October 2016

We have all seen I’m sure the slow motion footage of a drop of water hitting the surface and the effect it has. The concentric ripples that occur are beautiful, sensuous and relaxing to watch as they expand across the surface.

It’s something I could watch it over and over again, it’s quite hypnotic in fact, but I  enjoy the wonder of that moment. These ripples are beautiful and a wonder of nature and there is a certain symmetry of that event which I relish.

However the Ripple effect as we describe it is the continuing results of an event or action. Depending on how big the event is the ripples generated are relative.

For instance if you scale up that ripple from the drop of water we might get a Tsunami similar to what happened in Japan in 2011 or Thailand in 2004. The earthquakes that triggered these events were huge. The ripples and shock waves that were set in motion on those days had a catastrophic effect.

So let’s look at a couple of weeks ago when China devalued its currency. This began a chain of events around the world. Stock markets had their biggest falls since the GFC. Why ? because rumours rippled around the world that there was a crisis looming. Many people panicked. Many small investors in China have lost a lot of money as well as here. Our dollar is falling more so on rumour and speculation rather than cold hard facts.

What about Ashley Madison, have you heard about that website? You know the one you can join if you fancy a fling with someone. Was your account one of those hacked? I know mine wasn’t.

Hacker’s got into the site and threatened to expose their many clients.  Two suicides were linked to the hack. What caused both of these things? Quite simply fear. Fear of the unknown

A ripple of fear grew from what might be. The consequences of these events were in the forefront of the psyche of many people.

In the modern age Social media has become a vehicle that can move rumour and scandal around the world in seconds.

On Facebook the other day a young French girl posted a video saying that she was looking for the wonderful guy that she met on her one night stand and he is now going to be a proud father after their night of passion in Mooloolaba. A short time later it’s reported that it was a hoax. They did this to see how quickly something went Viral as the ripple turned into a tsunami fed by chaos.

So you can see that the power of the ripple effect is not to be under estimated and that it’s everywhere.

So on a different level, how does our journey through life each day affect our own world? What ripples do we initiate? Some we may know about but many will go unnoticed.

It’s what is known as the butterfly effect.

This is the Theory that everything matters.

That even the flutter of a butterfly’s wings can influence the creation of a hurricane on the other side of the world.

If you change even the smallest of life’s details, you completely change its outcome.

This is part of  chaos theory, So what is Chaos theory?

Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics

It studies the behaviour of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions—more so referred to as the butterfly effect.  It’s used in weather modelling systems.

So small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for such dynamical systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible in general. So in other words instead of being 2.79 it will be `2.8

This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future behaviour is still determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved.

In other words, the deterministic nature of these systems does not make them predictable

But the butterfly effect means that is has  sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one condition can result in large differences in a later state.

The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz,  An American mathematician born in 1917.

He derived it from the metaphorical example of the details of a hurricane (exact time of formation, ( X)+ (Y) exact path taken) being influenced by minor disturbances such as the flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly several weeks earlier then chaos ensues.

Lorenz discovered the effect when he observed that runs of his weather model with initial condition data that was rounded in a seemingly inconsequential manner would fail to reproduce the results of runs with the unrounded initial condition data. An exceedingly small change in initial conditions had created a significantly different outcome.

So in other words the next cyclone that starts to form of the east coast might turn into the perfect storm only because of that butterfly or maybe you or I did something to influence it like swatting a fly.

A simple way of looking at it is like this

The butterfly effect is exhibited by very simple systems. For example, the randomness of the outcomes of throwing dice depends on this characteristic to amplify small differences in initial conditions—the precise direction, thrust, and orientation of the throw—into significantly different dice paths and outcomes, which makes it virtually impossible to throw dice exactly the same way twice.

So what has this all got to do with us. Well can we predict the future? Is the future already written? Some people think so. Time is like a river flowing to the sea and if you want you can go faster or return to a previous point you can……………but can you?, not according to Chaos theory.

Well because of the chaos theory and the butterfly affect nothing is certain. The ripples that we set up on our path through life will collide with others along the way and from those Initial Conditions based on Chaos theory the outcome will be unpredictable but if you have two people, such as a musicians coming together then the sum of result may be more predictable only because the initial conditions are constant

We can predict a possible outcome but the future is not certain. You drop your car keys as your getting into the car tonight, what would have happened if you hadn’t?

As you walk down the street tonight and old man asks for some money, what do you do? Ignore him; give him a couple of dollars. What happens in both scenarios to him, to you?

One event in our lives can not only change your life forever but that of someone else that you don’t even see.

The world is currently in a state of flux.

We have the largest movement of people since the second world was and the ripples set in motion by the wars in the gulf years ago have now created a state of play that brings in all I have mentioned.

The ramifications of one person’s decision years ago could have been the butterfly in this scene and now the tsunami of people moving across the globe will change the world as we know it forever. We can speculate on outcomes but right now there are so many variables in the mix that it will be impossible. Governments around the world know of the moral decisions they need to take but they won’t and if they don’t then to be brutally honest the problem is so great that the perfect storm is brewing.

It ultimately comes down to cause and effect.

Ripples can be very beautiful things but it depends on the medium.

In days gone by when say Julius Caesar was slain it took a many weeks for that news to reach the ends of the empire. Today we watch such events live. When Gaddafi was killed it was streamed live around the world. We saw the immediacy of the reaction to his death but it was only later that the underlying ripples of unrest began to spread

Many Governments have used the ripple of fear to control the masses through propaganda. Including the Australian government. Tony Abbott  is a big fear monger. The Lindt cafe siege was a gift to the government to suddenly promote fear in the community. And of course to finally become part of that group of countries that has had to deal with terrorism.

The Lindt cafe incident was not terrorism it was a lone nutter who just happened to be Muslim. He should never have been walking the streets in the first place. The judicial system failed the public and the police on the day were ill equipped to deal with the situation.

A ripple can turn into a tsunami 

Consequences, scammers Victims misinformation.

We only have to look at recent history to see how one America Republican  government used fear to enter Iraq.

And look at that outcome, the world is in a hell of a state.

With no foresight chaos ensues.

Since  I was born the political landscape of the world has changed dramatically. Greed , ignorance and of course fear have fueled so many conflicts in the world. When the iron curtain was in place we used to fear what we could not see. We could only take the word of a few to let us see into that world. Unfortunately America has taken the lead in many of the conflicts around the globe using fear as the motivation for its actions.

My Mum used to always say to me that the Americans shoot first and ask questions later and how right she was. And still today the ripple of fear travels through American society.

If you look around you, the ripples of daily life affect us in many ways.

So be aware of as you walk through life, be aware of the ripples that you might be setting in motion after all, it ultimately comes down to cause and effect.

 

.

 

Feb 2009

What is happening to us?

These days when we cut our finger or sneeze we run off to the Hospital to get checked up

And after we have sat for more than 4 hours with the rest of the waiting room, we get told take some Panadol and you will be OK in the morning.

Why do we do this?

Why do we waste not only our time but the Public health system.

I can remember a few times in my Youth when I spilled some claret. Mostly when I was under the influence of alcohol I may add. And the worst thing was that I was still in Pain.

I got my finger caught in a car door……….A bandage and some gauze fixed that one, oh and some Dettol

Pool cue in the wrist. A bandage and some gauze, oh and some Dettol.

Both were put on by my sister, who just laughed at me as I remember. No sympathy. Just told to shut up it wasn’t all that bad.

I could go on,

But as Billy Connolly always said that the cure for everything was Wire brush and Dettol, that was the War cry.

 

 

In Harmony with Nature’ March 2011

Of all the animals that inhabit this wonderful planet we are just about the only one who is completely at odds with it. We are not in Harmony with nature.

The earth does not need us for her existence and at the moment it almost feels that she is telling us to sit down and listen to her because we need her.

 We are the passengers, not the crew. Without the crew the earth will die, but without us she will only prosper

We plunder the earth everyday and for what? 

Yes we do it for survival but more and more these days it seems to be for Greed.

 Man storms around this planet raping the earth for the almighty dollar.

 We have been told that Carbon is the bad guy in all of this and if we can control it by introducing new taxes then we can still justify pumping the same shit into the atmosphere.

 It doesn’t solve any problems it just makes your conscience feel a little better and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

 Clean coal is another great idea which I just love.

Let’s catch all this nasty carbon and bury it in a big hole somewhere, doesn’t matter where as long as it’s out of sight and out of mind.

That’s the best thing to do. It would be too hard to work out a way of actually dealing with the carbon on a more practical level and maybe use it for something more productive.

 Let’s say we might make some diamonds.

 The Great Artesian Basin is arguably the largest groundwater aquifer in the world (over 1.7 million km²). …

We are now trying to get coal gas from the ground and in this process we are slowly beginning to contaminate this massive resource.

Ground water levels have dropped in recent years and it will take thousands of years before this would return to pre mining days.

In not one instance are we addressing the problems that exist,

If carbon is so bad just stop using it and find something which is not so bad for the planet. 

Solar, wind and wave power which are such an obvious solutions to our many energy problems has been casually ignored for decades because it’s been easier to plunder the earth rather than try and work out how to make them more efficient or cost effective.

Can you imagine if we had ploughed the amount of money oil and gas gets each year into where Green technologies where we might be right now? 

The earth has been rumbling over the last few months, she seems a bit upset, but then again she has been doing this for millennia. Man is certainly causing her some indigestion but in the grand scheme of things in her history we are a mere few seconds on irritation.

But we should listen to her, we need to live in Harmony with her or she might just give us the flick

 

April 2009 Notes

Route 66 runs from Tennant Creek in the NT all the way to Rockhampton.

1,994 km – about 22 hours 54 mins

Google Maps

 

Camoweal is the first place we cross into in QLD.

Camooweal is now considered a ‘suburb’ of Mount Isa, such is the vastness of the region, and the huge jurisdiction the Mount Isa City Council operates. The Barkly Highway between Mount Isa and Camooweal is considered the longest main street in the world at 188 kilometres long!

 

Very hot

Aborigine girl with bare feet when it was 46deg

Mt Isa    162 lm

Mines

Cloncurry  149

The Royal Flying Doctors Service was launched Cloncurry with the first flight on 17 May 1928.

Cloncurry was founded in 1867 by Ernest Henry. It was built upon copper mines in the surrounding district, which quickly led to it being one of the most prosperous towns in the Outback.

Today, Cloncurry’s core industries include grazing, copper and gold mining, transport and mining services. Qantas was conceived in Cloncurry and their aircraft hangar still stands at Cloncurry Shire Airport.

McKinlay  108

Walkabout Creek

Winton 239

The town is best known as the place that AB (Banjo) Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda in 1895, whilst at Dagworth Station outside Winton

Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service (Qantas), Australia’s national airline was formed in Winton in November, 1920 and its first board meeting was held in the Winton Club on 21 February 1921.

Longreach  179

Qantas

Qantas Founders Museum – this world-class attraction commemorates the founders of this great Australian company that grew to become internationally recognised as a leader in world aviation

Barcaldine  107

Sapphire  275  

Big Spanner and Big Pick and Shovel

Get your nuts tightened at the Big Spanner

Sapphires on graded road

NASA

Emerald   54

Bluff

Trains  James

Bluff is located in the Central Highlands, 94 kilometres east of Emerald on the Capricorn Highway. A must see for rail enthusiasts, Bluff is the major interchange station for coal trains. Many trains are over two kilometres long.

Rockampton

The Port of Rockhampton
In 1874 wharves were built within the city reach of the river to allow the transportation of goods, people and mail to southern and northern ports. Rockhamptonites pursued the idea of a port within the river, until the government finally set up Port Alma and the rail links along the Sunshine Route were completed. In 1960, the redevelopment of the port was funded jointly by Council and the Queensland Government.

Often been known as the Beef capital

March 2015

 

Music was my first love and it will be my last
Music of the future and music of the past
to live without my music would be impossible do
In this world of troubles my music pulls me through

 

John Miles penned these words in 1976 and it and I think they strike a chord with many people around the world.

I have a terrible memory I put that down to the old grey matter being abused too much by life and maybe the odd beer or two.

But for some reason I find that Music has the ability to transport me in an instant to a time and a place with vivid memories even in colour, even with sounds and smells.

Music has been a big part of my life since I was a kid. Yet I never learned to play an instrument.

 

Having breakfast in the morn before going to school, we had no TV on so it was the radio. Usually BBC radio 1. It played the chart music of the day. You might have heard of some of these groups.

Such as the Beatles, Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich, Argent and Procal Harum.

Maybe you haven’t heard of them

My school bag in High School was one of those bags used for the Gas masks from the war. It was covered in the groups of the day and we would almost hang out according to the music we liked. A bit like the mods and the rockers I guess.

Group names

I was a hippy of the day, you know into free love the odd joint or three and just generally having a good time.

I can tell you find that hard to believe because you need to have hair for that so that you could head bang to such wonderful groups as led Zeppelin and Deep Purlple and the one and only Black Sabbath.

I loved them all and still play their music today.And of course you have to play it loud. There is no way you can play this music in a mellow way

Alice Cooper was out there and he was great because he disgusted people by singing records titled Dead Babies and I love the Dead. And as long as your old dears didn’t like it it was OK. But my Mum got to like Alice Cooper because both my sister Catherine and I used to listen to him.

It might be a just a few notes of some disco dynamic but the next thing  I’m back in the Cochrane House hotel and it’s 1978

Charlie’s  the Dj and I’m up at the decks with a pint in hand and cigarette in the other. This is where you want to be if you want to pull somebody, get a lumber as we would say.

I’m chatting up Lynn, I’ve always fancied her. I get Charlie to play the next few tracks so that I can get to know Lynn a bit better.

Lynnard Skynnard’s Freebird is about to come on. A classic from 1973. I’m with Lynn can it get any better. She is the most stunning girl in the room and she is with me.

This was a very interesting time with music because it’s where heavy music began to mix with disco and then a few years later we got the Jazz Funk and then along came the New Romantics. There was a great mix of music around at this time.

One such song was the Birdie Song.

You’ve heard of the Birdie Song?

I hate that record with a passion, but it too has the effect of taking me to Majorca in a heartbeat. I feel the heat of the sun I can hear the Mediterranean lapping gently against the beach at Arenal.

I can remember how the 3 of us ken Bert and myself were out swimming when something touched our legs and we all panicked thinking it was a shark as we had recently seen Jaws.

We are sitting around the pool drinking cheap champagne which is less than a pound a bottle.

Ken got sun stroke from his plan to get a suntan on the first day and then concentrate on the woman for the rest of the holiday. It didn’t quite go to plan.

We seem to be drunk for the whole fortnight. But we had a great time, I think.

So many Scandinavians go on holiday here and they are stunning. We had never seen women like this in the flesh before.

We bumped into some Norwegian guys and we ended up hanging out with them, they were absolutely nuts and lobbed their TV out of their 4th storey window into the pool. So we thought that was pretty cool.

 

Dark side of the Moon Pink Floyd

Reminds me of the time I was stranded in Vancouver back in 1988 when I was on my way here to Australia. I spent an afternoon on a Blueberry farm having a few joints and listening to this album on some of the best equipment in the world at that time.

 

This guy had a Transcripter Deck

1991 Prince had an album called Diamonds and Pearls. The hit single Cream was being heard everywhere. I was working in a nightclub in Sydney called Reactor One. I worked alongside Rebecca behind the bar. What a team we were.

When they played this track we sing and dance behind the bar while we served the drinks. I’m sure the customers thought we were nuts.

 

Simple Minds Love song takes me to Paisley where we would drink in Toledo Junction where we would get extremely drunk just for a change and then stagger down to the Greasy Hamburger Van where you really should have caught some nasty disease from the food served there, but I guess it had to fight through the alcohol to do any damage.

Paisley Gilmour Street was where it all happened. You could get Greasy Food. You could get lucky and some people even got killed. This is where the Taxi rank was and most nights you were guaranteed a fight. Some nights we would just drive in the catch up with friends and watch the entertainment.

.

Spending a night up at the decks was a good way of meeting lovely young lassie’s. Play a record and you were in.

Raymond was a DJ also. He played in the Greenacres hotel which was up in the Braes overlooking our housing estate.  His music was at the time Jazz funk and the nightclub was more upmarket.

A better clientele indeed.

Had some great nights there.

His record mixing skills were legendary. He could mix a 7 inch to the 12 inch and back again and never miss a beat. He was a technician

It can change you mood, it can make you sad or happy. Music can make any job more enjoyable. I sit in rush hour traffic in the morn and I’ve found that if I listen to Classical FM I arrive at work more relaxed than I have done when I’m say listening to Rage against the machine or Ramstein, which if you don’t know who I’m talking about. Their music is like walking into a room and getting your brains smashed out……in a good way. This wall of sound just hits you and pushes the senses that make you want to bounce around and feel alive You need to hear and feel this music , no good playing it quiet.

 

These should be played before you come to forum to give your speech.

 

Music has been with us since time immemorial. Ever since man decided to celebrate something we have had music.

It can dictate the mood of an occasion and transform the moment.

Have you ever watched a movie with subtitles and then switched the sound off?

How much harder is it to follow that movie, how much do you enjoy it?

Mother Nature’s symphony has been with us forever and she too can make magic.

Sometime in her case it’s the lack of sound that accompanies a vista that makes it more impressive. One of the few times where the sound is better left on mute.

 

But in the morn  when you hear the Whip birds or Magpie’s embracing the new day it can only bring a smile to your face.

 

February 2013

I remember as a child walking down a long disused pier where some of the timbers were rotten and on this particular afternoon, when my Mum was behind me, one of my feet decided to go through to meet the water at which point a loud roar of laughter erupted from behind. I turned around and my Mum was in tears and laughing at my expense, but then again I would have done the same and this is where I have inherited I believe my warped sense of humour.

 

They say curiosity killed the cat and maybe it did.

But you know I bet that cat could tell you a few tales.

My star sign is Leo and we all know how good they are don’t we?

And if you don’t you should now realise that we are quite simply the best and of course very modest. But I believe this is where my curiosity stems from.I am after all just a big pussy-cat.

As a child I can remember a fancy knife that my sister brought back from Denmark after being on a school trip. I can distinctly remember being told do not touch the blade it is very very sharp.

Yes it was.

On another occasion I can remember being told to not touch the dry ice as your fingers will stick to it,

Yes they did and it was rather painful.

Since those early days of course I have honed my curiosity sensing radar/skills etc. and have put it to great use particularly over the last number of years when I travel.

I have become Curiouser, and Curiouser about Asia.

I have travelled extensively through South East Asia where I have discovered a very fascinating place. Talk about going down the rabbit hole.

When you finally venture out into this brave new world you find that you have travelled back in time and they have given you the keys to the country.

You have been given your freedom.

You can do such things as,

Cross the road when you want and not when some stupid flashing man tells you.

You can buy a beer in a shop and drink it outside without fear of reprisals.

When you cross that same road again you have to take complete responsibility so that you make it to the other side all by yourself.

You have to rely on what we call common sense, which for many of the young ones was bred out years ago, but going here this 6^th sense can only be enhanced although sometimes the learning curve can be quite steep for some.

Especially when you find out that the nice young couple that were going to help you are now running down the street and getting into a car with all you possessions.

Not everyone is your friend.

We can eat all kinds of delicacies. From the street

Some were only living a few minutes ago and others have been dead for some time.

You have a choice of insects including spiders, cockroaches, crickets which I don’t mind and my favourite bar snack Silk worm.

The smells of this world and the things you can do here are only limited by your imagination or wallet.

Is this freedom or exploitation?.

Neither it’s life

It’s a different world

That’s why we go

That’s why Alice found Wonderland so intriguing.

So be curious and live a little before it’s too late

May 2011

 

No one mourns the Wicked; at least that’s what they say

But can we be sure, can we celebrate

 

Citizens of the world rejoice, good news he’s dead

That wee sleekit man that ruled the Taliban in Afghanistan is dead.

 

The wicked Warlock of the east got a bullet in the head and his wife got shot in the leg

Oh people of the world shall sing that the western warlock Obama.

Landed that bullet in Osama and made him lose his mind

But no one mourns the Wicked

 

 So why do so many grieve for such a wicked man

For He is now playing with the virgins and doing what he can

We Citizens of the world should rejoice

For Osama has been slain by Obama

Behold the evil is dead, there is no more dread

We can live and breathe again

No need to grieve again

But can we have peace with bin laden gone?

But this wee sleekit man’s armies are not dead and are strong

And they are the one’s grieving.

 

 

For to them he is not an evil man, but a saviour

Obama is the curse along with the west

And they must do their best to avenge his death.

They must strike at the infidel and make him suffer.

With the promise of virgins and eternal life

And the wife or girlfriend won’t give you any strife

And it’s cheaper to buy a one way ticket,

And you can tell folks to stick it with no regrets

 

No one mourns the wicked it’s true

But hate is in the eye of the beholder too

Who are we to judge the death of another?

He too had a mother

But was Osama’s rhetoric worse than the west?

Did George Bush not give a run for his money at his best?

For his words were evil and not funny

Even we could see that

No one mourns the Wicked

But I think they do.

I hate Stupidity

I hate how it affects my life.

It is an insipid creature that is stalking mankind and will surely cause his downfall if we don’t start rebelling against it. I don’t recall it being quite as rampant when I grew up. Oh it did exist and I myself have been guilty of Stupidity      . I know it’s hard to believe. But my sister told me once not to touch this hunting knife that she had as the blade was very sharp. I ignored her of course and ran my finger down the blade. My finger began to bleed. My sister was right and I learned not to do that again. I learned from my Stupidity and moved on. Stupidity should be seen as a tool of learning, not something to cherish

We must exercise this affliction before it destroys us, but the irony of the situation is that Stupidity is a protected species and governments go to extreme lengths to do so. It also cost us a fortune.

But so many people don’t learn from their Stupidity and the rest of us suffer because of it.

15 years ago I got my first mobile phone and I relished in the fact that I could call my girlfriend and I could order a takeaway whilst driving. I was and still am capable of talking on a phone and driving. But because some stupid bugger can not Multitask, you and everyone else in Australia can not legally talk on the phone whilst driving. Why is that so?

Why can’t we just punish the stupid person? Maybe they just can’t drive and the phone just happened to be there. Why should their stupidity affect me?

It’s now got to the point that more and more stupid people are getting into positions of Power. The most famous being George Bush. He changed the world for ever. I’ll let you decide who else could join him.

If we lived by the law of the jungle these people would be bred out and life would be able to mosey along with less clutter, less rules we would feel alive again. You know jumping from a moving bus or train, riding your bike without a helmet so that you could feel the wind in your hair.

Yes we might have less people to laugh at, make fun of even but if the current trends continue by the end of the century we will reach the lowest common denominator and then it will be too late for mankind.

Homer Simpson will be the new Socrates.

The whole planet will be watching neighbours but we won’t lose the will to live because our stupidity will keep that at bay.

I did a Google on Stupidity and within 0.23 secs I got 9,200,000 hits.

I also think it was stupid of me to try and give a three minute speech on this subject in the first place.   

I should have picked something easy like religion or does god exist