QC 4 QuantumBrain

IMount Cootha - Holden Commodore

Beauty isn’t she? I missed out being that 17 year old crazy driver with alloy wheels and a huge sound system. But I’m kinda glad because I’m pretty sure I would have died during such a time and hence i wouldnt be here now.

Australian Outback awaits, must go.

Prior to reading this book I had next to no knowledge about the history of the British Empire. Tragic isn’t it? I have lived on that small island for over 23 years and I would have struggled to tell you anything of the East India Company, the Boer War, Baden Powell, or even Winston Churchill’s role in the Empire. I think this says more about the place that history lessons hold in the list of priorities for teaching during my younger years, than it does of my own ignorance.

Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World

I’m pleased to say that this has all changed and although I wouldn’t call myself an expert I have a feeling for the Empire now. By ‘feeling’ I mean a geographical one above anything else. I have learned about the extent to which the British went to control the seas throughout the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, about how one third of Africa was once under British rule and perhaps most shockingly that one quarter of all people on the planet had a British administration. The exam questions that were set to OxBridge graduates hoping to be admitted to, the then prestigious, civil service. How Churchill went from journalist in the Boer war to leader of the Empire. How a group of like minded people known as the Clapam Sect eventually bought the travesties of the slave trade to a halt, and how the Empire strived to bring about a worldwide stop by becoming pirates!

This book is just crammed, simply filled to the brim with facts and figures about the Empire at its peak, with stories and biographies of those who made the Empire what it was and those who made it what it is not today. From Wilberforce to Kipling, from Boston to Ceylon, pirates to slaves, this book has it all and a story to go with each.

Niall Ferguson sets straight the good and the bad guys. He delves into the darker side of the Empire with a frank and matter of fact execution, allowing the reader to form their own views. Like any the British Empire had its bad points and good points and in conclusion Ferguson brings them together with eloquence. It is hard to gauge the authors bias for or against the Empire, yet he clearly stands strong with the title’s notion and makes a very appealing argument for it.

Matt’s Fantabulous Book Rating: (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) 5 star

Although I went into work on Friday 31st July I still had a great time. Hey, that’s what I’m here for right? I did some physics, followed by some beer and topped off with a few rounds of ‘Outburst!’, the most heavily biased board game out there. If you’re English, you’ll probably win. I didn’t win, but that’s because I’m just rubbish. The rest of the night I spent reading Aboriginal myths and tales, fantastic book, thanks Jenna!

On Saturday I spend the whole morning hunting down ingredients and preparing for a dinner party. The menu was simple but effective. Effective being it served it’s purpose: being food and tasting good.

Starters…. Well I put out some Doritos and made some guacamole, does that count?

Main - Parsley, lemon and garlic marinated Salmon with mushroom and lemongrass risotto. All the ingredients I found at the Saturday West End market, super cheap and also super tasty. 

Dessert - Chocolate mousse topped with strawberries and gingerbread crumbs. Sounds yummy doesn’t it. It was. 

Making the mousse was the best part. I hadn’t done it since home-economics class 10 years ago. I dreaded the thought of over whisking the eggs so had an extra dozen on standby. That’s a tip by the way. The salmon cooked beautifully and everyone enjoyed it. I’m sure Sandro would have enjoyed his a lot more hadn’t he eaten rice with salmon the same afternoon… oh yeah, and the salmon he bought from the same guy. Note to self, surprise menus have risks.

On Sunday morning I woke up to a cold winter morning. I recently moved into an old, though very well kept, Queenslander. It’s a joy to be in traditional housing out here in Australia, and I’m sure I’ll appreciate the relief that the tall ceilings and wooden structures provide in the summer months, however, in the winter the place turns into a fridge. There was close to a 10*C temperature difference between inside and outside at midday today. I digress. I spent the morning shaving like a real man, utilising a real badger hair brush to apply shaving cream, thanks Sandro; drinking proper coffee made with my very own cafetiere, given to me my Marcelo and apparently to keep me up during my thesis hours; reading a few pages of Aldous Huxley’s ‘Perennial Philosophy’, excellent so far, cheers Jim; and when my mind drifted, it was usually in the direction of my new lava lamp, it is entrancing. I could spend many hours watching that thing, thanks Ben and Nia! So, I have been well looked after this year with many things to keep me occupied over the coming months. After which time I shall either discard your gifts or sell them on ebay.

Such was the spirit of the day no other activity could possibly have sufficed but frisbee. A short hop across the river and I was absorbing the golden rays of the Australian sun, warm enough for shorts and t-shirts, but not quite skin cancer territory. Simple pleasures. 

I’m back home now and to my horror have discovered that my lava lamp has taken a turn for the worse. It’s operational ambient temperature is standard room temperature which in normal people’s houses is 22*C. Of course I live in Australia now and we don’t have heating, double glazing or anything that could remotely discourage the transport of heat away from our homes. And so the wax just sits there at the bottom doing nothing. Perhaps it would serve better as a hot water bottle right now.

There’s A Place In
Your Heart
And I Know That It Is Love
And This Place Could
Be Much
Brighter Than Tomorrow
And If You Really Try
You’ll Find There’s No Need 
To Cry
In This Place You’ll Feel
There’s No Hurt Or Sorrow

There Are Ways
To Get There
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Little Space
Make A Better Place…

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

If You Want To Know Why
There’s A Love That
Cannot Lie
Love Is Strong
It Only Cares For
Joyful Giving
If We Try
We Shall See
In This Bliss
We Cannot Feel
Fear Or Dread
We Stop Existing And
Start Living

Then It Feels That Always
Love’s Enough For
Us Growing
So Make A Better World
Make A Better World…

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

And The Dream We Were
Conceived In
Will Reveal A Joyful Face
And The World We
Once Believed In
Will Shine Again In Grace
Then Why Do We Keep
Strangling Life
Wound This Earth
Crucify Its Soul
Though It’s Plain To See
This World Is Heavenly
Be God’s Glow

We Could Fly So High
Let Our Spirits Never Die
In My Heart
I Feel You Are All
My Brothers
Create A World With
No Fear
Together We’ll Cry
Happy Tears
See The Nations Turn
Their Swords
Into Plowshares

We Could Really Get There
If You Cared Enough
For The Living
Make A Little Space
To Make A Better Place…

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me
You And For Me

1958 - 2009

Firstly you don’t need to be a climber to appreciate the brilliance of this book. Joe Simpson has done it again. The Beckoning Silence is part autobiography, part adventure story and life philosophy all rolled into one epic journey, Joe’s life.

Joe wants to tell his story, why he started climbing, his inspirations and motivations?; why he climbed the West face of Siula Grande and how his non-belief in god pulled him through a desperate struggle for survival?; what climbing and the mountains mean to him and the justification of climbing them despite the all so present risk of not returning. Answers to these questions are framed around events in Joe’s life. From the books he read as a child about the North Face of the Eiger inspiring him to learn more about the mountains and eventually to become a mountaineer, to the soul searching moments where justifying the sport seemed almost impossible given the countless friends he had lost along the way.

The Beckoning Silence - Joe Simpson

Flying too high

At various stages during his journey Joe finds himself struggling to find cause to climb any longer. The fear of losing more friends and the realisation that his attitude towards climbing has been little more than a selfish one acts as a turning point in his life. These realisations are bought to head as a lifelong climbing partner and best friend Ian ‘Tat’ Tattersall gives the sport up completely for similar reasons, deciding instead to return to the old days of paragliding. Encouraged by Tat’s apparent wise move Joe too relearns his unforgotten skills in paragliding and takes to the skies. With new advances in technology paragliders seemed to be without much risk and the thrill of being outdoors combined with flying under one’s own expertise brings back many good memories for Joe.

Unfortunately the dream is short lived. News of a Tat’s death whilst paragliding in Greece stuns Joe and forces him into another reality check and to rethink his attitudes on living for dangerous sports. Life isn’t fair. Tat gave up climbing as a retreat from risky pursuits yet it is this retreat that ultimately led to his demise. Astonishingly Joe’s attitude changes once again and a theme so prevalent throughout the book becomes most stressed at this moment. One can only experience life to the fullest closest to death. Joe stares death in the face and continues to paraglide despite his tragic loss in Tat, if anything, it is Tat for which he carries on. When Joe eventually returned to flying he achieves a life long dream of a long distance glide. The glide takes him over the plains and rain forests of Brazil, the tale is told first person without a detail spared. Tat looks down on Joe.

Eigerwand

The latter part of the book tells the harrowing story of the an early attempt on the North Face of the Eiger. Joe has taken time to research down to the very last detail the tragedy of a four strong German climbing party on one of the first attempts at ascending the North Face. The team made up of Andreas Hinterstoisser, Willy Angerer, Edi Rainer and Toni Kurz attempted the climb during the summer of 1936; their endeavour ended in tragedy. All four met their end on the face, Toni Kurz was the last to die, his story is beyond the worst nightmare any mountaineer could imagine. Toni’s struggle for survival whilst hanging from a rope in the dire conditions of the Eiger paralleled in many ways Joes own experience on the West Face of Siula Grande, Peru, 1987. Despite rescue attempts Toni died of exposure hanging motionless from the end of a rope, in contrast it was the ‘cutting of the rope’ that saved Joe’s life under similar conditions during the descent of Siula Grande, a bitter irony.

In the the final few chapters, Joe describes his one and only ever attempt to climb the North Face of the Eiger. For many mountaineers the North Face represents the ultimate climbing achievement. Many see the mountain as a constant balancing act between life and death, as if the mountain itself decides who lives to tell the story. Goaded by another lifelong climbing partner, Joe and Ray set off to Switzerland to what they hope will complete their portfolio of epic climbs.

Nothing more will be said as it should be left to the reader to discover one of the last adventures of one of the worlds greatest adventurers.

Matt’s Fantabulous Book Rating: (*)(*)(*)(*)(* 4.5 star

In true Austin style the story of a young girl immersed in nineteenth century upper class English society was used as a platform for exploration of character, society and circumstance in a most beautiful way. 

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austin

Story

The heroine of the story, as she is so often referred to in first person, Catherine, spends the majority of her adolescence in the town of Fullerton near Salisbury sheltered by the concern and interest of her parents Mr and Mrs Morland. At the age of seventeen she is given opportunity, which she readily takes, for her first excursion from the family. Her travels take her with the Allens to Bath where she struggles at first to make acquaintance with anyone. Before soon however, she finds herself attending balls and dinners whilst forming a great bond with Miss Isabella Thorpe who adopts the role of big sister during Catherine’s stay. Her affection for Isabella is reflected by her brother James who arrives in Bath soon after she does. Yet these sentiments for Isabella will be short lived by both as the toils of nineteenth century focus on fortune and rank play out in a plot of deception and misconduct. 

James’ arrival in Bath brings the likes of Henry Tilney to Catherine’s admiring attention. She soon realises her feelings for Henry are strong but struggles to see through his stern exterior for a mutual affection. Luckily for Catherine Henry’s sister Miss Eleanor Tilney takes warmly to her and they too form a strong bond which eventually leads to Catherine’s departure from Bath to stay at the Tilney residence, also known as Northanger Abbey. 

Catherine’s stay at Northanger Abbey strengthens her connection with both the Tilneys, but her suspicion of their father, Captain Tilney, leads her to mischief about the grounds of the ancient abbey. The stay is short lived and she is summoned back to Fullerton at the request of the Captain. This comes as a shock to all, but to the disappointment no more so than to Catherine. 

And I won’t say anymore! You must read it for yourself.

Review

What do I like most about Austin? I think most people who have read any of her six novels would agree with me in saying they are not thrilling, dramatic nor exciting in the conventional sense of the words. However, they are utterly irresistible to a reader desiring a lucid depiction of character and circumstance. Jane Austin has the ability to express all occasion in the most concise and exact terms. Her works are made fascinating to read on this account alone. Most of all however, I love the dialogue between characters and the occasional review paragraph from Austin herself. 

The story lends itself to many passages of deep descriptions of people and places, and although the story lacked page turning quality, this aspect certainly didn’t. 

Matt’s Fantabulous Book Rating: (*)(*)(*)(* 3.5 star

At the request of my sister Rebecca I am obliged to update my blog. I have been meaning to do it for a while, but anyone who casually writes a post from time to time and also happens to have a life will know it doesn’t feature high on the list most of the time. It’s a crying shame.

I’ll make if brief, no one likes a talker.

Science

Good. I am spending far too much time confined to dark air conditioned rooms which means I both fry and squint when I enter the outside world. I have managed to find a pair of goggles that block out both UV and IR, which is handy as I’m working with both. Currently (as in while I write this) playing with Second Harmonic Generation. Simple really, just shine a powerful IR laser at a little crystal and watch the light turn blue right before your eyes. Good lab tip - no goggles at all are better than the wrong ones. Wearing the wrong goggles might lend itself to complacent behaviour (thanks Sven).

Oh yeah, I’ve put my name down for academic tutoring. I will be given a few hours a week to vent my anger on unsuspecting undergraduate physicists (only kidding if any of you are reading this…..).

House

Found one. I’ll post some pictures when I have a camera to take them. It’s just on the other side of the river from main campus, about a 10 minute cycle ride. The place is called Woolloongabba. It’s pretty neat, the room has it’s own balcony (have set up hammock - sweeeeet) and ensuit, but lacks great views from either. I might invest in an air conditioner; it’s possible I won’t survive through February in the heat and humidity of Brisbane. I know what you’re thinking, ‘think about the environment!’. I do, which is why I cycle everywhere, have given up plastic bags and don’t own a car. There that makes me feel much better, although I did fly over to Australia (twice), the CO2 emissions don’t bear thinking about. So I don’t.

Life

Slow. Apart from a week long excursion to Adelaide which turned into a week long party in Adelaide, I’ve been out a few times to house partys, drinks and meals. I’ve not made any real friends outside of the group yet. Although the guys in the group are pretty damn social! Perhaps things will pick up when the dirty undergrads get back… hmmmm dirty undergrads. Perhaps I’m a little hard on myself having only been here for eight weeks.

I went to the Sunshine Coast today which is north of Brisbane about an hours drive away. The waves were huge but no good for surfing. I’ve discovered a new sport however, body surfing. No, actually body surfing. You use your body as a surfboard and swim like usual to catch a wave. It’s fun and sketchy - there were more people body surfing than boarding of any kind today meaning a lot of crashing and banging into one another.

Trivia

I thought it odd that Firefox did not recognise the name, or rather the spelling of it, Rebecca. The list of words it suggests are: Rebeka, Rebeca, Rebbecca and Rebecka. Interestingly non of them are common spellings of the name and they certainly don’t feature in the OED as having a meaning. The name is Hebrew in origin and is a variation of the original forms Rebekah or Rivkah, The name in Hebrew means ‘to bind’. It features in the bible most commonly as Rebekah. Rebekah was the wife of Abraham’s son Isaac and mother to both Jacob and Esau. Altogether there are 54 known variations on the name Rebecca and they can all be found here. A quick google (<– Firefox doesn’t recognise this even!) search of any variation on ‘Rebecca’ soon reveals that ‘Rebecca, my sisters preferred spelling, is the most common in western society.

I’ve now added the name to my Firefox dictionary and urge all those reading this to do the same.

I hope this clears a few things up.

… they need your support.

This week

We have two separate laboratories and the journey from one to the other is about ~100m. Up to now we have used only the old lab, now we have a new experiment to set up and we require a more stable temperature environment - the new lab does the trick apparently (but we haven’t tested the temperature fluctuations with the equipment actually in the lab yet!)

So first thing is first - move one of the work tables from the old lab to the new. Sounds easy, it’s not. We call in ‘Team Hector the Director’, I ask the stoutest member of the moving team, ‘What sort of things do you usually move?’, to which he answers in a strong Australian accent, ‘Anything heavy’. Good we have the right people in for this job as the table is 12ft x 4ft and weighs close to 1 ton. Credit where credit is due, they did a superb job and in under 90 minutes!

Today was our turn. All we had to do was move a laser. Again sounds easy, it’s not. It took three physicists and a rickety old trolly over 3 hours all in all. 

Film Review - Twlight

Made in America, Bill Bryson