Banned Authors

Occasionally an author so disappoints me with their story that I ban myself from reading another of their books-

1) My Sister's Keeper by Jodie Picoult. 

The premise is set up brilliantly. A young girl refuses to undergo an operation that would save her sister's life. Then at the climax in the crux of the dilemma there is a car accident and and so the whole point of the story vanishes. I read the book flying from London to the USA. I was so deflated at the weak ending.

2) Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier.

In the US civil war a soldier deserts and slowly makes his way home, an often delayed and painful journey. I lived his trials as I read. Then just before he reaches home he is killed. So no point to the whole journey - perhaps true to life but not why I was reading the book. I read the book based a a recommendation in heard on the radio from Bob Carr.

3) A Song of Fire and Ice - an unfinished series by George R. R. Martin.

A great fantasy adventure and well told but my favourite characters kept being killed. I could not endure it - I stopped after Book 2 or 3. The first book was published in 1996. Book 5 of of 7 was published in 2011. The last 2 books are unpublished, possibly still unwritten. So in stopping early I avoided the disappointment and frustration of all those still waiting for the series to finish.

Nest Boxes

Nest boxes in the workshop

 

I have built over 40 nest boxes in the past 3 years. They are erected in local environmental areas. Many Australian birds, bats and marsupials need tree hollows to breed and to hide. The local government is very cautious and they remove hollow trees. So the animals must rely on boxes attached to sound trees. 

With practice I have become very efficient producing 3 or 4 at a time. The designs are still improving with experience - my early efforts were very attractive to European Honey Bees.

Sleepers Wake!

Sleepers Wake! by Barry Jones (ISBN 0-19-553756-4) investigates the post-industrial revolution - the revolution that is happening now. I read the first (1982) edition, now I have the 1995 edition.

The text includes Jones Eight Laws of employment and technology:

1. Employment levels are culturally determined.

2.Technological innovation tends to reduce aggregate employment relative to market size and to increase employment at lower wage rates in other areas.

3. Employment absorption tends to be in inverse relation to economic efficiency.

4. In production on a massive scale, employment tends to be in inverse proportion to demand.

5. The economic viability of a technologically advanced society may depend on having an increasing number of consumers, despite the number of large producers reducing.

6. Rising levels of employment depend on increased demands for a diversity of services: simplicity of personal needs contributes to low levels of employment, and complexity to high levels.

7. The amount of time spent by generalists in making technically based decisions is in inverse proportion to the complexity of the subject matter.

8. Most technological discoveries have an equal capacity for the enhancement and degradation of life, depending on how they are used.

Street Library

The Street Library

 

Back in June I installed a Street Library at the front of my house.

There is reasonable passing foot traffic with a lots of services nearby schools, buses, a craft brewery, a playground, and a dog park.

I had lots of good books that I wasn't going to read again. A library seemed a good way to send the books out to new readers. It has become self sustaining with others contributing their own books. When I returned from a 5 week holiday the library was full of books and very tidy.

Children's books are popular and are claimed quickly. In my opinion there are too many thick romance and action novels and if I did not cull them they would choke out other interesting books. When I cull the books, they are given to the Lifeline second-hand shop. If I find a religious or a fad diet book it goes into the rubbish - there is no need to spread lies.

Designing and building the library was a challenge. I arranged the shelves to accept the largest books in my own collection. It is designed to resist sun, rain and vermin. I had to reinforce the fence behind to make a proper mounting. The structure is marine ply with 5 coats of polyurethane varnish. The window is shatterproof, UV-proof polycarbonate. The latch is stainless steel.

To find out more refer to https://streetlibrary.org.au/

Holiday Home

 

A'van Cruiser

This was our home for five weeks. The walls and roof fold to make a trailer. We think of it as a luxury tent.

Garage length - 5200mm

Interior Length - 3615mm 

Interior width - 2000mm

Maximum gross mass - 1205kg

To correctly calculate the tyre pressure for a caravan see - https://www.gnschassis.com.au/tyre-pressure-calculator/

Services - water tank, cooktop,  microwave, fridge/freezer, hot water, air conditioning, water pump, radio/CD player, 240V socket, outlets, 12V socket outlets, lighting.

Energy sources - 

1) 240V 15 amp mains power for everything except cooktop

2) Photovoltaic panel and battery - for water pump, radio/CD player, 240V socket, outlets, 12V socket outlets, lighting

3) LPG (2x4kg) - for cooktop, fridge/freezer, hot water.

Mold or cast

 

 Dinosaur footprint made 95 million years ago.

At Lark Quarry -90 minute drive from Winton- there is an array of dinosaur tracks showing a predator chasing a multitude of smaller prey.

When I look at this photo now I see a raised cast but in fact the claw marks are depressions in stone. My mind sometimes defaults to see bumps where there are dents. In looking at moon photos I have seen mesas where others see craters.

Telecommunications country wide

 When I crossed the Great Dividing Range into western Queensland I soon found that my mobile telephone no longer worked. It is such a common problem that the tourist information centre I visited had maps on hand to explain it all - only Telstra works outback. Only Telstra SIM cards are sold at the shops.

Years ago I had transferred my number from Telstra to Belong (a discount brand from Telstra) in order to get more data at a reasonable price. I had thought that Belong - being owned by Telstra would work. I was wrong. 

In the meantime Telstra now includes a enough data for my purposes in its plans (not a huge amount) so I have switched back.

DRCS mast at Larks Quarry

Early in my career I was a member of the team that automated outback communications with the Digital Radio Concentrator System. I enjoyed seeing the tall masts in remote places.