We left Carters Ridge after breakfast and drove straight to the caravan Park at Aspley.
We unloaded the Little Motley, parked the Motley, and drove to Patricks Road for lunch. We stayed for dinner.
I spent the day buying parts for appliances in need of repair and fitting them.
In the evening I went to the first night of the Skeptics National Convention. met interesting people, had a moderately good dinner and heard a good presentation about euthanasia - pro and con. this is a strange subject for skeptics as there is no rational resolution but anything that makes you think is good. A curious thing about the team who did this session was that the ethicist was the pro euthanasia representative and the doctor was the agnostic.
Up early to get to the Convention before the carpark filled up. Out to the polling station to vote before the rush - the queue was very long but absentee voters didn't have to queue so that was OK.
The presentations, of which there were nine during the day, were almost universally interesting and well presented by enthusiastic and knowledgeable people.
One, by a pair of speakers from Bond Uni on the subject of American imperialism by media images reminded me of the law lecturer I had at Ku-ring-gai CAE all those years ago when I was a mature age student whose political leanings coloured her work almost to the exclusion of content.
Dinner was an opportunity to meet and talk to people and I was fascinated by the wide range of backgrounds of the people I talked to.
I bought Colin Keay's books which seek to provide a balance against the almost universal anti-nuclear information (propaganda in Colin's view) we get fed by the mass media. Colin is a distinguished scientist with a D.Sc. awarded for a unique contribution to the body of scientific knowledge, ands while it might be easy to see his views as the ramblings of yesterday's man, he has the credibility of a true objective observer and deserves better than to be set against Peter Garrett in a piece of newspaper "balance".
I also bought the Skeptics CD which includes all the journals from day 1 and the two books published by the Skeptics. This is probably a world first and Richard Saunders whose project it was to create it received an Honorary Life membership of the Skeptics for his efforts.
Up early again to go to the Convention.
The morning presentations were, once again of the highest standard.
The first speaker was a German genetic engineer, Professor Peter Gresshoff, who laid the foundation for our understanding that genetic engineering of plants is just a human extension of the natural process of genetic modification.
The second was Ian Lowe who eloquently put the case for urgent action on climate change and for all other measures necessary to achieve real environmental sustainability.
The other speakers covered an eclectic array of subjects and each left us with something significant to think about.
I went first thing to the physiotherapist to see if my ankle and my wrist, which have had irregular but frequent periods of pain recently, would benefit from her treatment. She diagnosed scar tissue and inflammation in the ankle arising from a very old injury and a small bone with too much movement in the wrist with consequent inflammation.
I had breakfast at Cafe Zanetti and we all went back to Patricks Rd for the afternoon.
The microwave with its new plate and roller assembly still didn't turn round so I took it apart to determine what needed to be mended. The motor was U/S so I bought a new one.
We lunched at Patricks Road and returned to Aspley in the afternoon. I installed the new motor in the microwave and it's now fully functional.
I also replaced the sealant on the bedroom hatch which has been leaking for a couple of weeks.
We went to Patricks Rd for lunch and spent the afternoon there.
I had anoither session with the physiotherapist in the evening and we repaired to the caravan park