Well… we got a betta today
We did some more reading, and decided that the tank should actually be ok. So we got a cobalt blue crown tail, and he is just superb (splendid, in fact). I have named him Hektor, after the glorious Trojan warrior. I put a couple of mollies in there with him. Mum (happy birthday) thinks I’m too cruel for words for doing that, but I figure I don’t want to keep them and there’s nothing else to do with them, so they should be doing something useful. He’s not all that big, though, so I think most of them are going to be too big… although he certainly seemed to be stalking the larger molly I put in there. And I’m pretty sure he took a chunk out of the smaller molly; at any rate she died, and on closer inspection she seemed to be missing her bottom fin. He hasn’t been doing much, which I know is probably him getting used to the place; it could also have to do with the water temperature – there’s no heater, so it’s around 18C; the guy at Coburg said above 15C should be fine.
Later that day
I’ve decided it’s just too cruel to keep him in a tiny and freezing tank, so I’m transferring Hektor to the qt – qt no more! Oh well… =] I think he should be much happier there – and it will be heaps easier to look after, too, rather than having to do frequent and enormous water changes on the tiny tank.
Some babies – maybe four – have died in the last few days
Ammonia is 0, but pH has dropped a little, to maybe 6.2 or so, maybe because of rotting plant material (the bits I’ve put in from the other tank, and haven’t fished out yet). I’ve just added some bicarb to deal with it. As well, James is convinced that some of the larger babies are eating the smaller ones – there do seem to be fewer… but I’m not convinced.
We have unfotunately decided that the small tank is too small for a betta, which makes me a bit sad, but it would probably be too cruel. James is saying we could get another 10g tank, like the qt, or just put a betta in the community tank, but I don’t think I’m going with either of those ideas.
Home after three weeks of teaching practice
Sick gourami is dead – but according to James, that’s happened since Thursday (this being Sunday), that being when he was last here. So they haven’t actually been alone all that long: they’ve been fed 1-2 times a week, by James. Two babies were also dead. And we came home with a 7L tank that used to have James’ danios, many moons ago… for a betta!
The Templars
Another book I’ve been looking forward to reading for a long time. By Piers Paul Read, it looks good – a history of the Order, trying to sort fact from fantasy and hysterical accusations; not an easy task. I’ve only read 25 pages, but something in those pages has made me very happy: finally, a scholar who is sensible enough to quote from a contemporary Bible, rather than the King James! It’s a bit sad when people seem to think that you can only read the Bible with thee and thou and -est in it. Read is using the Jerusalem Bible, published in 1966; it is indeed a refreshing change. So, too, is the fact that Read does not make – or not yet, anyway – judgments about Christians and their beliefs. I’m not actually sure whether he’s a Christian being scrupulous about not making that too obvious, or whether he’s not Christian and tolerant enough to allow the Christian voice to be heard without condemnation. Either way, he’s presented a view of Christ and the early Church that’s one of the most straigh-forward and accepting I’ve ever read. Accepting in terms of ‘people believe this and who am I to nay-say’, I mean.
What this has to do with the Templars may be a good question, and it’s another thing for which I respect Read. He’s talking about this – the origin of Christianity, relations with Jews, early persecution – to give context to the formation of the Templars, and explain the background for some of the later events. As he says, some writers expect knowledge that some/many readers just won’t have, so to reach a wider audience you need to cater for them all. Even knowing half the early stuff, it’s good to be reminded, and also to read it in this context so it’s present in the mind while you read the later happenings.
Basque History
Not an Op Shop book, but one I’ve been looking forward to reading for a long time. Mark Kurlansky’s Basque History of the World is very well written and researched. I’ve been vaguely interested in this group of people for a while – I think I may even have done an assignment about them in early high school – and it certainly fits into my love of fairly obscure history. No Basque would thank me for saying that, I guess, but what I mean is that it is obscure in terms of the generally understood history of the world. The Basques as a nation do not seem to have had a huge impact on the world (although after reading this, I will passionately argue anyone who says that): to most people, they wouldn’t even seem to be a nation, since you can’t look up Basqueland on an average map and find defined borders. But, Kurlansky points out, they have had a huge impact – particularly on France and Spain (he concentrated mostly on the latter), and also on the rest of Europe and, consequently, the world. Who set up the Jesuits? That would be St Ignatius – or Ignatius de Loyola, a Basque, just to name one. Many of the other Basques who have had an impact are not acknowledged by name anywhere much, but their impact is certainly felt.
I love that Kurlansky included recipes in this book: although I don’t think I’ll ever use one (not knowing where I might find baby eels, and not being sure that I’d like to eat them anyway), it adds powerfully to the fact that this is a history of a people, who are still alive and very much kicking, rather than just being an academic look at some isolated, irrelevant people.
I really liked Kurlansky’s Salt, and I must get around to finding me his Cod.
24
We borrowed the DVDs of the first series of 24 from a friend… We saw the ads for it, when the series first started here, and thought it looked like a great series. Not having a TV, though, we decided to try and ignore it so that we wouldn’t feel too left out. We mostly succeeded, although occasionally seeing ads would spark the typical “we really need a TV” comment from one or both of us. When we saw them on DVD, we agreed that sometime we should borrow them out… And then this friend came through, totally out of the blue! Terribly convenient, really.
Anyway, we’re both tired at the moment because the show is totally addictive. I’m glad that episodes aren’t actually 60 min long (also glad that I don’t live in the US, since their ad breaks are clearly much longer than ours), since that would mean staying up an extra 15-20 min per episode. We started on Sunday night and, this being Wednesday, we’re up to 11am. We don’t actually have anything planned tonight (the other three nights we’ve watched after having someone over for dinner, or after church), so we hope to watch quite a few episodes. I’m very glad that James is just as enthralled as me, else there could be issues…
It really is very well done. Visually, the split-screen effect is highly effective, and drives home the point that it’s all happening at the same time. The plot is pretty standard – it’s the sort of novel I’d read or movie/TV show I’d watch – but setting it all in one day really adds an element of panic, frenetic activity, and stress over a dead-line. So much has to happen in each episode that it would be easy to make it over-complicated, but it doesn’t seem to have done that so far. We were wondering how they’d sustain the plot over 24 episodes since they do have to keep the pace at break-neck speed, but they do it well – switching between situations, implicating one person then clearing them, and just now they’re starting to bring in new villains, and phase out the earlier ones, which will allow for the pace to be sustained: it also doesn’t allow the audience to get bored with a baddie, or predict their movements too easily.
I’m totally hooked, and I hope someone I know buys the second series on DVD…
Vietnam: A History
Being about to teach a class of Year 11s some Vietnamese history, I thought I should know a bit about it. Thankfully, we went to visit my family, and they may well have one of the world’s largest personal collections of books on Vietnam (Dad was a Vietnam veteran, and had a great interest in it). Well, that’s what it feels like, anyway. So I got Stanley Karnow’s Vietnam: A History, since what I really wanted was an overview of everything leading up to US involvement – I’m going to be teaching the French war, basically, up to the Geneva Conference in 1954. I’m not sure where to start; I’d like to do at least one lesson on China’s 1000-year occupation of Vietnam, as very relevant background…
Anyway, the book: it’s very good. I learnt an enormous amount just reading the first 4-5 chapters. I reallised I knew basically nothing about this area, and what it had gone through. For starters, I always just assumed that Ho Chi Minh was this scary Communist guy – and maybe later on he got really nasty, I’m not sure, I haven’t read that far – but from what I have read, I have the impression that he was far more of a nationalist than a Communist: no matter that he really did believe in the Communist ideas he was far more interested in getting Vietnam free of French rule, and avoiding American overlordship as well. He did, in fact, approach the US for help, but they didn’t want to get involved in Indochina – and they wanted to keep the French happy. Plus I guess they were already worried about the ‘domino effect’ of Communism…
As an historian I am fully aware of the impossibility of writing objective history, but Karnow seems to have had a good stab at it. He’s certainly not out to lionise the US, but neither does he paint a portrait of the poor suffering Vietnamese who only want to be left in peace. He seems quite fair to both sides, and seems to have gone to great lengths to be so – being a journo helped, of course, since as a reporter he got access to important people and has included many of their comments on various aspects of the history he’s writing.
This is a very good book, as an overview of Vietnam’s colonisation history. I think I might be able to use bits of it when I teach – maybe not this time, because I’m not sure what my supervisor will think about me not using the textbook – but when I’m out by myself (ack).
Ice Station Zebra
Another MacLean Op Shop purchase. I saw the movie years ago – I’m not even sure I saw all of it – so when I saw the novel I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed, partly also because it is MacLean. And it was good: another one where I was indeed mildly surprised at the resolution. I like it when that happens.
I have to say that being in a submarine under the polar ice-cap is not my idea of fun, and I’m just as happy never to get closer to it than through this book. Hmm, interesting – two books with ties to the Arctic, this and The First Horseman. As close as I’d like to get, thanks.
The Dark Crusader
Alistair MacLean is always good for a romping adventure story. I’ve read a few, although sometimes I get confused between him and Jack Higgins, which isn’t at all fair on either of them; I think partly it’s because they’ve both written Eagle books (Where Eagles Dare and The Eagle has Landed), and they have somewhat similar styles and subjects. Guns of Navarrone (only going by the movie; got the book somewhere…) seems like something Higgins could have written.
Anyway, this was another Op Shop purchase. I was expecting a near-trashy adventure – villains get done, hero gets girl and a commendation from the tight-lipped boss – and for most of it, I wasn’t disappointed. I read it in a bit over a day; it wasn’t at all heavy going, and it just unfolded nicely. It certainly kept me interested, and I was shocked and amazed by the conclusion; it was very well done indeed – I hadn’t expected a thing. Of course, with these sorts of books, I deliberately try not to work out what will happen in the end, just for the pleasure of being shocked: No, it can’t have been him!
I must admit, though, that I’m glad this wasn’t the first MacLean I’d read, otherwise I probably wouldn’t go looking for others; it wasn’t that great, although I still would recommend it for light holiday reading.
The First Horseman
I love Op Shops, especially their book sections. The St Vincent’s in Queenscliff, on the Vic coast, has the standard arrangement of 50c/paperback, and a lot of junk that you have to sort through to find anything worthwhile. But at 50c each, I think it’s worth spending a bit of time – and for me, $3.50 went an amazingly long way.
One of the books I got was John Case’s The First Horseman. Never heard of him, or it – although he also wrote The Genesis Code, which sounds familiar. Standard blurb – why, who, what? – clearly this was going to be about some sort of plague, but it’s not for a while that you find out it’s about someone doing bad things with the influenza virus. Written in 1998, it’s still quite a relevant topic, I think – bioweapons, etc, although currently North Korea (who get a look-see in this) are threatening with nuclear arms, not bio.
I liked it; not quite as trashy as I had expected, but not exactly the sort of thing to make you think particularly hard either. A nice range of characters: the not-beautiful-yet-still-appealing female scientist, intrepid journalist, etc etc… Some nice plot developments too; I wasn’t sure whether I liked the family stuff being put in, but I think in the end it served to deepen the main character a bit, which was fine: it didn’t detract from the story, either. I do like a book that is fine with hurting its main goodies, and not giving them superhero endurance (something like McLean in Die Hard).
I’m going looking for The Genesis Code.
