So the weather again decides to laugh in the face of my assertation that golf is a summer sport, a combined total of 47 players not completing their rounds on Wednesday and Saturday due to inclement conditions. I wasn't one of these weak-livered damp squibs, I was far more sensible and avoided the rain by being stuck in the office - I'm not sure who got the best end of that deal. I am, therefore, going to look at the wider world for this weeks article, and in particular a couple of the astounding scientific events that have been announced this week. First, the James Webb Telescope is working through it's set up protocols, and took it's first phot this week, and in the spirit of the modern era, it was a selfie (of course it was) - still, not wanting to tempt fate, it all seems to be going rather well, so the billions of dollars have so far seemed to be well spent. Secondly, continuing with billions as a theme, four years ago, one of the world's richest technophiles tested his giant phallic symbol of a rocket (one can only assume there is a certain amount of compensation taking place), and in need of a payload, launched a bright red Tesla roadster, complete with "Starman" mannequin into space. Since that time, the car has travelled it's first orbit of the sun, and approximately 4 billion miles at over 24,000 miles an hour, a speed that boggles the mind as that is effectively a circuit of our planet in just over an hour. Back on Earth, scientists engaged in the seemingly futile attempt to create a viable fusion generator have managed to prove that it is, in theory, practically possible. The old joke in scientist circles is that Fusion Generators are 50 years away, and have been for the last 50 years (oh the wit, how the hours must fly by) - to be fair, the process is utterly remarkable, as they are attempting to initiate the sort of process that takes place at the centre of our sun - a place where atoms are mashed together (a scientific term) under immense pressure at temperatures of about 100 million degrees Celsius (I cannot be bothered to check that in Fahrenheit, suffice to say that it is bloody hot). On our planet, however, the atmosphere and the pressure means that fusion is not possible at a mere 100 million degrees C, no, we need to get the temperature up to 150 million degrees Celsius, and amazingly that is what they have been able to do using plasma, magnets and I have no idea what else, or what methodology. The outcome of this is that they were able to produce enough energy to boil 60 kettles - details remain scarce on whether these are full kettles, or say, the equivalent of just a single mug per kettle - it's hard to believe that these scientists have been so vague. Still, the principle has been proved, and an international team of experts are currently looking to scale up the process in France. As an Englishman, the idea of France taking the risk of blowing itself up is naturally to be approved of, although I would miss the food. And the wine. And the country actually. Not the cars though, they're unilaterally terrible at the moment. The result is that we could have a continuous source of non-polluting, clean energy by the second half of this century - not quickly enough from an environmentalists stand-point, but still not to be sniffed at. What, though, is the point of all this waffle? Well in each case, it has taken a team of international experts working together to achieve the seemingly impossible, and the down right remarkable in a time when co-operation between nations, hell co-operation within a country, does seem to be elusive at best. It is gob-smacking what we can achieve when we put our minds together, accept our differences and combine our strengths. We can, as a species, be absolutely awesome. All of which means that our performance at the Waitangi Day event on Monday was rather disappointing (I did win the beer though, so there is that). I am proud to say that we at Timaru have strong backs though, as we managed to bravely support the rest of the field on our shoulders. Congratulations to the winners (Ashburton) and we look forward to a shorter trip next year Here's hoping the sun comes out, and I see you all out there soon Stay safe and play well Steve PS - A quick tip-of-the-hat to the team that came up with the idea of blasting unbearable music at the protesters in Wellington this weekend. The concept, of course, came to light when the Americans, bless 'em, came up with the idea of blasting insensible noise at the detainees of Guantanamo Bay, in an attempt at sensory deprivation, making the inmates more amenable to giving up their secrets. In Wellington, the concept has been tweaked in an attempt to break up the protesters complaining about having to follow rules for the benefit of society as a whole. I do feel slightly bad on behalf of good old Barry Manilow who I can only assume is not getting any royalties for the novel use of his back catalogue, but kudos to James Blunt for volunteering his - it would get me out of the immediate vicinity to be fair. |