala’s gorgeous costumes! Episode 2 was slightly better. Episode 3 has General Grievous (yay!) and the lava fight scene, though the General comes across as rather caricaturish (see quote below), and Darth Vader’s “Nooooo!” wail near the end is just pathetic and I cringed with embarrassment at that scene! The 3 episodes lack the appeal of the first 2 (Episodes 4 and 5). (Reasons to hate Episodes 1, 2, 3)

Reason #9: General Grievous

General Grievous was one of my biggest problems with Episode 3 before seeing the movie, and after seeing it that hasn’t changed. Pictures of General Grievous led me to believe that he was a hell-demon of pure evil. Two seconds after seeing him onscreen in the theater showed that he was just a big, dumb idiot.

Nearly any possible potential fear of Grievous is eliminated as soon as he doubles over to begin hacking and wheezing. It is already relatively difficult to be scared of a robot with emphysema, but any remaining potential for fear is removed when he begins talking and it becomes clear that his voice is simply Triumph the Insult Comic Dog doing an impression of Watto from The Phantom Menace.

To further weaken Grievous’s character, he is a tremendous coward: a scheming, double-crossing bad guy who would be better suited as the nemesis of a cartoon rabbit than the Jedi order.

It is also worthy of noting how bizarre it is that Grievous coughs as much as he does, considering he doesn’t appear to have any lungs.

“The appeal of Mars,” RIA Novosti: Parts 1, 2, 3. Russian plans for Mars missions, mentioned earlier this month but all articles linked here again.

Technically speaking, a manned mission to Mars would be no more difficult than a flight to the Moon. Experts believe that the hardware required for reaching the Red Planet is largely already available. But it is the human element that is both the most important, and the most vulnerable, part of the mission. Before sending astronauts to Mars, scientists will have to solve the numerous medical and biological problems associated with deep space flight. […]

U.S. experts estimate the cost of a manned mission to Mars at $500 billion. Russia believes it can place cosmonauts on the planet’s surface in the next 12 years for just $14 billion, a sum roughly equivalent to 10 national space programs. However, this would entail a doubling of federal space spending and the launch of several unmanned reconnaissance probes to explore Mars in greater detail. Nikolai Anfimov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Director General of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TsNIIMash), believes the total cost of the manned Mars mission would run to over $100 billion.

I reckon a simple mission could be done for … under $10 billion? A test mission around Mars (but not landing on it) could be done for maybe $3 billion or so:

So, build a spaceship and go! Enough with the fussing around – after 40 years or so of spaceflight we know the effects of weightlessness on mental and physical health, so how many more studies do they need? Accept that there will be risk to the crew, and just go. (Yes, I am impatient.)

Monday 12/11

“US Navy in Kenya goodwill mission,” BBC News, 10/11 (also at SpaceDaily). The USA seems to be following China’s push into Africa and trying to get an influential foothold there. In China’s case it seems to be going there mainly for access to natural resources and strategic influence. Though, come to think of it, the USA does have (somewhat unfortunate) historical ties with Africa as many slaves were exported from Africa to the USA. (President Putin also visited South Africa last year.)

On a somewhat trivial note, Mombasa features in the Halo game as the site of the Forerunner artifact! I downloaded and watched the Halo 3 Trailer, which was rather awesome!

“Australian Federal Election”: a MetaFilter post on the dismaying triteness of the upcoming Federal Election. Like the previous election the main focus is “It’s all about interest rates and the economy now.” How … uninspiring. There is a triviality, selfishness, greed and meanness about Australian society now that is disheartening. I will probably vote for the Greens (who seem to be one of the few parties with any integrity).

“Lest We Forget”: a MetaFilter post on Remembrance Day, which was yesterday.

I forgot to mention that ISS-16 completed a spacewalk last Friday 9/11! This was done in NASA EMU spacesuits, from the Quest airlock. Quick statistics:

Tuesday 13/11

“Your Creation Museum Report”: author John Scalzi visits the Creation Museum; good for a laugh (except that an alarming number of people take this nonsense seriously!). One of the originators of the museum, Ken Ham, is (or was) an Australian! Not one of our better exports … Quoth he:

This idea came about from when I was a teacher in public schools in Australia actually, teaching in the science classes and students saying, “sir, you’re a Christian, how can you believe the Bible when we know that’s not true because of evolution and what’s in our textbooks?” And then when I took them to museums and saw that they were presented evolution as fact, I thought why can’t we have a creation museum. And so I had this embryonic idea 25 years ago in Australia. But of course, Australia’s not really the place to build such a facility if you’re going to reach the world. Really, America is.

Last week on the ABC TV program Catalyst there was a report about “New Zealand Nuclear Veterans”. Britain in the 1950s tested nuclear bombs in the Pacific and in Australia, and servicemen from Britain, Australia and NZ witnessed them – Dad was one of them (he was in the RAF then). He was transferred with a Propellor Overhaul Team (part of the 101 Squadron) to Christmas Island (Kiritimati), 1958-1959. He saw 2 H-bombs and 4 A-bombs exploded (Operation Grapple). He did say that by this time servicemen were kept much further back to view the explosions than the witnesses in earlier tests, so he does not seem to have been affected like those earlier servicemen, as far as I know. In the program the veterans were undergoing a new type of test that revealed chromosome damage via color coding, and the damage shown was quite dramatic! The genetic damage can also be inherited to some extent.

Funny: “[…] here’s the Second World War in an animated GIF, as re-enacted by 13 year old Starcraft obsessives.” (It’s a 1 MB animated GIF, so it takes a minute or two to load.)

Friday 16/11

More hot weather next week; up to 35°C on Wednesday is forecast. Today is a little over 30°C. Haven’t had rain all this week.

I put the story-project I have been working on all year (mentioned in my 19/2 entry) on a separate website, one of my old Geocities sites for now – linked from the “Creative” section at the top of my main site (I won’t link from here in case I decide to remove it). I have been doing a little bit of drawing, mostly of my alien character, so it is an excuse to do some drawing again! It is not a proper story, more a series of scenes that come into my mind (I was particularly pleased with the “Disassembly” chapter I wrote 2 Sundays ago). There is some influence from the “Halo” computer game in it. Incidently, I have all 4 books in the Halo series downloaded *cough* (but not the latest, Contact Harvest). After a quick look through they seem much the same: Space Marines shooting aliens. Four books of that is a bit tedious, though there might be some useful ideas in them for my own. C.J. Cherryh is much better for alien characters, though her writing style can be somewhat terse and difficult.

I put up a photo album on the NASASpaceflight.com site; mainly just some drawings and cartoons (most of which are in my “Art” page on my site) – unlike some of the other members, there are no spaceships to take photos of where I live! Somewhat annoyingly, the images are displayed in order of uploading, rather than by title or date.

Spaceflight

“Time to rejoin space race, say scientists,” ABC News, 14/11.

Australia may gain a National Space Science Institute and send a spacecraft to a fiery death into the sun during the next 10 years, under a proposal by the nation’s space scientists.

The A$100 million national plan also includes the launch of two satellites and a network of measuring instruments to predict and monitor space weather and climate change phenomena in the region.

The Decadal Plan for Space Science is being drafted for the national space science committee of the Australian Academy of Science and is intended “to build a true presence as a nation for Australia in space for less than A$100 million”.

There is a proposal for a one-way solar mission called “Sundiver” to investigate the Sun’s corona. Be cool if it happens! Though given the cluelessness of our politicans (who seem to be obsessed with interest rates and the economy – *yawn*) I am not very hopeful as previous proposals such as the Australian-Russian spaceport have come to nothing.

A Japanese lunar probe took some photos of Earthrise over the Moon. Perhaps human eyes will look at that view from lunar orbit again, one day! The Moon’s surface is a curious color: in some lights it appears silver-grey; in others it appears brownish.

Sunday 18/11

Got some rain this morning; unfortunately the weather has warmed up again.

The original Star Wars movie, Episode 4, was screened on TV last night, though it was the digitally-altered 1997 “Special Edition” version. The visual quality of the film was much better (clearer and brighter), but the new added scenes were unnecessary! The Tatooine scenes looked as though some extras from Walking With Dinosaurs had wandered onto the set.

A posting at MetaFilter on the increasing menace of the Calabrian Mafia. Only mentioned this because their name structure – ‘Ndranghta – looks like that of a Covenant Elite!

A news report on the madness of “Schoolies Week” reminded me of the lack of proper rites of passage in modern/Western society, where adolescents are ceremonially initiated into adulthood. A site called The Rite Journey gives some details of this, though it is more directed towards boys, not that this is objectionable as it is directionless boys who often become troublemakers in society. Women’s rites in older cultures, though, inevitably focused on reproduction – “biology is destiny” – though perhaps some could escape this by becoming a shaman (see 14/10 entry).

I never had any sort of rite of passage – I never graduated from school, or did the other “adult” things. For years I have had a vague yearning of wanting to “prove myself,” perhaps by undertaking some great and dangerous quest. The traditional nurturing/motherhood woman’s role holds no interest for me.

Spaceflight

The ESA Rosetta comet probe photographed some images of Earth at night on its flyby to get a gravitational assist from the planet. Demonstrates how bad light pollution is in some parts of the world! Also that to any passing alien spaceship, Earth is obviously inhabited.

The Russian FKA site has a page of children’s space paintings, which are colorful and imaginative!

Some Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 666 items for 16/11; reports from the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

16/11/2007/00:03 – ISS operations are considerably less effective than those on Mir, says the chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center

In six years of ISS operation the volume of scientific works at the station grew threefold, reports ITAR-TASS. Such data was announced on 15 November by the chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center, Vasilii Tsibliyev, at the opening of the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

“Since 2001, 240 different experiments were carried out on the ISS, the main themes of the NPI applied-scientific studies being biomedical, biotechnological, geophysical and physics of the sun,” he said.

Tsibliev, however, recognized that by volume the NPI ISS operation is considerably less effective than that of the Mir orbital complex, where each crew perfomred up to 250 experiments during the flight. In his opinion, “When the construction of the Station is finished, the science portion will grow.”

The TSPK chief focused attention on the problems which decrease effectiveness of NPI on the ISS. One of the basic problems: “searching for the necessary scientific gear aboard,” because of which “sometimes an experiment is not carried out by the crew for which it was prepared, but a following crew […] There has even appeared a joke: an engineer is not one who knows, but who knows where to find things,” noted Tsibliyev. In his opinion, for increasing the return of scientific work “it is necessary to develop more efficient mechanisms for crew accountability, more actively to use incentive leverages, including material from both the cosmonauts and the specialists who prepare experiments, and to also prepare cosmonauts as specialist researchers.”

The chief of the flight-test center of the Energiya Rocket & Space corporation, ISS-14 commander Pavel Vinogradov, in turn emphasized that the colossal scientific potential in space is used very poorly, the returns from ISS crew activity is considerably lower than 10-15 years ago. “From the idea of experiment to obtaining the first concrete results there passes years, and even decades,” the cosmonaut complained. Furthermore, “There are only 1 or 2 new, bright experiments on the ISS; the rest are repeats of those performed on Mir.

One of the basic problems, in his opinion, is the absence on the ISS Russian segment of a normal communication channel with the Earth. “That that we have is the Stone Age in comparison,” said Vinogradov. To work and not to have any possibility transfering acceptable volumes of information is unacceptable.” Furthermore, the cosmonaut issued a call for the producers of the experiments to support closer contacts with the crews and to inform them about the results of the onboard studies carried out by the crews. In the opinion of Vinogradov, if scientists and cosmonauts exchanged information more often, the effectiveness of scientific studies would improve.

The cosmonaut also noted that at present, “scientific gear occupies only a small percentage of general goods traffic […] when half of the Progress cargo ship will be loaded with science, we will begin to obtain real results,” Vinogradov is convinced.

16/11/2007/00:03 – since 2001 the quantity of experiments conducted on the ISS has grown three times

In six years of ISS operation, the quantity of scientific experiments conducted by crews has grown threefold. The crew of the 16th ISS Expedition will conduct 48 scientific experiments in the course of their flight, while the first crew conducted only 15, reported the leader of the Cosmonaut Training Center, Vasilii Tsebliev, at the opening of the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

Meanwhile cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, coming forward after he critically answered about the experiments conducted on the Station, said: “We repeat the fact that most were done 5-10 years ago. The experiments – two or three are new but not more […] in this sense I do not agree with the opinion of our leaders that everything is good. When half of the Progress cargo ship is loaded scientific gear, then only then will I agree that everything is good,” said P. Vinogradov.

Today, he noted, in the total volume of cargo delivered to the ISS, only a small percentage is allotted to scientific equipment. Furthermore, P. Vinogradov came out with criticism of the communications system of the ISS Russian segment with the ground. Thus, because of the absence of the specialized relay satellites, video images and data for Russian Mission Control Center TsUP during the presence of the ISS beyond the zones of radio visibility not controlled by Russia are downlinked via the American satellites (TDRSS).

Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov had a lot of criticisms about aspects of the Russian program in an NK interview last year (see my 14/1 entry) – at least someone involved is trying to draw attention to this!

A report on preparations for the “Mars-500” experiment:

16/11/2007/00:03 – crew of volunteers begins checking the systems of the “Martian ship”

At the Institute of Biomedical Problems IMBP/RAN (Russian Academy of Science), on 15 November there began the first 14-day stage of the experiment on the preparation of the manned space flight to Mars. The IMBP deputy director, Boris Morukov, announced this at the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

Previously the IMBP director, the RAN Academician Anatolii Grigor’ev stated that prior to the beginning of the “manned space flight to Mars,” which was planned for the end of 2008, at IMBP two preliminary experiments will be carried out: a 14-day and a 105-day. “During the 14 days we will verify technical equipment, and then in the 105-day experiment we will conduct the selection of the Russian and European scientific proposals, which then will be realized in the ‘Mars-500’ program,” he explained. According to him, the international crew of the 105-daily experiment will be formed prior to the end of this year, which will begin in the beginning of 2008.

In parallel continues the intensive selection of basic crew for the “Martian flight,” that will comprise 4 Russians and 2 Europeans. The main requirement for the candidates are possession of Russian and English languages, outstanding physical fitness and professional qualifications in several specialties is desirable.

Grigor’ev noted that among the aspirants, whom they already passed dispensary inspection, there is one woman. However, the gender composition of crew will be determined not earlier than the end of 2008, when it is planned to promulgate the list of the happy fellows, who during 520 days will completely isolated from the external world aboard the created “Martian” ship in IMBP with a volume of 550 m3 and communicate with the external world only through electronic mail. All the life-support systems of the “ship” are designed to be completely independent.

Requirements for the international crew are most serious. Preferred professions are doctors, engineers, biologists, specialists in computer technology. Moreover it is desirable that the candidates would combine several specialties. Furthermore, they must provide proof to the selection commission of the absence of serious diseases, harmful habits and problems with the law.

Future projects at Khrunichev:

16/11/2007/00:03 – the Khrunichev space center is developing rockets for manned space flights and habitable complexes for the lunar and Martian expeditions

In the State Space Scientific Production Center GKNPTS Khrunichev, work is continuing on the creation of rockets for manned space flights and habitable complexes for lunar expeditions. The division head of KB Salyut GKNPTS, Sergei Pugachenko, reported this on 14 November at the 7th International Scientific Conference “Manned Flights into Space”.

The discussion, first of all, deals with the modification of the future rocket of the RN carrier of the Angar-5 heavy class. The Angar-5P “can be used for the launch of manned ships, including the following generation.” For the delivery of cargo to Low Earth Orbit it is intended to also use the superheavy Angar-7 with a load capacity of 41 tonnes.

But to deliver a crew in orbit is only half the battle; it is necessary to create standard conditions to support human life. In GKNPTS, where the first ISS module was built – the Functional Cargo Block Zarya, and also the airtight housing of the official module Zvezda – already they are working on a new, more contemporary inhabited module. “Over the long term the creation and installing on the RN Angara “of a housing of a larger volume, which will improve the conditions of crew stay aboard,” explained Pugachenko.

Furthermore, the specialists at GKNPTS are developing their versions of a lunar orbital station and manned lunar base, which is intended to be delivered into Earth orbit with the aid of a superheavy RN with a load capacity of 100 tonnes. The lunar orbital station will be intended for the transfer and the storage of cargo and fuel, temporary crew stay, and also studies of the Moon, explained Pugachenko. But the manned lunar complex will serve as a home for the cosmonaut-trailblazers. An analogous complex is also being developed for Mars. “In GKNPTS there are all the basic technologies for the lunar missions,” said Pugachenko.

Wednesday 21/11

Monday and yesterday were scorchingly hot, up to 38°C (and over 40°C in the north of the state); a cool change came overnight and rain today. This time yesterday (around 12:00) it was around 38°C; today it is 12°C! I can’t function in that heat; it drains me of energy.

The house that I mentioned in my 3/9 entry is being demolished today. The established vegetation around it (a small haven for birds, etc.) will also go, as has so much vegetation, trees and backyards since this development mania started in the early 1990s. I feverently wish the housing market would collapse and investors lose their money.

The Federal Election is this Saturday. I found a list of registered parties and made a small list of the parties I won’t be voting for (or will put last):

Parties I will put first, or near the top:

Star Wars Episode 5 is being screened this Saturday, so, yay! something other to watch than the election coverage. The Empire Strikes Back is regarded as the best of the SW movies.

Letters from today’s The Age about the Government’s obsession with the economy:

Society comes first

Politicians need to realise that we live in a society, not an economy. Issues such as education, the environment and climate change, treatment of asylum seekers, industrial relations, appropriate deployment of our defence force and the care of our most vulnerable and marginalised citizens, are very important for many of us.

– Jen Gray, Drouin

What’s so good …

What’s so good about “managing the economy” when under-spending is achieved by not providing the services that the money was for? It’s similar to a company not paying its bills.

What’s so good about paying off debt if it’s done by selling assets and not providing essential services? Isn’t that cheating on past generations (which sacrificed to provide for us) and on future generations by not adding to the stock of community assets?

What’s so good about lower interest rates on mortgages if the monthly repayments are out of whack with the family income?

What’s so good about low unemployment when statistics mask high levels of under-employment? What’s so good about high gross domestic product if it’s financed by unpayable credit card debt? What’s so good about reducing taxes? We get better value from spending if we do it together – police, health, education, community centres and sporting facilities, public transport rather than the extra car in the family.

What’s so good about ignoring the signs of the times – global warming, peak oil, the fact that this Earth is not big enough for an unlimited population and for ever-expanding economies?

The economy is not an end in itself but a means to an end – enriched lives within a civilized community.

– Geoff Baker, Heidelberg

And another from yesterday about overpopulation:

More? That’s just what we don’t need

With Australia facing some of its biggest crises – namely drought, lack of food, peak oil issues, climate change and housing shortages – what is the catchcry of the major political parties? We have a skills shortage, we need more people. We need more consumerism.

We already know world consumption outstrips what the Earth can sustain. What is the root cause of the problems facing Australia and, more importantly, the world? Overpopulation. Even as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change puts out more dire warnings about climate change bringing an increase in average temperatures, wilder weather and super fires, all our politicians are interested in are record immigration and baby bonuses. The human race is on a cataclysmic path and every other species is paying the price, as will future generations.

Constituents should be crying that we have a brain shortage among our politicians. Sustainable population policy must be a major plank in any strategy to deal with climate change.

– Tony Smith, Burwood

Expedition 16 completed another spacewalk yesterday in EMU spacesuits; details are on my “ISS spacewalks” page.

Saturday 24/11

Voted today. I put the Greens first for both Houses, though I don’t agree with all their policies (idiotic comments such as those about graffiti having artistic merit by a Greens MP don’t help their cause – there is nothing artistic about “tagging”!). I am not an avid supporter of any party, so it is a matter of choosing which one I dislike the least.

“Parallel Play,” New Yorker, 20/8/2007. A writer called Tim Page found out in his late 40s that he had Asperger’s Syndrome in 2000; at long last he had a diagnosis for his “oddness”. (This was published in today’s The Age Good Weekend magazine, and I found it online.)

A random observation: one trend I have noticed in history documentaries is for the presenters to recount events in the present tense, as though they are narrating historical events as they happen. It is rather annoying! I also strongly dislike the use of the present tense for narrating novels. This comment for a sci-fi novel called Coyote expresses irritation for this style:

In fact, I could not finish the book due primarily to the fact that it is written inconsistently and in PRESENT TENSE (although there are times the author slips into past tense.) I hated the way this book was written in present tense. Let me clarify what that means. “One hand still on his weapon, Carruthers takes the bag from Jorge, lets it dangle from midair while he unzips its flap.” (page 80) To me it would have been much better in past tense: “One hand still on his weapon, Carruthers took the bag from Jorge, letting it dangle from midair while he unzipped its flap.” In reading Coyote the way it was written in present tense it kept reminding me of listening to sports commentators. They speak in present tense (I am not a sports fan). So when was the last time a friend related an oral story to you using present tense? It just does not happen. I then pondered and I can recall none of the older classics which were written in the present tense. Of course, I have not read everything, but I have read widely. Is it true that most books in the present tense are relatively recently published ones? Is this just some passing fad? I sure hope so for I have only read one book in present tense that was not ruined by that format (the one exception is The Novelist by Angela Hunt, but she barely pulled it off).

Present tense writing just reads as a string of events. It tries to create a sense of urgency which to me, hides the fact that the writer isn’t really describing the scene well. Present tense also ruins dialog. It is harder to flow smoothly in and out of flashback and background. After all, writers are telling stories, not reporting the news, or doing commentary on a local high school football game.

Coyote was ruined by present tense. To all you potential Sci fi writers and editors out there, please reconsider your use of present tense. It RUINS the stories. But that is just my opinion and I have been wrong many times.

A Wikipedia article I am reading: Military history of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. “Bloodthirsty” is an understatement! Has some cheery quotes from Assyrian kings such as:

At the command of the god Ashur, the great Lord, I rushed upon the enemy like the approach of a hurricane … I put them to rout and turned them back. I transfixed the troops of the enemy with javelins and arrows. Humban-undasha, the commander in chief of the king of Elam, together with his nobles … I cut their throats like sheep … My prancing steeds, trained to harness, plunged into their welling blood as into a river; the wheels of my battle chariot were bespattered with blood and filth. I filled the plain with corpses of their warriors like herbage.

– Sennacherib

(One of the inspirations for my alien character – see 16/11 entry.) Judging by their monuments, the kings don’t seem to have had any self-esteem problems! No one seems to have written a fiction novel about them, somewhat surprisingly (Ashurbanipal would be an interesting candidate). They were also in the habit of deporting various populations (one practice the USSR undertook over 2000 years later, incidently). For me, one of the most interesting aspects of human history has long been the wars, kings, and so on. It is not “nice,” but this year I have stopped caring much about niceness when it comes to humans (but did I ever?).

“Fatherhood 2.0,” Time.com, 4/10/2007 (article might disappear from free access). I felt somewhat ambivelent about the topic of this article, men choosing to take on traditional motherhood roles (i.e. raising their children). I kind of feel, ugh! How dull! I dislike the “feminization” of men and excessive indulgence of emotion that is fashionable in current society and this is one example. Though it is not unprecedented in Nature for males to help with raising their young (can’t think of examples offhand, but some species of birds do this).

There is yet another spacewalk by ISS-16 today (Peggy Whitson and Daniel Tani again).

NASA’s website is being redesigned yet again (demonstration page); the new version is to go up on 30 November. From the Flash demo, it looks very nice, rather dark and moody with Web 2.0-style gradients, though I can’t tell from that demo if they will be using <div>s for layout rather than the clunky old-fashioned table layouts of previous versions. People will be able to leave comments, which should be interesting! Now if only the Russian space websites (Energiya, FKA, TsUP) would redesign and upgrade!

“Russia To Launch Manned Spacecraft From New Site In 2018,” Space Daily, 22/11. The new site is to be called Восточный, Vostochnyi (“Eastern”), so you can guess in what direction it is located. Baikonur will continue to be used until at least 2020.

Ivanov confirmed that Russia would continue to use the Baikonur launch site until at least 2020, and would also build new facilities at the Kazakh center under the joint Baiterek project to support launches of the future Angara family of launch vehicles.

At the same time, the first deputy premier called for urgent measures to develop the country as a leading space power rather than to turn it into a provider of launch services for other countries. “I would like to stress that Russia should not turn into a country providing only launching services – a kind of space hauler, although this alarming trend has been taking shape lately,” Ivanov said. “This trend may become a reality, unless proper measures are taken urgently to develop all aspects of space activities,” he said.

Mark Wade has abandoned his Pausanius blog. He sounds as disillusioned as I do, though for different reasons.

Sunday 25/11

He is gone!

Gone – after nearly 12 endless years!

Yay!

Don’t know if Mr. Rudd will end up being much of an improvement, but for now, enjoy!

There was a post on MetaFilter about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s blog, which he updated. I am not sure if he speaks English. The entries are somewhat bland. Comments are enabled, so there are a few idiotic ones:

I hate you. you are retarted. that simple mentally retarted

– john jacobs

(I am tempted to add a comment asking if he has seen the 300 movie :-D

The blog format is somewhat crappy, with a layout using tables and needing Javascript to view. Ugh.

All world leaders should keep a blog! And write it themselves.

I checked some of the blogs on my “Links” page and culled a few; some haven’t been updated for months, rather disappointingly.

Found a song on YouTube that I loved in the 1980s: Moonlight Shadow. There is also an updated (dance) version. (Use KeepVid to download.)

A comment in a post at Slacktivist (he now lives in the USA):

I was on the other side of the Iron Curtain, so my experience was a bit different. I was too young to remember when the Berlin Wall fell (I was three, so that sort of thing simply didn’t register). However, I do remember the day the after the end of the Kremlin Coup. While the Soviet Union wouldn’t formally dissolve for a few more months, after the coup, it was pretty much inevitable.

At the time, I couldn’t even begin to grasp the significance of the event. I knew that my relatives were practically glued to the TV for days, but I couldn’t figure out why. I remember being quite annoyed because nobody would pay attention to me. On that day, my younger siblings were born. I wasn’t allowed to enter the hospital for some reason, so my grandmother took me up to the hospital window, where we basically waved at each other for a bit. I remember coming back and thinking that the sky looked very clear and I that liked how the sun was reflecting off the waves of the Neva river.

In retrospect, I remember this day as a turning point. From that day on, things started getting worse. Not that they weren’t bad already, but I was too young to remember when things in Soviet Union were actually good. To me, the long lines and the ill-fitting jackets were normal. Anyway, after that day, everything went to hell – slowly at first, but like a slowball rolling down the hill, it picked up speed and mass, quickly turning from inconvenient to uncomfortable to catastrophic.

As for 9/11, my feelings echo some of the older posters – it was bad, but after seeing your country collapse on you, not to mention the rise of the Russian mafia, the Chechen war, etc, 9/11 just couldn’t compare. I do remember feeling a little sad that my classmates, who were sweetly naive when it came to the world outside their borders, got such a bitter taste of cruel reality. I remember praying and hoping that American government wouldn’t do anything vindictive and stupid. Suffice to say, the next few years were quite disappointing.

– Posted by: Strannik | Nov 23, 2007 at 10:46 p.m.

Monday 26/11

A few random articles:

“China in Africa: Developing ties,” BBC, 14/11. First of a series of articles on China’s developing relationship (exploitation?) of African nations. The main reasons for China’s interest are the abundant natural resources in Africa, political and trade opportunities.

“As the World Turns … and Bakes and Burns,” Mother Jones, 16/11. On the droughts and water shortages afflicting various parts of the world. An article linked from there is “The Big Dry,” Science News, 27/10, on the situation in Australia.

“Shoot to thrill,” The Age, 22/11. How the military utilizes computer games to interest young people in joining up.

“The deadly cyber-legacy of two boys from Columbine High,” The Age, 24/11. The internet gives disaffected people (young males, here) a global audience.

An interesting post at the Asperger LJ community on the difference between making eye contact with animals and people; the former is easier for those with AS.

A direct, unbroken stare is perceived as threatening by most animals. A gorilla will NEVER look you straight in the eye unless it’s challenging you and preparing to fight. The Western cultural drive to “look me steadily in the eyes to ensure communication” is contrary to most older cultures, and most of the animal kingdom as well.

I have always intensely disliked eye contact with humans; I rarely do it even with my parents.

On 15 November, Space Adventures offered anyone who could come up with the $3 million fee a chance to train as space tourist Richard Garriott’s backup. The contender was announced in today’s Herald-Sun: a 38-year-old Australian businessman, Nik Halik. I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else yet – I won’t link to the article as it will disappear offline.

Tuesday 27/11

I was visiting Stephen Pressfield’s website; he is the author of the historical novel Gates of Fire (a tale of Sparta, which I haven’t read; library doesn’t have a copy). I did read – or half-read (blame my short attention span!) – a more recent novel of his, The Afghan Campaign. Not too bad, but I found his use of modern language, slang and phrases jarring. Also the excessive swearing! There’s an excerpt from GOW on his site as an example.

He has some interesting opinions on why democracy will never work in the Middle East (namely Iraq and Afghanistan): the main reason being the ancient mentality of tribalism (relevant interviews 1, 2, 3).

What exactly is the tribal mind-set? It derives from that most ancient of social organizations, whose virtues are obedience, fidelity, warrior pride, respect for ancestors, hostility to outsiders and willingness to lay down one’s life for the cause/faith/group. […]

The democratic virtues of the Enlightenment, the Rights of Man and the American Constitution are not virtues to the tribesman. They are effeminate. They lack warrior honor. “Freedom” to the tribesman means the extinction of all he and his ancestors hold dear; “democracy” and Western values are a mortal threat to the ancient and proud way of life that the tribal mind has embraced (whether Scythian nomads, Amazon warriors, or American Indians) for tens of thousands of years.

The tribesman isn’t “wrong” or “evil.” He just doesn’t want what we’re selling. We will not convert him with free elections or with SAW machine guns. To him, 9/11 is only the most recent act of badal in a clash that has been raging for more than two thousand years. We will not find the way to contest him, let alone defeat him, until we see the struggle against him within the greater context of this millenia-old, unaltering, East-West war.

He suggests the only way to beat them:

The key to fighting tribal enemies is their warrior pride. Imagine you’re facing Geronimo or Crazy Horse and you want to reach an accommodation. You have to show tremendous respect, you have to understand the passion and implacability of tribal pride. It’s not one aspect, it’s everything. You have to give the enemy a credible way to convince his people that he won, that he beat you. Otherwise his own people will eat him alive.

The other option would be to annihilate them (or, at least, slaughter great numbers of them!).

To less bloodthirsty topics. There is a conspiracy blog called “The Dark Mission Blog” by Richard Hoagland’s co-author of the book I mentioned in my 16/10 entry (NASA cover-up conspiracy theories). They are very unhappy with James Oberg as he has been demanding some evidence of the qualifications of one of their sources, a Ken Johnston; these qualifications seem to be somewhat questionable. (An example post.) (JimO – his usual moniker on various sites – has replied in some of the comments. Wish he would start a blog! *Hint*) So anyway I visit this blog sometimes for “entertainment” purposes. I wish there were visiting aliens, bases on Mars, etc. but the reality is a lot more mundane, unfortunately.

“Are Aliens Among Us?,” Scientific American, 19/11. Not in spaceships but in microbe form. If life arose more than once on Earth, it might have had a different biochemistry, such as chirality (DNA is “right-handed,” but in alien life forms it could be left-handed), or different amino acids making up the DNA. The alien microbes could be fossils, or still living in the environment. Some time ago I found a similiar article speculating on extraterrestrial biochemistry: “Alien Pizza, Anyone?”

A novel I read a few months ago, The Swarm, concerned such an alien lifeform living deep under the ocean; it had evolved on Earth but taken a different evolutionary path to other creatures and was a sort of hive-mind. Having had enough of humanity’s increasing pollution of its environment, the sea, it began to retaliate, by infecting various sea creatures and causing them to attack humans in various ways. Some scientists eventually managed to find a way to communicate with it, after a fashion. The novel was a bit too long and disjointed, but there were lots of interesting speculations in it. I would not describe the creature as “evil”; it was simply acting to try to combat the threat to its existence.

“AstroMom and Basstronaut, revisited,” The Space Review, 19/11. What happened to the space-tourists-who-weren’t, Lori Garver and Lance Bass. To me it was another example of how dismally avaricious the Russian space program has become – the word that come to mind is “prostitution”.

Wednesday 28/11

Pretty beetle

I found this pretty iridescent beetle floating (already deceased) in the birdbath this morning. I have no idea what species it is! The head and body are iridescent green-gold, the wing covers blue-green with dark indigo markings, and it is about 7 mm long. I had to lighten and sharpen the image in a photo editor to get the details; it is as close as my camera will focus.

Friday 30/11

Cicada

Another insect found today: a cicada! It is a fairly common type; think the informal name is “Green Grocer”. Some were singing in nearby trees a couple of days ago and they were deafening! I heard this one fluttering outside and rescued it from an Indian Mynah bird; the cicada had lost a leg. He looks a bit dazed! I put him outside in a pot plant and late this afternoon he recovered and flew away.

December

Sunday 2/12: Electricity up; new NASA site design

The weather was warm and somewhat humid all last week and today is hot, over 30°C. Just have to miserably endure the next 3 months or so until this horrid season ends.

Utilities (electricity, water, gas) are to increase in cost from next year and public transport fares will also go up. This is inevitably what happens when essential services are run by private companies: prices will go up so they can make profits. Privatization was the worst mistake the government ever made.

The new version of the NASA site is now online! It looks very nice:

Screenshot of NASA site, 2 December 2007

Good points:

Not-so-good points:

“Nasa outlines manned Mars vision,” BBC News, 28/11. A plan proposed by NASA for a Mars mission in the next few decades.

Monday 3/12: Cool national costumes; unfashionable heroes; Mars-500 update

Rain today! In what seems to increasingly be the usual trend, there was flash flooding and damage across Melbourne (“it never rains but pours”). Still humid with a few thunderstorms around.

Australia has finally ratified the Kyoto climate change Protocol.

I was looking at some national costumes at Wikipedia and thinking how much I like the Salwar Kameez, a garment worn in countries like Afghanistan, India and Pakistan; it looks quite comfortable and practical, especially in a hot climate and hides less-than-perfect figures! I wish it would become fashionable in Western society; I would love such a garment, made out of silk. Fashions in Australia and similar countries mainly consist of tight, revealing, uncomfortable clothing (and don’t get me started on the ridiculous impracticality of women’s shoes!). Other costumes I like are the Oriental-style ones, mainly the looser wrap-around styles, such as this armor (mentioned in my 30/10 entry), or these Joseon era uniforms from Korea. The styles are simple and elegant without excessive embellishments.

The fashions in the shops this year are still the hideous smock-type tops and garish patterns. Ugh. I generally ignore fashion, but, depending upon what is trendy, it can be hard to buy clothes I like. According to the Wikipedia article, “The habit of people continually changing the style of clothing worn, which is now worldwide, at least among urban populations, is a distinctively Western one.” Somehow not surprising!

“Beowulf in sheep’s clothing,” The Age, 1/12. The recently-released film is compared to the original poem. I thought these paragraphs interesting:

The answer, of course, is that the filmmakers want to update the story to suit 21st-century audiences. That means rudimentary psychology and lashings of sinister sex appeal. And yet the poem doesn’t need updating. What it needs is a reader willing to forget the clichés of our culture.

Although they are all over our film, television and PC screens, we’re not comfortable with warrior heroes, with supernatural battles between good and evil. We believe – quite rightly – that conflicts cannot always be settled with violence. We snigger at guys with swords and six-packs, and look for fascist or homoerotic overtones. Only adolescent boys (the prime market for the Beowulf film and electronic game) show any signs of taking the genre seriously, and even then there’s a certain irony at work.

The author of Beowulf took his hero and his world utterly seriously. There’s a code of conduct here – part Christian, part pagan – about valour, loyalty and glory after death, a code that stirs and moves us still, even as it also appears foreign and occasionally appalling, like the ethics of Tony Soprano. But if we enter into the seriousness of this world, we will be rewarded.

We live in an era where the banal is glorified and sincerity is sneered at, but many have a secret longing for real heroism and the warrior ethos as defined in such films – however “politically incorrect” such sentiments may be (see my thoughts on this in my 14/5 entry).

“Russia Conducts First Experiment In Preparation For Mars-500,” RIA Novosti/Space Daily, 30/11. A short test of the modules was conducted by a Russian crew (5 men, 1 woman) from 15-29 November. There is disappointingly little information on the Mars-500 site, though.

Tuesday 4/12: Mars-500 update

Novosti Kosmonavtiki news № 669 has a more detailed report on the recent completion of the first Mars-500 short test run, including short biographies of the participants, who all have intimidatingly impressive qualifications. (Yes, I am envious of them.)

30/11/2007/00:03 – Flight to Mars from the Khoroshevskogo highway of the capital city

Within the framework of the “Mars-500” project – an international crew flight simulation to the Red Planet – the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Science held a two-week experiment involving six testers.

The purpose of the two week experiment, which was conducted in IMPB RAN with the active assistance of the Federal Space Agency, was checking the conformity of the technical and operating characteristics of the modules and their systems to the requirements of the developed technical and operational documentation under the conditions maximally approximating real operation. The experiment was conducted in two modules of the medical-technical complex: EU-150/ЭУ-150 (habitable module with a volume of 150 m3) and EU-100/ЭУ-100 (medical module with a volume of 100 m3). In the course of the experiment, the crew lived and worked in these completely isolated modules. During the experiment was tested newly-developed life-support systems, monitoring and control, information management and the local tele-medical network.

The experiment began on 15 November at 11:00 and was completed on 29 November at 14:00.

The crew successfully managed the tasks entrusted to it. During 14 days there was performed the estimation of modules and their systems in terms of their suitability to conducting of the more prolonged experiments, which are part of the Mars-500 program.

The deputy chief of the Federal Space Agency, V.A. Davydov, and the chief for the administration of the manned programs Roskosmos, A.B. Krasnov, became acquainted with the progress of the experiment and the work of the support systems during a visit to IMBP on 22 November.

The experiment was attended by major developers: ФГУП ЦЭНКИ/FGUP TsENKI, ЗАО МИУС/EAO MIUS, ОАО ВНИСИ/OAO VNISI, ОАО НИИХИММАШ/OAO NIIKhIMMASH, ФГУП ЦНИИМАШ ЦУП-МФ/FGUP TsNIIMASH TsUP-MF, ЗАО ЦВТ/EAO TsVT. During the experiment some elements of the crew uniforms were tried, designed and provided by ЗАО НПО «Динафорс»/EAO NPO “Dinafors” working within the framework of the partnership program for the project “Mars-500”.

The crew consisted of five men and one woman:

Monday 10/12: Baby levy suggestion; watched Ran

A rare and sensible suggestion by a medical expert in Western Australia to combat overpopulation. Naturally, family-obsessed groups are indignant:

Baby levy plan to offset carbon emissions

Jen Kelly, Herald-Sun

Families would pay a $5000-plus baby levy at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child under a plan flagged in Australia’s top medical journal.

Every couple with more than two children would be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated over each child’s lifetime.

Perth Assoc Prof Barry Walters outlines his proposal in yesterday’s Medical Journal of Australia.

He calls for condoms and greenhouse-friendly services such as sterilisation procedures to earn carbon credits for the user and prescriber.

And he implies the Federal Government should ditch the $4133 baby bonus and intimates we ought to consider population controls like those in China and India.

“Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an average of 80 years, not simply by breathing, but by the profligate consumption of resources typical of our society,” he wrote.

“Far from showering financial booty on new mothers and thereby rewarding greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour, a baby levy in the form of a carbon tax should apply, in line with the polluter pays principle.”

Assoc. Prof. Walters is clinical associate professor of obstetric medicine at the department of women’s and infants’ health at the University of Western Australia and the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth.

Australian Family Association spokeswoman Angela Conway attacked the proposal and said it was ridiculous to blame babies for global warming.

“I think self-important professors with silly ideas should have to pay carbon tax for all the hot air they create,” she said.

“There’s masses of evidence to say that child-rich families have much lower resource consumption per head than other styles of households.

“How many families with more than a few children trip off overseas once or twice a year? How many overseas trips has the professor made recently?”

Australian Breastfeeding Association spokeswoman Karen Commisso said the idea was crazy.

“What a bizarre suggestion – so now we have to pay to have children?”

The plan won praise from high-profile doctor Garry Egger, best known as the mastermind behind the GutBusters weight-loss program.

Responding to the plan in the Medical Journal of Australia, Dr Egger wrote: “I agree with Walters”.

“One must wonder why population control, which was such a popular topic during the 1970s, is spoken of today only in whispers,” wrote Dr Egger, director of the Centre for Health Promotion and Research in Sydney.

Assoc. Prof. Walters said each child born needed to be offset by planting 4 ha. of trees, allowing for time taken to reach maturity and loss through bushfires and other events.

Problem is, many people tend to get very irrational when it comes to reproduction (as is evident with some of the negative responses). (Posted to VHEMT)

I bought Ran with a Borders discount voucher last week and watched it; it’s as excellent as I remember! (Mentioned in my 23/9 entry.) Though at 2 hours 35 minutes it is best watched on TV, not at a computer (but I don’t have a DVD player). The edition is this one; not the best, but the only one that seems to be available here (the more recent and better Criterion release is for Region 1 only – in the USA – disappointingly). It is not digitally-remastered, so there is a tiny bit of shaking from the camera film transfer that is sometimes evident. The DVD extras are also lacking (just a documentary on the second disk).

So Ran is definitely one of my favorite movies. Certainly not a feel-good film but compelling nonetheless! Full of blood and violence and family betrayal. Lady Kaede is arguably the most dangerous character!

“End of the Soviet Union: the Soviet State, Born of a Dream, Dies,” New York Times, 26/12/1991. Found this somewhat gloomy article while looking through the NYT archives.

Thursday 13/12: Yet another Windows reinstall; Hadron black hole

I spent a tedious and wearisome few hours yesterday reinstalling Windows XP and all my programs. I am still using the FAT-32 file system on the master drive as I can format the hard drive with the DOS command FORMAT C: from a floppy disk. I don’t think that can be done with the NTFS system.

Also if you use the clean install option from the XP disk to install a new copy of XP over the current XP, it does not wipe the disk clean (i.e. format it) but retains program files from the previous installation – these can be seen if the “Show hidden files and folders” option is checked. I can’t find this annoyance mentioned in any of the computers books I have looked through. The only option seems to be to use a program to wipe the disk clean (such as Darik’s Boot and Nuke), then install XP which will format the disk.

“The World’s Biggest (and Smallest) Crash-Test Site,” Exile.ru, 10/12. The Russian contribution to the rather awesome Large Hadron Collider project. This will involve energies not attained before, so no one is certain what might happen! There are rumors floating around that a mini-black hole might be created that will suck up the Earth, though this is officially discredited. The Ray Hammond novel extract mentioned in my 21/10 entry describes a military-created black hole that nearly gets out of control. It is fascinating stuff, even if the physics is mostly incomprehensible to me! There are awesome forces out in the Universe. (Via Mitchell Porter)

A pity the official LHC webpage is so crappy in design, though! Frames – ugh!

Friday 14/12: Signalling aliens a good idea? Seeing stars; Lisa Nowak drama

A hot day, and I can’t be bothered doing anything. The sky has been hazy all day from a large factory fire in Moorabbin.

“Who Speaks for Earth?,” Seed Magazine.com, 12/12 (via this post at Uplink.com). Another article on the topic of whether it is wise to send out signals into space to alert aliens to our presence! (Last mentioned in my 21/10 entry.) Aleksander Zaitsev, Chief Scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, is happily sending out signals to various stars. Some people think this is a bad idea. I don’t think it matters; as I have said: because humanity is destroying itself anyway, an alien invasion could not be any worse than what humans already inflict upon ourselves. So, go for it!

An interview with astronaut Danny Olivas at the Interspacenews.com site. He has a rather nice anecdote about the clarity of the night sky (as compared to the light-polluted skies of Earth):

Q: What was your most memorable moment the whole mission?

A: Ahhh … no doubt, the most memorable moment for me was the second-to-last day that we were on orbit. It was at nighttime, and I was on the flightdeck and we had the middeck access door closed and that means we were looking out on the back of the Space Shuttle and we were just looking at the stars and trying to make out with our naked eyes some of the features of the night sky, like the Orion Nebula. Then I looked over and could still see the space station far away and then all over my right shoulder I could see the Milky Way. Then I saw, over the starboard wing two clouds … in space! So I thought, “clouds in space? That doesn’t make any sense!” Then Jerry and I were talking and I said, “you know, what if it were a galaxy?” So we pulled out our binoculars, and sure enough, we were sitting here on the space shuttle, at the end of the Milky Way, looking out the back window, peering into a neighboring galaxy and we are looking right into the Magellanic Clouds, which to me it just blew my mind away!

“NASA e-mails hint at astronaut love triangle,” MSNBC.com, 14/12. More emails released by NASA from the Lisa Nowak case (located on this page at the site – rather annoyingly, they are scanned in as images rather than OCR text). I suppose the moral of this is that emails are not private, so don’t write things like “Will have to control myself when I see you. First urge will be to rip your clothes off, throw you on the ground and love the hell out of you”!

Sunday 16/12: Joining the Russian army; Putin demonization

There was a cool change yesterday and rain most of the day, which was a nice relief!

In my last dream of this morning (before my alarm clock woke me), I was going to join the Russian army! I signed up and turned up at recruiting but then changed my mind and sneaked off back home as I was not supposed to leave. The dream was a distorted memory of when I was going to sign up for an art course at Moorabbin TAFE college in 1991 and attended the orientation day, but decided against it when I found out how much theory would be involved (as opposed to actually painting and drawing). But why the Russian army? Weird.

From the local newspaper: “Council fears over expansion,” 12/12. Population growth and the consequent overdevelopment continues in our region, dismayingly, and it really impacts on quality of life.

The council’s report was in response to the State Government’s Melbourne 2030 planning strategy.

GLEN Eira Council has released a progress report on meeting its targets to deal with Melbourne’s ever-growing population. The council’s report was in response to the State Government’s Melbourne 2030 planning strategy. The strategy encourages urban development to be consolidated around activity centres with commercial developments and public transport.

The council report, based on the Government’s Victoria in Future 2004 population projection, indicates Glen Eira’s population will blow out by more than 18,000 people by 2030. It stated Glen Eira would need more than 10,000 new dwellings 306 dwellings each year from 2000 to accommodate new residents.

Cr Nick Staikos and Cr Steven Tang requested the report in September to clarify the municipality’s housing targets under Melbourne 2030 and to report the council’s progress. The report shows Glen Eira was meeting its Melbourne 2030 targets, Cr Staikos said. “Residents have no need to fear any higher or aggressive development,” Cr Staikos said.

At the latest council meeting, Cr David Feldman said he did not like the report or the Melbourne 2030 strategy. “I don’t disagree with the fact that (urban sprawl) is an issue,” Cr Feldman said. “But the State Government needs to be investing in infrastructure to manage a modern level of urban sprawl.” Roads, footpaths and drainage needed to be funded, he added.

Bentleigh state Labor MP Rob Hudson said the Government’s infrastructure expenditure would total $3.5 billion for the state this financial year. “There is no reason why Glen Eira can’t handle 2030,” Mr Hudson said.

“Is Russia Democratic?,” AntiWar.com, 3/12. On the demonization of President Putin and Russia by the Western media, and the hypocrisy of the latter. I am ambivalent about Mr. Putin – I like that he doesn’t drink and keeps fit (he is a judo black belt) but don’t like the direction where he is taking Russia; i.e. turning the country into a sort of capitalist corporate state.

NASA has a section on its site about future interstellar spaceflight technologies: Warp Drive, When?

Tuesday 18/12: Reign of Fire viewing; revolting rich Russians

Last Friday evening the film Reign of Fire was screened on TV. It started off promisingly, but then the rest of the movie featured some grimy sweaty people running around with weapons in a landscape of grey slag! Apparently the surviving humans had forgotten how to bathe by 2020. The dragons looked cool, but there was disappointingly little seen of them (I like dragons). The best quote of the movie (when some U.S. military people arrive at the England outpost): “Only one thing worse than a dragon … Americans.”

“Filthy rich Russian blocks the dirt on a life of luxury,” The Age, 18/12. A not-very-flattering documentary about the obscenely rich in Russia will not be screened there.

In a land where democracy hangs by a thread and the working poor are just that, Rublyovka is reminiscent of the excesses of the tsarist era that ushered in the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. […]

Many scenes had to be filmed with hidden cameras. Langemann said police harassment, threats and KGB-like treatment continued throughout the filming. Authorities did not like being quizzed about mysterious arsons at poorer properties that forced out the ordinary people so oligarches and their families could buy up land cheaply to build mansions.

And guess what happened to the monarchy during the Russian Revolution, when impoverished citizens got fed up with their excesses? During the French Revolution, the wealthy were guillotined! I can’t say I find that upsetting.

President Putin seems to be rather too close to various powerful oligarches/business types (see my 16/12 entry). He is also determined to retain influence in politics. As with the American system, a Russian president can’t be elected for more than two concurrent terms (a feature I wish the Australian system would adopt!), but it seems there is a way around that:

Mr. Putin, whose two-term limit as president expires in March, has backed his ally Dimitry Medvedev as his successor. The 42-year-old board chairman at gas giant Gazprom and Mr. Putin’s First Deputy Prime Minister, in turn, offered Mr. Putin the post of prime minister if he is elected president.

More: “Putin ready to be PM after polls,” BBC News, 17/12.

“Wealth gap leaves rural Russia behind,” BBC News, 29/5/2007: depressing reading. The Government should be ashamed that so many people still live like this in the 21st century! Though China has a similar problem.

Thursday 20/12: Waning enthusiasm for space and website

Today is warm, humid and unsettled with thunderstorms passing through. There was a torrential downpour this morning like a monsoon, then another storm came this afternoon with heavy rain, hailstones and flooding.

I have done little with my websites this year. I have lost my initial enthusiasm for them (and the space program generally) so I haven’t added new pages or topics (but I still like my favorite cosmonaut! :-) I just haven’t found much more information about him). This journal is the only section that I regularly write in. I am still interested in spaceflight, but haven’t been able to rekindle the initial enthusiasm I had in 2000. Perhaps my feelings would alter somewhat if Russia launched a manned Mars mission! Alas, their only Mars mission in the near-future will be a pretend one (Mars-500).

Compared to the marvelous technologies that feature in the science-fiction novels I have read, the real-world manned space program seems hopelessly limited and primitive (the unmanned space probes are doing much better, going out all over the solar system).

A thread at the SFFWorld forum discusses whether the colorful covers of fantasy and sci-fi novels are off-putting or not. I personally like covers that are obviously fantasy/sci-fi, rather than the minimalist covers that are found on a lot of general fiction. Unfortunately the minimalist trend is being adopted for many sci-fi and fantasy novels too, and such covers so drab and boring! The more colorful the better, in my view.

“The truth, it is out there ….,” The Space Review, 17/12. An amusing article on an encounter with conspiracy theorist Richard Hoagland (last mentioned in my 27/11 entry).

Friday 21/12: Tropical weather; Soviet postcards

Tropical thunderstorm

The weather was another tropical day like yesterday: warm and unpleasantly humid in the morning, then storms forming in the afternoon. A ferocious rainstorm came through after 1:30 p.m.; the rain was coming down so intensely that visibility was limited. The photos below show our front yard during and just after the storm (which moved from west to east):

We sometimes get this wet weather around this time of year; last year we got a below-10°C Christmas Day! (See 25/12/2006 entry.) A commenter on this Herald-Sun page says, “If anyone cared to listen, this is very normal behavior for this time of year in Victoria. Growing up there were always significant storms just before Xmas, simply due to the last bout of cold fronts for the year ‘mixing’ with early monsoonal tropical moisture coming down the north.” But it is warming up again later next week, unhappily.

One negative effect of the severe storms we’ve had over the years is all the trees that get blown down.

Someone at MetaFilter found the Soviet-era Christmas/New Year aerospace-themed cards at the Mazaika.com site; I came across these a year or two ago and thought they were cool! This one seems to anticipate the Tatooine Pod Racer.

Sunday 23/12: Toothache; senator Russia-bashing

I have a nasty feeling I might need another tooth filling as the right molar in front of the one that was filled early this year (see 25/1 entry) is twinging a bit, and looks a bit dark in the center cracks. Damn, that is the last thing I need; more expense. It would not be such a concern if the public dental system was functioning – PM Rudd promised to reinstate it (no thanks to miserly John Howard who abolished the Commonwealth Dental Health Program in 1996) – but that is some way off yet. Bloody stupid teeth – why am I having all this trouble when they were previously fine a few years ago? I brush and floss my teeth, don’t drink soft drinks and our tap water is fluoridated.

Why can’t people regenerate teeth throughout their lives so that I could just have the troublesome one extracted and a new one would grow to replace it? Maybe some form of genetic or stem cell technology will enable this in the future, but that is also a long way off.

NASAWatch notes the excessive “Russia-bashing” contained in this Bill being put forward by a Congressman Weldon to prolong the operations of the Space Shuttle to 2015 (rather than the current end date of 2010). “RUSSIA IS NOT A RELIABLE PARTNER,” etc … (There is a long discussion thread at NASASpaceflight.com.) What a Paranoid Patriot Weldon is (a Republican, not surprisingly)! The thought of someone like him becoming U.S. President is dismaying!

Progress M-61 undocked from the ISS yesterday (22/12) at 3:57 UTC. It will remain in autonomous orbit for about a month, performing a series of technical experiments. Progress M-62 launched today at 7:12:35 from Baikonur.

Monday 24/12: Christmas shopping greed; China vs. Russia transition

I made a dentist appointment for 8 January (the earliest I could get), so there will be 2 weeks of dreading it.

The big shopping centers/malls were open 24 hours from yesterday to today. The consumerism and greed surrounding Christmas seem to grow every year. See article in my 3/12/2005 entry. Also this article: “Check the malls (and fill my trolley),” The Age, 16/12/2007. Credit is easy to get, and Australians currently owe $41 billion on their credit cards. A lot of people are thus in huge debt (house mortgages and credit cards), and this will catch up with them sooner or later. I have little sympathy for them (though it is now rather difficult to buy many things without a credit card).

Shopping addicts, he says, are generally treated with anti-depressants, which suggests that retail therapy is a doomed attempt to treat a malaise that runs much deeper than the crying need for a new set of saucepans. “At heart,” says Hamilton, “I think it’s a reflection of the meaninglessness of modern life, although there are other factors at work like status-seeking.”

Relentless marketing campaigns, both for products and for quick and easy credit, are another key element in the shift in culture, Hamilton says. “We’ve seen an overthrowing of traditional middle-class virtues of thrift and moderation,” he says. Most shoppers are too young to remember the Depression. They are easily convinced that “being temperate is uncool and unnecessary”. […]

Most economists, Steve Keen says, do not see this as a problem. “Most economists,” he adds sardonically, “don’t believe money matters, believe it or not.” The most recent national accounts show that household spending – whether in cash or on credit – was the main source of growth in the Australian economy in the last quarter. “Aussie consumers take the reins,” announced a jubilant press release from the Commonwealth Bank’s research unit.

But, to Professor Keen, this kind of growth is unsustainable. “Last year, the increase in debt was responsible for about 18% of total spending,” he says. Back in the ’60s, despite the popularity of hire purchase, it was never more than 5%. And there will come a moment, he says, when that debt turns bad. […]

“We have to figure out whether it is worth polluting the Earth more by buying stuff we don’t need. We’ve got 3 billion more people coming in the next 40 years. As we all know, we are in an emergency situation.”

I found this page on Steve Keen’s Debunking Economics site about why China had a far less traumatic transition than Russia to a market economy.

The Chinese experience demonstrates that shock therapy is not the only way to proceed. To the shock therapists who warn that step-by-step, gradual economic reform is like crossing an abyss in two leaps, the Chinese gradualists respond that economic reform should be like crossing a river by feeling for one rock at a time.

The “experts” who advised that Russia undertake the “shock therapy” method of economic reform should be tried for crimes against Russia! It was a disastrous social experiment, perhaps even more so than Communism (the latter at least had some sort of social welfare and public services).

My 3/11/2004 entry also mentions this.

Tuesday 25/12: Alien audience?

Christmas Day and I am on the Internet as usual. We stopped having family gatherings years ago as my now-adult relatives either live far away or have their own lives and don’t visit. I used to anticipate Christmas when I was young but don’t anymore.

My sister gave me the DVD of Sunshine as a present; she must have read my mind!

Aliens might be watching us on Earth

December 25, 2007

As astronomers scan the universe for signs of intelligent life, a group of researchers predicts other beings just might be looking at us.

A scientific paper published in this week’s online edition of Astrophysical Journal suggests alien astronomers armed with a large space telescope could detect our planet and possibly determine the presence of life.

“They would only be able to see Earth as a single pixel, rather than resolving it to take a picture,” University of Florida astronomer and paper co-author, Professor Eric Ford, said.

“But that could be enough for them to identify our planet as one that likely contains clouds and oceans of liquid water.”

In the past 20 years, astronomers have found more than 200 planets. However, none appear to have the conditions for supporting Earth-like life.

Most are hot-gas planets similar to Jupiter, with no solid surface and an atmosphere composed largely of hydrogen and helium.

“The goal of (our) project was to see how much information you can extract from very limited data,” fellow co-author and MIT associate professor, Sara Seager, said.

According to the paper, a great deal of information about a planet can be gleaned from that single pixel and the way it changes over time.

The paper suggests an alien telescope could collect enough light to identify chemicals in our atmosphere and record periodic changes in the brightness of the Earth due to clouds and rotation.

It may even be able to determine the presence of land and oceans from Earth’s changing light pattern.

Prof. Ford believes the hypothetical research will be useful to astronomers designing the next generation of telescopes, providing an outline of the capabilities required for studying Earth-like planets.

He hopes that his research will help to motivate an ever larger space telescope that could search for Earth-like planets around many stars.

“Maybe somebody’s looking at us right now,” Ms. Seager said.

Sergei Krikalyov seems to have vanished from the ISS-19 crew list as posted at CollectSpace.com; he was to be commander and fly up in Soyuz TMA-14. Wonder if he has been reassigned?

“Mars-500 Simulated Space Mission,” 24/12: image gallery at RIA Novosti.

Wednesday 26/12: NASA site gripes; where is Sergei?

After all that lovely rain last week the weather is warming up again, predicted to reach an unpleasant 38°C by next Monday. The unfortunate citizens of Perth have had to endure a hot few days during the Christmas period, up to 41°C today – with humidity.

I was attempting to count the number of stylesheets and Javascript files that the new-design NASA site loads, and these add up to about 34 for the first, and over 50 for the second type! That’s probably why it takes so long to load as the browser has to load and parse these before it displays the page. They seem to be trying to make the site look much the same in as many browsers as possible (including older ones). (My site, for a contrast, has one Javascript file and two stylesheets, and I thought that was complicated …!)

As noted in my previous entry, Sergei Krikalyov seems to have been dropped from the Soyuz TMA-14/ISS-19 crew as commander; he is no longer in the latest ISS flight crew roster up to ISS-21, though the roster is not yet finalized. (Via Olaf and this thread at the Novosti Kosmonavtiki forum, posted in August.) So perhaps he was moved to a later mission? Or will he be in management for a few years, though he is still an active cosmonaut? The official Russian sites are useless for this sort of information, annoyingly.

The FPSpace mailing list server has been unavailable for over a week; wonder what’s happened?

Thursday 27/12: Tsunami documentary

The city of Perth had its hottest day on record yesterday: 44°C! New Year’s Eve is predicted to be hot here (38°C), though not quite as bad as 2 years ago (see 31/12/2005 entry).

Last night I watched the documentary Tsunami: Wave of Disaster, which was quite compelling, showing via a combination of interviews with survivors, recorded footage and dramatized scenes how terrifying the 2004 Asian tsunami was. Two memorable scenes were of the debris-choked water surging through the streets of an Indonesian city, and the rather nightmarish tsumani sequence as filmed by a German tourist on an island in Thailand (there is a shorter video on YouTube):

There was also an Air Crash Investigations documentary before that, on the Columbia shuttle disaster.

Friday 28/12: Creepy Putin

The barbarians got Benazir Bhutto.

Time magazine voted President Putin as Person of the Year last week, featuring a rather creepy photo of him on the cover – he looks like a cyborg or something! There is an interesting interview with him, “A Tsar Is Born,” in the issue (if it is taken offline, I will reproduce it here), and an interview transcript. Though the “full” transcript has sections cut out, as there is a fuller version at the Kremlin.ru website – found by Mitchell Porter; I wouldn’t have thought to visit there!

No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin’s. The Russian President’s pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved by the suppression of ordinary needs, like blinking. The affect is now seamless, which makes talking to the Russian President not just exhausting but often chilling. It’s a gaze that says, I’m in charge. […]

Vladimir Putin gives a first impression of contained power: he is compact and moves stiffly but efficiently. He is fit, thanks to years spent honing his black-belt judo skills and, these days, early-morning swims of an hour or more. And while he is diminutive – 5 ft. 6 in. (about 1.7 m) seems a reasonable guess – he projects steely confidence and strength. Putin is unmistakably Russian, with chiseled facial features and those penetrating eyes. Charm is not part of his presentation of self – he makes no effort to be ingratiating. One senses that he pays constant obeisance to a determined inner discipline. The successor to the boozy and ultimately tragic Boris Yeltsin, Putin is temperate, sipping his wine only when the protocol of toasts and greetings requires it; mostly he just twirls the Montrachet in his glass. He eats little, though he twitchily picks the crusts off the bread rolls on his plate.

Rather disappointingly, though, he seems to be a technology Luddite:

Q: Do you use e-mail? Do you blog?

A: Well, it’s a big shame. I don’t use these technologies. I don’t even use a telephone. My staff do it for me. But they do it wonderfully.

The Orthodox Church is disturbingly influential. It doesn’t help that the President is also religious. This article, “In Search of Russia’s Big Idea,” of the Time issue has some descriptions, along with other dismaying trends (a revival of monarchism, etc.). It gives the impression that many in Russia wish to return to a state of feudal serfdom.

“And Moscow Makes Me Sing And Shout”: a portrait of a nightclub, which to me seems like an unpleasant place, full of shallow and vapid attention-seekers. Who are these beautiful women? I would like to see them (and the nightclub) consumed in fire. I hate beautiful young women as I never was one (see 1/12/2005 entry).

For somewhat more humorous coverage, see “Poemless’s” diary entry, “Odds & Ends: Merry Christmas! Edition,” at European Tribune (via Mitchell Porter again).

“Retired general says Soviet incursion of Afghanistan justified,” RIAN, 27/12. A retired Afghan general said that, notably.

“The U.S. established such organizations in Afghanistan like al-Qaeda, and it was the U.S. that created Osama bin Laden, who is now terrorizing the entire world,” he said.

The word that is used to describe such consequences is “blowback”. See also this post I made at the Uplink forum (links to “Afghanistan” at Northstar Compass and the John Pilger book extract, “Liberating Afghanistan”).

It is 36°C outside; I want last Saturday’s weather back – rain and 12°C!

Two songs I like that I found on YouTube: “Frozen” by Madonna, and “Desert Rose” by Sting.

Saturday 29/12: Mars asteroid crash; BioSuit; no more space tourists? Perminov interview

38°C today. Currently supposed to reach 41°C on Monday! :-( So it will be an unpleasant heatwave for the New Year.

An asteroid, 2007 WD5, may crash into Mars next month (30 January is the predicted date); there is a 4% chance it will happen. Mars is close to the Earth at this time and is more visible this month (December 2007 night sky guide, Sydney Observatory).

“MIT seeks funding for elastic spacesuit,” Space Daily, 26/12 (and the original Boston Herald article). This is the skinsuit/biosuit concept that was reported back in July (official site). It looks promising for future spacesuits, though there are some problems:

The major drawback to mechanical counterpressure suits is the difficulty in donning and removing the suit. In order to effectively provide the minimum pressure of 4.3 psi necessary for human physiology, the suit must be extremely tight-fitting, making donning and doffing a highly strenuous task. (Wikipedia article)

The suit has to maintain an even pressure all over the body. The MIT article notes that:

Newman says the finished BioSuit may be a hybrid that incorporates some elements of the traditional suits, including a gas-pressured torso section and helmet. An oxygen tank can be attached to the back.

“Russia sees end of road for space tourism,” Space Daily, 27/12. When the ISS crews are increased to 6 from 2009 there will be no place for space tourists in the Soyuz ships. Which in my view is not a bad thing as the Russian space program’s main focus should not be on providing taxi services for bored rich thrillseekers.

There is a lengthy interview Anatolii Perminov did with Interfax on the FKA site; unfortunately not translated (try Babelfish for a rough translation). Some items of interest include:

Sunday 30/12: Mars sighting; hot and bothered

I had a look outside for Mars last night and saw it to the north-east around 10 p.m. over the rooftops (it rises about 9:30 p.m. or so). It is bright rusty red and easy to see; it is below the Orion constellation. I wish there was a colony on it! Imagine if the ISS program had instead been the International Mars Exploration Program and there were Expeditions traveling to Mars and back at intervals.

“Police Union’s fear for safety,” Herald-Sun, 30/12. I hate New Year’s Eve as it gives idiots an excuse to be even more stupid and drunk than usual. Also the extremely hot weather (42°C predicted) will make things worse. The police should be given full powers – and riot gear (plus tear gas, water cannons, etc.) – to deal with these morons. Tomorrow night will be hot and miserable.

“Summer a season of my discontent,” Herald-Sun, 30/12. Someone who hates summer as much as I do!