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The Worst Journey In the World - Aspley Cherry-Garrard

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Books

Published: 23 January 2025

Hits: 318

“Exploration is the Physical Expression of Intellectual Passion”

Now, this book, at over 600 pages, took me far too long to finish. This is no fault of the author, or the book, it is Five Stars, rather more of my temperament that having been to the Poles with Shackleton and Scott and again in the mind of Cendrars, and being thoroughly persuaded that it's hell on Earth, why then did I return with Cherry-Garrard?

Well. His take on it is as good as the others. By far the youngest member of Scott's failed Antarctic mission he survived 3 years in the Antarctic, being on the team that helped depot up supplies for Scott's final push to the poles, and again on the team that found his grave.

So, how to break it down? 

#1) Criticism: It really could have benefitted from some maps - timelines, depots, points of interest, photos and Wilson's watercolours. At 600 pages another hundred or so more wouldn't have mattered and would greatly have clarified where/what they were up to. And while I looked these things up online that's not the point, when my nose is in a book I like to keep it there. This is the publisher's error, not the authors.

#2) The Men: The descriptions of his colleagues, characters, gentlemen every one of them, men of action, substance, character,  united in a higher purpose, that of science, of reaching the pole, and camaraderie unto death. Remarkable how men can get along in the face of such adversity and environs. This class of humanity I fear has by-and-largely gone extinct. 

#3) The Environs: Antarctica, of course, but add in the temperatures - lowest recorded on earth, close to -100 degrees Celsius, the blizzards, the precarious sea ice, calving icebergs, bottomless icy blue crevasses, bottomless and echoing and despite countless slips and misadventures not one of the party was lost to one, 4 months of utter darkness in the winter, 4 months of daylight in the summer, the Aurora Australis, eruptions of Mt. Erebus against the perpetual Antarctic Night, add to this landscape the limited provisions, dietary and otherwise, the dogs, the ponies, the failing motor sledges, the sleeping bags and reindeer mittens/coats of 1911, the frostbite, of the toes, fingers, cheeks, noses, faces, spreading to the feet (as in Oates), snow goggles & blindness, headaches from the pressure ridges, Scurvy, Dysentery, the altitude of the Polar Plateau (over 9,000 feet), well, you get the idea. "Worst Journey in the World" is an understatement. Fun fact: James Clark Ross named Mt. Erebus and Mt. Terror after his ships (and the Ross Ice Shelf after himself) - these ships, of course, would go on to later infamy at the other pole with the Franklin Expedition. This is a journey into the furthermost recesses of mind, the darkest of places we cannot but dimly imagine flanked by the aptly named volcanoes that guard it’s shores.

#3) The descriptions of the Sea Life: - the comical Emperor Penguins, the Charlie Chaplins of the South Pole, and their egg stealing, incubation of rocks, the raising of the penguins, the dire expedition to try and retrieve their eggs, their lack of Christian charity and ungentlemanly conduct in pushing one another off the icebergs to check the waters for sea lions and Killer Whales.

On that note, the descriptions of the Whales, especially Killer Whales, the dogs, ponies and people being hunted by them while out on the flows, to see them breaking up the ice and rolling out upon it to turn their heads for a glance of what might be a new and tasty treat, for those who deny that we are prey is only because of our familiarity with them (or theirs with us), once upon a time this wasn't so.

And, his digression to describe his delivery of the Emperor Penguin eggs to the Natural History Museum, to be summarily and rudely dismissed by scientists who have no idea as to what cost was their acquisition...

#4) The character of the animals in an alien, inhospitable land, the ponies, rebelling, biting, kicking (Christopher), their various demeanours, some mild, hard-working, some otherwise, the killing them one by one to feed the dogs or lay rations at a depot, and the dogs, trying to escape where no paths to escape or survival existed, resisting the bit, the harness, hunger strikes, feigning injury to avoid pulling the sleigh, and the pecking order of dogs, dogs that nip the heels of others not pulling their weight, none questioning when members of their team disappeared, merely trust in the kindness of their masters, what realization had they that theirs were bit parts to a bigger tragedy, the “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern” to Shakespeare’s Hamlet? 

#5) The End: We all know how it ends, but to recap, Cherry-Garrard was part of the first relay to be turned back on December 22, 1911, the next relay of 3 was turned back on January 3, 1912. Scott chose 4 men to accompany him to the pole; Seaman Evans, Wilson, Oates & Bowers. On January 17th they reach the pole, only to find Amundsen's flag - he had beaten them by several weeks. They spend time, survey the area, and pick up a letter addressed to the King of Norway.

The return is grueling. On February 17th Seaman Evans dies at the foot of the Beardsmore Glacier, of a head injury and exhaustion. March 16/17th Oates, suffering serious frostbite and realizing that his presence is risking the survival of the party, steps from the tent into a blizzard, saying "I am just going outside and may be some time". He is never seen again.

March 19th to March 29th, the remaining 3 men are trapped in the tent in an unseasonal blizzard, only 11 miles from One Tonne Depot. They die of starvation and cold. On November 12, 2012 Cherry-Garrard is part of an expedition sent to find the lost party, and they recover the letters and diaries. Scott has taken pains to write to the widows of the men that accompanied them, endorsing their heroic and noble demise.

In the end Cherry-Garrard eulogizes Scott, speaks to the joy, the necessity of discovery, and then compares the expedition to the comparative success of Amundsen's, at only 99 days return, with dogs alone and no loss of life.

So, all in all a very worthwhile read. If not the "Worst Journey in the World" it was certainly a strong contender, and Cherry-Garrard does not sell it short. And Antarctica still remains relatively unexplored, the most formidable and hostile environment on earth.

But I don't care to read of it anymore, and perhaps will seek out some sort of Unicorn Chaser or play Candy-Crush until I can find more pleasant diversions. That said, I've started on "Confessions of Dan Yack", fortunately he hasn't yet gone to Antarctica, and perhaps, if I'm understanding it correctly, he doesn't. We will see. 

The Coronation

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 21 January 2025

Hits: 284

It was this, and nothing less, and for those worried for the next four years, don't worry, it will start tomorrow, and by 4 years the state of the world will be so unrecognizable it will be as if it never existed.

Only in memory, which is continually, perpetually eroded by the newly elected AI generated overlords.

Seriously. Today was history. A lot of people didn't notice. A lot of dinosaurs didn't look up. The meteor landed all the same.

I know I'm not alone in this. A lot of people are sharing (and I presume rightly, hope wrongly) my anxiety in this.

But what can you do?

Hegseth, the Nazi, was confirmed as Defence Secretary pick. And Musk, South African, did a Nazi salute. And the Orange Menace introduced his son, Barron, confirmed sociopath, to general society. The heir. It won't last that long. 

There should, can be no surprises. CNN fact checking his speech, lies, and more lies, CNN fact checking because while they can, META, Zuckerberg, they are the new news sources, and it will be lies and more lies and the Americans, deprived of a remedial education system, a remedial education, will swallow it up. 

Comparison's with the Nazi's are futile. The Nazi's never had such financial backing, shoot them all. I'm not kidding. 

The Billionaires, Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Thiel, shoot them all. The politicians - Marjorie Taylor Green, Sarah Palin, Nikki Haley, Ann Coulter, Danielle Smith, Bondi, the Supreme Court appointments, shoot them as well. I'm all for gender equality. And as for Trump's boast that Musk somehow knew computers, had somehow "assisted" him on this...

"Ozark" actually predicted this. 

Any one of the billionaires net worth - properly redistributed, could save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American Lives. Could improve education to the extent that this never happened again. 

And that it hasn't happened?

I mean, we have pictures of these people, how can you take a picture and not "take a shot"?

So, we all witnessed (and many looked away from) the death of Western Civilization. This was it. I looked away as well, a bit, my curiosity got the better of me. I'd hoped. I peeked. There's still hope, that this will devolve into a civil war before it crosses our border, that some of the indoctrinated come to their senses, but - well, it's fading. 

Perhaps bribing some of the closer contacts, those illegal Mexicans, migrants, working for those shitbags, with a few million dollars - a new identity - new country - "slip this Polonium into his Big Mac" - will bring a resolution, but it demands an organizational structure that I think is beyond them now. The country is being deconstructed, and will continue to be for some while yet...

Today, more anxiety, time to sober up and learn to fire a gun. Actually I know, just need to hone my skills, And find that gun and enough ammo to see us through the impending Zombie apocalypse....

Pigeons outside the cafe...

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Blog

Published: 18 January 2025

Hits: 272

Pigeons, in the morning outside “The Dominion” cafe, picking out the choice bits from a stew of vomit on the sidewalk, last night was a big one for someone at the Royal, sitting in cafe, making my notes.

This is the world.

And, in the news, in life, it's all been a bit overwhelming, a bit too much time on my phone doomscrolling.

Facebook, reels, a new style of narrative, one without resolution, “Hardcore Pawn” clips which end as he’s testing to see if the gold/faberge brooch is real, you’re left hanging, unresolved, or he steps outside for a fight and here the clip ends, what happened, another clip, streets of Pattaya, date with lady/boy? who knows? Which was it and you can’t tell from behind? I’m never curious enough to look up the ending online, it must be out there, but the (premeditated, by design algorithm) keeps you clicking on inanity after inanity, there’s are more sinister motivations here, but allow me to continue. 

AI Slop by AI Bots, labelled “Digital Creator”, how do these earn money, I need to investigate this…or one of a recipe that involved boiling alive a few dozen large frogs, I reported this, it’s not a cultural thing, it’s simply cruelty for “like/views/subscribe”, Facebook reports back, it disagrees…

Facebook, I'm very tempted to abandon it, reasons of integrity, mental health, but I’m clearly not approaching this properly, the number of idiots out there, there’s got to be a way to monetize them, the same with tik-tok, I've never installed, despise everything about it but there’s got to be a way to make it work for me….

Or the random videos stitched together to tell a heartfelt story narrated by AI, man hits deer/moose/lion/chipmunk, takes home, nurses back to health, they become best of friends afterwards, looking at the clips, not the same animal from cut to cut, not even the same person, but this drivel, now, it chokes my feed…

or inane Ferrari pickup videos in which some idiot attempts to pick up a hot girl, gets cruelly rebuffed, only to get reconsidered once he hops into his Ferrari to drive away…

OR Xmas, the AI generated Santa’s sleigh being pulled over kittens, crushing them, so cute, only, only….

I joined the meteorite sub community to try and remediate the drivel it’s feeding me, only to find that I’m seeing way too many obviously not meteorites for sale, and people applauding, so deluded is the audience…

AI generated steampunk robots, 60’s hippy styled muppets dancing on human legs, HR Puff’n’Stuff inspired lunacy, it’s getting better, you can tell when someone’s actually taken time to edit it, never mind Facebook, at work, the big screen, music playlists with AI generated nonsense, beautiful woman holding wine glass in tentacled paw, drinking with 2 hands and a mouth gagging on a cigar, you would swear you were the first human visitor, customers watch in awe, it looks convincing, to a point, until you notice the hands on backwards, the vacant eyes, always something…

real content is vanishing, the presence of people on social networks becoming distressingly absent...

My Media Diet, over at friends watching her Netflix recommendations, first of all “The Umbrella Academy” - based (I’m guessing) loosely upon a graphic novel aimed squarely at misfit gothic teenagers, which imagines a dysfunctional  “family” of superheroes who must put aside their differences and unite to prevent the end of the world. Occasionally humorous, the most likeable characters being drug-addled Klause and dismissive “Five”, but it ended lame and was, in the end, like most of Netflix, a complete and utter waste of time.

This was followed by “The Apprentice”, which was a documentary that covered a young Donald Trump’s relationship with Roy Cohn. Good, accurate, but god damn I need a hero, someone to root for, and there was no one here to answer that need,

And then there's the news: Bondi’s questioning and her willful misunderstanding of clear and transparent questions,  Pete Hegseth, the worst of possible candidates, placed deliberately and with malice, note Hegseth’s Swastika Tattoo, now filled in to become a meaningless square, but still there, still there, there was Daniel Smith’s treasonous visit to Mar a Lago, along with Jordan Peterson and Kevin O’Leary, the news cycle fills with idiocy, the coal mining debacle in Alberta, strip mining and environmental devastation at a colossal scale, the wilful destruction of watersheds in perpetuity for the sake of a few local jobs, a lot of temporary foreign workers, and billions in profit to Gina Rinehart and whatever cronies in Alberta she had to pay off to make this happen.

The Coronation of Trump (and I mean Coronation), only a couple of days away and while I tell myself there’s many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip it does seem inevitable now, his posturing on Greenland, Panama, and Canada, the hilarious fail that was Trump Jr’s planting MAGA hats on the homeless residents of Greenland to pose this in a bar for a photo-op, all this while LA is on fire, burning to the ground, Olympus, as it were, home to the Gods of Stage and Screen, on fire, burning up, horrific footage now presented to us to conveniently distract us from the other fires burning everywhere in the world, not all fires need flames, crown this with Celebrity appeals to conspiracy or the GoFundMe’s being set up to help out the poor millionaires that lost everything, and indeed, if you only have a few hundred million or even a billion dollars you’re still relatively poor, why not set up a go-fund-me for the Gods, and the relief centres, handing out Birkins, Cartier watches, it's another world...

Meta’s refusal of the Fact Checking will inevitable lead to troll posting that Canada wants to join the Union, that we need to be invaded, for our own good, our socialist values are threatening the US, our - whatever, now he can say it and with Zuckerberg's consent it will become the truth.

Russia’s cable cutting between Finland and Germany, China’s patent on a cable-cutting anchor, the world’s full on at war already, less country to country then oligarchs against the masses, now to subjugate them all, one world government on it's way, only these will not be the times of prosperity...

News of the French Woman scammed by someone claiming to be Brad Pitt with cancer, hilarious, and that's the only laugh I've had all week, and it's cruel, at the misfortune of another...

All this news, I'm overwhelmed, by design, distracted, by design, and anxious as hell. I'm not the only one, I know, but the idiots lack the wits to be afraid, they can't see what's coming, the inevitable, and while it's true we need a cull it probably should be from the top down...

***

I'll leave you on a good note: Wikenigma - A Catalyst for curiosity..., an inventory of things we haven't quite figured out yet. 

And Vjaybombs, a projection artist on Instagram who's getting it: https://www.instagram.com/vjaybombs/

And this article, which promises advancement in reusing the energy of computing - in theory reducing the amount of power computers need by up to 4000%: https://spectrum.ieee.org/reversible-computing