Happy (10th) anniversary!

Well, as you can gather from the title, I have been here for ten (10) years!!! 😵

Who'd have thought, hey?

Anyway, 'celebrated' by going to Igni - one of those places where you open up your wallet & let them take what they need, so that they impress you!

Which they do very, very convincingly!!!

My one (1) comment, before the main discussion, is that the serving girl said that 'English is not my 1st language' - to which I must emphasise 'fuck them' whoever told you otherwise, for the 'mono' linguistic skills of Australians is nothing to be proud of!!!

I went for the 'mystery' degustation ($200) + matched wines ($110) - but then ended up having an unexpected interlude dish (#6), which added another ~$40 to the total. What follows are courses, along with their matched wines & more comments:

1. Started with 'nibbles' - salt & vinegar saltbush (took some home for the 'young fellow' to try), chewy beets & macadamia, chicken skin & cod roe, mussels & zucchini flower, blue mackerel & daikon, fig & schmaltz, venison jerky & blue eye jerky.
2. Scallop, crumpet & finger lime (2022 Crawford River Riesling): wine was minerally & relaxed; food exploded with flavour of finger lime, rye crumpet was a freshingly neutral & complemented a sweet scallop. Interestingly, the one song I recognised played - Here comes your man;
3. Beetroot, swede & almond (2022 Blind corner Quindalup nouveau); a young shiraz, with the vibrancy of a settled beaujolais - used a different form of maturation; the roe 'popped' - slightly smoked;
4. Blue eye, cauliflower & bull horn pepper (2019 Cimabella Godello): wine had a bright colour & flavour, with a good finish; served with a brioche, doused with honey & salt, but did not work with the fish! However, the charred exterior of the blue eye was great;
5. Pork, black garlic & wild plum (2018 Moondarra old school Nebbiola): wine had a good finish, as it was light & vibrant; pork had a subtle pepper sauce, which a mouthful of the saltbush (see above) did not enhance! Texture was variable, with a subtle char on the outside;
6. Spelt, calamari & bronze fennel (2021 Kidoizumi AFS): complex flavour (umami?) - felt that there were levels not seen before; meal was the best balance for the day! Flavours 'popped' - did not 'scream' but smiled;
7. Mimolette & whole smoked orange (Heiwa Shuzo Furu-Tsuru-Ume 10 years old): use = umami? An intense sake; the smokiness of the orange segments was well offset by the bite of the cheese - also, loved the grind used; and,
8. Jerusalem artichoke flower ice cream, strawberry & lovage (Strawberry & basil daiquiri); the basil notes were evident, yet subtle; the use of artichoke was evident up front with the ice cream, but faded to be a fond memory.
9. Finished with some petit fours - oyster ice cream, charred pineapple tube & blackened wild plum tart.

In conclusion, one thing that continues to amaze me - especially given the relative importance to me, is that I could neither take anyone, nor imagine asking anyone else to come with me there!

Funnily enough, I bumped into Carolyn & Chris on the way past the hospital ...

In summary, in case it is not evident, if you can, go there, open your 'heart' & enjoy!

Bit upset?

This past week has been affected by wheezing chest & upset tummy, which has had an affect upon several activities, for better, or worse.

• Went off to Hendry's for a BikeFit & then did the usual - got there & stood around for twenty minutes, before turning back & going home. Found out that the tunnel under Barwon Heads Road has been finished - suspect it will be a foldable location, however? After the last interaction, I even checked emails prior to departure, but there was nothing there, so headed off. The next day an email was received, apologising & offering a reason - also an upset tummy. So that (& the derision of the coffee crew) led me to email back to ask if we could try again;
• With my current financial constraints/situation, as well as the motivation of my anniversary, I got in touch with the bank re. the mortgage. Initially, I was going to go in, which would have involved a train to Wyndham Vale & then a bus into Werribee - an effort, but apparently what I have to do! Anyway, due to upset tummy, phoned to postpone until another time. Later in the week, thought that most of the queries could be addressed over the phone? Rang & spoke to Satish, who apologised that was just entering a meeting, took note of my queries, e.g. what could be done re. package cost, what options were available as alternatives and/or a better rate) & said that I would be contacted that afternoon. Which did not happen. Instead, I got signed up to some spam email & got a SMS (at 1753), saying that I would be contacted 11/04 AM to discuss. Spoiler alert - that did not happen either;
• Also had a request from CLK to come in & give feedback on their communication efforts. Could not get to that, so had to send apologies. Interestingly enough, when invited, I was informed that it was too late to send me a confirmation by post & yet they were able to do all that by SMS. To be fair, despite the offer of a $100 food voucher, I am unsure if I could have provided any useful feedback. Also, was very concerned re. the privacy considerations;
• For the past six (6) weeks, I have been lodging a six (6) game lotto entry, costing $5. This week, I went to check on the entries & found that I had accumulated winnings of $32.95 - that is (almost) 10% dividend, over the six (6) weeks! Which is certainly not a bad return, but I do not feel that I could comfortably rely on that return with any consistency;
• Being sick did, however, allow me to settle in & watch the Paris-Roubaix races - women one night & the men the next night. Also, because it was Easter, there was no need to worry about how late it went. Also bought a leg of lamb to do on the fire out the back, for Easter Sunday, but the day was very drizzly, so ended up doing it in the pot in the oven - this also was not the day to have washed my jeans! Although, this did allow me to put the fire on & curl up to watch the men's race. Highlights were so many women having to stop to push their bikes over the final climb & then a Canadian won. With the men, the two main ones were Philipsen & van de Poel 'ganging up' on Dekenkolb, causing him to crash & when Gee rode through Arenberg, then the wheel started wobbling, followed by the tyre going one way, the tube another & then the wheel (effectively) just folded in on itself; and,
• Got some money, so went shopping! Bought the Levi's 511s that I had been thinking about, a pair of track pants, to wear as PJs & lashed out on a bottle of whisky.

In all, it has been an interesting week, with highs & lows - I guess that means that I need to just keep on going, without concern about what has been missed & focussing on what has been gained?

The precipice - to fall?

Hmm, have just finished reading The precipice: existential risk & the future of humanity, by Toby Ord & am not sure if I agree with its suppositions - but, to be generous, I am a better person for having read it, no doubt! One thing that I would like to share, in full, is the list of what not to do:

• Don't regulate prematurely: at the right time, regulation may be a very useful tool for reducing existential risk. But right now, we know very little about how best to do so. Pushing for ill-considered regulation would be a major mistake;
• Don't take irreversible actions unilaterally: some countermeasures may make our predicament even worse (think radical geoengineering or publishing the smallpox genome). So we should be wary of the unilateralist's curse, where the ability to take actions unilaterally creates a bias towards action by those with the most rosy estimates;
• Don't spread dangerous information:studying existential risk means exploring the vulnerabilities of our world. Sometimes this turns up new dangers. Unless we manage such information carefully, we risk making ourselves even more vulnerable;
• Don't exaggerate the risks: there is a natural tendency to dismiss claims of existential risk as hyperbole. Exaggerating the risks plays into that, making it harder for people to see that there is sober, careful analysis amidst the noise;
• Don't be fanatical: safeguarding our future is extremely important, but it is not the only priority for humanity. We must be good citizens within the world of doing good. Boring others with countless talks about this cause is counterproductive. Cajoling them about why it is more important than a cause they hold dear is even worse;
• Don't be tribal: safeguarding our future is not left or right, not eastern or western, not owned by the rich or the poor. It is not partisan. Framing it as a political issue on one side of a contentious divide would be a disaster. Everyone has a stake in our future & we must work together to protect it;
• Don't act without integrity: when something immensely important is at stake & others are dragging their feet, people feel licensed to do whatever it takes to succeed. We must never give in to such temptation. A single person acting without integrity could stain the whole cause & damage everything we hope to achieve;
• Don't despair: despairing would sap our energy, cloud our judgement & turn away those looking to help. Despair is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Whilst the risks are real & substantial, we know of no risks that are beyond our power to solve. If we hold our heads high, we can succeed; and,
• Don't ignore the positive: while the risks are the central challenges facing humanity, we can't let ourselves be defined by them. What drives us is our hope for the future. Keeping this at the centre of our thinking will provide us (& others) with the inspiration we need to secure our future! (pp. 212-4)

Although it is unlikely that I will return to discussing this any further, unfortunately, there are a number of particular items that I would like to initially draw attention to, based upon my simplistic & relativistic reading:

1. Existential risk - although not necessarily a 'new' concept, I was extremely interested in how it was framed, as something to consider above & (well) beyond daily concerns;
2. Teachers vs engineers - this I found to be particularly surprising. Following on from what not to do is what you can do & the biggest emphasis is on getting a technical career/job, e.g. computer programmer, climate scientist and/or manager. What there was not was an encouragement to be a 'thinker' (like the author) & actually consider what direction(s) will be most useful, so as to direct the technical innovators, i.e. give them places to work towards;
3. Earn more, give more - which is the answer if you can't (or won't) commit to a career change, because money changes everything! Whilst that is (perhaps) harsh, I am not (at all) sure that an admonishment to create more money is inherently useful, as it is premised upon a false (or inadequate) premise. It reminds me of what Weber found with the 'protestant work ethic' & how if you have more money, you can do more good. Which leads to such things as e.g. Hillsong church & Donald J Trump;
4. Love of Singer - like Singer & books/thoughts such as, e.g. 'animal liberation', this a book that derives from ethics, but is not an 'ethical' book. As an ethicist will tell you, such things are 'practical ethics', aka morality. With the relation to Singer, I wonder if it there is anything to an Australian philosopher going to Oxford, in the midst of significant social change;
5. Not conservative, but frozen - with all the admonishments for the future human, it seems that change is strangely absent. How humans are to change all these things & live for millions of years, yet not be changed themselves is beyond me; and,
6. Effect of attending CND rallies as a child - briefly alluded to in the book is that little historical nugget. What affect that has on the thought seems self-evident. That being said, nuclear war/proliferation is an existential risk & we must use that experience to inform us in preparing for further innovations & their inherent (social) changes.

I am certainly not the loudest voice here, but one thing that is most self-evident is to consider & discuss such things - there can be no doubt that non-critical questioning, to allow for alternative possibilities, to remain with a blinkered view of both self & the future is what will be most detrimental to the progression of humanity - surely with the 'rights' come the responsibilities!

Wait - what else?

Well, glad you asked …

Also in this past week, I did manage to do a few other things:

• Had a night of cycling, watching the ‘Tour of Flanders’, both men & women;
• ‘Cashed’ in my points from the c/c - got a DM card & went shopping! Got a bottle of Zubrowka, one of whisky & a bottle of sherry, for the young fellow. Which he proceeded to decry - ‘it means I can’t choose my own choice’. But then proceeded to drink it all over the next few nights; and,
• Went to the library & picked up some books, e.g. ones relating to effective altruism & existential risk. Also found out that there are a lot more novels in the Jason Bourne universe …

Que pasa?

Glad you asked - what has been going on? Not quite ‘what a day’ but more a ‘what a week’, I would suggest ...

• Got a call from Deakin Uni library, re. the job, saying ‘great application & great interview (although, I would beg to differ), but no job for you’ … discussed whether that was enough to at least add me to the ‘casual’ list? But, alas not …
• [see also the previous post] Went to Pivotonian, to see ‘Lone wolf’. Not too bad & an Australian film, so extra kudos. Interestingly, I was the only one in the cinema! Anyway, coming home, shouted out a warning, to some random fat fuck who was wilfully endangering me. Said fat fuck then pursues me & swerves into my way, near the tennis courts, yells something inaudible/unintelligible at me & goes screaming off, down the road. So, I chased him, as you do, but to no avail …
• Actually, just mind blanked, so may add more later …
• Also, seem to have been bitten by spiders (?) & the injection sites are very itchy/sore!