Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond, 1997)

It's been a while since I've read an entire book. That is, a proper thick book with over 400 pages. However, I recently finished reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. It won the 1998 Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize. Its subtitle is "a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years".

Diamond sets out to explain why human history turned out the way it did. His thesis is that the big picture of history is completely a product of environmental factors and has nothing to do with racial capabilities.

He covers the early human disporas, the rise of food production and the invention and spread of technologies. It's a fascinating story.

The gist is that the Fertile Crescent had an overwhelming advantage in the number of domesticatible seeds and animals. China had the next best collection. These areas developed agriculture and the earliest civillisations giving them a head start. Because of the East-West primary orientation of the Eurasian continent, food production and technologies spread easily. Meanwhile, the Americas and Africa had a poor collection of domesticatible seeds and animals and a primary North-South orientation. Farming developed slowly and did not spread easily in these regions. With greater food production, Eurasia developed higher population densities which led to increases in disease and immunity, sophisticated government, technology development and warfare.

China was, for most of history, the most advanced nation on earth. The anomally of China's recent isolation and stagnation left the world to western domination in the last few hundred years. It's interesting to watch the explosive development of China as it takes back its historic position in the world.

Diamond does discuss in detail developments in North and South America, Africa, China, Polynesia and Australia. What I'm left not understanding is why India did not play a more powerful role. It had a head start in the Indus Valley, early food production and access to technology and trade with the other early civillisations. I need to read more about Indian history.

Home Alone

Last Sunday we had the almost bizarre experience of being home alone without any kids.

K* spent the weekend camping with the cub scouts. It was his first big trip away from home. Lots of pictures on the website. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad and some of their tents blew down Sunday night! Lots of rain but he enjoyed it and still likes camping.

R* was away for four days hiking the Brecon Beacons in Wales as part of a school trip. She didn't say much about it but she seemed to have enjoyed herself.

So we had Sunday free to ourselves! For a treat, we went and saw comedian Shazia Mirza at Norden Farm. Overall, she was very good. As a Pakistani Muslim woman, she can draw on a lot of cultural and ethnic material and she does it well (F*** Off, I'm a Hairy Woman). Amazingly, she also receives death threats which she reads out and makes fun of during her show. Respect.

First Family Bike Ride

That same weekend we did the bluebell walk, we had a major family first - a family bike ride!

During March and April, I finally taught K* how to ride a bicycle. The trick I found was to first get him riding a regular push scooter to get the idea of keeping one's balance. It didn't take too long from that for him to transfer the idea to balancing on a bike. The main struggle was getting K* to *want* to ride a bike. He's been very, very reluctant which has always baffled me. I finally bribed him with a brand new computer game or something of equivalent value.

I was really chuffed when he finally got it.

And now he's keen! On sunny days after school we've been going riding in the park. We need to build up to more challenging rides so I'm now workig on road safety and building confidence. I'm very pleased that we've got a new family activity to pursue.

Cliveden Bluebells

A couple of weeks ago we went up to Cliveden in Jenny's annual pursuit of bluebells. We were a little late but the woodlands were still well carpeted. The previous week, we had gone somewhere else but had had little luck.

Bletchley Park

With the kids on Easter break, we spent a day up at Bletchley Park. It's famous as the site of the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) during World War II. It's here that Alan Turning worked on the Bombe machine and Tommy Flowers brought the Colossus into production in their work to break German Enigma cyphers.

Ok, maybe not the most exciting place to take the kids but I've been wanting to visit for ages. Bletchley Park is hugely significant in both its role in winning the war and contributions made to Computer Science.

It's not a very big place and it looks like it struggles to finance itself. The most interesting display was the rebuilt working Colossus that's there and running. Those 1500 vacuum tubes put out a lot of heat! It's not the first true computer (that was the Manchester SSEM) but it was electronic, digital and semi-programmable and put to work in 1944.

Another great display at Bletchley is the hands-on computer museum with a great hodge-podge of old computers - Pet Commodore, Commodore 64, Vic 20, an orginal IBM PC, Classic Mac, etc. Fabulous! Wish I had collected some of them myself over the years. Of courses there's excellent displays on the whole Enigma story and some on life during WWII.

So if you're a computer geek, Bletchley Park is well worth it. If you're dragging kids along, it's not going to be a long visit. There's a free tour, free audio guides and the ticket is valid for a whole year - adults £10, kids under 12 free.

Ski Zauchensee

Just got back from a ski trip to Austria with a couple of friends. Went to the same place we went last year staying in Altenmarkt which is less than an hours drive south of Salzburg.

Last year we went in February. It was cold and there was lots of snow. This time it was much warmer and there was no snow in the valleys.

First day, we drove up to Zauchensee. We were all quite concerned about the snow conditions but things started looking much much better as we drove up to the resort and got above the snow line. That was quite a relief. It was snowing too so it couldn't be too bad!

Snow at the top of the mountains were great but it got quite heavy and slushy as we skiied down to the bottom. My balance and technique were pretty crap. Worse of all, my glasses and goggles kept fogging up and I could barely see. The falling snow was very wet. By early afternoon, my legs ached and I wasn't having a good time so I quit skiing early. Mike and David continued skiing but unfortunately David had a nasty fall and pulled his calf muscle. It turned out to the end of any more skiing for him.

On the second day, Mike and I headed out to Obertauern which was only about half-an-hour away. It's claim to fame is that it's where the Beatles filmed the snow scenes in the Help film. It is one of the higher resorts in the area and felt colder than Zauchensee. The snow was indeed really good up there. It wasn't snowing that day so I could avoid the foggy goggles too. I took it quite easy sticking to blue runs and concentrated on getting my technique back. For a Friday, it was very busy but waits for the lifts were very short.

It was snowing when we got up on the third day. Mike and I headed out to Schladming on the basis that the weather reports were better out there. We were both a bit disappointed when we got there - the ski run down was brown slush. However, we went up the cable car and found a blizzard at the top of the mountain! Excellent snow and wide pistes. However, the snow did get slushy as you skiied down to the half-way point of the cable car. I wiped out a few times getting caught by the change in snow conditions.

That last day was great. My balance and technique were much better and my glasses and goggles didn't fog up. Even my legs weren't so tired. Got in some great runs. Unfortunately, three days isn't enough. Next ski trip needs to be for at least a week and I figure February is the right month to go. I have liked all the resorts we've gone to in Austria. All are well organised, have excellent facilities and offer enough variety for me. The Salzburger Sportwelt is a huge ski area but as the mountains aren't very high, it best not to go too late in the season.

Dead Pixel

It's been a right horrible day.

Early this morning, just after midnight, our cat , Pixel, sauntered back from his usual night prowl. I went to wipe his paws since it was wet out and quickly realised his face and paws were covered in blood. That wasn't a saunter; it was a crawl. He was a mess and was wheezing out his breath. He was in shock. Oh my god.

Panic ensued. We tried to wipe him up and make him comfortable but his jaw, teeth and tongue were hanging out at different angles. I called the emergency vet but would have to wait until the morning to get him into an animal hospital. I was distressed but hopeful. I figured he had been in a bad fight with another animal - something smaller than him. I figure it couldn't have been a car or he really would be shattered. He couldn't of met a dog or fox or he would have more injuries. My worst thought was that someone had kicked him.

We got him into the hospital by 9:15 in the morning. The vet quickly assessed he had been hit by car. She thought his internal organs were alright and if it was just the jaw, he should recover and learn a lesson. One life down, 8 left I thought feeling a bit relieved. He needed have an x-ray to double-check the fractures before having the operation to wire the jaw back together. Turns out a broken lower jaw is a common injury. Many cats survive getting hit by a car.

We got a call around noon with devastating news. The upper jaw was broken too. It's a rare fracture. Fixing it was very difficult and prone to complications - the brain and soft palate being very nearby. He might not be able to eat properly ever again. Recovery would be painful and take a long time. It was going to be expensive. Furthermore, it was clear that he had been hit very hard and there was a good chance there might be futher injuries.

One of those really horrible phone calls. She suggested we call her back in 5 minutes to tell her how to proceed.

Five minutes?

Five minutes to breakdown while Pixel lay on an operating table under anasthetic. We chose - I chose - euthanasia. It seemed the right choice at the moment. I choked the words when I called her back. Put him to sleep. She thought it was a good decision. I felt like shit. I still feel like shit. Killing a pet you love dearly. I could write tons about why he was a wonderful cat. When do you let go? He was only 19 months old. Maybe we should have struggled to nurse him back? Is that being selfish or generous?

At first we were going to let the hospital cremate and dispose of the remains but Jenny decided to bring him home. His body was still warm to the touch. I broke all composure at that. It really hurt.

Breaking the news to the children was difficult but they took it better than us adults. After some hugging and crying, we all stroked him and said our good-byes. Together, we buried him in the garden wrapped in a pillow case and planted flowers on the grave and marked it with a headstone.

He's gone. But I still catch myself checking the glass door where he would usually appear, asking to come inside.

Year of the Golden Pig

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Chinese New Year again and this time it's the Year of the Golden Pig - R*'s year.

We celebrated by going down to London's Chinatown with some friends on new year's day and having dim sum. We arrived before the restaurant opened to make sure we could get in. Our friends were dim sum virgins so we had fun introducing them to all kinds of dishes. Afterward, we joined the thousands and thousands of people who had come to see the parade and festivities at Trafalgar Square. The picture is one of the many lion dances that took place in chinatown.

The event is huge. We couldn't get a good view of the stage at Trafalgar Square so we eventually gave up and went down the the Victoria & Albert museum. It was quieter there this year but the smaller scale allows the kids to see more.

As I said last year, it sure would be nice to see more contemporary Chinese art than the same old traditional stuff.

Travel Shows

It's the beginning of the year so it must be travel show season! Last week we went to Destinations: The Holiday and Travel Show while a few weeks before that I also went to the Adventure Travel Show.

The Adventure Travel Show was the smaller of the two and held at Olympia. As you might expect from the title, it was aimed mainly at gap year students and people seeking adventure sports and uncomfortable trips to remote locations. Think "expeditions". It was interesting and would be fabulous if I was single but there wasn't a whole lot for families. It was good for finding  volunteer organisations. It wasn't very busy when I went at the end of the day which made it really easy to strike up convesations with the exhibitors.

The Destinations show was held at Earls Court and was much bigger and busier. Think "mainstream". Many of the exhibitors were tourist boards from numerous countries. However, there was considerable variety including some very small tour operators and more adventurous travel companies. For example, we had a chat with the company that was involved in making the "Tiger! Tiger!" BBC documentary. We also found a tiny company that did tours of Cambodia and Vietnam.

We came back from both shows with large stacks of brochures which we're slowly going through and helping us refine our itinerary. I've also been renting a few travel DVDs of India and China which have been useful. The kids have been watching them and thinking about what they would like to see. However, the DVDs have also made Jenny a bit worried about the health aspects of travelling India.

K*'s New Glasses

Sadly, the day came last Tuesday when K* was prescribed glasses. Last week, the teacher had to move him to the front of the class because he complained he couldn't read the whiteboard.

Both Jenny and I wear glasses so we knew it was very likely at least one or both of our kids would also need glasses. Luckily, R* seems to have escaped so far but I didn't get my first pair until I was about 14. There's still time.

Glasses are a hassle and I don't think you can ever say glasses improve your looks. It's a shame. He's taken it quite well and agrees it very nice to be able to see so much detail in the distance now. At least it should help him at school.

Ski Workout

Well I'm back into doing workouts and I've been managing to do it every other day for the last two weeks. No, it's not a New Years Resolution; it's fear. I've committed to going skiing with my mates in March. The less you exercise before skiing, the more it's gonna hurt! It's great motivation.

I'm not going to the gym. I really don't like the atmosphere of a gym and I hate the time overhead and expense of going there. I may go later on as I do really like the various weight machines that allow you to isolate specific muscle groups.

So I'm just doing a relatively adhoc routine at home and making use of my eliptical machine. The quads, abdomen and lower back are the critical areas I know that I need to tone up. And cardio of course. And lots of stretching. It would be good to lose some weight although that's not really my main goal. I'm up to 90kg when I'd rather be under 80kg.

My secret weapon this time is good loud thumping music. Rock on.

Family Travel Adventures 2007

Jenny and I have decided to pull the kids out of school and take them travelling for a year. We leave this summer.

We've toyed with this possibility for many years. The idea is that there's more to an education than classroom learning. Our hope is that travel will challenge them and provide new experiences which help them grow and learn about the world. That's the theory. It's also just plain fun and a way to enjoy having the kids before they grow up and don't want to hang about with Mom and Dad anymore.

This does mean that we have to "home school" the kids for a year. It's a scarey challenge considering how hard it is to get the kids just to do their regular homework! We're now officially "teachers in training". R* will miss Year Seven and K* will miss Year Four. Both will return to their current schools when we get back and hopefully won't have a hard time catching up.

Our first trip will be back to Canada for a family visit in the summer. Then we'll come back to the UK and spend September and October travelling around the Alps and down the length of Italy. After a quick stop back in the UK, we'll then fly to Malaysia which will become our base for six months. From Malaysia, we'll do several trips which will likely include India, Australia and China. Later in the spring, we'll return to the UK and do some more trips around Europe taking advantage of the fact that it won't be high season.

As I said, we're still formulating our plans so things will change. I decided go public on this blog now since any ideas, contacts or help with the planning are welcome and might change when and where we go.

Blog 2007

Welcome to another year on my blog. Looking back, I've obviously been slowing down with the number of posts I make. I've been sticking more and more to travels and family stuff. It's a momentum thing really. I also don't want to keep whinging on about all the stuff that's wrong in the world. Anyway, it's 2007 and I expect to have a lot to blog this year!

Meanwhile, I've recently upgraded to Subtext 1.9.3 which has given me more antispam tools so commenting on all my posts is open again.

Merry Christmas!

As I started doing last year, I've forgone sending Christmas cards. Instead I'm using email and the phone to send my wishes and created a website to share some of our better family photo's. The savings go to charity.

Our chosen charity this year is Room To Read - started by an ex-Microsoft employee after he discovered a lack of books at a school in Nepal. Since 2000, the charity  has established over 3000 libraries in the developing world. They also publish local language children's books, build schools and provide long-term scholarships to girls. It's an excellent cause in my books (haha) and their website makes it very clear what they do.

Room To Read has won the Fast Company Social Capital Awards a few times. It's interesting to read what some of the other winners do.