Pterodactyl

Xavier posted a fantasy pic on Facebook which reminded me of a motorcycle I'd owned some years back, a very fast Moto Guzzi based on a Tonti-framed 850T which I called the Pterodactyl. It was the only bike I'd ever given a name to. Three nights later I put the TV on whilst cooking dinner and SBS were playing a Godzilla movie with scenes featuring a flying dinosaur. I sat down to eat and chose foreign language movie at random, one I had no prior knowledge of, titled Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec. And what should it be about? A tomb-raiding vamp, Egyptian mummies and a pterodactyl!

Velikovsky

Like Tesla, a controversial figure, and one who few scientists give much credence. However, he came out with some quite remarkable stuff and there's still little explanation as to how. For instance, and if memory serves me well, he not only correctly predicted that Venus would have a much higher surface temperature than previously thought, but he also said it would be found to contra-rotate. It does. Tonight I found this...

"We are philosophically miles apart because basically we do not accept each other's form of reasoning — logic. I am of course quite convinced of your sincerity and I also admire the vast fund of information which you have painstakingly acquired over the years.
"I am not about to be converted to your form of reasoning though it certainly has had successes. You have after all predicted that Jupiter would be a source of radio noise, that Venus would have a high surface temperature, that the sun and bodies of the solar system would have large electrical charges and several other such predictions. Some of these predictions were said to be impossible when you made them. All of them were predicted long before proof that they were correct came to hand. Conversely I do not know of any specific prediction you made that has since been proven to be false. I suspect the merit lies in that you have a good basic background in the natural sciences and you are quite uninhibited by the prejudices and probability taboos which confine the thinking of most of us.
"Whether you are right or wrong I believe you deserve a fair hearing."

Professor H. H. Hess, then Chairman of the Space Board of the National Academy of Science, in a 1963 letter to Velikovsky

http://www.velikovsky.info/

Thylacine Skull in Tasmania

A fairly fresh looking thylacine skull has been found in Tasmanian forest in early January 2012.

Do You Believe?

"Do you believe", said Frederique, and paused, searching for words. English is not her first language. Nor her second or third, for that matter. "In Yeti?" I replied. "Oui. In Miracles? Oui. In Santa Clause? Not so much."

I forget now what the question was, but it led to a discussion of Yeti which involved a mention of them in "The Long Walk", a book published in the mid 1950's and which to my utter amazement Frederique was quite familiar with. I've used that reference many times over the years to bolster my argument that the creatures are far from mythical, having seen what I believe must have been their tracks high in the Himalayas during a trek in the early 80's.

I was mortified to learn that a BBC researcher has cast serious doubt on the veracity of the author, having found documentation which contradict his claims to have made the extraordinary journey.

The Wikipedia article on the author and his book leaves the question open.

As for miracles, Peter FitzSimons introduces a story of an extraordinary failure. Sydney's infamous suicide spot The Gap at South Head has been much in the news in recent years as the location where the beautiful young model Caroline Byrne was hurled to her death. Gordon Wood was convicted of her murder. In 1923 The Gap made headlines when young Nellie, broken-hearted, climbed the railing, covered her eyes, and leapt to certain death on the rocks below. A split second later she had a change of heart and decided she really wanted to live. How do we know that, you might ask? A freak wave crashed onto the rock ledge and she landed in momentarily deep water, and her plunge was witnessed by two fishermen in a boat who braved the huge seas to rescue her.

The full story is quite marvelous, and told with considerable flair.

AC/DC

Eleanore & I arrived at Frederique's place in Switzerland, found the key in the letterbox as arranged, and proceeded upstairs carrying a few bits of luggage and the package which had also been in the post box. As it turned out Serge was already home and greeted us at the door. As I handed him the package he said "Ah, that will be my AC/DC CD's - delivered by an Australian!"

I do love these tiny rhymes of life.

In the news recently:
You Shook Me All Night Long Moscato ACDC Wine
And this gem by Peter FitzSimons on bassist Mark Evans
Lit up with le Bon vivant

Old Farts

For this I'm indebted to Stephen Fry (but then, aren't we all).

Jeanne Louise Calment, born in Arles, France in 1875, attributed her remarkable longevity to the consumption and application to her skin of olive oil. On her 121st birthday she said "I only have one wrinkle
and I'm sitting on it".

Of the notary public, Andre-Francois Raffray, who purchased her apartment, promising to pay $500 per month until Jeanne died, she said "In life, one sometimes makes bad deals" By the time he died in December 1995 he had paid twice the market value of the apartment. Jeanne died in 1997.

Compared to Li Ching-Yuen, however, Jeanne Calmet was but a spring chicken when she shuffled off. Wikipedia writes: "... in 1930, Professor Wu Chung-chieh of the University of Chengdu discovered Imperial Chinese government records from 1827, congratulating one Li Ching-Yuen on his 150th birthday, and further documents later congratulating him on his 200th birthday in 1877. In 1928, a New York Times correspondent wrote that many of the old men in Li's neighborhood asserted that their grandfathers knew him when they were boys, and that he at that time was a grown man."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ching-Yuen

Outsider

Whilst in Switzerland recently I discussed briefly with my host French authors including, specifically, Camus.

Tonight I was trying to run a digital copy of The Battle of Algiers - it required a subtitle file which I eventually found, downloaded and got working. Pausing for a cuppa, from the kitchen I could see on TV Russell Crowe on what was obviously The Book Club on ABC, too good to miss. They were discussing a Camus - The Outsiders (L’Étranger). The book is set in Algiers.

Yeah, sounds lame I know. But the Camus reference had been bugging me for weeks until this little episode occurred - for me, it was a sort of explanation. Ah, Jeez, I'm not making it at all clear, am I...

Frere's Crossing

Short pants. Felt hat. Funny handshakes. Dib dib dib - oh no, that was the cubs. It's Boy Scouts I'm on about.

As a scout I'd go with the other lads and often Jim the scoutmaster all over - Jamborees, shooting trips to Tenterfield and the Piliga Scrub, long bike rides, scuba diving, horse riding, boat trips up the Hawkesbury River, water skiing... and of course camping. We camped in the Blue Mountains, the Royal National Park, the South Coast, lots of places. One favourite was Frere's Crossing, in bushland at Kentlyn not far from Campelltown. I'm reminded of this because there's a story in today's Herald about a girl who has gone missing after setting off to go camping at Friars Crossing (sic).

Yesterday I returned from a visit to a friend's farm in NE Queensland. Our mutual friend John Woodrow, one of the founders of that farm, lived in Leumeah in a spot I would pass when hiking up the hill to go camping at Frere's Crossing back in the 60's. In the early 70's I would visit John in Leumeah. In the late 70's I had bought a business in Liverpool and was looking for a place outside of Sydney and not too far from the business. At a dinner party in Sydney I was introduced to people who had a place at Campelltown which would be for rent shortly, and I subsequently moved into it. The house was in Kentlyn (the PO called it Leumeah) just up the road from John's place and just a few km from Frere's Crossing, Kentlyn.

I should add here that I had not for one moment mentioned Campeltown when speaking to people about a house outside Sydney, and in fact the very first time I raised the subject was that occasion. It probably sounds incredible, but that's how it happened.

And there's another connection with that area - the station before Leumeah is Minto, and I used to go train-spotting there on occasion with Richard Eslick, a school friend.

Ain't life strange!

P.S. My friend wrote recently (Nov 2010) to tell me he too as a boy scout camped at Frere's Crossing. John Woodrow introduced us.

Vale Rain Man

Kim Peek died on December 19 aged 58. Vastly more complex than the character portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, the savant was the subject of many studies which concluded that he was a genius in "at least 15 subjects, including music, geography, history and mathematics."

His long-term effect on the understanding and treatment of the "different" has been immense.

The Real Rain Man

Crop Circles - Latest Theory

I was having trouble deciphering email headers and ended up reading all sorts of geeky stuff about timestamps and routing etc which really made my head spin, but that's not the real story here. I came upon a really neat tool for analyzing said headers at http://headertool.apelord.com/ which led me to http://apelord.com/ who writes:

"Dear Apelord,

Are crop circles created by aliens? What is your opinion on the movie "Signs"?

Carl Blandford

Dearest Carl,

Your first question, however, demands a serious and thoughtful answer. There are many theories regarding crop circles. Some people, as you suggest, are firmly convinced that crop circles are created by extra-terrestrials in an attempt to communicate with humans. Some believe they are created by plasma vortexes. Skeptics argue that all crop circles are created by pranksters, pointing to numerous hoaxes and the absurdity of (the) idea that intelligent creatures choose to communicate through agricultural vandalism. A very small percentage of people believe that they are created by hideous mole men for their monstrous religious rituals. This turns out to be the correct theory. "

Woo Woo, Mondrian

Late night TV showed the wonderful deco credits for Poirot, surely one of the best TV intros ever. So I watched and was delighted with the plot, the acting and of course the delicious props. The episode was Four And Twenty Blackbirds - one scene was set in the most beautiful gallery with quite stunning artworks. And there he was again, just a corner but unmistakably Mondrian.