The Middle East Conflict

As I write this, Israeli armed forces are fighting Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip, Israeli hostages are being held in Gaza, Hamas rockets are falling on Israel and there is death, destruction and misery on both sides of the border.

At the same time there have been repeated marches and protest meetings around Australia with supporters of Hamas blaming Israel for this devastating war, whilst Israel's sympathisers blame Hamas.

What is there to gain in these mass demonstrations? Support for Hamas simply encourages them to keep fighting whilst support for Israel does likewise for the Israelis.

If Hamas and Israeli leaders around Australia got together to organise mass protests that didn't blame one side or the other, but in fact condemned the fighting and urged both sides in the war to sue for peace, they would be putting pressure on the combatants on both sides to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

If the organisers of these rallies in Australia's relative calm can't get together to push for peace, how on Earth can they expect Hamas and Israel, locked in the throes of battle, to do this?

 EVs and Road Taxes

The Federal Government currently funds road construction and maintenance by imposing an excise tax on vehicle fuels. Whilst this regime is problematic in some regards, up till now it has worked reasonably well on the basis that the amount of fuel used roughly proportional to the number of road miles travelled.

However, with the future pointing to petroleum powered vehicles being supplanted by Electric Drive Vehicles (EVs), this method of raising road funding comes into question - with EV owners paying no excise - and the government is scrambling to develop new methods of taxing EVs to compensate.

This is going to prove an extremely difficult exercise because:

• The tax couldn't be applied to the vehicles themselves because some EVs might be travelling extensively on the roads every day, whilst others are only used for short trips or are garaged for lengthy periods - ie the tax would not be proportional to road usage.
• The tax couldn't be applied to the amount of electricity used because it would be impossible to determine whether electricity consumed had been for domestic or commercial use, or for charging vehicles. To address this the government might legislate special vehicle charging plugs that monitored power usage, but that would create a whole new industry in illegal charging facilities and home-grown special charging stations which in turn would require government inspectors to root out those cheating the system.

The obvious answer would be to introduce a Roads Maintenance levy in the Federal Taxation system (similar to the Medicare levy). Whilst some might argue they use public transport and don't drive a car, they  nevertheless consume products that transport companies have to deliver by road and are therefore beneficiaries of the transport network. 

People also all have to pay via taxation for some things they might never use, but are required by the rest of society - the electricity grid despite some people having solar and being off-grid, Universities for people who will never require tertiary education, NDIS for people who don't need daily assistance - there are many things we pay for that we as individuals don't need but are essential for the successful functioning of a democratic society.

 Who discovered Australia?

Aborigines have been living in Australia for thousands of years, so how could anyone claim it was discovered by Captain Cook when there was a whole race of people who already knew it was there?

What are we to make of these claims?

The problem lies in the fact that people are viewing the situation from the perspective of prior knowledge. They are in effect saying "we saw it first, therefore we discovered it". An example of this would be as follows:

'I'm late for work. After I rush out of the house, my wife notices that I left my lunch behind. Later that day I discover I've left my lunch at home.' - Surely no-one would object to my using the word discover in this sentence - even though my wife made the discovery first.

Statements of this nature shouldn't be viewed from the prior knowledge viewpoint, but should be considered against the background of context.

The aboriginal community are quite right to claim that Cook didn't discover Australia because that is in line with their thinking. But by the same token, when viewed from the standpoint of British (or colonial) history, it is also quite right for historians to claim that Cook did discover Australia, because no-one in Britain at the time knew of its existence, and his claim to finding it would have been, by any definition of the word, a discovery as far as the British were concerned.

The argument really boils down to a semantic dilemma which is readily solved by considering the context in which the statement is made.

 

The Lunar Space Elevator

1. 

The idea of the Space Elevator was first mooted by Russian Yuri Artsutanov in 1960 and his successors in scientific circles have come up with various proposals as to how this concept might be turned into a reality.

Basically, the concept of a space elevator involves firstly launching a satellite into a geostationary (or geosynchronous) orbit above the earth. In this location the satellite would rotate around the earth at the same angular velocity as the earth's daily rotation and would therefore appear to be stationary above a fixed point on the planet. Once established in orbit, a cable could then be lowered from the satellite and fixed to an anchor point on the earth's surface. This would enable a specially designed vehicle to climb up and down the cable, transporting supplies and materials to and from the satellite, thus obviating the need for rockets to service the satellite crew's needs or to transport astronauts between earth and satellite. 

A system as described above would face insurmountable problems including the following:

·  The geostationary orbit is located approximately 35,800 km above the earth’s surface, and a cable of this length would be required to tether the satellite to the planet. The cable adjacent to the satellite would have to support the total weight of cable below which would result in a strain on this part of cable that no known materials could withstand.

·  The cable climbing vehicle would need to be powered on its ascent to the satellite. Storage of the required fuel aboard the vehicle would add mass  and thus increase strain well past breaking point of the cable, whereas using solar power might be an option but would take years to travel the distance.

·  The cable would be exposed to adverse weather events, high velocity stratospheric jet streams, lightning strikes, cyclones and meteorite impact.

The Lunar Space Station; A new use for an old concept

In this article I have outlined a program that would step by step create a Lunar Space Station (LSS) tied to the Lunar surface by (and serviced by) a Space Elevator. Although this proposal may incorporate some seemingly staggeringly large values, everything proposed is technically possible and in accordance with what science  and technology have to offer us today in 2024.

 First - location of the LSS.

The diagram above shows the five Lagrange points associated with the Earth/Lunar system. We will be looking at the L1 point, where the gravitational pull of the Earth is counteracted by the pull of the Moon, creating a zero gravity effect at this location.

Step 1. Establish a Lunar Space Station (LSS)  at L1. Although this is nominally a zero gravity point (ZGP), due to eccentricities in the Earth and Moon's orbits the actual location of the ZGP is unstable and a computerised relocating system (incorporating fuelled thrusters) would be required to keep the LSS in orbit until the Space Elevator comes into effect.

To be continued

 Tearing down statues

In 2001 the world looked on in horror as the Taliban in Afghanistan blew up and destroyed the famous ancient statues of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. And yet in Australia we still have people calling for the destruction or removal of historical statues. Although the values, morality and actions of certain iconic historical figures may be repugnant by today's standards being completely out of step with the current zeitgeist, there is a better way to deal with statues of these figures than to deface or tear them down.

We can't go through the pages of history books redacting the names of people we don't like - history reports on the good, the bad and the ugly, and having a sound knowledge of all the contributors to the historical tapestry - good and bad -  informs us of the rights and wrongs of the past, thus giving us a sound foundation on which to build a better future.

What then should we do about statues that fly in the face of public opinion?

My take on this is simple - Research the history of the subject iconic figure, have a public enquiry, formulate a brief summary of the individual's contribution to society (good and bad) and attach a plaque to the offending statue that tells the truth.

Nuclear Energy

The following letter was sent to Chris Bowen, Federal Minister for Energy on 11 March 2024. I believe it speaks for itself in highlighting a disturbing aspect of nuclear energy that to this date has not been fully recognised and explored.

The Honourable Chris Bowen

 Dear Sir,

 I note the Federal Opposition has adopted a pro-nuclear stance in its agenda and wish to offer your ministry a powerful argument against the adoption of nuclear power generation in this (or any other) country.

 There appears to exist a blind spot in so far that arguments about global temperature rise are seemingly centred around reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to the exclusion of all other sources that also give rise to warming.

 There is in fact a significant contributor to the problem that to this date has apparently been completely overlooked.

 Nuclear power generation.

 Please consider:

Whereas renewables such as solar, wind, & hydro etc, merely convert energy from one form to another, thereby having nett zero effect on global warming, nuclear power, unfortunately, does not possess this benign quality.

 The radioactive elements used in nuclear generation have in themselves no inherent store of thermal content, but in the reaction process they produce vast quantities of heat which, rather than alleviating global warming, actually contribute to the problem.

 The amount of additional heat nuclear generators currently pump into the biosphere can be readily obtained from reliable sources but can be summarised as follows:

• Global nuclear capacity presently stands at around 390 gigawatts (with several countries committed to increasing their capacity in the future).
• Nuclear power station efficiency is on average around 35%.
• The power currently generated by nuclear is therefore in the order of 1,200 gigawatts.

·         This results in nuclear power generating 3.7 x 10¹⁸ joules per annum, or the equivalent of enough energy to provide one billion average sized homes with power, all of which ends up being added to the global warming problem. 

 I trust this argument may be of assistance to your government in combatting a populist idea which, if adopted, would contribute to a problem that threatens us all.

 Yours faithfully

 Brian Farber

Member, Institution of Engineers Australia.

 

 

 Voice referendum

One of the main arguments for the No campaign in the referendum on 14 October 2023 to create a Voice for first Australians was that a Yes vote would enshrine a right (or privilege) in the Constitution for a section of the Australian community that would give them an unfair advantage over the rest of the population.

Any reasonable person would have to concede that Aborigines as a sector of society have, to put it mildly, been treated pretty unfairly since the arrival of the First Fleet, and giving them an extra voice in deciding their own affairs would help to redress this long-standing injustice.

However, considering that the very purpose of the Voice was to improve all of the vital statistics associated with the Aboriginal community (eg life expectancy, health, etc) that fell below the general standard of the rest of the population, there had to come a time in the future when parity would be achieved, and Aborigines would then look forward to the same expectations that we all share.

It would then be at this future point in time - Aborigines having achieved full equality with the rest of the population - that the case for having a discriminatory clause enshrined in the Constitution would lose its justification. Therefore, in all fairness, any future proposed amendment to the Constitution should include a 'Sunset Clause' that still maintains recognition of Aborigines as Australia's first peoples, whilst cancelling the Voice which would have become redundant now that this state of equality had finally been achieved.

In view of the snail's pace at which societal improvements progress in this country, I would suggest that 'Sunset' should be scheduled to happen in around 40 years time - approximately the extent of 2 generations, and about the same length of time that the Jews had to wander around in the desert before they were allowed to enter the promised land.

 Transgender sports

Transgender athletes have been in the news lately with some authorities arguing that, generally because of their stronger build, males who have undergone procedures leading to female status should not be allowed to participate in female sports events. 

To allow their participation would give them an unfair advantage over other women, whilst to exclude them from participation would be unfair to those athletes seeking inclusion.

There is a way around this that would be fair to both sides. 

Take the 100 metres event in the Olympic Games for example. If a trans woman was included and won the event, she would gain a special Gold Trans medal to acknowledge her achievement, whilst the runner up would be awarded the usual Gold medal acknowledging her place in the event. If the trans woman came second in the event she would gain a special Silver Trans medal whilst the runner coming third would win the usual Silver medal for second place getters....and so on for the bronze medals.

In this way we can acknowledge the excellence in performance of all competitors irrespective of their genetic makeup in a manner which, I feel, would be acceptable to all participants and their supporters, without ruffling too many feathers.

 

Just a footnote about the AFL (Australian Football League):

The women's AFL league has been named the AFLW, whilst the men's teams are still known as the AFL. This gives the impression that the women's teams are some sort of appendage to the AFL and true gender equality demands that this should be corrected by calling the men's teams the AFLM.

 

 Governor General

With the demise of Queen Elizabeth 2, it is inevitable that the push to proclaim Australia as a Republic will re-emerge sometime in the not too distant future, and so too will emerge the problematic process of selecting the Governor General.

The Governing party of the day and indeed, the Opposition as well, would prefer the GG be selected by the Parliament from a field of eminent citizens acceptable to the major parties to maintain the status and integrity of the position. 

However, Australians, not being particularly well disposed toward politicians, would prefer a non-political appointment, and would demand the post be filled by popular plebiscite. Unfortunately the result of such a selection process would counterintuitively lead to just the opposite of what the Australian people would have expected, because each of the political parties would pour finance, advertising and resources into the selection of the candidate whose background best matched their philosophical agenda, and the country would end up with a head of state biased toward one side or other of the political spectrum, just as is the American President beholden to the agenda of the party which supports his candidature.

I suggest that to satisfy both the People and the Politicians, the Governing and Opposition parties draw up a list of candidates acceptable to both sides of Government and follow up with a plebiscite allowing the People to vote for the person on that list whom they find most suited for the position.

Button batteries

Approximately 200 children per year are potentially exposed to button battery injury in Australia, with at least a dozen per year experiencing severe injury. Since 2013, there have been three deaths from oesophageal button battery injury. 
I suggest a possible solution to this problem would be introduction of legislation requiring button batteries to be coated with an unpleasant (bitter?) substance to discourage children from putting them into their mouths.

Wow! Is it really 3 years since I last visited this blog? Well, there's a good reason for my return and it's simply this:

 For most of my career in Construction, my main function was to sort out the problems that invariably arise during erection and commissioning of process plants - in common parlance, I was a trouble shooter.

 I was pretty good at my job for 2 basic reasons - (1) a positive attitude, my belief being there never existed a problem that didn't have a solution, and (2) my quirky brain that, when faced with unusual conundrums, sought solutions by thinking laterally, ie outside the box.

This stood me in good stead throughout my career, but has become a bit of a problem in retirement. After all, there isn't a nightly news program goes by without reporting on at least one of the many problems facing society, be it social, political, technological, scientific, medical or whatever .... and then there's me, staring at the television screen, thinking all the while, "for heavens sake! Why don't they just do so and so and sort out the problem." 

Shouting at the screen doesn't seem to do any good, and enlightening my wife with my solutions to the world's ills might at best gain her approval and give me a momentary warm fuzzy feeling, but most likely will only elicit a "Sshhh - I'm listening to the program", and all my ranting of course, doesn't solve the problems out there in the real world.

Well from now on my wife will watch the news in blissful silence whilst dark clouds swirl about my head, and later on I'll rattle off my frustrations on this blog site so that you, dear reader, if you've followed me so far, can suffer the 'slings and arrows' of my discontent.

Botanic to Bridge fun run

The Botanic to Bridge fun run is an annual event in Gladstone, this year attracting a field of around 4,000 entrants. I decided to use the opportunity to clean up the streets a little along the 8 kilometre course.

Capricorn Writer's Festival

The Capricorn Writer's Festival held on the cusp of May/June 2019 was a great opportunity to meet other authors and writers and get a few hints to improve my writing technique. The event kicked off  with an enjoyable cocktail party on Friday night followed over the next 2 days by workshops given by a group of successful authors and others in the publishing industry, and wound up with a breakfast session where a panel of workshop presenters fielded questions to top off an enjoyable and informative weekend. Author Jenn McCleod (pictured with me at the breakfast panel) presented a great workshop, full of possibilities for my further endeavours.

Covering Hitler's Zeitmaschine

During the process of writing Hitler's Zeitmaschine I set about exploring what I wanted to feature on the book cover. In my mind I had an idea of what I imagined Karl Hartmann might look like. He had to be good looking (to immediately attract the attention of Linde) and of suitably high rank (to be allowed access to Hitler). I searched through the internet sites offering free images and came across this wartime portrait of Helmuth Schreiber. I could hardly believe it! This was the very person I had pictured in my imagination - the face and uniform were a perfect match. I followed up with a little research and gleaned the following short bio of the man.

Helmuth Schreiber was born in Giessen 25 March 1917. He joined the Waffen SS and saw action in the Anschluss of Austria  and the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938. He was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class in December 1941 and served as the Company commander of the SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment  He was also awarded the Knight's Cross in July 1943, and was promoted to Sturmbannführer, assuming command of the Deutschland Regiment where he was awarded the Close Combat Clasp in Gold, in May 1944. Schreiber survived the War and died 6 December 2008.

Of course, one can't go pasting images of real life people on book covers without their (or their family's) permission. So, after a vain attempt to contact the family I abandoned the idea of using this real image but nevertheless sent it to the book cover designer, Wordzworth. They were able to utilise the uniform and modify facial features to yield the character of Hartmann which presently graces the cover.

The background was another adventure. Browsing through free pictures available on the web I was immediately drawn to the image of the 'time angel'. This picture hinted at the inclusion of Linde Engel ('Angel' in German) and of course the receding clock spiral was a perfect depiction of the time-travelling construct in the novel. However, I was not convinced that use of image would be entirely 'free' if used for commercial purposes and so decided to approach the originator for permission. After poking around a bit, I discovered the author was a photographer in Germany (coincidence!) by the name of Stephan Keller. I visited his web site, and with some difficulty, found an email address. However, after a confusing exchange of emails, he advised the image I had chosen was not of his creation. You wouldn't believe - after further research I discovered there was another Stephan Keller (this one without a web page and coincidentally also in Germany) who had indeed produced the sought after image. After a few emails explaining my quest he graciously gave permission to use the time angel on my book cover and I subsequently sent him a copy of the work after publication to show my appreciation.

Helpful tips for debut novelists

At the recent Books bubbles and Brie event at Gladstone Library I was approached by several writers embarking on their first book seeking my advice.Now I'm no expert, Hitler's Zeitmaschine being my first and only novel to date out there in readerland, but I have come across quite a few tips that have improved the quality of my writing along the way. I would like to share some of these with any writers who, like me, wanted their narrative to be more 'professional'.

Here are a few URLs to visit on the internet:

https://dianaurban.com/words-you-should-cut-from-your-writing-immediately

http://annerallen.com/2017/06/filter-words-and-phrases-to-avoid-in-writing/

(I suggest you don't click on any links found within URLs I post in my blog as I don't open them myself, and therefore am unable to advise whether they are safe for you to open).

Also here's another article I found very informative:

5 Tips for Instantly Improving Your Novel 

The following article was written by Bill Henderson:

BEFORE WE GET TO THE 5 TIPS...a testament of sorts:

Somewhere along the road of life, I joined The Church of 80/20, where we believe routine matters should require only 20% of your time so you can devote a full 80% to the big ones. If you're going to take on a difficult task, and goodness knows, writing fiction – especially the novel – is right up there with the toughest, don't obsess over the 20-percenters. They can be accomplished quickly and with relative ease. Get them out of the way, as you go, in routine fashion. Save your 80% for character and plot development, the make-or-break core tasks that should rightfully get the lion's share of your time and effort.

THESE 5 TIPS fall into the 20-percenters group, but may require you to bring some new thinking to your process. 

1. Replace words that tell with words that show
We all use "tell" words when we're churning out rough drafts. We write, "Bill saw that the premises were uninhabited," and keep on churning. Job 1, on looking back, is to identify those places where, as her, you TOLD-i.e. "informed," as in a police report-the reader. Now make the reader see, feel, and grasp the importance of the moment. "Bill looked inside, through the shattered bay window. The living room was empty of furniture. Stains and gashes of the kind normally hidden under rug screamed out of the tired linoleum. A child's tricycle lay on its side. Bill sat heavily on a square of bricks, once part of someone's hopeful garden. No one lived here. No one. She was gone." Yes, it added word length. Seven words became 35. But if it's an important moment, the extra baggage is worth it. Many times, you'll judge you don't have the luxury-to linger would slow the pace-so you'll want to use summary. Even so, go for some show: "Bill saw the refrigerator door hanging open off one hinge. If she had been there, she was gone now." Remember: as a fiction writer, your purpose is not to inform but to dramatize.

2. Remove interpretation- let action speak for itself
We all do this, too. "Mother came into the room looking as close to angry as I'd ever seen her. Poor woman, what she must have been going through: her tidy little home invaded by two sets of supposedly grown children with their uncouth spouses and impossible kids-her own grandchildren. She must have wanted to disown them right then and there." What's wrong with it? The narrator has interceded to speculate about what Mother must be feeling at this moment. As a reader, I come to fiction not for interpretation, but for drama. I want to see it, hear it, and, on the basis of what the author has chosen to SHOW me, understand it in my gut.

3. Replace passive verb constructions with active.
What is passive voice: it's a way of conveying information that an action was performed without saying who performed it. "The table was set. The temporary measure was made permanent. The boy was given a lecture." Who actually did these things? We don't know because passive voice has put a cloud of vagueness around the action, effectively screening us off from its full impact. Does this sound like a promising way to write vivid action? Go back, spot the passive, make it active: If you see: "We were at the dinner table by noon, and a great meal was served. Jane never forgot how liberally the wine was poured," recast it with active verbs (which, by nature, will create missing images). "We were at the dinner table by noon, feasting on the endless piles of turkey, stuffing, yams Mother produced almost casually."

4. Identify, then remove or "translate" cliches
Again, we all use them when we're on a roll. Why? Because they're so handy. Every clichés was once brilliantly original; the problem is, because it was SO good, it was used again and again and again until it came to stand not for brilliant originality, but for author laziness: "Why should I bother to imagine THIS sunset, in THIS story, carrying THIS special meaning when there are so many off-the-shelf sunset clichés that will do?" Why should you bother? Because they don't work anymore. They are like cold eggs on a plate. No matter how nicely they were once served, no one wants to eat them now. This is an eternal challenge for all writers. It's made more complicated by the fact that certain genres-most notably romance, action, and "blockbuster"-seem oblivious, even encouraging, toward the use of clichés. (If you want proof, check out The Romance Writers' Phrase Book.)

5. Get specific. Replace general, "informational" language with rich narrative summary full of specific (and meaningful) images.
If I want to know what happened, I go to the newspaper or a news site on the internet. If I want to experience what happened-to FEEL what it MEANT-I go to fiction. "Scientists at the Mayo Clinic announced at an unruly press conference that they have cloned a full family of human beings." That's informational language, and it's quite sufficient to satisfy my need to know. "Dr. Borsov, the gray eminence of the Mayo, stood, dazed and trembling before the crowd of young, angry protesters. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began, and faltered. A tomato flew past his head. Another one splattered on his cheek. My god, what have we done, he thought in a panic." That's fiction.

Again, nothing here is rocket science. But it's amazing how many novelists, even experienced novelists, have either forgotten, or never really internalized, these 5 simple steps that, taken together, will blow away 80% of the "problems" your work may be encountering.

Books, bubbles and brie at Gladstone Library

Books, bubbles and brie at Gladstone Library - A great opportunity to discuss my novel with visitors to the Library and also talk to other authors from the Gladstone region. Had a few laughs, a few nibbles and wine and was able to pass on some hints that have helped me in getting published to a few writers intent on doing likewise.

Zum Turken hotel

The Zum Turken Hotel (pictured) featured largely in my novel, "Hitler's Zeitmaschine". As a courtesy I sent the hotel's management a copy of the book and received this reply:

"Dear Mr. Brian Farber, Thank you so much for the kind package with the History-Book. I am sure it will be very interesting and when I will have time I will start reading it. I will get in touch with you again then and we can talk about it. Thank you again, have a nice day and all the Best. 

Mrs. Scharfenberg, Hotel "Zum Türken" – Obersalzberg, Berchtesgaden."

How nice is that?

By His Bootstraps

 Ideas and inventions don't materialise out of a vacuum - everything the human mind can concoct is based on ones' experiences, lifetime education and circumstances.

A typical example of this can be found in my novel "Hitler's Zeitmaschine".
In my story, the characters travel back and forth through time to assist their earlier selves in achieving desired outcomes.

I had always been good with words, loved writing and from an early age, enjoyed reading short Science Fiction stories appearing in publications such as 'Astounding' and a variety of SciFi anthologies published during the genre's Golden Age.  Of course one of the mainstays of this genre was the time travel subset, and there were many good stories written at the time embracing the concept.

But did my earlier reading have any influence on the thought processes involved in writing my novel?

You bet they did!

On reflection, the standout influencing the Hitler's Zeitmaschine plot had to be 'By His Bootstraps' a short story by one of the SciFi greats, Robert Heinlein. A summary of the story can be found at this Wikipedia page - Check it out, and for those of you who have read my novel, you will immediately see the connection.

After reading the two works, some people may be tempted to accuse me of plagiarism.  However I can assure my readers that it was not until the plot of 'Hitler's Zeitmaschine' had become fully developed that I saw the connection with my past readings - reinforcing my contention that when we discover new horizons, we do so because we are elevated by standing on the shoulders of the giants who have gone before us.

Just kidding

But oh so relevant to my novel, Hitler's Zeitmaschine.

Gladstone book signing

 

My first 'public' event - book signing at Gladstone Central News & Gifts on 17th November.
We sold quite a few copies of Hitler's Zeitmaschine on the day, and the picture above shows Don, the lucky winner of the raffle holding his prize copy.
I have already received feedback from folk who have purchased e-book and soft cover versions from Amazon and the responses have been extremely positive.
Roll on the 'official' book launch on 30th November.