h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Iraqi war has moved away from the front pages. Generally most people remain against the whole thing believing that there were better ways to resolve the human rights abuses in Iraq than "Sending in the Marines" to massacre under-trained, under-equipped Iraqi soldiers defending their homeland (hmmm, I think that captures the general tone of the population!).

Adelaide is continually under-represented in best places to live surveys (which both annoys us and pleases us because it does keep property prices down). It means that the all of the wannabe Gerry's (or whatever the Aust equivalent is) leave here by the time they turn 25. Therefore there are few trophy women around too (although you can find them).

Does Madison have a decent set of bridges, or do I have the wrong place? My part of the world is "hills face" (hence undevelopable open scrub overlooking the city on the plain and the gulf. Even though it is urban, most of the roads don't have curbing - just dirt runoff. Last week we had a koala in a tree in our back yard. Koalas are not really urban animals.

Your description of your brother's work (and the returned soldiers) makes Doonesbury's depiction of BD's return to the US appear quite fair. There is a sense of loss: partly it is the missing limb but partly it is the sense of incomplete work that was achieving something. The press makes it appear that the Iraq war is mired but it might just be that progress is slower than the press would like. An Australian complaint of the US in the WWII was that it only joined Europe when progress was rapid and achievements were relatively easy. While this is true, the reasons for it are obviously complex: however, it has set up a precedent for how fast progress should look when winning a war.

We are paying about $AU1.30/litre for fuel. That is about $US1.00/litre or $3.80/gallon (according to my units program and assuming $US0.80/$AU1). This is a lot less than Europe. We have always felt that US petrol was about half the price of Australian but I have never bothered to check.

The Pink Floyd thing - actually, they are pretty mainstream around here (same category as Queen). Phrases like "tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit, I" are recognisable to many people (although not regularly quoted). This discussion needs more time!

If I don't post this now, it will take another week. It has been sitting on my desktop incomplete for at least 7 days!

(Pathetic emotional response) Thanks for responding. I was musing that I missed getting your perspective on things. I know that you're probably very busy so I appreciate the time you take to post.

I don't read Doonesbury on a regular basis so I'm not familiar with BD's return from Iraq. I probably should but I find I already waste a lot of time catching up on the news each day. I think you're right about Americans being a generally impatient bunch. We were not prepared for the length of commitment the war in Iraq requires -- even though we were warned that it would take years before we could leave. I think many Americans enjoyed the way we just rode roughshod over the Iraqi troops and got a real kick out of the precision bombing videos on our nightly news.

Now reality is setting in and the wavering majority is getting pretty fed up with insurgents blowing people up and causing unrest. What scares me the most is when our legislators talk about pulling out soon. We made the mess in Iraq and I think we have an obligation to stay until it is stabilized regardless of how unpleasant it is now. I can't imaging what would happen if we left at this point. We would substantially destabilize the mid-east and then just walk away. How even more irresponsible than we have already been.

Good joke on the bridges... That Madison is Madison County, Iowa. It is close. We're both in the midwest but that is pretty much where the similarity ends. Our bridges tend to be the normal kind that one finds just about anywhere. Also, I don't think we've had a bestseller about aging romance while photographing any of our bridges -- our lakes possibly but not our bridges.

Adelaide does sound beautiful if a bit hot for my northern blood. I totally understand the push-pull of wanting your beautiful city to be recognized for its uniqueness but then not really wanting to share it with others on a permanent basis. Each community develops its own personality and too many newcomers change and homogenize it. I like the idea of an urban area without curbs and gutters. I don't think we can do that very successfully here because of the amount of rain we (typically) get. We'd have a lot of flooded streets and lawns without our water removal systems.

So Pink Floyd is about the same as Queen in Adelaide? Hmmmm. I'd say Queen has mostly lost its appeal here. We hear it only rarely. Pink Floyd on the other hand has a loyal group of followers of all ages but is definitely not what "normal" people listen to. I think (this is a guess) that about a third of the population listens to Country and Western. Another third listens to pop and rap. And the remaining third, if even that much listen to classical, R & B, rock and jazz. Somewhere in there is a bunch of people who listen to all the varieties of gospel as well. I'd say that if you played Pink Floyd for 10 people half could identify it and only one or two would tell you to leave it on. Sad.

Have you seen what's been happening with hurricane Katrina relief? I heard a joke... What did President Bush say when asked his opinion on Roe vs Wade? "I don't care how they do it. They just need to get out of New Orleans!" Anyway, the relief seems to be improving a bit but what a disaster. How to shelter, feed, move and care for a million people? I'm not sure that it ever could have been done well but it surely could have been done better than it was.

Louisiana is the only state in the nation governed by French colonial law rather than English common law. I've heard that made a real difference in the way the federal government dealt with things. What a shame when the result is human loss.

The gas prices you quoted were about what I expected. After the hurricane the prices topped out at $3.29 a gallon but now they are back to $2.85. I still think it is a payoff to the oil companies that put Bush in the White House. Oh well. What can one do?

The Katrina thing has been watched in detail with eye-popping amazement. None of us can believe how it was handled - the general feeling (in as much as I could tell) was that political appointments to cronies had gone too far. Generally executive positions are held by experts but that didn't seem to be true. The only people who knew their jobs were too junior to act executively and by the time they jumped in, it was getting too late.

At this time of year the temperature hovers around a very pleasant 20-30C with gentle sunshine. Your northern blood would probably cope very nicely. You might moult but probably not too much (which is good because of fur-ball risk). One thing we do not get here (ever) is major flooding. If a gutter overflows on a main street, it gets reported on the telly. Given that the Adelaide plain is dead flat (44 foot rise in four miles from the coast), an inch of rain can cause at least some gutters to overflow!

One of the reasons it is now taking me so long to reply is that there are always too many things to say. So I will stop having said just these two.



PS: You seem to be here more often now too. For a while you were only posting on Thursdays.

I am trying to visit more. Earlier this year, I was a bit saddened by some things that happened here in WI and didn't have the energy to post much. Am doing better now. There is still the same stuff but I guess I've become accustomed to it.

I would love to be independently wealthy and just take my humans off to the wide open lands of few people and many acres. Unfortunately jobs happen in populated areas and people mean stress and mind games and a lot of other things that I do not have the patience to participate in with skill. I think that is why I enjoy the BOFH stories so much. Ahhh, the power.

A nicely warm day here is about 25C. Much over that and we start shedding a bit excessively. If the humidity is really low I would enjoy 30 degree heat for a while. Here, we run our air conditioning if the temperatures get that high because they typically come with high humidities and sticky warm nights. In the southwestern deserts of the US 30C is wonderful for outdoor activities.

One year we went to visit our friends who work at Ironwood Christian Camp in the Mojave desert. (Ironwood.org if you're interested) The day we arrived it was 47C with 3% humidity. It took our breath away. After spending 10 days there we had gotten so accustomed to the temperatures (highs of around 39C)that when they had a cool day of 32C with humidities in the 20% range we were comfortable. (They were miserable. They think humidity is really nasty.)

Anyway, political appointees... In my line of work we deal a lot with political appointees as well as the fallout from bad appointments. Unfortunately, the campaign contribution process encourages corrupt (but legal) appointments. If a person raises enough money for a candidate they have a good change of being appointed to a position within that candidate's government. Much as I get frustrated by the Senate confirmation process, I think it was added because Presidential appointments, historically, were rife with cronyism and needed to be subjected to scrutiny. Now there is such abuse of power at all levels, as well as a blatant disregard for the welfare of the nation, that all the systems are broken. Party politics rule.

I have to attend a legislative hearing tomorrow where we will be asking that, if a court determines that someone has lied on an application for credit, the applicant loses their right to cure the default (meaning we can demand they bring back what they bought on credit). We expect this to be a really difficult bill to get passed because here, even if a customer lies and a court finds that they did it intentionally, there are politicians (and press) that would say that they still should have the same rights as people who did not lie. It is a political game where people shout, "No! I love people more - even the really bad ones," when the truth is they love the power they have in being able to pressure us to hold fundraisers on their behalf in order to get a reasonable law through the legislature.

Hmm, I see I'm still a bit grumpy. I'll post something a bit more upbeat next time.

Does this relate back to your grief post?

No, probably not. I think I'm stressed because it has been well over 2 years since I've had a relaxing vacation. And because there is a lot of garbage being strewn about my workplace (figuratively). And, probably because we've decided that we will stop the painful, frustrating, agonizing process of attempting to procreate. So, I will change my answer. Yes, in a way there is a grief component though it is not directly related to losing Phoebe. (Although Phoebe's only child was stillborn so maybe a little.)

And there is this little childish voice deep inside that says, "It should be about me!" which is stupid because the only time I'm comfortable being the center of attention is when I'm on stage pretending to be someone else or teaching about stuff that has nothing to do with my own thoughts. In other words I'm probably going through a bit of a self-centered pity party that doesn't deserve much more attention than a week in front of the fireplace with chocolate, a good book and my humans to wait on me hand and foot. (Okay, it doesn't deserve that either. One can wish...)

That being said, I am leaving on vacation this week to do just that along with some other decompressing activities like hiking mountains and photographing sunrises. We are going to Arizona to visit the Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly and the White Mountains along with many tiny out of the way spots in between. It will be just me and my humans - heavenly.

Thanks for asking. Have a great couple of weeks.

One of the most powerful statements I have ever read (the Cornish Trilogy it comes from is worth reading) has echoes in your post:

What really shapes and conditions and makes us is somebody only a few of
us ever have the courage to face: and that is the child you once were,
long before formal education ever got its claws into you -- that
impatient, all-demanding child who wants love and power and can't get
enough of either and who goes on raging and weeping in your spirit till
at last your eyes are closed and all the fools say, "Doesn't he look
peaceful?" It is those pent-up, craving children who make all the wars
and all the horrors and all the art and all the beauty and discovery in
life, because they are trying to achieve what lay beyond their grasp
before they were five years old.
-- Robertson Davies, "The Rebel Angels"



One hopes that the child is never totally supressed but is always recognised, occasionally given voice and always invited when one faces those truely life changing decisions. Otherwise in one's life there is at best flawed art, beauty and discovery. I am convinced that the five year old child within takes the best sunrise photographs: they are about love and power. I respect cats for nightlife and children for mornings.

Thank you.

Well that got me thinking. I'm going to check out the Cornish trilogy from my local library. If nothing else, the number of books I've been reading lately has inspired my to use the library rather than buying all of them. It gets expensive!

I think I'm over my funk. Vacation was really excellent. If you ever have a chance to visit the US I would definitely recommend Arizona. It has an amazing variety of landscapes and people and art and all sorts of stuff (for lack of a more eloquent term). We traveled over many a primitive road in search of the perfect photograph. Alas, the skies were a bit gray for perfect photos but we still had a great time.

I've been reading a little bit about the terrorists arrested in Aus. The news articles here don't tell much. What are your thoughts? Did you dig out your fridge magnet?

I haven't been following the Australian terrorism thing. I too have been on holiday (well, a bit or work and a bit of holiday). Given I must type quickly, my itinerary went something like: Adelaide, Tokyo (i.e. Narita Airport overnight), London, Barcelona, Paris, London, Cambridge, Manchester, Tokyo (3 days), Adelaide. I got back on Saturday afternoon and today is Tuesday.

First time I have seen any of these places.

Wow. That sounds like a fabulous holiday. I hope work didn't interfere too much with the fun. I have never been to any of those places either -- just Canada, US and Mexico. So what was your favorite experience? Did anyplace feel particularly weird or cool? What surprised you the most?

It was a fabulous holiday. One thing we Australian's can't understand is how you American's cope with 2 weeks' holiday a year! We get 4 or 5 weeks which is far more civilised (and 12 public holidays).

Even though I realy liked Barcelona (my favourite place) and Cambridge (because we had a hotel room to ourselves for 3 whole nights - we moved every two or three days for the entire 3.5 weeks), my most memorable moment was sitting on a seventh floor roof in Paris (next to Mont Martre) looking out the sunny Autumnal city with Notre Dame, the Eifle Tower and all of the city beneath us while we sat in style on fold up chairs eating a home made cheese omlette and drinking good, French champaign for breakfast. We should have been in church (indeed we had planned for it) but we never got round to it. I went four times in the following week instead in Cambridge.

What suprised me the most was that I felt more at home in Tokyo and Barcelona than France or England. Even though Australia draws it cultural heritage from the great civilisations of Northern Europe, the major cultural influences of the last century have been southern European and Japanese. In some ways I wonder if you would feel more at home in Latin America (even with the Language differences) than you would in Northern Europe? In England I felt like I was meeting a famous but long lost cousin: where you sit down entheusiastically but after five minutes find you have nothing to say. Apart from a common grandparent you have both moved on. In Barcelona and Tokyo I found I had things to say to people on the street (and them to me too) but we had to talk in sign language or just talk and listen and hope the other person got the jist/or we got the sense of what they said!

We Americans wouldn't mind extended time off either. Actually, I get 27 "flex" days meaning that I can use them for sick or vacation. (Anyone with 10 or more years at my company receives the 27 flex days.) Additionally we have 7 holidays.

Also, employers have the ability to declare certain employees "exempt" from specific wage & hour law provisions. The plus side to exempt status is, if you have a slow week, you can work short days and still receive the same salary. The negative is that you are expected to work as many hours as it takes to get the work done without overtime compensation and generally employers structure exempt positions so that employees average 45+ hours per week.

Even though I have 27 days available for vacation, I still have to obtain permission to take 10 days (or more) in a row. It is my employer's opinion (and not a unique one) that if an individual is important enough to be exempt they also are critical to the functioning of the company and cannot be absent for prolonged periods of time.

It is also not uncommon for employers to require employees to check in by phone during their vacations. Some employees would feel weird if they didn't check in because their identity is so completely wrapped up in their job. I, on the other hand, intentionally travel to places that have no cell phone service so I can legitimately say that I will not be able to be reached for several days.

I hardly think I'm critical to the functioning of this organization but the President here has enjoyed such a high level of control over his staff for a very long time so he has come to expect that even people like me be available all of the time. Generally, he puts up with my once-yearly unavailability and only grumbles slightly.

Your vacation sounds great but... Why would you not have a hotel room to yourselves? Did you travel with friends and share?

Your breakfast sounds fabulous. Better yet because it sounds as though you were able to enjoy it in a more intimate setting. We too have been known to skip church for such wonderful moments. We, however, do not attempt to make it up as I figure God understands and maybe even likes it when we folks simply enjoy the things He has given us in that moment.

So was the Church of England in England the same as Australia?

I didn't realize that Australia was largely influenced by Spain. What is the history on that? I guess I expected the Japanese influence just because of a few comments you've made in the past but I haven't picked up a Spanish thread.

I'm not sure that I would feel more comfortable in Latin America than Europe but I think that would have more to do with affluence than general culture. Certainly I've had substantially more exposure to the Latin American cultures so I would know a bit more about how to behave.

The cultures I think I would have the most difficulty with are the far Eastern ones like Japan and China. There are things like personal space and taboos that would make me unsure in ways that I don't think I'd experience in either Europe or Latin America. My sister hosted an exchange student from Japan and I found her interesting but a bit hard to communicate with. She has very different views of so many things - like believing that it is normal for a person to change religions as their needs change (she said that is very common in Japan). It really brought home to me how we are so much a product of our cultures.

Did you find it cold in England or France? It is winter here and, though they are closer to the equator than we are, I'd think it would have been cool there. You would have come home to hot summer days in Australia too, right? Sorry to natter on. Just curious.