Ray Faraday Nelson
Comrade Lindsay,
It seemed to me that a single thread ran through all your various rants in Gegenschein 92, and that was energy consumption. Would that our governments could take such an intense interest in the best use of humanity's great but not infinite resources! First there was the matter of selling off the public broadcasting system on the grounds that is was a misuse of resources for the general population to have to support programming of interest only to a minority of "snob culture" viewers. Our solution here in the People's Republic of Berkeley is listener-supported radio. Our KPFA began as a voice for a pacifist minority, eventually developing into a multicultural marketplace of ideas representing the entire community, largely staffed by dedicated volunteers and supported by listener pledges. KPFA eventually cloned itself in several other cities, becoming the Pacifica Network, all without advertising or government subsidy. Indeed, the government has done its damnedest to knock KPFA off the air. Some years back I had a science-fiction program on KPFA myself.
So you see, government broadcasting and advertiser broadcasting are not the only options on the table. And culture snobs are not the only people who would be served by the Berkeley Alternative.
Then there is your rant about hybrid petrol/electric cars. I follow you as far as you go, but here in Berkeley we have gone a lot farther. Here we have had all-electric cars cruising our streets for decades. Several companies have been putting out all-electric cars since the sixties, in particular the Kaylor electric featuring a rack of batteries that can be removed when depleted and replaced with a fresh rack. A local wholesale grocer has even set aside a recharging area where customers can plug in and recharge while shopping.
Here in the Bay Area a car does not have to go any great distance at one time. One goes to work, returns and shops, all on the charge one can take on overnight.
Serious Berkeley people go a step further and buy a bicycle. A bicycle goes as far as you like on no fuel at all and produces no pollution at all, and if you want to carry stuff you can hook a little cart onto the back.
Non Berkeley people believe those commercials that show drivers chugging off into the wilderness in their Sport Utility Vehicles. Berkeley people face the fact that, with luck, you may chug off into the wilderness once a year. Berkeley people know that if they really want to get away from it all, they can rent an SUV.
What do I do? I walk.
You decry the medical problems resulting from exercising. You may be right about some forms of exercising, but the true Berkeleyite doesn't run or even jog, let alone work out on some television-advertised torture machine. A true Berkeleyite like me puts on some comfortable shoes and walks. A few years back, as a result of backsliding, I ballooned up to almost 300 pounds and. predictably, had a heart attack. Today I weigh in at 180 pounds and I'm still losing weight. Walking was my only exercise. My diet? I followed the Berkeley diet of fruits, flakes and nuts. And of course vegetables. You are what you eat!
You go on to maintain that "multiculturalism is a total failure in every country that has large mixed populations." Clearly you have forgotten the People's Republic of Berkeley. When California became a state, the area that is now called Berkeley had a Spanish majority, with large Asian and White minorities, and in World War 2 we took on a mixed influx of immigrants from e very troubled nation on the planet, representing every conceivable religion and ethnic identity, yet today we all live here together with no more than an occasion scuffle.
I think, in fact, that the term "multicultural" originated in Berkeley.
Your bit on harnessing jet streams for energy fails to take into account that jet streams change their route on a daily basis. Berkeley is situated at a point particularly favored by jet streams, but we could never count on them staying put long enough for us to get our tethered gliders in position. Berkeleyites are so familiar with jet streams we can recognize them on sight.
In this area they tend to look like vast herds of sheep trudging from one horizon to another.
Like you, I'm glad I live in a technological age, but I recognize that there are 2 different technologies deployed today, bad technology and Berkeley technology.
Keep on truckin'! Comrade Ray Nelson
ConVergence
The Australian National Science Fiction Convention.
The usual sort of con report, leisurely notes while travelling to the con, since then there was time, followed by a complete blank at the con, since I was too busy to take notes. I do recall enjoying it a lot.
Wednesday 5 June 2002
We organised to leave Airlie mid morning. Problems occurred when we had the first daytime rain in months. In addition, the bus company phoned to say they couldn't get up our street due to road construction, and could we catch the bus on the main street. We carried our bags down to reception at ten, collected mail at the Post Office, and a take away lunch at Subway, before returning to reception. Tim at the Terraces reception kindly drove us (and our heavy bags) down to the bus stop.
Obnoxious music on a long and convoluted bus trip. Next day, in Melbourne, Jean collected two voice mail messages from Qantas saying the flight was delayed. Had her phone been on, these would have allowed her to announce to the entire bus that the flight was late, thus plunging a busload of passengers into deep depression and flighty decisions.
At the airport, our flight to Brisbane was not in, and departure was almost an hour late. There goes our connection to Melbourne. Luckily Jean had booked tickets where this was a problem for the airline, not for us. They had rescheduled most passengers, but we had somehow been missed. Being suspicious flyers, we noticed this and had it fixed. No great problem, and we got a lunch voucher out of the delay, so we ate at Whitsunday Coast (normally known as Proserpine) Airport, and preserved our cut lunch for a potential dinner.
I got picked on by security at the airport. My shoes set off their metal detector, despite my not even realising there was any metal in the shoes at all. Who had ever heard about security at Proserpine airport before? On weekends, they didn't even turn the machine on in the past, and I've never before encountered a metal detector on full sensitivity. If this happens repeatedly, it reinforces my opinion that air travel is now probably too much of a hassle to be worth doing.
We even, unexpectedly, got a tiny roast beef and cheese sandwich on the flight to Brisbane. We had not been expecting anything Jean could eat. We had about an hour stopover, not bad as Brisbane is one of the more comfortable, spacious and uncrowded airports. Travel hassle factor declines.
We had an uneventful, albeit late, flight to Melbourne. Got a snack Jean couldn't eat (poisonous to her), and were in the uncomfortable very last seats of the flight. Travel hassle factor increases.
We located the airport Skybus to Melbourne city easily, and were dropped at Spencer Street railway station. The taxi driver didn't have a clue where the Hotel Y (or the YWCA) was, and I'm not sure he could even read a map. I thought taxi drivers were supposed to pass a city locations test? Travel hassle factor increases again.
The Hotel Y reception were helpful, and the room adequate, albeit small. The air conditioning is far too noisy, and the room too cold (but we regard all Melbourne as too cold). We were pleased to see a curved built in table with phone and powerpoints. The phone access was above the desk, and had both 610 and RJ11 sockets, which would make modem access easy. That was very good. Less helpful was the sharp projecting piece of the curved desk. With a small reverse curve, they could have made it a less dangerous place in the dark. There was a handy desk lamp, however the main room light was totally inadequate, like most hotel rooms. There was only one bedside lamp, and only one chair. I should have packed my portable fluorescent lamp.
The bathroom sink tap was mounted high, so you could fill jugs and cups without problems. The negative was no soap holder. Pretty good design otherwise.
I was pleased to see a late opening Seven11 store on the same block, less pleased with their prices and limited range of actual food. However there was also a Subway and a MacDonalds, if sufficiently desperate, and the charming Victoria Markets are only a block away. It was better for walking distance food than the Aussiecon site, and much better than the Ascot that some Swancons have been forced to use. However since I don't go to conventions for restaurants and dislike large group restaurant meals (unlike many fans), I wasn't too concerned.
Thursday 6 June 2002
After breakfast, we wandered through the Victoria Markets on the next block. This was a wonderful shopping experience, at least until we got tired and bored, despite not finding one single thing on our shopping list. We did however get a bunch of things that were not on our shopping list. Moccasins for me, although they are of use only for two weeks in winter. A replacement backpack for us each (my new one promptly fell apart soon after, indicating perhaps quality is not a strong point at the markets). A replacement bumbag for us each, and a replacement purse for Jean. All stuff that shouldn't be hard to find, however we had not managed to locate suitable ones where we live. We found some wonderful Australian map T shirts and a map tablecloth from Peter Brohier, maptag.com.au and figure these will be really nice for showing people where things are in Australia.
Met Gary Hoff as we entered the hotel. He had been in town since the start of the week. That is enthusiasm for you. Mind you, I don't think I saw him again after that initial encounter. That pattern repeated, and somehow made Convergence feel like a much larger con.
We went Vodafone shopping, as I'd heard they were selling off all their stocks of software for Psion organisers. It is a measure of my need for cities that this, the markets, and bookshopping, were the only things I could think of seeking out. There must be something else worthwhile in cities? The only reason I can see to stay in a city is work; that was certainly why I stayed in Sydney.
The phone book listed one Vodaphone store at shop 182 Melbourne Central, Lonsdale Street, but it was actually at shop 107, 211 Latrobe Street, which did somewhat confuse us simple country folks. There I got spare styluses, and a parallel printer link cable, each at $5. I was very pleased about the spare printer cable, as they are normally a hundred dollars or more. To our delight, we also found pouches to attach our phones to our packs, something we had sought unsuccessfully at the markets in the morning.
At Elizabeth and Bourke Street, I got copies of Purple Software's Allegro handwriting recognition, their Powerbase relational database. and a Psion modem adaptor, reduced from $250 to $5. Also a 9 pin null modem adaptor (mine is hand made), a genuine Psion power adaptor (again, mine is hand made), and a spare GoldCard modem to phone cable (mine disappeared for several days a few weeks ago, so I was pleased to have a spare of this unobtainium). 265 Burke Street had nothing on hand.
Next was general organiser stores, such as The Organiser Shop at 173 Melbourne Central, listed as 300 Lonsdale Street. I also got to Organiser World, 333 LaTrobe Street, and later to the Melbourne Calculator Market, 435 Burke Street. Genius Communications at the corner of Latrobe and Elizabeth had little, despite listing themselves as an organiser store. The Calculator King seemed too far away to be worth the effort, as my luggage capacity was stretched by my success already.
We also found a supermarket down near Flinders to get breakfast materials to store in the room. Walked feet off by the time all this was done, but what else would you do in Melbourne? The core is after all a very reasonable and compact walking city.
The late afternoon event was to Justin Ackroyd's Slow Glass Books for the Joe Haldeman autograph signing. I didn't locate any extra books to buy, but Justin had our mail order put aside for delivery at the con. I spent a lot of time talking with Gay Haldeman. I had sort of expected that many of her other friends would have been there before me, but I guess most attendees wanted to chat with Joe. During the quiet times, Joe played with my Psion 7 PDA, which led to some not very sensible sentences added to my notes by various parties. Some users had more problems than others with the small keyboard.
Help, he's going to erase me. No...no...no!
now is the time for all ghood foxes to come to the aid of ytheir rabbits,,,,,,,,,
The graphic was a drawing Joe did of Jack Dann. Considering it was his first time using a stylus on a touch screen, I think Joe did pretty well. Mind you, Joe has been doing some nice work as an artist with more traditional painting tools, so it isn't the first time he has done a portrait.
I was invited by Rose to tag along on the bus to a committee party at Southbank, which gave me a welcome chance to see some of the hard working committee in a social setting with their GoHs. Despite my dislike for restaurants, I did like the bar they picked, which didn't blast away all conversation with inane music. People actually got to form into small groups and have some decent conversations. It made for a very pleasant evening.
I was even lucky enough to get a lift back to the Y, rather than having to walk or cope with public transport in my befuddled state.
Saw Graham and Susan Batho from Sydney (well, Blue Mountains) at reception as I returned to the hotel. Saw Stephen Boucher bringing Janice Gelb and multiple bags of books, presumably for auctions. Janice was next door to us, pleased to have quiet neighbours. We have shown her the Australian map T shirt, which impressed us greatly.
Friday 7 June 2002
Lots of fans in the bookshops around Melbourne. What a surprise! I think these other fans found all the books I wanted, except for some Justin had on order from us. Certainly I had little luck on my second look, but perhaps I am totally losing any former ability to find decent books.
The convention badge was double sided, plastic coated, preprinted, so when hung on a string, you could read the (large) name no matter which side was showing. I commend that idea to other cons, although perhaps having a different badge design on each side (with different meanings, or even different conventions ...) could be interesting. Only minor fault with the badge was there was no way to write room party numbers on the back of it, in the traditional manner, however fans usually have some paper with them to provide an aide memoir.
The Cato convention facilities at the Hotel Y appeared reasonable, with a large foyer leading to the function rooms. On the ground floor, this consisted of a single large room, used for opening and closing ceremonies, major events and the disco style event. It was almost insufficient for the numbers. On the first floor, there were a number of smaller rooms grouped around the large foyer. This provided a convenient area for sitting around socialising, although a little distant from the major room for those who needed to use the very small elevator rather than the stairs. The two panel rooms on the first floor shared an inadequate corridor as was noted when the panels ended. I'm not sure there are many affordable places that would do much better however. Personally I thought it worked fine, but I admit to low taste.
Garry Dalrymple from Sydney was busy handing out copies of his detailed survey of tastes in popular media, as he has at several conventions (and presumably at the Freecons he organises in Sydney). He tells me the Futurian meetings in Sydney are sparsely attended, and others from Sydney confirm that. I do believe some other groups in Sydney are still more active however.
One of the stronger streams at the convention was the fan history, specifically drawing upon Melbourne and Australian fan history, and I was looking forward to hearing many of them. It is measure of how much else was happening that I missed all of them. I was very impressed by everything the Convergence committee managed to organise, and thought they did an excellent job. While there were doubtless some behind the scenes disasters, they mostly didn't show in the running of the con, and I congratulate the entire con committee for that.
Missed Race Matthew's panel, which mentioned the scarcity of USA SF after WWII in Sterling currency areas. Although my early SF reading was much later than that, I do recall strange patterns of magazines arriving in Australia, and appearing in the second hand stores. Even reprints in Australia of various magazines.
There was an excellent convention cocktail party that evening, astonishingly with catering Jean and I could eat. It seems almost a pity we had already had a small meal before attending.
Continuing a theme of missing fan historical events, I missed Merv Binns' panel. Luckily the historical material was being recorded, and some (including Merv) were putting their material in fanzines.
I saw a vast number of people I didn't expect, often ones not seen since Aussiecon Three, or even longer ago. My former co-worker Gordon Lingard (who hadn't been to a con in a decade), bookseller Ron Serduik from Brisbane. I also saw many people I did expect. Gerald Smith and Womble from Sydney. Lawrie Brown from Canberra. I failed to really catch up with Robbie and Dea Matthews from Canberra, but was impressed by the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight magazine launch in which they were involved. Roman Orszanski was there from Adelaide. Ran into Richard Hryckiewicz late in the con, and had an enjoyable conversation with him. Lots of old Melbourne fans. Merv and Helene Binns, Dick Jenssen, Race Matthews. I also saw lots of newer Melbourne fans, like toastmaster Jack Dann, who seemed to lead half the panels and introductions, and did a fine job on all of them.
Jack Herman and Cath McDonnell from Sydney were there, although they are not exactly usually heavy con goers these days. I've been impressed with their efforts to become sailors, so much more effectively than mine. It was good to catch up also with other ANZAPA members, like David Grigg, Karen and her mother Heather Johnson, Marc and Cath Ortlieb. The longest distance attendees were probably Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer from Britain.
I tried not to spend much of my time with people who would be attending our Relaxacon, as I figured I'd get plenty of chance to talk with them at that - should have recalled con organisers (even at Relaxacons) never get as much time as they hope. I've done this before. Why do I never learn?
Stephen Boucher moved to a new apartment. Visiting fan Janice Gelb gets to baptise the never used stove, since Stephen doesn't believe in cooking (unless done by others.) We use the same method while travelling. We heard Nick Stathopoulos moved. Also Merv Binns and Helena move. David Bofinger moves to the UK for a year. For all I know, half the convention attendees moved. I felt like an barnacle, since I absolutely hate the concept of moving.
One of the major linking and melding features of Australian fandom used to be the Bullsheet newsletter that Marc Ortlieb produced for so may years. I was delighted to see New Bullsheet editors Ted Scrivner and Edwina Harvey at the con. Ted gave me a paper copy, and I signed up for the email version.
I have a note saying bourbon for Joe and merlot for Rose Mitchell. I sort of assume this was at the convention cash bar. On the other hand, I also have a note saying back at 1:30 a.m., which may even refer to the previous night. Mind you, the concept of a former YWCA serving alcohol is a bit of a shock, and shows how far such groups have moved with the times. Doubtless the Temperance Society is rotating rapidly in the graves.
I also have a note saying Slow Glass was perhaps to move, in the manner of many bookshops, all under siege by landlords selling properties. This was unfortunately confirmed by Justin's catalog for October, confirming a move to mail order rather than a street presence.
Saturday 8 June 2002
Did I mention the pocket program? One of the most innovative single page versions I've ever encountered. I hope other cons make use of the same origami idea, as it worked well. Most important, it did fit in a pocket.
David Grigg's ANZAPA Collation on Sunday 2 p.m. was a wonderful chance to see many of the ANZAPA members in person, for the first time in several years in many cases. Some, like Michael Green, I didn't recall meeting previously. This collation was held in a large chair filled fifth floor room that was also used for parties on several evenings. One of the parties there was less than comfortable, due to a drunk. At least we managed to unobtrusively move the drinks away from him, and keep him away from other people just in case (not that there was any indication he might get aggressive) until he went to sleep.
I rejoined the Australian Science Fiction Foundation, at their meeting in the same room straight after the collation. They do good works for fandom, especially conventions, and are perhaps neither as well known nor as well supported as they deserve. I guess to some extent some fans see them as a Melbourne cabal, but I've never thought that a particularly fair view. home.vicnet.net.au/~asff/
Sunday 9 June 2002
Getting food was sometimes interesting, as the hotel cafe tended to close rather early. Despite what Jack Herman says, it wasn't nearly as bad as the Ascot, in West Australia, which was totally isolated. I got the making of several light meals (or maybe heavy snacks) at the markets when they opened, but as Jack correctly points out, bratwurst on a bun isn't a full meal. There were three fast food places in the same block, but I managed to avoid them except once very late at night when very desperate for something carbonated to drink. On the last night I went out with Joe and Gay and we eventually found a satisfactory sushi joint within (fairly lengthy) walking distance, but I didn't consider many of the places I noted around that end of Melbourne within a reasonable distance. However, I'm not very much of a restaurant person, so I can understand serious restaurant enthusiasts having more of a problem.
Jack Herman ran the business meeting, and proved once again that he is one of the few fans who can consistently do so in an thoroughly entertaining manner. Although I pick on Jack every chance I get (he is a much more active responder than Joseph Nichols), I remain impressed.
I've also been impressed by some of the books I've been able to download in electronic form, especially those from the Baen library. That note in response to a panel on eBooks. I must sometime write more on ebooks, as I've been deliberately using them to replace paper books for reference.
My interview with Gay Haldeman seemed to go over well. This was something of a reprise of a successful one we had done a fair while ago, with a bunch of leading questions. Gay and I got together at brunch that morning, to plot which particular topics we would include, and make sure the panel timing would work. I rewrote the questions to make them a little more amusing before the panel. Gay grabbed a copy of the questions, for future use, when it turned out that set of topics worked well for her.
I also managed to have dinner with Joe and Gay on the Monday, after the con. Mind you, we wandered a fair way into Melbourne before finding a venue for a meal. Stopped at the pub opposite the con hotel to continue our talk afterwards. Jean was unfortunately not feeling up to wandering over, and on this trip, the Haldemans didn't have time to visit us in Airlie Beach (well, it isn't like they have never been here before, as our first visit was around 1980, and their most recent in 1999).
Awards
There seemed to be a lot of them, and not being a news zine, I didn't take notes. The very handy news sheet, the New Bullsheet listed them all. A well deserved Ditmar for Ditmar, whose stunning computer art has long graced Bill Wright's fanzine, and often others these days. I saw a bunch of his art on display at the U.K. Eastercon, for example. It was also good to see the first Peter McNamara award go to Paul Collins, who did so much for science fiction publishing in this country, with Void and elsewhere.
I was pleased to see The Australian Science Fiction Foundation's A Bertram Chandler Memorial award went to John Foyster. Julian Warner's notes on the award cite John's work on both versions of the Australian Science Fiction Review, eFNAC, numerous fanzines, hosting discussion groups, the Nova Mob in Melbourne and Critical Mass in Adelaide, chairing conventions, etc. A most deserved award.
Conventions
I noted the following Australian and New Zealand conventions.
Borderlands - That which scares us. 7-8 September 2002, Emerald Hotel, Perth, Eddie Campbell (comics) and Stephen Dedman. Did anyone publish a report of this con? Formerly http://www.thatwhichscaresus.org
Fantastic Fictions symposium at University of Sydney Friday 27 September 2002. Or this one? Formerly http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/fantastic
I didn't recall seeing a note about Conquest (media con), but noticed in the newspaper that this was held in Brisbane in October.
GenghisCon early 2003 WA movies gaming etc.
For some reason I'm totally unaware of the NZ or Australian NatCons for 2003. I really must get more organised ... or less disorganised. The NatCon in Australia will obviously be the Swancon.
ConTour 2004, 25th Nat NZ Con, Princes Gate Hotel, Rotorua Convention Centre, Easter Friday 9 April Monday 12 April 2004. Harry Turtledove NZ$60 before 2003.
ConFlux, the 2004 NatCon (the 43rd) will be in Canberra, on 23 to 26 April. GoH Greg Benford and Sean McMullen, FGoH Karen Herkes.
I am now pondering about an Airlie Beach Relaxacon in April 2004. That early in the year, it may be still a bit warm for some visitors.
Other Addresses
Agog! Press, Editor Cat Sparks, PO Box U302, University of Wollongong NSW 2522 to be launched at Swancon 2003
Altair V Journal of Speculative Fiction (1998) ISSN 1382-3340 ISBN 0 9577238 9 X formerly at http://www.sfsite.com/altair
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, launch issue (launched at Convergence - Canberra based). www.andromedaspaceways.com
Great fun at the launch on 9 June 2002. Triangular transparent space food capsules (containing gourmet jelly beans). Transparent wrist strap boarding passes. Fun approach as captain and crew stayed in their roles. Loud music later however drove us out. Robbie Matthews, Ian Nichols, Terri Sellen, Monissa Whiteley seem to be directors, also Sally Beasley, Tehani Croft, Andrew Finch, Edwina Harvey, Simon Haynes, Benjamine Payne, Les Petersen, Nigel Read, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Danuta Shaw, Lyn Triffitt as supporters. Emerged from an Eidolist posting in May 2001. Name from Simon Haynes. I'm boosting this for a Ditmar for best book or magazine launch of the year. As at October I've had three issues of the magazine, and it is doing a fine job.
Aurealis #29, ConVergence 2002 Special (I thought this had folded, and was pleased to realise I was wrong). 03 9504 1516 Chimaera Publications say four for A$38/50 aurealis.com.au
AustrAlien Absurdities, comic sf etc. stories edited by Chuck Mckenzie and Tansy Raynor Roberts. Agog! Press.
Celestial Cobbler. SF and fantasy ceramic from Edwina Harvey. This has nothing to do with magazines, but seems a good thing to mention. members.optushome.com.au/guests/Cobbler.html
Frontier SF magazine Katherine Shade and Jeremy Sadler. www.frontiermagazine.net
Klingon Language Institute PO Box 634 Flourtown PA 19031. Is it really the fastest growing language? www.kli.org
Melbourne Science Fiction Club http://www.msfc.asn.au
Nor of Human edited by Geoffrey Malone Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild PO Box 98 Latham ACT 2615 csfg.cumulo-nimbus.com
Calole Nomarhas, author. www.goblinmuse.com
Orb speculative fiction, double issue 3 and 4, edited by Sarah Endacott. home.vicnet.net.au/~kendacot/Orb/
Spaced Out, gay lesbian sf community PO Box 363 Preston Vic 3072. info at spacedoutinc org www.spacedoutinc.org
Vision, Brisbane sf magazine. Scott Robinson 5 Lavarack Road, Bray Park 4500. welcome.to/vision-writers/
Voyager Online www.voyageronline.com.au
Airlie Beach Relaxacon report
What we should have done was to have recorded the convention, for posterity, or at least for the Science Fiction Oral History Association. Then if we ran a deficit, and could get a microphone into the parties, we could always try using the recordings for blackmail.
We returned to Airlie Beach on Qantas via Brisbane and Proserpine on Tuesday 11 June, accompanied by New Zealand author and old friend Lyn McConchie. A taxi was competitive with the bus for three, so we reached the Whitsunday Terraces resort very comfortably soon after our middayish arrival. Given we had arisen at 4:30 a.m. we were a bit tired.
Lyn had vast quantities of books in her suitcase. After lifting it ... or attempting to ... I asked her what was in it, and then realised that was a really silly question. Despite this, Lyn collected another box or so of books from us the following day, in several hunts through our surplus boxes.
We didn't feel up to hunting up much in the way of food supplies, so we had dinner at the Whitsunday Sailing Club. Lyn even found they would cook her steak the way she wanted (burnt!)
I failed to mention Lyn gave us Hamilcar BaaBaa (well, it couldn't be Barca, could it, despite that being the Carthagenian general's name), or more accurately, the beautifully coloured tanned hide that sheep no longer required. While not a hunting trophy in the tiger skin class, it makes a wonderful ornament on the tiled floor, as well as being a much warmer item to stand on during the two weeks of our winter.
Wednesday was a book hunting day for Lyn (what a surprise), with a drive to Proserpine. I think we shipped a bunch of books to New Zealand today. While Lyn was hunting op shops, I collected UK fan Jane Killick from the airport.
Peter and Mariann MacNamara arrived, visiting his brother at Cannonvale, for I think the first time. We didn't see them until a few days later. Peter was a bit slow on his feet, but was doing a lot better than expected, and went to several events with us.
Thursday 13 June
John August arrived via Mackay and a bus. He quickly grabbed details from Chris Peat's Heavens-Above site of what satellites might be visible from Airlie Beach, being interested in seeing Iridium flares. While at the sailing club for an evening meal, he noted a sighting of the Hubble Space Telescope, but older eyes could not make it out. I collected Michael Green from Proserpine airport in the afternoon.
We again dined at the Whitsunday Sailing Club, on their cheap and cheerful (and filling) meals.
Friday 14 June
Friday arrivals were Robin and Alicia Johnson, and Lucy Schmeidler at Hamilton, Bill Wright, plus LynC, Clive Newley, Roger and Estelle at Proserpine (given the size of our car, I left them for a taxi). Leanne and Kerry Frahm drove up from Mackay.
Some people went swimming in the lagoon, which is a pretty relaxed spot almost in the middle of Airlie. I'm not used to fans doing anything active.
Friday evening we set out at six to Rob Bredl's Barefoot Bushmans Wildlife Park, I had organised a lot of it with Joe and Francis at the Wildlife Park by phone. Lync, Clive, Roger and Estelle in one taxi from Whitehaven Units. John, Michael, Bill, Robin, Alicia, me in another taxi from Terraces. Peter and Mariann MacNamara arrived by car later. Entry was $59, and included all transport, meal, etc. That event only occurs on Wednesday and Friday, which meant some people (like Lucy) missed it, and would not be around for the next one.
It started with a screening of the Amazing Killer Instinct TV documentaries that Rob did as the Barefoot Bushman, so that people could gather ready for the main events. The first was the crocodile show, with Rob doing his usual hands on event. Given it was to show the tourists live action, there was a little less on crocodile habits, and a few more wrestling with the crocodile things, like on the Steve Irwin. Rob demonstrated how to jump on a large crocodile, and kick it into spectacular TV style action. He made it look like sitting on an armchair. Rob pointed out that the croc leapt into action only when responding to certain stimulus (a kick on the rear legs). For example, you could use the back of one to step over the safety fence without provoking any spectacular reaction.
Small native Australian animals, and letting people pat koalas and that sort of traditional thing was next. That seemed to go down well with most people, as many wildlife parks are not able to let you actually hold a wide variety of the animals. Lync's children seemed to like holding the baby animals. Which ones you get to handle depends entirely on which babies have been handed in and need raising by hand at the time. With so much national park around here, there are always some coming in.
Handling snakes wasn't precisely as popular, although most tried it with the python. Rob didn't do much with the poisonous snakes this time, probably because they wouldn't be all that active in the cool of the night. Then it was time for the BBQ dinner, which was not gourmet style, but had a lot of variety and was plenty filling. It is the sort of food I enjoy a lot more than restaurant meals.
Munda Goala cultural performers did their traditional aboriginal corroboree and didgeridoo show. The performers are each from a different tribe, so you really aren't getting a genuine original cultural experience. However the choreography was well done. The show had a lot of interaction with the audience. A bit too much, I thought, while I was trying to imitate the dance steps. At least Michael and John looked just as silly doing it as I did. The didgeridoo playing was really well done, with the choreographer (who also runs one of the local shops) being a master of the instrument.
Stay at homes were Lyn, Leanne and Kerry, Jean, who went out together for dinner, I believe. Lucy was incommunicado after dark, and had lost her pocket diary, possibly on the bus. She said it happens a lot. That would drive me insane. Lucy is obviously a saint (or whatever the Jewish equivalent may be).
Saturday 15 June
The beachfront markets was the early morning event, with lots of fruit and handcrafts available.
The Video Room was John's idea, and Michael co-operated. Lyn McConchie supplied Dune on three videos, picked up locally at good prices. I loaned my vastly underused VCR, and what tapes I had, and John fixed my (mostly unused) VCR with a cleanup tape.
Saturday evening. Mexican Restaurant at The Esplanade, with Bill, John, Jane, Leanne, Lyn, Alicia, Robin, Michael. My creation (a bit of everything) was a bit overcooked, and service was slow, due to crowding. Lync etc came along later. If doing another Relaxacon, I'd organise the restaurant ahead of time with bookings several days ahead (despite the problems doing this with fans). Several restaurants I wanted to use had closed in the two months prior to the con, and others are available only on prior bookings at that time of year.
Sunday 16 June
We took the FantaSea Reef World day cruise to the Outer Barrier Reef. This is one of a very few one day (as distinct from multiple day) trips that actually goes all the way to the outer reef, rather than to the fringing reefs around drowned hill peaks of the offshore islands.
Travellers were Lucy, LynC, Clive, Roger, Estelle, Leanne, Robin and Alicia, John, Michael, Bill, Peter and Mariann, Eric and Jean. The only one to stay behind was Lyn.
The boat leaves Shute Harbour, passes nearby Shute, Tancred and Repair Islands before crossing Molle Passage and then Whitsunday Passage (named by Cook on 3 June 1770, as was Pentacost Island) into Dent Passage and Hamilton Island (formerly Passage Island) marina. Hamilton Island is the largest offshore resort in Australia. It is a high speed catamaran ferry, although not one from Tasmania as Robin wondered, and can take about 150 passengers.
Cruise north along the western side of Whitsunday island (the largest in the group), and through the smooth and narrow waters of Hook Island Passage past the underwater observatory and wilderness lodge. I suspect that in less windy conditions, they would have used the Solway passage between Hamilton and Whitsunday.
Once further out toward the reef, the sea became glassy smooth. The misted sky was a remarkable shade I've seen only a few times before here, and never while out at sea. You couldn't tell where the horizon was, as the pearly mist merged into the sea. Someone said that was how The Poseidon Adventure began. It was properly eerie.
The three level Reefworld platform is anchored on the edge of Hardy Reef, 39 nautical miles from the coast, just past Hook Reef. There is a second platform nearby for visitors from the luxury train. Reefworld provides rides on a semi submergible, plus viewing ports in the underwater chamber on the platform.
A remarkable number of fans actually went in the water snorkelling amongst the coral. They mostly seemed to have a good time, although youngster Roger quickly became cold.
Monday was a relaxed day after our return. Various people braved the long flights of steps, visited our unit and bought up books for GUFF.
There were a number of informal meals taken at the restaurant at the Whitsunday Terraces, it being fairly convenient, and I failed to note exactly who turned up when. We did try filling the spa and tested the pool. During winter, the spa was more popular than the pool.
Leanne and Lyn left for home Monday, Jane went off on her first SCUBA course with Oceania Dive for the rest of the week.
After the Con was Over
Lots of people left on Wednesday 19 June. Robin and Alicia Johnson, and Lucy Schmeidler via Hamilton Island. John August via Mackay, Michael Green via Proserpine.
We had an island and beach cruise planned on Thursday however winds and waves were too high, and it was cancelled. I believe Peter and Mariann Macnamara made their way home today also, having said their goodbyes previously. Bill Wright, LynC, Clive and the children were still here on holidays.
Friday was a busy day, due to the previous trip being rebooked.
We took the Mantaray, an 18 knot boat trip via Hook Island Passage (still too rough for the Solway Passage past Hamilton), then south to Whitehaven Beach on the eastern side of Whitsunday island. Scones with jam and cream for morning tea. There was a certain amount of beach activities, with Bill chasing an errant beach ball through the water along the beach, until both were collected by the Mantaray tender. I was pleased to see that the goanas eventually turned up, and believe I managed some decent photos of them.
Lunch on board as we went to Mantaray Bay on west side of Hook Island for snorkelling and diving. I find that area interesting, as the reefs are different to the actual barrier reef further to sea. Fair number of people on board as we had to put off trip for a day, so there were a lot of people in the water. It turned out Bill had forgotten his tablets, and got a little tired in the water, so LynC and I towed him back to the boat in case of side effects. When we got back to the mainland, I made sure he got to his room as quickly as possible so he could take the missing tablets, just in case.
It was a busy day for the visitors. Proserpine Show, with Lync, Clive, children and Bill, with Clive driving our car, which at that stage was full.
On Saturday, Bill, Jane and I also went to Proserpine showground for the show. Bill had found some neat stuff there, and the Queensland Rail Silver Spike competition finals were on. Of course, rail ballast, sleepers and track is now mostly laid by semi-automated machines, but the speed of the manual track building is still impressive in these competitions. I'm sure glad I'm not doing it. Local state Labor MP Jan Jarrett was there. I liked the chook house, with some feathered hens looking more like they had fur. I have no idea what farming use they have, but it was an interesting view of what selective breeding can do. I did however avoid taking any of the carnival rides.
Like Bill, I visited Annunzio, The Wire King, to get some Brooches of Class. These are made of gold plated brass wire, which he twists into alphabetical shape with pliers. I got an Eric badge, and also one for Jean. I asked him how his hands were surviving his work, and as I expected, he said he was now having problems with joint pain. He had been doing these badges at carnivals for over 20 years.
Somehow managed to see Lync and company off from the Proserpine airport.
I'm not sure what we all did in the following days. I did see Bill and Jane from time to time. We all (even Jean) went to the Sailing Club for lunch on Tuesday, probably again on the very handy two meals for the price of one coupons. Bill left on Wednesday, and Jane set off again for the rest of the week getting her advanced SCUBA certificate.
Jane ended up staying looking after our apartment for a while, when we finally managed to set off at the end of the week in our motorhome for our much delayed trip to Darwin and perhaps a bit further (see next issue for details).
Diary Notes
Former farmer John Alderson, whom some may recall as an iconoclastic fan and amateur historian, turned up in Airlie Beach in late August. I'd last seen him many years ago in Victoria, and generally no longer spotted him at conventions. Despite his age, he appeared almost unchanged from twenty years ago, and his attitudes seemed likewise interestingly fixed.
John had reached me by phone, being probably the first person to manage that in the four years I've lived here. It has only been in the past year that the second phone had been in my name, and thus in the official phone book (it still isn't in any of the other local phone books). Anyone who, like John, didn't recall I've been with Jean these past twenty years, would have failed to find the phone numbers under Jean Weber's name. Given that my phone line was normally connected to a fax for many years, or if not a fax, then a computer, I'm not sure that helps much in any case. Nor can you just look us up in the phone book and visit. For reasons known only to their internal records, Telstra insist that we live at an address that does not exist, rather than at the Terraces. Were the buildings actually numbered, which they are not, the number 17 Telstra insist is us (along with 24 other units) would be the vacant block next door.
I wandered down to the nearby YHA, where John was staying. Since he seemed to be moving somewhat more fluidly than Jean, I took him to the Whitsunday Sailing Club, where we demolished a rather nice bottle of red wine (for our respective heart conditions), and later had a meal. It was interesting catching up on old times. I was actually wondering how a small scale farmer and wine maker could get away from his holding, but John pointed out he was no longer an impoverished farmer. He was now an old age pensioner, and thus could actually afford the odd overseas holiday in various cheap countries. He mentioned visits to Nepal, India and elsewhere.
Our British visitor Jane Killick was here, so with our small apartment, I didn't have crash space for John. I did however manage to get out late the next morning, and drive him to a few op-shops for book searches. Despite Lyn McConchie having done the shops with Jean a few months before, John seemed happy enough with his book finds when I left him around lunchtime. I didn't get a further chance to see him.
That afternoon, Jane found a great gush of hot water streaming out under the bathroom sink. It threatened to soak into various things, although as Jane had tidied the room, there was little on the floor. While Jean and Jane brushed the water out the door, I removed the side of the vanity unit, and shut off the water supply to the hot water unit. With the flow off, it was obvious that the flexible pipe from hot water to the washbasin had broken. That was fairly new, being installed about four years ago when we had the unit renovated. When Jerry the plumber came an hour later (luckily he was working at the Terraces that day), he made nasty comments about flexible pipes for hot water, and replaced it and the equivalent in the second bathroom with copper pipes.
Oh yes, and I managed to catch a cold (John said he had one), and spent much of the next week hiding out and feeling miserable, which was a good reason to work on some rants.
Rants
I regret that it is getting too hard to arrange alphabetical rants, with one per letter of the alphabet.
Air Travel Taxes
According to Flight Centre figures, in the three months prior to 11 Sept 2001, the average Australian traveller paid $51.87 in taxes. In the three months after, they paid $81.40, an increase in Government charges of around 60%. Of course, our government isn't into increasing taxes these days. Instead they have levies.
The Building Game
There have been about a dozen or so apartment and resort projects built here in town in the past four or so years, five of them on the hill behind us. In fact, last quarter, the value of building approvals in town (total district population under 20,000) was higher than in the city of Mackay (population over 100,000). All these projects sell off the plan, in advance of construction, so the builders know where and when the money is coming in, and can use that to finance the project.
However it appears there is a glut on investment housing. Certainly the figures on rental returns in this area don't justify the asking prices on the new properties.
The Reserve Bank note that Australian homes are now the most expensive in the world relative to income. Who is running a book on a housing price crash?
Government
Budget surpluses (it is our money after all, not the government's money) should be put into limited spending options such as tax cuts, and funding government superannuation and pension commitments, and thus locked up where future generations of politicians can not as easily get at the money to waste it on pork barrelling.
Cabinet confidential documents must not include incentives to industry. Incentives must be revealed. Why shouldn't we all know what subsidies we are paying industry? After all, we know what old age pensions and politicians salaries are costing us, so why should business be any different? How can you have open government when the bribes are always hidden?
Elections should always provide a None of the above option, as an alternative to the almost totally useless informal vote.
Commercial in confidence secrecy is unacceptable when public money is involved. Taxpayers have a right to transparency in government spending, and a right to know how their money is being spent. If companies don't like that, they shouldn't bid for government contracts.
Public ownership or control of scarce distribution systems where it doesn't make sense to duplicate infrastructure, such as phone lines, radio waves, power lines, roads. Either rent to any and all users or suppliers, or if the resource is scarce and individual payment a problem, lease for fixed periods with a public auction for renewal.
Taxes must be like fees, on a dollar basis, not on a percentage basis, especially income taxes and excise. Politicians use bracket creep to keep increasing taxes covertly. All tax rises must be explicit, not just installed by being sneaky about inflation.
No new taxes, say the government, however they make do with brand new levies. $503M from the 1996 Gun levy (to get guns out of the community via a buyback). $802M per year from the 1996 tax increase on superannuation contributions by high income tax payers, up from 15% to 30%, but phasing down to 10.5%. $250M from the 1998 Stevedoring levy, of $12 a container and $6 per motorvehicle, to cover stevedoring redundancies. $218M per year from the 11c per litre 2000 Diary levy, to compensate dairy farmers for deregulation. $110M in the first year, at $10 per air ticket, for the Ansett levy, to cover workers entitlements from the Ansett airlines crash. $150M for at least 5 years at 3 cents a kilo of sugar, to support the sugar industry. I don't say these were all bad decisions, but it all sure sounds like new taxes to me.
Monty Python say Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! However I can't help but wonder whether we are doing all that much better with such unrepresentative parties as make up both our government and opposition.
Income Tax
Income tax is now higher under the Liberals than it was under the Keating Labor government, despite the additional "tax cuts" promised when the 10% GST came in. As a percentage of GDP, the income tax has risen from around 12% in 1970, through the 16% of Keating in the early 1990's, dropped to 15% for a short while, but under Costello has been closer to 17% and 18%. Income taxes should be indexed, to prevent bracket creep. The whole thing is just another con job by governments of all persuasions. Labour is now providing 72.9% of all income taxes, and this will rise to 73.4% in 2004-5.
Internet Connections Drop
The number of internet connections in Australia fell for the first time this year. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show connections dropped by 1% (43,000) from September 2001 to September 2002. While the drop to 4.23 million can attributed to a decline in free access and pay by the hour accounts, it does show that connection expansion is all but over. Many people will simply never connect to the internet, as it has insufficient utility for them to do so.
Do I need to point out that where Telstra is the only ASDL supplier, the per magabyte cost (you only get 300 MB of download per month on the lowest fee account) makes changing to ADSL very marginal for low usage customers? There may be some point to it for those who plan to embrace large scale audio (MP3 file sharing) or video (porn or movie) downloads, but it will raise costs seriously for those just doing a little email, newsgroup and web access. Text files just don't need a lot of bandwidth.
Investment Returns
Historically, stocks have offered about 2.5% more investment return than low risk, inflation indexed government bonds. In the USA bonds were returning about 3%, so the stock market needed to return 5.5%, however it has actually returned about 1.75% recently. That says it is overvalued, and a DOW of about 5000 would be more appropriate in the long term (Standards and Poor went down well towards that sort of ratio). This ties in with comments I've made about the P/E ratios being stupid in recent years. However US indexed bonds have dropped to about 2.2% from the 3.5% in 2000. So the DOW (and similar) might only need to drop about 15-20%.
Libel and Slander
Why do we have these tall poppy laws in Australia? Not one case in fifty is brought by the average person in the street. The people doing the suing are politicians and celebrities, where I'd have thought strong comments should be considered an occupational hazard. In several cases involving politicians, the cases appeared to outsiders as more a way to delivery a tax free payoff than anything else.
Risk takers to pay
Voluntary risk takers are likely to lose the right to sue if injured. Insurance rises are pushing legislation to force people to take responsibility for their own dangerous actions. That certainly seems about time, given the idiocies of some court decisions.
Terrorism - should we do it?
I know, these days we are all supposed to be politically correct, and be really tolerant. However, if I'd been in charge of the USA in the dark days after Sept 11, by now Baghdad, Jerusalem, Mecca and half a dozen other places would all be 5 km wide green glass craters, and real estate with 50 km of them would be glowing in in the dark. But aren't some of them on our side, I hear you ask. Collateral damage. Let the equally non-existent Allah, God or Goddess, or whatever faineant diety you believe in sort them out. Isn't it lucky that someone moderate like George Bush was in charge?
Of course, no sensible person would allow an unstable personality to have access to weapons, especially really destructive weapons like nuclear bombs, biological warfare and chemical agents. Isn't it lucky that every country in the world has statesmanlike leaders and loyal oppositions who would obviously be statesmanlike were the responsibility theirs? I feel so secure about leaders like Gadhafi, Hussain, Amin, Pol Pot and so on attempting to take on this great responsibility during past decades.
Moving from the grand sweep of international politics and sarcasm to more personal material, has anyone else been annoyed at the persistence of spam email? Well, anyone can get a virus (especially if they don't remove Microsoft's virus Petri dishes) and accidentally send spam, and I don't mean these victims. I mean the slime who use these CD's full of 300 million valid email addresses to spam by the million. Laws don't seem to stop them, as they just change to a different server. ISPs generally don't do enough. I would think at a minimum, no new ISP account should be permitted to send more than 100 emails an hour in their first year. However technical methods don't help all that much when many email relays (especially in some Asian and middle European countries) are so badly configured (mostly due to ignorance, and a lack of technical material in anything other than English) that they can easily be subverted. I know some of my friends at ISPs simply block all of China and several other countries, which is not helping the openness of the Internet.
I have a modest proposal. Bring back the custom of dueling, with bulk spamming considered the valid reason for issuing a challenge and demanding satisfaction. I predict that would solve the problem rather quickly.
Zero Volts
- 6:05am 26 Sept 2002 Power out for a half second
- 10:05pm 30 Sept 2002 Power out for a half second
- 6:41pm 11 Oct 2002 Power out for a half second
- 9:05pm 14 Oct 2002 Power out for a half second
- 4:40 am 29 Oct 2002
Power out until 11:40, then back for a few minutes, then out for another hour. That was a pole just below the apartment going out in high wind, and starting a grass fire. Lack of rain blamed. The dirt that accumulated from the dust storms is slightly conductive, and it arced between 11,000 volt phases when there was some condensation. Usually rain cleans the insulators, and we don't usually have dust storms. This happened again about a week later, with power out from 1:30 a.m. until about 9 a.m.
- 5:40pm 16 Nov 2002 Power out for a half second