Willis's Walkabouts Newsletter 88, December 2016 — Christmas Special

Have a SAFE Holiday

Everyone knows that accidents peak during holiday times. Here are a couple of things that cause accidents that you might not have thought about.

• Biggest Spike in Traffic Deaths in 50 Years? Blame Apps *
  This story is from America but the same thing has to be happening here.
• Sleep-deprived drivers have plenty in common with drunk drivers **
  "The crash risk associated with having slept less than 4 hours of sleep is comparable to the crash risk associated with a blood alcohol content of roughly .12-.15."
• Researchers have found a surprisingly powerful effect of sleeping more **
  Absolutely amazing! If you can figure out what this is before you click the link, you are far better than I am.

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Wet Season — Russell's Last?

The Big One

While I hope to keep leading trips for some years more, I've got to recognise that I'm not getting any younger. Maybe, I'll need to restrict myself to some of the easier ones — but not quite yet. In January, I'll be leading Kakadu Super Circle No. 1, the longest, hardest and most spectacular trip we offer in Kakadu. This is the only trip anyone offers which allows you to visit Jim Jim Falls at its spectacular wet season best. Unless Kakadu changes the rules, you can't get there on a shorter trip.

It's not just me. Marian Lester, a long term guide and friend who used to run her own bushwalking tour business has decided to come along as an assistant. Like me, this could be her last major wet season expedition.

There may be more. If he can get permission to fly in with the food drop, guide Andy Peart will join us for the second half. We might finish with almost as many guides as clients.

• It's not too late, but it's getting close. We can take bookings through the end of the month. If you think you might be interested, please be sure to read the PDF trip notes which were extensively revised and updated on 10 November.
• Special offer. This is such a small group that we'll give 20% off to the next two people who book. That brings the price down from $3595 to $2876.
• Super special offer. If you can carry 5-6 kg over and above your own gear and normal share of the group gear, contact us for details of the best offer we've ever made.

Our Easiest Wet Season Trip

Time has almost run out for Kakadu Light: 5-18 February 2017. I enjoy this trip. If I weren't already committed to the Super Circle, I'd have offered to run it for as few as two. Unlike me, guide Cassie Newnes needs to be paid so, if we don't have three more bookings by the evening of 23 December, we'll have to cancel and refund the money to those who have paid.

Special offer. We need those last bookings so we'll give a $700 discount to anyone booking by 23 December. New price, $2295.

Want a better idea of what these trips are like?

Scroll down our Facebook page and you'll see some photos that Don butcher and I posted recently.

March — Time Is Running Out

We still have two trips available in March. Guides Cassie & Don are both keen but we can't run either without more bookings. I'll have to confirm or cancel by close of business on 5 January.

• Baroalba - Hill 420: 5-18 March
  This trip takes you into the greatest concentration of Aboriginal rock art which we have ever found. It also takes you to the top of the highest point on the Arnhem Escarpment.
• Kimberley Coast Explorer: 5 March - 15 April
  This is the longest single walk we offer, divided into four sections, any of which can be done on its own. Going at this time ensures we see the waterfalls when they are still flowing and that we have plenty of water on the drier sections.

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Your Health

Sugar

We tend to eat more sweet things at holiday times. Food for thought.

• How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat *
  "Newly discovered documents show that the sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to shape the debate around heart disease, sugar and fat."
• The Shady History of Big Sugar *
  Manipulating nutrition research was just one of many sneaky tactics.

Cleanliness

Too much of a good thing?

• Shower power: Everything you need to know
• Antibacterial soaps 'doing more harm than good"
• Gut instinct: how the way you're born and fed affect your immune system
• Farm animals could hold cure to childhood asthma, study says

Food and Diet

• 8 tweaks to make good-for-you foods even better **
• Refrigeration really does ruin tomatoes, according to science **
  Maybe the only decent tomato is one that has never been refrigerated from pick to table.

Your Sense of Smell

"In a recent survey of young adults, just over half said they would rather lose their sense of smell than their access to technology, like laptops or smartphones." Little do they know. Try to imagine living in a world where nothing had any real flavour — all you'd get would be sweet, sour, etc. Fresh bread, chocolate, fruit, good wine — none of them would mean anything any more. If you missed it when it first was broadcast, have a look at ABC Catalyst's Smell — Our Most Underestimated Sense. I only caught up with it recently and was very glad I did.

Balance and Exercise

• 'Crawling is the new plank': Improve strength and mobility by moving like a baby **
• Explainer: how do our bodies balance themselves?

Insomnia

The Insomnia Machine *
When medicine fails, where can the sleepless turn?

Dementia

I had a section on Aging in Newsletter 86. The final article there talked about people with dementia. Here's a great follow on. Answering the same questions over and over: how to talk to people with dementia

Dying Younger

Reversing long-term trend, death rate for Americans ticks upward **
Australia tends to follow America in a lot of ways. Will we do this as well?

Not yet please, but dying is something we all have to do. World's best and worst places to die ** ranks countries by their quality of palliative care. There were a few real surprises.

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Australia Is Number One!

Private debt in Australia — We're No. 1

We're number one and that's not good.

• How Australian households became the most indebted in the world
  This is from late 2015, expressed as a percent of GDP
• Australia’s Personal Debt Reported As Highest In The World
• Higher Australian household debt mounts to 'unsustainable" levels

While a large percent of Australian debt relates to real estate, credit cards with their high interest rates account for far too much. It's not the rich who pay that interest. High incomes run up relatively less debt on major cards.

Developed economies seem to depend on people spending money they don't have to buy things they don't need. It will be painful when that merry-go-round finally stops. But we'll be better off overall when it finally does.

Gambling

• Online sports betting and casino gaming blow out our gambling losses
  We're number one!
• Gambling gallops on, stats reveal — but what can be done to curb its harms?
  Call it what it is, 'a tax on the mathematically disadvantaged'. Maybe the government is getting too much money to make needed reforms.

Housing

• Sydney, Melbourne houses in world's top five most unaffordable
• The curious incentives and consequences of negative gearing
  "it was noted earlier this year that federal politicians — from both major parties — averaged more than two investment properties each."
  Now you know why negative gearing isn't about to disappear.

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Our Digital World

Green It's Not

How clean and green is our digital world?
"Today's technology looks so slick and clean as it brings magic to your screen. But behind the scenes, our data comes at a cost," says Dr Karl.
"the energy used by the cloud is about 2 per cent of the world's energy. If the cloud were a country, it would be sixth in the world in terms of energy consumption — after the USA, China, Russia, India and Japan, but ahead of Germany and Brazil.
By itself, Google uses more power than the country of Turkey. This energy consumption is increasing at 12 per cent per year."

Social Media

There is a lot of argument as to the value of social media like Facebook but the one thing everyone can agree on is that social media have made some people very rich. Here are a few things you might want to think about.

• Intimacy for the Avoidant *
  "The average American spends five and half hours a day with digital media, and the young spend far more time. A study of female students at Baylor University found that they spent 10 hours a day on their phones."
  10 hours a day! What kind of life is that?
• The article above had a link to another, well worth reading. I Used To Be A Human Being which tells "what it's like to have your soul hollowed by the web."
• Is Digital Connectedness Good or Bad for People? *
  This is a longish debate between two people arguing the pros and cons. The quote that really struck me was, "how it is that in a world that glorifies the individual, we have become so afraid of spending time alone."
• Quit Social Media. Your Career May Depend on It *
• This dark side of the Internet is costing young people their jobs and social lives **
• How You're Making Facebook a Money Machine *
  The social media addiction of customers is feeding astonishing profits.

You Are Being Watched

• Data surveillance is all around us, and it’s going to change our behaviour
  "Enabled by exponential technological advancements in data storage, transmission and analysis, the drive to 'datify' our lives is creating an ultra-transparent world where we are never free from being under surveillance."
• Why you should delete the online accounts you don't use anymore — right now **
• Apple iPhone hack raises fears about mysterious cyber weapon company
  "NSO's hack is the first known case of software that can remotely take over a fully up-to-date iPhone. (To update your iPhone or iPad click Settings > General > Software Update)."
• Similar story from the Washington Post. This malware sold to governments could help them spy on iPhones, researchers say **
  "details from the malware suggest that it has been in use for years, according to the researchers."
• Researchers Uncover a Flaw in Europe's Tough Privacy Rules *
  "Computer scientists were able to discover the names of roughly a third of the people who had asked that online links about themselves be taken down."
  Even when you've done the right things, there is no escape.

The Internet Of Things

While connecting ever more devices to the internet had benefits, there are downsides as well.

• Why Light Bulbs May Be the Next Hacker Target *
  "The so-called Internet of Things, its proponents argue, offers many benefits: energy efficiency, technology so convenient it can anticipate what you want, even reduced congestion on the roads.
  Now here’s the bad news: Putting a bunch of wirelessly connected devices in one area could prove irresistible to hackers. And it could allow them to spread malicious code through the air, like a flu virus on an airplane."
• A New Era of Internet Attacks Powered by Everyday Devices *
• Massive disrupter warning: no service provider is safe
• On a more positive note, Dangerous drivers to pay more for insurance based on car data
  "Insurers could soon give you a discount for driving responsibly while that hoon who just sped past you will get a much larger bill — all thanks to your vehicle's connectivity."

I've seen stores close when they couldn't use their electronic checkouts. If I were a terrorist seriously intent on bringing down western society, I'd be working on knocking out the banking or electric infrastructure. It would take us years to recover from a major shutdown.

Reason To Hope

• Protecting Your Digital Life in 7 Easy Steps *
• How to make Google forget your most embarrassing searches **
• The Web's Creator Looks to Reinvent It *
  "Tim Berners-Lee and other computer scientists are pondering newer technologies to create a web with more privacy and less government control."
• The internet is broken. Starting from scratch, here's how I'd fix it.

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Surprises

Every one of the following had something I didn't know. There should be at least one interesting link here for everyone.

• Dear Science: Why can't we just get rid of all the mosquitoes? **
• 'Diamond battery' made from nuclear waste 'lasts for 5000 years'
• Unintended consequences — Cuba’s Surge in Tourism Keeps Food Off Residents’ Plates *
• Climate-change effects you might not have considered
• Five myths about genius **
  "Albert Einstein was a famously mediocre student. During his annus mirabilis, in 1905, when he published four papers that rocked the foundation of physics, his overall knowledge of physics was eclipsed by that of others working in the field. Einstein's genius rested not with amassed knowledge but, rather, with his ability to make leaps of understanding that others couldn't. Einstein wasn't a know-it-all. He was a see-it-all."
• A group of meteorologists are claiming that hexagonal clouds and 'air bombs' are to blame for the series of disappearances in the notorious and legendary Bermuda Triangle.
  The embedded video is better than the story.
• Once all but left for dead, is cursive handwriting making a comeback? **
  "There's just a huge difference in the creative part of the brain when you are writing and when you are typing." — Have we created an uncreative generation?
• So, how did the new Senate voting rules work in practice?
  The new Senate is representative of the wide range of views in Australia — and far more so than the House of Representatives.

Your Money Being Wasted

• Supportive housing is cheaper than chronic homelessness
  If the research quoted proves true, we are wasting a lot of money by not providing accommodation. It's certainly worth more investigation than any government is likely to give it.
• Engie's Hazelwood "super profit" highlights our tangled web of energy policy
  "Between 2008 and 2015, June Sunday prices have averaged about $31 with a high of $50 on Sunday June 1, 2008. So what can we make of last Sunday (26th June 2016), when the volume-averaged price in Victoria was a staggering $120, almost four times above the long-term?
  Last Sunday was not just a once off, as the price for every June Sunday this year topped $75 — more than 50 per cent higher than any previous June Sunday in the last 8 years."
  .... It goes on. Something seems terribly wrong here.

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A Dream Come True?

Watch the Dolmio Pepper Hacker and see what you think.

When I saw the video, I did some research. Here's what I found.

Something similar is beginning to creep into live performances. Your Phone's on Lockdown. Enjoy the Show. * "Yondr, a lockable pouch, holds fans' cellphones during a performance, making it impossible to take photographs, shoot videos or send text messages." Personally, I like the idea.

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