Intersteller career change?

When you run out of milk, you duck up to the supermarket and buy some more, but where do you go when you run out of helium 3? Two intersteller mining companies are going into space, and they're looking for crews to help them.

Helium-3 (He3) is gas that has the potential to be used as a fuel in future nuclear fusion power plants. If this fuel is successfully develped and supply can keep up with demand, it is thought that interplanetary spacecraft that can travel at 10 per cent of the speed of light (28968 km per second) will be possible. There is very little helium-3 available on the Earth, however, there are thought to be significant supplies on the Moon, and the prices that He3 fetches makes intersteller mining an attractive proposition. It is currently worth  $500,000 per litre, $15,000 per gram or $2,000 per troy ounce, over 300 times the price of gold or platinum by weight.

The companies looking to cash in on the abundance of He3 on the moon are Planetary Resources, (who have investment backing from Google’s Larry Page and Eric Schmidt and film director James Cameron), and Deep Space Industries. Both PRI and DSI are calling on people to help them change the way humans explore the solar system, they are looking for collage students who are passionate about space, and people with "special skills" to help them in their projects.

So if you know you're lunar regoliths from your noble gasses, and you're not afraid of a bit of solar wind, sign up to advance the human dream.

ALL things being equal

The 2nd female speaker of the Australian house of representatives has praised the legacy of the first female speaker after Joan Child died peacefully on Saturday. 

Anna Burke's comments inadvertantly highlighted how fair and equal a society we live in today, where people are increasingly being selected not because of their sex or race, but because they are the best "person" for the job. Asked about the ALP's adoption of an affirmative action quota for women, Anna Burke says quotas only lead to more inequality "My difficulty with quotas has always been that you only got there because you're a girl." Burke said, "I wrangle against that. I think someone like Joan Child got there because she was remarkable."

Minority groups still fight against discrimination, but today is the best time to be forging a fight for equality. A century ago, Evenki shaman Olga was one of the most powerful non-royal women on earth - she was chieftain and religious leader of her Siberian village, but today there are 17 female heads of state (one of whom is a black woman), and a black US president who until recently had a female secratary of state.

Former Victorian Premier, Joan Kirner said of Joan Child "She showed a woman could get to the top."
  
Thanks to people like Joan Child, in this day and age, it's as simple as the best person getting to the top.

 

 

 

War against the machine

After the machine that I use to test my blood sugar levels for diabetes came up with an error message last week, I rang customer service and a replacement turned up at my door the next day. But after hearing about how reliant the military is becoming on technology a lot more dangerous than my BSL monitor, I got scared.

It's not the fact that the military is developing machines called the HULC, the PETMAN, or a plane that is hoped will fly from Australia to London in two to three hours, or that the global market in military hardware and software is worth $1.7 trillion, or even that a top advisor to Barack Obama during the president's first campaign, P.W Singer believes that robots have started to think for themselves.

What scares me is what happens if one of these robots gets an error message? One of the machines that Singer talks about with great enthusiasm is the "sword system", a 50-calibre machine gun about the size of a lawnmower that can hit an apple from hundreds of metres away. The only problem is it can't tell the difference between that apple and a tomato, which any two-year-old boy can tell. What happens if the error on the sword system says "Fruit nof recognised." Does it shoot or not?

At home we have a pie maker, and a cookie jar that yells at you when you open the lid, I love gadgets, but my fear in letting robots think for us is summed up by the story of an ironically titled "pilot" in one of the US "pilotless predator drone squadrons." He described how each morning he woke up, drove in to work, sat behind a computer screen, put missiles on targets and killed enemy combatants. He could also have cereal while he was sitting there, and then at the end of the day, he'd get back in the car, drive home, and 20 minutes after killing people he'd be sitting at the dinner table talking to his kids about their schoolwork.

My blood sugar monitor problem was sorted out within 2 days because a human spoke to a human, but what happens if a military robot has a problem in the heat of battle? Can they wait until a call centre honours a warranty and sends out a replacement for the faulty part?

In search of a white black bear

A group of 9 international adventurers travelled to one of the largest rainforests in the world to find one of its rarest animals, the black bear with white fur, the spirit bear.

The travellers, three from Canada, two from the United States, two from Australia and two from Curaçao, boarded the tall ship, Maple Leaf on a cruise through the waterways of the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia, Canada. After four days, they had "drifted beside humpback whales, slipped into sheltered coves to scramble up salmon streams, dropped anchor off beaches laced with wolf tracks and launched Zodiacs [to get] so close to sea lions that [they] choke[d] on their pungent stink" according to Mark Hume, a fellow passenger and reporter for Globe and Mail, but they hadn't seen one bear.

Not seeing a bear in a 6.4-million hectare Rainforest called "Great Bear" had some of the passengers feeling ripped off, but on day 5, the drought turned into a flood. On a small platform looking into a salmon filled stream, the passengers saw a small black bear come out of the forest, pull a fish from the water and eat the brains and eggs.

A little later, a spirit bear made it's way into the stream to feed on some salmon. It was so close to the group they could see red blood on it's white fur.

Actually a black bear, the spirit bear, also known as the kermode or ghost bear is not albino, it's white fur is a result of a genetic trait that is possibly due to a recessive gene, or could be due to a result of a concentration of a certain gene in a given area.

Scientists estimate there are only 1,200 black and white kermode bears from the northern tip of Vancouver Island  to the Alaska panhandle, and the white black bear in the stream was so captivating, that when black bears started coming out of every nook and cranny to feed in the stream, they were largely ignored. It was a scene where even the tour leader and captain of the Maple Leaf, Kevin Smith considered a rare priveledge

“I know I’m supposed to be, ‘Oh, it’s always like this.’" Smith said, "but it just isn’t.”

The group had taken a risk and put themselves in a spot where they might get some adventure and were handsomely rewarded.                

Moiras Garden

Childrens games reflect the world they live in. In Gaza, their games are a mirror of the violent world around them, but Australian Moira Kelly wants to build a garden there that will give kids a safe place to play.

Kelly applied for, and was granted 12 000 sqm of land in the Gaza strip where she will build "Moira's Garden" over the next 3-4 years at a cost of $5 million.

She believes giving children a safe place to play is important in any part of the world, but in Gaza, a place for kids to escape the dangers surrounding them so they can just go and play without fear is essential. After all, "children will always be children, no matter where they're from." she said.



Loay is now blind after being struck by a missile



In most gardens in the world, stepping in dog poo or tripping over a stick are the biggest dangers, but in Gaza, the stakes are much higher. Loay is 10-years-old and was playing outside with friends when they were struck by a missile. Loay suffered severe facial injuries which left him blind. He is now unable to do things for himself and can no longer play with his brother. He is angry, tearful and has started wetting the bed.

.

In a world where children are afraid of being hit by missiles while they play, "Moira's Garden" will offer something every child should have,

a safe place to play.

The journey is complete



Expedition-Leader Tim Jarvis and mountaineer Barry Gray arrive at Stromness at 0945 AEDT

Life might be about the journey and not the destination, but the crew of the Shackleton Epic were pretty glad when they reached their destination this morning.

The expedition was an exact copy of Ernest Shackleton's 1914 journey, a "double" of an 800 mile crossing of the Southern Ocean, and an overland crossing of South Geoergia Island in which the crew wore the same clothes and used the same equipment as the original crew.

Ernest Shackleton's original voyage is a story of survival, famous for the treachory of the conditions his crew faced, and the 21st century version faced the same threats from the uncertainty of the Antarctic weather. They battled eight metre swells, 50 knot winds, sleep deprivation, dehydration, being constantly wet and cold and having no room to move or stretch out while the 6 men were cramped aboard their 6.9 metre lifeboat, the Alexandra Shackleton. On arrival at South Georgia, three of the crew were diagnosed with ‘trench foot’, while others camped for five days in a cave waiting for a break in the weather to commence the climb.

On the 3 day crossing of South Georgia Island, expedition leader Tim Jervis and mountaineer Barry Gray fell into crevasses as deep as their armpits more than 20 times. These regular falls, and blizzards that literally blew some of the crew to the ground, led Jervis to think that reaching the destination might be impossible.

Most people would probably agree that it's a venture beyond most people's limits, but Jervis thinks everybody has it in them to achieve something great.

"There’s no doubt in my mind that everyone has a Shackleton double in them," he said, "and I hope we’ve inspired a few people to find theirs,"

The crew will now rest aboard the Australis before trekking around to Grytviken tomorrow, the site of Shackleton’s grave to raise a glass of Mackinlay’s whisky to "the Boss"

A good wire collection better than a pub full of pokies

 

 

The owners of the Spalding pub in South Australia wanted to do something different, so instead of filling it with poker machines, they bought a wire collection off a town local and put it on display. 

When Geoff Tiller took part ownership 2 years ago, he had been turned off poker machines after managing pubs with pokies in the past, so with his co-owner, Josie Watson, he bought a collection of 500 pieces of wire and other fencing paraphernalia from “Barbed-Wire Bob's” son Leon.

Among the collection of fencing wire, barbed wire, razor wire, military wire, snake wire, spacers, strainers, twitching tools and 150 different varieties of star droppers, Tiller’s favourite piece is a C.A. Hodge 10 point spur Rowell wire.

Far from being an obscure collection of shaped metal that was bought from the son of a salt and pepper shaker collector, the wire in the Spalding pub is a rare collection of historical artefacts dating back to the 1850’s. Snake wire from Texas is from circa 1853 and a barbed net fence that was used for hog pastures, was patented by Dodge and Washburn on January the 4th 1882. There are also WW1 and WW2 Concertina Entanglement Wires and Korean War wire.

A bloke from a small town trying to fix a social problem by putting up a display of wire in his pub...

Where else?

Put the mouse back in it's house David

Members of a Japanese town are asking for a 16ft replica statue of Michaelangelo's David to be given a pair of underwear to hide his shame as his nakedness was scaring children.

The statue was donated, along with a 16ft topless Venus de Milo by a local businessman and was erected (cough) near the childrens play equipment in a local park that also hosts a running track, a baseball stadium, tennis courts, a mountain bike course.

People have told town officials that "toddlers are afraid of the statues because they are so big (cough) and they appeared unexpectedly over the summer."

Japanese law reflects the conservative reaction from the town of Okuizumo - earlier this week, a Tokyo based photographer was arrested for selling books containing photos of male genitals.

The demands from the people of Okuizumo to have David cover up could be a chance for Bonds to get some free advertising.

Police slow sales of $300 babies

There is a darker world out there than the one we exist in. Three alleged members of an Indonesian child-trafficking syndicate who have been buying and selling babies have been arrested by police.

It is alleged the operation targetted poor families and offered to buy their babies for between 150 and 300 Australian dollars, they then sold the babies to another party for up to eight thousand dollars each. That party sold them to someone else for more money, then the "someone else" on sold them to a Singaporean citizen for more than double what they paid for them.

If convicted, the suspects could face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of less than the amount the babies are bought for in Singapore.

This isn't a nice story, and there is no way of telling it that would make it anything but horrible, but if you're reading this blog on your smart phone or tablet or laptop or PC, chances are you're living a pretty good life. We all have problems and strains and worries, but stories like this make you realise that maybe your concerns aren't as bad as you thought.

As I read in a book some time ago, rain falls on the just and the unjust alike, but there comes a time when you just have to get over it and go and play in the puddles. 

Money can't buy you happiness

From what I hear, parenting is a tough job. Sometimes you need to make hard decisions that everyone else hates, but you make it in the best interest of your family, and that's what Graham Tuckwell has just done.

Together with his wife Louise, Tuckwell, who is worth an estimated $775 million, donated $50 million to the Australian National University for a scholarship program. This is the largest donation ever made to Australian students, but one which must go against every parental instinct in their bodies. Natural instincts would be screaming out to help their children, it must have been tempting for the Tuckwells to split the money between their 4 children, but mixing money with blood is "poisonous" according to Graham Tuckwell. 

He has learned from other wealthy Australians what NOT to do with excess family money, "If you look at the people in Australia that have got huge amounts of wealth, without naming any, they generally have not put the majority of their wealth behind strong philanthropic causes," he said.

And Tuckwell is putting his money where his mouth is. Under the Tuckwell scholarship, twenty-five undergraduates will be granted scholarships worth up to $100,000 each year over the next five years - creating 125 scholarships all up over that time. 

Graeme and Louise Tuckwell will travel to Canberra for the selection process each year, where they will be looking for students who are looking for more out of life that just good grades, as Tuckwell said, they will be selecting candidates based on where they are goinng, not where they have been. They will look at students based on how "innately how good are they, what's their real desire in life and where do they (want to) get to"

The Tuckwell children have missed out on a share of $50 million after their parents show of philanthropy, but it may be the best present they have ever been given. They now have what most of the world take for granted - the value of an earned dollar.

Easy part over for Shackleton Epic

4/2/13

The crew of the Shackleton Epic arrived on the beach at Peggotty Bluff, South Georgia island this morning after an 800 nautical mile voyage on a small wooden life raft in an exact copy of a 1914 journey complete with reindeer hair clothing, and a diet of bullion flavored lard, nougat and caster oil. And that was the easy part.

Shackleton Epic is a recreation of Ernest Shackleton's rescue mission where his ship was crushed by pack ice in the Southern Ocean, so he had to rescue his men by taking the tiny support ship 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia, where they got out and walked to the opposite coast.

Leg one of the journey (the boat trip) was described by one of the 6 crewmen,

veteran adventurer Ed Wardle, who has climbed Everest twice, as “the hardest thing I have ever done." Conditions below deck were so cramped that when they slept, their bodies became so entangled it was "like the last 10 seconds of a 1 hour game of twister” according to crewman Barry Gray. Some of the men used wooden barrels as pillows, and the reindeer hair from the clothes went "everywhere." And then there was the cold...

Now they are out of the frying pan and into the fire, the second leg of the voyage is a climb across South Georgia's mountainous, crevassed interior to reach the whaling station at Stromness.

The leader of the expedition, Tim Jervis accepted the offer of Alexandra Shackleton, Ernest's granddaughter, to attemp the journey because he wanted a challenge in life. And with the hard part of the journey about to start, that's exactly what he's walking into. 

Human ego blurring human impact

With bushfires in the south of Australia, and flooding in the north, it's time for human ego to get out of the climate change argument so we can all appreciate the seriousness of the situation and get on with living.

No matter which side you are on, the raw facts are the same for everybody:

-The last decade is the hottest since records began
- Carbon Dioxide emissions have increased by 35% since the industrial revolution
- The global air surface temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees celcius in the last century
- 10 of the 11 hottest days recorded since records began in 1850 have occurred after 1995
- 70% of the current warming came before 1940, and 80% of human CO2 emission came after
- In 1996, the UN panel on climate change put out a report saying they found a human fingerprint on global warming. Within months, scientists advising the UN put in a complaint because they'd signed off on a scirence chapter report with 5 statements saying NO human fingerprint had been found. The lead author of that report by the science chapter, Ben Santer, publicly admitted removing he 5 statements and added a different one saying there WAS a human fingerprint.
- Santer is still the lead author for that UN science chapter

Over Christmas, I spent a lot of time with my niece and nephews, the oldest of whom is 6, and the fights they had remind me of the fight going on for who is responsible for climate change, and my advice for both parties is the same: you're bickering is getting in the way of enjoying yourself. Who cares who's been on the red wiggles car for longer, or whose 250000 year old ice core from greenland has more oxygen isotopes and ice layers? Just stand back and look at things logically - if you get too caught up in who's right and who's wrong, I'll lock the wiggles car in the garage and no one will get a turn.

Yeh, global weather is getting more extreme, and yeh, humans may have caused some degree of it, but we're here for a good time, not a long time, and if Dr Karl's prediction is right, the sun is expanding and will swallow Mercury, probably Venus and maybe Earth and Mars anyway, so lets get going while the going's possible.

The fact that people even understand what "carbon 14 from dead trees and barillium 10 from ice cores - both solar isotopes" means puts us at an advanced level of human understanding, so it's time to stop fighting like 6 year olds and get on with living.

Chivalry's not dead

If you looked up the word "gentleman" in a dictionary, you'd see a picture of my Grandad like this:

My Grandfather is proof that you don't need to do anything spectacular to leave a legacy, you can leave your mark just by being a good person.

I was walking along a footpath with Grandad when I was young, and I was on the house side while Grandad was on the road side, and he turned to me and asked "You wouldn't walk on that side of the path if you were walking with a lady would you?" Not knowing what he was getting at, I just said "Maybe. Why?" He told me that a man should always walk closest to the road in case a car flies off the road. "But wouldn't you get hit and killed?" I asked him, "Maybe. But you can push the lady to safety and save her," he told me.

Grandad taught me a lot of general courtesies: hats off inside, shirt on at the table, look people in the eye when you shake hands, stand up when a lady walks into a room, and he has always been described as the ultimate gentleman, but while I was visiting him in his nursing home yesterday, one of his mates, Athel, gave him a complement that is the perfect way for someone of my grandfather's stature to be described. He said if Grandad "couldn't do you a good turn, he wouldn't do you a turn at all."

And that is the legacy my Grandfather will leave for me - being a good person is enough.