Annapurna

I may have read this book before.  If ever there was a true story about mountaineering that would put you off trying a climb, this is it. The suffering that went on, trying to get down off the mountain after the first successful ascent, is appalling.  It took five weeks to get out of the Himalayas. Most days there were amputations, a knuckle here, a finger or toe now missing from there. This was in 1951, so equipment and methods have vastly improved, although an Australian woman died on Everest just the other day from altitude poisoning.  This book is inscribed as a birthday present to my father in 1966.  Maurice Herzog died 2012.

Could still hold a book

It's ELEMentary

I know how  to cool down the earth!  The global warming/climate change campaign is more of a fad, a distraction from where money should be spent.  Even if we did all chip in a $1000 that would be $7,000 Billion dollars to spend on cooling the Earth but who would you give it to? Instead of spending it at the greenhouse gas production end, let's start at the people end.  Eat Less Exercise More!   Simples!

We have a climate change law in Victoria and a Minister for Climate Change. Global Warming is now an industry with many agendas. The Govt held a review of the Climate Change Law wanting to know if it was basically a stupid idea. The review panel consisted of three experts, the CEO of a company called ClimateWorx, a professor heading the Climate Change department at UNI, and a lawyer practicing Climate Change Law.  Well well, they said Climate Change was a goer, long may it continue.  I eventually found a summary of the Climate Change Law, which along with setting gas reduction targets, it also said we had to be Climate Ready.  I wonder how much money is being spent on this stuff.

Hot Chicken Little

The Eyes have it

Problems that is.  It must be another sign of retiredness when you start having eye trouble such as Astigmatism and Cataracts.  When your eyes go out of shape eg not a sphere then focus is harder. New lenses in the glasses will help with astigmatism and new lenses in the eyes will help with cataracts. This should all be dealt with in the next few weeks. I was getting a headache after a reading sessions recently but I am now focused on the issue.

Blur Blur Blur

Two Creeks Ride

Got out the bicycle today. I connected up Moonee Ponds creek with the Merry Creek for 36 kms in 2 hrs 12 min. It was a bit windy but the tracks were all sealed.  Getting across the Ring Road and Broady train line are tricky but possible via a pedestrian bridge at Jacana. There are a few diversions with the Tulla freeway upgrade and a retarding basin upgrade as well as a new bridge being built along Merry Creek.

I'd like to see this plug hole in action

Giro via Dolomiti

Watching TV has changed when you are switching between GPS tracking on your laptop and the big screen of the TV, as in the bike riding through the Dolomites last night. The ride was located in the same area as we walked in last year. Not to mention that Orica Greenedge got the win even if he was a Columbian.

Cinque Torre

PS this is my first post via Google Chrome, as I endured a Windows 10 upgrade this morning which I was steadfastly delaying on numerous attempts but it got through my guard this time.  

Night Manager

John Le Carré has always preferred the Spy game.  The Night Manager has come a long way since 1963 when that first "Spy came in from the Cold".  This is full on internet tracking via GPS utilising smart phones with iris identification of the accounts etc.  His books always end up on the screen and this one is a six part TV series that we watched via DVD.  Some of the locations are on my list, like a train to the Swiss alps and more Mediterranean islands.



SpyJinks

Proof Reading

I spent two days proof reading some new internet training courses. Not the same as proof reading a book. There is still the punctuation, spelling and understanding to work through but also following the links. Do they work and do they take you to the intended place?  Next time someone tells me there is too much jargon in IT, I will be referring them to their friendly bookkeeper. Here are a few -

• MJ  Manual Journal
• NTI  No Tax Invoice
• GST  Goods and Services Tax
• BAS  Business Activity Statement
• PAYGI  Pay as you go instalment

 

Virtual Address eXtension

VAX is the architecture and Virtual Memory System (VMS) is the operating system. I worked on these machines for 20 yar and at Melbourne Water they were the machine of choice for the mechanical and scientific range of works.  Eventually they succumbed to Unix and Windows. I first heard about the requirement to turn off these machines in 1998. They were trying to beat the year 2000 problem.  It has taken another 18 yar but this week they were finally dismantled. I just had to go back for the final countdown.

These no longer compute.

How far is 90 miles?

I think it is more like 90 Kilometres but in the old days they took a stab at 90 miles and the name has stuck.  It is a lot of sand and surprisingly calm in the water but you cannot see the end.  Checked out some of the old logging on the way back today. There were some very large trees felled near Mt Tassie. They could grow as big again in another two hundred yar.

Long Beach Walk

Stumpy

Tarra Valley and other secrets

We have had the best day. We have seen at least 4 lyrebirds, an echidna and kookaburra, two waterfalls and the secret access to the ninety mile beach at McLoughlins.  This must be the most southerly access to the ninety mile beach and the day was 23° with no wind.  We started at Balook and drove down the Tarra Valley via the waterfalls to Yarram, which has some old buildings like the Federal Coffee Palace. 

Fern City

The Federal building

Balook

Have done a quick drive to the Tarra Bulga guesthouse (previously the Hillside guesthouse in 1951 when the photo was taken).  Checked out the location of the original potatoe farm and also the suspension bridge. Will explore more tomorrow.  Nina who runs the guest house has been fully booked for four months and is now slowing down. She only has to prepare lunch for 28 people off a bus today and evening meals for the seven of us staying overnight. I wonder what busy means.  They have seven rooms in the guest house.

1951 Hillside

2016 Tarra-Bulga

Cobbers

Cobber - Australian slang for mate.  I plucked this book off the shelf and have no idea where I got it before that.  This Englishman, Thomas Wood was travelling through Australia in 1930 - 1931 and wrote about the people and places he saw.  The front piece says he went to Australia and Tasmania. He  must have thought they were two countries. Even back then he suggested that Australia was over governed. He couldn't believe there was a law that said you can't cross the road at an angle ie jay walking. He mostly travelled outside the cities and in Victoria was impressed with Koalas, Penguins and Seals at Phillip Island.

My copy has 1948 hand written

Black & White Photo History

Its been about a year in the making but I have digitised every "older" photo I can get my hands on. As a general rule I have found that if you have a choice between scanning the positive or the negative, choose the negative.  The positives are often faded, damaged etc. the negatives can have there issues, especially if they haven't been stored very well.  I have cleaned most of them and cropped many others. There are 609 photos covering travels all over Australia, as well as many family shots at home. I have also plotted a lot of these travels on Google maps. There are originals from the 1930s but most are 1940s and 1950s individual negatives all before  the "roll film" era. This is a Black & White history. There are many other photos around including slides and other colour photos that are not part of this collection.

I have made a DVD of this history which is available to anyone who wants a copy.  It may work in a DVD player however a computer will let you see the annotations. Most have a comment about the photo, either who when or where.

Who's strolling down Puckle St?

Mothers

I am wondering what the collective name is for Mothers.  Maybe a Fertility of Mothers or a Bakery of Mothers in any case we had a gathering of Mothers yesterday four of them in total, so there was much mothering and much baking. Including sausage rolls, pizza, soup and 10 different cakes. I think the highlight may have been the Salami and Pumpkin pizza.



Cakes

Rolls

Breaking Bad

It has taken a while but we have viewed the final episode. Two years ago we started the show via Foxtel but then lost track after two seasons.  However we located a DVD box set that we had.  Yet another drug war saga with lots of shoot to kill. Most characters end up dead with just a few exceptions. A quirky writing style but still well worth the viewing time. Before GOT came along this was number 1 on the world watch list.  Now I have to find another DVD boxset.  Babylon 5.

Heisenberg

Official Beach Record

Yes another beach day was achieved although a tad cloudy, over at the Jetty beach area. Mark the calendar for May 7th. The ocean beach was having a king tide of 1.7 m at 1:00 pm so that was not going to work. 25 ° was too good to miss but the cloud did dominate.  We got there at midday and remained for three hours.

Pole Sitter

May swim with bird observers

 

Collendina Report No 2355

We saw the makings of a new van last time and the most recent  rules clearly state no cribbing forward on your site and no building of new vans ie just drop them in by crane.  So just down the way both of these rules are being broken. I guess they must be guidelines.

Two meter cribbage

On Site Construction

Heat

We have heat. The Stadt worked well for 25 yar give or take but now we have a Brivis and the heat is on.  Some of the ducting has been updated but mostly it was still in good condition.  I have uncovered another few hundred old negatives so when these are digitized the the B&W pictorial history will be ready. Some of them give me the creeps.

Where is thing?

Da Boys!

New York 1977

It has taken me a couple of months to finish reading "City on Fire".  This book needs concentration, and I did not read it in big enough chunks. It is physically heavy and the author's  skill as a wordsmith meant that I was always trying to lug a dictionary around, as well as the book itself. It would have suited me better to read an electronic copy with built in dictionary.  It is a complex story line and I am getting a bit tired of  "under achievers" and other "no hopers" being the subject of stories.  But I guess if they emerge better off ...

In an attempt to join the character dots